6/15/23 Hometown Broadcasting Sports Thursday
15 June 2023 Sports
From Wayne Mausser
A four-run third inning sparked by Carlos Correa, Joey Gallo and Trevor Larnach vaulted the Twins to a 4-2 win and series of sweep of Milwaukee on Wednesday, handing the Brewers their sixth straight loss.
Minnesota (35-33) has won four of its past five games. Milwaukee (34-34) tied a season high for consecutive defeats and is .500 for the first time since April 1.
Despite early trouble, Twins starter Bailey Ober (4-3) recorded his fifth quality start in 10 opportunities this season. He had a season high-tying seven strikeouts and two earned runs on six hits. Relievers Brock Stewart, Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax each pitched a perfect inning of relief, with usual closer Duran playing an unconventional setup role in the eighth. Jax earned his second career save.
A recently rejuvenated Twins lineup got hot during its second time through the batting order against starter Colin Rea (3-4). Larnach’s RBI double and Gallo’s run-scoring single gave Minnesota a 4-2 advantage in the third inning after Correa drove in a pair of runs on a triple to right-center field.
Rea allowed four earned runs on five hits with four strikeouts and three walks in five innings.
Correa has two doubles, a triple, three home runs, 10 RBIs and three walks in his past six games. That span includes his first regular-season walk-off home run, which came Tuesday night against Milwaukee.
Back-to-back home runs by Brian Anderson and Luis Urías gave Milwaukee a 2-0 lead in the second inning.
That seemed to ignite Ober, who retired 11 of the next 13 batters he faced. The right-hander allowed only a walk to Jon Singleton in the fourth — negated by Anderson’s ground-out into a double play two pitches later — and a William Contreras single in the sixth.
Milwaukee is off Thursday before a three-game home series against Pittsburgh begins Friday. RHP Julio Teheran (1-2, 1.48 ERA) is scheduled to start. Elsewhere in the NL Central Wednesday the Giants beat the Cardinals 8-5, the Cubs downed the Pirates 10-6 and the Reds over the Royals 7-4. The Brewers remain a game behind the Pirates in the division while the Reds are 1 ½ out, the Cubs 4 ½back and the Cardinals are 8 ½ behind.
In the Midwest League Wednesday Great Lakes nipped the visiting Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 2-1. They play again tonight with the fist pitch at 6:05 CDT.
After being beaten by two deep throws by quarterback Jordan Love in Tuesday’s practice, Jaire Alexander struck back on Wednesday, with an interception in a 2-minute drill to end practice.
As for pass rusher Rashan Gary, he spoke with the media for the first time since tearing his ACL in Detroit last year. He would not give a timeline on his return to practice or to play, but says his recovery is in a straight-line path right now and would tells us he was surprised by the severity of his injury,
“To be honest, I played an extra 3 plays on it and then came out,” Gary said. “They said lets go in the locker room, I was walking on it and everything, and then I was like ‘Wow, that’s really what it was?’ So I had to gather myself emotionally.”
Gary has worked hard during his rehab.
“Of course there were some tough weeks, but to say I got down, I didn’t get down on myself because right away I had a great support group, great support staff,” Gary said. “I’ll be ready when I’ll be ready. I am just making sure I am squeezing the towel as much as I can every day, making sure I am not leaving one ounce of doubt as to whether I pushed it to my all. I am just going 100 percent, day by day.”
Hortonville and Denmark got the bats going late to advance to the WIAA baseball state championship games in Division 1 and 2 on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Kiel fell 10-0 in Division 3, in its first ever trip to state.
Nate Vela tossed a complete game two-hitter and Burns laced a key two-run base hit as the Polar Bears turned away Franklin 4-1 in a Division 1 state baseball semifinal Wednesday at Fox Cities Stadium. Vela allowed a solo home run to Alex Mierow (his first of the season) in the second inning to give No. 3-seeded Franklin (26-5) a 1-0 lead. However, after No. 2 Hortonville (27-4) squandered a bases-loaded one-out opportunity in the fourth inning, the Polar Bears rebounded in the fifth.
With a run already in to the game at 1-all, Burns, who pitched a complete game in Monday’s quarterfinal win, delivered a two-run single to give Hortonville a 3-1 lead.
Hortonville advances to the state championship game today against No. 4 Whitefish Bay (24-7).
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, 2023 Masters champion Jon Rahm and red-hot Brooks Koepka are expected to be the top contenders at the 2023 U.S. Open, which tees off Thursday in Los Angeles.
The 123rd edition of the major will run through Sunday on the North Course at the Los Angeles Country Club.
The winner of the 72-hole tournament will take home $3.15 million. Forty-nine of the Top-50, 71 of the Top-75 and 77 of the Top-100 golfers are in the 156-player field.
Koepka, ranked No. 13, started the season with a second-place finish at the Masters. He then won the Wanamaker Trophy last month at the PGA Championship. He captured U.S. Open titles in 2017 and 2018.
The defending champion is Matt Fitzpatrick one stroke ahead of Will Zalatoris and Scottie Scheffler.
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