The Minnesota Twins eliminated the Toronto Blue Jays from the postseason with a 2-0 win in Game 2 of the American League wild-card series at Target Field Wednesday evening.
The first-overall pick of the 2012 draft, Carlos Correa, put the Twins up 1-0 in the fourth on a base hit to centre that brought Game 1 hero Royce Lewis home to score. The Puerto Rican shortstop went 2-for-3 with an RBI.
Minnesota extended its lead to 2-0 on a Willi Castro groundout that scored right-fielder Max Kepler. Castro came off the bench for left-fielder Matt Wallner.
Sonny Gray, who had a 2.79 earned runs average in the regular season, was outstanding in his start for Minnesota. He threw five scoreless innings, allowed five hits, and struck out six. Louie Varland and Caleb Thielbar entered in relief to pitch the sixth. Jhoan Duran struck out the side in the ninth to earn the save.
José Berríos was the other half of the pitcher’s duel before a very questionable decision was made to pull him in the fourth for southpaw Yusei Kikuchi. The Dominican right-hander threw three innings, also scoreless, allowed three hits, and struck out five on 47 pitches.
Twins third baseman Jorge Polanco went 2-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base.
Despite being shut out, George Springer, Bo Bichette, and Alejandro Kirk each had two hits for Toronto.
After a disappointing season, the Blue Jays have some work to do this winter as Hyun Jin Ryu, Matt Chapman, Brandon Belt, Kevin Kiermaier and Jordan Hicks are all set to become free agents.