God, what an utterly stupid game. Zac Gallen was going for us. Turns out it didn’t matter who was going for the Twins, though for the record it was Taj Bradley. Our Mr. Gallen really outdid himself tonight, though. His ERA was was sitting at a cool 5.35 at the start of the game; it was 6.10 by the time he checked out with no outs in the fifth. Yilber Diaz made his debut in relief, and recorded two outs, and by the time he hit the showers, his ERA had reached 94.50 for the season so far. So yeah. It was like that.
Basically, it was garbage time the whole way through. Okay, maybe not through the first three innings—Gallen gave up two in the first, to make it 2-0 Minnesota, but then actually recorded two quick, clean innings in which he only threw 17 pitches total. But he got nickel-and-dimed in the bottom of the fourth, as the Twins started the inning with a strikeout followed by five straight singles before Gallen recorded the second out, and then there was a sixth single and a walk before the frame finally ended with four more runs having crossed the plate and the Twins batting around to bring the score to 6-0 Minnesota.
For whatever it was worth, Gallen was only at 72 pitches at that point, and most of us in the Gameday Thread had come into the game simply hoping that Gallen would eat some innings since last night we wound up using eight relievers. But Gallen came out for the fifth, gave up a triple and two singles on nine pitches, and Torey Lovullo made the choice to pull him. In came Yilber Diaz, fresh off the bus from Reno, and things really didn’t get any better. Diaz surrendered a single, a walk, and a Byron Buxton grand slam before recording the first out of the inning, and then three more singles, a double, and yet another triple before finally being pulled after only recording two outs total and allowing Minnesota to bat around on him alone. His seatmate on the bus up from Reno this morning, Philip Abner, took over and finally recorded the third out of the inning, but not before ten more runs had crossed the plate. 16-0 Minnesota
Then it really was garbage time, of course, with both teams swapping out their starters to give their bench players some at bats. Our boys made the most of ours and made the box score look a little bit respectable at least if you didn’t drill into the details. Adrian Del Castillo led off the fifth with a single, and scored two pitches later on Jorge Barrosa’s second home run of the season to narrow the gap to 16-2 Minnesota. We got five more back in the seventh thanks to Twins reliever Justin Lawrence, who walked four batters and then gave up a double and a single to get us to 16-7 Minnesota. Barrosa doubled to lead off the eighth and was driven in by Tommy Troy’s RBI single to cap the scoring at 16-8 Minnesota.
On the upside, at least, Abner pitching three scoreless innings in total, before giving way to Ildemaro Vargas, who wasn’t even in the lineup to start the game, and Ildemaro pitched the last five out
Basically, it was garbage time the whole way through. Okay, maybe not through the first three innings—Gallen gave up two in the first, to make it 2-0 Minnesota, but then actually recorded two quick, clean innings in which he only threw 17 pitches total. But he got nickel-and-dimed in the bottom of the fourth, as the Twins started the inning with a strikeout followed by five straight singles before Gallen recorded the second out, and then there was a sixth single and a walk before the frame finally ended with four more runs having crossed the plate and the Twins batting around to bring the score to 6-0 Minnesota.
For whatever it was worth, Gallen was only at 72 pitches at that point, and most of us in the Gameday Thread had come into the game simply hoping that Gallen would eat some innings since last night we wound up using eight relievers. But Gallen came out for the fifth, gave up a triple and two singles on nine pitches, and Torey Lovullo made the choice to pull him. In came Yilber Diaz, fresh off the bus from Reno, and things really didn’t get any better. Diaz surrendered a single, a walk, and a Byron Buxton grand slam before recording the first out of the inning, and then three more singles, a double, and yet another triple before finally being pulled after only recording two outs total and allowing Minnesota to bat around on him alone. His seatmate on the bus up from Reno this morning, Philip Abner, took over and finally recorded the third out of the inning, but not before ten more runs had crossed the plate. 16-0 Minnesota
Then it really was garbage time, of course, with both teams swapping out their starters to give their bench players some at bats. Our boys made the most of ours and made the box score look a little bit respectable at least if you didn’t drill into the details. Adrian Del Castillo led off the fifth with a single, and scored two pitches later on Jorge Barrosa’s second home run of the season to narrow the gap to 16-2 Minnesota. We got five more back in the seventh thanks to Twins reliever Justin Lawrence, who walked four batters and then gave up a double and a single to get us to 16-7 Minnesota. Barrosa doubled to lead off the eighth and was driven in by Tommy Troy’s RBI single to cap the scoring at 16-8 Minnesota.
On the upside, at least, Abner pitching three scoreless innings in total, before giving way to Ildemaro Vargas, who wasn’t even in the lineup to start the game, and Ildemaro pitched the last five out
1 month ago
