Anthony DeSclafani
vs
Joe Ryan
Day game alert!
If the previous two series are any indication, the Twins either missed their chance at a win yesterday or are due for one today. Ryan better be up for a complete game shutout in order to make it happen.
Got in a little league game this morning despite overnight rain, and now I’m frying plantains to make pastelón for supper tonight.
Kepler is on the IL; Larnach has been recalled from St. Paul. Joe Ryan is on the bump.
First up in Minnesota men's professional sports, the Twins vs Red Sox.
Joe Ryan
vs
Corey Kluber
Kluber stopped being Klubot last year, maybe 2021. His strikeouts are mostly back this year but he's walking a ton and giving up plenty of home runs to a 6.70 FIP. It's a good game to get back to the scoring frequently thing.
At 8:30, possibly after this game ends, the Wild begin their second game against the Stars. The Wolves follow 30 minutes later.
It seems reasonable to assume that the Twins will not allow any runs for the entire season. The sample size is getting larger every day! Joe Ryan takes the hill this afternoon with an 18 inning shutout streak to extend. Like all Twins pitchers, Ryan has not allowed a run all season.
Twins pitchers have walked 10 Royals in 2 games, which seems a little high. 4 double plays have limited the damage. and the shutout streak has been held intact by the Royals just not getting any hits.
Jax, Thielbar, and Jorge Lopez have pitched in both games this series out of the bullpen, but with a day off in between games, maybe they'd still be available today.
Byron Buxton is almost the entirety of the Twins offense so far. He has all of the Twins extra base hits and has scored 3 of the 4 runs. He continues to be just ... so good. Buxton and Vazquez each have 4 hits (.500/.500/.688), and the rest of the Twins roster has 7 hits total (.135/.220/.135).
The Twins face Brad Keller today. I swear this is the 30th time they've faced him in the last few years. Keller has allowed 24 runs in 6 starts against Minnesota in the last two years, a rate of 7.9 Runs/9 with a WHIP of 1.90. More like that, please!
Max Kepler is 7 for 19 with 2 HR against Keller in his career (.368/.500/.737).
Dick briefly mentioned yesterday on the broadcast that the Royals are working on getting a new stadium in the near future. I was surprised how much nostalgia I immediately felt for Kauffman Stadium. When we lived in Kansas for 3 or 4 years, we had a lot of great baseball experiences there, tickets were always available, the stadium is really nice, and I met a fair number of WGOM citizens there. We have talked about going back there with little G, as he has only been to that stadium in utero. Now all of a sudden that seems like it might jump up on the priority list.
Michael Wacha
vs
Joe Ryan
Yesterday's win guaranteed the Twins a .500 record for the month. They sit at 14-13 so far with a single game left to keep the month above .500. The Guardians continued their good August with another win to stay 1.5 games ahead of the Twins. The White Sox meanwhile, are not, and have fallen 4.5 games behind the Twins. It's going to be a tight race to the ~86 wins necessary to win the division.
Day game alert!
Tyler Alexander
vs
Joe Ryan
New bullpen additions should be available today. Let's get a lead and show off what a functioning bullpen actually looks like.
Aaron Ashby
vs
Joe Ryan
Day game alert!
Ashby is in his second year with a long cup of coffee last year, spent mostly in relief. This year it's been mostly starts. He strikes out a bunch (10.7 K/9), walks slightly more than is comfortable (4.1 BB/9), but keeps the ball on the ground (60% career groundballs). If the Twins can hit some flyballs though, they have a good chance of leaving the field.
Joe Ryan
vs
Lance Lynn
Lynn's first start against the Twins this year. He missed the first two months and was not good when he returned in June. That changed with his July 1 start against the Giants where he went six scoreless. Last year he was very good versus the Twins, surrendering only four runs across four starts. Thankfully the Twins still managed to go 2-2 in those games. Today is as good as any to reverse that luck and bring back the Lance Lynn the Twins experienced in 2018.
Twins back with a late night (for us Midwesterners) tilt in Seattle. Finally, after 3 weeks sidelined due to COVID, Joe Ryan back on the mound for the Twins. Yay!! We missed you Joe. Seattle goes with probably their best pitcher this year, Logan Gilbert. He's been pretty good with a 6-2 record, ERA under 2.5, and 1.08 WHIP.
Twins getting close to its "A" line up so I'm expecting to read good things tomorrow when I wake up.
First Pitch at 9:10p Central time.
Twins Lineup:
2B - Arraez
DH - Buxton
SS - Correa
RF - Kepler
3B - Urshela
LF - Larnach
1B - Miranda
C - Jeffers
CF - Celestino
Jack Chesbro (1874)
Eddie Joost (1916)
Lou Brissie (1924)
Duke Sims (1941)
Bill Spiers (1966)
Ray Lankford (1967)
Mike Coolbaugh (1972)
Russ Ortiz (1974)
Robinson Chirinos (1984)
Jake Petricka (1988)
Dereck Rodriguez (1992)
Joe Ryan (1996)
Royce Lewis (1999)
Prior to beginning his major league career, Lou Brissie served in World War II. He suffered severe leg injuries, receiving the Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts, but overcame his injuries to spend seven years in the majors.
Mike Coolbaugh was the first base coach for the Tulsa Drillers when he was struck on the head with a line drive and killed.
