MIN 10, BAL 1: Twins Pick Up First Sweep of 2018
Jul 08 2018 03:22 PM |
Tom Froemming
in Minnesota Twins
Image courtesy of © Marilyn Indahl-USA TODAY Sports
Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs)Jake Odorizzi: 69 Game Score, 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 5 K, 1 BB, 65.3% strikes
Bullpen: 3.0 IP, 1 ER, 1 K, 0 BB
Lineup: 4-for-8 w/RISP, 4 LOB
WPA of 0.1 or higher: Odorizzi 360, Garver .158
WPA of -0.1 or lower: None
This game was actually scoreless through the first four and a half innings. Mitch Garver hit an epic two-run homer to give the Twins the lead in the bottom of the fifth. The Orioles, on the other hand, only got three runners as far as second base in the six innings Odorizzi pitched. Their only run came in the ninth, once the game was already well in hand.
The Twins really broke through in what was an ugly sixth inning for Baltimore. Here’s how the start of that inning unfolded:
-Brian Dozier double
-Eduardo Escobar two-run home run
-Logan Morrison shift-beating bunt single
-Robbie Grossman single
-Max Kepler single
Then with the bases loaded, Garver hit a ground ball to shortstop. Manny Machado went home, but his throw pulled the catcher off the dish and everybody was safe. Jake Cave followed with an RBI single. The Twins got another run that inning without the ball leaving the infield, as Jorge Polanco hit a ground ball right at first baseman Chris Davis, but he hesitated to throw home and was only able to record the out at first base instead.
Oh, and then Dozier's three-run homer. Bad opponent or not, it’s been great to see the Twins take advantage.
Things don’t get any more difficult for the Twins, as they’ll go from playing the worst team in baseball to the second-worst team in baseball. The Royals are coming into town for a three-game series.
Bullpen Usage
Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days:
AL Central Standings
CLE 49-39
MIN 39-48 (-9.5)
DET 40-52 (-11)
CHW 30-60 (-20)
KC 25-63 (-24)
Next Three Games
Mon vs. KC, 7:10 pm CT: Jose Berrios vs. Danny Duffey
Tue vs. KC, 7:10 pm CT: Aaron Slegers vs. Jason Hammel
Wed vs. KC, 12:10 pm CT: Lance Lynn vs. TBD
Last Three Games
MIN 5, BAL 4: More Baltimore, Please
MIN 6, BAL 2: Jake Cave Is the Hero We Deserve
MIN 5, BAL 2: Slegers, Cave Lift Twins Out of Slump
- Platoon likes this
15 Comments
My favorite hit of the game: Morrison's bunt single! I hate the shift.
If Morrison continues to bunt against the shift, he may get his average above the Mendoza line and become trade material.
They have picked up 2.5 games on Cleveland this series. The lead is back to single digits. At a minimum, I don't expect any early trades. They would still have to be within 6-8 games by 7/31 to not sell.I felt 8-3 on this home stand was the minimum not to begin blowing things up at the ASB. So far so good.
Great game by Garver, and great job by Odorizzi holding it together throwing to such a bum. I look forward to Magic Fingers Wilson being back in there tomorrow.
At that point we'd be a team 6 games below .500 trying to win a division against a team that is 10 games above .500 and the next 15 of 19 games are against teams that are below .500. Cleveland is easily going to win this division unless they suddenly implode. Counting on that to get into the playoffs and try and face the Yankees and Red Sox with this roster is foolish IMO. It's time to trade our soon-to-be free agents.
I think we learned more about the Orioles than the Twins this series. I thought I knew what bad baseball looked like after watching the Twins. Baltimore just got swept in 4 games by a team that was 2-11 in their last 13 games coming into the series. Yuck....
Not that I think the outcome of this series or the next will change the Twins' plan for the deadline but hollow victories against two awful teams shouldn't change their stance.
yuck? for sure. but it was less than a month ago that the twins took four of six from the red sox and indians combined. that's baseball.
I enjoyed watching my hometown nine beat a bad team. Every win is fun if you don't carry baggage to the game.
Miscellaneous:
Buxton was 3 for 5 today with NO strikeouts.
Between 30 July and 9 August the Twins play the Indians 7 times.3 at home, then 3 at home against the Royals, then 4 against the Indians at Cleveland.
Orioles win 1 of every 4 games against the league. Winning a series against them is no great accomplishment but sweeping them is a good thing. Twins last 4 losses were by a total of 5 runs so it wasn't necessarily bad baseball.Polanco helps.Buxton playing well would be the same shot in the arm. You can't say KC is a sure thing so beating them up would be a good thing also.Not expecting to catch Cleveland but not giving up either. Shouldn't really even think about it. Have a really good July and see where we are then.
Yeah. The Twins don't have such insanely good pieces to sell that they need to move now. Rodney is the only guy I'd be shopping right now because of his ability to implode and then be worth nothing. See where you are at the end of July and if you're out of it, sell Dozier, Reed, Duke, Escobar etc. for what you can get. It won't be much so you don't have much to lose playing the string out on this.