Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING NEWS: 10.5.23
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It’s All Turning Around; Will Twins Lose Again in October?
A boneheaded baserunning play by a star. A stupifying decision to remove one of your best pitchers in the fourth inning of a scoreless game. This is how it’s felt to be opponents of the Twins for the last 21 years.
But in 2023, those problems happened to the Toronto Blue Jays, not your hometown nine. The Twins are onto the American League Division Series where they’ll face the Houston Astros beginning Saturday in Texas, undoubtedly with Justin Verlander on the mound. Game 3 of the best-of-five series will be at Target Field on Tuesday. Game times for the series so far TBD.
The Twins didn’t settle on their first playoff game win in 19 tries. The two-game sweep (talk to me when you’ve won a five-game series haha) marked their first series win since 2002 against Oakland.
The Blue Jays lost in the most Twins of ways.
Tied 0-0 in the fourth, John Schneider saw his No. 2 starter and former Twin Jose Berrios walk the lead off hitter. In a very Rocco Baldelli type move, Schneider overmanaged and went to the bullpen, needing 21 outs. And while the Twins didn’t blow the game open, they got the only two runs they needed that inning. Carlos Correa, who made another huge defensive play, with an RBI single, and Wili Castro then plated another by grounding into a double play.
Sonny Gray - he’ll get at least one more start in a Twins uniform, after five masterful scoreless innings. While he was good on the mound, it was his surprise pickoff throw to Correa to end the fifth that was the story. The Blue Jays had runners on second and third - star Vlad Guerrero Jr. the tying run on second, with another star Bo Bichette at the plate. Gray turned and fired to a cutting Correa, who tagged Guerrero out just before he touched the bag with his hand. Correa told Gray there was a chance to do it last night because the crowd was so loud the runner couldn’t hear the third base coach.
North St. Paul’s Louie Varland started the sixth and allowed two baserunners, and the State of Playoff Baseball started to groan about taking Gray out. But Caleb Thielbar, another Minnesotan who rebuilt his career and is a bullpen stud at age 36, got an inning ending double play, started by who else but Correa.
Brock Stewart threw gas in the seventh, Griffin Jax absorbed a collision with Cavan Biggio after fielding a ball in the eighth, and Jhoan Duran worked around a hit by striking out three in the night.
Lights out. Will the parade go down First Ave. or Hennepin Ave.?
All it took was Takeout subscriber and negative nelly Jim Roslansky quitting X/Twitter for a Twins playoff series win.
Loons Lose 5-1; Playoffs Doubtful
The Loons were in must win mode last night at LAFC, but instead fell 5-1 pretty much erasing any doubt of a playoff spot. They dropped to 12th, three points behind ninth place, with two games left and having played one more game than the ninth place team.
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Fun Pulltab Sports preview of the Twins series (okay, I called it in three games) with John King and a former Twins farmhand who told us some great Kirby Puckett stories. Kinger's Royce-O-Lantern foreshadowed the rookie's two homer game in his playoff debut, plus how did Kirby Puckett’s old jockstrap end up at Kinger’s house. Give us a watch:
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