The Minnesota Twins blew a 6-run lead as the bullpen would cost the team a chance to increase their lead in the AL Central.
Kyle Gibson got the start tonight and though he struggled mightily, he would outlast New York Yankees starter Domingo German. Gibby tossed 5 innings of 5-run ball and was only able to secure 3 strikeouts. The overwhelming Twins offense would knock out German in the 4th inning as he was only able to make it through 3 and 2/3 innings. Though the Twins would go on to drop this one by a score of 14-12 in 10 innings.
Twin Takeaway – The good
The offense was superb once again tonight pounding the Yankees pitchers to the tune of 12 runs. Miguel Sano did his best to carry the team to victory but not even his mammoth 2-run shot in the bottom of the 8th was enough to overcome the usual bullpen woes. Sano also hit a 3-run dinger in the bottom of the 4th to extend the lead to 6. Jorge Polanco and Nelson Cruz went back-to-back in the third to give the Twins the early 3-2 lead.
Polanco finished the night 3-5 and led the way in the hits department being only a triple shy of his second cycle of the season. Eddie Rosario, Luis Arraez, Jason Castro, and Sano would each chip in 2 hits apiece in the loss this evening.
Twin Takeaway – The not-so-good
At this point, there’s no hiding the glaring weakness in the Twins organization – pitching. Tonight both the starter and the bullpen struggled to gain any sort of momentum. I’m curious about what will finally be the last straw for the Twins front office in making a bullpen or starting rotation move. Will it be when the Indians are in 1st place? Let’s hope it doesn’t get to that. It was a truly sad showing by the Twins pitching staff.
The Twins bullpen went from respectable and established arms to rookies that should still be starters at this point in their careers. Not sure what happened but the front office needs to get it together.
MLB debut
Cody Stashak made his major-league debut this evening against one of the best offenses in baseball, behind the Twins of course. Stashak pitched two innings and though he allowed 4 hits, no damage was done thanks to his 3 strikeouts. Thanks to a brilliant showing from the young Minnesota Twins pitcher and with a bullpen clearly in need of arms, he may just stick through the remainder of the season.
The Twins finish up their 3-game series with the New York Yankees tomorrow evening with Jake Odorizzi facing off against J.A. Happ. It should be a good one, let’s hope the pitching decides to show up for the Minnesota Twins.