Hey! The Twins are above .500!

Twins 7
Giants 6
10 innings

Not to court hyperbole too much, but Sunday afternoon at Target Field was everything that makes baseball great.

Hot pre-summer afternoon. Massively entertaining ballgame, with multiple lead changes and lots of activity, and the final blow being delivered by literally the last guy you would expect.

The Twins came in riding a 7 game win streak, part of a 13-5 run that had brought them from one of the worst records in baseball to .500. They have, at the very least, restored some hope that the summer will be full of games that actually might matter for something.

And with Pablo Lopez on the mound, it seemed a good chance was there to sweep the Giants. We didn't quite get top flight Lopez, though. He labored through a long 1st inning, and after giving up a homerun to the day's Twins nemesis, Heliot Ramos, in the 4th, the Twins trailed 3-0 and had only one hit themselves, and it looked like maybe the streak was gonna end.

But Brooks Lee hit a 2 run homerun in the next half inning to get the Twins back in the game. The teams swapped runs in the next 2 frames. That damn Ramos made a diving catch on a Buxton liner, or the Twins might have grabbed the lead sooner.

That would have to wait until the home 6th. A pair of hits and a walk loaded the bases for Royce Lewis. Lewis was 0 for his last 36, and 0 for the season. But he has shown some propensity to elevate his play in clutch spots before, and did so again here, lacing a game tying single. A couple of batters later, Harrison Bader hit a chopper too slow to be turned into a double play, and Willi Castro scored the go-ahead run. 

Louie Varland pitched a clean 7th, but then Griffin Jax's 8th inning was one of the ugliest one run allowed innings I have ever seen from a pitcher, and the game was tied again. Naturally courtesy of Ramos.

We wound up in extras.

The Giants plated their free runner off Jhoan Duran. The Twins got theirs home as well on a Ryan Jeffers groundout. 3 batters later, it was DeShawn Keirsey up to bat. 

Keirsey, only in the game cause he was inserted as a defensive replacement several innings earlier. Keirsey, batting under .100 and without a hit in nearly a month. Keirsey, only still hitting here because the bench had been depleted.

But, even if it is just for this one time ever, Keirsey got to be the hero, dumping a single to left and winning the game, and getting the post-game interview and water bucket shower. 

How can you not be romantic about baseball? 

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