The Minnesota Twins’ win streak came to an end Saturday evening as the Toronto Blue Jays spoiled Justin Morneau’s big day.

Box Score
John Gant: 3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
Home Runs: None
Bottom 3 WPA: Nick Gordon -.175, Kyle Barraclough -.114, Luke Farrell -.079
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

As has been the case more times than not this season, the Twins simply didn’t have the juice Saturday evening. 

John Gant took to the mound approximately an hour after the game was scheduled to begin — more on that in a second — and relatively breezed through the opening frame. However, the second didn’t go as smoothly.

Teoscar Hernandez wedged his 31st home run of the season in the ivy that coats the batter’s eye in centerfield to give the Jays a 1-0 lead. A couple of hits and a bobbled ball in rightfield later, Toronto extended their lead to 2-0, which ultimately proved enough to take down the Twins.

Minnesota’s offense was anemic all evening, mustering a meager three hits, only one of which — a Josh Donaldson double — went for extra bases. 

However, it wasn’t all doom and gloom for the Twins. Jovani Moran produced his best big league outing, throwing 19 pitches — 15 for strikes — and punching out four. Byron Buxton and Jorge Polanco picked up stolen bases, while Mitch Garver just missed launching his 14th home run, settling for a long sacrifice fly instead.

That’s about where the positives end, though. Minnesota has seven games remaining on their schedule and they’ll have to win at least four to avoid a 90-loss season.

The Twins will conclude their series against the Blue Jays on Sunday as Griffin Jax (3-4, 6.75 ERA) and Alek Manoah (7-2, 3.36 ERA) go head-to-head. First pitch is slated for 1:10 p.m. CT.

 

Morneau Enshrined
The reason the game was delayed nearly an hour was because Justin Morneau became the 34th player inducted into the Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame. The four-time All-Star and 2006 American League MVP played his first 11 seasons in a Twins uniform and wracked up 221 home runs with a .278/.347/.485 slash line. He along with his good friend and fellow MVP winner Joe Mauer formed the foundation for some of the most fearsome and fun Twins’ lineups.

Morneau’s speech was long but perfectly enmeshed inside jokes with touching commentary and memories. The entire thing can be viewed below.

Another thing that I will always remember is the way he was talked about in my hometown. I grew up in a small town in southcentral Minnesota, the same town that Morneau’s wife, Krista, grew up in. It’s one of those farming communities that dot the landscape south and west of the Twin Cities where the only place to eat is a Dairy Queen. Whenever Justin and Krista were in the area, good-natured rumors would spread like wildfire. The neighbor kid saw him riding his moped down by the park. Word on the street is that he had agreed to play with the local townball team once he retired. That kind of stuff.

While I wasn’t around to witness it, Morneau stopped by at my brother’s little league game the day after winning the 2008 home run derby with his award. The game paused in the middle innings so that all the kids could take individual pictures with him. He also recognized the rough shape of the dugouts and donated money for them to be refurbished.

For all intents and purposes, Justin Morneau is one of the “good ones” and seeing his name forever in the confines of Target Field will never not bring joy and fond memories for myself and all Twins fans.

Postgame Interviews
Coming soon

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	TOT
Barraclough	35	0	0	0	33	68
Coulombe	17	0	0	0	37	54
Duffey	11	12	0	17	0	40
Farrell	0	0	19	0	18	37
Colomé	7	24	0	5	0	36
Minaya	0	13	0	19	0	32
Thielbar	16	0	14	0	0	30
Alcalá	10	10	0	6	0	26
Moran	0	0	0	0	19	19
Garza Jr.	0	0	16	0	0	16
Vincent	0	0	13	0	0	13

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What happened before the game started was the highlight. The game itself? Well ... can't win them all.

Justin is a class act. Always has been. He was a TREMDOUS player and representative of the team and still is, He deserved better than a bad loss, but life is what it is. What could have been without serious injuries to he and Mauer? NOT life, but professional life cut short too soon.

Great award for a great player. Congrats to Morneau. We've hurt the Blue Jays in this series. It really doesn't matter if we win or lose but what we are going to do for next season. Gordon certainly has shown that he deserves a good look and Colome' may be returning since his second half has been good. We also need to resign Pineda as we have limited starters for next year. The off season should be interesting.

I want to watch that Moran vs Springer at-bat on repeat.

Twins should've tried harder to win this game for Morneau. 1st have some one better than Gant pitching.

13 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

Twins should've tried harder to win this game for Morneau. 1st have some one better than Gant pitching.

I don’t think Scherzer was available….

42 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

Twins should've tried harder to win this game for Morneau. 1st have some one better than Gant pitching.

Gant did not lose it, Rooker's Cluster-f in the outfield did.

Rooker seems to think he doesn't have to pay attention to the details. Larnach too, imo. Both either don't know yet, or don't care that the little things can be game breakers.