Hometown Broadcasting Sports Thursday 8/13/20
13 August 2020 Sports
Byron Buxton hit two solo home runs and Miguel Sano added another as the Minnesota Twins jumped to an early lead and routed the Milwaukee Brewers 12-2 on Wednesday night.
The victory gave the AL Central-leading Twins a 2-1 series win over the Brewers, who dropped to 2-6 at home. Minnesota starter Kenta Maeda (3-0), in his first season with the Twins after being acquired from the Dodgers in February, retired the first 11 batters he faced. He allowed two runs in 6 2 / 3 innings, striking out five and walking one. He entered the game with 16 strikeouts and three walks in 17 innings.
Brewers left-hander Eric Lauer (0-2), acquired from the Padres in November, had lasted only three innings and given up six runs in his first start. On Wednesday, he surrendered seven runs in 3 2/3 innings.
The Twins set the tone in the second inning, jumping to a 5-0 lead on a ball that was hit into the sun, four consecutive singles and a wild pitch. Jake Cave drove in the first run with a line-drive double that froze left fielder Christian Yelich for several seconds as he used his glove to shield his eyes from the sun. Mitch Garver scored on Nelson Cruz‘s broken-bat single into center field. The Twins led 12-0 before Milwaukee pushed across its two runs in the sixth inning on a single by Luis Urias.
The 12 runs is the most given up by Brewers pitchers this season. Of the Twins’ nine starting batters, only Garver did not have an RBI.
Milwaukee third baseman Jedd Gyorko made his third career appearance on the mound, pitching a scoreless ninth inning.
Tonight the Brewers are in Chicago facing Cubs RHP Yu Darvish (2-1, 2.12 ERA), who has thrown 16 strikeouts in 17 innings. LHP Brett Anderson (0-1. 5.40 ERA) goes for Milwaukee. First pitch is at 6:15 and the game can be heard on AM1100/98.3FM, WISS.
Elsewhere in the N.L. Central on Wednesday, the Cubs continue to roll, beating Cleveland 7-2 and the Royals edged the Reds 5-4. Pittsburgh at St. Louis was postponed.
-0-
Giannis Antetokounmpo has been suspended for Milwaukee’s final game of the regular season, handed a one-game penalty Wednesday for headbutting Washington’s Moe Wagner.
It’s unknown if Antetokounmpo would have played in Thursday’s (tonight) game against Memphis anyway, given that the Bucks have already secured the No. 1 overall seed in the NBA playoffs that start next week.
Antetokounmpo will be eligible for Game 1 of the Bucks’ first-round series against Orlando, which will almost certainly be played Monday or Tuesday at Walt Disney World.
The incident happened Tuesday night, when Wagner took a charge against Antetokounmpo in the second quarter. Antetokounmpo appeared to be speaking angrily, followed Wagner to the other end and the headbutt took place a few seconds later. Antetokounmpo said after the game that the headbutt was a “terrible action” and that if he “could go back, turn back time and go back to that play, I wouldn’t do it.” He said he was frustrated by an accumulation of contact, on a night where he had already been awarded 12 free throws in his first 10 minutes of play. Antetokounmpo was ejected from the game for the Flagrant-2 foul. He finishes the regular season with averages of 29.5 points, 13.6 rebounds and 5.6 assists, numbers that are likely good enough to win him a second consecutive NBA MVP award.
This afternoon, the Bucks play the Memphis Grizzlies. Tipoff is at 3:00 CDT.
-0-
The NFL told teams Wednesday that daily COVID-19 testing will continue, with the NFL Players Association announcing that the daily testing will continue through at least September 5th. The original plan was to go to every-other-day testing after two weeks for teams returning an infection rate under 5 percent. Two weeks in, the infection rate is less than 1-percent, but the testing will still continue in its every day format. Wednesday marked the 9th consecutive day that the Packers did not add a single player to the Reserve-Covid list.
On Wednesday, a Ringer podcast dropped, featuring nearly an hour and a half conversation with Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. As part of the wide-ranging interview, Rodgers spoke up in support of allowing fans at Lambeau Field.
WBAY said the interview was taped before the team’s announcement that no fans would be allowed until at least November, but Rodgers worries decision makers are not worried enough about the economics for business owners in Green Bay. The quarterback is a fan of personal choice.
“You know it’s not just the sick people who are affected,” Rodgers said. “I worry about the long-term stability of our city. We don’t have the same amount of people coming to our town, Airbnb’ing our houses, going to our bars, going to our restaurants. We count on people coming. People are so worried about who is responsible if someone tests positive. Look man, there’s risk driving down the street. At what point do we take away the opportunity to do things based strictly on fear? I mean, if you don’t want to go out, I get it. If you’re scared, that’s fine. But if you want to…”
-0-
For the first time in team history, the Dock Spiders (27-13) won the Wisconsin-Illinois East Division in a 12-5 blowout against the Loggers (18-22) on Wednesday night. The Dock Spiders will have one more game on the road on Thursday night when they take on the Woodchucks at 6:35 to try and record their sixth straight win.
-0-
Share |