The Minnesota Twins looked to secure their third series sweep of the season, this time in Arlington against the Texas Rangers. The Twins offense continued their being hot from Tuesday night and the bullpen didn’t screw it up too much while the Rangers made a valiant effort.
The game started off on the right foot as Trevor Larnach and Kody Clemens each got on base with a single in the top of the first off of Texas starter Jack Leither. Believe it or not, with two outs, Josh Bell got a grounder through
the infield to bring in Larnach and Brooks Lee put the Twins ahead big with a three-run shot to give Minnesota a cushy 4-0 lead before the home team got to the bat rack.
Larnach made another contribution in the fourth inning with a homer of his own, this one of the two-run variety, which knocked Leiter out of the game after the end of the inning with a 6-0 Twins lead. Minnesota struck again in the sixth with another Larnach contribution – this time an RBI single off of southpaw Robby Ahlstrom – to bring the score to 7-0. A Ryan Kreidler homer in the top of the eighth off of Cal Quantrill added two more runs to the Twins’ total.
Meanwhile, Joe Ryan labored through his start today. He limited the Rangers to three hits, a couple of free passes, and notched seven strikeouts, dropping his ERA below 3. However, he only went through five innings today on 97 pitches. He used his four-seam fastball much more compared to his other starts this season. Justin Lawrence was called in for the sixth and allowed two solo homers to Wyatt Langford and Ezequiel Duran, but otherwise escaped unscathed.
The bullpen escaped a couple of jams in the seventh and eighth innings, keeping the heart rates of Twins Territory up just a little bit more than normal. Cody Laweryson allowed a homer to Justin Foscue, but finished out the game without allowing any more runs, securing the sweep for the Twins with a 9-3 win.
W: Joe Ryan (5-3)
L: Jack Leiter (3-7)
STUDS
- Joe Ryan: 5 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 7 K
- Trevor Larnach: 3-5, 2 R, 3 RBI, HR
- Brooks Lee: 1-5, R, 3 RBI, HR
- Ryan Kreidler: 1-2, R, 2 RBI
- Victor Caratini: 3-4, 2 R
duds
- zero duds; tWIMs
COTG
Brandon gets the honors for suggesting a schedule alteration for the rest of the Twins season.
The Twins travel to the desert for a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Connor Prielipp (2-4, 5.26 ERA) answers the call for the Twins while veteran Michael Soroka (8-3, 3.11 ERA) will go for the D-backs. Put on the pot of coffee (or do a keg stand and keep the party going) as game time is 845p Central.
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