stringer bell

Nope, he was pulled after 4 against the Blue Jays.

I know the Rays have injuries, but that bottom of the order is less than scary.

I am slowly becoming a believer in Jax. Still not totally convinced.

It's not like he's Giancarlo Stanton.

Who's up in the bullpen?

Somebody screwed up there. Who was supposed to back him up?

Not a lot of margin for error, but he has made the most out of his talent.

Good command, decent movement, and deception.

There must be gnats flying around tonight. I use a vanilla spray to keep them away, from Bath and Body Works. Surprisingly, it works very well.

I don't think that single makes up for the boot that Ramirez made in the bottom of five.

Do we miss Garza Jr.?

That wasn't a misplay.

Maybe he didn't want to call anyone a "Dick". Notice I capitalized the name.

Larnach has had many more good PAs this year, even when he eventually K'd. This past PA was a good example of that.

Kepler is faster than people think and he's really a good base runner.

Yeah, either him or Ober. Smeltzer seems a better candidate to go more than six than Ober.

I didn't think he got much of that one.

Maybe Buxton will do better without the wires and earpiece this AB.

The game is on Apple TV+. I do have that so I will get a chance to see it. Is it on any other channels?

Hello everyone! Welcome to the game thread for Friday against the Rays. What has happened in the last 24 hours? Well, the Twins hit five homers against Gerrit Cole in two and a third innings and still lost. Veteran players made baserunning mistakes and fielding blunders. As soon as a mistake was made, the Yankees (usually an ex-Twin) jumped on it. Oh well, only a game. Of course, the Twins also lost their number one prospect to injury for the season. None of the three starters for the Tampa series were in the original rotation probably the top three starters are on the Injured List, although Ryan and Winder could be back within a week. Tampa is a good team and going well. They will face Drew Rasmussen, Shane Baz and Jeffrey Springs for the series. The Twins' bats have come alive against starting pitchers, but they haven't continued to hit relief pitchers and it has cost them the chance to win games this past week. It is another key series against a likely playoff team. Lineups: Tampa Bay (34-23) HITTERS H-AB RBI HR SB AVG M. MargotDH 45-144 23 3 5 .313 H. Ramirez1B 38-134 18 2 2 .284 Y. Diaz3B 43-156 12 3 1 .276 R. ArozarenaLF 56-213 28 6 10 .263 V. BrujanRF 11-77 7 0 1 .143 I. Paredes2B 12-62 11 4 0 .194 F. MejiaC 20-85 13 2 0 .235 T. WallsSS 21-138 7 3 5 .152 B. PhillipsCF 19-111 10 4 6 .171 Minnesota (33-26) HITTERS H-AB RBI HR SB AVG L. Arraez1B 61-170 14 2 2 .359 B. BuxtonDH 37-160 28 15 1 .231 C. CorreaSS 42-147 17 4 0 .286 M. KeplerRF 41-165 27 6 2 .248 J. Polanco2B 49-206 31 7 3 .238 T. LarnachLF 32-125 18 5 0 .256 G. SanchezC 36-165 27 7 1 .218 G. Urshela3B 49-176 24 5 0 .278 N. GordonCF 31-126 7 1 3 .246 PLAYER W-L ERA WHIP IP H K BB HR D. Rasmussen 5-2 3.02 1.02 53.2 41 46 14 5 D. Smeltzer 2-0 1.93 0.93 28.0 20 13 6 2

Brutal injury news this week. Stashak and now Lewis are ruled out for the year and Alcala has a setback as well. The Lewis news impacts not only this year, but plans for 2023. Ouch!

Opt-outs are there for the player. They can use the opt-out to their advantage and often do so. I don't blame Gonzalez for utilitzing the opt-out, but I also wouldn't blame the Twins if they used him for one start and DFAed him or if they just let him go. Chi Chi is probably about tenth on the depth list and with no options would be a roster headache.

Bundy is not fooling them very often.

Don't give Bundy much rope Rocco. It would be a shame to waste the offensive explosion on a bad start.

Facebook says that this is the first time the first three hitters in a game homered for the Twins.