Twins sweep Blue Jays for first playoff series win since 2002, will face Astros in ALDS

The Twins swept the Blue Jays and eliminated Toronto from the postseason with a 2-0 win in Game 2 of their Wild Card Series matchup at Target Field in Minneapolis on Wednesday. Here’s what you need to know:

The victory marks Minnesota’s first playoff series win since 2002.
Things began to unravel for Toronto when the Blue Jays pulled José Berríos after three innings plus a batter and replaced him with left-hander Yusei Kikuchi, who loaded the bases before allowing two runs to score in the fourth inning.
The Twins will now face the Houston Astros in the American League Division Series beginning Saturday.

What happened with Berríos?

Berríos was dealing against his former team through three scoreless innings, striking out five while allowing just three hits. However, after Berríos walked Twins DH Royce Lewis to lead off the fourth, Blue Jays manager John Schneider pulled him and brought in Kikuchi with two left-handed Twins batters coming up in the order. That prompted a chess match between managers.

Right fielder Max Kepler hit a ground ball to the right side, but Toronto’s second baseman Cavan Biggio bobbled it, allowing him to reach base. The Twins then pinch-hit for Alex Kirilloff, bringing in Donovan Solano who walked. That loaded the bases for Carlos Correa, who singled up the middle to drive in the Twins’ first run. Pinch hitter Willi Castro hit into a double play, but a run scored to make it 2-0 Twins.

Coming into the must-win Game 2, Schneider had indicated that they were taking an all-hands-on-deck approach to the pitching plan and that Kikuchi would be available out of the bullpen. — Kaitlyn McGrath, Toronto Blue Jays writer

Anemic offense dooms Toronto

The Blue Jays scored one run over 18 innings in this series. That’s not going to lead to success. For the series, they actually out-hit the Twins 15-12, but as has been the issue for much of Toronto’s season, their situation hitting did not show up nor did any threat of doing damage. And now, it’s ended their season.

The no-show offense was the connective tissue through these two games, but what’ll get talked about the most after this series was the Blue Jays’ risky decision to pull a sharp-looking Berríos after three innings for Kikuchi. It was a bold move — and a tough position to put Kikuchi in, for that matter, as a starter — that immediately blew up in Toronto’s face.

The Guerrero-Bichette-led Blue Jays now have a 0-6 record in the postseason and it will be a long winter of trying to figure out why this club hasn’t been able to win in October. — McGrath

Required reading

(Photo: David Berding / Getty)