Twins 6, Guardians 5: Comeback Then Heartbreak in Minneapolis

Kody Clemens Walk-off Silences Guardians Rally

Well.

I find myself saying the same thing in many of these game recaps... but what else is there to say but ‘well’.

The long-awaited resumption of the suspended game from Monday finally happened this afternoon. Most of the game was relatively boring.

Carlos Santana hit this solo-homer in the 4th to tie things up.

Vogt brought Junis in opposite Joe Ryan (a questionable choice, and one I do not understand). Junis gave up the go-ahead runs in the bottom of the fourth, and the game stood at 4-2 until Kolby Allard gave up a run in the 8th.

The Guardians put two men aboard in the 9th, and a combination of a Nolan Jones RBI-single and Bo Naylor’s game-tying 2-run double tied the game.

Then, in the ninth, Smith gave up the walk-off to Kody Clemens.

To be frank (and somewhat sarcastic), losing a game like this (close game in the ninth) to the Twins is a bit concerning. While the offense’s explosion in the ninth off Ryan and Duran was certainly inspiring, this team hasn’t managed to put together a complete game for quite a while now. Whether it’s the offense going quiet, the bullpen blowing up, or our starter getting shelled, we haven’t seen a coherent and cohesive game in a while now. This is now 5 losses in a row, almost all of which have been extremely winnable were it not for one of those three shortcomings I just mentioned.

Now, obviously, it’s still May. You can only make so many conclusions about a team this early into the year, but at some point this team needs to figure out its identity. There are too many black holes & questionables (both in the lineup and in the pitching staff) for this team to be competitive in this division.

On a brighter note, Kayfus (who, despite my doubts, has raked), Delauter, (hopefully) Messick, Lane, and Fry look to be returning (or getting called up) by the All-Star Break. If you consider the additions of Bieber and Stephan, too, this team will look drastically different after the Break (hopefully). The goal of this iteration of the team, as of now, has to be keeping themselves relatively competitive and not letting the division (or, perhaps, a Wild Card berth) slip away. This team’s identity has to be as competitive as possible in as many games as possible regardless of a talent differential. This is by far the most challenging (and important) stretch of the year (with the Tigers and Dodgers looming ahead), and will perhaps be the most revealing about the state of this team.

Monologue and rant aside, the Guardians have another game today, so let’s see if they can put the pieces together in the back half of the double-header.