![]() ![]() The reliever got the job done, retiring the first batter he faced to finish out the inning without any trouble. That allowed him to even come out to start the fifth, but after two quick outs he gave up a base hit which ended his day, with Phillips Valdez getting the call. With two on in the third, Hill retired three in a row to keep those runners stranded, and then came back out for a perfect fifth. To his credit, though, he did settle in a bit and was able to at least save the bullpen to some extent in the midst of this long stretch without an off-day. When that was immediately followed by a single and a walk, it looked like Hill may not even make it through three. ![]() That was followed by Jorge Polanco absolutely destroying another curveball on the inner half, the second two-run homer of the day for Minnesota to put them up 4-0. There was some bad luck for Hill to kick off that frame, with Gilberto Celestino getting jammed by a fastball but still managing to bloop one into center field with a leadoff single. He did bounce back with a perfect second, but the Twins got back to work in the third. Take a look at the entire shirt collection from our friends over at BreakingT, including the one pictured above. ![]() It was actually called a double on the field, but replay showed it clearly made it over the wall. He waited for a breaking ball on the inner half and just barely put it up and over the ledge at the top of the Monster for a two-run shot. The first instance came in that first inning with Kyle Garlick at the plate with a runner on. The Twins weren’t really fooled by the breaking ball too much in this one, and in fact were able to sit back and make loud contact against it. The veteran southpaw looked solid in his first outing back with the team in Detroit, but he really relies on other teams being left off-balance with the different angles from which he throws his curveball. On the other side, the Red Sox had Rich Hill on the mound for Marathon Monday, just days after his father, who had run in 37 Boston Marathons, passed away. ![]() In that span, they struck out five times and five of their eight batted balls were hit on the ground. Minnesota’s starter did give up a two-out single in the first innings when Xander Bogaerts snuck a ground ball through the left side, but that was the only baserunner Boston would manage through four innings. This time around, it seemed to keep Boston’s bats off-balance for the most part. Instead, they struggled to get much of anything going against the Twins starter, most perplexingly hitting most of their batted balls against him on the ground despite the righty typically being a fly ball pitcher.īundy is not a fireballer in any sense, with his fastball sitting at 88 mph in this game and maxing out at exactly 90 mph, which can be either a good thing or a bad thing for an offense. Given that momentum along with the fact that they were facing a homer-prone pitcher in Dylan Bundy with whom most of this lineup is familiar thanks to his days in Baltimore, it had all the makings of a big day at the plate for the good guys. Rich Hill gave up a couple of two-run homers early to put the team in an early hole, and while the pitching settled in for a few innings in the middle, the offense never quite found its rhythm and a rough eighth inning for Kutter Crawford gave Minnesota another rally and ultimately put the game away.Īs the Red Sox and Twins were getting ready to play some morning baseball, Boston’s offense was coming off a late-game explosion late in Sunday’s game that turned a pitchers’ duel into a blowout win for the home team in seemingly the blink of an eye. Unfortunately, the Red Sox couldn’t ride those good vibes and had a tough series finale against the Twins. Patriots’ Day is always a special day in Massachusetts, and doubly so this year with the Marathon finally returning to its rightful day after two years off. ![]()
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