Wires Crossed

What's better than playoff baseball? Good playoff baseball.

This was a great game to watch. A "pitcher's duel" where neither pitcher looked entirely dominant, there were plenty of baserunners in seemingly every inning. Both Blackburn and Porcello are the types to allow hits, and lucky for both Detroit and Minnesota they got the outs they needed (both teams were a combined 3/21 with runners in scoring position). The Twins' bullpen is better on paper, and it was better on the field today.

Both offenses struggled where it counted. The Twins had some good sacrifices, but the suicide-squeeze in the top of the ninth was gut-wrenching. It was a calculated risk, with the hope to surprise, but a head-high fastball is nigh-impossible to get down. Unlucky, but I don't think it would have been too hard for Punto to intentionally push it foul, and live for another pitch. It appeared to be a huge swing in momentum, as with a lead off walk and sacrifice the Tigers had the winning run in scoring position. Yet the Twins kept to their horses, and Rauch pitched to hard contact, with Captain Jean-Luc Denard of the Starship Range running it down to preserve the tie.

The Twins tried to manufacture runs all day, rendering it ironic when Brandon Lyon's wild pitches gave them the lead in the tenth. O-Cab came through with his first hit of the game to create another threat after following through on the prior. A sacrifice-on-walk sandwich, and Delmon Young ate the leftover sacrifice for a what proved to be crucial two-run lead. Joe Nathan seemed to give up a home-run on everything in play after that Curtis Granderson pop, but they weren't, and Miguel Cabrera wasted his chance to play hero. After a long outing, Rauch probably won't be pitching tonight, but Nathan's pitch-to-contact save used only twelve pitches, few enough that he'll be able to go again tonight. Let's hope that's a good thing.