The Minnesota Twins lost to the Kansas City Royals on Saturday night 9-6. This is the second straight game the Twins have lost to the Royals and their third loss in a row overall..

Jake Odorizzi finally made his 2020 debut tonight, finishing with 3.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, and 2 K. Odo labored through 3 innings, running a pitch count up to 71. I only expected him to pitch 3-4 innings anyway. Jake likes to throw a lot of pitches and it’s his first start of the year so that’s whatever. The only thing that I really didn’t like about his start was this mistake to Soler in the 3rd inning.

UP, UP AND JORGE. ☀️?#AlwaysRoyal pic.twitter.com/ffrmt7RpWv

— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) August 9, 2020

Hitters Game

Seven total homers were hit tonight, 4 by the Royals and 3 by the Twins… and Byron Buxton tallied four RBIs and his third straight with a home run. But it was Nelson Cruz who first got the Twins on the board. If you listen closely you can hear Duffy express his frustration after Cruz went yard.

NELSON CRUZ INTO THE FOUNTAIN! #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/chUxRerZLi

— The Sports Paige (@sports_paige) August 9, 2020

Three straight games with a bomb for Byron Buxton. Twins need it bad. pic.twitter.com/AHhxF8nQiJ

— Jared Carrabis (@Jared_Carrabis) August 9, 2020

Then came the bottom of the fourth inning, which was an absolute disaster. Lewis Thorpe gave up three runs without recording an out, and then Cody Stashak came in and sucked too. He let in three of his own.

It’s definitely time to give up on the Lewis Thorpe dream, and maybe he could spend his free time seeing a barber. The Royals scored six runs in total, hitting three home runs. Jorge Soler hit his second of the game.

Jorge Soler – Kansas City Royals (5) pic.twitter.com/sePD64u8nN

— MLB HR Videos (@MLBHRVideos) August 9, 2020

Things never got better and the Twins would eventually fall to 10-5 on the season. They now only lead the AL Central by 1.5 games over Detroit. No, that’s not a typo.

The Best

Byron Buxton has finally found his swing, now homering in three straight games. When Buxton is on, he is my favorite player to watch and it is not even close. Twins fans can only hope that he can keep this going and doesn’t get hurt running into any center field walls anytime soon.

The Worst

Lewis Thorpe just does not belong in the MLB. My nephew’s 10U traveling baseball team could hit off of Thorpe. With a 6.23 ERA and velocity down under 90 MPH, it’s time for the Twin to try someone new.

Does Lewis Thorpe Have a Velocity Problem? – Major League Baseball News – https://t.co/E0um0g7KKt pic.twitter.com/HRKeDVUvSP

— MLB &NHL News Now (@MLB_News247) August 8, 2020

Every team is going to run into rough spots along the season, I get that. Still, losing three games in a row to the Pirates and the Royals is absolutely embarrassing. Not only did this Twins loss ruin my parlay, but it made a terrible MN sports weekend that much worse.

Nonetheless, the Minnesota Twins will return to action against the Royals tomorrow afternoon (looking to avoid a sweep) at 1:05 PM CT. Jose Berrios (1-1 4.80 ERA) will take the mound against Brady Singer (0-1 4.80 ERA).

Cameron Thomson | Minnesota Sports Fan

The last thing the Twins expected with Pittsburgh in town was to face their biggest test of adversity in this short season. They overcome abysmal starting pitching and early impatience at the plate to beat the Pirates 5-4 on a walk-off from the ageless Nelson Cruz.

Cruz Control – Walk-off #TwinsWin!

5-4 over the Pirates. pic.twitter.com/SbjWwBocjJ

— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) August 4, 2020

PIECEWORK STARTING PITCHING FALLS FLAT

Lewis Thorpe wasn’t supposed to start against the Pirates. It was supposed to be Homer Bailey. But after Bailey was diagnosed with elbow tendinitis, he was placed on the 10-day injured list. Forcing Thorpe into action and make his first start on the year.

Yet this is what manager Rocco Baldelli and pitching coach Wes Johnson envisioned for Thorpe. They hoped to utilize him in a long relief or spot starting role. However, that can be a slippery slope that they likely don’t want to use too often. Thankfully it was against the hapless Pirates and their league-worst payroll…right? Wrong.

It was easy to tell Thorpe was making his first start. And right from the first pitch, no less. He served up a meatball to Cole Tucker who took it yard. It looked to be a long night. Throw in another run in the second and the fans atop Ramp B overlooking the stadium were vocally frustrated.

Cole Tucker – Pittsburgh Pirates (1) Solo. pic.twitter.com/GvYiLfSvhT

— MLB HR Tracker (@hr_mlb) August 4, 2020

It was not a promising performance from a rookie pitcher needing a confidence boost. Lack of command and horrific velocity doomed him from the start. Thorpe walked four batters in the first four innings while also not registering a pitch above 90 mph. Talk about morale crushing.

Lewis Thorpe’s fastball is down a couple mph early on tonight. Lots of 88s and 89s, and nothing over 90. Last season, his fastball averaged 91.2 mph.

— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) August 4, 2020

PUNCHLESS, THEN PATIENT OFFENSE

Talk about the worst possible time for the bats to go cold. Facing what could be considered the worst team in Major League Baseball, the bats fell completely silent. Instead of hitting Bombas they continuously struck and popped out. Against a pitcher, Derrick Holland, who is notorious for giving up fly balls and home runs no less. After three anemic innings, it looked like something may have been cooking for the Twins. Luck seemed to only be going in the Pirates favor.

Twins getting unlucky there. Arraez should’ve had a double, Sano called out on borderline call, Kepler out on a diving stop on the grass. #mntwins

— Jack Kewitsch – Tier 3 (@JackKewitsch) August 4, 2020

With Holland rolling through the Twins lineup, he finally wore down in the sixth inning. As the offense finally found plate discipline. The Twins scored three quick runs thanks to a Nelson Cruz single and a Max Kepler double bringing them within one run, 4-3. Two more walks to fill the bases and a wild pitch allowing Kepler to score made it a tie game. This all came with two outs. This team doesn’t quit!

Obligatory #mntwins pic.twitter.com/JXUGEf8uzk

— Jack Kewitsch – Tier 3 (@JackKewitsch) August 4, 2020

WALK-OFF HEAVEN

It was nerve-wracking, but they did it. With Polanco reaching on a bloop single and a Garver walk, it was two on in the bottom of the ninth with no outs. Arraez made the biggest productive out of the evening, smacking a ball to deep right-center advancing both runners to second and third with one out.

Then it was Cruz time. He absolutely wrecked a pitch to the warning track for a game winning double. Cuing the mob around the Twins’ dugout for their first walk-off of the year and making them 8-2 on the year. It wasn’t pretty, but thankfully it doesn’t matter how you win. A win is a win.

NELSON CRUZ WALKS IT OFF!

TWINS WIN! pic.twitter.com/kaodpiNpqp

— FOX Sports North (@fsnorth) August 4, 2020

Jack Kewitsch | Minnesota Sports Fan

The Bomba Squad is back! After a week of training, the Minnesota Twins are set to play live action baseball tonight, for our viewing pleasure. Remember, the 60-game regular season sprint doesn’t start until July 24.

The inter-squad scrimmage will be streamed Thursday evening from Target Field. The team is expected to stream the game on their social media platforms and their website. Aaron Gleeman hinted at it last night and I found a report from FOX 9, that even has expected pitchers.

Goodnight. Sleep tight. There will be a game Twins fans can watch via stream tomorrow night. pic.twitter.com/hm3JQ2uwrt

— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) July 9, 2020

It will start to feel even more real for the Twins with another intra squad game on Thursday night. The team plans to stream it online, so fans can tune in and get their first look. Jake Odorizzi and Lewis Thorpe will each pitch three innings, with Taylor Rogers and Sergio Romo also getting one inning. The game will feature public address announcements, walk-up music and other game elements.

Jeff Wald – FOX 9

Ok…live action baseball may be a bit misleading. This isn’t your normal exhibition game, televised every year during spring trainings, nationwide. Instead, this training (dubbed ‘Summer Camp’) and any subsequent “games” that take place, will be Minnesota Twins players facing off against other Minnesota Twins players.

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

It is still a step towards Major League Baseball’s season beginning and some sense of normalcy! The game will even include PA announcements, walk-up music and more. As reported by FOX 9, Jake Odorizzi and Lewis Thorpe will get some innings in, before closer Taylor Rogers and middle reliever Sergio Romo, get work in too.

Outside of that, it is unclear what the game will completely look like. I expect to see it be as close to the real deal as it can get, when playing against your own guys. We could also see instructional breaks and situational moving of runners, etc… I guess we’ll find out.

Thursday evening’s game comes off the heels of a pseudo-scrimmage that took place on Wednesday. Opening Day starter, Jose Berrios, threw four shutout innings and struck out the same amount of hitters. Rookie starter (and Uber driver extraordinaire), Randy Dobnak, also pitched four scoreless.

Nelson Cruz breaks up the no-hitter with the Twins’ first (sort of) hit of the season.

(I promise I’ll stop tweeting updates of an intrasquad scrimmage now. We’re all just really excited to be watching something resembling actual baseball again.) pic.twitter.com/ICrRs7fvhi

— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) July 8, 2020

While we are still a few weeks off from the Twins officially taking the field against the White Sox in Chicago to open 2020, this will be a breath of fresh air for those of us itching for baseball. Let’s just hope the weather holds off…

Jack Kewitsch | Minnesota Sports Fan