Luke Keaschall had a fractured forearm, and the Angels’ pitchers were not very good.
Luke Keaschall’s forearm was fractured by a HBP, since we can’t have nice things. Pablo López stuck it out for five innings in his return from the IL. The Twins scored a lot, and my mind went elsewhere. Inning-by-inning notes:
1: Shaky start by for Pablo, not his fault. Ty France is not a Glove Master, to put it mildly, and can’t handle a slightly-off Julien throw. But Julien starts a nice DP to get Trout with two on, so all are forgiven.
Winnebago is sponsoring the Twins’ Dock section, because nothing says “lake cabin” like a Winnebago? Actually I know a couple that brings their Winnebago to their cabin, so I guess it works. Their Winnebago has a name, Stella. I have no idea why they call it Stella.
The bases are loaded for Carlos Correa with one out. What do you think happens? Actually, not the worst I could imagine. Sac fly. The bases are sobering up. Kyle Hendricks threw 31 pitches, which would normally be a good sign for the hitting team, except that Hendricks is the Angels’ #5 starter, so chasing him early isn’t a big deal. Twins 1-0
2: Uh-oh. A walk to Nolan Schanuel and more Maginot Line defense for France make it first-and-third with one out. Repeat this after a Score Hit, make it second-and-third after a steal. López needs a trillion pitches to get nearly-washed-up (but universally loved) Tim Anderson to line out; he’s at 49 on his first game back from injury. Over/under on bullpen innings for the Twins is Lots. Hendricks finishes his inning with fewer pitches than Pablo. Tied 1-1
3: Pablo has it easy except in facing Trout, who is still a good patient hitter after this many years of wasting his talent on crummy teams. Guy’s a baller.
Luke Keaschall, who’s had a Joe Mauer-like (or Chris Colabello-like) start to his MLB career, is out. He was HBP in the first inning, and Mickey Gasper replaces him. He gets HPB too, and scores on a Larnach double. Buxton strokes a dong. Correa whacks it too, but it goes right at a guy, which isn’t what you want in a ballgame. Not a baseball game at any rate. Twins 3-1
4: 79 pitches now for Pablo. Finito?
A Ty France walk and Brooks Lee walk put two on with nobody out… Harrison Bader walks to fill ‘em. ANOTHER WALK, thanks Hendricks! Carl Edwards, Jr. in to pitch. A sac fly from Lord Byron for the first out. September-callup-in-April Gasper gets a RBI! Larnach smokin’ pole homer! Jeffers GIDP… still, it’s never bad when nine guys bat. Win Probability Added 9-1
5: This inning was boring. Gladden and Atteberry sound like they’re drugged and under water. Pablo finishes five full, which is good, Us Team 9-2
6: I’m still not sure I believe in Louis Varland. I don’t believe in Mickey Gasper, either, but he gets his second hit of the night, so good for him! Atteberry is talking about the speed time of Trevor Larnach’s home run trot in the fourth… this is a bad radio night, people. It’s hurting my brain between my ears how dull the chatter is in this one. Buxton had a fun triple, SO HE’S ONLY A SINGLE AND DOUBLE AWAY FROM THE blah. But good score, 11-3
7: uhh
I’m not gonna lie to ya, folks, the deadness of the broadcast and the deadness of the crowd sound got to me a little bit. Let’s move to…
Studs of the game: This is the dawning of the age of Mickey Gasper, age of Mickey Gasper… MIC-KEY GAS-PER! MIC-KEY GAS-PER! Mystic crystal revelation, and the mind’s true liberation! Seriously, nice for the guy. 2-3, BB, 2 RBI. Oh yeah, that bum Larnach went 2-4 with 4 RBI and Buxton 2-3 with 3 RBI.
Duds: NO DUDS, TWINS WIN! and the radio team wasn’t into it, or maybe my mind isn’t, I dunno. I had a bunch of doctor’s appointments this week including one with a zillion shots of novocaine in my gums, and I know it’s good for me but I still hate them needles.
Comment of the gamethread goes to nagurskiinsandpoint for “My great grandpa had that album!…he was metal before it was cool.” Referring to a song I referred to, Texas metal band Bloodrock’s 1971 “D.O.A.” About which I can only say… it is unquestionably the greatest ever eight-and-a-half-minute song about gory details in a plane-plane mid-air-collison. Should I embed it? I’m tempted… nah, we’ll go with the original “age of Mickey Gasper” band, instead.
(And yeah, this is dorky as hell… but in the GOOD way. Nice voice by the lead in the second part! He’s lip-synching to the recording, but that was common at the time for promo appearances.)
Thanks to everyone who participated on the gamethread!
Tomorrow’s is an afternoon banger, 1:10. Angels pitcher Yusei Kikuchi, Twins pitcher Simeon of the Long Name. gotwinsgo!