CHC 14, MIN 9: It’s Not the Heat, it’s ... Actually, It Is the Heat This Time
Jun 30 2018 04:36 PM |
Tom Froemming
in Minnesota Twins
Image courtesy of © Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports
Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs)Adalberto Mejia: 35 Game Score, 4.0 IP, 4 ER, 1 K, 3 BB, 60.8% strikes
Bullpen: 4.0 IP, 10 ER, 4 K, 4 BB
Lineup: 3-for-10 w/RISP, 7 LOB
WPA of .1 or higher: Rosario .266, Mauer .174, Adrianza .130, Astudillo .128, Wilson .101
WPA of -.1 or lower: Hildenberger -.401, Duke -.282, Mejia -.240, Reed -.223
The Twins held a 7-4 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, but the bullpen collapsed. It wasn’t like they get bombarded by big hits, the Twins relievers just couldn’t get anybody out.
Addison Reed and Trevor Hildenberger combined to give up nine earned runs over a single inning of work. The Cubs had 20 hits and scored 14 runs, but they only had three extra-base hits, all of them doubles.
Before he exited the game, Rosario hit a two-out two-run homer, his 18th of the season. Joe Mauer had another nice day at the plate, going 2-for-5 with a bases-clearing double. Ehire Adrianza and Robbie Grossman also had two hits a piece. Rosario was replaced by Astudillo, who got a base hit on the first pitch he ever saw as a major leaguer.
Bobby Wilson spent nearly a half hour behind the plate during the bottom of the fifth and then had to leadoff the top of the sixth inning. He had to take a couple breathers during his plate appearance, but wound up drawing a seven-pitch walk.
It seemed like at any moment we were going to find out what Wilson ate for lunch, but he advanced to second on a Grossman single, went to third on a sac fly and then scored on another sac fly. He was replaced by Mitch Garver the next half inning. I’ve never seen a more gutsy performance of a guy managing to keep everything inside his guts.
OK, but seriously, it was crazy hot. Heat exhaustion is no joke and I hope everybody involved in this game comes out of it feeling alright. Home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt called a three hour and 44 minute game. He had a cold towel around his neck. Not sure if I’ve ever seen that before. Maybe they should have allowed the players to do the same.
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 44-36
MIN 35-44 (-8.5)
DET 36-48 (-10)
CHW 28-53 (-16.5)
KC 25-56 (-19.5)
Next Three Games
Sun at CHC, 1:20 pm CT: Lance Lynn vs. Jon Lester
Mon at MIL, 7:10 pm CT: TBD
Tue at MIL, 3:10 pm CT: TBD
Last Three Games
CHC 10, MIN 6: Hey, Remember Joe Mauer?
MIN 2, CHW 1: Walking Away With a Win
CHW 6, MIN 1: Gibby Gets Got
- Platoon likes this
64 Comments
I've never seen anything like that.
The umpires looked exhausted. The fans looked exhausted.
It was like watching a debate after all the debaters have used up all of the words they know and are left with blowing raspberries at each other.
Blanking on the name, but one Cubs player left with cramps, which likely was a result of dehydration from the heat.
Another #1 draft pick will be nice, though.
I would exercise some options to bring half a dozen fresh arms up from AA and AAA.
I don't know about the heat but as they say everyone plays the same course. What's amazing is that with no DH the offense gets "hot", Mauer has 8 rbi's in 2 games and with no DH on the other team the pitching goes south. Where are the stat heads now? BTW, Twins will win tomorrow because they always do when embarrassment is on the line. I do have sympathy for the umpires. Just win tomorrow, make it to the break with .500 in range, fire Molitor and go from there.
Living in Florida, this is laughable.Anyone want to join us for the the race in Daytona on the 7th.
Hildenberger threw only 24 pitches to nine batters, eight of whom got on base? At what point, getting only one out, does a manager say enough is enough?
It's not the heat, it's the HUMILITY - and the Twins got another dose of humility!
Not after that comment.
Thanks again Tom for watching these games and giving us the rundown! Gotta be a tough job right about now, respect to ya.
You see that kind of heat on most days that end in Y in Austin, TX too.
Reporting on these games reaches a point where the verbs and nouns are mixed with the adverbs and adjectives and if anything comes out coherent it is a great job.Great job Tom.
Beyond that I am speechless.
Two of them were intentional walks, which now means zero pitches. So 24 pitches to 7 batters.
I didn't see the inning, but I agree -- he let 3 runs score in a tie game, so we're now trailing by 3, and have nobody out with runners on second and third -- how do you order an intentional walk there, for another free baserunner? And leave the same pitcher in? And after a sac fly and another walk (non-intentional), still leave him in? It was like we gave up by leaving him in, but simultaneously tried to over-manage to keep the deficit at 3...
Huh?
This game was nuts. It's never fun to watch the Twins give up 14 runs, but there was so much drama going on between all the guys having to exit and Willians Astudillo making his MLB debut. There were some good defensive plays too, I failed to mention that Jake Cave made a coupe web gems, so I enjoyed following this one a lot more than some of the other snoozefests from this season.
Thanks for reading Mike. It was a crazy game in what's already been a crazy series. I can't imagine what's gonna go down tomorrow.
Speaking of which, I'm going to be spending the next few days camping with my family, but these game recaps will go on. You'll hear from me again ... well, in tonight's minors report, but then after that not until the 4th.
I watched it.
The leadoff walk on 4 pitches was disappointing and the Happ double in the next AB was laced pretty good.
After that... the Cubs lightly found some green.
The Baez double should have been an error. Adrianaza was to heat exhausted (I assume) to move his feet about a foot to his left. I'm giving Adrianaza a break because of the heat... If it was a normal 80 degree day... I'd be shouting for his benching. It should have been an 6-2-3 DP.
Stay stretched out, be in shape, and drink plenty of water the night before, even if it means a couple extra trips to the john during the night.
/mansplaining
Did Kepler also leave due to heat?
Sounds like it was a fun game, but man I wish this team was better.
Still, that doesn't mean you order that second intentional walk and leave Hildenberger out there that long.
I have no opinion on that.
It was attrition on steroids. I could barely watch it and I got pretty good stamina. It's possible that Molitor was just saying the hell with it.
At least the good news is Joe Mauer is now on pace to finish with more than 300 RBI