The big news tonight is that the Twins’ top prospect, Miguel Sano, will be starting at third base in place of the injured Trevor Plouffe. So if you managed to tear yourself away from the Men’s NCAA basketball tournament for a couple hours, you are being rewarded with a glimpse of the future. Unfortunately almost all of the other establish Big Leaguers stayed back in Fort Myers, so you’ll be seeing plenty of hot Drew Butera action this evening as well.
It might seem like half of the Yankees are injured, but a top of the lineup featuring Brett Gardner, Ichiro Suzuki, Robinson Cano and Kevin Youkilis can do a lot of damage, especially if Liam Hendriks is missing his spots.
Enjoy the game!
| Minnesota Twins |
@ |
New York Yankees |
| Hicks, CF | Gardner, CF | |
| Dozier, 2B | Suzuki, I, LF | |
| Clement, DH | Cano, 2B | |
| Parmelee, 1B | Youkilis, 1B | |
| Sano, 3B | Hafner, DH | |
| Mastroianni, RF | Boesch, RF | |
| Benson, LF | Nunez, E, SS | |
| Butera, C | Nix, J, 3B | |
| Florimon, SS | Stewart, C, C | |
| _Hendriks, P | _Phelps, D, P |
Despite striking out a combined 15 times, the Twins picked up a Spring Training win against the Evil Empire, 6-1. Even more impressive, the Twins pitchers, Liam Hendriks, Cole De Vries and Pedro Hernandez held the Yankees to just one hit! Hendriks and De Vries pitched four innings a piece with Hendriks allowing the only hit and an unearned run.
Miguel Sano did not disappoint in his first Spring Training appearance going two for five at the plate and adding a nice defensive play at third base that included a corner-to-corner throw to get the runner by half a step at first base.
All in all a pretty enjoyable game, and any time the Twins beat the Yankees, there is much rejoicing.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| Minnesota | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 10 | 1 |
| NY Yankees | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
There was a lot of discussion after the game when we were voting on the Boyfriend of the Day (BOD, the equivalent of a game MVP). There were votes for Drew Butera and his 3 RBI, votes for the pitching staff’s one-hitter, and a vote apiece for Aaron Hicks and Miguel Sano. Since no consensus could be reached (and Spring Training stats don’t matter) I get to pick whoever I want.
Congratulations EDUARDO ESCOBAR! Escobar was one-for-one with an RBI as a late inning defensive replacement for Brian Dozier. I’m more confident by the day that Escobar will be on the roster for Opening Day, so consider this your formal introduction to the Twins utility infielder.
