Friday Night,
August 13, 2010
Friday Night Game Notes
RADIO – On Saturday
morning at 10:05 central time, I will be talking Twins on WQPM (am1300) in
Princeton, MN. If you would like to listen live, click here.
It’s the weekend, so tonight’s blog will be quick and mainly just
highlights from the Twins game and the minor leagues in quick, bullet-point
form.
Here are some notes from tonight’s games:
·
It certainly wasn’t
a pretty game, but the Twins topped the Oakland A’s 4-3 to give Carl Pavano
his 15th win of the season. In 6.1 innings, Pavano
gave up just two runs despite 10 hits and a walk, plus some not-so-great
defense behind him. It was strange. There were a few terrific plays, but there
were as many strange, bad plays too. Ron
Mahay came in and got his guy. Matt Guerrier
got a big out. He then had bad luck in the 8th, so Jesse Crain came in and got a huge
double play ball to get out of that inning. Matt Capps made it interesting but got the save. The Twins had an
opportunity to really open things up early, but a base running gaffe by Jason Kubel
ended a first-inning opportunity. Gonzalez calmed down, but Danny Valencia doubled in the third run
and then scored on a perfectly-executed suicide squeeze by Drew Butera.
·
The White Sox
beat Detroit 8-4. So the Twins remain one game ahead of the Sox.
·
Kyle Gibson
made his first AAA start tonight for the Rochester Red Wings against the
nearly-as-bad Lehigh Valley IronPigs. Gibson gave up
one run on five hits and two walks in 5.2 innings. He threw 88 pitches, 50 of
them for strikes. He really fought the strike zone throughout the appearance,
although that is unusual for the lanky right-hander. He got three ground ball
outs in the first inning, but in his outing, he got eight ground outs and seven
fly outs. Definitely a good start to build upon for the Twins top pick from
2009. Anthony Slama
came in for Gibson with a couple of runners on and got a strikeout to end the
sixth inning. He threw a scoreless seventh too. He got two outs in the 8th
inning before Alex Burnett came in.
Burnett got the final four outs to record his first save. Brandon Roberts had an early triple and scored the teams first run.
Brock Peterson was 2-3. Matt Macri went
1-2 with a walk and a bit three run homer that broke open the game for the Red
Wings who won 5-1.
·
New Britain got
an early lead, but Deolis Guerra’s run of bad starts continued.
Guerra went just 4.1 innings and gave up seven runs (5 earned) on 10 hits and a
walk. He struck out four. Tony Davis
got the final two outs of the fifth inning, but not before giving up three runs
on three hits and two walks. Steve Hirschfeld gave up a run on two hits in his inning. Carlos Gutierrez and Billy Bullock each threw a scoreless
inning. The Rockcats lost 11-7. They scored seven
runs despite just five hits. They also got seven walks. Jeff Howell hit his second homer, and Mark Dolenc hit his fifth.
·
Ft. Myers lost
5-2 to Charlotte. Matt Moore is
averaging well over 12 strikeouts per nine innings this year. The first time
through the Miracle order, he struck out eight of the nine batters he faced. In
his 6.2 innings, he gave up only an unearned run on three hits. He walked two
and struck out 12. Impressive, but the Miracle starter tonight was just as
successful, just without the strikeouts. Kane
Holbrooks threw six shutout innings. He gave up
four hits, walked two and struck out four. Jhon Garcia came in and threw a scoreless inning, but then he gave up
five runs (3 earned) in the eighth inning. Chris
Herrmann and Nick Romero each
went 2-4. Romero had an early triple and scored the unearned run that gave the
Miracle an early lead.
·
Beloit and Peoria
were rained out. The Snappers head home to start a series on Saturday night.
·
Elizabethton beat
Kingsport 8-0. BJ Hermsen
started and threw six shutout innings. He gave up two hits, walked one and
struck out seven. Jean Mijares then struck out four in three scoreless
innings. Brian Burke went 3-5. Daniel Ortiz was 2-5 with his 11th
double. Kyle Knudson was 2-4 with
his eighth double. Oswaldo Arcia
hit his 19th double and drove in three runs.
·
On Friday
afternoon, the GCL Twins beat the Red Sox 11-6. Eddie Rosario went 2-3 with a walk and his 21st stolen
base. Kennys Vargas was 2-3 with a walk and his 12th
double. Miguel Sano was 2-4. Jair Rodriguez
went 2-5 with his fifth stolen base. Matt
Tolbert was 1-4 with a walk and his second double.
Any questions or comments on the
Twins or the minor league system? Feel free to leave
your questions and comments here.