Nationals 9, Twins 3: Later, Taters

Matt Blewett-Imagn Images

This is one of those games where you say, “there was nothing to write home about.” However, this isn’t home at all. This is TwinkieTown.com, and you — dear reader — reside on the premises. By occupying this wall of text with your own two (we presume) eyeballs, you provide a virtual warrant for me to search the property and share some knowledge.

The Nationals, scoreless in 23 consecutive innings at one point tonight, touched Joe Ryan for five runs, Justin Topa for one, and Kody Funderburk for three.

Despite an even hit total with Minnesota — twelve a side — Washington left tonight’s scorcher with a 9-3 win and improve to 20 games below .500.

Injury replacement Alex Call drove an RBI single in the third to get the Nats back on the board for the first time in over two regulation games. In the very next inning, Luis Garcia Jr. touched Ryan for his eighth blast of the season.

It was still just a 2-0 game at the time, but the wheels came off for Joe in the fifth. Back-to-back singles by Daylen Lile and Drew Millas put a pair on to start the inning — then, a Brooks Lee error allowed Call to reach and load the bases. CJ Abrams would promptly unload them with a bases-clearing double, and it was 5-0 Nats in a flash.

It’s the second-worst start by runs allowed for Joe this year; only his April 20th loss to the Atlanta Braves (5 IP, 8 H, 6 ER, 3 HR, BB, 5 K) saw more runners cross home on his watch.

Call homered in the seventh to make it 6-2, and three more Washington runners came around in the visiting eighth off Funderburk, whose breakdown inning included two wild pitches (one scoring a run), a walk, and four hits.

The Minnesota highlights were limited tonight. The team got on the board only in the home sixth, with a double by Willi Castro and RBI single from Royce Lewis, who would score at the end of the inning on a double from Ty France — then again in the home eighth, with Matt Wallner earning a ribbie on a sac fly.

Worth a mention are a pair of defensive plays the Twins pulled off, including this unconventional double play:

And this leaping grab from Buxton, back when the game was still interesting:

However, Buxton would be removed ahead of the seventh inning with “left side soreness”. I don’t know about you guys, but when you add all that up, it sure seems like a fun night at the ballpark!

COURTESY: Baseball Savant

STUDS:

3B Royce Lewis (2-for-4, R, RBI, 2B)

1B Ty France (3-for-4, R, 2B)

DUDS:

RF Trevor Larnach (0-for-2, 2 DP)

SS Carlos Correa (1-for-5, K, 5 LOB)

SP Joe Ryan (5 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 4 ER, BB, 5 K)

RP Kody Funderburk (2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, BB, 2 K)

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