Twins

5/21: Twins' Five-Run Rally in the Eighth Snaps Five-Game Losing Skid in 5-3 win over Blue Jays

For seven and a half innings the Minnesota Twins were caught in a familiar place. The offense had mustered just one hit — and no runs — against a capable, but not incredible starter. Their own starter had pitched rather well with the exception of one pitch. And above all, it appeared the Twins were headed to their sixth loss in a row despite not being overwhelmingly outplayed.

Then the eighth inning happened.

That’s not meant to be a pun either, as Blue Jays starter J.A. Happ (5-2) twirled seven solid innings but only recorded one out in the eighth. The out was giftwrapped as well, as Kurt Suzuki popped a bunt back to Happ after Robbie Grossman had singled and Darin Mastroianni had walked. Danny Santana poked a double down the right field line to plate both runners and tie the game, with Happ getting lifted in favor of Gavin Floyd, a familiar foe from his White Sox days.

Floyd immediately hit Brian Dozier with a pitch, and Eduardo Nunez followed that with a three-run home run — his third of the season — 417 feet to left-center on a 1-1 pitch to cap a five-run inning and give the Twins a 5-2 lead. One day after the manager lamented the number of crooked numbers put on his club in recent games — and one night after his team allowed one — the Twins had a five-spot of their own in the eighth after allowing one in the sixth of Friday night’s game.

Kevin Jepsen (S, 3) allowed a solo home run in the ninth to Michael Saunders to close the scoring at 5-3. The Twins moved to 11-31 with the win. 

For the third day in a row, a Twins starter was victimized early by a two-run home run from one of the usual suspects in a powerful Jays lineup. Darwin Barney — who had started at second base but was moved to third in the bottom half of the first after Josh Donaldson was ejected — took Twins starter Pat Dean nine pitches deep into an at-bat, ultimately doubling to right center with one out in the third inning. Jose Bautista followed it up with a 392-foot blast to the upper tank in left field, leading to cheers from a raucous crowd that was largely comprised of Blue Jays fans, perhaps on holiday from Canada, as they’re celebrating Victoria Day weekend.

Dean settled down and ultimately finished off his first MLB start with six strong innings, fanning five batters and walking three while allowing just those two earned runs. “I felt really good,” Dean said. “The way I treated it is just trying to stay competitive with every single pitch, and not worry about things that are out of my control, and just go out there and compete.” 

After Dean departed, Brandon Kintzler came on and recorded four outs, but allowed a pair of baserunners in the top of the eighth before giving way to Fernando Abad (1-0), who put out the fire with a 6-4-3 groundball double play off the bat of Smoak.

How’s that for a solid day of work? Abad threw two pitches — both strikes — and got the win.

Notes and Quotes

  • The five runs scored in the eighth were a season high for the Twins.
  • Dean was the third Twins pitcher to make his first MLB start this season. Jose Berrios (April 17) and Alex Meyer (May 3) were the others.
  • Nunez has reached safely in 25 of 28 starts this season, and is hitting .331/.367/.492 overall for the season in 128 plate appearances.
  • Santana’s eighth inning double pushed him to 5-for-11 in the series. It was his fifth double of the season.
  • The game was played in a tidy 2:19 — the Twins’ shortest game this season. The Twins’ rain-shortened win over the Milwaukee Brewers was 2:21.
  • The win was in front of a crowd of 30,460 — just the third 30,000-plus game at Target Field this season. The others were the home opener and the April 30 loss to Jordan Zimmermann and the Detroit Tigers.
  • Dean on what he thought the Donaldson ejection situation was: “I have no idea. That’s a good question. But it was nice to have him out of the lineup. I’m not going to lie. I think that’s the past two outings I’ve seen somebody ejected. That’s not a bad way to keep going.”
  • Dean on his fastball command: “I was very happy with my command. I think I lost feel for one hitter in the sixth inning. Other than that, I’m pretty pleased with it. I definitely feel like it can be a little bit sharper. So I’m planning on working on that for my next (start).”
  • Dean on if Detroit helped him prepare for Toronto: “Absolutely. The way things went in Detroit, being able to keep the game where it was definitely gave me a little bit more confidence going into a game like this. Knowing I was able to get some great hitters out definitely helped me to mentally be a bit more calm today.”
  • Paul Molitor on Nunez at the plate: “You watch him take batting practice, and he’s got a real good idea of how to take a plan up there and give himself a chance on various pitchers. He got the first hit today on the double, and he stepped up there, and you know they’re going to try go in on him there. They left one out over, and he got it. We haven’t had a lot of big hits to put us over the hump in any given game, but today we certainly got a couple of them.”
  • Molitor on how the team is handling this stretch: “It might surprise some people but I think our energy is good. It gets tough to compete when the results aren’t there, but we’re trying to focus on coming in here and trying to learn even in a somewhat dire situation. You can learn a lot about yourself and about your ability and how you’re going to handle things that’ll come your way. I really think we’ve been hanging in there as far as energy and trying to come out here each day and find something good to do.”
  • Molitor on trying to salvage a split: “You can be hopeful. A lot of times it depends on how your next starting pitcher does. We all know that too. We’ve got to come back against (Marcus) Stroman tomorrow and try to find a way to split the series which will be a tall order. I think Phil (Hughes) is hungry and ready to go. Hopefully we come back tomorrow and find a way to win another game.”
  • Molitor on the Donaldson ejection: “I don’t know what to make of that. To have his bat out of the lineup certainly doesn’t hurt our cause. After the groundout he was running back and he was saying something to somebody. His hand gestures made it look like he was saying something to our dugout but I missed that. I’m sure he knows what he was trying to do and who he was speaking to. The umpire heard something and took care of it. I’m not sure what he said or who it was directed at, but it got the umpire’s attention.”
  • Molitor on how Santana has been swinging lately: “It’s good to see him get a hit from the right side. There’s only been a couple of those. He’s taking advantage of the bunting game which is always good to see. He’s getting enough hits to contribute. We get the bad at-bats mixed in there. He’s not our best two-strike hitter. Where is he at with walks this year? Is he up to two? You’re still looking for certain things with Danny, but he’s getting enough hits and making enough plays right now.”

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