Now everything has to be perfect to make the playoffs
This was not a must-win game for the Minnesota Twins. It was a “must win or everything has to be perfect the rest of the season” game for the Minnesota Twins.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: the 100-loss Miami Marlins jumped out to an early lead.
In the top of the 1st, a Jake Burger “double-double” scored Xavier Edwards and hung an immediate deficit on Twins starter David Festa.
Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
In the 4th, Edwards & Burger again combined to produce runs—and some bases-loaded foolishness upped the Fish’s feeding frenzy to 4-0.
Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
Meanwhile, MN bats swung away on first pitches for easy outs, left runners in scoring position, and/or were doubled off bases in fashions unlucky and embarrassing.
Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
The 2014 Brigade—Caleb Thielbar & Michael Tonkin—and Griffin Jax settled down the needle-nosed opposition for a bit as Carlos Correa homered and Byron Buxton legged out an infield hit to draw the Twins within two runs—4-2—in the middle innings.
Jhoan Duran put away a clean 8th and then some good things happened:
- Royce Lewis walked
- Carlos Santana doubled (narrowly missing a game-tying home run)
Matt Blewett-Imagn Images
- Brooks Lee doubled to nearly the same spot as Santana and tied the game 4-4!
Alas, Willi Castro could not plate Lee and the infant remained bound into the 9th.
Despite some shakiness, Duran’s second inning of work again produced a zero and the Twins went right back to work:
- Buxton singled and advanced to second on a wild throw (100% due to his blazing speed)
- Correa intentionally walked
- Trevor Larch’s left-side dribbler nearly got through SS—but instead forced C-4 at 2B.
Alas (x2), a Royce Lewis dribbler in front of HP was pounced on and the inning put on ice.
Before you could say “the momentum is shifting”—or before Cole Sands could toss four pitches—the Marlins grabbed a 5-4 Manfredball advantage.
But in the bottom of the 10th, two walks juiced the bases with zero out. After a Ryan Jeffers pop-out, Willi Castro blasted a ball to CF—that MIA OFer Derek Hill made a tumbling catch on to only allow a sacrifice run to tie the game at 5-5. Austin Martin followed with a ground out and both teams played on as the crowd slowly dwindled into the night.
Jorge Alcala preserved the tie in the 11th—and AGAIN the Twins immediately went on the attack:
- Correa IBB (again)
- Larnach single
Alas (x3), with the bases loaded and one out, Lewis grounded right to the newly-installed MIA 5th infielder Javier Sanoja for a force play and Santana flew out to Sanoja (back in CF).
The seats behind home plate emptied a little further—and baseball continued on.
Scott Blewett entered in the 12th and came perilously close to living up to his surname—escaping a two-on jam.
Alas (x4), the Twins’ B12 lasted four pitches—a botched bunt from Jeffers that got Santana doubled off second, and a Castro groundout.
Fewer fans making their way to the exits—at this point it’s the sunk cost fallacy and “in for a penny, in for a pound”.
With live arms running dangerously thin, Blewett return for the 13th and allowed the Manfred Man to score on Otto Lopez’s double—6-5 Fish. After more trouble, Griffin “Son of Jeff” Conine singled to CF to increase the visitor’s lead to 8-5.
I now count roughly 12 hollow souls behind home plate.
The Twins managed to work Ghosty McGhostface around to score —8-6 M’s—in B13, but that was all that could be mustered. Alas (x5), the game fittingly ended on a weakly hit ball from Correa that he didn’t run hard on and could have perhaps been safe at 1B due to a bad throw from Marlins pitcher Darren McCaughan.
Your Final: Miami Marlins 8, Minnesota Twins 6.
Alas. What more can even be said?
The season’s endgame is now straightforward—if ugly—for the final weekend:
- The Twins must sweep the Baltimore Orioles at Target Field; AND…
- Either the Atlanta Braves sweep the Kansas City Royals OR the Chicago White Sox sweep the Detroit Tigers (hahahahahahah!)
No sweat, right?
(You may have noticed a lack of photos in this recap. Apparently, this one went too late for the folks at Getty or USA Today to stick around for. Can you blame them?)
Studs
- Everyone who came to the ballpark, watched on TV, listened via radio, or commented in the game thread all the way through. The true die-hards. #respect.
- Corey Provus’ honesty: “The Twins gave this one away”
Duds
- The Pohlads (perma-Duds for the rest of the season, methinks)
- A lack of fundamentals that likely had Little League coaches red with rage
Comment of the Game
- Not sure if SooFoo Fan was referring to the game or the season here, but the former was correct and the latter now seems inevitable.