Twins

8/6 GAME NOTES: Twins Rally to Beat Rangers 6-5 After Berrios Gives Up Five in First Inning

It’s no surprise that the rain aided the Minnesota Twins in their 6-5 victory over the Texas Rangers today. What is unusual is how it did influence the outcome of the game.

When Jose Berrios home runs to Adrian Beltre and Joey Gallo in a five run, 41-pitch, first inning, it looked like the Twins best bet was to have the game washed away by the impending storm.

Gallo’s home run, which allegedly pegged someone on the stairs near the flags in right field, was hit so far it broke Statcast.

https://twitter.com/CJNitkowski/status/894268365036019713

Robbie Grossman singled to lead off the second inning and Max Kepler homered before the rain started to pour, but the precipitation only resulted in a 30-minute rain delay that left Jason Castro in the middle of an at-bat.

But when the game resumed a half an hour later, Jorge Polanco walked and Brian Dozier drove him in with a home run of his own. Suddenly it was 5-4 and a whole new ballgame.

“We’re getting a little more practice at it lately,” Molitor said when asked about the comeback, adding that it was the third night in a row that the Rangers scored in the first inning.

Eddie Rosario homered in the third inning to tie the game and Robbie Grossman drove in a run to take the lead in the fifth to take the lead. Berrios pitched four more scoreless innings, and the bullpen gave up only one more hit to secure the win.

“We’ve seen him grow in a lot of ways this year,” Molitor said of Berrios, who he considered putting out in the sixth inning, but held him back due to the stress on his arm as a result of throwing so many pitches in the first inning and the rain delay.

Berrios said he made some minor adjustments after viewing film in the clubhouse during the delay, but otherwise just wanted to put the first inning behind him and capitalize on the Twins second-inning comeback.

Grossman’s fifth-inning RBI was nearly negated when he tried to stretch a single into a double and was called out at the plate. The play was reviewed, and Grossman was tagged before he reached second, but by then the run had already scored.

“A little bit of a mistake that we made it so close with the out at second, and the tag at home,” said Molitor. “Kinda one of those things that shouldn’t happen at this level, and we almost got caught there, but we were able to get the run.”

Trevor Hildenberger was the first man out of the bullpen, pitched two innings and gave up the only hit among the trio that closed out the game. Taylor Rogers pitched the eighth, and Matt Belisle, who was up in the seventh, closed out the game — his first save since October of 2012.

Molitor says that the team will close by committee after trading Brandon Kintzler to the Washington Nationals at the deadline.

“To be honest, it’s a little tricky right now,” he said.

“I had Matty ready in the seventh if things went a little haywire there, and then once we got through that and saw where we were, we flipped it, and Taylor had a nice clean outing. I know he’s been searching for that for a while, so that was really good to see. And then Matty did a really nice job — no drama.”

Brian Dozier left the game with illness and is day to day.

“Light-headed, dizzy,” said Molitor. “I think he felt a little faint, to be honest with you, and I didn’t want to take any chances. He’s responded, he’s feeling better, and hopefully it was just one of those things — one and done — and there’s no repercussions tomorrow.”

Also, Miguel Sano will be getting an MRI and CAT scan tomorrow.

With the win today, the Twins are six games behind the Cleveland Indians in the AL Central and three games out of the second Wild Card spot.

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