Pitchers could receive a hand from the wind at Target Field in Minnesota Thursday, where there is an expected 10 mile per hour wind gusting in from right field for today’s game between the Twins and White Sox.
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The 22-year-old Rodon (6-6) certainly gave his team a chance. His 25 runs allowed in the first inning also are the most in baseball.
No machine could give the White Sox the kind of stimulation needed to remove their inner block when it comes to Tommy Milone.
With the Twins entering the night just a game out of the second wild card spot in the American League, Minnesota will have to carefully manage Sano and a bulky hamstring that has begun to rear its ugly head. For Jepsen, pitching in place of injured closer Glen Perkins, the save was his fifth with the Twins and 10th this season overall. The Twins would get an even better feel for how far they’ve come by finding success on a nine-game trek that opens Friday at Houston then moves to Kansas City before finishing with the White Sox (61-70).
The homer left Sano’s bat at 108 miles per hour, but Rodon settled down after that.
With the Twins leading 1-0 in the seventh, Trevor Plouffe provided a little insurance. Instead of heading into the seventh inning with pitches to spare, he instead arrived at the end of the line, and his day was done after a leadoff single by Escobar. Catcher Tyler Flowers’ errant pickoff throw to first base when Jose Abreu was not covering helped the Twins load the bases with no outs. Plouffe followed with a two-out, two-run double off Daniel Webb to snap an 0-for-19 skid. That’s Robin Ventura for you.
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“I probably should’ve gone seven or eight (Friday), so that’s the only frustrating part about it”, Gibson, who went 0-3 with a 7.22 ERA in his previous seven starts, told MLB’s official website. “All those guys want to talk about wins, and if we can’t put anything offensively, it’s going to be tough for them, especially after getting down 1-0”. Jeff Samardzija gets the ball, and he’s 8-11 with a 4.85 ERA and 142 strikeouts this season.
