Minnesota Twins Daily Morning Dip for October 4th, 2017
Minnesota Twins Daily Dip, October 4th, 2017
Welcome to the October 4th 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!
News and Notes
- Buxton’s amazing catch leads to early exit
- Granite able to have success in first experience playing in hometown NYC
New York Yankees 8, Minnesota Twins 4
The Twins’ first foray into the postseason in 7 years started out very well, as Brian Dozier sent Yankee starter Luis Severino‘s 99 MPH fastball into the left field seats for a leadoff home run. Dozier’s leadoff home run was the first time in MLB history that the leadoff batter in a playoff game hit a home run.
The Twins stayed after Severino, attacking his fastball and laying off his slider that he was struggling to locate. Eddie Rosario drove a pitch into the short porch of left field for a quick 3-0 lead, and the Yankees ace was pulled from the game. However, that wasn’t the best news for the Twins offense.
Ervin Santana faced 8 batters in an equally-upsetting first inning of his own, allowing 3 runs and tying the ballgame at 3. Santana had good poise on the mound, but his slider simply was not biting on the night, and as hard as he wanted to try to locate his pitches well, hitters could tee off on his slider without its trademark hard bite.
The Yankees continued to put up crooked numbers, getting a run in the 2nd and 3rd inning and 2 more in the 4th off of Santana and Jose Berrios, brought in to relieve in this game. Meanwhile, Yankees relievers Chad Green, David Robertson, Tommy Kahnle, and Aroldis Chapman combined for 8 2/3 innings of relief, allowing just one Twins run on just 5 hits allowed, walking 3 and striking out 13. Chapman’s strikeout of Joe Mauer for the final out capped off the night with a strike three pitch that registered 103.7 MPH.
On the night, Santana threw 2 innings, allowing 4 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks, allowing 2 home runs and not registering a strikeout. Brian Dozier had the big night for the offense, with a home runs, a single, and a walk. Eduardo Escobar had a pair of singles. Eddie Rosario had a home run and a walk. Max Kepler had a double and a walk. Jorge Polanco had a single and a walk. Byron Buxton stole a base.
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Notes from around baseball
- 2018 Draft order set
- Weird stats from 2017
- Postseason times set through Saturday
- Most popular MLB jerseys revealed
- Statcast for NL Wild Card game
- How postseason teams were built
- Sale looking forward to October
- YouTube and MLB partner for World Series streaming
- Astros owner sends plane to Puerto Rico for relief effort
- Bauer gets the ball for game 1 of ALDS
- Yankees/Indians could turn into battle of bullpens
One Last Thing
While Minnesota Twins fans wake up this morning disappointed after a tough loss to the Yankees, today’s tid bit is about another piece of history – where the Twins also lost.
Before 1969, the American League and National League would have a season-long battle, culminating in the team with the best record in each league at the end of the regular season going to the World Series. That changed with the expansion of 1969 and the creation of divisions in baseball. Suddenly, there was a round before the World Series, called the League Championship Series.
In 1969, the American League had a definite two-team tier at the top of the league, with the Baltimore Orioles winning 109 games, and the Minnesota Twins winning 97 games. Luckily, they were in opposite divisions, so it worked out that in the first year of playoffs, the best two teams in the American League met for the opportunity to go to the World Series.
On October 4th, 1969, the Twins and Orioles played the first ever ALCS game with Jim Perry taking the hill for the Twins and Mike Cuellar throwing for the Orioles. Both starters went 8 innings and allowed 3 runs, and that was the score after 9 innings, sending the game into extra innings, where the game would not be decided until Mark Belanger led off the bottom of the 12th with a single and was sacrificed to third base before Paul Blair drove him home with a swinging bunt.
The final run was the Orioles’ first run scored on anything but a home run, as Frank Robinson, Boog Powell, and Belanger each homered off of Perry. Tony Oliva had a big game for the Twins with a home run and a double, but the rest of the Twins offense was shut down well by Orioles pitching.