Zebby Matthews got off to a shaky start tonight, with a Jeremy Pena single and Isaac Paredes 2-run homer. However, after that, he settled into things and was able to go 6 innings, scattering 5 hits and striking out 6 along the way. All he needed was the Twins lineup to give him a modicum of run support.
The Twins lineup was not capable of this. In the 3rd, they stranded Byron Buxton at 2nd after his 1-out double. In the bottom of the 4th, Brooks Lee tripled, but with 2-outs, and was left there after Victor
Caratini lined out. All of this against Jason Alexander, who was making his first start of the year after Lance McCullers Jr. was scratched with a shoulder issue.
In the 8th, Buxton hit another 1-out double, then Josh Bell hit a grounder to 2nd that Brayden Shewmake couldn’t handle, allowing Buxton to score the first Twins run of the game. Kody Clemens followed with a single to right, but Austin Martin grounded out to end the threat.
Down to their last out in the 9th, the newly called up Orlando Arcia hit a single to extend the game, then Brayan Abreu hit Luke Keaschall, bringing Byron Buxton to the plate with the winning run at 1st. After a 2-2 wild pitch moved the runners to 2nd and 3rd, Buxton popped out to end the game.
Studs:
Byron Buxton: 2-5, 2 2B
Josh Bell: 3-4, RBI
Zebby Matthews: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K
Duds:
Trevor Larnach, Austin Martin: 0-4
Team w/ RISP: 1-7
