Minnesota Twins post game: Twins get back on track

The Minnesota Twins struggled in the first two games against the Cleveland Indians but bounced back in solid fashion to win this one by a score of 4-1.

With Cleveland winning the first 2 games and tying for first place atop the AL Central, the remaining 2 games would be huge for the Minnesota Twins. Thanks to a solid start from Jake Odorizzi and a nice game from the bullpen, the Twinkies would take down Adam Plutko and the Indians to regain control of the division. With Minnesota having one of the easiest remaining schedules in baseball, a win tomorrow night could do wonders for a team striving to make the playoffs.

Twin Takeaway – The good

While the offense continues to do their part night in and night out, it was a welcome sight to see the pitching staff throw a great game from start to finish. Though Jake Odorizzi walked more batters than you’d typically like to see, the Indians left a lot of runners stranded. Cleveland went a pretty awful 1-12 with runners in scoring position.

Sergio Romo worked out of a small jam in the 6th to keep the Indians scoreless. With a runner on 2nd, Romo got Francisco Lindor to fly out to end the threat. Taylor Rogers would come on to pitch the 8th and 9th innings and only gave up 1 hit while securing 2 strikeouts. It would be the first time throwing in a few days for either of them meaning they may be available tomorrow. Though it’s a long shot, I think they’d pitch if necessary.

Marwin Gonzalez and Max Kepler led the way for the offense each launching a solo homer to add to the Twins lead. Luis Arraez kicked the run-support off for the Minnesota offense with an RBI triple and scoring on a base-knock from C.J. Cron.

Twin Takeaway – The not-so-good

The one sizable blemish for tonight’s pitching platoon would have to be Romo surrendering a solo blast to Yasiel Puig in the top of the 7th. Essentially coming in garbage time, since the run was pointless in the end, it was a rather close game when Puig launched the 455 foot homer (pardon the fantasy football reference i’m gearing up for draft season).

Though its more of how the cookie crumbles, wouldn’t you like to see some Minnesota Twins bombas with runners on base every so often? It seems as if a lot of the long-balls cranked are solo-shots. Though I’ll take a homer whether it’s a solo-blast or a grand slam, it would be nice to see some 2 and 3 run homers every once in a while.

The Minnesota Twins and Cleveland Indians finish their 4-game series tomorrow afternoon at Target Field when Jose Berrios faces off against Aaron Civale. Berrios, the ace of the staff, will be going for his 11th win against the rookie Civale who will be starting his 3rd game for the Indians. Though Civale has an outstanding ERA at .75, he’s faced the Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers in his first two starts. Not exactly the bomba squad. Go Twins!