Virtual Baseball: Break Out the Pipe and Bowl! King Cole Bests Odorizzi, Littell in the Twin Cities.

For once, the virtual New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins did not play a game that looked like a Sunday softball extravaganza.  Instead, in pitching a rare, complete-game victory, the Yanks' new King Cole just got past Minny starter Jake Odorizzi and reliever Zack Littell. 

Cole surrendered only two hits all night in a masterful effort, but one of them was a home run by former Yankees prospect Jake Cave.  Miguel Andujar, "El Matador," matched that blow with a lined shot to left field in the seventh inning, after an evening of supreme frustration for New York, that saw the Bombers leave nine men on base in the early going.  

Littell, who went a combined 20-1 as a Yankees farmhand in 2017, before being peddled off for Jaime "The Unpleasant" Garcia, came on in the 8th inning.  The pitcher had yet to lose a regular-season game as a Twin, going 3-0 so far this year, after a 6-0 season in 2019.  He has also compiled 16 saves, in taking over the Minnesota closer role.

But Littell was beaten by his old franchise in the playoffs last year, and the same fate befell him tonight, as with two out in the top of the ninth, D.J. LeMahieu singled, stole second, and scored on a Gleyber Torres base knock, just beating the throw home by that man Cave. 

When the Cole Train reached its final destination in the bottom of the inning, fans were dismayed to see that the game had lasted a mere hour-and-fifty-eight-minutes, the first under-two-hour game in the major leagues since 1966. 

"That's more quick than my favorite Knick," quipped a beaming Suzyn Waldman.  

Commissioner Rob Manfredmann duly warned both teams that such antics would unduly eat into MLB concession and TV ad profits, and even leave many fans driving home perfectly sober.