Game 17, 4-13-20

After the Twins swept the White Sox it was time to move on to Toronto. Toronto is off to a cold start (7-9) last in the AL East. This is doable for the Twins to get another sweep on the road. Game 1 matches up Homer Bailey (0-2) vs Trent Thornton (0-1). Game highlights below.

• The first two innings were a pitchers duel 12 up, 12 down between the two teams.
  
• Bottom of the 3rd - Travis Shaw was safe on an error by Polanco. The Twins started the season with stellar defense and now it seems like we are giving up errors left and right. I could change the lineups around with no Arraez or Sano to get better defense (The way the AI has the team set to run), but then we would lose some of our key bats. Overall not worth it. Jansen and Cavan Biggio walked, loading the bases. Gurriel Jr. hit a single scoring Shaw. Bichette grounded out but it scored Danny Jansen. ​Blue Jays lead 2-0
  
• Bottom of the 4th - Randal Grichuk singled, then Bailey gave up a 2 run home run to Brandon Drury, his 1st of the season. ​Blue Jays lead 4-0
  
• Top of the 5th - It took 4 innings for the Twins to get a hit in this game off Trent Thornton, it took 5 for the Twins to get a home run. Sano walked, Rosario grounded out, Buxton struck out, then Kepler hit a 2 run shot, 426 ft to dead center. This was his 6th home run of the season, only 1 behind the AL leader Michael Brantley. Despite only hitting .214 so far Kepler has been MVP of this offense. Blue Jays lead 4-2
  
• Top of the 6th - After Bailey got through a 1-2-3 inning, the Twins need some runs as time is running out. Cruz walked and Donaldson came up and hit a 444 ft blast tying up the game. Garver walked up to the batters box and hit another HR, the Twins first back to back HRs this season. Twins lead 5-4
  
• Top of the 7th - Bailey got another 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the 6th, his 4th of this game which gave the Twins a chance to expand the lead. With 2 outs, it didn't look like much was going to happen, but the Twins started to rally after Polanco got plunked. Cruz came up and watched some bad pitches go by for a base on balls again. And that was it for Thornton who gave up the mound for Wilmer Font. Donaldson made Charlie Montoyo look foolish with that move. He hit a 2 RBI double giving the Twins some cushion. Twins lead 7-4
  
• Bottom of the 8th - After giving up a double to Reese McGuire, Romo came in to relieve Homer Bailey. Despite 4 runs given up, Bailey pitched a good, very efficient game overall, game score 58. Romo got out of the inning unscathed. Twins lead 7-4
  
• Top of the 9th - Cruz walked his 3rd time this game. Donaldson must not be a friend of Wilmer Font because he has not been treating him well this game. Donaldson hit his 2nd 425+ ft HR of the game. Twins lead 9-4
  
• Bottom of the 9th - Combined Romo and Rogers gave up a couple men on base to end the game.
  

Twins Win 9-4

One, I found it weird that Romo was left in the game and they threw Rogers in there for part of the 9th when this was a blow out. It was a good way to waste 2 of our top arms when we may need them the next game. Romo has pitched 12.1 innings, has a 14-5 K/BB, and only given up 1 ER, 0.73 ERA. Rogers has pitched 8 innings, batters are hitting .107 off him, he has a whip of 0.88 and has not let up an earned run yet. The player of this game, though, was definitely Josh Donaldson. He had only 2 doubles and 1 HR going into the game. His line for this game was 5 AB, 2 Runs, 3 Hits, 1 double, 2 home runs, 6 RBI. He got more RBI and HRs in this game then he had the prior 16 games. His OPS is now up to .770; with a few more games like this, that will be very respectable soon.

https://www.dynastyleaguebaseball.com/GameRecap.aspx?OrgID=116202&GameID=3f63f11555784ec7b9bc4836d1a8ffff&ReportType=1

Other League News

In interleague play, Strasburg pitched a 2 hitter for Washington (10-6) over (6-12) Seattle. That brings his ERA down to a ridiculous 0.38 early in the season. Adalberto Mondesi of KC (8-8) hit a pair of home runs off the White Sox's (6-10) Reynaldo Lopez leading KC to the win. Philadelphia (10-7) beat Milwaukee (7-9) led by Andrew McCutchen who was a double away from hitting for the cycle.

Twins Player Stats & More

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