Game 163: Twin defeat Tigers in 12 to win AL Central
October 6, 2009
Detroit @ Minnesota (AL Central Tie Breaker)
For the second season in a row, the Minnesota Twins found themselves playing in an extra game to decide who would walk away with the AL Central Title. Last year they came up short in a 1-0 loss to the Chicago White Sox, this year, however, the Twins topped the Detroit Tigers in extra innings to win their first division title since 2006.
The Tigers wouldn’t go without a fight and took an early lead in the third inning when Magglio Ordonez hit an RBI single to center that scored Curtis Granderson from second. Four pitches later, Miguel Cabrera would take Scott Baker deep to center for a 2-run homer to make it a 3-0 game.
The Twins wouldn’t quit, though, as Matt Tolbert would work his way around the bases in the home half of the third inning and score on throwing error on a pickoff attempt to put the Twins on the board to make it 3-1.
Aside from the throwing error, rookie pitcher, Rick Porcello, was nearly flawless on the mound and held the Twins to just three hits while striking out seven in the first five innings of work.
Porcello would run into problems in the sixth, however, as Jason Kubel would pull the Twins to within one with a solo home run to center. Zach Miner replaced Porcello in the sixth and loaded the bases but retained the lead by getting Tolbert to pop out to center for the final out of the inning.
The Twins would finally take the lead in the seventh that was started by a single from Nick Punto. Two batters later, Orlando Cabrera would hit a homer just over the wall in left field to give the Twins a 4-3 lead.
The lead wouldn’t last long for the Twins, though, as Magglio Ordonez would hit the second pitch of the eighth inning over the wall in left to tie the game at four. Pitcher, Matt Guerrier, would give up two more walks in the eighth before Ron Gardenhire went to Joe Nathan, who finished out the inning by getting Brandon Inge to pop out and striking out Gerald Laird.
The game would stay tied and head into extra innings where the Tigers drew first blood by scoring a run on an RBI double from Brandon Inge. Michael Cuddyer, though, would start the bottom half of the inning with a triple to center and scored on a single from Matt Tolbert.
The Tigers had a chance to take the lead once again in the 12th inning when they loaded the bases with one out. With one out, Bobby Keppel got out of the inning unscathed when he got Brandon Inge to hit in a force out and got Gerald Laird to strike out swinging to end the inning.
A couple of unlikely heroes pushed the Twins ahead in the bottom half of the inning when Carlos Gomez got the started by hitting a single to left field. Three batters later, Alexi Casilla would hit a bloop single to right field that score Gomez from second to score as the Twins came out to field to celebrate the victory and the savor the glory that comes with winning the division title.
The crowd of 54,088, the largest crowd for a regular season game, went wild as the Twins grabbed their fifth division title this decade and completed one of the most improbable comebacks of all time.
The Twins, however, didn’t have much time to celebrate as they have to open Game 1 of the ALDS in New York in less than 24 hours.
Attendance: 54,088
Comments
Got something to say?
You must be logged in to post a comment.
