Article: Orioles 5, Twins 1: Sano Homers, Twins Leave 11 Men On Base

[Tom Froemming]

The Twins got an early lead thanks to Miguel Sano’s 21st home run of the season, but were unable to add anything else on the rest of the contest. Not that there weren’t opportunities, the team left 11 men on base. Adalberto Mejia went 6.2 innings but gave up four runs, including two on one of the most depressingly impressive homers you’ll ever see.Win Expectancy & Top 5 Plays Per WPA (via Fangraphs)

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The Twins were 15-5 in games in which Sano homers coming into today and Baltimore starter Wade Miley had really been scuffling, posting a 11.69 ERA in his previous six starts. It felt like only a matter of time before the offense broke through, but it never happened.

 

Miley gave up eight hits and walked three batters over his 5.2 innings of work, but all the Twins had to show for it was the lone run. That’s bad news, as Baltimore has a formidable back end of its bullpen. Sure enough, the Twins managed just one hit, struck out seven times and couldn’t draw a single walk over 3.1 innings against the O’s pen.

 

Sano was 2-for-4 with that blast (see below) and a walk, but he also struck out two more times. He was already leading all of baseball in Ks, of which he now has 120 this season.

Zack Granite made his major league debut, and is maybe the first player in baseball history to receive a standing ovation after hitting a pop out. The Twins 14th-round pick in 2013, Granite pinch hit in the eighth inning and worked an 11-pitch at bat. Twins fans didn’t have much to cheer about Saturday, but that was a pretty cool moment to see Target Field acknowledge Granite's effort.

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It was great to see Mejia pitch into the seventh inning for the second-straight start. He gave up four runs, but it was only on five hits, so it’s not like Baltimore beat him up today. The home run he served up to Jonathan Schoop in the fourth inning was impressive, however, as the ball left the bat at 113.5 mph and traveled 462 feet, per Baseball Savant.

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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Sunday

Twins (Kyle Gibson) vs. Baltimore (Ubaldo Jimenez), 1:10 pm CT

 

Jimenez got bounced to the bullpen earlier this season, but has made four starts since returning to the rotation. Over that stretch he has a 6.45 ERA. Lefties are killing Jimenez this season, hitting .280/.373/.674 (1.047 OPS). He’s given up 19 homers this year, 14 to left-handed hitters.

 

But, for whatever reason, Ubaldo has been really tough on the Twins over his career. In 69 career innings, Jimenez has a 3.13 ERA vs. Minnesota. His numbers at Target Field are even more impressive: 1.81 ERA, 1.23 WHIP over seven starts.

 

Gibson’s season got off to a nightmare start, but he’ll have the opportunity to end the first half on a high note. Over his last four starts, Gibson has a 3.52 ERA. It hasn’t been pretty, but the Twins are 8-7 in games started by Gibby this season

 

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[D.C Twins]

It's becoming harder and harder for me to ignore Sano's strike out rate. With his power, I have zero concerns that his home run total would take a hit if he focused more on contact.

[jun]

This is the starting lineup I would like to see next season.

 

1. Mauer (1B)

 

2. Grossman (DH)

 

3. Sano (3B)

 

4. Kepler (RF)

 

5. Rosario (LF)

 

6. Escobar (2B)

 

7. Gordon (SS)

 

8. Garver ©

 

9. Buxton (CF)

 

 

 

Bench:

 

Granite

 

Castro

 

Vargas

 

Polanco

[Willihammer]

Mejia could have gone 7, maybe 7.1 if he had fielded his position at a professional level. Very fieldable bunt  hit in the first by Rickard and a failed pickoff gone into right field later in the game. Am I forgetting anything? Seems like he leaves an out or two on the table every start.

[h2oface]

I had hoped that yesterday's game would be a defining moment for this team. But I guess not. No momentum. Flat and listless today. 

 

Granite sure got a lot of meat to swing at. Impressive to not take pitch 10. The buffoons behind the plate love to call balls like that strikes. Not their fault, I guess. They are just guessing, and love to be in a position of power.

[yarnivek1972]

Twins played a well rounded game today. Hitting, pitching and defense were all bad.

[HitInAPinch]

I still have question marks on Gibbson, Mejia and Santiago.  Other than that, the rest of the rotation is great!      LOL

[mikelink45]

I agree with the consternation over Sano's Ks.  Despite Keith Law and others saying Ks are okay - they are not.  But that is the only part of the Sano story that bothers me.  He projects to be a wonderful star for us and I can only hope that he too will want to make more contact because even weak contact by him has potential for a hit. 

[Tom Froemming]

Miguel Sano is a 24-year-old hitting .279/.372/.545 and is on pace to slug 39 homers this year. Tough to get too bent outta shape about a guy like that, but I do share some of the concerns of others.

 

I don't care so much about the strikeouts as I do about how they're happening. If he was being overly selective, waiting for pitches to clobber, that would be one thing. But instead, he's swinging through a lot of pitches. His contact rate is just 63.2 percent, which is the third-worst in baseball.

 

I'd be willing to bet that number improves drastically as he gets more and more experience. It's easy to forget how young and relatively inexperienced he is. Sano is actually younger than Zack Granite, and he was really zipped through the minors.

[USAFChief]

Brutal game from Escobar yesterday.  Both runs in the 6th were on him, not Mejia, and of course an 0-5 at the plate, K'd with the bases loaded against O-Day with 2 or 3 cookies to hit in the AB.