MVN - Most Valuable Network

Korecky comes up big

Last night, Bobby Korecky had an opportunity to show Ron Gardenhire that he can come up big in tight spots.

He made the most of it as he put the Twins in a position to win the game by shutting down the Rangers in extra innings. The Twins won the game, 7-6, in 12 innings on Howie Clark’s game-winning hit off Rangers reliever Franklyn German.

Gardenhire called on Korecky to get the Twins out of a bases-loaded jam, which was created by Juan Rincon, in the eleventh inning.

Rincon was his usual ineffective self as he got behind the count often in the eleventh. He gave up a double to Frank Catalanotto, and he walked Ramon Vazquez and Jarrod Saltalamacchia to load up the bases. Gardy had enough of his struggling reliever so he decided to make the move.

Korecky was in a tight spot. If he gave up a base hit, it would have been another frustrating loss for the Twins, who have played lousy last week.

He got it done by getting Ian Kinsler to fly out and striking out Michael Young to end Texas’ threat.

Korecky got the Twins going in the eleventh inning by getting a base hit to start the inning. Unfortunately for him, no one drove him home so he had to go pitch in the twelfth.

He retired the side in the twelfth.

What made Korecky successful was that he just went out and threw strikes. He was composed out on the mound.

Last night should be a confidence boost for Korecky.

Gardenhire should use him in situations like last night. He can’t be worse than Jesse Crain or Rincon.

Gardy had to make a move like that last night. He can’t be trotting out the same struggling relievers and expect a different result.

After last night, Korecky has earned the right to pitch in pressure situations.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 at 5:03 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.