Eerily similar to yesterday’s game.
You can pick and choose which specific game you’d like to copy and paste into this recap, the end result is the same. Yesterday’s walk-off loss is the most obvious selection, but I would also point you to nearly any game the Twins played in the first two weeks of the season.
Things were bright on the pitching side. Desperately needing some signs of life from non-Joe Ryan starters, Simeon Woods Richardson had his best start of the season. SWR breezed through five innings on just 58 pitches, and was perfect through four innings. He was hitting his spots and avoided walking Houston batters, which typically spells bad news for the young righty.
SWR was lifted after five innings of good baseball, and while some may quibble with the choice, I think it was the right move. Houston started getting to him in the fifth and he has a very poor track record the more times he faces opposing hitters. Brock Stewart came on for the sixth and pitched a perfect inning, while Louie Varland was able to get through the seventh on just 11 pitches. Corporate Lou came back out for the eighth and was able to get out scoreless despite a lead off single.
Jhoan Duran came on for the ninth and struggled for the second game in a row. After surrendering a walk-off loss last night, it was more of the same for Duran today. He walked the leadoff batter for the second game in a row, who ultimately came around to score on a sac fly to tie the game and send it to extras. No Astros hit Duran particularly hard in either game, but as the Metrodome tells us from beyond the grave, walks will haunt.
Offensively, the Twins could do very little against 28-year-old, journeyman lefty Brandon Walter. Brooks Lee had three hits, including the Twins’ lone run thanks to a solo homer, and Willi Castro added three hits and a double of his own. The Twins had a solid eight hits for the game, but were 0-8 with runners in scoring position and couldn’t capitalize on any opportunities. I’ll give a special anti-shoutout to Carlos Correa who came up with runners in scoring position in each of his final three at-bats and wasn’t able to deliver a hit in any of them.
The 10th inning was a disaster for the Twins with the ghost runner never moving off of second base thanks to the elite work of Astros closer Josh Hader. Cole Sands was working some wizardry of his own in the bottom half of the inning, but Mauricio Dubon hit a high fly to left center that ended it. Willi Castro got out to the wall and got his glove on the ball, but wasn’t able to corral the catch. With two outs, the man on second was already at home by the time the ball landed and the Houston Astros got their second walk-off win in a row to sweep the Twins.
STUDS
- Brooks Lee: 3-4, 1 HR
- Willi Castro: 3-4, 1 2B
- Simeon Woods Richardson: 5 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 R, 4 K
- Two Inning Lou: 2 IP, 0 R in a 1 run game
DUDS
- Jhoan Duran: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 K
- Harrison Bader: 0-4, 4K
- Jonah Bride/Christian Vazquez/Jonah Bride: 0-4, 1 K each
- Carlos Correa: 1-5, 0-3 with RISP
On to Cincinnati!
