Gud Twins Tourney, Twinkie Town Title, Game 3: All this happened, Mauer or less

Chicago White Sox v Minnesota Twins — Putting “Mauer power” back into the lexicon. | Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images

Batters up!

Game 3 Lineups

WONDER YEARS	INSIDE BASEBALLERS
20 – Lew Ford – CF	25 – Byron Buxton – CF
8 – Nick Punto – 3B	24 – Tom Brunansky – DH
20 – Rich Reese – 1B	6 – Tony Oliva – RF
2 – Zoilo Versalles – SS	30 – Jimmie Hall – LF
11 – Jacque Jones – DH	2 – Zoilo Versalles – SS
23 – Bobby Kielty – RF	14 – Kent Hrbek – 1B
40 – Marty Cordova – LF	9 – Rich Rollins – 3B
7 – Rob Wilfong – 2B	7 – Joe Mauer – C
12 – Mark Salas – C	4 – Steve Lombardozzi – 2B
21 – Joe Decker – RHP	16 – Frank Viola – LHP

Results

After watching an early lead slip away in Game 2, the Inside Baseballers made sure not to repeat the same mistake.

Joe Mauer hit two home runs, Tony Oliva added a four-bagger of his own, and Frank Viola and Anthony Swarzak combined to keep the Wonder Years from extending their series lead, Inside taking their first trick of the series 7-2.

On the mound, Viola started off impeccably, striking out the first six batters of the game (and 10 total across six-plus innings).

While Viola mystified Wonder batters, his own lineup staked him to an early lead. Years starter Joe Decker surrendered RBI doubles in the first to Oliva and Zoilo Versalles; an inning later, Mauer took him deep:

Decker took the mound at the start of the third and walked Tom Brunansky. Oliva sent Decker to the showers with a two-run homer of his own:

Jim Hughes entered for the Years and, despite giving up a triple to Versalles, got out of the inning unscathed. Across four innings, his only other serious mistake was a ball that Mauer sent into the seats for his second homer of the game.

Viola’s shutout bid ended with an RBI double in the sixth, and after Wonder opened the seventh with a Bobby Kielty home run and Marty Cordova double, Anthony Swarzak entered to get the Baseballers out of the jam. Rob Wilfong’s single marked an auspicious start, but Swarzak struck out Mark Salas before plunking Lew Ford to load the bases. That brought Nick Punto the plate, and Swarzak won the battle, inducing a double-play grounded to leave Wonder wanting.

Swarzak eased through the final two innings, striking out four in the prelude to the Salas lineout that ended the game.

TTT (Game 2) | TTT (Game 3) | TTT (Game 4)