Minnesota Twins: Liam Hendriks Almost Gets 1st Win Against Felix Hernandez

I wish that Monday’s game, when the Minnesota Twins faced post-perfect game Felix Hernandez and his Seattle Mariners, was a meaningful contest.

I really do.

It was a matchup of a team that loves to hit against a team that has lights-out pitching.

Ben Revere was coming off of a four-hit night in Texas, and Joe Mauer was batting .312. Starter Liam Hendriks entered the game with an 0-6 record and an ERA above 7.0.

Felix Hernandez had thrown a perfect game earlier in the year, but none of the Seattle batters were above .300 and two, Justin Smoak and Brendan Ryan, were hitting below the Mendoza Line.

It was a matchup of two intriguing pitchers.

Hendriks is from Perth, Australia and a product of the Twins’ expedition into the Down Under.

Hernandez hails from Valencia, Valenzuela, but his out-of-this-world pitching earned him the nickname King among the people of the Emerald City.

The Australian experiment had yet to yield results until tonight, however.

“We’ve been waiting for this,” manager Ron Gardenhire said of Hendriks’ nine-inning, three-hit performance.

“He’s done this in the minor leagues. He hasn’t been able to get over the hump over here, but it was very nice to see.”

Hernandez also went nine and walked away with a 1-0 win.

Another Perth native, Luke Hughes, was waived by the Twins at the beginning of the season and then waived by the Oakland A’s earlier in the year, and Hendriks had yet to make an impact in the majors despite being the Minor League Pitcher of the Year in the Twins' system in 2011.

Monday night would have been his first win.

Things started off rough for Hendriks.

He allowed the second Seattle batter, Franklin Gutierrez, to single to left and walked the next guy, Kyle Seager. Gutierrez stole second during the Seager at-bat and advanced to third on a Mauer error, but Trevor Plouffe, Jamey Carroll and Justin Morneau turned a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning.

“It was definitely a big double play,” said Hendriks. “[It] really saved my pitch count and allowed me to finish the game.”

He had 103 pitches on Monday. Sixty-three were for strikes.

King Felix plowed through the Twins' lineup in the first two innings. Babe Plouffe almost knocked one into the bullpen in center in the third, but Gutierrez snagged it.

Mauer broke up Hernandez’s no-no, hitting a single to center with two outs. The King appeared a little rattled when he beaned Josh Willingham.

That almost started a rally, but King Felix composed himself and struck out the Canadian.

It was about this time that I began convincing myself that this was a meaningful game.

It was meaningful because Hendriks could potentially have turned a corner.

In the bottom of the fifth, Plouffe led off with an infield single, but Carroll grounded into a fielder’s choice. Florimon would single up the middle to put men on the corners, but King Felix shut the door on Span—getting him looking with a dirty off-speed pitch.

Again, a rally was almost started.

“We had some chances,” said Gardenhire, “missed our opportunities.”

Morneau led off the seventh with a triple to right-center, but the next three batters—Doumit, Plouffe and Carroll—grounded out. It was almost a spectacular inning.

“Would you take a chance in sending him?” Gardenhire asked rhetorically when offered the proposal that Morneau could have scored on Plouffe’s ball, which was bobbled.

“The only reason you say that now is because the guy bobbled the ball, right?”

“Morneau does not go on contact,” he continued, after alluding to the first baseman’s concussion issues. “I’ve never done that. And I never will.”

Hendriks almost settled in after the first, going seven scoreless innings before giving up a solo shot to Eric Thames to lead off the eighth.

“One pitch,” said Gardenhire, “and it wasn’t a bad pitch.”

“It was probably the best fastball I threw to him all day,” echoed Hendriks.

“I didn’t know where it went and I looked up and I thought Doumit (the left fielder that night) had it and it just kept going and going.”

Center fielder Ben Revere, who threw out Gutierrez when he tagged up from second with one out, got Hendriks through nine thanks to a double play.

King Felix entered the ninth knowing he would face the heart of the Twins' lineup: Mauer, Willingham and Morneau.

Mauer grounded out to second, but Willingham got on with an infield single.

And then Morneau grounded into a double play.

It was almost a comeback. Hendriks almost got his first win. It was almost a meaningful contest.

All quotes were obtained first-hand.

Tom Schreier writes a weekly column for TheFanManifesto.com.

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