Twins

9/16 GAME NOTES: Estrada Shuts Down Twins as Blue Jays Roll, 7-2

Marco Estrada used a fastball-changeup combination to shut down the Minnesota Twins lineup on Saturday in a 7-2 win for the Toronto Blue Jays. Estrada went eight innings, giving up three hits, two runs and kept a no-hitter intact until the fifth inning.

“Threw a lot of strikes, and mixed in a few curveballs — mostly it was the fastball, change-up combination. I’m not sure how many outs he made on the changeups, but there was a lot,” said Twins manager Paul Molitor.

“He was just one of those guys, when he’s got command of those pitches, you get in-between. It seemed like we were late on that fastball, and either that or getting under it. And the changeup, we were out front and we saw some underwater-type swings that we just couldn’t slow ourselves down enough to make some good contact.”

Eddie Rosario broke up the no-no in the fifth inning with a solo shot, and Eduardo Escobar tacked on another run with home run in the eighth. Brian Dozier had a hard single in the sixth and Joe Mauer had a double in the ninth, but other than that the Twins couldn’t muster much against the Toronto righty, who came into the game with a 4.96 ERA.

“You get out front, and you’re gonna have a tendency to get under the ball,” Molitor added. “I don’t think we hit [a changeup] hard until Dozier singled off of what might have been off[-speed], and then Esco got a changeup later on too.”

Adalberto Mejia made his first start since August 8th and lasted only three innings.

“I thought Mejia’s stuff was good. Some of the selection and location might have been off a little bit, and he had to pay the price for that,” said Molitor, who added that Mejia will make his next start, which will likely be Thursday in Detroit.

“I don’t have any qualms about him going back out there. Again, I think that his velocity was there. His slider was good. Change-up, they all played.”

Outside of Trevor Hildenberger, who came into the game with a 2.39 ERA and 0.956 WHIP, the bullpen took care of business. Dillon Gee went 2.1 innings and only gave up a hit and a walk, and Alan Busenitz, Micahel Tonkin and Gabriel Moya — who came over in the John Ryan Murphy trade — only gave up one earned run.

Hildenberger, however, gave up four hits and two earned runs and didn’t record an out.

“We had a little bad luck with Hildy there, and they were able to separate themselves there at the end,” said Molitor, referring to the three runs that Toronto scored in the eighth inning.

“Well, the first one [Teoscar Hernandez], a tough play, but we had a chance. [Josh] Donaldson, we had three guys over there, and he still got it through. And stolen base, and intentional walk and then an acute shot — [Jose] Bautista couldn’t have thrown it out there any better.”

Hildenberger said he didn’t feel burned by the shift and understood that sometimes pitchers run into bad luck.

“Sometimes the ground balls find holes, sometimes they don’t,” he said. “Tonight they just hit them where they weren’t. The ground balls found holes, pop-ups found holes — I don’t feel too bad. I think my job’s to throw strikes, make them put it in play, try to induce some weak contact and I feel that I did that tonight.”

With this loss, the Cleveland Indians have clinched the AL Central. Twins hold a 1.5 game advantage in the Wild Card, but all of a sudden fans have gone from saving up for playoff tickets to staying up to see how the Los Angeles Angels do against the Texas Rangers tonight.

Twins
Minnesota’s New Relievers Have Intriguing Breaking Ball Offerings
By Lou Hennessy - Mar 16, 2024
Twins
Griffin Jax Is Ready To Become Minnesota’s Next Elite Arm
By CJ Baumgartner - Mar 13, 2024
Twins

Why Are So Many Twins Pitchers Throwing Gyro Sliders?

The Minnesota Twins are starting an organizational trend. Much like the sweeper last season and the splitter this season, pitchers add or tweak pitches to fit league-wide […]

Continue Reading