The Moment: Despite the way that score looks, the Twins actually had the lead early on. They held the lead, actually, until the 5th inning, which made Rougned Odor’s two run single seemingly even more important. Many more runs were scored, so even though it was important at the time, I don’t think anyone even remembers it anymore.
The Hero: Rougned Odor really only had that one big hit, but he did single and walk at other points in the game. While the Rangers went out and blew the game wide open, opportunities to significantly swing the WPA, especially for the Rangers, were dramatically reduced. Way to corner the market, Rougned.
The Goat: Tyler Duffey seemed intent on not securing a promotion back to the rotation. He worked 2/3rds of an inning and, though he didn’t have any earned runs against him, he did let all of Taylor Rogers’ inherited runners score. What a jerk.
The Soundtrack: We Fly High – Jim Jones. Oh man, do you remember Jim Jones? If you do, it’s because you remember this song, and remember it from a commercial for a product I don’t recall.
The Story: The Twins took an early lead, with a 2 run blast from Eduardo Escobar setting the pace. Hector Santiago gave the impression that he was performing at the pace we had grown accustomed to from him this season. Secretly, though, he wasn’t having as good a night as he has on other April occasions. The big issue was that he wasn’t hitting his targets, and pitch counts skyrocketed. He kept the Rangers off the board until Odor’s RBI single in the 5th, but by that point, he was gassed.
And then it all went to hell.
The Rangers scored 4 times in the 6th inning, thanks to some solid work from Taylor Rogers and Tyler Duffey. The Rangers did the rest of their work via long distance connections. Matt Belisle proved he belonged in the Twins bullpen by allowing a grand slam to Ryan Rua. That hurt bad. Unwilling to be outdone, Michael Tonkin came in and allowed a 2 run blast to Shin Soo Choo. These are the Twins of 2016.
They are off tonight, so I’m sorry that this is how you get to interact with the team this evening.
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