Tag Archives: Byron Buxton

2019 Twins Game Recaps

2019 Recap: Game Nine

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MINNESOTA 14, NEW YORK METS 8 IN NEW YORK

Date:  Tuesday, April 9.

Batting stars:  Mitch Garver was 4-for-5 with two home runs and three runs.  Jorge Polanco was 3-for-5 with a home run (his second) and a triple, scoring twice and driving in two.  Eddie Rosario was 2-for-4 with a home run (his second), a double, and a walk, scoring twice and driving in two.  Jonathan Schoop was 2-for-5 with two home runs and four RBIs.  Byron Buxton was 2-for-5 with a double and a stolen base (his third), scoring twice.

Pitching star:  Trevor May pitched a perfect inning and struck out one.  Trevor Hildenberger retired the only man he faced, which would not normally get him star mention, but it was a very big out.

Opposition stars:  Amed Rosario was 3-for-5 with a double.  Michael Conforto was 2-for-3 with a home run (his third), a double, and two walks, scoring three times.  Brandon Nimmo was 2-for-4 with a home run, a double, and a walk, scoring twice.  Pete Alonso was 2-for-5 with two home runs (his fourth and fifth) and three RBIs.

The game:  Garver opened the second inning with a home run, giving the Twins a 1-0 lead.  It lasted until the bottom of the second, when Conforto doubled and scored on Rosario's double to tie it 1-1.  The Twins took the lead back with a four-run third.  Polanco tripled and scored on a wild pitch.  Willians Astudillo singled and Rosario and Garver hit back-to-back home runs to put the Twins up 5-1.  The Mets got two of the runs back in the bottom of the third, with home runs by Nimmo and Conforto cutting the margin to 5-3.

In the fourth, Buxton doubled and scored on a Max Kepler single to put the Twins up 6-3.  In the fifth, Nimmo led off with a double.  He was still on second with two out, but walks to Conforto and J. D. Davis loaded the bases.  Starter Kyle Gibson came out of the game, and Hildenberger came on to retire Jeff McNeil on a deep fly ball to keep the score 6-3.  Schoop homered in the sixth to increase the lead to 7-3.

Alonso homered in the seventh to make the score 7-4.  The Twins took control of the game in the eighth.  Buxton doubled and scored when Ehire Adrianza reached on an error.  Polanco then hit a two-run homer to make the score 10-4.  The Twins got some insurance in the ninth.  Rosario doubled, Garver singled, and Jason Castro hit a pinch-hit single.  Schoop followed with a three-run homer to make it 14-4.  The extra runs came in handy, as the Mets rallied for four in the bottom of the ninth.  Nimmo walked and Alonso hit a two-run homer.  A single, a walk, and another single loaded the bases with none out.  A walk to McNeil forced in a run and made the score 14-7, still with none out.  At that point, Chase De Jong pulled himself together and got a foul out, a force out, and a foul out to end the game.

WP:  Hildenberger (2-0).  LP:  Jacob deGrom (2-1).  S:  None.

Notes:  Garver is batting .467.  Astudillo was 1-for-5 and is batting .421.  Polanco is batting .405.

Hildenberger, May, and Ryne Harper all have ERAs of zero.  Blake Parker has an ERA of 2.25.

Gibson pitched 4.2 innings, allowing three runs on six hits and three walks.  He did strike out six.  He was pulled one out shy of qualifying for a win, which shows that Rocco Baldelli is more concerned with team wins than pitcher wins.  It seems obvious that this is how it should be, but we can all think of Twins managers who did not seem to understand that point.

The Twins used six relievers, which is a lot, but none of them pitched more than one inning and four of them pitched less than one inning.  There's no reason all of them except De Jong couldn't pitch again tonight.

De Jong, of course, is the pitcher the Twins just had to have, couldn't get along without, was worth giving up Tyler Austin to have in the majors by Saturday.  This was the first time he's pitched, and quite frankly a position player probably could have done as well as he did.  It's not De Jong's fault that the Twins let Austin go, of course, and I have nothing against him.  I hope he gets another chance, and I hope he pitches well.  But it was still a really stupid thing for the Twins to do.

My guess would be that the number of people who expected the Twins to score fourteen runs in a game that Jacob de Grom started was approximately zero.

Record:  The Twins are 6-3, in second place in the American League Central, a half game behind Cleveland.

Projected record:  We're still on track for 159-3!

2019 Twins Game Recaps

2019 Recap: Game Five

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MINNESOTA 7, KANSAS CITY 6 IN KANSAS CITY

Date:  Wednesday, April 3.

Batting stars:  Mitch Garver was 3-for-4 with a double, two runs, and two RBIs.  Willians Astudillo was 3-for-5 with a double and two runs.  Eddie Rosario was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.

Pitching stars:  Adalberto Mejia struck out three in 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up a walk.  Trevor May pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up a hit.

Opposition stars:  Alex Gordon was 2-for-4 with a home run, a walk, and four RBIs.  Ryan O'Hearn was 2-for-4.  Adalberto Mondesi was 2-for-5 with a triple and two runs.

The game:  The Royals again got on the board in the first inning, as Mondesi hit a one-out triple and Gordon followed with an RBI single.  The Twins tied it in the second when Rosario led off with a double and Astudillo followed with an RBI single.

The Twins got a two-out double from Jorge Polanco in the third but could do nothing with it.  They took the lead in the fourth, however, as Astudillo singled and Jake Cave walked.  Garver put the Twins ahead with a run-scoring double, but Cave was thrown out at the plate.  Ehire Adrianza hit a sacrifice fly, though, and the Twins had a 3-1 lead.

The Royals missed a chance in the bottom of the fourth when Jorge Soler was thrown out trying to steal home as part of a double steal.  They came back big in the fifth, though.  The first two batters went out.  Billy Hamilton walked, stole second, and scored on a Whit Merrifield single.  Mondesi followed with an infield hit that Dazzle said Adrianza should have turned into the third out.  It cost the Twins, as Gordon followed with a three-run homer to put Kansas City up 5-3.  Kansas City wasn't done.  Soler reached on an error, O'Hearn singled, and Chris Owings singled to make the score 6-3.  It was not looking good for the visiting Twins.

They bounced right back, however.  In the sixth, Astudillo hit a one-out double and Garver delivered a two-out single to cut the margin to 6-4.  In the eighth, Garver hit a one-out single, Tyler Austin had a two-out double, and Max Kepler tied the score with a double.  Then, in the ninth, Nelson Cruz led off with a walk.  Pinch-runner Byron Buxton stole second and scored on Rosario's single to give the Twins a 7-6 advantage.  The Royals went down in order in the ninth.

WP:  May (1-0).  LP:  Wily Peralta (0-1).  S:  Blake Parker (2).

Notes:  Kyle Gibson started and pitched well for four innings.  His final line, however, is 4.2 innings, six runs (five earned), eight hits, two walks, and two strikeouts.  He was not helped by his defense in the fifth.  it also seems likely that, as he continues to gain strength after his bout with e coli, he tired as he tried to get five outs in the fifth inning.  Time will tell, but I don't see any reason to hold that inning against him.

As Buxton was used as a pinch-runner and stole a base, I assume there are no linger effects from his collision with the fence Tuesday night.

This was the third time Adalberto Mejia and Adalberto Mondesi appeared in the same game.  The other times were August 20, 2016 and May 21, 2017.  There has only been one other major league player named "Adalberto".  Right-hander Adalberto Mendez appeared in five games for Florida in 2010.  Thus, there has never been a major league player named "Adalberto" whose last name did not start with "M".

4-1 is obviously a good start.  We don't know how good yet, because we don't know how the teams are that the Twins have been playing.  Cleveland is supposed to be good, and maybe they will be, but they've had injuries and don't look like a very good team at the moment.  The Royals appear to have some talent, but every time they look like they're starting to put it together they do some things to remind you that they're the Royals.  This is not intended as criticism of the Twins--you can only play the teams on your schedule, and no matter who you play you still have to go out and beat them.  The only point, which is probably obvious, is that I don't know if we have a very good read on how good the Twins are going to be yet.

But on the other hand, we also don't have a very good read on how good they need to be.  Cleveland is supposed to be the class of the division, and it still may turn out that way.  But if it's not them, who is it?  Kansas City?  Detroit?  Chicago?  Any of those teams could turn out to be good, of course, but it's not looking like it right now.  You don't necessarily have to be a great team to win a division--you just have to be better than the other four teams in it.  It's entirely possible that the Twins will be able to do that.

Record:  The Twins are 4-1, in first place in the American League Central, one game ahead of Detroit.

Projected record:  We're still on track for 161-1!

2018 Twins Game Logs

2018 Game Number 1: Minnesota Twins at Baltimore Orioles

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Day game alert!

Jake Odorizzi

vs

Dylan Bundy

 

Finishing at .500 would not be considered a success this year, would it? With that being the case, I wonder if we get 424 comments today?

Continue reading 2018 Game Number 1: Minnesota Twins at Baltimore Orioles →

2017 Twins Game Recaps

Game 2 Recap: Twins 9, Royals 1

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When Derek Falvey and Thad Levine were hired to run the Twins, much was made about their emphasis on "analytics".  These two men, we were told, were the men who were going to bring the Twins into the twenty-first century.  We would see new strategies that Twins teams had not previously employed.  I think, two games into the season, we are already starting to see that.

The main strategy the Twins have employed so far is to score several runs per game while limiting the other team to just one.  This strategy is foreign to Twins fans, and may take some getting used to.  So far, however, it seems to be effective.  Yes, it's a small sample size, but many experts believe that this strategy will continue to work if the Twins will just stick with it.

It's a strategy that has at least three components.  One of them is to score six runs in the seventh inning of every game.  A second one is to have you starting pitcher give up exactly one run:  no more, no less.  A third is to have your relief pitchers give up zero runs.  Again, these concepts may seem radical to Twins fans,  They are certainly different from what we've seen in recent years.  And, of course, two games are not enough to know whether these things will continue to bear fruit over the long-term.  Still, I think the Twins should continue using them as long as they're working.

Looking at the game a bit more seriously, Hector Santiago managed to pitch five innings and just give up one run despite throwing just seven first-pitch strikes in twenty attempts.  He apparently did better on second, third, and fourth pitches, as he threw 52 strikes out of 88 pitches.  That means that, other than the first pitch, he threw strikes about two-thirds of the time, which isn't bad at all.  Obviously, starting with ball one is not the recommended procedure, but if you can throw enough other strikes, and are helped out by facing a team that doesn't walk much, you can get away with it.  Watching on TV, I wondered if perhaps his back was bothering him--I saw him appear to try to be stretching it out a few times between pitches.  If so, that would account for him having trouble getting the ball down.  If it was bothering him, it is hoped that he was simply having trouble getting loose on a chilly day, rather than something that will be a chronic problem.

When Santiago came out after five innings, Tyler Duffey came in.  Duffey is supposedly the "long man", but he pitched only one inning.  Now, Molitor has expressed a preference--shared by many managers--of getting as many players into a game as early in the season as possible.  That may be all he was doing here, and if so I have no problem with it.  On the other hand, Molitor has seemed to believe that relief pitchers can work no more than one inning per game, which is one of the reasons the Twins always think they need eight relief pitchers.  I'm not upset about this, but it is something to keep an eye on as the season rolls along.

Byron Buxton got an infield single, which I assume sent Dick Bremer into all kinds of ecstasies.  Bremer was talking earlier in the game about how Buxton needs to hit more "line drives and ground balls".  I'm all for having Buxton hit line drives--it's a good idea for almost every batter to hit line drives.  But ground balls?  No.  It amazes me that someone will talk about how pitchers need to keep the ball down and force the opposing batters to hit ground balls, and then turn around and recommend that your own batters hit ground balls.  Yes, Buxton is a fast man, but he's not going to beat out very many two-hoppers to the shortstop.  If he hits ground balls consistently, the number of infield singles he gets will be dwarfed by the number of ground outs he makes.

Buxton is 1-for-10 on the young season, to which I say, so what?  There won't be five batters in the majors who don't go 1-for-10 at some point in the season.  If he does it in June, no one will even notice.  I don't think I'd have started the season with Buxton batting third, but having decided to do it, the Twins need to leave him there for a substantial period of time and give it a chance to work.  In other words, if they thought they had good reasons to bat him third at the start of the season, nothing that happens in the first couple of weeks should convince them that they were wrong.  Leave him alone and see what happens.

I find it interesting the Robbie Grossman has started the season 0-for-6, and yet I don't hear any of the complaints about his slow start that I hear about Buxton.  Yes, Grossman has drawn a few walks, and yes, there are different expectations.  Still, I think if Buxton had started 0-for-6 with three walks, the reaction would be quite different than it is for Grossman.

The Twins are 2-0 and in first place, and it feels good to be able to say that.  They go for the series sweep this afternoon, and it feels good to be able to say that, too.  It'll be Jason Hammel going for Kansas City and Kyle Gibson pitching for Our Heroes.  If the Twins use the same strategy they've used in the first two games, I predict another victory.  Go Twins!