Sunday, August
9, 2009
Sunday Game Notes
If you missed yesterday’s
Live Game Chat, please check it out here as there were a lot of great
Twins-related questions asked. I’d be curious your thoughts. I’d also point out
that there were several interesting poll questions, or at least some
interesting poll results, so check them out.
SethSpeaks.net
Weekly Minnesota Twins Podcast Tonight at
9:00 central time. The first guest will be Pat Neshek. It’ll be good to get an
update from him. I’m hoping for a couple of other guests, so be sure to check
it out.
Let’s see… The Twins lost a
tough game on Friday night due to some bad calls and subsequent let down. But
then on Saturday, hope was restored when
Carl Pavano pitched so well in his Twins debut
and the bats were able to beat Justin Verlander. With
Scott Baker facing Jarrod Washburn
on Sunday, the Twins had a legitimate shot to win a series on the road against
the team at the top of their division.
Neither Baker
or Washburn threw well at all, but
the Twins still had an opportunity to win. Baker was just fine through three
shutout innings. The Twins gave him a 3-0 lead, but he decided it made sense to
give the lead back. He gave up a long homer to Marcus Thames and then gave up hit after hit after hit. The
interesting thing is that as he started getting the ball down in the strike
zone, he started giving up the hits. That is opposite of what we are typically
told. He got out of the fourth inning down 4-3, and then he came back for the
fifth inning and gave up a two run homer to Miguel Cabrera which ended his day. Six runs in just 4.1 innings.
He gave up nine hits. Again, it was a case of something going wrong and Baker
not being able to be strong enough to get past it.
Bobby Keppel came in and went
2.2 shutout innings. He gave up four hits, but a big double play and other loud
outs helped the Twins get to the bottom of the 8th in a tie game.
But Matt Guerrier
came in and gave up two runs on two hits and an intentional walk. To be fair,
neither hit was hit hard at all, so I think Guerrier
did alright. That is hard to be upset about because there wasn’t anything that
could be done.
The offense again provided
plenty of fire power that a win was possible with even decent pitching. Michael Cuddyer
was clearly the offensive star. He was 4-5 with three runs scored and three
RBI. He had a single, his 24th double and his 18th home
run going into his final at bat. Needing a triple for the cycle, he hit a
second long home run (his 19th) which cut the lead to 8-7. Mike Redmond had three wimpy hits to
shallow right field. Orlando Cabrera
extended his hitting streak to 18 games with a single to left. Delmon Young backed up Cuddyer’s
first homer with his fourth homer. Cuddyer’s blast
cleared the centerfield wall. Young’s blast went much further than the ten foot
difference that was announced. Alexi Casilla had a very good game. He was 2-3 with a two run
triple. He also made a couple of spectacular plays on defense.
MINOR LEAGUE REPORT
Sunday -
SethSpeaks.net Hitter of the Day – Michael Harrington, Beloit Snappers
Sunday -
SethSpeaks.net Pitcher of the Day – Santos Arias, Ft. Myers Miracle – Matt Fox,
Rochester Red Wings
ROCHESTER REPORT
Sunday –Rochester 2, Louisville 7 – If you only look at the
final score, it’s hard to believe what a good, close game this was. Yohan Pino had his
best start of the year. He gave up just two runs (1 earned) on three hits and a
walk in eight innings. He struck out ten. He had a shutout threw six innings.
But with the score tied at two going into the ninth, the Red Wings put Tim Lahey in,
and you just knew what would happen next. Lahey gave
up five runs on seven hits and got just two outs. Jason Jones came in to record the final out. Dustin Martin his this 12th and
13th doubles of the season and drove in both runs. Steve Tolleson
hit his 16th double.
ROCKCAT RECAP
Sunday – New Britain 4, Akron 1 – Matt Fox had his best start in some time. The righty went
seven innings and gave up just one run. He allowed five hits, walked one and
struck out five. Frank Mata got two
outs in the eighth and gave up a hit. Anthony
Slama came in for the final four outs. He struck
out three for his 25th save. Brian
Dinkelman went 2-4 with two RBI. Brandon Roberts was 1-3 with two walks.
Steve Singleton hit his first AA
home run in the ninth inning.
MIRACLE MEMOS
Sunday – Ft. Myers 6, Sarasota 1 – Santos Arias has really
taken well to his return to a starting role. In this game, he went seven
innings and gave up just one run on three hits. He walks two and struck out
five. Henry Arias threw two perfect
innings in relief. Mark Dolenc went 3-4 with a walk and two stolen bases (which
gives him 22 on the year). Ben Revere,
Alejandro Machado and Joe Benson each went 2-4 with a walk.
Revere stole his 36th base. Jair Fernandez
went 2-5 with his 12th double and four RBI.
SNAPPERS SNIPPETS
Sunday – Beloit 9, Cedar Rapids 7 – Rainy conditions meant this game was delayed a couple of hours, but
they got it in. Michael Harrington
went 4-5 with his 30th double and four RBI. Dominic De La Osa went 3-4
with a walk and his seventh stolen base. Nate
Hanson was 2-4 with his 17th double. Bruce Pugh made the start for the Snappers. He gave up three runs
(2 earned) on six hits (two homers). He walked one and struck out three. Blake Martin came in and struck out
three in 2.1 perfect innings. Thomas
Wright pitched a scoreless eighth inning. In the ninth, he gave up four
runs on three hits and two walks, and got just one out. Billy Bullock struck out two of the next three batters out to
record his third save.
E-TWINS EXTRAS
Sunday – Elizabethton 4, Bluefield 6 – Kane Holbrooks
made his first start of the year. It didn’t go so well. In just 2.1 innings, he
gave up six runs on nine hits and a walk. Brad
Stillings then threw 3.2 scoreless innings. He
gave up two hits and a walk. Martire Garcia
came out for the final three innings and gave up no runs on one hit and one
walk. He struck out three. Derek
McCallum returned to the lineup and went 2-4 with his tenth double.
GCL TWINS GOINGS ON
Sunday – GCL Twins 5, GCL Reds 4 – Adrian Salcedo
struggled a little bit for the first time this season, but he got the win to
improve to 3-1. He gave up three runs on ten hits in five innings. He walked
none and struck out five. Kelvin Mota gave up a run on three hits in two innings. Zach See gave up two hits, but no runs,
over two innings. Brian Bistagne went 2-3 with a walk and his third double. Daniel Santana went 2-5.
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