The Minnesota Twins reversed a few trends en route to beating the Milwaukee Brewers 8-1 on Thursday afternoon. They won their first road game of the season. Ricky Nolasco picked up his first win in 11 months. Brian Dozier is hitting over .200 on the season. And the team got a hit with the bases loaded, ending an 0-for-10 slump in that situation.
“Whoever came up with the crappy saying, ‘They all even out,’ that’s probably the worst quote in all of baseball,” Dozier told the Star Tribune. “I felt good at the plate.”
As far as Nolasco goes, he had two injury-plagued seasons at the beginning of his four-year, $49 million contract. Now he appears to be hitting his stride in his age 33 season.
“He’s a prideful guy,” manager Paul Molitor told the Pioneer Press, “who thinks he’s got a lot of baseball left in him.”
“The slider was pretty good, and I was able to mix in some curveballs and sink the ball when I needed to,” Nolasco added. “I think the key thing today was the slider. It’s always been a good put-away pitch for me.”
Jorge Polanco doubled to lead off the game, and the Twins scored two runs in the first inning after loading the bases for Eddie Rosario, who snapped the 0-for-10 streak by scoring Joe Mauer to put the team up 2-0 in the first.
Domingo Santana returned the favor in the Milwaukee half of the first, doubling off of Nolasco to start the game. Scooter Gennett scored him to make the game 2-1, but that’s as close as the Brewers would get all night.
The Twins finished with 25 runs in their four-game split with Milwaukee. Miguel Sano hit his second home run of the season, singled home another and walked three times. Rosario collected four singles and an RBI, his first multi-hit game of the year, and Mauer doubled and walked twice. Seven players had hits, six drove in runs.
“We kept extending the lead so you have to feel good about that,” Molitor told the Associated Press. “It starts with your starting pitcher.”
[Star Tribune, Pioneer Press, Associated Press]
