The story was Matt Garza's six solid innings Wednesday night, as he led the Twins to a 4-1 win over the Orioles at Camden Yards. In his first Major Lead road start, Garza (1-2, 6.59 ERA) allowed 1 unearned run on 5 hits. How did they score that run? Who else but that pesky Nick Markakis singled on a liner to center. (Who is this guy?!) Garza walked one with 1 strikeout in his first Big League Win. Congrats Matt!The bullpen didn't look too shabby, either. In fact, they didn't even allow a hit. Neesh came in to pitch the seventh. It took him 120 seconds and 6 pitches to end the inning. This is why Pat Neshek is 3-0 with a 0.81 ERA. Dennys Reyes (0.96 ERA) and Juan Rincon (2.44 ERA) shared the eighth with two groundouts and a strikeout. And of course, Joe Nate (1.53 ERA) came in to help even up the series with his 26th save of the season.
Rodrigo Lopez (9-12, 6.03 ERA) on the other hand, not so much. He might have a sweet name, but he stunk on the mound. He pitched six innings, allowing 4 earned runs on 13 hits, striking out three. The runs came early when Nick Punto! singled and was driven home by a Michael Cuddyer double in the first inning. Going 3 for 5, he also made an amazing diving catch out in right. The next batter, Justin Morneau singled to score Cuddy. RBI #108 for our MVP.
Torii Hunter, who's been swinging a fairly hot bat lately, smashed one to left in the fourth, his 15th homer of the year. In the fifth, after Joe Mauer doubled to left, he was sent home by a Cuddyer ground ball single to right. The only disappointment in this game was the lack of runs. With 15 total hits and two walks, Minnesota should have been able to put more than 4 runs on the board. It did got the job done.
Why did Bert insist on calling piranhas "pirantas" throughout the entire game? Anthony LaPanta totally called him out on it, too. And what exactly did Ron Gardenhire say to get ejected before even stepping foot on the field? I'm interested. You can always look at that as a good omen, though. Historically, the Twins don't lose once Gardy's been tossed.
VS. 
Boof Bonser (2-4, 5.51 ERA) will look for his third win in 10 starts Thursday night in Baltimore against Kris Benson (10-9, 4.61 ERA) - his real name is Kristin - and the Orioles.
P.S. WordUpThome has strained his left hamstring. He is day-to-day.
P.S. WordUpThome has strained his left hamstring. He is day-to-day.
2 comments:
I have to say the game went 100 times better than the stats show. Amazing AMAZING plays in the field. I love our defense to death. And I can't say I love our bullpen any less. We're blessed to have such a great bullpen. And I'm happy for Nathan getting another save. Garza was great, Torii was great. The only things I hated were the home plate and first base umpires...but no need to ruin the happy moment. Oh, and no problem about commenting!
Yea, the bullpen is just outstanding. Best in baseball, no question. And there were definitely some great defensive plays that were worth mentioning that didn't get mentioned in this post! That scoop from Castillo to Bartlett was awesome. Torii had a nice leaping grab as well. Yea, Angel Hernandez was being a jerk tonight. He didn't even give Gardy a chance to kick dirt on the plate! I'm excited to see what Boof will be able to do tomorrow...
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