Giants 3, Twins 2: Gimme a Break

The Minnesota Twins came into this final pre-All Star Break contest a hurting unit. They were sloppy in Chicago—but took that series because the White Sox are abominable. The list of players dinged up at the moment: Byron Buxton, Carlos Correa, & Jose Miranda (to say nothing of Austin Martin & Royce Lewis on the IL). Through all that, the Twins still had the opportunity to snatch the series from San Francisco today.

But they threw it away—literally.

The Giants pecked at MN starter Chris Paddack early, plating a single run in the second inning (after Carlos Santana couldn’t quite close the glove on a double play attempt) and adding another vertical line in the 3rd.

Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

Meanwhile, Blake Snell took my “decidedly un-Cy Young-like” line from the game thread intro personally—harboring a perfecto into the 7th.

Manny Margot finally broke through with a clean knock in that frame—but before Cory Provus could iterate “the Twins have hit into a lot of double plays of late”, Willi Castro bounced a ball to short and...well...you know.

Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

The 2-0 Giants advantage remained unchanged heading into the 9th for SF closer Camilo Doval. But Diego A. Castillo walked and was immediately chased to third by a Trevor Larnach double. After a Wallner whiff, Margot mashed one into the deep recesses of Oracle Park, scoring both runners and tying the game!

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Unable to complete the rally with a lead, the Twins sent Jhoan Duran to the bump trying to prolong the late-afternoon in the central time zone. He did—for roughly a minute-and-a-half.

Leadoff batter Mike Yastrzemski yanked a Duran splitter into CF that Margot dove for but came up with bupkis. Intelligently backing up the play, Max Kepler fired the ball to cutoff man Brooks Lee as Yaz chugged towards third.

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Sadly, that is where intelligence left the playing field. Perhaps a bit overwhelmed in the moment as so many Twins players likely are right now (playing out of position or in unaccustomed roles), Lee chucked the ball towards the third sack. Did he truly have a play on Yaz? Well, it’s a moot point when the throw would have—without the netting—been a souvenir midway up lower-level seating.

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Your final: San Francisco Giants 3, Minnesota Twins 2.

Much like last year, the Twins limp into the All-Star Break and must hope to come out healthier and energized on the other side.

Studs

• Margot: Grinding out great at-bats, making contact, and playing solid CF defense in Buxton’s absence. Even that 9th inning dive was “trying to make a play” knowing Kep was behind him.

Duds

• The frailty of human sinew, bone, muscle, and ligaments (see: almost every Twin right now)

Comment of the Game

• I played some pinball in Minneapolis before this game started. It was more fun than the contest itself. The eight other comments in the thread back up this point.