Lewis ‘Bang, Bang’ Minnesota Beats Toronto and Escapes 18th Straight Fall Baseball Loss
Texas, Philadelphia, and Arizona also dominated the first wild card game
The Minnesota Twins, a powerhouse team in the Central Division of the American League (AL) in American professional baseball, ended their long-running bad relationship with ‘fall baseball’.
Minnesota defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 3-1 in Game 1 of the American League Wild Card Series held at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA on the 4th (Korean time).
As a result, Minnesota struggled to escape from the swamp of 18 consecutive postseason losses, the longest among not only the Major League but also the four major North American professional sports. 카지노사이트
Minnesota has not won a fall baseball game since winning Game 1 of the Division Series against the New York Yankees in 2004.
Minnesota, which suffered three consecutive losses after winning the first game at the time, was eliminated without winning a single win in six postseasons, including 2006, 2009, 2010, 2017, 2019, and 2020.
The key player in Minnesota’s victory was slugger Royce Lewis.
Minnesota took the lead in the bottom of the first inning when Lewis hit a two-run home run over the left-field fence against Toronto starter Kevin Gozman in the bottom of the first inning with one out and one on first base.
In the third inning, Lewis again hit a solo home run that went over the right fence to make it 3-0.
Toronto, which was being dragged, made up for one run in the top of the sixth inning with two outs and a timely hit from Kevin Kiermaier on first and second base.
However, Minnesota, with its powerful bullpen, fought off Toronto’s pursuit with an impeccable fighting strategy.
Toronto, which excluded Ryu Hyun-jin (37) from the wild card list, mobilized five relievers after starting pitcher Gosman went down after pitching only four innings, but was unable to turn the tide as the batting line did not perform well.
The Texas Rangers defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 4-0 amid a strong performance from starter Jordan Montgomery.
Texas took the lead with Josh Chung’s sacrifice fly in the top of the second inning, and added one point in the fifth inning, taking advantage of Tampa Bay starter Tyler Glasnow’s wild pitch.
In the 6th inning, Corey Seager’s timely hit and the opponent’s bad throw scored 2 points and took the lead to 4-0.
Texas starter Montgomery became the winning pitcher by striking out 5 batters and allowing 5 hits and no runs through the 7th inning.
Tampa Bay Glasnow struck out 8 batters in 5 innings, but allowed 4 runs (3 earned runs) with 6 hits and 5 walks, becoming the losing pitcher.
In the National League (NL) Wild Card Series, the Philadelphia Phillies and Arizona Diamondbacks each won.
Its Philadelphia won 4-1 in the first game against the Miami Marlins held at home that day, thanks to Jack Wheeler’s strong pitching.
Philadelphia, last year’s World Series runner-up, will advance to the Division Series for the second consecutive year with just one win in the remaining two games.
Philadelphia, with all of its starting batters recording hits, scored the first run in the bottom of the third inning with Alec Bohm’s double to left field.
In the 4th inning, timely hits by Bryson Stott and Christian Pache added 2 runs to take a 3-0 lead.
Miami scored one run in the top of the 7th inning with Brian De La Cruz’s infield hit to third base.
However, Philadelphia broke the game in the bottom of the 8th inning when Nick Castellanos brought a runner home on first base with a double to left and ran away with the score 4-1.
Philadelphia starter Wheeler became the winning pitcher by striking out 8 batters and allowing 5 hits and 1 run in 6⅔ innings.
The Arizona Diamondbacks, who finished third in the National League wild card, hit three home runs in the first game against the Milwaukee Brewers and won 6-3.
Milwaukee, the top team in the Central Division, scored the first run in the first inning with a timely hit by Carlos Santana, and in the bottom of the second inning, Tyrone Taylor hit a two-run home run to left to take a 3-0 lead.
However, Arizona tied the score at 3-3 in the top of the third inning with Corbin Carroll’s superior two-run home run followed by Ketel Marte’s solo home run.
In the 4th inning, Gabriel Moreno hit a solo home run to turn the game around, and in the top of the 9th inning, Christian Walker hit a 2-RBI double to give Arizona the lead.