“Nat slaps man”
If you are an outdoor walker like me, there is a decent chance you have slapped a lot of gnats (and other various insects) this past hot-and-humid week. Today at Target Field, the Nats slapped back—taking the series from the Minnesota Twins.
It would statistically be impossible for Cole Sands to have started this bullpen-game off worse—giving up a massive home run to Washington Nationals leadoff batter C.J. Abrams. 1-0 WAS. How did the Twins respond? A four-pitch inning—featuring a double play from Willi Castro—against Nats SP Jake Irvin.
Photo by Rob Tringali/MLB Photos via Getty Images
MIN got on the board in the bottom of the 2nd when Forest Lake-native Matt Wallner launched a hole-in-one onto the RF mini-golf concourse off Bloomington-native Irvin. 1-1 tie.
Photo by Brad Rempel/Getty Images
The Abrams Show continued in T3 however when CJ singled off Danny Coulombe, stole 2nd, stole 3rd, and scored on a Luis Garcia Jr sacrifice fly. 2-1 WAS.
Photo by Brad Rempel/Getty Images
A nifty piece of first-to-third baserunning from Harrison Bader on a ground ball out to shortstop in B3 allowed him to score on Trevor Larnach sac fly. 2-2 tie.
Photo by Rob Tringali/MLB Photos via Getty Images
The see-saw continued in T4 when Daylen Lile lined a ball into the RCF gap off bulk-guy Travis Adams and motored around the base paths for a triple—quickly driven in by a Paul DeJong sac fly. 3-2 WAS.
Alas, the teeter-totter crashed down in favor of the East-Coasters in T5. I won’t go blow-by-blow because it’s hot as you-know-what and you’re probably doing something else by now anyway, but when the dust had settled it was 7-2 Nationals and the only thing “bulk” about Adams was the amount of total bases he had given up.
Nick Wosika-Imagn Images
Other things happened in this baseball game, I’m sure (I will admit to being in-and-out of a sleepy stupor after an exhausting morning walk). But none of them budged the scoreboard.
Your Final: Washington Nationals 7, Minnesota Twins 2.
After all the positivity surrounding Byron Buxton’s All-Star appearance a week-and-a-half ago, the Twins have dropped the first three series (@ Colorado, @ LA Dodgers, vs. WAS) out of the break as their playoff chances have become as swampy as the MN air.
Up next: Three at home with the Boston Red Sox (M night, T night, W afternoon).
Studs
- CC Sabathia, Ichiro Suzuki, & Billy Wagner (plus Dick Allen & Dave Parker) entering the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown this afternoon!
Photo by Houston Astros/Getty Images
Duds
- Adams: 3.1 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
- The soul-sapping, all-encompassing humidity currently parked over Minnesota. Makes me miss 40 dew point Denver last weekend.
Comment of the Game
- JustAnotherMinnesotan tells it like it is.