Twins 6, Tigers 3: One bad inning sank Matt Boyd

Matt Boyd pitched a decent game apart from one inning in which he came unglued. The offense couldn’t solve Jose Berrios, and the Twins won 6-3. In the process, the Tigers are now locked into the third spot in the 2018 MLB draft. And, it will take just one more loss to get the Tigers the second overall pick. Two games left. My confidence in this team has never been higher.

It was Berrios who looked off when this game started. Alex Presley continued to swing it, tripling home Ian Kinsler two batters into the game. Nicholas Castellanos followed with his 26th round tripper of the season and the Tigers led 3-0.

Boyd allowed a run in the first, but it was the second inning where he really got knocked around. He got two quick outs, and then lost the handle on everything but his fastball. Boyd has had a lot of success recently by pitching backward. But lobbing offspeed pitches wide of the mark early in counts put him in dangerous straits, and the Twins cashed in. A walk, a double and a three run shot from Brian Dozier put the Twins ahead. Eduardo Escobar followed with a missile to center field and the Twins led 5-3.

The bats were quiet on both sides from that point on. Boyd settled in to strike out five and go five innings. Warwick Saupold allowed an insurance run, while Chad Bell and Victor Alcantara got the final seven outs with little difficulty.

Roars

Nicholas Castellanos: Nick cracked a two run shot for his 26th bomb of the year.

Alex Presley: A triple, an RBI and a run scored. His wRC+ is at 108. Baseball is awesome.

Hisses

Nobody really bad enough to muster much frustration with. I have only apathy. Boyd blew up for an inning. Tiny hiss.