Twins 4 Pirates 2

There's not really much to say about a game like last night's. Liriano was better than advertised, which is pretty damn good when you're advertised as Santana Jr. The thing about it was that Snell matched him almost step-for-step through six. Actually, you could argue pretty convincingly that Snell was better through six. He only struck out 6 to Liriano's 10 (Liriano added 1 more K in the 10th), but he'd also only given up 2 hits, 1 walk, and 0 runs to Liriano's 3, 1, and 2. Snell just hit the wall hard in the 7th, something that happens to young pitchers from time to time. He only threw 96 pitches total, his fastball was still buzzing at 96 mph (by the FSP gun), but clearly he had lost something. You can perhaps fault Tracy for not getting him out of the 7th sooner, but I think you have to let a young guy try and get out of a jam like that, especially with such a low pitch count. After Snell hit the wall, the Bucs were done. Liriano started to falter in the 7th, but got out of a 2-on 2-out jam by fanning Joe Randa, who looked like someone that hasn't seen a pitcher like that in about 12 years. After that, it's generally game over against the Twins and their lights out pen, and that was the case last night. The second base umpire getting in the way of a sure-fire double play ball that eventually gave the Twins their insurance run in the 9th didn't help any, but I doubt it hurt much either because Nathan put our 4-5-6 guys down on 7 pitches, needing only three strikes. It was a fun game to watch, both young pitchers were great, Liriano just had a little more in the tank than Snell. I don't see much shame in losing a game like that one.