Game 14, 4-10-20

The Twins are back on the road after a much needed day off. Two rough home series losses to tough teams in Oakland and Cleveland was not what the Twins were expecting in their first home stand. But now they are up against an easier White Sox team even if they were only a half a game behind the Twins (6-6). Jose Berrios (2-1) is up against Giolito (2-1). Two aces, let's see if this ends up being a pitching duel or if one of these studs had a dud. Game highlights below.

• Bottom of the 1st - After Giolito got out of his inning just giving up a walk to Kepler and a single to Cruz, the White Sox wanted to challenge Berrios out of the gates. Tim Anderson struck out to start the game for Chicago, but then Nomar Mazara hit his first double of the year. Yoan Moncada singled moving Mazara to third, and then Moncada stole 2nd. Encarnacion hit one right to Donaldson who threw a dart to Garver and got Mazara at home for the 2nd out. But then Abreu hit a line drive to Buxton scoring Moncada before Berrios got out of a tough inning. Chicago leads 1-0
  
• Top of the 4th - There was a huge pitchers duel for the past two innings before it all started to fall apart for Giolito and Chicago...at least temporarily. Cruz singled, Donaldson and Sano walked. With one out, Rosario who has been platooning in LF this season was up. He hit a 419 ft blast to right center for his 3rd HR of the season and the Twins 1st Grand Slam of the season. Buxton followed that up with a single and Giolito got out of the inning but some major damage was done. Twins lead 4-1
  
• Bottom of the 5th - White Sox loaded the bases with two outs, and Abreu who knocked in the first run of the game was up. He hit a heck of a shot down the third base line, but Donaldson has range and snagged it to save Berrios out of that jam. Twins lead 4-1
  
• Top of the 7th - Minus the grand slam, Lucas Giolito pitched a really good game. He got a couple strike outs but gave up a couple singles as well and was replaced by Jace Fry who got the final out with Twins stranding two. Twins lead 4-1
  
• Bottom of the 7th - Anderson and Mazara started out the innings with singles a piece moving Anderson to third. Encarnacion hit a ground ball fielder's choice scoring Anderson. Twins lead 4-2
  
• Top of the 8th - Garver hit a double, and then after a walk and hit batter the bases were loaded with 2 outs for Kepler. Kepler wanted to follow in Rosario's footsteps and hit the 2nd Grand Slam of the game and all but end this one. He came close, but flew out to right field. Twins lead 4-2
  
• Bottom of the 9th - The Twins were still up 4-2 and Berrios was still pitching and pitching well. The top of Chicago's lineup was up and Anderson started it out with a single. And that was it for Berrios. 8 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 9K, Game Score 66. Taylor Rogers came in and got the first two out. One more needed to close out the game. Encarnacion walked, and Cuthbert moved to 2nd. Abreu was up again in a clutch situation and he should have grounded out, but Sano missed the ball...were errors going to cost the Twins another game? Cuthbert scored, but Adam Engel running for Encarnacion was not quite fast enough to get home and waited at third. Abreu, the winning run was on 2nd. James McCann was intentionally walked to bring up Luis Robert, a future phenom but how would he do here? Rogers induced a foul ball bloop to Donaldson to get his 3rd save and end the game. Berrios picked up the win (3-1)
  

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Minnesota is now 6-2 on the road, and with more games against .500 or below teams coming up, that should continue to improve. A much needed win. Especially since Cleveland lost to Tampa Bay!

https://www.dynastyleaguebaseball.com/GameRecap.aspx?OrgID=116202&GameID=8e877397d49e49f9b2b69114fdda6d9b&ReportType=1

Twins 8-6 _ 2nd place, 4.5 behind Cleveland

Other League News

Dodgers (9-5) walked off the Nationals (7-6) in a very nondramatic fashion sacrifice fly. Raimel Tapia ended a game in a stronger way hitting his 2nd home run of the season in the 12th inning giving Colorado (9-4) the win over Arizona (7-8). Jeff McNeil is out for 3 weeks for the Mets. Verlander moved to 4-0 on the season with 4 dominating starts. Bryce Harper had some extra inning heroics with a 2 run HR that proved to be the game winner for Philadelphia (8-6) over Cincinnati (7-6), his third of the season...surprisingly behind Jay Bruce who hit his 4th dinger of the season. Ronald Acuna Jr. wanted to join the fun for Atlanta (7-8) hitting a 2 run game winner.

Twins Player Stats and more

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