Another chilly day for a game in Minnesota (honestly, scheduling games before May in the midwest is really a fool’s errand, but that’s baseball for you). The Tigers, currently on a three-game losing streak, were looking to break up the bad luck with Framber Valdez on the mound. They’d be facing off against Bailey Ober for the Twins, whose only aim was to continue the Twins’ winning run against their division rivals.
The Tigers quickly went 1-2-3 to start the game. As things headed into the bottom
of the first, Byron Buxton got a base hit immediately. Austin Martin was then hit by a pitch to put two baserunners on. Then, what should have either been a force-out or even a double play turned into a bases loaded scenario as Luke Keaschall reached on a fielder’s choice. A wild pitch from Valdez allowed Buxton to score. Ryan Jeffers then hit a ground out to score Martin. The inning continued to be a bummer, as Victor Caratini walked. Josh Bell then singled to get Keaschall in. A Matt Wallner double brought Caratini home. The cold weather must super power the Twins. Oh but this inning still isn’t over. Royce Lewis singled, scoring two more Twins runs. He then stole second.
In the second, the Tigers got an early baserunner in Kerry Carpenter, who took a leadoff walk. Dillon Dingler got lucky as Royce Lewis made a great infield grab but couldn’t turn around to get it to first, and Dingler arrived safe on base with a single. Despite the efforts, however, the Tigers couldn’t convert the baserunners to actual runs. Valdez started the home half og the second a lot stronger, with two outs back-to-back. Ryan Jeffers then singled. The Twins didn’t manage to add to their early lead, though.
The Tigers went 1-2-3 in the top of the third. Much to the relief of Valdez, though, the Twins did the same in the bottom of the inning.
The top of the fourth was another three-up, three-down for the Tigers, which isn’t the ideal result if they hope to come back from a six-run deficit. Things got worse in the home half. Buxton got a one-out single. Then, with two outs, Keaschall singled into center, there was no easy play, and Buxton scored. Keaschall then stole second, followed by a Ryan Jeffers walk. The Twins didn’t manage to convert any additional baserunners, but the score was now 7-0.
Heading to the fifth, Dingler reached on a throwing error by Brooks Lee. A Matt Vierling ground out then pushed Dingler into scoring position. Two more outs followed, however, leaving Dillon on base and the Tigers still scoreless. While Valdez continued to look more confident and dialled in as the innings progressed, in the bottom of the second, once again with two outs, the Twins got the better of him. Lewis hit a single, but thankfully they weren’t able to score any additional runs. Given how the first inning had gone, with 29 pitches, it was somewhat surprising to see Valdez get through five, but it was good to see his quality improve over the course of the game. While it’s certainly not the kind of start fans would want from someone who was touted to be such a good offseason score, it was still just one bad inning, when you really look at it, much of which was also on the fielders to shoulder blame for. So certainly not time to pull out any pitchforks just yet.
Colt Keith proved that the Tigers still had some motivation left to play this game as he hit a leadoff double. With one out, Gleyber Torres then singled. A Kerry Carpenter single finally got the Tigers on the board, bringing Keith home. With two outs, Dingler singled to score Torres, and that was it for Bailey Ober for the day. Justin Topa came out of the overworked Twins bullpen. Parker Meadows, pinch-hitting for Matt Vierling, came in and singled, loading the bases. Unfortunately a flyout ended the inning, but at least they were finally on the board. Valdez’s day wasn’t done after five, which was a bold choice despite all the nice things I said earlier. Byron Buxton hit a leadoff double. Austin Martin followed that with a single. That was it for Valdez, whose final line was 5.0 IP, 10 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 2 K on 87 pitches. Rough. Would have liked to see those strikeous a lot higher to feel really good about this one, but so it goes. Better luck next time. Emmanuel De Jesus came out of the Tigers pen to try getting out of the jam. With one out, Martin got picked off trying to steal second and was caught in a rundown for an out. Naturally, though, Buxton scored another run. Ryan Jeffers walked, and Caratini singled. Josh Bell then challenged a strike call and was rewarded when it was overturned but getting a walk to load the bases again. A strikeout finally ended the inning, though, with only the one run of damage.
Anthony Banda was the next reliever in for the Twins in the top of the seventh. Javier Baez got a leadoff single. Spencer Torkelson came in to pinch-hit for Keith and did little more than take a walk to the plate and then back to the dugout. Kevin McGonigle then singled. A Gleyber Torres double then scored Baez and McGonigle. Rally time? Sure! There was a brief delay onfield as the umpires assessed whether the Torres double was lodged, but since no one made a call on the field about it, the ball was considered live and both runs counted. Jahmai Jones came in for Carpenter, and a wild pitch from Banda allowed Torres to advance to third. Riley Greene then singled to score Torres.
The Twins had to dip into their bullpen again, a nightmare for them at this point given how overworked the pen has been this series. Cole Sands came out, and gave up a single to Dingler. With two outs the Tigers managed to have the tying run at the plate. A wild pitch scored Greene. While Meadows struck out to end the inning, the Tigers had come way, way back, and the score was now 8-6. Baseball is a wacky game.
In the bottom of the seventh the Tigers turned to Kyle Finnegan. Lewis got a leadoff walk. One out later, Buxton walked. A pinch-hitting Trevor Larnach hit into a double play, eliminating Buxton, thank goodness. That ended the inning and put the Tigers back in a position to turn things around even more.
Cody Laweryson was the next Twins reliever out. Baez got a one-out double, followed by Torkelson getting hit by a pitch for a free base. The effort was good, but a pop out and strike out ended the inning (though Torres did attempt to challenge one of the strike calls, it was upheld), another ABS call, this time from Jeffers, ended the inning as it was ruled to be a strike and not a ball. Brutal. Will Vest came in for the Tigers in the bottom of the inning. Vest had a much-needed clean inning getting the Twins out 1-2-3.
With one out in the top of the ninth there was a Cody for Kody swap, as Kody Funderburk came in to finish off the game. Riley Greene then walked. Dingler was then hit by a pitch to put two runners on. Parker Meadows grounded into a force out, eliminating Dingler but advancing Greene to third. While the Tigers made a valiant late effort at a comeback, it wasn’t enough to turn it around.
