Just when I thought I had seen it all, I was almost blown away to the point of crying, but as we all know there is no crying in the media unless you are Jack Morris, the former Twins World Series Hero and analyst for last nights Twins-Brewers baseball game on Fox Sports North with Dick Bremer. Morris could be heard with a quiver in his voice as he was watching the Major League pitching debut of 23 year old left hander Devin Smeltzer.
This wasn’t the normal debut of a major league pitcher. Smeltzer, who was acquired by the Twins from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the trade last season for Brian Dozier, was diagnosed at the age of nine with a grapefruit sized cancerous tumor against his bladder. However, this did not stop him from his dream of being a major league pitcher. Smeltzer threw six innings of shutdown baseball against a powerful Milwaukee Brewers lineup, allowing only three hits to go along with seven strikeouts and no walks, not allowing the Brewers to brew up any trouble.
The Twins offense was also shut down for six innings by Brewers starter Zach Davies as he held the Twins to only five hits. But in the bottom of the seventh, the Twins offense became alive against Brewers relief pitchers, as they scored five runs, with the big blow being a two run homerun by Eddie Rosario to give the Twins a 5-0 lead. The Brewers scored three runs in their last two innings to make the game closer in the 5-3 Twins victory.
With the victory, the Twins move to a Major League best record of 37-17 and currently hold a 10 game bulge over the 2nd place Cleveland Indians in the AL Central Division. The Twins now head out of town for a ten game road trip beginning Thursday night against the Tampa Bay Rays in a homecoming for Twins Manager Rocco Baldelli.
