Twins Notes
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Twins swept by Blue Jays.
Wow. The Twins now have put themselves in a predictament. Due they buy at the deadline and hope that they can turn this season around? Or do they sell and just work on the future? The Twins were leaning towards buying before the series, but after a 3-0 sweep from the Toronto Blue Jays of all teams, it may make the management think otherwise.
The game started out fine, Carlos Silva was cruising until the 5th inning. He gave up a single followed by a double to start the inning. Lyle Overbay came up with runners on 1st & 3rd and delivered a 2-run double to center field.
At that point, the Twins were still in it thanks to an RBI single by Justin Morneau to drive in Luis Castillo after a leadoff double.
But in the 6th inning, things got really ugly. This is what it said on my computer screen:
Bottom 6th: Toronto
- F. Thomas walked- M. Stairs grounded into fielder's choice, F. Thomas out at second- A. Hill safe at first on third baseman L. Rodriguez's fielding error, M. Stairs to second- G. Zaun doubled to right, M. Stairs scored, A. Hill to third- J. McDonald tripled to deep center, G. Zaun and A. Hill scored- D. Reyes relieved C. Silva- T. Glaus hit for H. Clark- T. Glaus singled to left center, J. McDonald scored- L. Overbay walked, T. Glaus to second- J. Rincon relieved D. Reyes- A. Rios singled to left, T. Glaus scored, L. Overbay to second- V. Wells walked, L. Overbay to third, A. Rios to second- F. Thomas singled to right, L. Overbay and A. Rios scored, V. Wells to third- M. Stairs doubled to deep left center, V. Wells scored, F. Thomas to third- M. Guerrier relieved J. Rincon- A. Hill grounded out to shortstop- G. Zaun homered to deep right, F. Thomas and M. Stairs scored- J. McDonald lined out to right center
11 runs, 7 hits, 1 errorsMinnesota 1, Toronto 13
There's nothing really to talk about after that. The only things that were good for the Twins in this game were Ramon Ortiz & Joe Nathan pitching 2 scoreless innings (sad that this is such a good thing). Luis Castillo went 2-3 with 2 doubles and Justin Morneau went 2-3 with his 86th RBI of the season. That's pretty much it.
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Darnell McDonald optioned back to AAA Rochester
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After the game on Wednesday, the Twins optioned outfielder Darnell McDonald back to Rochester. McDonald's stay with the Twins was premature, and went just 1-10 in his limited playing time. He had his first hit as a Twin in yesterday afternoon's game against the Blue Jays when he had a pinch hit single in the 9th inning.
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Brian Buscher will be recalled and will be with the Twins in time for Friday's game against the Cleveland Indians. Buscher was pulled out of Wednesday's game for Rochester in the 5th inning. He went 0-2 in his first 2 AB's before being pulled. The 26 year old 3rd baseman was selected by the Twins in the Rule V draft in December out of the San Francisco Giants Organization. He started the season in New Britain and hit .308/.391/.478 with 7 HR's and 37 RBI in 63 games (247 AB's). He was promoted to Rochester on June 21st and hit .313/.385/.530 with 6 HR's and 20 RBI in 35 games (115 AB's).
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The Twins hope to have Buscher as their 3rd baseman for the rest of the season, after Nick Punto has yet to pull out of his season-long slump. The 29 year old utility player is hitting .218 in 94 games (321 AB's) this season. Despite his great defensive performances he puts on on a nightly basis, the Twins are struggling too much offensively and can't afford to have his bat in the lineup anymore. If Buscher can hit anywhere near what he has been hitting so far this year, he'll have the gig at 3rd for the rest of this year, and likely next year as well.
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Hopefully Buscher can't show up the Giant's Organization like Joe Nathan, Francisco Liriano & Boof Bonser have already done in the last couple years. All I have to say so far, is thank you Brian Sabean.
Minor League Updates
Rochester Red Wings lost to the Syracuse Chiefs, 8-1.
Hopefully the next time I'm writing about Dave Gassner, it will be that Anthony Swarzak (or somebody else) is taking his spot in the rotation. The 28 year old left hander has been horrible the last 3 months and he didn't help himself on Wednesday. He gave up 4 runs in 5 innings of work. He did strike out 8, but that was the only positive. The bullpen wasn't any help neither. Jason Miller allowed a run to score while pitching 2 innings of relief. Brad Baker gave up 3 in his solo inning. The offense wasn't anything to be pleased with either. Garrett Jones went 1-3 with his 30th double of the season, where was that in Minnesota? Chris Heintz went 1-3 as well with his 10th RBI of the season.
New Britain Rock Cats lost to the Connecticut Defenders, 3-0.
The Rock Cats couldn’t get any runs, despite the fact that Anthony Swarzak pitched one of his best games of the season. The 21 year old went 7 shutout innings and struck out 11 batters. J.P. Martinez couldn’t preserve the shutout and in just 1/3 inning, he already gave up 2 runs. Jose Mijares gave up another run in 2/3 inning. The offense didn’t have a single extra base hit. Trevor Plouffe, Luke Hughes, Rashad Eldridge and David Winfree all had a hit apiece. Felix Molina had 2 hits and a stolen base.
Ft. Myers Miracle lost to the Lakeland Flying Tigers, 3-2.
Jay Rainville just can't get any offensive support this season. The right hander lost his 10th game despite allowing just 3 runs (2 earned) in 5 1/3 innings pitched. He currently has an ERA of 3.60 which has to be the most frustrating thing. The Miracle's offense has been very bad all season. One of the usual contributors, Brian Dinkelman continued his strong play with his 5th home run and 15th RBI of the season. Steven Tolleson, Juan Portes, and Erik Lis all had doubles as their ownly hits of the evening.
Beloit Snappers.
No Games Scheduled.
GCL Twins beat the GCL Pirates, 6-3.
Danny Berlind has been great all season, and that didn't change on Wednesday. The 6'7'', 19 year old right hander went 6 innings allowing just 1 run on 5 hits while striking out 4. Andrew Schmiesing had 2 RBI's in the game, so did Jon Waltenbury but his came off of his 2nd home run of the season. Yangervis Solarte, Juan Richardson and Wang-Wei Lin all had 2 hits in the game (along with Waltenbury). Ben Revere went 1-4 with his 3rd double of the season. Danny Rams went 1-4.
Elizabethton Twins vs. the Kingsport Mets.
Both games of the doubleheader were rained out.
1 comments:
Swarzak with another good game, he has been very solid since coming back after the suspension.
Hopefully he can stay clean and continue developing.
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