Minnesota Twins: Duffey, Offense Struggle in Opener
After winning their first home series since April, the Minnesota Twins followed that up with a tough night for both the pitching and offense.
Oh boy what a rough freefall the Minnesota Twins are finding themselves in right now.
Pitching wise, it has been nothing shy of a struggle as the Twins (18-42) just haven’t been able to find a quality start.
This trend continued as the Boston Red Sox (35-25) topped the Minnesota Twins, 8-1 to take the first game of the weekend’s three-game series.
The Red Sox were doing it all against the Twins on Friday night. Xander Bogaerts got things started with a three-run home run in the fifth.
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Boston came back in the sixth inning and peppered together some hits to double the lead, 6-0.
It wasn’t until the eighth inning until the Minnesota Twins finally got on board when hot-hitting Robbie Grossman drove in Eduardo Nunez on a groundout.
However, any hope for a comeback was stopped when Jackie Bradley Jr. tripled to left and drove in a pair of runs.
Again, it was an overall rough start for the Twins but one the team and it’s fans unfortunately are getting used to.
Tyler Duffey showed little ability to prevent opposing batters from getting on base as he allowed 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings with six runs – all earned.
His inability to miss bats was just icing on the spoiled cake for Duffey who struck out just three.
This was definitely not the way the Minnesota Twins wanted to start a weekend series against one of the East’s best teams.
Final. 8. 14. 1. 2
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. Robbie Grossman. OFFENSE . D. 8 hits, 2 walks, 8 strikeouts, 0 home runs. It’s a bit tough to pick a top player when all the team is able to muster is one run on eight hits but nonetheless, Grossman is the man. He put together some strong at-bats, collected a hit, the lone RBI and walked twice. Other than that, the Minnesota Twins struck out eight times and left 14 on base. An overall rough effort.
F. Team totals: 5 1/3 innings, 10 hits allowed, 0 walks, 6 earned runs and 3 strikeouts. Yet another very bad outing and something becoming a bit too commonplace for the starting staff. Duffey struggled to miss bats and allowed 10 hits and six runs. There’s really no other way to put it, if the starting staff is allowing these kind of numbers, you won’t win many games. At some point, the hope is something will give and someone or a few someones will step up for the Minnesota Twins.. . Tyler Duffey. STARTERS
Kevin Jepsen. RELIEVERS . C. Team totals: 3 2/3 innings, 6 hits allowed, 2 earned runs, 1 walk, and 5 strikeouts. <a href=.
Byung-ho Park. DEFENSE . B. <a href=.
MVT: Robbie Grossman
The Minnesota Twins will face the Red Sox on Saturday at 1:10 P.M. CST. Kyle Gibson (0-3, 6.10) will return to the mound after a little over a month on the Disabled List. He’ll be tasked with shutting a red hot team on very hot day. Boston will send Eduardo Rodriguez (1-1, 5.40) to the mound.