The Twins bullied the Tigers again on Wednesday, putting up a score of 15-2 in this one and outdoing the beatdown they issued on Monday. Troy Melton struggled, the defense was atrocious, and while it was ugly with Melton in the game, it was farce once Kyle Finnegan took over, and by the time he departed this one was long over with.
The Tigers started off reasonably well. Kevin McGonigle and Gleyber Torres singled off of Andrew Morris to begin the game. Dillon Dingler flew out to Walker Jenkins in center
field, getting McGonigle to third. Riley Greene’s return to the lineup saw him ground out for an RBI and a 1-0 lead, but that was all the Tigers would get as Hao-Yu Lee lined out.
Troy Melton took the bump in the bottom half looking to get off to a good start. He got the first two outs, then missed away with three fastballs to fall behind Kody Clemens. The right-hander came back with a fastball up and in the zone, and Clemens crushed it to right field for a solo shot, his 24th on the year. Ryan Jeffers followed by tripling past Javier Báez in right, but Melton wrapped up a long first inning by striking out Josh Bell.
Lefty Conner Prielipp took over from his opener, Morris, and Spencer Torkelson started the second inning with a ground rule double to left. Max Clark squared up to bunt and Prielipp’s heater was wild and right at his head. Fortunately, Clark ducked in time and the fastball just clipped the top of his helmet. So, two on, no outs, and the Tigers were in business. Báez quickly closed up shop with a routine grounder to short for a 6-4-3 double play. John Peck dug in for the first at-bat of his major league career, and also grounded out to shortstop.
This is how it’s going.
Melton put together a quicker second frame as Trevor Larnach flew out to right and Royce Lewis popped out. Kaelen Culpepper, the Twins young shortstop, grounded out to Peck, playing shortstop for the Tigers with McGonigle in the DH slot, and we were on to the third still in a 1-1 tie.
McGonigle tapped one back to Prielipp to start the third. Torres bit on a slider and struck out, but Dingler lined a single to left to keep the inning alive. Greene dug in and Prielipp stayed with his 90 mph slider down and away and punched out Greene as well.
Jenkins bounced a tricky one off the mound to start the bottom of the third, but Peck got to it and threw him out. Keaschall worked a little longer at-bat but flew out routinely to Báez. A changeup and a split got him ahead of Brooks Lee, and Melton eventually whiffed him with a good curveball to end the inning. Melton was at 49 pitches.
Prielipp punched out Lee with a changeup away to open the fourth. Torkelson saw the changeup better but lined out to left field, and so it was up to Clark. The speedy center fielder didn’t back down. After getting ahead in the count, he squared to bunt again and put down a really good one with the infield off guard. Prielipp collected it but his throw wasn’t in time as Clark roared down the line for a single. It didn’t do anything for the Tigers as Báez quickly grounded out to shortstop for what felt like the 100th time in the past few weeks.
Clemens and Jeffers flew out to Clark to start Melton’s bottom half of the inning. Josh Bell popped one in foul territory down the right field line but Torres couldn’t handle it, giving Bell a dangerous second chance. Melton missed with a sharp curve and then a cutter down and in, but Bell wasn’t impressed and the count was even. Bell took a changeup for a full count but finally a good slider got the whiff. Melton had retired 10 straight, but some wasted pitches in pitcher’s counts, and a few mistakes from his teammates, had driven his pitch count up to 64 pitches despite allowing just two hits and no walks with three strikeouts.
Peck led off the fifth with a little chopper back to Prielipp, who couldn’t handle it. Peck reached but they gave the error to the pitcher, so it wasn’t Peck’s first hit. McGonigle lifted a fly ball to left center field, but not deep enough for Peck to advance. Gleyber Torres put together a lengthy at-bat and drew a walk. So there were two on for Dingler, with Greene in the on deck circle. Dingler immediately swung at a first pitch slider and broke his bat. Culpepper fired to second but Dingler beat out the turn to first. So it was first and third with two outs for Greene, who flew out to left.
Just as quickly as the Tigers opportunity fizzled out again, the Twins developed one of their own. Melton walked Larnach and then Royce Lewis pulled one over Riley Greene off the left field wall to put runners at second and third with no outs. Melton got ahead of Culpepper, and the shortstop pulled one to Peck, playing in on the grass, and everyone had to hold up as he threw out Culpepper. That brought up a talented rookie in Jenkins. The center fielder yanked a pitch just foul to start the at-bat and that was scary. He eventually worked a full count and then slapped one to Peck. The Tigers shortstop fired home to Dingler in time and got Larnach in a run down. Dingler chased the runner back to third and then his nighmarish August carried into September as he threw high over Lee’s head. Both runners scored, and then a first pitch slider right down the middle was smoked by Keaschall to left for an RBI double to score Jenkins for a 4-1 lead. Brooks Lee flew out to center for the second out, and Melton punched out Clemens on a curveball to end the inning.
Prielipp cruised through another 1-2-3 inning in the top of the sixth. Melton got the first out in the bottom half, but as his pitch count topped 90 pitches, Bell pulled a sharp grounder past a slow moving Torres for a single. Melton yanked a slider into Larnach’s toe to put him on base on Melton’s 95th pitch. Royce Lewis saw the slider first pitch, and again it was right down the middle. He absolutely crushed the cookie to dead center for a three run shot and it was 7-1 Twins.
That ended Melton’s night with five earned runs in, bumping his ERA up to 2.20 on the year. His teammates let him down quite a bit, but he also didn’t command anything consistently and probably deserved what he got in the end.
Kyle Finnegan took over and immediately gave up a double to Culpepper, and then walked Jenkins. Keaschall pulled a hard grounder up the middle, and Torres playing almost behind second base, still couldn’t get to it as the single skipped under his glove, scoring Culpepper to make it 8-1. Brooks Lee lifted a sacrifice fly to score Jenkins, and it was 9-1. We were still in the sixth inning and the game was totally out of hand. Would a position player pitch? Would the Tigers simply recruit a fan, assuming they couldn’t do any worse? Does anyone give a damn about this team at this point, including themselves?
The answer to all these questions was no. Finnegan hung a 1-1 slider to Jeffers, and he hammered it to left for another three-run homer. 12-1 Twins.
Beau Brieske is back with roster expansion and he took over to try and get this fiasco over with. He did help matters by walking Bell and then giving up a single to Larnach. Gabriel Gonzlaez pinch-ran for him. Lewis pulled a slow grounder up the middle between Torres and Peck. Torres fielded it but couldn’t get him at first. So, bases loaded and still, as there had been for 15 minutes, two outs. Culpepper pulled a two-run single to left. 14-1 Twins, and I really hope you’re not reading your way through this debacle. Jenkins finally grounded out to end the inning.
The Tigers went in order in the top of the seventh as both teams subbed in their younger players. Likewise, AJ Hinch moved Javier Báez to second base, yanking Torres, and inserted Ben Malgeri into right field. Brett Callahan hit for McGonigle, taking over the DH spot.
Mercifully, Brieske tossed a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh, striking out Ben Ross in his major league debut.
Right-hander Garrett Acton took over from Prielipp in the top of the eighth. Malgeri greeted him with a single through the right side for the Tigers sixth hit in this one. Dingler grounded one softly to Culpepper, who took the force of Malgeri at second. Riley Greene swung at three straight sliders in the dirt to strike out. Hao-Yu Lee doesn’t give up, and after nearly getting drilled in the head, he got a hanger on the inner third and snoked a double up the left center field gap to plate Dingler from first. 14-2 Twins.
In a 3-2 count, Acton sailed a fastball inside and drilled Torkelson in the arm, but Max Clark struck out to send it to the bottom half.
Jacob Waguespack took over in the bottom of the eighth. Alex Jackson reached on a broken bat single that Báez had to run a long way to collect. A wild pitch moved Jackson to second and Waguespack walked Bell, struck out Gonzalez, and then walked Royce Lewis to load the bases. Culpepper grounded into a force of Lewis at second as Jackson scored. 15-2 Twins.
With two outs in the top of the ninth, Brett Callahan singled on a 109.6 mph rocket off the right field wall, but Malgeri flew out to end it.
Just a pathetic effort the past two days, coming on the heels of a brutal last three weeks. At least Hao-Yu Lee put up a fight, and Brett Callahan scalded a couple of balls. Otherwise there wasn’t much fight in evidence, and Dillon Dingler looks wholly and completely lost in all phases of the game. Troy Melton? Eh he’ll be fine.
The Tigers will try to play major league caliber baseball again at 7:40 p.m. ET on Wednesday. Stay tuned for all the excitement.
