Minnesota Sports is entering a new era with a plethora of young talent across all four major sports. Royce Lewis is inserting himself into conversations with names like Justin Jefferson, Anthony Edwards, and Kirill Kaprizov.
The Minnesota Twins had held the record for longest active playoff drought without a win. The Twins had gone 18 playoff games without winning one. The streak lasted 19 years, and you would have to return to 2004 to find a Twins team that won a playoff game.
The streak was where the narrative laid when the Blue Jays traveled to the Twin Cities for one of the two AL Wild Card matchups.
The home crowd was electric in the series’ opening game as 38,000 of ‘Twins Territory’ took time out of their day at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
The Twins went through some dark times in the early 2010s, finishing last in their division four times in six years. But through the darkness comes light, which is evident in their first overall pick from 2017. Royce Lewis provided the offense, leading the Twins to a 3-1 win and their first playoff victory since the iPhone was invented.
Lewis’s two home runs was all the Twins pitchers needed, quieting the Blue Jays bats to six hits and one run. Lewis added his name to record books with his multi-homer game. He is the 10th rookie in history to have a multi-homer game, the first since Michael Conforto in 2015. He is also the 10th player in MLB history to hit multiple home runs in his postseason debut and just the third to do it in his first two plate appearances. (Sarah Langs/Twitter)
The Twins pitching staff has been abysmal for the last two years, finishing in the bottom 10 in WAR and strikeouts. In game one, the Twins sent out the man responsible for turning their pitching staff 180º. Pablo Lopez was sent over from the Marlins in late January in exchange for the NL batting champion Luis Arráez, and the fate of the trade still hangs in the balance.
He rolled into the stadium sporting a Johan Santana throwback Twins jersey, the last pitcher to win a playoff game for the Twins. Lopez finished second in the American League in strikeouts only to his Wild Card opponent, Kevin Gausman. His 4.5 fWAR and 234 strikeouts turned the Twins’ pitching staff on a dime. Minnesota finished with the most strikeouts as a team and the fifth highest fWAR. He was solid for the Twins, but his second career postseason appearance was cut short due to poor umpiring.
Andy Fletcher, the home plate umpire, had a rough day behind the dish. He struggled to find a consistent zone throughout the game, especially low in the zone. He finished in the 29th percentile for accuracy, according to UmpScorecards.com.
Lopez was rolling going into the fifth. A slight hiccup with a one-out single, but a comeback strikeout got the crowd back into it. Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk stepped to the plate and worked the count to 1-1, awaiting a decisive pitch. Fletcher must have had his eyes closed or something. The 96 MPH sinker was middle low and caught every inch of the plate. Instead of a 1-2 count and the crowd roaring, the count moved to 2-1 with a confused Lopez receiving the ball. Kirk worked a walk, and it turned into the only run allowed by Lopez. He was hooked after an RBI single by a batter who never should have reached the plate during the inning.
The Twins bullpen showed why they are so dominant, and Johan Duran came in to slam the door in Toronto’s face. He broke triple digits in 50% of his pitches as Target Field erupted after the 27th out. The streak now falls onto the Los Angeles Angels, who haven’t won a playoff game since 2009.
The Twins send out the probable Cy-Young runner-up Sonny Gray to the mound in search of their first playoff series win since 2002.
