As most of the season has gone, the Minnesota Twins found themselves in an early hole, fought back to take the lead and then found themselves in yet another close race after allowing their opponent to get back into the game.
Yes, this seems to be the recipe for most of the Minnesota Twins’ season but on Tuesday, it just so happened to be against the Philadelphia Phillies who have ran into equally turbulent times.
In the end though it was the Vikings beating the Eagles…excuse me, the Twins (22-48) beating the Phillies (30-42) by a football-esque score of 14-10.
After starter Tyler Duffey allowed the Phillies to score an early run, the Twins rebounded with four runs in their portion of the first with the exclamation point coming off a two-run triple by Trevor Plouffe.
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The Phillies regained the lead off Duffey with a pair of two-run home runs off the bats of Peter Bourjos and Tommy Joseph.
Cameron Rupp followed Joseph’s homer with a solo shot of his own to make it 6-4.
That’s when the Minnesota Twins’ offense came back to life and directly on cue, regained the lead.
Kurt Suzuki tied things up with a two-run double, Byron Buxton gave the Twins the lead with a sacrifice fly to left and Suzuki came around to score on a throwing error by Freddy Galvis.
Suzuki came up big once again in the fifth with a two-run home run of his own to make it 10-6 while Robbie Grossman came around to score on a triple by Brian Dozier.
And what an important run that was.
Michael Tonkin had an easy seventh inning but struggled in the eighth, getting two outs but allowing four runs, capped off by a three-run blast off the bat of Maikel Franco.
The Twins added another run in the eighth when pinch hitter Eduardo Escobar drove in Joe Mauer on a sharp liner to right.
And then Suzuki, the man of the hour, drove in another pair of runs with a double to left, his fourth hit of the game.
Brandon Kintzler took it over from there and shut the door on the Phillies.
MVT: Kurt Suzuki
The Minnesota Twins will host Game Two of the interleague home stand against the Philadelphia Phillies and will send Kyle Gibson (0-5, 6.06) to the mound. Philadelphia will counter with Adam Morgan (1-6, 6.49). First pitch is set for 7:10 P.M. CST at Target Field.
And if the ERA’s between the two starters is any indication, Game Two may also be a very fun, offense-heavy game to watch.
In other Twins news, MLB.com is reporting the club has signed first-round pick Alex Kirilloff for full slot value for the No. 15 pick.
The Minnesota Twins have not yet confirmed it but if the news is true, it’s good to see the club being able to get the signing/negotiations out of the way so Kirilloff can focus on baseball.