Double header sweep!
On a day that started with more bad injury news this time from Carlos Correa, it was refreshing to see the team respond with two big wins. This time around, they rode the pitching, though not necessarily the names you would expect.
Simeon Woods Richardson, the 27th man for the doubleheader, took the mound and pitched as well as you could ever hope for a spot start. After adjusting his mechanics a bit to get a bit more velocity on his pitches, SWR displayed his improved mix and baffled the Tigers’ lineup all afternoon.
The Tigers only real threat against Woods Richardson only came because he essentially forgot to cover first base, allowing Detroit to build some traffic. After getting out of that jam with only 1 run allowed, he retired the final 14 Tigers he faced and put himself in a great spot to pick up his first win.
With the bullpen depleted, Kody Funderburk came out for the 7th inning and faced four batters, allowing two to reach. Cole Sands came in to clean up that inning and decided just to finish the whole damn game, pitching the final 2.1 innings for the long save.
It wasn’t a great offensive day, but the bats did just enough to get the win. Byron Buxton got the scoring started with a sac fly after opposing starter Matt Manning walked the first two batters of the game. Edouard Julien later added his fourth homer of the season, all of which have been to the opposite field. The final two runs came on a big two-out, two-run homer by Willi Castro who is hopefully starting to show a little life of his own.
The finale comes tomorrow when the Twins will face Jack Flaherty. They’ll look for a series win while potentially getting back to .500 on the season, which would frankly remarkable given the early injuries and offensive struggles.
STUDS
- Simeon Woods Richardson: 6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 5 K
- Cole Sands: 2.1 IP, 0 R, 3 K, Save
- Ryan Jeffers: 2-3, four hits on the day between the two games!
DUDS
NO DUDS THAT IS A DOUBLE WIN FOR THE TWINKIES