The ‘Jose Bautista Show’ rampantly bemuses the Minnesota Twins (Pt. 3)
The Minnesota Twins were facing off against the Toronto Blue Jays in their home ground on Thursday. The Target Field heroes were taking on the East division club, which was riding high on team morale, given their manager’s announcement
on retiring after the season. The hosts were 4 runs down at the conclusion of the top 5th and the team was looking to go up against the visitors in the bottom 5th inning.
Francisco Liriano had done his best but his pitches were hitting the wrong note. With no serious results coming out of his throws, Toronto took great advantage at utilizing the drawback of the hosts. With 3 homers smashed across
the playing field, Liriano had gone from 6 homers in 150 innings to 9 homers in 155 innings. Right before the match, he was dubbed the lowest home run conceding pitcher in 2010’s Major League Baseball season . Unfortunately, the tables had turned and much
of the blame went to Edwin Encarnacion who smashed 2 in 5 innings.
The contest was far from over and the Twins were down 4 – 0. With the Toronto squad playing at their best level, it seemed like a match on the cards. Minnesota was coming on to bat in the bottom 5th and fans expected
a counter attack soon. For the blue birds, it was already a surprise that Shawn Hill was pitching at his best. The 30 year old who was starting his 4th game of the season, had pulled no run till the 5th inning. He conceded no runs till
that time and that surely made manager Cito Gaston, really proud of him.
Danny Valencia was the player to get off the batting plate in the bottom 5th and he did so with a double to the left. James Jerry Hardy walked in next to face Hill but he grounded out to shortstop. With the team being
two men down, Drew Butera came in and delivered a Runs Batted In single to the right. Danny scored the first Twins run and the crowd finally got something from their home team heroes.
With the Jays still in lead with a 4 – 1 score line, the roster would not stop themselves from inflicting more damage on the Twins. The top 6th saw Jose Bautista start the inning off and he did so with a single to the
right. Being a 3 runs up, Jose stretched the figure to 4 after John Buck came in and delivered a double to the deep left centre. When Minnesota thought it was fighting back, Toronto teased them with another brace.
The Twins replied in the bottom 6th and the run came with an interesting story. Jason Kubel was walked to the first base after which Michael Cuddyer came in to hit a triple to the right and bring the Twins to 2. The
lead was cut back to 3. However, that tale was the least interesting one, compared to the one that came in the top 7th.
Mike McCoy was walked to the first base. Travis Snider reached on infield single to the pitcher and Yunel Escobar made it to the first base on a walk. With bases full, on came Jose Bautista to face new reliever, Pat Neshek on the
mound. The strong hitter had a golden opportunity to put the hosts out of the game and he did so with a Golden Grand Slam. The strong hitter smashed his 53rdhomer to the left, 427 feet high. The shot got the side from 5 to 9 runs.
For the Twins, that marked a blow to the bullpen and manager Ron Gardenhire. The action wasn’t over as Snider played further insult on the Central champions. His 359 feet home run to the right gave the Jays 2 more runs on the board
as Edwin was on again, positioned on the third base. With Minnesota on 2, it was going to be hard task to get even close to the score.
The Twins remained quiet and the Jays capitalized even more. The top 9th saw Jose Bautista score another home run. The 54th of the season went 359 feet high to the right and got the side to 12 runs on the
board. Dewayne Wise was the next and the last man to convert a bid for a run as the hitter ran home off McCoy’s single to the right. The match ended with the Blue Birds strongly in favour. They defeated Minnesota 13 – 2 and set the series up with an important
win.
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