Game 12, 4-7-20

After giving Cleveland their first loss of the season, game 2 of the series is an important one for the Twins to keep their positive momentum going. Kenta Maeda coming off an unbelievable start is going up against Mike Clevinger which is a tougher matchup for the Twins then Clase in the first game. Can the Twins get 2 in a row? Game highlights below.

• Bottom of the 2nd - Nelson Cruz has been struggling this season. He is one of the only Twins starters not to hit a home run yet, surprisingly. Frustrated with how the early season is going, he watched a questionable third strike go by him, got angry, argued the call and got tossed from the game. Alex Avila came in to the DH spot to take over for the ejected Cruz. Tied 0-0
  
• Top of the 3rd - Ramirez got robbed by Arraez to start off the game. Leading off in the third he snuck a double by Arraez this time. Freeman singled and then Lindor walked. Maeda in a huge jam with the bases loaded and no outs. Santana grounded out to 3rd but scored Ramirez. Maeda induced two more ground outs to end the inning fairly unscathed. Cleveland leads 1-0
  
• Bottom of the 5th - Clevinger continued his no hitter through the first two batters, but then the Twins finally started to figure Clevinger out. Rosario shot a towering 451 ft home run to right field. Buxton followed it up with a Triple. Then Kepler hit his 5th home run of the season. Twins lead 3-1
  
• Top of the 7th - Kenta Maeda gets two outs and Baldelli shuts him down for the day. A great quality start for Maeda, 6.2 innings, 7 men on base, 4 Ks, 67 game score. Tyler Duffey comes in for relief and gets Lindor to ground out to end the inning. Twins lead 3-1
  
• Bottom of the 7th - Clevinger continues to struggle just a little walking Rosario and giving up a single to Buxton to start the inning. Nick Wittgren relieved him. Kepler fouled out. Arraez grounded into a fielder's choice, and Polanco struck out, squandering the threat the twins had. Twins 3-1
  
• Top of the 8th - Things started to fall off the rails for Duffey. He walked Santana, and then Roberto Perez hit a single to left field. Cesar Hernandez got another single for the Indians, scoring Santana. Naquin had a sacrifice fly scoring another run. Mercado got another single putting men on 1st and 3rd. Duffey got one more out before being replaced by Taylor Rogers, who almost gave up a HR to Jose Ramirez, but was caught by Rosario deep in left. Tied 3-3
  
• Bottom of the 9th - Rosario leads the inning off with a double putting the winning run in scoring position with no outs. Buxton got intentionally walked. Kepler hit a little bloop pop out. Marwin Gonzalez comes in for Arraez and goes down on strikes. Polanco connected, but hit it right to third sending the Twins back out on the field in extra innings. Tied 3-3
  
• Top of the 10th - Baldelli is trusting his top arm in Rogers leaving him in for his tsecond inning. Rogers didn't let Baldelli down sitting the Indians down in order with 2 Ks. Tied 3-3
  
• Bottom of the 10th - Brad hand is in his 2nd inning pitched for Cleveland. Josh Donaldson had a good eye getting walked, but that is all the Twins could accomplish this inning.
  
• Top of the 11th - Baldelli has already left Rogers in for 2.1 innings but wanted him to keep going as he has been on fire. Rogers got two strike outs but hit Mike Freeman with a pitch. Carlos Santana came up and got the inning ending ground out to Rogers, but Rogers booted it allowing Santana to make it safely to first and keep the inning alive. Completely tuckered out, Baldelli finally puts Trevor May in for Rogers. May walked Puig who was pinch hitting. May then got Sandy Leon to ground to Donaldson at third but Donaldson's throw was wild and 2 runs scored before May struck out Naquin to end the inning. Indians lead 5-3
  
• Bottom of the 11th - Brad Hand and Nick Goody come in to end the game with no real threat from the Twins.
  

Indians win 5-3.

The Twins defense had been stellar up to this game, but it really cost them this one. Neither run would have occurred in the 11th if it wasn't for Rogers and Donaldson's errors and they had 2 more errors earlier in the game. Seeing a 4 in the last column of the scoreboard is never what you want to see. Duffey gets a blown save, and Rogers, despite a good game gets the loss (0-1)

https://www.dynastyleaguebaseball.com/GameRecap.aspx?OrgID=116202&GameID=7fa4716eb7914feba4c65e67996d0dd7&ReportType=1

Twins 7-5 _ 2nd Place, 4 games behind Cleveland

Other League News

The Cubs are off to a mediocre start of the season going into today's game (5-5). But they came to play in Pittsburgh today winning 17-4. They hit 9 home runs! Contreras, Almora Jr. and Baez hit 2 each, Hayward, Bryant and Bote each had one of their own as well.

San Diego and Atlanta are both struggling with 5-7 records, but a couple great games gave San Diego the win today. Hosmer went 4-4 with his 2nd and 3rd home run of the season and bringing his season batting average up to .389. MacKenzie Gore didn't make it to the 8th inning but had 14 strike outs with only 4 men on base giving him a 92 game score.

Cam Bedrosian of the Angels (4-8) out for 2 months.

Twins 2020 Season Player Stats

https://www.dynastyleaguebaseball.com/TeamStats.aspx?OrgID=116202&TeamID=10&Report=0&GameType=0&Splits=0

The Twins have 15 home runs in 12 games which isn't bad, but are still 10 bombs behind the Astros. Their .239 team batting average puts them in the bottom half, just above the Tigers...which definitely says something about the Twins start of the season.