Article: Twins 9, Angels 5: Mejia, Mauer, Max Lead Twins to Victory

[Tom Froemming]

I think everybody’s fear heading into this one was that Alex Meyer would make the Twins look silly. Thankfully, that didn’t happen. Adalberto Mejia had one of his best starts, Joe Mauer hit a two-run homer and Max Kepler went 4-for-4 with a homer of his own to lift the Twins to victory.Win Expectancy & Top 5 Plays (via Fangraphs)

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Mauer and Kepler have been a bit under the radar on a game-by-game basis, but they both had big performances Monday night. Mauer, who hit leadoff with Brian Dozier sitting out, hit a big two-run homer early. Kepler was 4-for-4 with his 10th homer of the season, a double, a walk and three RBIs.

 

As the score would indicate, it was a pretty great game all around for the hitters, as Miguel Sano also contributed three hits and a walk and Escobar had a pair of base knocks. But maybe the most encouraging performance came from Adalberto Mejia.

 

Mejia completed seven innings for just the second time this season. He gave up three runs on nine hits and one walk while striking out five. Mejia has been a bit inconsistent, but overall excellent in his last four starts, surrendering just five earned runs over 21.2 innings (2.08 ERA).

 

It’s difficult to remember Mejia just turned 24 late last month, meaning he’s only about six months older than Felix Jorge, who was a surprise call up from Double A. Adalberto has been really solid, and though he may not have front line starter upside, we’re seeing him figure some things out. And it’s very exciting.

 

The only reason this one stayed so close was because Tyler Duffey gave up a couple of runs in his inning of work. That marks the third-straight appearance for the Duff Man in which he’s given up a run. He’s been alarmingly bad of late, giving up 15 earned runs over his last 15.1 innings pitched.

 

As for Meyer, he gave up five runs over five innings. He walked six. The first run he gave up came on a balk. Maybe most shocking was the fact that he managed to walk Eddie Rosario on four pitches. That’s hard to do.

 

Here's the Mauer homer:

And Kepler's dinger, which got out so fast that if you blink you night miss it:

At the conclusion of the game it was announced Kennys Vargas was being optioned to Rochester to make room for Ehire Adrianza, who was being activated off the DL.

 

Postgame With Mejia

 

Bullpen Usage

Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days:

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Tuesday

Twins (Kyle Gibson, 6.11 ERA) vs. Angels (J.C, Ramriez, 4.60 ERA), 1:10 pm CT

 

Ramirez, a 28-year-old righty, has a 5.81 ERA over his last five starts. He’s been getting crushed by lefties so far this season, surrendering a .287/.348/.610 (.958 OPS) line to southpaws. He’s given up 17 home runs, 13 to lefties.

 

I think we all know who Kyle Gibson is at this point, but it’s worth pointing out that he has a respectable 4.12 ERA over his last seven starts. The peripherals haven’t been great, but he’s keeping the Twins in games. The team is 4-2 over his last six starts.

 

AL Central Standings

Cleveland 44-37

Twins 42-40 (-2.5)

Kansas City 42-40 (-2.5)

Chicago 37-45 (-7.5)

Detroit 36-45 (-8)

 

Make sure to also check out today’s Minor League Report.

 

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[HitInAPinch]

Just some thoughts:

 

Happy to see Mejia getting into a groove

Hoping whatever is affecting Duffey can be fixed.  More options?  Better options?

Always though Eduardo Escobar could hit with consistent AB's

Would still like to see Alex Meyer succeed 

Would like to see Kyle Gibson gone, baby, gone

MiLB pitchers:  Next??

Kennys Vargas:  is this the end?

Is it just my eyes, or does that Twins boxscore AVG line seem higher?

 

[Brandon]

Kinztler has yet to throw 20 pitches in a game since this new game format has started. He has been pretty pitch efficient when he gets into a game.

[Seth Stohs]

Mauer's home run was absolutely crushed. Just a 22 degree angle and traveled 413 feet!

 

 

And then Max destroyed his homer too...

 

108 mph and 18 degree angle... 

 

And now that's three straight good starts for Mejia... that may be the biggest news. He'll still have ups and downs, but if he can now start having more ups, that's a big boost.

[Han Joelo]

Great recap.  I thought something had been up with Duffey, but it seems like I'd see a comment disparaging everyone in the bullpen except Rogers, Kintzler and him.  But yeah, hope he gets through this rough patch.

 

Vargas just hasn't been that great.  He has his moments, just too few.  Garver and Park might be more deserving of the next shot.  Dang it, Kennys, you seem like you should be a part of this core; the big, goofy DH.  Miguel's bodyguard.  Come on dude, you are running out of chances.

[mikelink45]

With Vargas gone I expect that Grossman is DH and that means we could use a fourth outfielder - Granite on the bench. Putting Ehire in the OF like Molitor has done takes him from excellent defense (IF) to terrible (OF) and there is no excuse for damaging the defense when there are other options.

 

I have been disappointed in Duffey'r performances lately and suggest we use Hildenberger to spell him and give him more time off if he is wearing done.

 

Finally, Dozier being out of the lineup raises another performance question - is it time for his annual half year of brilliance?

[Huddy]

 

With Vargas gone I expect that Grossman is DH and that means we could use a fourth outfielder - Granite on the bench. Putting Ehire in the OF like Molitor has done takes him from excellent defense (IF) to terrible (OF) and there is no excuse for damaging the defense when there are other options.

 

I have been disappointed in Duffey'r performances lately and suggest we use Hildenberger to spell him and give him more time off if he is wearing done.

 

Finally, Dozier being out of the lineup raises another performance question - is it time for his annual half year of brilliance?

Dozier is out due to some back stiffness.

[mikelink45]

 

Dozier is out due to some back stiffness.

Thanks - but my real question is - when he comes back with some rest, will he bust out and give us one of the half seasons of great hitting he has done in the past two years?  

[Tom Froemming]

My hope on Duffey is he just needs a reset, which the All-Star break will provide him. As we saw with Trevor May, pitching out of the bullpen puts a different kind of stress on a pitcher's body. Has to be a big difference mentally, too. Yes, he was a reliever in college, but that was a long time ago now.

 

Speaking of Duffey and May, here's a quick look at how their bullpen numbers compare:

 

May in relief: 4.36 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 3.67 K:BB ratio

Duffey in relief: 4.61 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 4.10 K:BB ratio

 

I wonder if Vargas is trying to make something happen when he gets opportunities. His approach has been so different in the majors compared to the minors. With the Twins this year, he has a 28.3 K% and 4.8 BB%. Over 153 games with Rochester, he's at 23.8 K% and 16.7 BB%.

 

MLB pitching is, of course, much better than AAA, but it doesn't seem like there should be an almost 12 percent difference in his walk rate between levels, does it? 

[Huddy]

 

Thanks - but my real question is - when he comes back with some rest, will he bust out and give us one of the half seasons of great hitting he has done in the past two years?  

We can only hope

[Tibs]

I've been wondering if Duffey has been pitching poorly lately because of overuse. Hopefully some days off soon and other reliable bullpen options will prevent that from happening in the second half.

[jimmer]

 

I've been wondering if Duffey has been pitching poorly lately because of overuse. Hopefully some days off soon and other reliable bullpen options will prevent that from happening in the second half.

I think it's because he's not a MLB caliber pitcher. One nice 1/3 of a season to start his career, then baseball figured him out.

Edited July 4, 2017 by jimmer

[Bill Brown69]

With Vargas down it really would have made sense to have Grossman working with a 1B mitt a couple months ago.

[bluechipper]

Very impressed with Mejia again. His slider was really on, and he hit 97 in the 6th inning. He's trending upward.

[h2oface]

Meyer sent down to AAA on Tuesday.........

[Otto von Ballpark]

Meyer sent down to AAA on Tuesday.........

I posted this elsewhere too, but the Angels don't need a 5th starter for a while, thanks to an off day and the all star break.

[DocBauer]

I had high hopes for Mejia this season. There's still a long way to go, and maybe he will tire in September who knows, and there will probably still be some bad days as well, but I'm really excited for this kid and his potential. I see a potentially string #3, and at worst a really strong #4 in him. He seems to want to take the ball and compete. He seems to have the build to suggest a big IP guy who's only real problem, other than being a rookie, is learning to economize more.

 

Do the Twins now have 3 starters that can, more or less, count on? That's HUGE when considering the past few season's. And two of them are YOUNG.

 

Can Santiago get his head on straight? Can Gibson keep attacking batters? (And be fair, he's been much, much better since his demotion). If so, the Twins may be able to focus on the pen for now and address another starter via trade or FA in the off season.