Los Angeles Angels 2
Minnesota Twins 3
The Twins continued their winning streak and swept the Angels Sunday afternoon, scoring the winning run in the bottom of the 12th inning.
A beautiful day for a #MNTwins sweep pic.twitter.com/C0Zx3sV9lo
— Ted (@tlschwerz) April 17, 2016
Bryon Buxton’s hand injury didn’t stop him from pinch-running and scoring 2 of the Twins’ 3 runs.
The team is now 3-9, after being swept themselves by the Orioles, Royals and White Sox this season.
They beat the Angels 5-4 on Friday and 6-4 on Saturday.
Baseball is weird. The Twins were 0-9, hardly competitive, then they swept the Angels. 3-9 never looked so good. #MNTwins
— Tyler Braun (@tylerbraun) April 17, 2016
1. Tying it up
Angles’ first-baseman Albert Pujols hit a two-run homer in the first inning, putting the Twins behind early on.
Then in the bottom of the fourth, Miguel Sano doubled and Trevor Plouffe also doubled to bring Sano home.
The Twins used some late inning magic again to tie up the game in the bottom of the eighth. Buxton pinch ran for Sano, advancing to third on Plouffe’s line drive hit and scoring on Arcia’s ground ball.
Just like that, it's tied! 2-2.
Singles from @SanoMiguel and @TPlouffe24 with the run scoring on a grounder from @arciaoswaldo. #MNTwins
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) April 17, 2016
2. RBI leader suffers injury
The Twins couldn’t have done it without Trevor Plouffe, who went 2-4 on Friday, 3-4 on Saturday, and then 3-4 on Sunday. He is leading the team with 6 RBIs this season. However, Plouffe suffered an abdominal injury, leaving the game in the 11th inning. He has a right intercostal strain in his ribcage and is listed as day to day, according to reports. Earlier this week he took to twitter, telling fans to keep believing despite an 0-9 start to the season. Fans have noticed his stellar hitting.
Plouffe is starting to swing a hot stick. #MNTwins
— Austin (@MinnySportsFan) April 17, 2016
Trevor Plouffe has been looking good lately! #MNTwins
— Carlisle Khrist (@Carlisle789) April 17, 2016
Plouffe dumps a 2-out single to RF.
He's 2-for-3 today with a double & RBI#MNTwins
— Dan Cook (@DanCookWCCO) April 17, 2016
3. Staying strong
The Twins utilized their bullpen going into extra innings. Kevin Jepsen relieved Ryan O’Rourke in the ninth. Trevor May relieved Jepsen in the 10th, and Michael Tonkin replaced May in the 11th. The ninth, 10th and 11th innings were scoreless for both teams.
The bullpen is actually doing a great job, don't waste this! #MNTwins
— Firearm @ The USA Must Fall (@firearmofmutiny) April 17, 2016
Then came some action in the bottom of the 12th when Buxton stole second, and scored off of Oswaldo Arcia’s single to left field.
4. Mauer tied on all-time hitting list
Joe Mauer went 2-4 on Sunday. He is now tied with Harmon Killebrew as one of the Twins’ all-time leading hitters.
RT @Twins: Hits in 8⃣ straight games for Mauer.
Just another day at the office. #MNTwins 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/JNf2iJBydJ
— FantasyBaseballCafe (@BaseballCafe) April 17, 2016
Mauer has 1,713 hits. Ties Killebrew for 5th on #MNTwins all-time list.
— Mike BerardinoNDI (@MikeBerardino) April 17, 2016
UPDATE:#MNTwins All-Time Hits Leaders:
#3 – Tony Oliva – 1,917
#4 – Kent Hrbek – 1,749
#5 – Harmon Killebrew – 1,713
#5 – Joe Mauer 1,713— Seth Stohs (@SethTweets) April 17, 2016
Up Next:
The Twins take on the Milwaukee Brewers at home on Monday, April 18. The Brewers, like the Twins, are at the bottom of their division, but with a better record of 5-7.
