The Twins sent Joe Ryan to the bump this morning—the Peacock MLB Sunday Wakeup special—hoping for a series split. He lasted all of two batters before leaving with an undisclosed injury. It would be an unexpected bullpen game featuring the worst pen in baseball. My thoughts at the exact moment: how many innings will Kody Clemens need to cover today?
Fortunately, Twins’ bats were not as depressed as the fan base early on, with a Trevor Larnach single and Austin Martin BB paid off by a Victor Caratini
RBI knock to put an early run on the board. 1-0 MN.
In the third inning, an in-game interview with Twins manager Derek Shelton revealed it was “right elbow soreness” that regelated Ryan to the bench. Wonderful. That same frame, the Twins loaded the bases (Martin single, Luke Keaschall double, Clemens BB) with two outs, only to see Royce Lewis not enjoy salami—or even a lesser-quality meat—after striking out against Blue Jays SP Trey Yesavage.
Remarkably, the first RP out of the pen for MN—Andrew Morris—tossed 3.2 innings of 2 H, 0 ER ball to keep the contest at the razor-thin 1-0 margin.
MIN finally changed the number in B5 when a Caratini BB was followed by doubles from Keaschall, heretofore-not-needed-on-the-mound Clemens, & Matt Wallner. 4-0 MN!
Toronto got on the board in T6 when Taylor Rogers tried to complete a second consecutive scoreless inning but could not. A Daulton Varsho drag-bunt single allowed Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to scamper home, but Rogers avoided any further damage by coaxing a “home run in an elevator shaft” fly out from Tyler Heineman. 4-1 MN.
A ticklish situation—two Jays on the pond—was mitigated in T8 by Kody Funderburk inducing a ground-out.
Justin Topa entered in T9 to try and close this one out—which of course meant clenched cheeks (and not the chewing kind). Another Kazuma Okamoto HR closed the margin to a single run, and an error from Keaschall allowed the tying and go-ahead runs to reside on the base paths. Blessedly, a Lenyn Sosa grounder went successfully from 2B to 1B for a game-ending double play!
Your Final: Minnesota Twins 4, Toronto Blue Jays 3
Seeing their best pitcher exit with injury after recording just one out, the Twins turned to a league-worst bullpen and somehow escaped with the victory. #baseball.
Zach’s Zealot
- Morris: Coming in cold two batters into the game and keeping the defending AL champs off the board into the middle innings.
Zach’s Zombie
- Lewis: 0-4, 2 K, now at .176 BA & .598 OPS on the season.
Egg-cellent Elocution
- SooFoo Fan mirrors my thoughts on Morris’ master class.
Who’s Got Next
- After a travel Monday off-day, the Twins visit the Washington Nationals in D.C. (Tues. night, Wed. night, Thurs. afternoon)—and I’ll be joining them there! I’ll be back in time to cover next Sunday’s slate, but if you don’t hear from me much on the threads until then it’s because I’m seeing the sights of our Nation’s Capital!
