Twins have a heartbreaking inning in game one of the wild card series, a breakdown
What Happened
The Minnesota Twins and Houston Astros are locked in a tight wild card playoff game, tied 1-1 in the bottom of the ninth inning. Sergio Romo takes the mound for the Twins, looking to keep the game deadlocked and send it to extra innings. Romo starts the inning by throwing an unusual two-seam sinker to right-handed batter Yuli Gurriel, a pitch he has used sparingly all season. Gurriel pokes the pitch the other way for a single. Romo then gets ahead of shortstop Carlos Correa 0-2, but Correa laces a single to right field, putting runners on first and second with no outs. Romo continues to mix in the two-seam sinker, a pitch he has relied on far less than his dominant slider throughout the year. The Twins' dugout appears concerned as Romo strays from his usual approach. Romo induces a pop-up for the first out, but second baseman Jorge Polanco makes an uncharacteristic error, dropping the ball and allowing the runners to advance. With two outs and the game on the line, George Springer steps to the plate for the Astros. Romo unleashes a nasty slider that freezes Springer, drawing a called strike. However, on the next pitch, Springer swings awkwardly at another slider, barely putting the ball in play. Polanco fields it cleanly this time, but his throw to first pulls the first baseman off the bag and the Astros tie the game. Twins manager Rocco Baldelli emerges from the dugout and signals to the bullpen, bringing in closer Taylor Rogers to face José Altuve. Rogers quickly falls behind 3-1 in the count and Altuve rips a two-run double to give the Astros a 4-1 lead. The Twins' dugout is dejected, having let a winnable game slip away in the late innings. "It's just heartbreaking," says Twins outfielder Nelson Cruz, his eyes filled with sadness. The Twins have now lost 17 consecutive postseason games, a franchise record. As the Astros celebrate their comeback victory, the Twins trudge off the field, facing an uphill battle to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentwe have the first playoff game and the
first heartbreaking
loss this one's brought to you by
draftkings twins and astros are tied in
the ninth inning and sergio romo is on
the bump
now sergio romo just threw a two-seam
sinker
to a righty batter he had only thrown
six of those
all season he throws 64 sliders and
that's what people sit on
he just threw another one to a
right-handed batter so now he's got him
o2 he goes with the slider
and it's just a poke job from guriel
just
leans back his hips are all wrong pokes
it he's on first now look at this slider
this doesn't get called a strike
that's a nasty pitch i would have given
it to him i liked it now he goes back
to the two-seam sinker again he's thrown
three to righties
that's half of the total amount he threw
all season he just threw another one
correa hits it so now he threw four
two seamer sinker pitchers to righty
batters
and he gave up a hit so he's probably
thinking i should stop throwing that
pitch
and giving up hits on my second best
pitch when i don't even throw it a lot
at all he pops up here
he gets the pop-up i liked his reaction
looks up he says it's right there and
then thinks the third baseman can't see
it he gets all scared
they got it one out two one there's a
slider there's another slider
and there's another slider two o slider
another kind of like hipster
out ahead of it out all right now
springer's up and he's got him one and
one that's my favorite pitch he threw
all outing that is a nasty slider from
romo there
i love that pitch there's two outs and
there's the off balance just swinging at
the slider and there's the heartbreaking
error by polanco
throws it away arise can't catch it
imagine if he caught it right there
with his bare hand or caught it in his
glove
and then grabbed the bag with his bare
hand that would have been a much
cooler play if your twins fan would have
won you that would have ended the inning
in a tie game but instead
he drops it picks it up
he's frustrated polanco's like what
happened who me
dusty baker's like
i got a plan now altuve's up it goes
slider way away
it goes slider no that's that same swing
we keep seeing the hips are
out they're just recognizing slider and
throwing their bat at it
hoping good things happen and good
things have been happening it's the same
swing
altuve it's a strike but they put that
in play now he goes back to the
two-seamer again to a righty he goes
back to it again
to a righty now he's going slider again
3-2
he tries with the fastball he doesn't
get it altuve says your turn
i mean altuve's about five six five
seven so
that's probably a strike on judge not a
strike on altuve
at first he wants he says no
okay rocco says we're gonna go and take
you out
and he looks over at someone and go i
don't know about
all that i think i pitched pretty well
first pitch bang two more runs
four to one houston ninth inning take
the lead
heartbreaking error the hair crew here
you got pineapple on one side
you got blonde mohawk on the other oh
and then sadness abounds for the twins
17 playoff losses in a row this one was
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