The Minnesota Twins' 2011 season didn't get off to quite the start the way they had hoped, as they got ripped by the Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre by a final score of 13-3.
The Blue Jays wasted no time in getting to Carl Pavano, loading the bases in the bottom of the first with nobody out, and scoring their first run when Pavano hit Adam Lind with a pitch. By the time the first inning had ended, Toronto had a 4-0 lead. The Twins never really threatened after that, as the Blue Jays extended their lead to 10-0 by the time five innings had been completed.
Minnesota managed to get on the board in the top of the seventh as they scored three runs. Danny Valencia brought home the first run on a ground ball that Toronto third baseman Edwin Encarnacion couldn't handle, allowing Delmon Young to cross the plate. Alexi Casilla followed that with a double to left that scored Jason Kubel, and Denard Span's ground out plated Valencia to cap the Twins' scoring. Toronto scored three more times in the bottom of the eighth to give the Blue Jays their final margin of victory.
Pavano got just two batters deep into the fifth inning, and gave up eight of Toronto's runs on the evening, seven of which were earned.
Over at Twinkie Town, they're not terribly happy. . .but they know it's a long season.
This was not the way anybody would have wanted the season to start, but there it is. It's over, it's done with, and we can move onto tomorrow...which should probably look a lot better than today whether the Twins win or not.
These two teams will get together again tomorrow in an early one, 11:07 AM Central time. The pitching match-up for that one will feature Francisco Liriano for the Twins and Kyle Drabek for the Blue Jays.