Despite collecting twelve hits and plating six runs, the Minnesota Twins could not finish off an Opening Series victory in Baltimore this afternoon. Battles against the robots (ABS) and a shaky appearance from Mick Abel were the primary culprits in defeat.
Twins bats quickly built a second-inning rally: Matt Wallner 1B, Josh Bell HBP (Wally was probably jealous), and Victor Caratini 1B. With everyone expecting the worst—Twins, bases loaded, you get the picture—Trevor Larnach poked an infield single
to keep the merry-go-round moving. After Royce Lewis whiffed, new Twin Tristan Gray cleared the bases—and was somehow throw out on them—with an RBI knock into the gap. No one really saw it because some combination of mice, squirrels, and/or Dan Gladden were chewing on the TwinsTV video cables. So, sort of a Schrodinger’s 4-0 lead!
Twins SP Bailey Ober was solid—with multiple 90+ mph heaves—through three innings, but ran into trouble in B4. With two Orioles on base, Tyler O’Neill bashed one 109 mph at a 27 degree launch angle. Meaning: now just a 4-3 advantage.
Piggy-backing off Ober’s 4 IP, Mick Abel entered and looked great in B5—recording two Ks. But in B6, O’Neill (him again) & Coby Mayo (him again, from Game 1) were plated by a Dylan Beavers double to give Birdland a 5-4 lead.
It didn’t last long: In T7, Lewis yanked homer #2 on the young season—377 feet into the LF bleachers. Tie game!
The Twins loaded the bases again that same inning, but Wallner ꓘ’d and that was that.
It all started to fall apart in B7. The Polar Bear (Pete Alonso) blooped a single to score Taylor Ward, then Adley Rutschman nearly left the yard but still doubled to bring in another run. Mayo kept the line moving with an RBI single off the laboring Abel—8-5 O’s.
Trying to claw back in T8, MN batsmen loaded the sacks with zero outs. A Gray broken-bat knock brought one across the dish—but Lewis, Kody Clemens, & Byron Buxton all swung through third strikes and only increased the LOB column to 8.
A ninth inning Twins rally was extinguished by every ABS challenge going against them and manager Derek Shelton getting booted by essentially arguing with a robot.
Your Final: Baltimore Orioles 8, Minnesota Twins 6
New categories this year…
Zach’s Zealot (replacing Studs)
- Lewis: Second HR in as many days
Zach’s Zombie (replacing Duds)
- MN’s ABS challenge decisions: Lost both challenges after seven innings of play. It didn’t help (perception-wise) that Baltimore seemed to hit on every challenge, including two big ones in the 9th.
Egg-cellent Elocution (replacing Comment of the Game)
- Matt Monitto capturing the essence of the bases loaded, no outs Minnesota Twins Experience (TM)
Who’s Got Next:
- Off to Kansas City for the Royals home opener at Kauffman tomorrow (3:10 PM, TwinsTV)
