Twins re-assert some authority

This weekend was the Twins most important series of the season. 3 games at Cleveland, who had cut the division lead to 5.5 games. A slumping Twins team against a hot Indians team. I was honestly just hoping the Twins could win 1 of 3 and stop the bleeding a little.

It was already looking pretty disastrous around 8 or so Friday night. Twins were down 3-1. Kyle Gibson failed to get out of the 4th. The lineup was again being shut down, and failing with RISP.

But one replay changed that game, this series, and, we'll see, maybe the season. Max Kepler grounds out to end another futile scoring threat in the7th. The Twins challenge, and it turns out that Kepler beat the throw the first by a blink. Could not have been closer. This is why you run out every grounder.

The reversal gives the Twins a run to make it 3-2. Then Polanco drives a ball over the CFers head for a 2 run double and in a matter of a few minutes we go from the Twins still down 3-1 in the stretch to leading 4-3.

Taylor Rogers shut the game down. We got an insurance run, and won 5-3. Massive win.

Twins win again on Saturday, with 2 Kepler dongs, and a big game from Jake Cave of all people. Then today they fell short of a sweep thanks to some more awful RISP hitting, but they at least made a game of it.

They added a game back to the division lead. And if these were pseudo playoff games it bodes well. Rocco Baldelli was really spot on in the 2 wins. He pulled Gibson on Friday before he could completely kill their hopes. On Saturday he also had a quicker than usual hook for both Odorizzi and later Duffey. He also didn't mess around at the end of the games. He gave Taylor Rogers the last 2 innings Friday, then brought him back for the 9th on Saturday even with a slightly comfier lead. These games mattered more than most. It was shrewd to treat them that way. And it turned out Rogers wasn't needed today anyway.

The bullpen came up pretty huge in this series. Well, until Mr. Fortnite gave up an ultimately game losing bomb today. The lineup had a couple big clutch moments, although they're still maddeningly inconsistent, and are striking out a whole lot.

These games were not artful. But there's a difference between sloppy wins over Kansas City and sloppy wins over Cleveland. And 2 out of 3 on the road against a hot team when you don't get 6 innings from any starter and are still without a couple.big bats....it's big. It's the first time in weeks that the Twins felt in control of this division again.

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