Twins still half in it.

Did they lose? Because it felt like lost. Baker's pitches were all over the place. He couldn't put the ball where he wanted, but luckily the Tigers couldn't either. An effectively wild day, which is good, but an effectively short day as well, which is bad. It's a miracle he made it through the fifth, his pitch count stood at seventy five after three innings. That's ridiculous. The Twins' starters pitched a total of twenty one and a third innings. That's not going to get it done. The starting pitchers' failure to go further into the games has left the bullpen depleted going into this weekend's series against the Royals. Jeff Manship will kick things off against KC, and he's going to need some long relief help. His longest start? Five innings one month ago today.

The offense recovered quite well from last night's brain freeze, with the scrubs and stars contributing equally. An explosion like this always makes you wish they hadn't saved it for a blowout, but such is baseball. The same can be said of all extracurricular activity from Marcus Thames, Jose Mijares, and Jeremy Bonderman. Don't think less of me: I ducked out to go to the gym after the bottom of the eighth, so I missed most of the fun. It's kind of surprising that Mijares had the command to graze Everett's back, but there it was. He probably heard O-Cab complaining about Thames' slide (I don't think Jose speaks English very well, lending Orlando a greater influence over him), and decided to take care of it... to a different batter. I'd have loved nothing more than to have Thames himself plunked, but Adam "Shoulderitis" Everett didn't deserve it. Bad call, Jose, which is exactly what Delmon Young thought when he suffered for it. I hope Gardy was able to heal the emotional as well as physical wounds Mijares caused. A rift in the locker room, between a US and South American player, could have larger consequences than a sore calf.

They're still alive, and tomorrow remains the biggest day of the season. The Tigers could easily lose two of three to the Sox at home, but sweeping the Royals will be tough, mostly because Zach Greinke's pitching on Saturday. Best of luck, Twins.