Here’s a blanket statement that on the surface probably won’t surprise anyone: History is not on Kyle Gibson’s side. We aren’t talking about his ERA coming into the game, though that could have doubled as the prefix of a Twin Cities-area phone number.
We aren’t even talking about his numbers since coming back from Rochester, though his ERA was approaching 5.00 with an OPS against of over .900 since returning from his exile.
Rather, we’re talking about Gibson pitching on July 4 — something he had done twice prior to drawing the task again in 2017.
Gibson’s second career start came on July 4, 2013, and he was absolutely pummeled by the Yankees, allowing eight earned runs on 11 hits in 5.1 innings in a 9-5 loss — the first of his big-league career. That included giving up multi-hit games to such luminaries as Zoilo Almonte, Luis Cruz, Travis Hafner, Ichiro Suzuki and the post-apocalyptic version of Vernon Wells.
The next year, Gibson again drew the start against the Yankees at Target Field, and this time didn’t record an out in the third inning in a 6-5 loss. The final line: six runs, five earned, six hits, no strikeouts and a walk. This time, Gibson threw 52 pitches and got just one swinging strike against a Motley crew including Brian Roberts, Kelly Johnson, Zelous Wheeler and Brendan Ryan. The opposing starter was Chase Whitley. Sam Deduno took over after Gibson departed.
But Tuesday afternoon was different, as Gibson pitched into the seventh inning for the first time all season in a 5-4 win over the Los Angeles Angels. In fact, the last time he recorded an out in the seventh inning prior to Tuesday was his final start of last season — a 6.1-inning outing in which he fanned eight Royals on the way to a 7-6 Twins win.
“That’s the goal every five days is to go out and do that,” Gibson said after the game. “It was just one of those days where I thought Gimmy and I had a really good plan. We were on the same page for 99 percent of the day. He’s been really good back there.”
The Twins have beaten the Angels in five of six matchups in the season series.
Gibson didn’t have the swing-and-miss stuff going Tuesday (11 whiffs) that he did against the Royals (17), but he did manage to keep a Mike Trout-less Angels offense at bay for 6.2 innings, scattering five hits and a pair of walks with four strikeouts. The only real damage done to Gibson was a home run off the bat of Kole Calhoun in the sixth inning — a solo shot to right field.
“I thought Gibby again showed progress,” said manager Paul Molitor after the game. “When he ran into troubles, it was usually when he tried to be too fine. But I think overall he threw the ball well today. He got us fairly deep.”
Both teams broke through in the second inning. The Angels struck first blood as Yunel Escobar poked the first pitch of the frame back up the box for a single, and came across to score on a Luis Valbuena double to right six pitches later. Gibson rebounded to get Andrelton Simmons to ground out to his counterpart at short, got a line drive to short off the bat of Nick Franklin with the infield drawn in and got Ben Revere to bounce back to the mound to wriggle out of the inning with no further damage.
The Twins returned fire as Eduardo Escobar was drilled in the knee area by a 97-mph fastball from Angels starter J.C. Ramirez on a 1-2 count. Escobar stayed down for a while as Molitor and trainer Tony Leo came out to check on him, but remained in the game. Not only did he remain in the game, but he promptly stole second base as Eddie Rosario struck out swinging on a 1-2 pitch. Escobar moved to third on a bloop single off the bat of Chris Gimenez, and scored on the first of two sac flies from Ehire Adrianza on the day to even the game at one run apiece.
The Twins did not trail again for the rest of the day, though they did make it interesting.
Byron Buxton singled to center to lead off the fifth, stole second and came home on a Robbie Grossman double to right. Joe Mauer poked a 3-1 pitch into left to bring home Grossman, and the Twins led by a 3-1 margin.
The Angels cut the lead in half with a Kole Calhoun home run to right-center in the sixth, but the Twins again returned fire in their half of the inning on an Eddie Rosario double, a bunt from Gimenez and the other sac fly by Adrianza. After Adrianza plated Rosario, Buxton smashed a 1-0 pitch into the bullpen to left to cap the scoring on the afternoon for the Twins, giving them a 5-2 lead.
“It was really good to see Buck have a good day,” Molitor said. “He squared up a couple balls — including the homer. Robbie had a good day. Joe had a big RBI. I thought Rosario’s leadoff double after they had narrowed the gap was big.”
The Angels cut the deficit to 5-3 on a home run from Albert Pujols in the eighth off Taylor Rogers, who came in to close out the seventh after Gibson had walked Ben Revere. Revere came into the game with an on-base percentage of .247, and Gibson walked him on his 102nd pitch of the day. Gibson had not thrown 100 pitches in any game all season prior to Tuesday.
“Rogers had a good day,” Molitor said. “Albert got him; he’s not the first.”
Brandon Kintzler closed the door in the ninth for his 22nd save of the year — tied with Alex Colome of the Tampa Bay Rays for second in the AL behind Craig Kimbrel and third across MLB (Greg Holland of Colorado has 27) — but it was not without a bit of perspiration.
Simmons battled back from an 0-2 count to single back up the box, and moved to second on a walk to Franklin. With two on, no out and Revere coming up, a bunt seemed like a likely choice. Revere bunted the 1-0 pitch foul, then grounded into a fielder’s choice as Adrianza’s relay throw was errant to Mauer, allowing Simmons to streak home and cut the Twins’ lead to just 5-4.
Kintzler bore down and got catcher Martin Maldonado — who entered the game in the top of the seventh after Eric Young Jr. was announced as a pinch-hitter for Juan Graterol but was immediately swapped out when Molitor brought in Rogers — to ground into a game-ending 5-4-3 double play, giving the Twins a win on Independence Day for the third time in eight tries in Target Field history.
Listen to Brandon every week on Midwest Swing
