When the Minnesota Twins staged an unexpected surge to catch their AL Central rivals, the
Cleveland Indians, capped by a win against Toronto ace Noah Syndergaard on the last day
of the season, the teams had to work overtime and stage a one-game playoff to determine
who would make the CFA playoffs and face the Oakland A's in the wild-card series.
It would only make sense that they had to work overtime in that game as well.
Each team's respective ace, the Twins' Trevor Bauer (16-5) and the Indians' Justin Verlander
(11-10), squared off Wednesday, Sept. 25, at Cleveland's Colavito Field before a sellout
crowd. Cleveland manager Jake Taylor was waiting to see the weather reports, and with the
wind blowing in from center at 9 mph, decided to go with the homer-prone Verlander, rather
than the groundball-inducing Kyle Hendricks, even though he wanted to see a bit stronger
gales. Speculation was that Verlander would be better served going in Games 1 and
possibly 5 in Oakland's spacious Shibe Park, should the Indians make it that far, but
ultimately the original Indian's senior status swung the manager's gut.
But neither Bauer nor Verlander was his expected self in the playoff, each going only six
innings and throwing more than 120 pitches, with Verlander putting the leadoff man on in
each of the first four innings. Bauer was similarly shaky, putting the leadoff man on
four times in his first five innings.
It was Cleveland that struck first, however, in the bottom of the second inning, with
outfielders Max Kepler and Hunter Renfroe singling to put men on the corners before catcher
J.T. Realmuto walked to load the bases with no one out. After midseason acquisition Edwin
Encarnacion struck out, first baseman Willson Contreras hit a sacrifice fly to center to
score Kepler and move Renfroe to third. A walk to shortstop Carlos Correa loaded the bases
again before rookie third baseman Brian Anderson popped out to short, leaving the Indians
up 1-0 and manager Taylor and the crowd fretting that they could have used more there.
"Only one run there, that's a win" for the Twins, Taylor muttered in the dugout.
The Twins responded immediately in the top of the third. Light-hitting catcher Roberto
Perez grounded a single to right, then Anderson botched a grounder by leadoff man and
center fielder Brandon Nimmo. Right fielder J.D. Martinez rapped a sharp single to left-center,
scoring Perez and sending the speedy Nimmo to third with nobody out. Conceding the run, the
Indians got a grounder to short from left fielder Michael Brantley to force Martinez at
second, allowing Nimmo to score and put the Twins up 2-1 before Trevor Story grounded into a
6-3 double play, the Twins' second of the game.
Minnesota threatened again in the fourth, with first baseman Anthony Rizzo lining a single up
the middle and designated hitter Mitch Moreland drawing a walk, Verlander's fourth of the
game. But second baseman Ian Kinsler struck out and third baseman Luis Valbuena grounded into
the Twins' third Twin-killing to end the danger.
The Indians' next threat came in the bottom of the fifth. Correa doubled leading off before
Anderson struck out. Second baseman Gleyber Torres singled in Correa to tie it at 2-2, but
center fielder Ronald Acuna and Kepler struck out.
That's where things remained for quite some time. After a laboring Verlander, pitching
carefully to the powerful Kinsler, walked him to lead off the seventh, he was done. Right-hander
Joe Jimenez entered, giving up a single to Valbuena and then striking out Perez. With one out,
lefty Randy Rosario entered to face Nimmo and induced a first-pitch 6-4-3 double play,
Minnesota's fourth.
The Twins threatened yet again in the eighth. Rosario struck out Martinez and walked Brantley
before Sergio Romo entered, striking out Story. Lefty Daniel Stumpf gave up a double to Rizzo
before striking out Moreland to keep it 2-2.
The Indians managed to draw two walks in the bottom of the inning against Minnesota's Hansel
Robles before sending up Pablo Sandoval to pinch-hit for Encarnacion with two outs, giving the
former Twin, unceremoniously cut in midseason, the chance to be the hero against his old team,
but a groundout to second ended the inning.
Nine innings ended with the score still 2-2, and the Twins got things going in the top of the
10th against rookie right-hander Lou Trivino. Martinez singled up the middle for his third hit
of the game and went to second on a wild pitch. After Brantley walked and Story struck out,
lefty closer Felipe Vazquez entered to face the lefty tandem of Rizzo and Moreland and struck
out both.
For the Twins, Blake Parker entered in the bottom of the 11th to replace Jim Johnson, who had
gotten an efficient seven outs on 19 pitches. Realmuto walked and Sandoval struck out before
Contreras grounded a single up the middle to send Realmuto to third. After a first-pitch foul
from Correa, an errant pitch rolled several feet away from Perez, the catcher, allowing Realmuto
to score and sending the Indians to the wild-card series with a 3-2 win in 11 innings.
The Twins had a lot of bad luck in this game. They had the aforementioned four double plays and
scored in only one inning but had runners on base in every inning but one, and runners in scoring
position in six of those innings. By contrast, the Indians had three 1-2-3 innings and runners
in scoring position in only four innings. But it seemed like a reasonable outcome and a fair
contest; things just didn't quite go the Twins' way. A bit different luck and Scott is doing this
writeup instead of me, but that's baseball.
Congratulations to Scott on a great season that came up the tiniest bit short.
It was certainly strange playing a high-stakes, winner take all game after not being in the
playoffs since 2011.
On to Oakland! -- David de la Fuente
9/25/2019, Min19-Cle19, "the Rock," Colavito Field
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R H E LOB DP
2019 Twins 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 8 0 11 0
2019 Indians 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 6 1 10 4
Twins AB R H BI D T HR BB K SB CS IW HP SH SF AVG PO A E PB
Nimmo cf 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .251 4 0 0 0
Martinez,JD rf 5 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .309 2 0 0 0
Brantley lf 3 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .276 1 0 0 0
Story ss 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 .286 1 3 0 0
Rizzo 1b 5 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .282 8 0 0 0
Moreland dh 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 .215 0 0 0 0
Kinsler 2b 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 .248 2 2 0 0
Valbuena 3b 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .229 1 0 0 0
Perez,R c 5 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .195 12 1 0 0
Bauer p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .111 0 0 0 0
Neshek p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0
Robles,H p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0
Johnson,J p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0
Parker p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0
38 2 8 2 1 0 0 8 14 0 0 1 0 0 0 31 6 0 0
Indians AB R H BI D T HR BB K SB CS IW HP SH SF AVG PO A E PB
Anderson,Bri 3b 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 .269 1 0 1 0
Torres,G 2b 5 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 .266 3 1 0 0
Acuna cf 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .272 3 0 0 0
Kepler rf 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .234 1 0 0 0
Renfroe lf 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .265 1 0 0 0
Realmuto c 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .277 15 0 0 0
Encarnacion dh 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .209 0 0 0 0
Sandoval ph 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .279 0 0 0 0
Contreras,Ws 1b 4 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .246 6 1 0 0
Correa ss 3 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .246 3 5 0 0
Verlander p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .125 0 0 0 0
Jimenez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0
Rosario,R p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0
Romo p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0
Stumpf p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0
Moronta p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0
Trivino p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 0 0 0 0
Vazquez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0
35 3 6 2 1 0 0 8 12 1 1 0 0 0 1 33 7 1 0
Twins INN H R ER BB K PCH STR BF HR IW HP WP DP ERA
Bauer 6.0 5 2 2 4 10 123 75 26 0 0 0 0 0 2.38
Neshek 1.1 0 0 0 0 0 16 10 4 0 0 0 0 0 2.59
Robles,H 0.1 0 0 0 2 0 15 5 3 0 0 0 0 0 4.13
Johnson,J 2.1 0 0 0 1 1 19 12 8 0 0 0 0 0 2.18
Parker L 5-2 0.1 1 1 1 1 1 17 9 3 0 0 0 1 0 4.09
10.1 6 3 3 8 12 190 111 44 0 0 0 1 0
Indians INN H R ER BB K PCH STR BF HR IW HP WP DP ERA
Verlander 6.0 4 2 1 5 4 121 76 25 0 1 0 0 2 3.74
Jimenez 0.1 1 0 0 0 1 6 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 3.25
Rosario,R 1.0 0 0 0 1 1 11 5 3 0 0 0 0 1 4.28
Romo 0.1 0 0 0 0 1 6 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 4.00
Stumpf 0.1 1 0 0 0 1 8 5 2 0 0 0 0 0 6.00
Moronta 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 24 15 4 0 0 0 0 0 2.68
Trivino 0.1 1 0 0 1 1 19 10 3 0 0 0 1 0 2.50
Vazquez W 6-2 1.2 0 0 0 1 4 21 15 6 0 0 0 0 0 1.99
11.0 8 2 1 8 14 216 133 46 0 1 0 1 3
Cle: Sandoval batted for Encarnacion in the 8th
Temperature: 52, Sky: clear, Wind: in from center at 8 MPH.
9/25/2019, Min19-Cle19, "the Rock," Colavito Field
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R H E LOB DP
2019 Twins 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 8 0 11 0
2019 Indians 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 6 1 10 4
Twins -----A------ -----B------ -----C------ -----D------ -----E------
Nimmo cf 1>W e5.1-2;B-1 k Rosario,R 6/L
643/gdp
Martinez,JD rf 2/fl S.2-H;1-3 S 8>k 0>Trivino
S
Brantley lf note 1 note 2 9 W wp.1-2
W
Story ss 2>W 63/gdp 6>k Romo k
k
Rizzo 1b 5/fl 4>S 4/L Stumpf Vazquez
D.1-3 k
Moreland dh bk.1-2 W.1-2 k k k
8.2-3
Kinsler 2b IW k 7>W 9>Moronta 1>W
k
Valbuena 3b 7 363/gdp Jimenez 8 8
S.1-3
Perez,R c 3>S 5>63 k S k
1: 3/ldp.1x1(3) 2: 64/f.3-H;1x2;B-1
Indians -----A------ -----B------ -----C------ -----D------ -----E------
Anderson,Bri 3b 1>S 6 k 8 W
Torres,G 2b CS2(24) 3>k S.2-H 9 k
8
Acuna cf k 3 k 8>3/g 0>63
Kepler rf 2>S k SB2 Robles,H 7
k W
Renfroe lf S.1-3 4>W 6>k 5 3
Realmuto c W.1-2 9 W W.1-2 1>Parker
W
Encarnacion dh k k 8 Johnson,J
Sandoval ph 43 k
Contreras,Ws 1b note 1 4 k 9>63 S.1-3
Correa ss W.1-2 5>D 7>Neshek 43 wp.3-H;1-2
63
1: 8/SF.3-H;2-3
Twins -----F------ -----G------ -----H------ -----I------ -----J------
Nimmo cf k
Martinez,JD rf
Brantley lf
Story ss
Rizzo 1b
Moreland dh
Kinsler 2b
Valbuena 3b
Perez,R c
Indians -----F------ -----G------ -----H------ -----I------ -----J------
Anderson,Bri 3b
Torres,G 2b
Acuna cf
Kepler rf
Renfroe lf
Realmuto c
Encarnacion dh
Sandoval ph
Contreras,Ws 1b
Correa ss
Twins IN OUT ER Indians IN OUT ER
Bauer A1 C8 2 Verlander A1 C7 1
Neshek C9 D3 0 Jimenez C8 C9 0
Robles,H D4 D6 0 Rosario,R D1 D3 0
Johnson,J D7 E5 0 Romo D4 D4 0
Parker E6 E8 1 L 5-2 Stumpf D5 D6 0
Moronta D7 E1 0
Trivino E2 E4 0
Vazquez E5 F1 0 W 6-2
9/25/2019, Min19-Cle19, "the Rock," Colavito Field
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R H E LOB DP
2019 Twins 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 8 0 11 0
2019 Indians 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 6 1 10 4
Score O Rnr BS Event
----- - --- -- -----
************** Top of the 1st inning, Twins batting
0-0 0 --- 32 Nimmo walked (BBCFFBFB)
0-0 0 1-- 12 Martinez,JD popped out to the catcher (1BCFX)
0-0 1 1-- 01 Brantley lined into a double play, Contreras,Ws
unassisted, Nimmo out at first (FX)
************** Bottom of the 1st inning, Indians batting
0-0 0 --- 21 Anderson,Bri grounded a single up the middle (FBBX)
0-0 0 1-- 00 Anderson,Bri was caught stealing second (>S)
0-0 1 --- 22 Torres,G lined out to center (>S.BFBX)
0-0 2 --- 22 Acuna struck out (CBSBFFS)
************** Top of the 2nd inning, Twins batting
0-0 0 --- 31 Story walked (CBBBB)
0-0 0 1-- 12 Rizzo popped out to third (1FBSX)
0-0 1 1-- 12 Verlander balked, Story to second (BpSSFF)
0-0 1 -2- 12 Moreland flied out to center, Story to third (BpSSFF.X)
0-0 2 --3 30 Kinsler was walked intentionally (IIII)
0-0 2 1-3 01 Valbuena flied out to left (CX)
************** Bottom of the 2nd inning, Indians batting
0-0 0 --- 21 Kepler lined a single to shallow left (CBBX)
0-0 0 1-- 32 Renfroe lined a single down the left field line, Kepler
to third (BCBFBFX)
0-0 0 1-3 32 Realmuto walked, Renfroe to second (BFSFBFBB)
0-0 0 123 32 Encarnacion struck out (BSBSFBS)
0-0 1 123 00 Contreras,Ws hit a sacrifice fly to center, Kepler
scored, Renfroe to third (X)
0-1 2 1-3 32 Correa walked, Realmuto to second (BFBBC>B)
0-1 2 123 10 Anderson,Bri popped out to short (BX)
************** Top of the 3rd inning, Twins batting
0-1 0 --- 12 Perez,R grounded a single between first and second (FCBX)
0-1 0 1-- 22 Perez,R to second, Nimmo to first on an error by the
third baseman Anderson,Bri (CSFBBX)
0-1 0 12- 22 Martinez,JD lined a single to left center, Perez,R
scored, Nimmo to third (BBCFFFX)
1-1 0 1-3 32 Brantley grounded to short, forcing Martinez,JD at
second, Nimmo scored, Martinez,JD out at second,
Brantley to first (1CFBBBX)
2-1 1 1-- 01 Story grounded into a double play, Correa to Contreras,Ws
(1CX)
************** Bottom of the 3rd inning, Indians batting
2-1 0 --- 02 Torres,G struck out (FSS)
2-1 1 --- 22 Acuna popped out to first (BCSBX)
2-1 2 --- 02 Kepler struck out (CFC)
************** Top of the 4th inning, Twins batting
2-1 0 --- 12 Rizzo lined a single up the middle (FBCFFX)
2-1 0 1-- 32 Moreland walked, Rizzo to second (1BSBBFB)
2-1 0 12- 02 Kinsler struck out (SbCS)
2-1 1 12- 21 Valbuena grounded into a double play, Contreras,Ws to
Correa to Contreras,Ws (BBCX)
************** Bottom of the 4th inning, Indians batting
2-1 0 --- 32 Renfroe walked (BFBBFFFFB)
2-1 0 1-- 01 Realmuto lined out to right (SX)
2-1 1 1-- 22 Encarnacion struck out (BCBSS)
2-1 2 1-- 21 Contreras,Ws popped out to second (BFBX)
************** Top of the 5th inning, Twins batting
2-1 0 --- 12 Perez,R grounded out to short (CFFBFX)
2-1 1 --- 02 Nimmo struck out (CSS)
2-1 2 --- 01 Martinez,JD grounded a single between third and short (SX)
2-1 2 1-- 22 Brantley lined out to right (1BpCFBX)
************** Bottom of the 5th inning, Indians batting
2-1 0 --- 32 Correa doubled deep to right center (CBBBCX)
2-1 0 -2- 12 Anderson,Bri struck out (SBFC)
2-1 1 -2- 02 Torres,G lined a single down the right field line, Correa
scored (FCX)
2-2 1 1-- 12 Acuna struck out (BCFFC)
2-2 2 1-- 00 Torres,G stole second (>C)
2-2 2 -2- 12 Kepler struck out (>C.BFS)
************** Top of the 6th inning, Twins batting
2-2 0 --- 32 Story struck out (CFBBBFS)
2-2 1 --- 32 Rizzo lined out to second (BBBCCFX)
2-2 2 --- 22 Moreland struck out (BCCBFS)
************** Bottom of the 6th inning, Indians batting
2-2 0 --- 22 Renfroe struck out (CFBBS)
2-2 1 --- 31 Realmuto walked (CBBBB)
2-2 1 1-- 21 Encarnacion flied out to center (BBSX)
2-2 2 1-- 12 Contreras,Ws struck out (CBSFS)
************** Top of the 7th inning, Twins batting
2-2 0 --- 32 Kinsler walked (BSBBSB)
Jimenez now pitching
2-2 0 1-- 20 Valbuena grounded a single up the middle, Kinsler to
third (1BBX)
2-2 0 1-3 02 Perez,R struck out (CSS)
Rosario,R now pitching
2-2 1 1-3 00 Nimmo grounded into a double play, Correa to Torres,G to
Contreras,Ws (X)
************** Bottom of the 7th inning, Indians batting
Neshek now pitching
2-2 0 --- 21 Correa grounded out to short (BBFX)
2-2 1 --- 12 Anderson,Bri flied out to center (BFCX)
2-2 2 --- 11 Torres,G flied out to right (BFX)
************** Top of the 8th inning, Twins batting
2-2 0 --- 22 Martinez,JD struck out (BBFFS)
2-2 1 --- 31 Brantley walked (BBCBB)
Romo now pitching
2-2 1 1-- 32 Story struck out (1BFBBFS)
Stumpf now pitching
2-2 2 1-- 00 Rizzo doubled deep to left, Brantley to third (1X)
2-2 2 -23 32 Moreland struck out (BBCSBFC)
************** Bottom of the 8th inning, Indians batting
2-2 0 --- 22 Acuna grounded out to first (BFCBX)
Robles,H now pitching
2-2 1 --- 31 Kepler walked (BCBBB)
2-2 1 1-- 22 Renfroe popped out to third (FBFBX)
2-2 2 1-- 31 Realmuto walked, Kepler to second (CBBBB)
Johnson,J now pitching
Sandoval pinch hitting for Encarnacion
2-2 2 12- 00 Sandoval grounded out to second (X)
************** Top of the 9th inning, Twins batting
Moronta now pitching
2-2 0 --- 22 Kinsler struck out (CSBBS)
2-2 1 --- 32 Valbuena flied out to center (SCBBBX)
2-2 2 --- 32 Perez,R grounded a single between third and short
(BCFBFFBFFX)
2-2 2 1-- 11 Nimmo lined out to short (1CBX)
************** Bottom of the 9th inning, Indians batting
2-2 0 --- 00 Contreras,Ws grounded out to short (X)
2-2 1 --- 22 Correa grounded out to second (BBCCX)
2-2 2 --- 30 Anderson,Bri walked (BBBB)
2-2 2 1-- 02 Torres,G struck out (CSS)
************** Top of the 10th inning, Twins batting
Trivino now pitching
2-2 0 --- 22 Martinez,JD grounded a single up the middle (CBCBFX)
2-2 0 1-- 20 Trivino threw a wild pitch, Martinez,JD to second (11BpBB)
2-2 0 -2- 32 Brantley walked (11BpBB.CFB)
2-2 0 12- 32 Story struck out (BBSCBFS)
Vazquez now pitching
2-2 1 12- 12 Rizzo struck out (SBSC)
2-2 2 12- 02 Moreland struck out (CSS)
************** Bottom of the 10th inning, Indians batting
2-2 0 --- 00 Acuna grounded out to short (X)
2-2 1 --- 00 Kepler flied out to left (X)
2-2 2 --- 11 Renfroe popped out to first (BFX)
************** Top of the 11th inning, Twins batting
2-2 0 --- 30 Kinsler walked (BBBB)
2-2 0 1-- 02 Valbuena flied out to center (CFX)
2-2 1 1-- 12 Perez,R struck out (BbSCC)
2-2 2 1-- 02 Nimmo struck out (1CFC)
************** Bottom of the 11th inning, Indians batting
Parker now pitching
2-2 0 --- 32 Realmuto walked (BBBCCB)
2-2 0 1-- 22 Sandoval struck out (BBCCS)
2-2 1 1-- 12 Contreras,Ws grounded a single up the middle, Realmuto to
third (BSCX)
2-2 1 1-3 01 Parker threw a wild pitch, Realmuto scored, Contreras,Ws
to second (FB)