It wasn’t pretty, but the Twins beat the A’s 5-4 Friday night in the team’s first game since the All-Star break.
The post All-Star schedule got off to a fast start with Carlos Correa hitting the first pitch of the game for a double and Donovan Solano singling to center on the second pitch before Byron Buxton drove in the first run of the game with a sac-fly to center followed up by an RBI triple from Kyle Farmer.
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With the game tied at three in the top of the fifth, Willi Castro loaded the bases with a six-pitch walk. Seven pitches later Alex Kirilloff let the A’s off the hook by grounding out to the shortstop.
One inning later Correa, with a full count and one out, struck out looking with two on base. Solano followed up with a five-pitch walk. Buxton proceeded to end the inning with a five-pitch strikeout, in which he failed to swing once.
In the seventh, Joey Gallo got caught looking on a borderline call for strike three. Twins hitting coach David Popkins was tossed for arguing the call.
Twins hitting coach David Popkins gets ejected
"That's f***ing bullshit, f***ing bullshit. All f***ing nigh, all f***ing night. And you f***ing know it." pic.twitter.com/qwHUsuqShb— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) July 15, 2023
Correa, once again, stepped up to the plate in the top of the eighth with just one out and two on base and proceeded to work a full count, this time hitting into an inning ending double play.
Gallo broke through and launched a go-ahea, 390-foot, two-run homer to right in the top of the ninth to give the Twins a 5-3 lead.
A rough night on the mound for Twins starter Kenta Maeda didn’t keep the worst team in baseball at bay. Maeda was pulled after just three innings of work, in which he recorded six strikeouts, four walks and gave up three earned runs on 80 pitches.
Emilio Pagan, Jordan Balazovic, Jovani Moran and Griffin Jax picked up the slack for Maeda, allowing just one hit, two walks and no runs over the final five innings.
Jhoan Duran made things interesting in the bottom of the ninth, allowing two hits and one run before getting Seth Brown to hit into a game-ending ground out to second.
Minnesota and Oakland continue the series Saturday with first pitch set for 6:07 p.m.
