Walk off wins are fun.
I thought this was going to be a long game, when I saw the first two Twins homer off R.A. Dickey, but Dickey righted things....at least until the 6th inning. From the 2nd to the 5th inning, RA allowed just 2 hits and no walks. The 6th was a bit of a problem. There was the one out triple, on a fly that Melky Cabrera dived for and really should have and then a hit batter on a pitch that, if it wasn't a strike, was darn close to the strike zone and that Oswaldo Arcia clearly leaned into. Then a Kendrys Morales walk and Dickey was out of the game, leaving with 1 out and the bases loaded.
Thankfully, Dustin McGowan came in and got Trevor Plouffe to hit into a double play. McGowan pitched the 7th, allowing a single and getting a double play ball hit back to him. Great work by Dustin. Aaron Loup pitched the 8th, giving up a lead off walk (those always score), but getting a double play to erase him and a strikeout to end the inning.
Casey Janssen pitched the 9th. He gave up a 1-out single but got a nice double play ball, unfortunately, Steve Tolleson couldn't get it out of his glove to turn it. Then it was Kevin Pillar's turn to dive for and miss a fly in left....he should have played it on the hop, but the turned a single into a double. A bloop double down the left field line, just out of reach of Brett Lawrie tied the game. Casey's second blown save, and second blown save cause by bad defense.
On offense we got a 3-run homer from Edwin Encarnacion and a solo homer from Jose Reyes.
The bottom of the 9th started well, Dioner Navarro walked and Erik Kratz pinch ran, but Anthony Gose strikeout trying to bunt. Jose Reyes singled to right and then Kevin Pillar went to 2 strikes before slicing a ball to right to win the game. Great job Pillar.
Jays of the Day are McGowan (.286 WPA), Pillar (.288), Reyes (.196) and Encarnacion (.263).
Suckage? Well Casey had the number (-.278), but that was on his defense. Gose (-.140) and Lind (-.103). I'm also giving one to Tolleson for the non-error error.
Pillar's dive really didn't cost us. If he had played the ball on the bounce, the runner would have scored on from first on the bloop double down the right field line.
Our GameThread had 1551 comments. Pikachu lead the way. Very gritty performance.
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