Minnesota Twins Daily Morning Dip for September 9th, 2017
Minnesota Twins Daily Dip, September 9th, 2017
Welcome to the September 9th edition of the Daily Dip, your daily piece of news and notes here on Puckett’s Pond. You’ll find the scores and a quick summary of every level of the Minnesota Twins organization and links to any information you need to know to follow the Minnesota Twins here every morning!
You will be seeing some changes begin to filter in this week as the minor leagues begin to finish playoffs, and the Daily Dip will begin to implement looks around the league as well at happenings in the game of baseball as a whole.
News and Notes
- LHP Hector Santiago likely done for season
- Twins to host “Big Sexy Night” in honor of Colon
- Curtiss makes Pipeline Team of the Year
- RHP Carlos Suniaga promoted to Elizabethton
Minnesota Twins 8, Kansas City Royals 5
The Twins scored in each of the first 5 innings en route to a victory on the road in Kansas City. Ervin Santana picked up his 15th win on the season, going 5 innings, allowing 4 runs on 5 hits and a walk, striking out 3. Trevor Hildenberger and Matt Belisle closed out the game with 3 scoreless innings, striking out a combined 3. Eduardo Escobar had a home run, double, and a single. Robbie Grossman had a triple, double, and a walk. Eddie Rosario had a home run, single, and a stolen base. Brian Dozier had a double, single, and a stolen base. Joe Mauer had a double and a walk.
September 9th Probable Starter: Jose Berrios @ Kansas City, 6:15PM CT
Chattanooga Lookouts 2, Montgomery Biscuits 0
The Lookouts got excellent pitching again and another big hit from T.J. White, and that’s all they needed for the victory, putting them one win away from a Southern League co-championship. Felix Jorge was the starter, going 6 innings, allowing 3 hits and a walk, striking out 4. Todd Van Steensel and Gabriel Moya combined for 3 perfect innings of relief with 4 strikeouts. Jonathan Rodriguez had a single and a walk. T.J. White knocked in both runs with his home run.
September 9th Probable Starter: TBD vs. Montgomery, 6:15PM CT
Cedar Rapids had the day off.
September 9th Probable Starter: Tyler Watson @ Quad Cities,
6:30PM CT
Elizabethton Twins 8, Pulaski Yankees 7
The Twins jumped out early and held on as the Yankees made a furious 7th inning comeback. Moises Gomez started the game, going 5 innings, allowing 3 runs on 4 hits and 3 walks, striking out 6. Jovani Moran closed out the game in dominant fashion, throwing 2 1/3 perfect innings, striking out 4. Akil Baddoo, had a triple, double, and a walk. Jose Miranda had a pair of walks and was hit by pitch. Mark Contreras had a home run and a single. T.J. Dixon had a pair of singles. Gorge Munoz and Carson Crites each had a double and a walk. J.J. Robinson had a pair of walks. Rainis Silva had a single and a walk.
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- Minnesota Twins: Grading the Twins’ Joey Gallo signing
Minor League Pitcher/Hitter Of The Day
Pitcher: Felix Jorge, Chattanooga – 6 innings, 3 hits, 0 runs, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts
Hitter: Akil Baddoo, Elizabethton – 2-4, run, double, triple, RBI, walk
Notes from around baseball
- The link between a recovering Houston and its baseball team
- Indians make it 16 straight wins
- Taylor hits inside-the-park grand slam in wild Nationals win
- Tigers turn triple play
- Yanks and Rays moving series to Citi Field due to Hurricane Irma
- Braves play poor song choice with Marlins as Irma bears down on Florida
- Darvish fastest starter to 1,000 K’s
- Ryan Braun hits 300th home run in Brewers win
Next: Twins Minor League Awards
One Last Thing
The flexibility and production of Eduardo Escobar has been very impactful for the Minnesota Twins this season. As Escobar clubbed his 16th home run of the season Friday evening. Knowing the Twins had some history with flexible players impacting the team, like Cesar Tovar, Nick Punto, and Denny Hocking, I wanted to see where Escobar’s home runs ranked among a flexible player in the Twins lineup.
Doing a Play Index search with Baseball Reference, I looked for those who had played at least 5 games each at 2B, 3B, and SS in a season. That showed that already Escobar has taken over the most home runs for anyone who played that utility role before tonight’s home run as the previous high was 12, hit by Escobar himself in 2015 and also by Eduardo Nunez in 2016.
Looking back, the top batting average from a utility guy in Twins history was Denny Hocking in 2000, who hit .298 over 433 plate appearances. He and Jeff Reboulet (1995) share the best on base with a .373 mark, and Johnny Goryl in 1963 had the best slugging percentage with a .540 mark.