Devin Smeltzer mows down Milwaukee in MLB debut, Twins' offense erupts late for border battle win
Another win for the Twins on a magical night at Target Field as they rallied behind a rookie pitcher with a five-run seventh inning to beat the Brewers 5-3.
The game was deadlocked 0-0 with Brewers right-hander Zach Davies and Twins rookie left-hander Devin Smeltzer trading zeroes. Davies, who entered the game with the second-lowest ERA (2.43) in the National League, fired six shutout innings but was matched pitch-for-pitch by Smeltzer.
The 23-year-old cancer survivor, in his MLB debut, needed just 69 pitches to get through six shutout innings. He allowed just three hits and struck out seven.
Smeltzer wasn't credited with the win, but the Twins' offense erupted for five runs in the seventh inning after Davies was replaced. Here's how the seventh inning unfolded:
- Jason Castro singled to center
- Willians Astudillo reached on fielder's choice, moved to 2nd on an error
- Max Kepler ripped a 2-run double off the base of the wall in right field
- With 1 out, C.J. Cron hit an RBI double to right-center field
- Eddie Rosario launched a 2-run homer to right field
Hittin' homers, breakin' records.
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) May 29, 2019
Just another night at the yard for the #BombaSquad! #VoteTwins pic.twitter.com/GGvrqttaum
Kepler, who earlier in the day was named the American League Player of the Week, has 19 hits in his 10-game hitting streak, including seven doubles and four homers.
When you’re 🔥, you're 🔥.
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) May 29, 2019
The hitting streak hits 10 games! #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/YLFni9aONZ
Rosario stayed red-hot at the plate with his 17th homer of the season, tying Houston's George Springer for the American League lead. The 27-year-old also leads the AL with 47 RBI.
Milwaukee didn't go away quietly. The Brewers scored a pair of runs in the eighth and Yasmani Grandal's solo homer into the upper deck in left field in the ninth made it a two-run game, but that's as close as they'd get.
The victory gives the Twins a split in the two-game series and improves their record to 37-17. The Indians were losing to the Red Sox 3-0 in the sixth inning, and if Cleveland loses the Twins' lead in the AL Central will grow to 11 games.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.