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2019 Twins Game Recaps

2019 Recap: Game Fifty-six

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MINNESOTA 5, TAMPA BAY 3 IN TAMPA BAY

Date:  Friday, May 31.

Batting stars:  Jonathan Schoop was 2-for-2 with a walk, a hit-by-pitch, a stolen base, and two runs.  Jorge Polanco was 2-for-4 with two doubles, a walk, and three runs.  Willians Astudillo was 2-for-4 with a hit-by-pitch and two RBIs.  Marwin Gonzalez was 2-for-4.

Pitching stars:  Jose Berrios struck out eight in 6.2 innings, giving up three runs on three hits and three walks.  Taylor Rogers pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Willy Adames was 2-for-4.  Kevin Kiermeier was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his sixth.  Emilio Pagan struck out two in 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up one hit.

The game:  The Twins took the lead in the first inning, when with one out Polanco doubled and Astudillo singled him home.  Schoop got to third with two out in the second, but was stranded there.  In the bottom of the second, the Rays went in front when Christian Arroyo drew a one-out walk and Kiermeier followed with a home run.  They increased the lead to 3-1 in the third when Austin Meadows walked, Adames singled him to third, and the two pulled off a double steal of second and home.

The Twins got even in the fifth.  Schoop led off the inning with a walk but was still on first base with two out.  But Polanco delivered an RBI double and Astudillo followed with a run-scoring single to make the score 3-3.  Tampa Bay put men on first and second with two out in the bottom of the fifth and the Twins put men on first and second with two out in the sixth, but the score remained 3-3 until the ninth.

Schoop led off the ninth inning by being hit by a pitch.  Byron Buxton bunted him to second and a ground out moved him to third with two down.  Polanco was intentionally walked and Astudillo was hit by a pitch, loading the bases.  Eddie Rosario then delivered a two-run single that gave the Twins a 5-3 lead.  The Rays got a two-out single in the ninth, bringing the tying run up to bat, but a ground out ended the game.

WP:  Rogers (2-1).  LP:  Diego Castillo (1-4).  S:  None.

Notes:  Polanco was feeling better, but was still not a hundred percent, so he was the DH with Gonzalez at shortstop.  Polanco raised his average to .338.  Rogers now has an ERA of 2.16.

I find it very hard to pick up any patterns in what Rocco does.  That's not to say the patterns aren't there, and maybe if I had time to study it I'd figure them out, but they're not obvious.  It's also not intended as a criticism--I don't think he's just making moves at random or anything.  But look at his use of Rogers last night.  For the last several games, when it was close late in the game, Rocco was mixing and matching his relievers, using four or five relievers for an inning or less.  Yet last night he used Rogers for 2.1 innings, even leaving him in the game in the ninth when he'd given up a hit to bring the tying run to the plate.  It's working, for the most part, and I'm sure he has reasons for what he does.  In fact, it's really kind of fun to see a manager who doesn't reflexively make the same move every time, who appears to actually evaluate each situation and think about what he wants to do.

This felt like a bigger game than it probably was.  No matter how many times we say this is a good baseball team, and no matter how much we truly believe it, there's still a part of some of us that has a hard time feeling it.  We keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, for the collapse to come.  We feel like the Twins' record is an illusion, that all they've done is beat up on bad teams.  That's not really true--they've actually done okay against good teams--but it's still the feeling.  Then they play a good team and get blown out, and we think, well, here we go.  A late-inning loss last night would've fed into that even more.  Again, in reality this was just one game, and I suspect the players looked at it exactly that way.  But as a fan, it felt like it was an important one to win.

Really, the criticism that "all the Twins have done is beat up on bad teams" is phony.  For one thing, beating up on bad teams is what a good team is supposed to do.  What, it would be better if the Twins were losing to bad teams?  Second, there just aren't a lot of good teams in the American League.  There are only four teams that are more than a game over .500, and one of them is the Twins themselves.  Every one of those four teams has their record because they beat up on bad teams--that's mostly who they play.

And third, it always seems like a good team has an easier schedule simply because of the way we perceive things.  If you're the Twins, and you go to play the White Sox, you think, "They're not that good.  Those are some games we should win."  If you're the Kansas City Royals, and you go to play the White Sox, you think, "This is a good, young, up-and-coming team.  These are going to be some tough games for us."  When you're a good team, there are a lot of games that seem like easy games.  When you're a bad team, every game seems like a tough game.

Record:  The Twins are 38-18, first in the American League Central, 10.5 games ahead of Chicago and Cleveland.

Projected record:  We're still on track for 144-18!

2019 Twins Game Logs

Game 56: Twins at Tampa Bay

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Well, that wasn't a lot of fun yesterday. The Twins are in the midst of a tough stretch - 2 against the Brewers, 4 at Tampa Bay, and 3 at Cleveland. I'd circled these games on my calendar a month ago, figuring that these would be the games that would really tell us what we had on our hands. I'm enjoying the heck out of beating up on middling (or worse) teams. But it'd be great to hang with the best. That Brewers series suggested we could - especially with a bullpen upgrade - but after last night's game, a bounce back in Tampa Bay would be huge.

For some reason I have it in my head that trips to Tampa Bay are kind of like playing against NY or Toronto for the Twins. Teams that just seem to play them tough. It's my hope that Baldelli knows exactly how to shift gears for this team when they need it. There's a part of me that would give him an awful lot of credit if the Twins can end up with a winning record in the stretch I mentioned above.

Hopefully it also help to have Berrios on the mound - he's due for a dominant performance. Ideally the offense will show up, and then some, with an answer game. Tampa Bay is using an opener tonight, and I feel like that's the kind of thing that never quite works out like its supposed to, so hopefully that's the case again.

2019 Twins Game Recaps

2019 Recap: Game Fifty-five

TAMPA BAY 14, MINNESOTA 3 IN TAMPA BAY

Date:  Thursday, May 30.

Batting stars:  Ehire Adrianza was 2-for-3.  Jason Castro was 2-for-3.

Pitching star:  Mike Morin pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Avisail Garcia was 3-for-4 with a double, a walk, and three runs.  Tommy Pham was 2-for-2 with a double, a walk, and two runs.  Brandon Lowe was 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs.  Austin Meadows was 2-for-5 with a double, two runs, and four RBIs.  Christian Arroyo was 2-for-5 with two doubles, two runs, and two RBIs.  Charlie Morton pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on four hits and no walks and striking out six.

The game:  Well, it was good for two innings.  In the bottom of the third, a single and two walks loaded the bases and Meadows delivered a three-run double.  A single, a double, and a single made it a six-run inning, leaving the Twins down 6-0.  The fourth was no better:  a single, a double, two singles, a walk, and two doubles added up to five runs and a score of 11-0.

The Twins scored single runs in the fifth and sixth, but the Rays came back with three in the seventh.  The Twins added one more in the eighth.  Yes, this is a much less thorough recap of the game than we typically do, but there seems no point in going into detail on this one.

WP:  Morton (6-0).  LP:  Martin Perez (7-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  Adrianza was at shortstop in place of Jorge Polanco, who was not feeling well.  Marwin Gonzalez was at third base in place of Miguel Sano.  Luis Arraez was at second base in place of Jonathan Schoop, who was used as the DH.

Arraez was 1-for-4 and is batting .375.  Morin has an ERA of 0.87.

A baseball season is long.  One hundred sixty-two games.  Out of that many games, you're bound to have a clunker in there once in a while.  The trick is, of course, to not have very many of them.  If you do, that's a problem.  For now, though, the thing to do is simply to turn the page and move on.

It seems, though, that we should acknowledge the service done by Zack Littell last night.  Yes, his line looks terrible:  eight runs on ten hits and one walk in 4.1 innings.  But the point is that he pitched 4.1 innings.  Even when he was getting hit hard, he was not afraid to throw the ball over the plate.  That kept his pitch count low enough that he was able to fill 4.1 innings, saving the rest of the bullpen.  He actually settled down to pitch fairly well after the fourth.  I'm not saying he deserves to be player of the game or anything--in fact, as suggested in the game log, his reward may well be a ticket back to Rochester.  Still, the job he did may be important in the next couple of games, and it should be appreciated.

Also, kudos to Rocco Baldelli for leaving Littell in the game to pitch those 4.1 innings and save the bullpen.  It's one of those things that seems obvious, but it's amazing how many major league managers don't see it.  Many managers, including some recent Twins managers, would've thought they had to take Littell out in the fourth, and then would've burned through three or four relievers in a game the Twins weren't going to win anyway.  Good job by Rocco for not doing that.

After a horrible April, Adrianza is batting .313/.393/.521 in May.  If you throw out the 0-for-16 that he started May with, those numbers go to .469/.526/.694.  Obviously he's not going to sustain either of those sets of numbers.  But his season numbers are now .256/.351/.415 which, while they'd be career highs, do not seem so unsustainable.  At any rate, he's sure making those of us, including me, who were calling for the Twins to release him look pretty stupid at the moment.

It should be noted that the Twins still have the best record in baseball, and we have Jose Berrios going tonight.  Plus, Cleveland lost, so we still lead the division by 9.5 games.  That makes it a little easier to turn the page and move on.

Record:  The Twins are 37-18, first in the American League Central, 9.5 games ahead of Cleveland.

Projected record:  We'll just have to settle for 144-18!

2019 Twins Game Recaps

2019 Recap: Game Fifty-four

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MINNESOTA 5, MILWAUKEE 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, May 28.

Batting stars:  Jorge Polanco was 2-for-4.  Eddie Rosario was 1-for-4 with a home run, his seventeenth.

Pitching stars:  Devin Smeltzer struck out seven in six shutout innings, giving up three hits and no walks.  Matt Magill pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Zach Davies pitched six shutout innings, giving up five hits and two walks and striking out four.  Yasmani Grandal was 2-for-4 with a home run (his eleventh) and a triple.  Ryan Braun was 2-for-4 with two doubles.  Keston Hiura was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer, his third.

The game:  Each team wasted a leadoff extra-base hit in the second, as Grandal tripled leading off the top of the inning and Sano doubled to start the bottom half.  The Twins put two on with one out in the third on singles by Astudillo and Polanco.  Braun doubled to lead off the fourth and again to lead off the seventh.  Still, the game remained scoreless through six and a half.

In the bottom of the seventh, Castro led off with a single and a fielder's cholce-plus-error put men on second and third with none out.  Max Kepler delivered a two-run double to put the Twins on the board.  With one out, C. J. Cron doubled in a run and Rosario hit a two-run homer to put the Twins up 5-0 and seemingly in control of the game.

"Seemingly" because the Brewers came right back in the eighth.  Hernan Perez led off with a single and Hiura hit a two-run homer to cut the lead to 5-2.  Grandal led of the ninth with a home run to make it 5-3.  That was it, though, as two relievers retired the next three batters to end the game without the tying run coming to bat.

WP:  Magill (1-0).  LP:  Alex Claudio (0-1).  S:  Ryne Harper (1).

Notes:  Cron was the DH in this game, with Marwin Gonzalez at first base.  Byron Buxton was injured in the second inning trying to catch Grandal's triple, which resulted in multiple position changes.  Kepler moved from right to center, Rosario moved from left to right.  Gonzalez moved from first to left, and Willians Astudillo entered the game at first base.  In the seventh, Jason Castro came out of the game for pinch-runner Ehire Adrianza, which led to Astudillo going behind the plate and Adrianza taking over first base.

Polanco is now batting .335.  Smeltzer has an ERA of zero.  Magill has an ERA of 1.42.  Blake Parker gave up two runs on three hits in an inning and has an ERA of 1.96.  Taylor Rogers gave up a run on one hit in two-thirds of an inning and has an ERA of 2.38.  Harper retired the only man he faced and has an ERA of 1.61.

Buxton does not appear to be seriously injured, and in fact wanted to stay in the game.  Reports this morning are that he has a bruised right knee.  You can't fault the Twins for being careful with him.  Today's off day will help, but he might well sit out a day or two.  Fortunately, it does not appear that it will be any more than that.

I don't think you can say enough about how well Smeltzer pitched.  Six shutout innings.  Seven strikeouts.  Three hits.  No walks.  From a guy who had made all of four starts above AA.  What impressed me most--other than his stat line--is that he wasn't afraid to throw the ball over the plate.  He's never walked many guys--his walks per nine in the minors is 2.0--but still, a guy with this little experience is likely to be nervous and start nibbling.  It didn't happen.  Even after someone hit the ball hard, he came right back and threw strikes to the next batter.  Each time he gave up a hit, he came back to strike out the next batter.  I don't fault Rocco for taking the six innings and getting him out of there, but he threw only 69 pitches in six innings, 53 of them strikes.  He retired the last eight batters he faced.  There's no obvious reason he couldn't have pitched seven or even eight innings.

I would not have pulled Rogers with two out in the ninth.  Yes, Perez had doubled off him the night before, but that doesn't convince me that Rogers couldn't have gotten him out last night.  I'll say this for Rocco, though--for all the talk about him being The Millenial Manager, he's shown he really couldn't care less about helping any individual's stat line.  He pulled Rogers when he was one out away from a save.  He pulled Jose Berrios in the fifth inning with a big lead, rather than leave him in to try to get the win.  And you remember that he pulled Jake Odorizzi in the first inning when he had given up just two runs at the time he was taken out.  You can agree or disagree with those individual moves, but the point is that Rocco has on several occasions sent a message that he doesn't care about your feelings or your stat line.  He's not concerned with who gets the W or the S.  He's concerned that the team gets the W, and he's going to do what he thinks is most likely to make that happen.  It seems to me that's a pretty good message to send.

I have nothing to say about this that hasn't already been said, but I feel like the recap would not be complete if I did not point out that we are now exactly one-third of the way through the season, the Twins are twenty games over .500, and they have a ten game lead in the division standings.

Record:  The Twins are 37-17, first in the American League Central, ten games ahead of Cleveland.

Projected record:  We're still on track for 145-17!

2019 Twins Game Logs

2019 Game 54 — Brewers at Twins

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Game 54 means 1/3 of the season is over. Day after Memorial Day means the Spring portion of the season is over too. By this time we should be able to get a sense of who the real teams are and who the pretenders are. Obviously all is good in Twins land. Best record in baseball, on pace to smash the Home Run record, 10 game lead on Cleveland -- who doesn’t really look like a team able to play at a .600 pace the rest of the season, Oddo, Perez, Berrios looking great, even bad Gibby has been stuffed in a closet somewhere. Nelson Cruz should be back in the line-up any day, Mitch Garver on track to recover from his injury, Buxton doing (good) Buxton things, the list is endless. So settle in folks, we should have a fun summer of Baseball, and on the Tuesday after Labor Day, hopefully I’ll be writing up a post about Fall baseball coming up and how the Twins need to set up their line-up for the playoffs.

Brewers in town for the second game of a weird two-game series. I still don’t understand why MLB doesn’t like money. Bring the Brewers in for a 3-game series over a summer weekend, and update the software on your cash registers as people will be handing over the money on tickets, food, beer, and souvenirs like there was no tomorrow. Zach Davies on the mound for the Brewers with his gaudy 5-0 record, 2.43 ERA. Since he pitched two innings last night hopefully the formally teenaged-racist Josh Hader will have to take a night off today.

As mentioned earlier, Twins called up Delvin Smeltzer to make his MLB debut. Twins got him as part of the Dozier trade with the Dodgers and by all accounts was only a matter of time before he made it to the big club. Let’s hope for a successful first outing, perhaps a couple of early Twins homeruns will help tamp down the butterflies.

Games back at 7:10p. Looks like a nice but cool night to be at the ballpark.

Twins Lineup
Max Kepler RF
Jorge Polanco SS
C.J. Cron DH
Eddie Rosario LF
Miguel Sano 3B
Marwin Gonzalez 1B
Jonathan Schoop 2B
Jason Castro C
Byron Buxton CF

2019 Twins Game Logs

2019 Game 52: Pale Hosers vs. Twinkies

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So, it looks like the front office has recognized some relief pitching deficiencies and is making tentative moves to shore up the bullpen. The Twins offense keeps rolling like a juggernaut, the starting pitching is top notch or, in the cases of Gibby and Pineda, showing improvement with each start over the past month. This is the kind of Twins team you dream about through a frigid, dark Minnesota winter, or during the worst of a midsummer losing streak. And there just might be enough depth in the organization to weather the inevitable injuries that can leave your bench thin as an anorexic beanpole. The Twins send Jake Odorizzi (really good numbers) to the mound seeking a sweep of the South Siders and his 7th win of the season - before Memorial Day, no less. The White Sox counter with Dylan Covey, whose 5.31 ERA is seeking its first win on the year. Play ball!

2019 Twins Game Logs

Game 51: white Sox @ Twins

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So. This team can put it in the seats , sure. But can they grind out nine innings of stringing together a bit every other inning, scoring a single run while pitching to contact and losing by six? Because I think I speak for everyone when I say that is the kind of baseball we've become accustomed to in Minnesota.

Until these guys know what it means to consistently load the bases with infield singles, then run themselves out of the inning by getting picked off each one of the bases, are these guys even Minnesota Twins? I submit that they are not.

But I suppose they'll do.

2019 Twins Game Logs

Game 50: White Sox @ Minnesota

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Here's a little secret: I'm actually more worried about the White Sox than I am the Indians. The White Sox have been building for a little bit, while Cleveland is definitely on the decline. I felt this way last year too, though maybe I was a little early in that worry. It just feels like all of a sudden all of the White Sox' prospects are going to hit their stride.

But the Twins are pitching Jose Berrios, which makes me think that tonight will not be the night that the White Sox hit their stride.

Reynaldo Lopez goes for Chicago. He has apparently been better of late, but gives up lots of fly balls. And the Twins often turn fly balls into 4-base hits, so... we might as well start spookying now!