Box Score
Pablo López: 5 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 6 K
Home Runs: Kody Clemens 3 (17, 18, 19)
Top 3 WPA: Kody Clemens (.445), Byron Buxton (.198), Austin Martin (.167)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)
.png.d7294c212efdb685d46f926ca4856a67.png)
We’re in the final act. Arguably, this has been the case since the infamous mid-summer fire sale set into motion that which became inevitable; that the Twins would play forgettable baseball; that what used to bring a modicum of joy would only serve as a monument to discarded potential; that pretentious nerds like this author would dictate such terms in purple prose. What were we talking about again? Oh, yes, a baseball game.
Pablo López—a vestige of the before times—started for the Twins, his second appearance since his three-month injury absence. Brandon Pfaadt climbed the hill for Arizona.
Early returns looked to portend the usual slop often put forth by Minnesota; Geraldo Perdomo walked, stole second, and extended his trip to third base off a Jhonny Pereda throw that the word “errant” finds egregious. A Corbin Carroll knock drove him home. Yes, there will be eight more innings of this.
Two shutout frames by Pfaadt exacerbated the struggle. Then, leading off the third, Kody Clemens worked the count full and smoked a solo homer to right.
And Friday would be the day of Kody Clemens. The Twins came back in the fourth with a beautiful chance to score a crooked number. The bases were loaded with no one out. Brooks Lee hit a fly ball deep enough to score the runner. The throw was cut off, and a lethargic Matt Wallner was nabbed at second. A run scored, but at a terrible cost. A crooked number seemed out of reach… until Clemens stepped to the plate to hit his second homer of the game.
Skirmishes in the fifth added runs to the total, while López still didn’t have an earned run. Luke Keaschall was the offender this time, as he successfully slid to stop a grounder from bleeding into the outfield, then overthrew first base by such a margin that had a second Kody Clemens stood on the shoulders of the first one, the clone still likely would have missed the ball.
In the sixth, Clemens cracked another RBI hit—this one a measly double—to earn his tenth base of the game. Minnesota’s 6-2 lead lasted all of three combined batters, as Geraldo Perdomo rudely greeted Michael Tonkin with a massive blast to cut the advantage in half.
So the game stood until the ninth. Three measly outs. That’s all they need. Even bad pitchers can often get those. Unfortunately, Cole Sands was a ticking time bomb. Or the wrong wire to cut. It’s unclear how this metaphor works. He allowed one run to push the game state uncomfortably close before Gabriel Moreno unloaded a brutal gut punch: a three-run WPA swinger of a homer to catapult Arizona into the lead.
Yet, the Twins weren’t done. With no respect for writers who need to juggle pacing with timeliness in posting, Minnesota’s batters went back to work. Clemens hit his third homer of the game, and the Twins followed his blast by loading the bases with no one out. It went smoother this time. Trevor Larnach worked a walk to tie the game, setting the stage for Keaschall with a chance to win the game. He didn’t get a hit. But he didn’t need a hit. A simple medium-deep fly ball ushered in Byron Buxton, as Minnesota walked off one of the craziest games of the season.
Notes:
Post-Game Interview:
What’s Next?
The Twins and Diamondbacks meet once for a Saturday melee, as Joe Ryan takes the mound opposite Ryne Nelson. First pitch is at 6:10 PM.
Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet
