At last, Minnesota takes home a clutch win.
Twins and Marlins fans alike endured a tight-lipped 2-1 ballgame on Wednesday evening; to the delight of Twinkie Town readers everywhere, this tilt tipped in favor of the Twins.
The scoreless streak was squelched early, with Byron Buxton working a leadoff single and coming around to score in the first inning, with special thanks due to Brooks Lee and his one-out sacrifice fly. It was another hit and another trip around the bases for Byron, who was confirmed mid-game to not be the starting center fielder for the American League (due entirely to Javier Baez’s aura points.)
The Marlins tied it quickly; with Cory Provus mid-sentence regarding his active hitting streak, Kyle Stowers launched a solo shot to right and evened things up, 1-1.
That’s where the Marlins would be held for a while. Simeon Woods Richardson may have spent time in the dugout lobbying for a little more length, but after Rocco Baldelli pulled him after five complete innings, SWR’s line had limited Miami to just two hits and the single run. Sim walked two and struck out just three, and was removed before the heart of the order could come back around to deal with him.
So, it was not Sim who would be asked to protect Minnesota’s 2-1 lead (established after a string of hits in the fourth inning scored Willi Castro’s leadoff double.) That task instead was left up to Brock Stewart, who surrendered a leadoff double, then caught an insane break when a would-be game-tying liner struck the second-base umpire and rendered the lead runner stuck at third. He’d be stranded when Beef Stew struck out Eric Wagaman in the next plate appearance.
More trouble met the Twins relief corps in the seventh. Louis Varland gave up three straight singles, the last of which would have scored the tying run had Harrison Bader not unleashed a dart from left field and cut down Connor Norby trying to score at the plate.
Always the pranksters, the Marlins would then load the bases off Danny Coulombe and hit a near-granny warning track flyout to finally end the inning.
Things were, mercifully, much quieter for the rest of the night. Griffin Jax worked a clean eighth, and Jhoan Duran induced a game-ending double-play grounder to put this one on ice.
So, the Twins finally win another one-run game, after much speculation that such a thing would never, ever happen again. The micro-losing streak is broken for Minny, and the Marlins finally draw a loss after a solid week of games.
The Twins now have a chance to win the series tomorrow, as they attempt to enter the impending All-Star Break with a record somewhat resembling respectability. See you tomorrow for the finale!
STUDS:
2B Willi Castro (3-for-4, R, 2B)
SS Carlos Correa (2-for-4, RBI)
DUDS:
NO DUDS! TWINS WIN! TWINS WIN!