How then can we explain the Twins’ upsurge in the wake of Major League 3? This sorry excuse for a sequel can’t have brought much money to much of anyone. Indeed, I’m guessing I’m one of the few people who’s even seen it. And yet after it came out, suddenly the Twins were the big cheese in the AL central.
And yet no more. Prior to last season, Joe Mauer underwent knee surgery from which he never seemed to completely recover. Though he attempted several glorious returns to the big team, a return to the DL and the minors was never far away. He seemed to think he was past it this year, but today he was out of the lineup with a “bruised thumb.” Too many shampoo ads, perhaps.
Mauer seems to be the George Brett of the Twins. When he’s out, it really breaks the team’s collective back. They finished in the basement last year, and even with our terrible home luck they’re still 2.5 games behind us in the standings. So going into this game we could at least hold out some hope.
The wind started to blow ill when Amy couldn’t make the game. She got caught up enrolling at the college and couldn’t get away in time. Even worse, the class she got will make her miss both games next week and one more in July. The price we pay for knowledge.
Royals rookie Will Smith got off to an early not-ready-for-the-majors start. The Twins scored in the top of the first off a two-run homer by Josh Willingham (the first of three Smith gave up before Ned Yost gave up and yanked him in the fifth). He also did a poor job of holding runners. Jamey Carroll and Brian Dozier stole cleanly, and Ben Revere got such a big jump that Humberto Quintero didn’t even bother throwing.
Nor was our bullpen exactly stellar. Louis Coleman and Tim Collins did okay. Aaron Crow started out well but faded fast, giving up two late inning runs that helped hold the Royals’ heads underwater. On the other hand, Jose Mijares had a reasonably good outing, striking out three of the four batters he faced.
On offense we actually had a reasonably good evening. Mike Moustakas went three for four with a home run and two doubles. We even managed to tie it briefly in fourth. Then Yost had Alcides Escobar lay down a sac bunt to move runners to second and third. After the game the a-holes on the radio were riding him about having a good batter bunt with two mediocre hitters following, but his reply made sense: he wanted to get the lead if he could. Who knew Jarrod Dyson and Quintero would both strike out looking?
So Twins starter Cole DeVries didn’t fare much better than our rookie. On the other hand, Jared Burton pitched one inning and struck out all three batters he faced. Ron Gardenhire should have left him in, as Jeff Gray started the ninth and gave up two runs (one of which was on a wild pitch). But then he brought in Matt Capps to get the final out.
The Player of the Game was Moustakas. In addition to his stellar night at the plate, he made more than one great play at third. Mooooose! The Play of the Game was either Escobar’s bunt (which was great, so stuff it radio morons) or Revere trying to stretch a single into a double, assuming the throw would try to get Carroll at the plate or maybe Denard Span at third and thus falling victim to the dreaded 9-2-6-3-8 run-down.
The box score:
TWINS (10) AT ROYALS (7)
TWINS AB R H BI ROYALS AB R H BI
Denard Span 4 0 0 0 Alex Gordon 4 0 0 0
Ben Revere 5 2 3 2 Johnny Giavotella 5 1 1 0
Josh Willingham 3 2 2 3 Billy Butler 4 1 1 0
Justin Morneau 5 1 1 2 Mike Moustakas 4 3 3 2
Ryan Doumit 5 0 0 0 Jeff Francoeur 4 0 2 1
Trevor Plouffe 4 1 1 1 Eric Hosmer 3 1 1 2
Brian Dozier 5 1 1 0 Alcides Escobar 3 0 0 0
Alexi Casilla 4 1 1 0 Jarrod Dyson 4 1 1 0
Jamey Carroll 3 2 3 2 Humberto Quintero 3 0 0 0
Brayan Pena 0 0 0 1
TOTALS 38 10 12 10 TOTALS 34 7 9 6
TWINS 210 131 020 -- 10
ROYALS 010 301 002 -- 7
LOB--TWINS 6, ROYALS 4. ERR--Alexi Casilla, Alcides Escobar.
2B--Brian Dozier, Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas (2). 3B--Jamey
Carroll. HR--Josh Willingham, Justin Morneau, Trevor
Plouffe, Mike Moustakas. SACF--Brayan Pena, Eric Hosmer.
SACB--Alcides Escobar. SB--Jamey Carroll, Brian Dozier.
TWINS IP H R ER BB SO HR
Cole DeVries 5 7 5 5 0 4 1
Alex Burnett 2 0 0 0 0 1 0
Jared Burton 1 0 0 0 0 3 0
Jeff Gray 0 2-3 2 2 2 1 0 0
Matt Capps 0 1-3 0 0 0 0 0 0
ROYALS
Will Smith 4 2-3 8 7 7 2 3 3
Louis Coleman 0 2-3 0 1 1 1 1 0
Tim Collins 0 2-3 1 0 0 2 1 0
Aaron Crow 1 2-3 3 2 2 0 1 0
Jose Mijares 1 1-3 0 0 0 0 3 0
WP--Jeff Gray. SO--Josh Willingham, Justin Morneau (2),
Denard Span, Ryan Doumit, Trevor Plouffe (2), Brian Dozier
(2), Humberto Quintero, Jeff Francoeur (2), Billy Butler
(2), Alcides Escobar, Jarrod Dyson, Mike Moustakas.
BB--Jamey Carroll, Josh Willingham (2), Denard Span, Trevor
Plouffe, Alex Gordon.
Buck Seat: W--- (Competed in a triathlon? Buck would be so proud)
Guard: KU Army ROTC
Anthem: Church youth choir
Umpires:
H: Hallian
1: Fairchild
2: Marquez
3: Blazer
Time: 7:11
Temp: 90
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