Minnesota
Twins’ season on the brink after disastrous extra-innings loss to Miami
In the longest, most painful and putridly played game of the season, the Minnesota Twins fell 8-6 in 13 innings to the Miami Marlins Thursday night. The loss means the Twins’ only path to the playoffs is by sweeping the Orioles Friday-Sunday and getting the Tigers or Royals to be swept as well.
The Twins had numerous chances to win and failed.
In the bottom of the ninth with Byron Buxton at second base and only one out, Trevor Larnach reached on a fielder’s choice and then with Buxton at third Royce Lewis dribbled a ball in front of the plate and was thrown out at first base to end the inning. Lewis’s nubber left his bat at 46.3 mph and traveled three feet.
He was not done failing in a big moment.
Lewis came up with the bases loaded and one out in the 11th and he hit a tapper in the infield that was fielded by the center fielder (Miami was playing a five-man infield) and the lead runner was thrown out at home.
Minnesota had Brooks Lee at second base with one out in the eighth and left him there. They had runners at first and second with one out in the ninth and they failed to score. They had the bases loaded with nobody out in the 10th and they scored only one. They had the bases loaded with one out in the 11th and they didn’t score. They had runners at first and second with nobody out in the 12th and they didn’t score.
The highlight of the putrid play was in the 12th when Ryan Jeffers bunted into a double play.
this team is so aggravating, you cannot get doubled on a popup bunt pic.twitter.com/fkaTtM3pmI
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) September 27, 2024
The awfulness in the ninth, 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th innings was somewhat surprising considering the Twins rallied to tie the game 4-4 in the eighth inning after trailing 4-0 most of the night.
Carlos Correa homered in the sixth to make it a 4-1 game, and a run on a Miami error in the seventh cut the deficit to twin runs. Then in the eighth inning the Twins got back-to-back doubles off the right field wall by Carlos Santana and Brooks Lee — Lee’s double drove in Lewis and Santana — to tie the game.
Minnesota will finish the regular season with three games at home against the Baltimore Orioles, who are one win or a Detroit loss from clinching the top wild-card spot in the American League. The Tigers host the White Sox, who are suddenly hot as they try to avoid an MLB record 121st loss, and the Royals are in Atlanta to face a Braves team that is fighting for its playoff life in the National League.
Minnesota was 70-53 entering play Aug. 18 and they’ve gone 12-24 since. The Tigers were 60-64 and have gone 25-10 since Aug. 18, turning a 9.5-game deficit into a three-game lead over the Twins.
The Twins and Orioles play at 7:10 p.m. CT Friday.
Minnesota
Minnesota investigators say child care centers captured in viral video were operating as expected
Minnesota
Game Recap: Kings 5, Wild 4 (S/O) | Minnesota Wild
Matt Boldy scored late in the third to tie it and ultimately send the game to overtime, helping the Wild (25-10-8) extend their point streak to six games (3-0-3). Brock Faber had a goal and an assist, Jake Middleton and Joel Eriksson Ek also scored, and Jesper Wallstedt made 34 saves.
It was the second game of a back-to-back for Minnesota, which is coming off a 5-2 win at the Anaheim Ducks on Friday. The Wild and Kings will play again in Los Angeles on Monday.
“It was far from perfect of a game from us,” Faber said. “I thought we could have played better. With that quick turnaround, we’ll take the point. Now we need two in the next.”
Kempe put the Kings up 1-0 at 6:08 of the first period, scoring on a wrist shot from close range off Anze Kopitar’s cross-slot pass from below the goal line.
Middleton tied it up 1-1 at 8:28, getting his first goal of the season in 36 games on a snap shot from the left circle set up by Mats Zuccarello.
“I think he thought I was Kirill (Kaprizov) in the slot there, so it was nice to get one,” Middleton joked. “I normally have a few goals before I take 35 games off from scoring, so this one was getting a little stressful but we got it out of the way.”
Perry gave Los Angeles a 2-1 lead at 16:57 of the second period when Byfield’s shot struck him in the wrist and redirected in for the power-play goal.
Eriksson Ek tied it 2-2 at 18:23 on the power play, taking Quinn Hughes’ stretch pass at the offensive blue line for a short breakaway, fending off defenseman Joel Edmundson and scoring on a wrist shot from the left circle.
Byfield put Los Angeles back in front 3-2 at 4:54 of the third period. He shot the puck caroming off the boards back into the crease, where Wallstedt lost it in his skates and it was eventually knocked in by a Wild stick during the ensuing scramble in front.
“Shouldn’t be, that was terrible,” Byfield joked when asked if he knew it was his goal. “No, it’s good. I think it’s two now that were liked that, so I’ll take them how they come.”
Minnesota
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on the defensive as fraud allegations mount after viral video uncovered Somali aid scheme
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz pushed back against the ever-growing fraud allegations levied against him in the disastrous aftermath of a viral video where an independent journalist cracked open a crucial part of the alleged Somali aid scheme.
A spokesperson for Walz, a Democrat who frequently provokes President Trump’s ire, addressed a bombshell video posted by conservative YouTuber Nick Shirley.
“The governor has worked for years to crack down on fraud and ask the state legislature for more authority to take aggressive action. He has strengthened oversight — including launching investigations into these specific facilities, one of which was already closed,” the spokesperson told Fox News.
The spokesperson added that Walz has “hired an outside firm to audit payments to high-risk programs, shut down the Housing Stabilization Services program entirely, announced a new statewide program integrity director, and supported criminal prosecutions.”
In the 43-minute video published on Friday, Shirley and a Minnesotan named David travel around Minneapolis and visit multiple childcare and learning centers allegedly owned by Somali immigrants.
Many were either shuttered entirely, despite signage indicating they were open, or helmed by staff who refused to participate in the video.
One of the buildings they visited displayed a misspelled sign reading “Quality Learing Center.” The ‘learning’ center is supposed to account for at least 99 children and funneled roughly $4 million in state funds, according to the video.
Shirley appeared on Fox News’ “The Big Weekend Show” on Sunday evening and boasted about his findings. He joked that the alleged scheme was “so obvious” that a “kindergartener could figure out there is fraud going on.”
“Fraud is fraud, and we work too hard simply just to be paying taxes and enabling fraud to be happening,” Shirley said.
“There better be change. People are demanding it. The investigation have been launched just from that video alone. So there better be change, like I said we work way too hard to be paying taxes and not knowing where our money’s going,” he added.
Many officials have echoed Shirley’s calls for change, with FBI Director Kash Patel even announcing that the agency surged extra personnel to investigate the resources doled out to Minnesota. He said this is one of the first steps in a wide-reaching effort to “dismantle large-scale fraud schemes exploiting federal programs.”
Federal investigators say half of the $18 billion granted to Minnesota since 2018 could have been stolen by fraudulent schemes — amounting to up to $9 billion in theft.
As of Saturday evening, 86 people have been charged in relation to these fraud scams, with 59 convicted so far.
Most of those accused of fraud come from Minnesota’s Somali community.
Shirley’s mega-viral video cracked 100 million views Sunday night.
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