MLB Rankings: Greatest Hits in Week-16
7. Eddie Rosario, 45 percent
Cleveland’s July drive is putting serious pressure on the Twins, who have led the AL Central all season. That pressure didn’t let up with Cleveland’s six straight victories this week but at least Eddie Rosario helped the Twins forestall some of it.
The Oakland A’s led the Twins 3-1 entering the bottom of the seventh Thursday night when Rosario delivered. To that point, Oakland’s Jurickson Profar had been the game star, his sixth-inning two-run homer breaking a 1-1 tie.
Oakland starter Mike Fiers retired the first batter. But when Luis Arraez doubled and Miguel Sano followed with a base on balls, A’s manager Bob Melvin pulled Fiers in favor of Yusmeirio Petit with Rosario due up.
It’s not possible to know what Fiers might have done against Rosario, but we know what Petit did. Rosario turned around his first pitch for a three-run home run that pivoted the game. Before Rosario’s swing, Minnesota’s chances of victory measured only 30 percent; when the ball landed, those odds had improved to 76 percent.
The Twins followed with eighth-inning home runs by Mitch Garver and C.J. Cron and wound up winning 6-3. Rosario’s three-run home run was the critical moment in turning that outcome.