Re: Lan's Minnesota Twins (The Show 09)
April 17th, 2009
Six Run Fifth Propels Twins to 8-4 Victory
Minneapolis (AP) - Sometimes all it takes is one bad inning to make or break a ballgame. John Lackey got a harsh reminder of that reality today courtesy of the Twins. Lackey cruised through the first 4 innings allowing 3 hits and 1 walk before things turned ugly, and fast, as he would allow a total of 7 hits and 6 runs in the bottom of the 5th.
It was the bottom of the order that actually got to Lackey first in the fifth with Casilla and Punto both singling to center and right respectively. Gomez would drive in Casilla from 2nd and setup 1st and 2nd with no one out. Then, what was intended to be a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position by Span turned into an infield single loading the bases up with nobody out for the newly acquired Nomar Garciaparra. Nomar simply knows how to get the job done in those situations as he is a career .328 hitter with RISP and .359 with the bases loaded. He would indeed deliver to start the Twins explosion driving in two and setting up first and third with still nobody out.
Mauer would make it 4-1 with a sacrifice fly to left field. Morneau, who struggled all game, struck out looking to make it two outs and pulled the Halos closer to getting out of the inning with the game still somewhat within reach. It wasn't to be however, as Juan Rivera made a terrible decision on a sinking liner off the bat of Delmon Young, electing to go for a diving catch instead of playing it off the hop and holding him to a single. Instead, the ball would get by to the wall scoring Nomar, and advancing Young to second with a double making it 5-1. Kubel would drive in Young from second on a shot back up the middle, finally chasing Lackey from the game. Casilla would record his second hit of the inning off reliever Moseley on a blooper, but Moseley would force Punto to line out preventing any further damage.
The Angels would not lay down as they scored three runs in the top of the 6th to pull it back to within two at 6-4. Liriano was only able to record one out in the inning before deferring to Matt Guerrier. Guerrero led the inning off with a double, and was driven in by Mike Napoli. Rivera lined out to left, and was Liriano's lone out. After giving up a single to Abreu and a walk to Hunter, he was lifted. Quinlan jumped on Guerrier's first pitch lining one into center and knocking in two of Liriano's runners and putting guys on 1st and 2nd with 1 out. Aybar would ground out slowly to first and Morneau's only play was to the bag to make it 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs. Guerrier made a great pitch to Figgins forcing him to squib one back to the mound. It was not an easy play by any means to get the speedy Figgins, but the throw was in time to get him to get out of trouble.
Guerrier would stay in the game until 1 out in the 8th before the ball was turned over to Breslow who required the final two outs of the 8th as the Twins middle relief chipped in with 2.2 scoreless innings. The Twins would get two insurance runs in the bottom of the 8th on a surprising two run homer from Carlos Gomez (who went 2 for 4 with 3 RBI and 2 runs scored for a change). Joe Nathan would close things out, despite it not being a save situation as he has only appeared in two games thus far this season and needed some work out of the pen.
Box Score
April 17th, 2009
Six Run Fifth Propels Twins to 8-4 Victory
Minneapolis (AP) - Sometimes all it takes is one bad inning to make or break a ballgame. John Lackey got a harsh reminder of that reality today courtesy of the Twins. Lackey cruised through the first 4 innings allowing 3 hits and 1 walk before things turned ugly, and fast, as he would allow a total of 7 hits and 6 runs in the bottom of the 5th.
It was the bottom of the order that actually got to Lackey first in the fifth with Casilla and Punto both singling to center and right respectively. Gomez would drive in Casilla from 2nd and setup 1st and 2nd with no one out. Then, what was intended to be a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position by Span turned into an infield single loading the bases up with nobody out for the newly acquired Nomar Garciaparra. Nomar simply knows how to get the job done in those situations as he is a career .328 hitter with RISP and .359 with the bases loaded. He would indeed deliver to start the Twins explosion driving in two and setting up first and third with still nobody out.
Mauer would make it 4-1 with a sacrifice fly to left field. Morneau, who struggled all game, struck out looking to make it two outs and pulled the Halos closer to getting out of the inning with the game still somewhat within reach. It wasn't to be however, as Juan Rivera made a terrible decision on a sinking liner off the bat of Delmon Young, electing to go for a diving catch instead of playing it off the hop and holding him to a single. Instead, the ball would get by to the wall scoring Nomar, and advancing Young to second with a double making it 5-1. Kubel would drive in Young from second on a shot back up the middle, finally chasing Lackey from the game. Casilla would record his second hit of the inning off reliever Moseley on a blooper, but Moseley would force Punto to line out preventing any further damage.
The Angels would not lay down as they scored three runs in the top of the 6th to pull it back to within two at 6-4. Liriano was only able to record one out in the inning before deferring to Matt Guerrier. Guerrero led the inning off with a double, and was driven in by Mike Napoli. Rivera lined out to left, and was Liriano's lone out. After giving up a single to Abreu and a walk to Hunter, he was lifted. Quinlan jumped on Guerrier's first pitch lining one into center and knocking in two of Liriano's runners and putting guys on 1st and 2nd with 1 out. Aybar would ground out slowly to first and Morneau's only play was to the bag to make it 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs. Guerrier made a great pitch to Figgins forcing him to squib one back to the mound. It was not an easy play by any means to get the speedy Figgins, but the throw was in time to get him to get out of trouble.
Guerrier would stay in the game until 1 out in the 8th before the ball was turned over to Breslow who required the final two outs of the 8th as the Twins middle relief chipped in with 2.2 scoreless innings. The Twins would get two insurance runs in the bottom of the 8th on a surprising two run homer from Carlos Gomez (who went 2 for 4 with 3 RBI and 2 runs scored for a change). Joe Nathan would close things out, despite it not being a save situation as he has only appeared in two games thus far this season and needed some work out of the pen.
Box Score
Code:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LAA 0 0 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 4 12 0 MIN 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 2 X 8 12 0 Los Angeles Angels BATTING AB R H RBI BB SO AVG Figgins, 3B 5 0 1 0 0 1 .293 Kendrick, 2B 5 0 1 0 0 1 .278 Guerrero, RF 4 2 3 0 0 0 .395 Napoli, C 4 1 2 2 0 0 .364 Rivera, LF 3 0 0 0 0 0 .389 Abreu, DH 4 1 1 0 0 1 .279 Hunter, CF 3 0 2 0 1 0 .262 Quinlan, 1B 4 0 2 2 0 1 .261 Aybar, SS 4 0 0 0 0 0 .143 Batting Totals 36 4 12 4 1 4 BATTING 2B: Guerrero 2 (2) RBI: Napoli 2 (10), Quinlan 2 (2) HBP: Rivera GIDP: Guerrero, Aybar, Quinlan PITCHING IP H R ER BB SO ERA J. Lackey (L, 2-1) 4.2 10 6 6 1 5 3.63 D. Moseley 2.1 1 0 0 0 1 0.00 D. Oliver 1.0 1 2 2 1 0 2.70 Pitching Totals 9.0 6 3 3 1 9 Minnesota Twins BATTING AB R H RBI BB SO AVG Span, RF 5 1 2 0 0 0 .373 Garciaparra, 3B 3 1 2 2 1 0 .250 Mauer, C 3 0 0 1 0 0 .213 Morneau, 1B 4 0 0 0 0 2 .370 Young, LF 4 1 1 1 0 3 .296 Kubel, DH 3 1 2 1 1 0 .394 Casilla, 2B 3 1 2 0 0 1 .432 Punto, SS 4 1 1 0 0 0 .289 Gomez, CF 4 2 2 3 0 0 .184 Batting Totals 33 8 12 8 2 6 BATTING 2B: Young (3), Kubel (4) HR: Gomez (1) RBI: Mauer (6), Young (10), Garciaparra 2 (7), Gomez 3 (6), Kubel (6) SF: Mauer SAC: Casilla BASERUNNING CS: Span (1) PITCHING IP H R ER BB SO ERA F. Liriano (W, 2-0) 5.1 8 4 4 1 4 5.19 M. Guerrier (H, 1) 2.0 2 0 0 0 0 2.45 C. Breslow (H, 1) 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 3.60 J. Nathan 1.0 2 0 0 0 0 3.00 Pitching Totals 9.0 12 4 4 1 4
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