For the second straight game the Twins beat the Tigers by the score of 10-4. Jorge Polanco continued his second-half surge, hitting a double and his 12th home run of the year, Eduardo Escobar hit his 20th homer and Jose Berrios held the Tigers to two runs over 5.0 innings. The victory polished off a convincing four-game sweep of Detroit.Snapshot (chart via Fangraphs)

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The Twins jumped out to a 5-0 lead by the top of the fifth inning, making for a pretty low-stress Sunday afternoon for the club. Detroit scored twice in the bottom of the fifth, but the Twins answered with a five-run sixth inning.

 

The Twins collected 12 hits, two apiece from Brian Dozier, Joe Mauer, Polanco and Kennys Vargas. Eddie Rosario drew two walks. Alan Busenitz pitched a scoreless inning, lowering his ERA to 1.50. Ryan Pressly (0.2 IP) and Taylor Rogers (0.1 IP) combined for a scoreless inning of their own. Michael Tonkin took care of the final two innings and gave up a two-run homer to Ian Kinsler in the ninth.

 

This was the 82nd victory of the year for Minnesota, giving the Twins a winning record and putting this year's club just a win behind the 2015 team with six games

left to play.

 

The Twins also now hold a commanding lead in the race for the second Wild Card spot. Clinching early would give the team an opportunity to provide the veterans some much-needed rest before amping up for that play-in game.

 

AL Wild Card Standings

WC1: Yankees 86-69 (+4.5)

WC2: Twins 82-74

Angels 76-78 (-5.0) *Sunday game in progress when this published.

Rangers 76-79 (-5.5)

Royals 76-79 (-5.5)

 

Postgame With Molitor

Bullpen Usage

Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days:

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Looking Ahead

Mon: Off

Tue: Twins (Bartolo Colon) at Cleveland (Josh Tomlinson), 6:10 pm CT

Wed: Twins (Adalberto Mejia) at Cleveland (Danny Salazar), 6:10 pm CT

 

Looking Back

MIN 10, DET 4: Twins Blow Out Tigers Bullpen

MIN 7, DET 3: Gibson, Offense Keep Rolling

MIN 12, DET 1: Once Again, The Twins Bounce Back

 

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Playing the Tigers in 7 of the last 10 games of the schedule is the best possible scenario. No team has been playing worse baseball to finish the season.

Rangers and Royals both lost today. So they are both 76-79. Angels are playing the Astros tonight.

 

Rangers and Royals both lost today. So they are both 76-79. Angels are playing the Astros tonight.

Mariners lost too. They are eliminated.

That 82nd win is pretty special: return to winning baseball, relevance, possibly the post-season, the whole shebang.

I am really surprised, and pleased, how this year has gone. I would have placed ridiculous odds on making the playoffs.

The way this is going one more win should do it!

I am really surprised, and pleased, how this year has gone. I would have placed ridiculous odds on making the playoffs.

Should have put some money on it

It sure is fun to listen to meaningful games at the tail end of September. It brings back fond memories.

I am really surprised, and pleased, how this year has gone. I would have placed ridiculous odds on making the playoffs.

Looking back at the spring training discussions, you certainly did!

I quite appreciate the Twins taking care of business and the rest of the AL pretenders making sure it is a low stress week.

Notable that 8 games over 500 marks a high water mark for the season (got there once before as well). 4-2 finishing kick would get them to 10 over.

Busenitz looks like he's going to be a key piece in the bullpen. Therefore, I'm not sure why he pitched yesterday, after pitching Saturday, when the Twins had an 8 run lead and 13 other relievers they could turn to.

Busenitz looks like he's going to be a key piece in the bullpen. Therefore, I'm not sure why he pitched yesterday, after pitching Saturday, when the Twins had an 8 run lead and 13 other relievers they could turn to.

Check the Molitor MOY/fired thread for the answer.

 

Busenitz looks like he's going to be a key piece in the bullpen. Therefore, I'm not sure why he pitched yesterday, after pitching Saturday, when the Twins had an 8 run lead and 13 other relievers they could turn to.

 

I didn't understand it either. Seemed like an opportune time to get someone like Curtiss, Moya, or hell, even Perkins some work. 

Berrios's curve ball was breaking like crazy in this game. How the heck do you hit that?