OOTP Developments Forums - View Single Post - OOTP 16 -- This is Twins Territory

Brananorama · 03-27-2015, 11:44 AM

4/6/15
Minnesota Twins (0-0) at Detroit Tigers (0-0)
Phil Hughes (0-0) vs. David Price (0-0)

After beating out an infield single on the first play of the game, Danny Santana was removed due to a tight hamstring. Joe Mauer brought home the first run of the year with a two-out single plating Jordan Schafer in the top of the third, but the score was tied in the bottom half on a Rajai Davis double. The Tigers took their first lead in the fourth on a Nick Castellanos single, plating Yoenis Cespedes after a bloop single allowed the new Tiger to go first-to-third. After an infield single, Rajai Davis collected his third RBI of the day with a two-run single up the middle. J.D. Martinez followed with an opposite-field run-scoring single to make it a 5-1 ballgame. Following this, a double steal attempt wound up scoring a sixth run as Josmil Pinto’s throw down to second base sailed into center field. Davis plated his fourth run off Hughes in the sixth (as Hughes had only given up one earned to that point and had a low pitch count, I still had him in the game) to make it 8-1. After the Tigers stole their third near-uncontested base of Pinto, and J.D. corked a two-run shot over the fence in right-center, Hughes was removed in favor of mop-up man Tim Stauffer. David Price closed out a complete game victory with three hits, a walk, and eight strikeouts.

Minnesota 1, Detroit 9
WP: David Price (1-0, 0.00) / LP: Phil Hughes (0-1)

League Notes: The Cincinnati Reds deal Mike Leake and $3MM in exchange for Jordy Mercer and prospect Orlando Castro off the Pittsburgh Pirates.
~~~

4/8/15
Minnesota Twins (0-1) at Detroit Tigers (1-0)
Ervin Santana (0-0) vs. Anibal Sanchez (0-0)

Ervin Santana’s first batter faced as a member of the Twins was less than pleasantly memorable, as he served up a 2-1 meatball to Ian Kinsler that found its way over the fence in left, aided by the winds leading to the outfield so far this series. He served up another into right field off the bat of Alex Avila to make it 2-0 in the second inning. On a run-and-hit in the third, Danny Santana dropped a double into left that scored Jordan Schafer from first base and cut the Tigers’ lead in two. Oswaldo Arcia tied the game with a two-out crack to right. After the Tigers loaded the bases to begin their half of the third, they took the lead on a V-Mart ground ball, but the Twins converted it into two outs; a fair trade-off. Santana remained shaky over the next two frames, even loading the bases in the fifth before striking out Yoenis Cespedes to keep the score within one. A sacrifice fly from J.D. Martinez scored Jose Iglesias in the seventh making it 4-2 Detroit. Cespedes homered off J.R. Graham in the bottom of the eighth to give the Tigers a three-run lead. Torii Hunter got his first hit since returning to the Twins off Joe Nathan in the ninth, but that was all Minnesota would get, as they dropped the second game at Comerica.

Minnesota 2, Detroit 5
WP: Anibal Sanchez (1-0, 2.57) / LP: Ervin Santana (0-1, 6.00)
~~~

4/9/15
Minnesota Twins (0-2) at Detroit Tigers (2-0)
Kyle Gibson (0-0) vs. Justin Verlander (0-0)

I entered the series finale with the Tigers needing to see something good out of starter Kyle Gibson; while our bullpen appearances from Stauffer and Graham had been serviceable so far in this three-game set, I wanted a deep performance from our #3 man to close out our stint in Michigan. The Twins got on the board first, as Kennys Vargas knocked in Torii Hunter following the latter’s double in the second. The bases loaded toward the end of the inning, and Danny Santana delivered big with a triple into the deep Comerica alley to give the Twins a 4-0 lead -- more runs than they’d scored in the first two games combined. Joe Mauer singled in Daniel-San to make it 5-0 before Brian Dozier grounded out. In the top of the fourth inning, a Verlander fastball got away from him and plunked Dozier on top of the foot. The trainers diagnosed it as a simple bruise, and they tell me he’ll hobble a little in the morning for about a week, but it shouldn’t affect his game performance much. However, as a precaution, we did remove him in favor of Eduardo Nunez, who hadn’t gotten any at-bats in the series, and swapped him with Santana defensively. Nunez got the Twins’ first steal on the very next pitch. He advanced to third and scored on a Torii Hunter fly to left. In the bottom half, Jordan Schafer fell to the ground in center after making a nice catch against the wall to open the frame. The training staff wasn’t quite sure what was wrong upon first glance, and Schafer was removed from the game, heading back into the dugout for some preliminary testing. Utility outfielder Shane Robinson took over to get some of his first action. The Twins began another tear in the top of the seventh, loading the bases on three straight hits off long man Tom Gorzelanny -- who wound up balking in a run with two outs before K’ing Kennys Vargas. Kyle Gibson wound up giving me exactly what I wanted from him, making his way through eight shutout innings, and while he gave up nine hits he walked none and was never in too much trouble. I wound up giving Caleb Thielbar the ninth as the Tigers had a couple lefties scheduled to swing. Thielbar quickly worked through the inning, his only hit allowed an infield single that was immediately erased via double play, and the Twins worked out a shutout win in the final game of the set.

Minnesota 7, Detroit 0
WP: Kyle Gibson (1-0, 0.00) / LP: Justin Verlander (0-1, 13.50)
Series Notes: I was a little disappointed with how well the Tigers ran on us during the series. Detroit stole six bases off a combination of Pinto and Suzuki, while the only caught runner came from Kurt’s arm, in removing Anthony Gose from the basepaths. While we didn’t see Fien or Perkins this series, the rest of the bullpen seemed in good shape, and I’m confident in chalking down Hughes’ and Santana’s outings to slight slumps out of the gate.

Injury Notes: After the game, the Twins got the rough news about Jordan Schafer -- he’s been diagnosed with a concussion and will miss almost the entire season (five months, specifically, and the whole deal if we wind up sending him on a rehab assignment.) He hits the 60-day DL, and I call up the infamous Aaron Hicks, who’s unimpressed in two shots at the show in 2013 and 2014. With Buxton on his way up perhaps by September call-ups, this is likely Hicks’ last shot at a starting job.

03-27-2015, 11:44 AM	#10
Brananorama Minors (Double A) Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Minnesota Posts: 118	4/6 - 4/9: Twins at Tigers 4/6/15 Minnesota Twins (0-0) at Detroit Tigers (0-0) Phil Hughes (0-0) vs. David Price (0-0) After beating out an infield single on the first play of the game, Danny Santana was removed due to a tight hamstring. Joe Mauer brought home the first run of the year with a two-out single plating Jordan Schafer in the top of the third, but the score was tied in the bottom half on a Rajai Davis double. The Tigers took their first lead in the fourth on a Nick Castellanos single, plating Yoenis Cespedes after a bloop single allowed the new Tiger to go first-to-third. After an infield single, Rajai Davis collected his third RBI of the day with a two-run single up the middle. J.D. Martinez followed with an opposite-field run-scoring single to make it a 5-1 ballgame. Following this, a double steal attempt wound up scoring a sixth run as Josmil Pinto’s throw down to second base sailed into center field. Davis plated his fourth run off Hughes in the sixth (as Hughes had only given up one earned to that point and had a low pitch count, I still had him in the game) to make it 8-1. After the Tigers stole their third near-uncontested base of Pinto, and J.D. corked a two-run shot over the fence in right-center, Hughes was removed in favor of mop-up man Tim Stauffer. David Price closed out a complete game victory with three hits, a walk, and eight strikeouts. Minnesota 1, Detroit 9 WP: David Price (1-0, 0.00) / LP: Phil Hughes (0-1) League Notes: The Cincinnati Reds deal Mike Leake and $3MM in exchange for Jordy Mercer and prospect Orlando Castro off the Pittsburgh Pirates. ~~~ 4/8/15 Minnesota Twins (0-1) at Detroit Tigers (1-0) Ervin Santana (0-0) vs. Anibal Sanchez (0-0) Ervin Santana’s first batter faced as a member of the Twins was less than pleasantly memorable, as he served up a 2-1 meatball to Ian Kinsler that found its way over the fence in left, aided by the winds leading to the outfield so far this series. He served up another into right field off the bat of Alex Avila to make it 2-0 in the second inning. On a run-and-hit in the third, Danny Santana dropped a double into left that scored Jordan Schafer from first base and cut the Tigers’ lead in two. Oswaldo Arcia tied the game with a two-out crack to right. After the Tigers loaded the bases to begin their half of the third, they took the lead on a V-Mart ground ball, but the Twins converted it into two outs; a fair trade-off. Santana remained shaky over the next two frames, even loading the bases in the fifth before striking out Yoenis Cespedes to keep the score within one. A sacrifice fly from J.D. Martinez scored Jose Iglesias in the seventh making it 4-2 Detroit. Cespedes homered off J.R. Graham in the bottom of the eighth to give the Tigers a three-run lead. Torii Hunter got his first hit since returning to the Twins off Joe Nathan in the ninth, but that was all Minnesota would get, as they dropped the second game at Comerica. Minnesota 2, Detroit 5 WP: Anibal Sanchez (1-0, 2.57) / LP: Ervin Santana (0-1, 6.00) ~~~ 4/9/15 Minnesota Twins (0-2) at Detroit Tigers (2-0) Kyle Gibson (0-0) vs. Justin Verlander (0-0) I entered the series finale with the Tigers needing to see something good out of starter Kyle Gibson; while our bullpen appearances from Stauffer and Graham had been serviceable so far in this three-game set, I wanted a deep performance from our #3 man to close out our stint in Michigan. The Twins got on the board first, as Kennys Vargas knocked in Torii Hunter following the latter’s double in the second. The bases loaded toward the end of the inning, and Danny Santana delivered big with a triple into the deep Comerica alley to give the Twins a 4-0 lead -- more runs than they’d scored in the first two games combined. Joe Mauer singled in Daniel-San to make it 5-0 before Brian Dozier grounded out. In the top of the fourth inning, a Verlander fastball got away from him and plunked Dozier on top of the foot. The trainers diagnosed it as a simple bruise, and they tell me he’ll hobble a little in the morning for about a week, but it shouldn’t affect his game performance much. However, as a precaution, we did remove him in favor of Eduardo Nunez, who hadn’t gotten any at-bats in the series, and swapped him with Santana defensively. Nunez got the Twins’ first steal on the very next pitch. He advanced to third and scored on a Torii Hunter fly to left. In the bottom half, Jordan Schafer fell to the ground in center after making a nice catch against the wall to open the frame. The training staff wasn’t quite sure what was wrong upon first glance, and Schafer was removed from the game, heading back into the dugout for some preliminary testing. Utility outfielder Shane Robinson took over to get some of his first action. The Twins began another tear in the top of the seventh, loading the bases on three straight hits off long man Tom Gorzelanny -- who wound up balking in a run with two outs before K’ing Kennys Vargas. Kyle Gibson wound up giving me exactly what I wanted from him, making his way through eight shutout innings, and while he gave up nine hits he walked none and was never in too much trouble. I wound up giving Caleb Thielbar the ninth as the Tigers had a couple lefties scheduled to swing. Thielbar quickly worked through the inning, his only hit allowed an infield single that was immediately erased via double play, and the Twins worked out a shutout win in the final game of the set. Minnesota 7, Detroit 0 WP: Kyle Gibson (1-0, 0.00) / LP: Justin Verlander (0-1, 13.50) Series Notes: I was a little disappointed with how well the Tigers ran on us during the series. Detroit stole six bases off a combination of Pinto and Suzuki, while the only caught runner came from Kurt’s arm, in removing Anthony Gose from the basepaths. While we didn’t see Fien or Perkins this series, the rest of the bullpen seemed in good shape, and I’m confident in chalking down Hughes’ and Santana’s outings to slight slumps out of the gate. Injury Notes: After the game, the Twins got the rough news about Jordan Schafer -- he’s been diagnosed with a concussion and will miss almost the entire season (five months, specifically, and the whole deal if we wind up sending him on a rehab assignment.) He hits the 60-day DL, and I call up the infamous Aaron Hicks, who’s unimpressed in two shots at the show in 2013 and 2014. With Buxton on his way up perhaps by September call-ups, this is likely Hicks’ last shot at a starting job.