NFL
By: Steve Rogers
The Minnesota Twins come into tonight in first place in the central division at 25-16. Four games up on the Chicago white sox. The Twins erased a six-run deficit yesterday to come back and complete the series sweep of the Kansas City Royals. It may still be a tad bit soon, but this team appears to be making the case as legit contenders. On the mound was Chris Archer for the Twins, who was solid for the first four innings, allowing one run on three hits, four strikeouts, and two walks. In the bottom of the first, Buxton flew out to center. Then Arraez worked the count and earned a walk. Correa singled to the right, Arraez up to second. Polanco beat out an infield single which loaded the bases. Max Kepler steps up to bat and launches a 408-foot grand slam home run over the proper field stands. Twins up 4-0. Detroit got one run back in the top of the second. 4-1 Twins. The MN bats went relatively quiet after that. Good pitching kept both offenses off the scoreboard until the top of the fifth when former Twin Jonathan Schoop blasted a solo homer run 430 feet to the left-center, making it 4-2 MN. In the top of the sixth, Torkelson doubled to deep right-center. Haase singled to left-center, and Torkelson scored. Twins 4-3. Moving ahead to the top of the seventh, Schoop doubled to deep left. Cabrera singled to left, and Schoop scored. Tie four all. Pagan came in to pitch the top of the ninth and struck out Schoop, then struck out Cabrera and got Baez to ground out to shortstop inning over.
When it matters the most, at home, in a tie ball game bottom of the ninth, Max Kepler leads off and walks. MN pinch hits Garlick for Gordon, and Garlick singles to right Kepler scampers to third. Gary Sanchez hits for Larnach, but he flies out to shortstop. Gio Urshela now comes to bat and smashes a hard grounder up the middle to the shortstop, who can’t come up with it cleanly, allowing Kepler to score and Urshela to reach first safely Twins walk-off victorious 5-4. Now it is still relatively early in the year, but with over 40 games as a sample size, this Minnesota team is a pleasant surprise. The Twins are an interesting experiment. Having been one of last year’s worst teams, they stayed the course and mostly stuck to their prospects to develop for this season. They didn’t break the bank signing big-name free agents outside of landing SS Carlos Correa this offseason. So without having a LA Dodgers-looking payroll, the Twins find themselves in first place in the A.L. central. With a 26-16, they’re only three wins behind said LA Dodgers for the best record in baseball.
Well, the emergence of Joe Ryan as the staff, albeit unorthodox ace. Plus, rookie Jhoan Duran is another star in the making with the single fastest pitch thrown this season, hitting 103.3 MPH. he has thrown 116 fastballs at or above 100 MPH so far. His average fastball velocity is 100.7 MPH is the second-highest mark in MLB history. The best part is it’s not his best pitch. Duran has developed in his repertoire a never before seen pitch called the splinker, a Hybrid of the splitter and sinker. Its average velocity is 96.1 mph, much faster than any splitter to come before it. Byron Buxton continues to look like the most exciting lead-off hitter since Ricky Henderson. He can turn singles into doubles or bomb the ball 450 feet and beyond. He’s the reason not to be late for the first pitch. Plus, watching him patrol centerfield can be a must-see as well. How great is Luis Arreaz? His ability to make contact foul off pitches, work counts, and get on base garners comparisons to Rod Carew. This team is fun to watch and even must-see tv. For a team playing in first place, they are loose and having fun. No pressure when you were the last-place team at the end of last season. This division might just be theirs for the taking. You can follow me on Twitter and talk sports https://twitter.com/RealMrRogers814
