Today was game 3 of the Opening Series against the Tigers, also the rubber game of the series. The Twins had one of those you wouldn't believe if you didn't see it yourself win, yesterday. The Twins looked pretty much lifeless through 8 innings, and I mean LIFELESS managing only 3 hits off the Tigers pitchers. Then the bottom of the 9th inning was one of those crazy 9th innings. The 9th started with a Plouffe walk, Parmelee went after the first pitch and pop it up to center field. Up steeped Brian Dozier against Phil Coke, Jamie Carroll came on to pitch run for Plouffe. Dozier got a pitch from Coke and smacked it into right center, Carroll advanced to 3rd. Earlier in the game the Twins pinched hit for their starting Short Stop Pedro Florimon, Eduardo Escobar came in to replace the pinch hitter Wilkins in the field.. So it was up to the shortest Twin on the roster and one the first pitch he got he drove it DEEP into Left Center, Dirks and Jackson both looked at each other as the ball dropped in between them took a high bounce allowing Carroll and Dozier to score.. Dozier gambled and didn't take up on the play, Dozier scored the Winning run.. Twins WIN 3-2. In the 9th the Twins scored 2 runs and had 3 hits, the same amount of hits they had coming into the 9th.. A great win for this Twins early on.
Thursday was get away day.. an Afternoon game at Target Field.. Mike Pelfrey first start since having Tommy John surgery. Pelfrey coming off TJ surgery pretty much 11 months ago. Nobody really excepted him to be ready for Opening day, but he expected himself to be ready and he was. He had a pretty good start in his first American League start. He went 5 1/3 innings 5 Hits, 2 Runs 0 Earned Runs, 1 Walk and 1 strikeout. Pelfrey picked up his first win since 2011.
The Twins offense came alive in the game today as well. Willingham and Plouffe both hit home runs in the game. Willingham's was a 2- run blast tying the game. In the 4th inning Plouffe launched his 1st home run off the facing of the upper deck in left field. The Tigers had a HUGE threat in the 7th inning, they had the bases loaded with one out. Josh Roenicke gave up a walk then a double and then he struck out Torii Hunter. Then he intentionally walk Miguel Cabrera to load the bases Roenicke was taken out and replaced by Tyler Robertson to face Prince Fielder, he got Price to go down on a check swing.. there was a BIG out number two. Casey Fien replaced Robertson and got Victor Martinez to pop up to Jamey Carroll to end the threat and to end the 7th inning. The Twins would explode for 5 runs in the 8th inning including a 2-run single for Aaron Hicks which happen to be his 1st Major League hit and RBI's, The Twins would take the rubber game of the series 8-2.
After three games and winning the opening series... lets take a look at some keys on way the Twins took 2 of 3 from the Tigers.
The starting rotation was the biggest question going into the season for the Twins. The Twins threw three of their new pitchers in the first three games of the season. here is how they did.
Vance Worley struggled in the first couple innings but then settled in and got in a groove. At one point he retired 11 games in a row. Worley went 6 strong innings only allowing 2 runs, both runs were allowed in the first 2 innings. Gave up 8 hits but all were singles. Vance picked up three strikeouts along the way. Worley looked much better then he did in the Spring. If I had to rate his start and outing I would give him a C+
Kevin Correia almost made his Twins debut in this series and also his American League debut. Corriea pitched 7 strong innings. He never really looked flustered out there against the Tigers. The Tigers only got 7 hits against Correia. The Tigers scored single runs in the 3rd and 5th innings, both on soft hit bleeders. Correia looked good not great but good.. I'd give him B-
Mike Pelfrey made his Twins debut on Thursday and also his American League debut as well. Pelfrey coming off TJ surgery 11 months ago. Pelfrey was on a pitch count and finished with 96 pitches in 5 1/3 innings. He held the Tigers to 4 hits and 2 unearned runs, due to a few Twins errors early in the game. He did allow two walks but it's kind of expected as he is trying to find his control. It looked like Pelfrey talked himself into the 5th inning, telling Gardy he wanted to keep going. I didn't get to see Pelfrey pitch today, but from his number I would give him a C- C+
Another key for the Twins taking 2 of 3 from the Tigers was the Twins bullpen. The Twins bullpen over the three games only allowed one run which was scored on a wild pitch by Josh Roenicke, which was given to Duensing after he allowed the hit to start the inning. The Twins bullpen looked pretty sharp early on. Casey Fien struck out the side on Monday and got a huge out in Thursday's game. Tyler Robertson had a good first outing as he got a HUGE strike of Prince Fielder in the 7th inning. Jared Burton looked like the same Burton as last year didn't have a big spot yet but looked good. Glen Perkins pitched the 9th inning on Wednesday and made it look easy and quick, he will be a solid closer. Ryan Pressly made his Major League deubt on Thursday in the 9th inning, he game up a lead off single but that was all.
My rating for the Twins Bullpen so far... A+
The Twins offense really didn't show up until Thursday game when they scored 8 runs. But it seems like once this team gets going it's going to make the starting pitcher throw a lot of pitchers early in the game. In the series they made all 3 Tiger starters throw close to 100 pitches by the 6th inning. The bright spot is that the Twins did score 13 runs in three games against the Tigers, which is a good thing to see early on, 5 of those runs came in Thursday's 8th inning.. but 13 runs is 13 runs. Willingham and Plouffe have the only two homeruns for the Twins so far, but both were crushed! I'd give the Twins offense a C-
here are some other tidbits from the Opening series...
Thursday was get away day.. an Afternoon game at Target Field.. Mike Pelfrey first start since having Tommy John surgery. Pelfrey coming off TJ surgery pretty much 11 months ago. Nobody really excepted him to be ready for Opening day, but he expected himself to be ready and he was. He had a pretty good start in his first American League start. He went 5 1/3 innings 5 Hits, 2 Runs 0 Earned Runs, 1 Walk and 1 strikeout. Pelfrey picked up his first win since 2011.
The Twins offense came alive in the game today as well. Willingham and Plouffe both hit home runs in the game. Willingham's was a 2- run blast tying the game. In the 4th inning Plouffe launched his 1st home run off the facing of the upper deck in left field. The Tigers had a HUGE threat in the 7th inning, they had the bases loaded with one out. Josh Roenicke gave up a walk then a double and then he struck out Torii Hunter. Then he intentionally walk Miguel Cabrera to load the bases Roenicke was taken out and replaced by Tyler Robertson to face Prince Fielder, he got Price to go down on a check swing.. there was a BIG out number two. Casey Fien replaced Robertson and got Victor Martinez to pop up to Jamey Carroll to end the threat and to end the 7th inning. The Twins would explode for 5 runs in the 8th inning including a 2-run single for Aaron Hicks which happen to be his 1st Major League hit and RBI's, The Twins would take the rubber game of the series 8-2.
After three games and winning the opening series... lets take a look at some keys on way the Twins took 2 of 3 from the Tigers.
The starting rotation was the biggest question going into the season for the Twins. The Twins threw three of their new pitchers in the first three games of the season. here is how they did.
Vance Worley struggled in the first couple innings but then settled in and got in a groove. At one point he retired 11 games in a row. Worley went 6 strong innings only allowing 2 runs, both runs were allowed in the first 2 innings. Gave up 8 hits but all were singles. Vance picked up three strikeouts along the way. Worley looked much better then he did in the Spring. If I had to rate his start and outing I would give him a C+
Kevin Correia almost made his Twins debut in this series and also his American League debut. Corriea pitched 7 strong innings. He never really looked flustered out there against the Tigers. The Tigers only got 7 hits against Correia. The Tigers scored single runs in the 3rd and 5th innings, both on soft hit bleeders. Correia looked good not great but good.. I'd give him B-
Mike Pelfrey made his Twins debut on Thursday and also his American League debut as well. Pelfrey coming off TJ surgery 11 months ago. Pelfrey was on a pitch count and finished with 96 pitches in 5 1/3 innings. He held the Tigers to 4 hits and 2 unearned runs, due to a few Twins errors early in the game. He did allow two walks but it's kind of expected as he is trying to find his control. It looked like Pelfrey talked himself into the 5th inning, telling Gardy he wanted to keep going. I didn't get to see Pelfrey pitch today, but from his number I would give him a C- C+
Another key for the Twins taking 2 of 3 from the Tigers was the Twins bullpen. The Twins bullpen over the three games only allowed one run which was scored on a wild pitch by Josh Roenicke, which was given to Duensing after he allowed the hit to start the inning. The Twins bullpen looked pretty sharp early on. Casey Fien struck out the side on Monday and got a huge out in Thursday's game. Tyler Robertson had a good first outing as he got a HUGE strike of Prince Fielder in the 7th inning. Jared Burton looked like the same Burton as last year didn't have a big spot yet but looked good. Glen Perkins pitched the 9th inning on Wednesday and made it look easy and quick, he will be a solid closer. Ryan Pressly made his Major League deubt on Thursday in the 9th inning, he game up a lead off single but that was all.
My rating for the Twins Bullpen so far... A+
The Twins offense really didn't show up until Thursday game when they scored 8 runs. But it seems like once this team gets going it's going to make the starting pitcher throw a lot of pitchers early in the game. In the series they made all 3 Tiger starters throw close to 100 pitches by the 6th inning. The bright spot is that the Twins did score 13 runs in three games against the Tigers, which is a good thing to see early on, 5 of those runs came in Thursday's 8th inning.. but 13 runs is 13 runs. Willingham and Plouffe have the only two homeruns for the Twins so far, but both were crushed! I'd give the Twins offense a C-
here are some other tidbits from the Opening series...
- Justin Verlander was the winning pitcher on Monday for the Tigers that was his 1st Opening Day start WIN... yes hard to believe but true. he is now 1-3 with a No Decision too
- Twins bullpen allowed 1 run in 7 innings
- Mauer's 1st at bat of Monday's game was changed from an Error to a Hit on Thursday, before the game
- Twins hit 7 Doubles
- Starters allowed 5 Earned Runs in 18 Innings
- After starting 0-11 with 7 Strikeouts, Aaron Hicks picked up his 1st Major League hit along with his 1st RBI'S
- Twins had 2 pinch hits from the 9th spot on