MIN 3, DET 2: Colomé Holds on for 6-Out Save

Box Score

Maeda: 6.0 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K

Home Runs: None

Top 3 WPA: Colomé .374, Polanco .235, Robles .114

Bottom 3 WPA: Garver -.185, Sanó -.080, Cruz -.032

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs):

Baddoo Stays Hot

Akil Baddoo continued to torture his former organization in today’s game. In the bottom of the second, Baddoo got the scoring started with an RBI triple. He followed that up in the next half inning, when he made a great play and throw to nail Andrelton Simmons, who was trying to turn a single into a double, to leadoff the inning.

Matthew Boyd Controls Twins Bats Early

The Twins stacked their lineup with right-handed hitters against the lefty Matthew Boyd, but they were unable to get anything going against him through the first four innings of the game, as they mustered just two singles, with five strikeouts. It wasn’t until Byron Buxton drilled a double off the right-field wall to leadoff the fifth that the Twins even had a runner in scoring position. The Twins were able to capitalize off Buxton’s leadoff double, as he advanced to third on a groundout from Miguel Sano, and then came in to score on a sac-fly off the bat of Willians Astudillo, evening the score at one a piece.

Wilson Ramos Home Run

The game didn’t stay tied for long, thanks to Wilson Ramos who drilled a one-out home run down the line in left. Off the bat, the ball didn’t appear to be hit high enough to get out, but the ball was hit hard enough that it stayed up just enough to clear the fence, giving the Tigers a 2-1 lead.

Twins Have Big Sixth Inning

After the Tigers reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the fifth, the Twins put together a strong sixth inning to give themselves the lead. In the top of the inning, the Twins bats put together a two out rally that started with a single from right-fielder Kyle Garlick. Nelson Cruz followed that up with an infield single, where he was initially rule out, but after a successful challenge from Rocco Baldelli the call was overturned. Jorge Polanco then came up huge, driving a double in the left-center field gap that was able to bring Cruz to score all the way from first, giving the Twins the 3-2 lead.

In the bottom half of the inning, it was the defense that bailed out Kenta Maeda, who was struggling to get hitters out. First it was Andrelton Simmons, who completed a strong relay on a Miguel Cabrera double to throw out Willi Castro at home. After a Jeimer Candelario walk and a Nomar Mazara single, the bases were loaded with just one out, with Jonathan Schoop coming to the plate. Maeda was able to get Schoop to flyout to Kyle Garlick, who ended the inning with this great throw.

https://twitter.com/BallySportsNOR/status/1379872802057170949

Kyle Garlick’s Big Start

With a lefty on the mound for the Tigers, it was not surprising that Kyle Garlick replaced Max Kepler in the lineup. However, it was surprising that he was he was hitting second in the order ahead of Nelson Cruz. Garlick proved that to be a great move, as he collected two singles to get on base in front of Cruz, which included the two-out single in the sixth that sparked the Twins rally to take the lead. Then he backed it up in the field with that throw to get Miguel Cabrera at home to preserve the Twins 3-2 lead.

Colome Secures Two Inning Save

With Taylor Rogers and Tyler Duffey having pitched yesterday, and Alex Colome coming off three days rest, Rocco Baldelli turned to Colome in the eighth inning to get six outs to end the game, and that is exactly what he did. Colome allowed a single in the eighth, but that was erased with an inning ending double play. He then got the middle of the Tigers order 1-2-3 in the ninth to end the game with Akil Baddoo standing in the on-deck circle.

Postgame with Maeda

https://twitter.com/BallySportsNOR/status/1379893056850292743

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet