2015 Twins Game Recaps, Minnesota Twins, MLB

Game 104: M’s 4, Twins 1 (11)

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Well, so much for any positive vibes about the bullpen.

New acquisition (and supposed upgrade) Kevin Jepsen takes the loss after walking the first two batters he faces as a Twin. He did at least strike out red-hot Nelson Cruz, who had homered off of slumping Glen Perkins in the 9th inning. Duensing then came in and gave up a go-ahead double on the one competitive pitch he threw (he intentionally walked the next batter to reload the bases before exiting). Casey Fien then gave up a two-run single to pretty much eliminate any hope of a comeback.

The one interesting development was the fact that Trevor May was used before Jepsen in this game. May pitched the 10th inning even though he had pitched the previous day and Jepsen had pitched only once in the previous 9 days. Prior to the game, the Twins put Tommy Milone on the DL with an elbow strain and recalled Tyler Duffey to take Milone's spot in the rotation. May has been in the bullpen since Ervin Santana returned from his suspension at the beginning of July and hasn't pitched more than 2 innings at a time. Twins management said that they expect Milone to be back quickly, hopefully when the 15 days are up (insert TJ joke here) and chose to go with Duffey over May because May wasn't stretched out.

That makes sense but I think May's effectiveness as a reliever also played a part. The Twins simply can't afford to take him out of the bullpen. May did have a bad outing when he gave up 3 runs to the A's on July 19, but since then he's allowed just 1 run in 6 outings with 8 Ks and 2 BBs (1 intentional). He's also shown increased velocity, much like Perkins did when he transitioned to the bullpen. In this game, May did allow a 1-out double but also had two strikeouts in a scoreless inning.

The rest of the bullpen's woes overshadowed a great pitchers' duel between Hisashi "I Love MN!" Iwakuma and Mike Pelfrey. Pelfrey only had 3 strikeouts, but the Mariners continually pounded his sinker into the grass for 16 outs in 8 scoreless innings. The Mariners didn't even have a runner in scoring position against Pelfrey.

The game might not have gone to extras if it hadn't been for Perkins grooving a fastball on 3-0 to Cruz instead of just walking him. I blame that as much on manager Paul Molitor as Perkins. And yes, I realize the irony of criticizing Molitor for not walking the go-ahead run when the Twins won the day before because the M's had done the exact-same thing. However, there were some important differences. For one, the Mariners didn't even throw one pitch to Eddie Rosario. Perkins fell behind 3-0. At that point, you might as well walk him. It seemed like he was pitching around Cruz anyways. Also, Cruz is much slower than Rosario. The Mariners might have even pinch run for him and getting Cruz out of the game when it is still tied would be no small thing.

The game did get to extras thanks to Brian "Mr. Clutch" Dozier, who hit maybe his most improbable home run this season since it came off of Iwakuma, who had previously never given up an earned run to the Twins in over 40 innings.

Oh well. At least the Twins split the series. This was the first series since the All-Star break that the Twins did not lose. Now it is off to Toronto for perhaps the most important series of the season. The Twins have talked about their resiliency. Well, they need to show some of that real soon or they could be out of this playoff chase very quickly.

7 thoughts on “Game 104: M’s 4, Twins 1 (11)”

  1. A lot of people are dumping on the bullpen, especially Jepsen, after yesterday's loss. I understand why, but the Twins scored one run Friday, one run Sunday, and one run through eight innings Saturday. I understand anyone can throw a good game, but it's not like they were facing Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz in this series. They were lucky to win one of the three with that kind of batting.

    2. This was the best game ever for the Twins against Iwakuma, who had never before allowed an earned run to the Twins. Taijuan Walker could very well be a legit ace in the making. He had everything absolutely working and had three plus pitches that he could throw for strikes at any time. The third game of the series wasn't good, but Montgomery has a good ERA. No, they aren't facing three Hall of Famers, but they were facing some tough pitching. And really, if the bullpen is in a tie game, what does it matter if it's 0-0 or 8-8? They gave up 4 runs in three innings. That's not good.

      1. Taijuan Walker, before shutting down the Twins, had an ERA of 5.03. Iwakuma, before shutting down the Twins, had an ERA of 5.10. As I said, I understand dumping on the bullpen, but when you score one run apiece against guys with ERAs of over five, that's on the offense.

    1. It may not be "must win", but the Twins are in a softer part of the schedule now, and it would be really helpful to take advantage of it. They're not off to a good start.

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