{"id":284092,"date":"2024-07-01T09:43:48","date_gmt":"2024-07-01T14:43:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=284092"},"modified":"2024-07-01T10:57:53","modified_gmt":"2024-07-01T15:57:53","slug":"larnach-launches-game-winner-for-twins-vs-mariners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=284092","title":{"rendered":"Larnach Launches Game-Winner For Twins vs Mariners"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Seatle —\u00a0Trevor Larnach\u00a0made sure that the Twins\u2019 flight back home would be a happy one, providing a two-run home run in the top of the eighth inning to power Minnesota to a\u00a05-3 win<\/a>\u00a0over the Mariners at T-Mobile Park on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larnach came to the plate after Jose Miranda laced a one-out single to left and popped Ryne Stanek\u2019s 0-1 splitter a Statcast-projected 406 feet to center — with an exit velocity of 103.4 mph — out of the reach of a leaping Julio Rodr\u00edguez and two rows into the seats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a fantastic swing,\u201d Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. \u201cI\u2019ve probably said it enough, but you\u2019ve got to hit the ball good to get it out of here. You\u2019ve got to hit the ball hard over and over again to score runs here, and that ball, he hammered it well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond giving the Twins the win, Larnach\u2019s blast made it 19 consecutive games for the club with at least one home run, a new franchise record. They\u2019ve hit 30 home runs in that span, behind only the Orioles, Yankees and Padres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the second-longest streak of games with a home run in the Majors this year, behind only the Orioles\u2019 run of 22 from June 1-23.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019ve been doing offensively, I think, is quality. It\u2019s been good,\u201d Baldelli said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been scoring runs, for the most part, in most games. Our offense has given us a chance to win most games, just like our pitching does that for us for periods of time, too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fairness to the staff, which surrendered just seven runs in three games in Seattle, the pitching wasn\u2019t exactly lacking this series. Joe Ryan<\/a> capped a run of three strong outings with 10 strikeouts in 5 2\/3 innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on six hits. Minnesota\u2019s starters combined for 28 K\u2019s this series, their most in a three-game set since last July, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fielding was another story, especially in a fifth inning Baldelli simply described as \u201cbizarro.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Minnesota took a 3-0 lead in the top of the frame, the Mariners brought in a pair of runs on a triple; a bunt where Ryan went home with the ball but the runner didn\u2019t try to advance, allowing Josh Rojas to reach base; a run-scoring fielder\u2019s choice that Ryan mishandled; a fly ball that Byron Buxton lost in the sun; and a ground ball to the right side of the infield where Ryan forgot to cover the bag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if I\u2019ve ever really seen an inning play out in that manner,\u201d Baldelli said. \u201cWe had plenty of opportunities to get it done. I do think that probably the most impressive part of the inning comes back to a positive for us, which is despite running all over the field having to attempt to make all those plays, not making those plays, Joe still was able to go out there and execute pitches.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, Ryan went back to his four-seam fastball — four in a row, the first three of which blew past Ryan Bliss for the second out of the inning, while the fourth got former teammate Jorge Polanco to pop out to keep the lead intact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was just the right pitch,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cIn the past, there might have been a little bit more [expletive]-you fastballs. At the same time, it was just the right pitch at the right time. It was coming out good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ryan finished with 11 whiffs on his four-seamer, matching his season high, with a 41% whiff rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mariners came back to tie things up in the seventh, but Larnach\u2019s blast answered right back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shot was Larnach\u2019s eighth home run of the season, but his first since June 16. He now has two of the Twins\u2019 30 homers on their run of power, one that\u2019s seen Minnesota go 13-6 to end June, keep pace for an AL Wild Card spot<\/a> in what\u2019s beginning to turn into a real race and deal the Mariners their first home series loss since April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think everyone in our clubhouse leaves this road trip in a really optimistic and positive state of mind,\u201d Baldelli said. \u201cWe played well, we played well consistently. We had a lot of very positive pitching performances on this road trip, we swung the bats very well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seatle —\u00a0Trevor Larnach\u00a0made sure that the Twins\u2019 flight back home would be a happy one, providing a two-run home run in the top of the eighth inning to power Minnesota to a\u00a05-3 win\u00a0over the Mariners at T-Mobile Park on Sunday. Larnach came to the plate after Jose Miranda laced a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":284097,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-284092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=284092"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284092\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":284112,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284092\/revisions\/284112"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/284097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=284092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=284092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=284092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}