Monthly Archives: April 2019

2019 Twins Game Recaps

2019 Recap: Game Twenty-six

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MINNESOTA 1, HOUSTON 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Monday, April 29.

Batting star:  Ehire Adrianza was 1-for-1 with a home run.

Pitching stars:  Jake Odorizzi struck out seven in seven shutout innings, giving up four hits and a walk.  Taylor Rogers struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up a walk.  Blake Parker pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit.

Opposition stars:  Justin Verlander struck out seven in six innings, giving up one run on two hits and two walks.  Michael Brantley was 2-for-4.  Carlos Correa was 2-for-4.

The game:  It was an old-fashioned pitchers' duel, except that in the old days both starters would've gone the whole game.  The Astros got a couple of two-out singles in the first but could not score.  The Twins got a two-out double from Jonathan Schoop in the second but did not score.  In the third, Adrianza made sure the Twins scored by hitting a home run to put Minnesota up 1-0.

And the pitchers, on both sides, took it from there.  Houston only got a man into scoring position one more time, in the sixth.  Alex Bregman drew a one-out walk and Brantley followed with a single, but Odorizzi struck out Correa and Yuli Gurriel to end the inning.  The Twins also only had a man in scoring position one more time, when Nelson Cruz had a pinch-hit double leading off the eighth.  He did not score, either.  Correa led off the ninth with a single, but Gurriel hit into a double play and Josh Reddick grounded out to end the game.

WP:  Odorizzi (3-2).  LP:  Verlander (4-1).  S:  Blake Parker (6).

Notes:  Jake Cave started the game in left field, with Eddie Rosario at DH and Cruz on the bench.  Adrianza started at third base, with Marwin Gonzalez moving to first and C. J. Cron on the bench.  Mitch Garver, who has led off a couple of times this season, batted cleanup.  I don't suppose it's exactly rare for a player to bat both leadoff and cleanup, but it is somewhat unusual.

Garver was 0-for-3 and is batting .348.  Jorge Polanco was 0-for-3 with a walk and is batting .327.  Cruz was 1-for-1 and is batting .307.  Rogers has an ERA of 1.98.  Parker has an ERA of 0.96.

I know this isn't exactly brilliant insight, but I feel like the recap wouldn't be complete if I didn't mention how unusual it is for Adrianza to hit a home run off Justin Verlander for the only run of the game.  It was the twelfth career home run for Adrianza in 920 plate appearances.  Not only had Adrianza hit a home run this season, he hadn't had an extra-base hit of any kind this season.  He came into the game with an OPS of .411.  The point is not to be critical of Adrianza.  The point is that it shows, once again, what a great game baseball is, and how you just never know what might happen in any individual game.

It's also noteworthy that the Twins, who are becoming notorious for swinging early in the count, made Verlander throw one hundred pitches in just six innings.  Yes, the strikeouts were part of that, but Odorizzi struck out the same number, pitched one more inning, and still only threw eight-six pitches.

This was Odorizzi's third consecutive good game, and the best of the three.  Over that span, he has pitched 18.1 innings and given up three runs on eighteen hits and just two walks.  He has struck out fifteen.  That kind of pitching would take us a long way this season if he can keep it going.

I don't know why I can't get comfortable with Parker as the closer.  Maybe I got scarred by his Twins debut or something.  He certainly has gotten the job done--he has both an ERA and a WHIP of less than one.  And he was a very effective reliever with the Angels over the last two seasons, so it's not like this just comes out of the blue.  Of course, as long as Rocco is comfortable with him as the closer, it really doesn't matter how I feel anyway.

Yesterday I said that we'd know more about the Twins after their next ten games.  Well, this was just one game, not ten, but it's certainly a hopeful start.  One down, nine to go!

Record:  The Twins are 17-9, first in the American League Central, 2.5 games ahead of Cleveland.

Projected record:  We're still on track for 153-9!

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–April 30

Dave Eggler (1849)
Charley Jones (1850)
Jack Sheridan (1862)
Jumbo Brown (1907)
Chet Laabs (1912)
Ernie Tyler (1924)
Ken Retzer (1934)
Ray Miller (1945)
Phil Garner (1949)
Tracy Ringolsby (1951)
Jeff Reboulet (1964)
Ryan O'Rourke (1988)

Jack Sheridan was the first home plate umpire to crouch behind the catcher in the style that umpires do today.

Ernie Tyler was the umpires’ assistant for Baltimore Orioles home games from 1960 through 2010.  He went from opening day of 1960 through July 27, 2007 without missing a game, a streak of 3,769 games.  He missed two games that weekend to go to Cooperstown for the induction of Cal Ripken, Jr. into the Hall of Fame.

Ray Miller was the manager of the Twins in 1985 and 1986, replacing Billy Gardner and being replaced by Tom Kelly.

Tracy Ringolsby has been a baseball writer since 1976 and was given the Spink Award in 2005.

We would also like to wish a happy birthday to Rhubarb_Runner's brother.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–April 30 →

2019 Twins Game Recaps

2019 Recap: Game Twenty-five

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MINNESOTA 4, BALTIMORE 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, April 28.

Batting stars:  Max Kepler was 2-for-4 with a home run (his seventh) and two runs.  Byron Buxton was 1-for-3 with a home run.  Marwin Gonzalez was 1-for-2 with two walks.

Pitching stars:  Kyle Gibson pitched seven innings, giving up one run on three hits and no walks and striking out six.  Trevor Hildenberger pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and striking out one.  Blake Parker struck out two in a perfect inning.

Opposition star:  Chris Davis was 1-for-2 with a home run, his third.

The game:  Jonathan Villar led off the game with a double for the Orioles but did not score.  It cost them, as Kepler led off the bottom of the first with a home run to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  It went to 4-0 in the third.  Buxton led off the inning with a home run and Kepler followed with a double.  The next two batters went out, but walks to Eddie Rosario and C. J. Cron loaded the bases and Gonzalez delivered a two-run single.

Meanwhile, Gibson was in control.  Through six innings, Baltimore only once got a man to third base.  With two out in the seventh, Davis hit a home run to cut the lead to 4-1, but that was as good as it got for them.  They got only one more hit, a two-out double in the eighth, and did not get the tying run up to bat.

WP:  Gibson (2-0).  LP:  Dylan Bundy (0-4).  S:  Parker (5).

Notes:  Mitch Garver was 0-for-3 and is batting .372.  Jorge Polanco was 1-for-4 and is batting .337.  Hildenberger has an ERA of 1.93.  Parker's ERA is 1.08.

It came as something of a surprise to me that Kepler has seven home runs already.  He must have gotten them when I wasn't paying attention or something.  His career high is twenty, set last year.  One would think he has a good chance of bettering that this season.

This was Gibson's second consecutive solid start.  Both came against Baltimore, of course.  If he can sustain that over his next couple of outings, it will be a really good sign for the Twins' rotation.

In fact, this next week and a half or so will tell us a lot about just how good the Twins are.  They host Houston for four, have three in New York with the Yankees, and then go to Toronto for three.  If they can handle that stretch of games, we just may have something this season.

Record:  The Twins are 16-9, first in the American League Central, two games ahead of Cleveland.

Projected record:  We're still on track for 153-9!