Archive for game logs from previous seasons.
The Twins come back home after a 5-1 road trip, most recently off their first four game sweep in Texas. While the road treated them well, the home stadium has been less inviting as of late; the Twins have dropped 5 out of their last 6 at Target Field.
Coming into town are the White Sox, who just lost 3 out of 4 in Anaheim. Crossing fingers for the Twins to extend the B-Sox's recent road woes. Hopefully Good Gibby will face off against Ivan Nova, who's been white hot lately (ba dum tss!).
Date: Sunday, August 18.
Batting stars: Jorge Polanco was 2-for-4 with a triple, a walk, and three RBIs. Ehire Adrianza was 2-for-5 with a double. MIguel Sano was 1-for-3 with a double, two walks, and two runs.
Pitching stars: Martin Perez pitched five innings, giving up two runs on five hits and four walks and striking out two. Zack Littell pitched a perfect inning and struck out one. Sergio Romo pitched a scoreless inning and struck out one. Taylor Rogers struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up two hits.
Opposition stars: Hunter Pence was 3-for-4 with a walk. Shin-Soo Choo was 2-for-5 with a home run (his twentieth) and a stolen base (his ninth). Willie Calhoun was 2-for-5. Taylor Guerrieri struck out four in two perfect innings.
The game: The Twins again took an early lead, as Max Kepler walked, Polanco singled, and Marwin Gonzalez delivered a two-out two-run double. The Twins loaded the bases with two out in the second, but that worked out the way it usually does for the Twins. The Rangers put two on with two out in the bottom of the second and the Twins did the same in the top of the third, but neither team did anything with that.
The Twins stretched their lead to 3-0 in the fourth when Sano doubled, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a sacrifice fly. Texas got back into the game in the bottom of the fourth. Pence led off with a single, Delino DeShields hit a two-out single, a wild pitch advanced the runners, and Jeff Mathis hit a two-run single. It was 3-2, and it stayed 3-2 until the seventh, when Choo led off the inning with a home run to tie it 3-3.
In the eighth, Adrianza led off with a single and Jason Castro doubled. The first out came on a strikeout, and Adrianza was thrown out at home on a grounder to short, as the Twins once again put on the contact play. A walk to Sano loaded the bases, and this time it did not work out the way it usually does for the Twins. Instead, Polanco hit a bases-clearing triple to right-center, giving the Twins a 6-3 lead. The Rangers threatened in the ninth, bringing the tying run to the plate on a pair of two-out singles, but Rogers struck out Rougned Odor to end the game.
WP: Sam Dyson (5-1). LP: Emmanuel Clase (0-2). S: Rogers (19).
Notes: Kepler started the game in center and Jake Cave was in right in the continued absence of Byron Buxton. Marwin Gonzalez started at third base, with Sano at designated hitter in the continued absence of Nelson Cruz. Adrianza was at first base, with C. J. Cron on the bench. In the seventh inning, the heat apparently got to Kepler, so Cave moved to center, Gonzalez went to right, Adrianza moved to third, and Cron came into the game at first base.
Luis Arraez was 0-for-4 with a walk and is now batting .342. Rogers has an ERA of 2.59.
There was some discussion of the strike zone in the game log. I wasn't able to see enough of the game to comment on that. I did, however, see the last strike of the game, and I don't think Texas has any complaint coming on it. Yes, it may have been an inch off the plate. I don't think it's reasonable to complain if the umpire misses a ninety-five mph fastball by an inch. If you want to say that's why we need robo-umps, that's fine. But as long as we have human umps, I think we have to cut them a little bit of slack. When they're missing pitches by three or four inches, it bothers me. But not when they miss one by an inch or less.
As the schedule turns in the Twins favor, it's now possible to use the cliche that the Twins' fate is in their hands. They lead Cleveland by 2.5 games with thirty-eight to play. They have six games left with the Indians, plus three with Boston and three with Washington. The other twenty-six games are against the White Sox, Detroit, and Kansas City. Scoreboard watching is fun, and I'll still be rooting for Cleveland to lose. But if the Twins simply win the games they should win, they'll win the division. And if they don't, they won't deserve to win the division.
Record: The Twins are 76-48, first in the American League Central, 2.5 games ahead of Cleveland.
Projected record: We're still on track for 114-48!
Win Probability: 48.1%
As much as my blood pressure would appreciate having a ten game lead on Cleveland, I do love a pennant race that goes down to the wire. Why? I don't know. Maybe we just crave the drama. I know when kids fantasize about playing in the major leagues, it's always World Series game seven, bottom of the ninth inning down by three with the bases loaded and two outs. You just never hear a kid saying, "It's the top of the fourth inning and bases are empty in a meaningless spring training game as I step up to the plate..."
The Twins enter play today with the opportunity to sweep this four-game series with Tejas and at the least maintain their 2.5 game division lead. Martin Perez takes the hill for the good guys, Lance Lynn goes for the home team. Play ball!
Okay, that's more like it.
This is pretty clearly going to be a dogfight to the end of the season, but last weekend, things were looking pretty dire.
They still need to tighten up just about every part of their game (the defense,in particular, has looked really sloppy these last few weeks), but now that the Twins are taking on lesser teams, and now that the Clevelanders are taking on actual contenders, this thing looks doable.
Berrios takes on Jurado tonight. This SHOULD be a winnable game. Let's make it happen.
I'm taking MarWIN.
Date: Friday, August 16.
Batting stars: Marwin Gonzalez was 3-for-4. Jonathan Schoop was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer, his seventeenth. Max Kepler was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his thirty-third.
Pitching stars: Sam Dyson pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and a walk. Taylor Rogers struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up two hits. Sergio Romo pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and a walk.
Opposition stars: Mike Minor pitched seven innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on eight hits and a walk and striking out five. Nomar Mazara was 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs. Willie Calhoun was 2-for-3 with a walk.
The game: The Twins got two on in the first inning, but couldn't do anything with them. The Rangers got two in the second, but a double play took them out of it. The Twins broke through with one out in the fourth. Miguel Sano reached on an error and Kepler followed with a two-run homer. Texas immediately got one back in the bottom of the fourth on singles by Elvis Andrus and Calhoun and a wild pitch by Odorizzi. Still, it was 2-1 Twins through four.
The lead lasted until the sixth. Shin-Soo Choo led off with a double. He had only made it to third with two out, but Calhoun then walked an Mazara delivered a two-run double, giving the Rangers a 3-2 advantage.
That lead lasted until the next half-inning. With one out in the seventh, Gonzalez singled and Schoop followed with a two-run homer, putting the Twins up 4-3.
Texas threatened after that, but could not put the tying run across. They had men on first and third with one out in the seventh, but a double play ended the inning. They had men on first and third with two out in the eighth, but a strikeout ended the inning. They got a one-out double in the ninth, but again could not score him. The Twins held on for the victory.
WP: Dyson (5-1). LP: Minor (11-7). S: Romo (20).
Notes: Luis Arraez was in left field, with Eddie Rosario given the night off. Rosario came in for defense late in the game, with Arraez moving to second and Schoop coming out of the game. Jorge Polanco was at designated hitter in the absence of Nelson Cruz, with Ehire Adrianza playing shortstop. Kepler remained in center and Gonzalez in right in the absence of Byron Buxton.
Arraez was 1-for-4 and is batting .353. Rogers has an ERA of 2.63.
The Twins did not make any errors and only threw one pitch to the backstop. Improvement!
The game featured a matchup between Odor and Odorizzi. Odor walked once and flied out.
It may have been mentioned during the broadcast, but Kepler's home run gave him the record for most home runs in a season by a European-born player. He broke the record of thirty-two set by Bobby Thomson in 1951.
When the Twins went down 3-2 in the sixth, I was confident that they were going to get the lead back. I was not confident that they would keep it, but I was confident that they would get it back. I can't tell you why, I just was. And, of course, they did.
I did not hear an explanation for why Rogers pitched the eighth and Romo pitched the ninth, rather than the other way around. There may have been some matchups that influenced Rocco's thinking. Rocco has never said that Rogers is the closer, even though he's been using him that way. As we observed early in the season, if you don't announce that someone is your closer, then you don't have to explain why you didn't use them in that role.
We've talked about the Twins losing winnable games. One might say that here, the Twins won a loseable game. The only scored two runs in the first six innings, and only had four total. They lost the lead in the sixth. The Rangers had men all over the bases in the last three innings but did not tie the score. They went just 1-for-11 with men in scoring position, while the Twins went 0-for-2 in that situation. The Twins had more runs at the end, and that's all that matters.
Record: The Twins are 74-48, in first place in the American League Central, 1.5 games ahead of Cleveland.
Projected record: We're still on track for 114-48!
What is there to say at this point of the season? It's a beautiful August evening, the Twins are in a pennant race, we've got a few weeks left of summer (today's discussion notwithstanding), and the weekend is here. Crack open a cold one, crank up the 'CCO, find some outdoor project to tinker on, or neighbor to chat with, and listen to the Twins bring another W home.
This is the good life.
This is why we're here.
The return of Big Mike. Cleveland recently came into Arlington and took it to the Rangers. I’m hopeful (though with some reservations) that the Twins realize their potential tonight.
The Twins broke the hearts of Brewers fans on Tuesday, and the Brewers returned the favor yesterday. Let’s get back to the Tuesday feels.
Date: Wednesday, August 14.
Batting stars: Mitch Garver was 1-for-5 with a home run, his twenty-third. Eddie Rosario was 1-for-4 with a home run (his twenty-sixth) and a walk. Miguel Sano was 1-for-4 with a home run (his twenty-first) and a walk.
Pitching stars: Sam Dyson struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up one hit. Trevor May struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up a walk.
Opposition stars: Eric Thames was 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs. Trent Grisham was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer (his second), a walk, and two runs. Keston Hiura was 2-for-4 with a walk.
The game: It looked good for quite a while. Garver led off the game with a home run and Rosario hit a two-out homer to give the Twins a 2-0 lead in the first inning. The Brewers got one back in the bottom of the first when Grisham singled, Yasmani Grandal walked, and Hiura delivered an RBI single.
Each team scored once in the third. Sano hit a one-out homer in the top of the inning. In the bottom, a one-out single by Hiura and two-out singles by Lorenzo Cain and Thames made the score 3-2.
With one out in the top of the fourth, Max Kepler walked, Jonathan Schoop doubled, and Kyle Gibson walked to load the bases. Garver struck out, but Jorge Polanco came through with a two-run single to put the Twins up 5-2. Milwaukee again got one back in the fifth when Mike Moustakas doubled and scored on a Thames single.
The score stayed 5-3 until the eighth. Ryan Braun led off by reaching on a Polanco error. Hernan Perez singled and Grisham followed with a three-run homer, giving the Brewers their first lead of the day at 6-5. The Twins tried to rally in the ninth. With two out, walks to Polanco, Sano, and Rosario loaded the bases. Unfortunately, Matt Albers then found the strike zone again and retired C. J. Cron on a deep fly to center to end the game.
WP: Junior Guerra (6-3). LP: Sergio Romo (2-1). S: Albers (4).
Notes: Kepler remained in center and Marwin Gonzalez in right with Byron Buxton out. Schoop was at second base rather than Luis Arraez, who was used as a pinch-hitter in the ninth. Arraez went 0-for-1 and is batting .348.
It's probably past time to admit that Gibson is never going to take that step forward and become a top pitcher. He is what he is--an average major league starting pitcher--and as he approaches his thirty-second birthday it's unlikely that he'll ever be more than that. That's not a criticism, exactly. There's value in being an average major league starting pitcher. Teams have missed the playoffs because they didn't have one. But I think a lot of the frustration with him comes from people thinking that he could be better than that and that he ought to be better than that. It's just not likely to happen. It's time to simply accept what he is.
We've discussed the number of winnable games the Twins have lost this season. The term "winnable game" is not easy to define. The only way to really know how many the Twins have lost would be to go back through all their games, and even then the definition would be somewhat subjective. And yes, one of the reasons that they've lost more winnable games this year is that they've played more winnable games--there haven't been that many times when they've been blown out. Still, if you want to be a top team, you have to win a pretty high percentage of your winnable games. That's the only way you get a good won-lost record, and that's the way we determine what teams are the top teams. Every time you lose one of those winnable games, it costs you.
The good news, though, is that the Twins are still a half game up on Cleveland. They don't have to win a specific number of games or achieve a certain winning percentage to win the division. They just need to win one more game than Cleveland does in the last forty-two games of the season. We'll see if they can.
Record: The Twins are 72-48, in first place in the American League Central, a half game ahead of Cleveland.
Projected record: We'll just have to settle for 114-48!
Kyle Gibson
vs
Gio González
Twins with a much needed win to guarantee a season and series split. They need more than splits however. The Yankees are catching up in home runs and the home run differential took a big hit last week. They need a bomba parade to support Gibson.
Date: Tuesday, August 13.
Batting stars: Marwin Gonzalez was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer (his fourteenth) and two runs. Eddie Rosario was 2-for-4 with a double, a walk, and two runs. Mitch Garver was 1-for-5 with a two-run homer, his twenty-second.
Pitching stars: Martin Perez pitched six innings, giving up an unearned run on six hits and four walks and striking out three. Tyler Duffey pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out one. Sam Dyson pitched a perfect inning and struck out one. Sergio Romo pitched a scoreless inning.
Opposition stars: Yasmani Grandal was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer (his twentieth) and a walk. Manny Pina was 2-for-4 with a double and a hit-by-pitch. Keston Hiura was 2-for-4 with a walk.
The game: Each team missed chances early. The Brewers had men on first and third in each of the first two innings and did not score. The Twins put men on first and second with one out in the second and did not score. In the third, however, Max Kepler led off with a walk and Garver followed with a two-run homer. With one out, Rosario walked, went to third on a Miguel Sano single, and scored on a ground out to put the Twins up 3-0.
Milwaukee again put two men on in the third and did not score. They got on the board in the fourth, though. Hernan Perez got a one-out single. Chase Anderson's bunt should have resulted in an inning-ending double play, but an error instead put men on first and third with one out. A force out brought home a run, cutting the lead to 3-1. The Brewers again missed a chance in the fifth, as they failed to do anything with a leadoff double.
The Twins got an insurance run in the seventh, as Gonzalez singled, went to second on a wild pitch, and scored on Ehire Adrianza's pinch-hit double. It was 4-1 and looking good for the visitors. In the bottom of the seventh, however, Hiura led off with a single and scored on a Christian Yelich double. Catcher's interference put men on first and second and Grandal delivered a three-run homer, giving Milwaukee its first lead at 5-4. Suddenly, things weren't looking so good for the visitors after all.
But the Twins would not be denied. Rosario led off the eighth with a double and Sano walked. The next two batters went out, but Gonzalez came through with a three-run homer for the Twins, putting them up 7-5. Dyson and Romo came in to slam the door and make it a Minnesota victory.
WP: Duffey (2-1). LP: Drew Pomeranz (2-10). S: Romo (19).
Notes: It remained Kepler in center and Gonzalez in right, with Byron Buxton remaining out.
Luis Arraez was 1-for-3 with a walk and is batting .350.
Perez got through six innings and gave up just an unearned run. It wasn't pretty, as the Brewers had a threat in pretty much every inning. For the game, Milwaukee stranded twelve runners and went 1-for-12 with men in scoring position. It's hard to tell whether Perez actually pitched better or just got lucky. Whatever it was, though, we'll take it.
It may well be that this is well-known and I just missed it (I went to bed before the ninth), but I don't know why Romo was used to close the game rather than Taylor Rogers. I saw a game story that said Rogers was "apparently unavailable", but it didn't say why. It worked out, but the Twins definitely need a healthy Taylor Rogers coming down the stretch.
This felt like a really big win for the Twins. Yes, momentum is as good as the next day's starting pitcher, and if the Twins go on to lose five of the next six this game won't mean much of anything. But when the Twins lost the lead in the seventh, a lot of people (including me) thought, "Here we go again". Another winnable game lost. Another game blown by the bullpen. Couple that with Cleveland appearing to come back on Boston, and it looked like the Twins would lose yet another game in the standings. Instead, they gained a game and find themselves back in first place. Time will tell how big this game actually was, but it feels pretty big right now.
Record: The Twins are 72-47, first in the American League Central, a half game ahead of Cleveland.
Projected record: We're still on track for 115-47!
