8 October 2023
HOUSTON — It must have been a relief for the Twins, when, after watching future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander shut them down for six innings, he didn’t emerge from the first-base dugout to begin the top of the seventh.
The Twins used their new-found opportunity against the Astros’ bullpen to make things interesting, putting up four runs in a hurry. But against an experienced Astros team, the Twins could never pull even after the first pitch out of Bailey Ober’s hand in the first inning landed in the Crawford Boxes in left field.
After a double play squashed the Twins’ first-inning opportunity against Verlander, Jose Altuve’s home run set an early tone in a 6-4 loss in Game 1 of the American League Division Series.
In each of the first three innings, the Twins had the leadoff runner on base. But big double plays in both the first and second innings let Verlander off the hook and the Twins could do nothing with an Edouard Julien leadoff double an inning later. From there, Verlander settled in — after allowing six of the first 10 baserunners to reach — in the final three innings of his outing.
But his departure meant an awakening for the Twins’ offense, which at that point, was trailing by five runs after Ober had given up a two-run home run to Yordan Alvarez in the third inning, his final inning of work, and Kenta Maeda, on in relief, gave up a pair of runs in the fifth inning.
Hector Neris offered a reprieve for the Twins. The reliever hit Matt Wallner, the first batter he saw, with a pitch and then allowing a single to Ryan Jeffers to bring Jorge Polanco to the plate. The infielder promptly planted a fastball left over the plate into the right-field seats. Two pitches later, Royce Lewis lasered a home run out 409 feet out to left, rejuvenating the Twins and making it a one-run game.
But they couldn’t get any closer than that. The Twins summoned the lefty Caleb Thielbar to face the Astros’ two potent lefties, Alvarez and Kyle Tucker.
Alvarez responded by banging his second home run of the night out to right, this one off the foul pole, and the Twins’ efforts to claw back against the Astros’ bullpen were ultimately unsuccessful.The Twins finished the day 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position, leaving eight on base in the loss.
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