Former Boston College Eagles pitcher Pat Dean got the start for the Twins and Mr. Mookie Betts went down hacking to start. Dustin Pedroia walked but Xander Bogaerts popped up to first in front of the plate. David Ortiz began his final game at Target Field by striking out swinging to end the inning. "Slick" Rick Porcello got the start in the bottom of the first and the Twins immediately pounced on him. Eduardo Nunez slammed a single to left and immediately swiped second. Robbie Grossman advanced Nunez to third on a grounder and Eduardo scored on the Joe Mauer groundout. Trevor Plouffe got a base hit to right but Brian Dozier grounded into a force to end the inning with the Twins ahead 1-0.
Hanley Ramirez broke out of his slump by doubling to the right field wall to open the top of the second inning. He was stranded as Jackie Bradley Jr popped up to Nunez around the mound and Chris Young popped up to shallow center. Josh Rutledge got the start over Travis Shaw who was in a 3 for 31 slump and he flied out to center to end the inning. The Twins struck again in the bottom of the second although Max Kepler grounded out to second to start. Eduardo Escobar singled to center and Juan Centeno hit a perfect double play ball to Bogaerts....right through his glove for an error to put runners at the corners. Naturally Byron Buxton scored Escobar by beating out a double play ball before swiping second.....but wait! Sox manager John Farrell challenged the tag at second but the call was upheld. Porcello got Nunez to ground out to third to end the inning but the Twins were ahead 2-0.
Christian Vazquez whiffed to open the top of the third inning before Mr. Mookie was robbed of a hit by Eduardo Nunez. Pedroia grounded out to short to end the inning. Porcello cruised in the bottom of the third as Grossman popped up to center to start. Mauer flied out to left and Plouffe went down hacking to end the inning.
The Sox did nothing in the top of the fourth as Bogaerts singled to left to begin, but Ortiz banged into a double play. Ramirez grounded out to second to end the inning. Porcello kept up the pace in the bottom of the fourth as Dozier popped up to center to start. Kepler took strike three before Escobar grounded back to the mound to end the inning.
The Sox got one back in the top of the fifth although JBJ popped up to shallow left to start. Young crushed his 6th home run of the season to left to cut the lead but Rutledge flied out to center. Vazquez grounded out to short to end the inning with the Sox down 2-1.
Porcello continued his groove in the bottom of the fifth as Centeno grounded out to first to start. Buxton was frozen for strike three and Nunez whiffed to end the inning.
Mr. Mookie tried to start a rally with a leadoff walk to open the top of the sixth but Pedroia banged into a double play. Bogaerts popped up to first in foul territory to end the inning. The Twins looked to have iced the game in the bottom of the sixth as Grossman drew a walk to start. Mauer singled to right but Plouffe popped up to left. Dozier hit a rocket to deep left but Young caught it at the warning track, allowing Grossman to take third. Kepler hit a routine grounder to Bogaerts who inexplicably spiked the ball like a football and did the chicken dance for an error that scored Grossman with another run. Escobar made Bogaerts pay by dumping a base hit into no man's land to score Mauer to seemingly put the game out of reach. Centeno grounded out to first to end the inning with the Sox down 4-1.
The Sox tried to rally when Ortiz drew a leadoff walk to open the top of the seventh but Ramirez flied out to left. JBJ also walked to chase Dean. Kevin Jepsen took over for Dean and Young popped up to first in foul territory before Travis Shaw pinch hit for Rutledge. Shaw whiffed to end the inning and to extend his slump to 3 for 32. Porcello returned for one final inning in the bottom of the seventh as Buxton popped up to second to start. Nunez drew a walk and Carl Willis sprinted to the mound to let Rick know Law & Order SVU was on in the dugout. Rick was so excited he froze Grossman for strike three and got Mauer to fly out to center to end the inning. Porcello went 7 gutty innings and allowed 4 runs, but only 1 was earned due to shoddy defense.
The Sox took advantage of terrible defense by Minnesota to tie the game in the top of the eighth inning with Brandon Kintzler on the mound. Marco Hernandez pinch hit for Vazquez and walked to start the rally. Betts and Pedroia stroked back to back singles to load the bases with nobody out. Bogaerts hit a routine grounder to Nunez who threw the ball away, allowing Hernandez and Betts to score and Pedroia to reach third. With first and third and nobody out, Fernando Abad was brought in to pitch to Ortiz. Unfortunately Ortiz banged into a double play although Pedroia scored to tie the game. Ramirez drew a walk and took off for second, Centeno airmailing the throw which allowed Ramirez to take third with his helmet in his hand like an NFL running back. With the go-ahead run at third
With the game back in reach, Sox manager John Farrell sent in Koji Uehara of The Orient Express to pitch the bottom of the eighth with Sandy Leon now behind the plate. Plouffe grounded out to second but Dozier drew a walk. Kepler whiffed but Dozier swiped second on the throw down. Escobar flied out to left to end the inning.
Abad returned for the top of the ninth and Young tried to start a rally with a base hit to center. The slumping Shaw fell to 3 for 33 by bunting into a double play before Leon flied out to left to end the inning. The other half of The Orient Express, Junichi Tazawa, was tasked to send the game to extras in the bottom of the ninth. Centeno flied out to center before Tazawa blew away Buxton on a 94 mph fastball. Nunez walked and stole second but Grossman popped up to Shaw in foul territory to end the inning.
Michael Tonkin took over for the top of the tenth and Mr. Mookie led off with a ground out to short. Pedroia went down hacking but Bogaerts beat out an infield single by sliding into first. Bogaerts swiped second but Ortiz' last at bat in Minnesota ended by striking out swinging to end the inning. Sox manager John Farrell wanted to save closer Craig "The Buzzard" Kimbrel for a save situation so he brought in Matt Barnes to pitch the bottom of the tenth. Mauer drew a leadoff walk and Plouffe dropped down a sacrifice bunt to move Joe to second. Dozier hit a rocket off the glove of Bogaerts to put runners at the corners as John Farrell himself came out to talk strategy with Barnes. Whatever he said didn't work as Kepler smashed a walkoff 3 run bomb to dead center to win the game for the Twins 7-4.
Jackass of the Night is Matt Barnes. He served up the 3 run gopher ball to Kepler to end the game.
The Good:
Hanley Ramirez was 1 for 3 with a walk and a stolen base.
Chris Young was 2 for 4 with a home run.
Marco Hernandez walked and scored as a pinch hitter.
Koji Uehara pitched a scoreless 8th inning.
Junichi Tazawa pitched a scoreless 9th inning.
The Bad:
Josh Rutledge was 0 for 2.
Travis Shaw was 0 for 2 with a strikeout.
Christian Vazquez was 0 for 2 with a strikeout.
Sandy Leon was 0 for 1 at the plate.
The Ugly:
Mookie Betts was just 1 for 4 but walked and scored a run.
Xander Bogaerts was 2 for 5 with a stolen base and an rbi but made 2 costly errors.
David Ortiz was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts but walked.
Jackie Bradley Jr was 0 for 3 but walked.
Rick Porcello tossed 7 innings of 4 run ball to get the no-decision. Only one of the runs were earned as he allowed 5 hits and 2 walks while striking out 5.
Final Thoughts:
That sucked! The Baltimore Orioles lost to the Toronto Blue Jays so a win would have put the Sox all alone in first place with the big series against Baltimore coming up next. Even though the Sox won 2 out of 3, it felt like the Sox failed by losing this game. Bad defense all around sent the game to the tenth and it was just a matter of time before the Twins won it. A sweep would have been nice but it just wasn't meant to be. It was good to see the Sox rally after being down 4-1, regardless of the final outcome. The loss dropped the Sox to 36-26, still tied for first place in the AL East with the Orioles. After an off-day tomorrow, the Sox start a big series with the Orioles at home beginning Tuesday night. David Price (7-3, 4.63 ERA) goes up against Orioles ace Chris Tillman at 7:10 PM at Fenway Park.
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