It was a stormy night in Minneapolis and no one from Cory Provus to the players on the field thought this game was going to go a full nine innings. The field was a mess, Astros shorstop Jeremy Peña turned the field into his personal slip-n-slide, but no one, and I mean NO ONE, was going to stop these umps from forcing the players out for four more meaningless innings.
But let’s go back to the first inning where we all were thankfully put out of our Simeon Woods Richardson-induced misery. With SWR in the midst of the worst stretch of his career, manager Derek Shelton turned to rookie Kendry Rojas, who immediately showed off why he’s a difficult prospect to figure out. Rojas hit Peña, allowed a single to Isaac Paredes, and walked Yordan Alvarez on four pitches to load the bases with no outs just nine pitches into the game. Luckily, a pop out and a weak line drive double play got the Twins out of the jam without allowing a run.
And then, Rojas was nails. He allowed one hit in the second inning but largely overpowered this veteran Astros lineup all night. Final line: 4 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 3 K, 0 runs allowed. His hybrid reliever/starter role, combined with the organization trying to limit his workload, means he isn’t really able to throw more than 50-60 pitches per outing right now, but Rojas showcased exactly why the Twins have been hesitant to move him to relief full time.
On the offensive side, it was all Josh Bell early. Bell got a hanging changeup from Tatsuya Imai in the second that he mashed off the batter’s eye in center. Things were quiet until Bell came up again the fourth inning and went oppo-taco to put the Twins up 3-0. It would have been nice to see the lineup have a better performance against a struggling pitcher, but a win is a win.
After the two hour rain delay, the Twins came back ready to add some more runs. Six straight Twins reached base with one out in the 6th, resulting in three additional runs, but a sloppy send/late hold by third base coach Ramon Borrego resulted in Bell getting caught in no man’s land between third and home and getting nabbed on the bases.
Justin Topa came in and gave up three runs in the seventh inning, as he is wont to do, but you don’t need me to recap why a bad pitcher gave up runs. It should be expected at this point. Eric Orze got the Twins out that jam and pitched a clean eighth, but Yoendrys Gomez got the Twins right back in one in the ninth. Gomez walked notable bad hitter Christian Vazquez on four pitches, got Peña to pop out, then walked Paredes on five pitches to bring up MVP candidate Yordan Alvarez as the tying run. Shelty turned to veteran Taylor Rogers who got Alvarez looking and then got Christian Walker to ground out to end the threat and the game.
Two final notable things from this game. First, Ryan Jeffers left the game in the ninth inning after cracking his bat on a foul ball. Jeffers stayed in for two more pitches but left the game mid-AB. No word on what the potential injury is, but Jeffers is a gamer who wouldn’t leave for no reason. For a team missing Byron Buxton, Matt Wallner recently demoted, and Royce Lewis on the verge of the same, they can hardly afford to have Jeffers miss significant time.
Second, two different pitchers issued four pitch walks to Christian Vazquez. I don’t need to tell anyone around here that walking Vazquez at all, let alone on four pitches, is a demote-able offense. Simeon Woods Richardson is still adjust to reliever life, it appears.
STUDS
- Josh Bell: 3-4, 2 HR, 2 R, 4 RBI
- Kendry Rojas: 4 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 4 K, 0 R
DUDS
- NO DUDS TWINS WIN!!!!
Comment of the game goes to norff for finally making Justin Topa’s role on this team clear.