The Moment: The game was tightly contested through the first 7 hours of this 9 hour game (it was not a quickly paced affair) and was tied right up until the 8th inning. Chris Gimenez walked, and was eventually moved over to third base by the time there were two outs. Brian Dozier stepped up and dropped a home run in the right center field seats. That’s a tough part of the world to go opposite field on. The Twins added another run later in the inning to shore up the victory.
The Hero: Dozier’s well timed home run made more of an impact alone than any other individual player in the game, ergo, Brian Dozier was our hero. He also added two walks, because he isn’t a one trick pony.
The Goat: Well, Dozier had a positive impact on the game. Tommy Hunter had bigger negative impact than Dozier’s positive impact. He gave up Dozier’s home run, and the Byron Buxton RBI single that came a couple batters later.
The Soundtrack: I Don’t Wanna Know – Mario Winans – This song is dedicated to the starting pitching of tomorrow’s game. Seriously, don’t tell me.
The Story: The Twins and Rays acted like the Yankees and Red Sox on Saturday afternoon, with long at bats, long innings and a very long game. It was like those two storied AL East foes in particular because the game went into the 8th inning still tied at 2-2. It took forever, despite the fact that not many runs were scored.
High pitch counts claimed the afternoon of both starting pitchers fairly early, but they each skirted disaster fairly well. Adalberto Mejia’s afternoon suggested a change in how he was treated. He struggled early with his command, but he was able to get out of some pickles through the first few innings, and Paul Molitor let him finish the game. His game FIP was under 2! That’s mostly thanks to his 6 strikeouts and the lack of home runs allowed, even against one of the biggest bashing teams in the league. He struggled, but he got through it. Isn’t that what we want?
The Twins did bash some dingers. Dozier’s home run was the game winner, but Eddie Rosario hit one that went much further, landing in the section above where Dozier’s ended up. Byron Buxton also drove in a run in his only at bat after pinch running for Robbie Grossman, while Miguel Sano got the day off after yesterday’s train wreck, and he managed too strike out again.
The Twins can beat anyone, even when they don’t have Sano and Buxton in the starting lineup, and their pitcher scuffles early. The key is faith in that pitcher and timely hitting from those still left in the lineup. The Twin got that today. Maybe they can win the series tomorrow.
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