Extra-inning first games of doubleheaders always bode well.
You shouldn’t be able to strike out 12 and leave the game losing, but that’s exactly what Joe Ryan managed to do in the first game in the double-header.
It was a career-high mark for Ryan, who kept his pitch count economical and carved his way through the Tiger lineup across six innings of a quality start.
Really Ryan only tossed two mistake pitches, both on the splitter. The first, a first-inning pull homer allowed to Kerry Carpenter — the second, a sixth-inning RBI single off the bat of Colt Keith. Those at-bats would add up to three runs for the Detroit Tigers, enough to post a 3-2 lead over Minnesota through the game’s first six innings.
Outside of those blemishes, it was an entertaining start for Ryan, who set a career-high in punchouts. Walking just one batter, he racked up a dozen strikeouts, and only Keith’s RBI produced an earned run across 96 pitches.
Unfortunately for Ryan, the Twin offense didn’t fare too well against old friend Kenta Maeda. While he didn’t put up Ryan’s dazzling stats, he also pitched six innings, giving up two runs on just five hits. Those runs also came on two plays — a third-inning RBI double from Austin Martin (his third straight double to begin a young career), and an attempted double-play off the bat of Carlos Santana that scored the tying run when Santana beat the relay.
After the Tigers took a 3-2 lead in the 6th inning, it felt like another all-too-familiar insurmountable one-run lead for the struggling Twins offense, who brought up such depth pieces as .063 AVG/.443 OPS pinch-hitter Kyle Farmer in the top of the eighth.
Thankfully, they had another bullet in the silo (I don’t know how guns work) in Ryan Jeffers.
Now looking at a brand-new ballgame, the Twins cooked up a 2-out RISP situation in the ninth, with Jose Miranda stealing second base on a strikeout. Byron Buxton would come on to run in front of Christian Vazquez, who popped up the first pitch he saw into the sliding glove of Carpenter in short right.
Brock Stewart’s ninth inning had a bit of a wind-belayed homer scare, but he was able to send the Twins to extras for the first time this season. He passed the torch to Jorge Alcala, whose control issues plagued the start of the home tenth, before bearing down to induce a 5-4-3 double play and inning-ending strikeout with the winning run 90 feet away.
In the 11th, Ryan Jeffers returned. He’d lead off the frame with an RBI single, plating Carlos Santana from second on a subpar relay. He’d reach second in the inning but stay there after a strikeout ended Buxton’s only at-bat of the game.
Alcala stayed in for the 11th, and almost immediately coughed up the lead; after catcher’s interference brought Colt Keith back to home, the youngster roped a single to right, and Matt Wallner’s throw home was just off-line enough to ensure Spencer Torkelson scored. He’d get the next two outs — including a fielder’s choice that might have been a double play were it not for Alcala failing to cover the bag — and would escape the 11th with an infield pop-up.
At this point, we officially entered Weird Baseball.
Christian Vazquez would load the bases with a bunt after a fielder’s choice attempt failed to get Buxton screaming to third. A walk to Austin Martin would make it 5-4 Twins, before reliever Alex Lange notched two straight looking strikeouts. Then, Ryan Jeffers churned his way through a 12-pitch at-bat before cracking one down the line that went through the legs of third sacker Zach McKinstry. The two-base error plated three runs, and finally broke one open for Minnesota.
At this point, manager A.J. Hinch threw in the towel, and put McKinstry — who had just made the crucial error — on the mound. McKinstry’s bad day got worse; he walked Manuel Margot and gave up a three-run tank to Wallner, who was in desperate need of some good news.
The 7-run 12th inning was enough to lock it down; while new reliever Jay Jackson would give up one more to Detroit in the home half, the overtime outburst iced this one, and the Twins picked up a much-needed morale-boosting 11-5 win in twelve.
But don’t celebrate too hard — we’re doing all this, all over again. Roughly 30 minutes from now, Game Two will begin, and the Twins will get a crack at starting a modest winning streak; it would be their first stretch of two straight wins since their first two games of the year.
Stick around!
STUDS:
SP Joe Ryan (6 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 ER, BB, 12 K)
PH/DH Ryan Jeffers (2-for-3, HR, 2B, R, 2 RBI)
CF/2B Austin Martin (2-for-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2B, BB)
DUDS:
NO DUDS! TWINS WIN! TWINS WIN!