Powder Blue Powers Minnesota Twins Win
Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports
Retro Day doesn’t come to Target Field until Thursday, but it was in Miller Park on Tuesday night. The Minnesota Twins wearing their 1980’s jerseys did something the Twins really didn’t do a lot of in the 80’s… win. Of course, we exclude 1987 for obvious reasons; the Twins were only eight games over .500 during the 1987 regular season though.
Back to Tuesday night’s action, the powder blue uniforms supplied some power for the Twins. The Twins scored six runs in the ballgame with five of those runs coming via the long ball.
The score was tied 1-1 after a Ryan Braun RBI in the first and a Josmil Pinto RBI single in the second when Josh Willingham once again boosted his trade value by blasting a three-run shot in the third. Martin Maldonado notched an RBI single in the fourth in an attempted comeback, but Brian Dozier put that to rest with a two-run home run in the fifth inning giving the Twins a 6-2 lead.
All six runs came off of Brewers starter Yovani Gallardo who only went five innings in the ballgame giving up eight hits while striking out six. Sam Deduno was on the mound for the Twins and wasn’t horrible but wasn’t really efficient. Deduno only gave up two runs on six hits, but gave up four walks and only lasted five innings himself.
Deduno was helped out by good fielding and making hitters hit to where the Twins were positioned with the fielding squad turning three double plays on Tuesday night.
The Twins again went with a parade of relievers pitching an inning each: Matt Guerrier, Jared Burton, Casey Fien and Glen Perkins for the save. Lyle Overbay knocked in a run during the eighth to make it a 6-3 game and give Perkins a save opportunity. Glen Perkins made his job interesting by walking two, but only one scored on a Ryan Braun sac fly making the final 6-4.
Brian Dozier had a solid game. The homer is the obvious highlight, but Dozier reached base every time he stepped up to the plate going 3-for-3 with a walk. Dozier is now hitting .246 in his fight to make the All-Star team.
Only two Twins struck out twice on Tuesday: Josh Willingham and… Sam Deduno.
The Twins and Brewers are done in Milwaukee, but both squads travel to Target Field for two more starting on Wednesday night.