“If this is it, please let me know
If this ain’t love you’d better let me know
If this is it, I want to know
If this ain’t love baby, just say so”
- “If This Is It” – Huey Lewis and the News
The mystique around Joe Mauer’s will-he-or-won’t-he decision regarding retirement at the end of the year was taken up another notch on Friday night during the Minnesota Twins’ 12-4 win over the Chicago White Sox.
The win capped a doubleheader sweep, but it was the sixth inning that possibly added some clarity as to where the 35-year-old’s brain currently lies on his potential retirement.
Mauer singled to right with two out in the inning against former teammate Hector Santiago, and was immediately lifted for pinch-runner Gregorio Petit.
Paul Molitor’s contention after the game was that it was all about timing — the Twins led 11-2 at the time — but the moment just felt bigger than that.
As we’ve seen Joe become increasingly comfortable with doing in recent months, he almost immediately reciprocated the love showed to him by nearly 29,000 fans on a brisk Minneapolis night, waving to the crowd and pointing in the direction of someone behind home plate.
“It was more game related and how it unfolded,” Molitor said after the game. “(In a) different score, different scenario he might have been in there until the end. But today it worked out with the lead and an opportunity to get that last hit of the day. (So we) went ahead and put Petit out there. It was a nice moment for the crowd to recognize.”
Mauer was 2-for-4 in the nightcap — which he started at DH as he did in the first game — and finished the day 4-for-8 with three runs scored and a walk as well. Mauer wasn’t alone among players who had solid days, as Robbie Grossman also kept his blazing second-half fuse lit, going 4-for-6 with two walks, a run scored and three RBIs.
But the game ball — a postgame tradition from years gone by that Mauer revived this season — went to Mitch Garver, who came back from an ailment Joe knows all too well to give the Twins a much-needed offensive boost after eking out a 2-1 win earlier in the day.
Garver finished the game — his first start in 16 days after suffering a concussion — 4-for-5 with six RBIs as he pushed his season line to a solid .268/.336/.416.
It was undoubtedly the best offensive game of Garver’s career — though defensively, he was limited to playing first base — and it also helped him clear some physical and mental hurdles that had cropped up over the past two weeks.
And it wasn’t just things he was dealing with, either.
“(It brought) peace of mind for myself and for the people that care about me…my family, my wife,” Garver said. “She was pretty concerned about the whole deal, so just to show her I’m healthy and feeling great, I’m able to play still. The relief it gave her makes me smile.”
A lot of times injuries this late in the season can result in a player shutting it down in an effort to get healthy — not unlike Eddie Rosario and Miguel Sano at present — but for Garver, it was important to find a way back into the lineup over the final few games if that was even possible, as brain injuries are especially tricky.
“That was definitely in the conversation; that we’re not going to come back at all, and just shut it down and take it into the offseason and get better,” Garver said. “But I wanted to end on the right foot. I wanted to come back and get into the offseason knowing that I’m healthy and I can really shoot for 2019 like really feeling great.”
Molitor said it was difficult to keep Garver caged over the past few weeks, but at the same time, brain injuries need to be taken extremely seriously.
“Concussions are a big deal,” Molitor said. “We want to make sure we handled it the right way and took our time. History and all those other things are a part of making sure that we get a player soundly ready to play. Our trainers do a nice job of making sure.
“He’s (been) anxious to play. He mentioned post game when we acknowledged his night that sometimes you take for granted when you have good health and you realize, kind of the cliche of the game, that ‘never take a day advantage of the big league uniform’ and he went out there and had a good night.
Garver’s night — and the Twins’ on the whole, really — got off to a fast start, as the Twins plated three runs in the first, four in the second and three in the third.
In the process, they chased White Sox starter Lucas Giolito after just 1.1 innings. Giolito allowed seven runs — all earned — and was bitten by walks as much as anything, as he allowed five hits and four free passes on the way to pushing his ERA just a touch above the original Twin Cities area code (6.13).
Santiago threw 97 pitches in relief, and gave the White Sox some length as he soaked up 4.2 innings of what was otherwise ugly baseball around him. He allowed seven hits and walked a pair of batters, but kept the damage to just four runs while his offense chipped away but never got close.
Chase De Jong also did a fine job for the Twins in his fourth start with the team.
He recorded his first big-league win by going six innings while allowing two earned runs — solo homers to Jose Rondon and Kevan Smith in the third and fifth innings, respectively — with four strikeouts, four hits and just one walk allowed.
And perhaps more importantly, after recording zero swinging strikes last time out against Oakland — in 4.1 innings of two-run ball — the 24-year-old righty got 10 in his 74 pitches against a White Sox team willing to swing early and often.
Just 14 of De Jong’s 47 strikes were called strikes, and he also stayed true to form with 12 of 14 batted balls against him registering as fly balls.
After De Jong departed, Oliver Drake, Andrew Vasquez and Aaron Slegers pitched an inning apiece to close it out, with Slegers working on a mound for the first time since he was placed on the DL with an inflamed shoulder in mid-July. He suffered a setback in early August, and needed just north of seven weeks to make his way back after he was pulled off his rehab stint.
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Notes
- This was the first time since April 17, 2014 that the Twins swept a doubleheader.
- The first home run De Jong allowed snapped a streak of 10 scoreless innings at Target Field to start his career. The first four came with the Seattle Mariners, the last six with the Twins.
- Grossman’s strong day pushed his season line up to .277/.368/.390.
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