
Even in a shortened season, there are a lot of Major League Baseball games. These events — normally 1 of 162, this year 1 of 60 — tend to blend together and follow predictable paths. Few stand out from the crowd.
For four innings, both Milwaukee starter Corbin Burnes and Twins starter Kenta Maeda hadn't allowed a hit. The Twins broke through in the fifth with two hits and a run, but Maeda kept putting up blanks — at one point striking out eight consecutive batters.
He carried that no-no all the way to the ninth, when Eric Sogard led off with a single. Maeda left. The normally reliable Taylor Rogers came in to presumably finish off a 3-0 win. Until the Brewers tied it, leading to a tense three innings before the Twins prevailed 4-3.
That's a lot to remember, right? The near no-hitter. The unraveling. The extra-inning drama. The relief.
When games like that happen, though, sometimes we tend to overlook the most important things. Such as this:
A no-hitter from Maeda would have been a great story, but the bigger picture story is that he continued a trend this season where he has been pitching like an ace.
Note: He's not an ace yet. We need a little more time on that. But if the hope from the Twins when they dealt top prospect Brusdar Graterol to get Maeda in the offseason went beyond just a salary-controlled middle-of-the-rotation starter, their faith (and scouting and trust in numbers) is paying off.