Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING NEWS: 4-19-23.

Sports That Aren't HockeyMinnesota WildMinnesota TimberwolvesBasketballHockey

Apr 19

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The Wolves and Wild each play tonight, Friday and Sunday, with the Twin Cities hosting two playoff games on Friday and Sunday.

Twins’ Offense, Bullpen Let Them Down in Beantown

Starting pitching? Great. Bullpen? Leaving some wins on the table along with the offense.

The Twins gave up a one-run lead in the eighth inning, and then a two-run lead in the 10th, as the Red Sox won 5-4 at Fenway.

Griffin Jax, who has been good this season, yielded the eighth inning run. Jhoan Duran was perfect in the ninth - not sure why Rocco didn’t save him for a situation where they had the lead. After Byron Buxton and Jose Miranda each drove in runs with an out in the 10th, Jovani Moran yielded three runs. He put a man on base when throwing a wild pitch on what should have been a strikeout. Moran almost got out of it with a double play, but Alex Verdugo hit a single off the wall in right - just to the left of the famed Pesky Pole - for the winning margin.

Sonny Gray labored through five innings but allowed only a run. The Twins offense struck out 16 times. Only one MLB team has fanned more often than Minnesota this season.

The game went 3:07 - the Twins’ first game to last more than three hours this season.

Wild Looks to Take Series Stranglehold Tonight

The Wild is in its 23rd season and has NEVER held a 2-0 series lead in the playoffs. They could do that tonight in Dallas (8:50 p.m., ESPN2 and Bally Sports North). They’ll feel good coming home 1-1, but if they could steal another one, completely in the driver’s seat. They haven’t played a home game with a series lead since Game 6 against St. Louis in 2016 - plenty at stake tonight.

Storylines:

You’ve got to figure Filip Gustavsson goes again in Game 2, but isn’t it nice to have a Hall of Famer as an option for later in the series if the Gus Bus is overworked?

Ryan Suter, who took liberties with Kirill Kaprizov no fewer than two times in Game 1, had better hope that every game is close so no one on the Wild attempts to do anything stupid. You’ve got to think that Wild coaches and management have let it be very known to NHL officiating to watch out for these cross checks.

Similarly, will any Stars try to take a run at Matt Dumba? Will Joe Pavelski be able to play in Game 2 after the Dumba hit?

If Joel Eriksson Ek can play in game two - and that’s a big if - who comes out? I’d have a hard time taking Sam Steele out of the game. His first career playoff game Monday, his first career playoff goal, and he was really good. You’re not taking out Ryan Hartman. Probably Connor Dewar on the fourth line, but Steele is not as effective on the fourth line. All good problems to have. As is the fact they could give JEEK an extra two days off and aim for Friday’s Game 3 at home. Also worth noting that Eriksson Ek didn’t skate yesterday after three straight days on the ice.

Wolves Try to Salvage Game 2 in Denver

The Wolves need to do a bunch of things differently to even be competitive, much less win, in Denver tonight (9 p.m., TNT/Bally Sports North).

The Wolves’ best players need to be their best players. KAT and ANT were no shows in Game 1, and for large stretches of both play-in games.

Can anyone guard Nikola Jokic? Probably not. Rudy Gobert just isn’t physical enough, and if KAT spends all night getting beat up in the paint and getting in foul trouble, he can’t score any points.