Max Kepler had one hit in five at-bats against the Boston Red Sox. Fortunately for him and the Minnesota Twins, his only hit was his first career home run and a walk-off winner to avoid a sweep.
“It was a good moment for a good kid who’s kinda finding his way,” said Twins manager Paul Molitor. “He’s had some chances to get big hits here in his brief stint as a major leaguer, and today he had a moment to help us win a game.”
Kepler was able to focus and drive the ball despite a shift Boston played against him which put five guys in the infield. He says that he was surprised the ball left the park given how it felt coming off the bat.
“It’s not too often, probably ever, for most of these guys where they’ve seen a five-man infield. There’s a time when it makes sense to employ it,” said Molitor.
“They’re just banking on cutting off that run on the ground, and if it’s in the air, there’s a good chance it might score anyways if you get a little bit of depth. It’s a sound move, but it’s not something that a hitter is accustomed to seeing, so you probably overthink it a little bit instead of just putting a good swing on the ball.”
While the focus was on Kepler, Molitor made sure to give credit to Pat Dean, who gave up only three hits and one earned run in 6.1 innings. Before the game, Molitor mentioned the importance of Dean going deep, given that the bullpen was very taxed.
“It was much-needed,” Molitor said after the game. “We still went through a number of people there late, but he ate up some innings and he pitched well. He had a couple walks there to start the seventh, and I wanted to get him out of there on a relatively good note.”
Just as a quick clarification, as Dean says in the video above, even though he went to Boston College, he grew up a New York Yankees fan. We mentioned the Boston connection in the pregame. He says his hometown of Naugatuck, Ct. was split between Red Sox and Yankees fans.
Michael Tonkin had thrown 52 pitches in the Twins 8-1 loss to the Red Sox on Friday, but was able to get a critical strikeout of former Twin David Ortiz — who was making his last trip to the Twin Cities — to get out of the 10th inning.
“It’s not the best matchup that you would like if you got everybody fresh. I’d like to see a lefty in there, but we kinda had to go with Tonk,” said Molitor.
“He reared back. He threw 52 pitches two days ago, and there was a question about his availability even today, but he came in there, not only got through the inning, but he made some really quality pitches against probably the most valuable player in the league this far.”
The Twins head out to Anaheim for a three-game series against the Angels, which are all day games, and then return to Minnesota to face the Yankees.
“A lot of good performances, starting with Pat Dean,” said Molitor. “The bullpen did a nice job for the most part, and at least the long flight out to the West Coast will be a little bit more enjoyable.”
