Astros 17, Twins 6, Something seems to have gone awry

Houston Astros v Minnesota Twins
Astros 17, Twins 6, Something seems to have gone awry
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – MAY 31: Hector Santiago #53 of the Minnesota Twins looks on as George Springer #4 of the Houston Astros rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run during the fifth inning of the game on May 31, 2017 at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Astros defeated the Twins 17-6. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)

The Moment: In the 6th inning, there was some hope. Not much, because we all knew that the bullpen was on its way into the game, but some hope. It peaked when Jason Castro homered to bring home Chris Gimenez and make the score 6-5 in favor of the Astros. If you can believe it, the game would never be this close from that point forward.

The Hero: There is only one player in the world who can say he was drafted ahead of Byron Buxton, and that is Carlos Correa. He seems to be doing all right. He had 3 hits today, driving in three runs and scoring twice. One of those hits was a home run, which only adds to his street cred.

The Goat: Hector Santiago has flown too close to the sun. Much of the attention will be directed at the bullpen, but Santiago gave up 6 runs, including 3 home runs. That’s pretty bad too! You don’t need to use your awful bullpen if your starting pitchers aren’t awful too.

The Soundtrack: Read My Mind – The Killers. Actually, Twins, I don’t think you want to read my mind right now (hint: It’s not positive)

The Story: When things have started to go really, really bad, there is one thing I like doing to make it not seem so bad. I like to point out the things that are going well for the Twins. For example, the Twins are actually hitting really well of late. Miguel Sano was out with an illness for the second game in a row, but the team still managed to hit three home runs. Jason Castro, Brian Dozier and Eddie Rosario all collected home runs, among the 12 hits the team had.

And then there is Byron Buxton, who ended the month batting over .250 in May. He had an OPS in the upper .600s, which is definitely playable for someone with his skills in the field. Now all the team has to do is stop asking him to sacrifice bunt. If the team is going to lose by 11, going for 1 run at a time isn’t going to work out.

Other than that? Um… The game was a day game, which is super, because nobody had to watch it. Craig Breslow worked a scoreless inning, so that’s good. The Twins will be bringing up Randy Rosario for a Major League debut out in Anaheim which is exciting. Beyond that, everything was spectacularly awful. Maybe they can turn it around in Anaheim.

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