*Photo from Sports Illustrated*
Minnesota wins series 2-0
At long last, October success is in the Twin Cities. Carlos Correa drove in a run, the pitching came up clutch, and the Minnesota Twins defeated the Toronto Blue Jays with a 2-0 shutout victory on Wednesday afternoon in Minneapolis.
After winning their first playoff game since 2004 on Tuesday, the Twins won again on Wednesday to win their first playoff series in over 20 years, with the last one being in 2002. They relied on suffocating pitching, allowing just one run in two games. Only the 2020 Braves have allowed fewer in a playoff series, dispatching the Cincinnati Reds in the wild card round.
Twins shortstop Carlos Correa said "I tell everybody that this reminds me a lot of the 2015 Astros, when the young talent came up, matched up with the veterans that were there already, and then they started going off. I feel that this organization, this squad that we have right now, all the young players who are gonna be here for a long time, me, Buxton, Royce are all gonna be here for a long time and we’re gonna build something special."
Correa got the scoring started in the 4th inning, hitting a single to center field that scored Royce Lewis to make it 1-0 Twins. Max Kepler then scored on a groundout from Willi Castro to make it 2-0. The pitching staff took care of things from there.
Sonny Gray came up big for the Twins, pitching 5 shutout innings and striking out 6 hitters. Louie Varland and Caleb Thielbar pitched the 6th inning. Brock Stewart pitched the 7th, Griffin Jax the 8th, and Jhoan Duran got the save in the 9th to secure the series win.
Correa said of finally winning a series "To get that first win in a long time yesterday was special, but to get this win right here and move on to the next round, it feels amazing. We’re gonna go to Houston. Obviously, they’ve got a great team over there, and we’re gonna play our best baseball, man. This feels really good."
The Blue Jays now see their postseason misery continue with another series sweep. They've been swept in the 2020 wild card round and the 2022 wild card round before the Twins did it Wednesday. They haven't won a playoff game since the 2016 ALCS.
One of manager John Schneider's most puzzling moves came in this game. After Jose Berrios pitched 3 scoreless innings and got into a little trouble in the 4th, Schneider made the move to the bullpen, summoning Yusei Kikuchi. It didn't pay off, as the Twins went on to score both of their runs with Kikuchi on the mound.
Schneider said of the decision "He had electric stuff. Tough to take him out. But I think with the way they’re constructed, you want to utilize your whole roster. It didn’t work out. You can sit here and second-guess me, second-guess the organization, second-guess anybody. I get that. I get that. And it’s tough. And it didn’t work out for us today or yesterday."
With the Twins moving on, they'll travel to Texas to face the Houston Astros in the ALDS, with game one on Saturday. The Blue Jays end another season in disappointing fashion as they begin to prep for 2024.
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