It came down to the final day of the regular season, the Twins didn’t even finish things off with a victory, but regardless, they are the 2020 American League Central champions. Bring on the Astros.
Hill: 5 2/3 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K
Home Runs: None
Bottom 3 WPA: Romo -.394, Cruz -.230, Rosario -.202
Chicago Drama
No matter what the Twins did, a White Sox loss guaranteed them the division. So when the Cubs took a 6-0 lead over the Sox in the second inning of their game this afternoon, it was starting to appear the Twins had things locked up. The Cubbies extended that lead to 10-1 by the middle of the seventh inning.
The White Sox stormed back to score five in the eighth and two in the bottom of the ninth inning. The tying run came to the plate, but Cubs pitcher Andrew Chafin managed to finish the job, giving the Twins back-to-back American League Central titles.
The loss coupled with a Cleveland win resulted in the White Sox finishing third in the division.
Staying Atop the Mountain
Rich Hill is going to have an opportunity to pitch a 17th major league season if he so chooses. He held the Reds scoreless for 5 2/3 innings today, though Matt Wisler allowed an inherited runner to score. Hill ended the regular season with a 3.03 ERA over 38 2/3 innings.
Hill gave up just a pair of hits, both singles. He issued three walks, two to Joey Votto, and struck out four batters.
Balk Talk
How’s this for manufacturing a run? Jake Cave led off the fifth inning with a walk, advanced to second on a groundout, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a balk.
The Reds appeared to have tried to argue that this shouldn’t have been considered a pitch because Sonny Gray stepped back off the rubber, but he had already started his delivery by then. There was some confusion, a delay and a review, but the original call was eventually upheld.
Arráez Rolling
After a successful return to the lineup in which he went 4-for-4 with three doubles, Luis Arráez had two of the Twins’ five hits on the day, one of them being another double. This brief but triumphant return boosted Arráez’s batting average from .288 to .321.
Romo’s Ugly Outing
Sergio Romo faced four batters in the top of the 10th inning and didn’t retire a single one of them. Curt Casali and Tucker Barnhart both singled before Nick Castellanos and Joey Votto both walked off Romo.
Romo really struggled to find the zone, throwing just seven of his 18 pitches for strikes. The Twins used seven pitchers today.
Playoff Picture Develops
Here’s how things ended up working out for the playoffs below. There will be plenty more discussion and analysis regarding the Twins Wild Card matchup against the Astros here at Twins Daily.
And the Twins are getting put in the afternoon time slot for both of their first two games.
Postgame Pint
Check out tonight’s episode of Twins Daily’s Postgame Pint live stream on YouTube or Facebook.