MINNESOTA SPORTS FAN DAILY: Friday, September 15, 2017

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MSF Daily: 9/15/17

Twins vs Blue Jays in Game 1 of 4:

This was another pitchers’ duel. That is right, the Twins’ pitching staff has been in a pitching duel 2 nights in a row and didn’t give up a run in the 16-0 shutout the night before… WTF is going on?

That is a pretty big response from the pitching staff. The 3 games before this little stretch, the Twins gave up a total of 21 runs. I like this 3-game stretch much more, where they have given up just 3 runs in that same stretch of games.

The Blue Jays were the first to get on the board when Donaldson singled home a run in the top of the 5th inning. However, it didn’t take the Twins to come storming back. Patience was the key in the bottom of the 5th. A hit and two walks loaded the bases for Jorge Polanco who has been scorching hot since the All-Star break.  Why change now?

Since the All-Star break (coming into Thursday’s game), Polanco is hitting .315 with an OPS of .947 including 8 HR and 13 2B.  Before the All-Star break he hit .224 with an OPS of .596 (Baseball-Reference.com).

Berrios was GREAT early. He ran into some trouble in the 6th inning and only finished out 5.2. Boshers had to come in and get the last out of the 6th inning with guys on 1st and 3rd. I am still trying to figure out why Molitor went to Boshers in that situation, when he has been shit for a long time. But, it worked.

The bullpen would go on to dazzle through the end of the night… almost. It went from Boshers, to Busenitz, to Hildenberger, and finally into Belisle for the save… almost. With 2 outs in the 9th, Justin Smoak came to the plate. He wasn’t ready for the game to be over yet.

So we went to the bottom of the 9th. Then, to the top of the 10th…. and in the bottom of 10, an ailing Byron Buxton came to the plate with 2 outs and the bases empty. He didn’t take batting practice today because of a sore hand.

Friday, the Twins will face off against the Jays again, for game 2 of 4 at Target Field. It will be Big Sexy vs J.A. Haps who has been pretty solid for Toronto this season. He holds a 3.77 ERA this season. They now have a 2.5 game lead on the Angels but they are currently down just 1 run to Houston in the 7th inning.

Good News Early in the Week Turns to Bad News by Week-end for Miguel Sano:

I am officially in panic mode now with Miguel Sano. After we got good news earlier in the week, leading us to believe we might see Miguel Sano before the weekend was over, we find out today that things have gone south.

It sounds like we no longer know if Sano will make it back before or during the playoffs. The other Twins’ batters have picked up the slack left by Sano’s absence but imagine throwing him into the middle of this thing. But, we may not see that. It would be quite the shame.

Anthony Barr Held Out of Practice AGAIN Thursday:

Bradford was limited in practice on Wednesday and somewhat limited on Thursday. He is expected to play Sunday. However, Barr’s outlook hasn’t been as positive. He missed practice again on Thursday, and his status for Sunday is getting worse by the day. It is a big drop off from Barr to Lamur so a miraculous recovery from Barr would be ideal.

Foligno Signs with Wild:

Russo thought it would be Wednesday night or early Thursday morning but it ended up being about 5 PM on Thursday evening. Nonetheless, a deal got done and that is the main thing. It is a 4-year deal worth $11.5 Million ($2.85M/yr). The Wild will start Preseason games next week.

Sylvia Fowles Wins WNBA MVP:

The Lynx are really good. So is Sylvia Fowles.

Lynx Beat Mercury in Game 2; Take 2-0 Lead in Series:

MSF Daily by Eric Strack @RealMNSportsFan

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