Bring Me The Sports has yet to confirm it but hell may have frozen over as the Minnesota Twins won a playoff game, defeating the Blue Jays 3-1 in Game 1 of their best-of-three Wild Card series.
The victory snapped their 18-game postseason losing streak and sent the sold-out crowd at Target Field into a frenzy when Donovan Solano made a diving stop and flipped to Jhoan Duran for the final out Tuesday evening. There was plenty that stood out, but non more than these five items.
1. Will Toronto pitch to Royce Lewis again?
Lewis homered in his first two at-bats and then walked as the Jays appeared to pitch around him in his third at-bat. With a hamstring that is 100% will Toronto opt to walk Lewis and put him on base when he can’t run full speed rather than risk letting the rookie hit more homers? That could be a critical development the rest of the series, especially in situations when Lewis is up with nobody on base.
The only evidence we have so far is Lewis’s leadoff at-bat in the bottom of the eighth inning, and the Blue Jays did pitch to Lewis and he grounded out to short.
Regardless, Lewis joined Evan Longoria (2008) and Gary Gaetti (1987) as the only players in MLB history to homer in each of their first two postseason at-bats.
2. Carlos Correa’s epic throw to get Bo Bichette
With two outs in the fourth inning and the Twins cradling a 3-0 lead, Kevin Kiermeier hit a chopper to third that went under Polanco’s glove and died in the infield dirt. Bichette thought he could score from second base only to have Carlos Correa make what has to be one of the great postseason throws to get Bichette at the plate. Correa had to run from his position at shortstop, grab the ball with his bare hand and make an off-balance throw — and he put it on the money for Ryan Jeffers to make the tag.
This look at Carlos Correa's play to get Bichette is jaw dropping pic.twitter.com/88HucwqTKy
— Superdrunkmark69 (@cjzer0) October 3, 2023
3. Michael A. Taylor’s outstanding defense
Taylor made a diving catch in the second inning and he made one of the game-saving plays in the sixth inning when he made a leaping catch at the wall to end Toronto’s threat.
Glove work from Michael A. Taylor! #MNTwins #WeBelieveinTC pic.twitter.com/PFHpP88wKq
— Dustin Morse (@morsecode) October 3, 2023
The Blue Jays had just scored a run to cut the Twins’ lead to 3-1. Louie Varland replaced Pablo Lopez and his first pitch was smacked by Matt Chapman, with Taylor saving the day with his catch at the wall. If that ball wasn’t caught, Toronto would’ve scored two runs to tie the game.
A Taylor-made catch to preserve the lead. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/SKAKJFjcmd
— MLB (@MLB) October 3, 2023
4. Defensive concerns at third base
As if 18 straight playoff losses wasn’t enough pressure on the backs of the Twins, that load got heavier when Jorge Polanco’s throwing error started the game with a pock mark. Seriously. First batter. George Springer’s routine grounder to third was fielded cleanly by Polanco, but his throw as up the line Alex Kirilloff couldn’t handle it.
Polanco played 11 games at third base during the regular season but hadn’t played third since 2016 before this season. Why was he at third? Because Lewis’s hamstring injury limited him to DH duties.
Springer didn’t come around to score, but the defensive issue is worth monitoring, especially since Polanco’s glove set the stage for the unbelievable play by Correa later in the game.
5. Questions about the crowd were answered
Talk on social media ahead of the series was that Toronto fans travel well and could be louder than the home crowd. That possibility got more attention when Twins beat writer Dan Hayes wrote in The Athletic that Minnesota fans “seem to struggle” providing a home advantage.
All that talk, whether is was the motivator or not, mattered not as 38,450 fans that packed Target Field were raucous from start to finish.
“It means a lot and it means a lot that the fans encouraged us and they had that energy for us,” Lewis said on ESPN after the game. “They brought it and we brought it for them.”
This moment. 😍#WeBelieveinTC pic.twitter.com/8zhajQ1iDc
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) October 3, 2023
