Twins Video
Happ: 5.0 IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
Home Runs: Donaldson 2 (7)
Bottom 3 WPA: Happ -.345, Celestino -.174, Larnach -.155
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)
The Minnesota Twins set a strong tone early right away on Thursday night, when Josh Donaldson belted a solo home run in the top of the 1st inning to give the Twins an early 1-0 lead over the hometown Kansas City Royals. Maybe today would be the day that the Twins turned their fortunes around?
After the Kansas City Royals got two runs of their own in the 1st and 3rd innings, the Minnesota Twins tied the game again in the top of the 4th inning on a Nick Gordon RBI single, the first RBI of the infielder’s major league career.
After trading the lead back and forth in the middle innings, the Minnesota Twins found themselves down 5-4 in the 7th inning when Josh Donaldson blasted a tying solo shot to center field for his second home run of the game. The home run marked Donaldson’s first multi-homer game in a Minnesota Twins uniform and his first multi-home run game since August 25, 2019 with the Atlanta Braves. The home run capped off an excellent night for Donaldson who went 3-5 with a double, two home runs and 2 RBI.
The momentum didn’t last long though, as the Twins gave up what ultimately ended up being the deciding run in the bottom half of the 7th inning when Gilberto Celestino and Trevor Larnach misplayed a routine fly ball to left center before Celestino had a mind fart and threw the ball to first base, allowing Kansas City’s Jarrod Dyson to score from 3rd base.
On the mound, J.A. Happ was extremely inconsistent, allowing loud contact, highlighted by the 3 home runs combined from Salvador Perez and Hunter Dozier.
The Minnesota Twins bullpen pitched better than we’ve been accustomed to seeing, but in the end the Twins couldn’t overcome the lackluster start from Happ or yet another miscue in the field and the Minnesota Twins fell to Kansas City Royals 6-5. The Twins are now 10 games into their 13-game run against the lowly Royals and Orioles and are a meager 5-5 over that stretch. The Twins
What’s Next
The Minnesota Twins will attempt to turn things in the right direction on Friday evening against the Kansas City Royals with Matt Shoemaker taking the hill against Brad Keller.
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