Can’t win them all.
They say you can’t win them all, and boy did the Twins not win this one.
This game was pretty much out of hand by the third inning. David Festa, making his first start as a semi-permanent member of the rotation in place of Pablo Lopez, had trouble hitting his spots, leading to plenty of A’s hits and long at-bats early in the game. The first three batters of the game reached on two singles and a walk, putting the A’s on top before Festa was able to enjoy the warm Las Oakramento afternoon. Festa struck out the next two batters, but Max Muncy (not that one) hit a three-run bomb to give the Athletics a four-spot in the first inning.
Festa pitched a clean second, hoping to do his best Zebby Matthews rebound impression, but gave up two more homers and three runs in the third. Down 7-0 and wanting to save the bullpen arms as much as they could, Rocco Baldelli sent Festa back out for the fourth where he was fairly effective, getting the first two batters before walking Lawrence Butler and reaching his pitch limit. With the game out of hand Rocco turned to mop-up man Jorge Alcala where things immediately went south. Alcala needed 26 pitches to get the final out of the inning, allowing Festa’s inherited runner and three batters of his own to score in the process.
Kody Funderburk pitched the next two innings and was able to be fairly efficient, which is the most important thing a pitcher can do when you’ve allowed 11 runs already. Infielder Jonah Bride finished pitching this one, going two innings while allowing fewer runs than Alcala did. Chalk that one up as a win.
Offensively, there wasn’t much to talk about here. With the A’s leading by so much early, their pitchers were largely just pounding the zone while the Twins’ hitters had equally uninspiring at bats. Matt Wallner hit a homer though, so that’s neat.
This game got so out of hand that at one point color commentator Trevor Plouffe started comparing various Twins players and media members to Lord of the Rings characters. Justin Morneau was deemed Treebeard, one of the Ents. Dan Gladden was Legolas, of course, for his straight, blonde hair. Harrison Bader, interestingly, was named Gimli after the LoTR dwarf. Honestly Trev, I was with you until then. I’ll need that one explained to me.
STUDS
- Matt Wallner: 1-3, 1 HR, 1 BB, 1 RBI, 2 R
- Gimli, Son of Gloin, Elf-friend, Lockbearer, and Lord of the Glittering Caves
DUDS
- David Festa: 3.2 IP, 6 H, 8 R, 2 BB, 6 K, 3 HR
- Jorge Alcala: 0.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 HR
The Twins are finally back home tomorrow to take on the Toronto Blue Jays who quietly have themselves back in the playoff race after going 8-2 in their last 10 games. I would expect a roster move to get someone like Randy Dobnak or Darren McCaughan with the club before then to add some length to the bullpen.