The Minnesota Twins came into this beautiful Mother’s Day afternoon contest looking to put the finishing touches on a Target Field sweep of the San Francisco Giants. It took a rollercoaster, game-of-the-year candidate, 3+ hours of baseball to decide the fate, but at the end of the day: Mission Accomplished!
Spoiler Alert!
Photo by David Berding/Getty Images
Right away, the Giants took advantage of a bout of Pablo Lopez wildness to push a first-inning run across on a Heliot Ramos sac fly (scoring Mike Yastrzemski).
Ramos proved pesky again in the 4th, blasting an oppo-taco 2-run tater to extend San Fran’s lead to 3-0.
Ramos feeling it in the early goings
Matt Krohn-Imagn Images
But in the Twins’ 4th, the bats finally started cutting through the unseasonably warm May atmosphere against SF starter Landen Roupp: a Trevor Larnach infield single was immediately followed by a Brooks Lee blast to cut the deficit to 3-2!
A good day in the cleanup spot for Lee
Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images
Alas, ever-pesky in trying to avoid a sweep, the Bay Area brethren changed the number again in the 5th—helped by a Lopez balk (his 3rd of the season, oddly) allowing Jung Hoo Lee to sac-fly in Yastrzemski. 4-2 Frisco.
Not quite Ace Pablo this afternoon
Matt Krohn-Imagn Images
Once again, however, Twins’ bats kept battling: a Byron Buxton sac fly plated Kody Clemens—and could have been much more if not for a tremendous diving catch by Ramos—in the bottom of the 5th to again cut SF’s lead down to a single digit (4-3).
Keeping it close
Matt Krohn-Imagn Images
As soon as San Francisco manager Bob Melvin turned the game over to his bullpen, MN pounced. In the 6th, the Twins loaded the bases for Royce Lewis who (of course, in the most dramatic moment) got off the schneid with a clean RBI single. A Harrison Bader force-out grounder brought in Willi Castro to give the Twins their first lead—5-4—of the afternoon!
Rolls Royce
Matt Krohn-Imagn Images
Yet, this rollercoaster-ride of a game would continue: in the 8th, a bad bounce off Griffin Jax’s buttocks would allow Ramos (yes—him again) to plate Willy Adames to tie things at 5-5. A clearly-rattled Jax then nearly walked in the go-ahead run before recovering from a 3-0 count to preserve the deadlock.
Giants put bat-to-ball and tie it up
Photo by David Berding/Getty Images
After Danny Coulombe preserved his ERA perfection in the 9th, the Twins’ first walk-off window was quickly winnowed by three straight whiffs off the side-winding Tyler “Twin Brother of Former-Twin Taylor” Rogers.
There would be bonus baseball on Mother’s Day.
More baseball for Moms to enjoy!
Photo by Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images
As you’d probably expect from this game by this point, San Francisco blooped a few balls around the infield against Jhoan Duran in T10 and plated their Manfred Man to again reclaim the lead at 6-5.
Maddening little bloops give SF the lead
Matt Krohn-Imagn Images
But in the bottom of the 10th, Lee continued his torrid afternoon with a solid single and Ryan Jeffers immediately brought MN’s Manfred Man—Ty France—in to tie the game 6-6 on a sacrifice ground-out. After another argument with the home plate umpire—a common theme through this series—Twins manager Rocco Baldelli could be heard on the TV broadcast saying something like “get a hit here, K”.
A lot of drama with the Men in Blue
Photo by David Berding/Getty Images
Well, “K” (DaShawn Keirsey, Jr.) did his manager, momma, team, and fanbase proud…
Your Final: Minnesota Twins 7, San Francisco Giants 6
EIGHT WINS IN A ROW FOR THE TWINS—now a winning baseball team at 21-20!!!
Up next: a day off before opening a three-game series at Camden Yards to (hopefully) beat up on Baltimore again.
Studs
Jeffers: Gunning down a SB attempt in a close contest.
Lee: Big blasts from the cleanup slot.
Lewis: Solid hit in a big spot.
Keirsey: Walk-off winner!
Moms: all of ‘em—everywhere!
Duds
The home plate umpire: Causing chaos all day.
Comment of the Game