The Minnesota Twins were on the verge of spoiling Jake Odorizzi’s 5.2-inning, ten-strikeout performance when Logan Morrison hit a single high off the right-field wall to score Brian Dozier and Max Kepler, scoring the go-ahead runs in the Minnesota Twins 3-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers.
Morrison, who was hitting .145/.253/.250 in the first month of the season, nearly clobbered his sixth home run of the season for a grand slam, but it was enough to ensure that the Twins would not be swept at home in the border battle with Milwaukee.
“I was just thinking get a pitch over the plate and hit it hard somewhere,” said Morrison, who is hitting .296/.397/.556 in May. “We’ve been close the last two games, just hadn’t come through. It was good to come through there and get us the W.”
Morrison was a bit slow getting out of the box, perhaps because he thought he had hit a grand slam.
“I knew I got it but I didn’t know if it was going to be high enough,” he said. “I think it’s a homer anywhere else, but oh well. Let’s just draw a line like five feet up and we’ll be good.”
The Twins had squandered an opportunity in the fifth inning when Byron Buxton hit a leadoff single, advanced to third on a stolen base and catcher Jett Bandy’s errant throw to second. Max Kepler drove him in with a single, but was caught stealing and Eddie Rosario struck out to end the inning.
“The homestand hasn’t gone particularly well to this point with the big series with the Tigers coming up,” said manager Paul Molitor. “Obviously, you want to salvage a game against a team that is playing good baseball in all facets.
“Jake went out there and pitched outstanding baseball. He had one walk after a 3-2 foul ball and just missed on a pitch. He got to a situation where he tried to get the last out and tried to go up in the zone against a guy who had a really good series and somehow he was all over it. It was deflating at the time but we hung with it. Our bullpen did a really good job and we were able to muster a rally with LoMo getting the big hit.”
Jesus Aguilar, who hit .600 in the three-game series, connected on what looked like a junk pitch high outside the zone for his third home run of the series.
“Maybe a little bit higher, but I threw him, what, maybe one fastball today?” said Odorizzi when asked what he wanted to do with that pitch. “And that might have been the one. So it’s kind of hard to go against what would have been working well for me.
“The first two sliders were pretty good. I just wanted to put a ball up there and change eye level and go back to the slider, but he hit it. It kind of is what it is. I went with what my strength was and he got on top of it.”
Odorizzi likely would have gotten out of the sixth inning, had it not been for a Hernan Perez’ bloop-single. But Taylor Rogers, Ryan Pressly, Addison Reed and Fernando Rodney held the Brewers scoreless, and Minnesota avoided the sweep.
“We’re not scoring a ton of runs right now so we have to pitch well,” said Molitor. “It’s those little things we talk about when the games are tight. Pitching is probably the largest component. We got a good start and our relievers did their jobs.”
Odorizzi definitely did his, and Morrison came through when he had to.
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