Wednesday's game had the feeling of an 8-0 victory for much of the night. Scott Baker was sick (in a good way), the Rockies bats looked sick (by traditional definition) and the Twins were on base again and again and again against slow-working and strike zone-impaired Jhoulys Chacin. But another night of untimely hitting meant that the Twins were only ahead 2-0 after seven innings of Baker's 12-strikeout, two-hit, one-walk pitching.
(I will not criticize Gardy one bit for yanking Baker at that point -- given the combo platter of 108 pitches and the disaster from a week-and-a-half-ago when Baker was the man who stayed in too long in Oakland.)
In the eighth, Matt Guerrier (and his 0.93 WHIP) put the 7/8 guys on base with a double and a hit batsman and they were sacrificed ahead by the No. 9 batter.
Enter Jose Mijares to face top-of-the-order lefties Carlos Gonzalez and Todd Helton. The 2-0 became 2-1 on a passed ball, where Joe Mauer mishandled a pitch and then flubbed the quick ricochet off the limestone.
Man on third, one out, Gonzalez at the plate.
Mijares -- whom we want to believe in very, very much -- got the .300-hitting Gonzalez on a foul pop and faced Todd Helton, one of those guys who used to hit .320-plus with 30- or 40-plus homers ... and then started hitting .300-plus with fewer homers ... and this year is hitting .250 with two homers in 200 at-bats.
After a foul-prolonged battle to 3-and-2, Mijares got the strikeout and then did the full Berenguer on the mound. (You only saw part of it on FSN.)
And the ninth again belonged to Jon "STFD" Rauch, who is tied for the AL lead in saves with 17 and took care of the 3-4-5 guys without incident. (If you need to ask, you can't use the nickname. If you really need to ask, ask here.)
