Twins 6, Tigers 5: Twins Hold Off Tigers

[Tom Froemming]

Kyle Gibson had his longest outing of the season and everybody in the lineup recorded a hit, as the Twins celebrated a victory on the night they honored the 1987 World Series championship team. The Twins built a 6-0 lead and it appeared they’d coast to victory, but things got way too interesting in the final two innings.

Image courtesy of Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports

Kyle Gibson had his longest outing of the season and everybody in the lineup recorded a hit, as the Twins celebrated a victory on the night they honored the 1987 World Series championship team. The Twins built a 6-0 lead and it appeared they’d coast to victory, but things got way too interesting in the final two innings.

Win Expectancy & Top 5 Plays Per WPA (via Fangraphs)

In his last outing, I thought Gibson looked pretty darn good against the Astros but that his defense let him down a little and he was left out there a batter too long. The result was that outing looked much worse on paper (6 IP, 4 ER). Well, it happened to Kyle again tonight.

Gibson was shutting out Detroit through seven innings. He was sent back out for the eighth and got the first batter out. From there, he surrendered a single, a walk and an RBI double before finally getting lifted.

Why Taylor Rogers came in at that point, I have no idea. The Twins had a five-run lead and Justin Upton, who entered the game with a .918 OPS vs. lefties, was due up. Hindsight is 20/20 I guess, but Upton cracked a three-run homer off the foul pole.

So in a matter of minutes, Gibson went from having pitched seven shutout innings to giving up three runs over 7.1 innings. But to be fair, he seemed to benefit from a Miguel Cabrera-less Tigers team that had little interest in working at-bats. Gibson needed just 22 pitches to get through the third, fourth and fifth innings combined.

To his credit, Gibson did pitch well and even managed to miss some bats. After failing to strike out more than four batters in seven-straight starts between June 8 and July 9, Gibby has now hit that mark in consecutive outings.

Detroit managed to tack on another run in the eighth, but could not complete the comeback. The top of the ninth inning opened with a crazy play that at first looked like a foul ball, then appeared it would be a leadoff double, but Eddie Rosario gunned down the runner at second base.

https://twitter.com/cjzer0/status/888956712203538433

Brandon Kintzler got the next two batters to ground out, securing his 27th save. It was the first time since May 11 he recorded more than three outs in an appearance.

This game was scoreless in the bottom of the third, but the Twins tallied three runs in the inning. It could’ve been more, but Robbie Grossman, who hit an RBI double earlier in the inning, made the third out at home trying to score on a Zack Granite single.

The Twins failed to capitalize on other scoring chances throughout the contest, but thankfully it didn’t matter. They tacked on two more runs in the fifth inning and it appeared they had a low-stress night ahead prior to all the late-inning dramatics.

With Byron Buxton’s return from the DL currently projected for Tuesday, Granite has little time left to make an impression. Another three hits and a stolen base tonight should help his case to stick around, but there are only so many at-bats to go around and it seems to be the team's preference to carry an eight-man bullpen. It’ll be interesting to see what happens.

The Twins also celebrated the 30th anniversary of the 1987 World Series tonight. Fox Sports North shared a lot of the fun on their YouTube channel. Here’s the pregame ceremonies, complete with highlights, introductions, home video from Dan Gladden and a speech by World Series MVP Frank Viola. If you missed this live, do yourself a favor and try to clear 32 minutes out of your day to check this out.

Bullpen Usage

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

Sunday

Twins (Adalberto Mejia) vs. Detroit (Matt Boyd), 1:10 pm CT

The Twins have not been very good against lefties this season (.669 OPS vs. LHP and .725 OPS vs. RHP), but Boyd has really struggled over his last five starts. In his last 22 innings pitched, Boyd has surrendered 21 runs. Robbie Grossman has been excellent against Boyd, going 5-for-10 with two homers, a double and four walks.

Back on June 12, Mejia had a rotten start against the Mariners, giving up nine runs over 3.2 innings. In six stars since, Adalberto has only yielded 10 runs over 34.1 innings (2.62 ERA). Unlike the Twins, the Tigers have killed southpaws so far this season, posting an .841 OPS against left-handers, so expect Mejia to be tested.

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[Danchat]

Finally, a on-target Rosario throw!
 

I'll be at tomorrow's game, so let's see some good stuff from Mejia!

[Dantes929]

First blemish on Mauer's defensive season that I recall.    I know it was Sano's error in the 8th but that is the first time I have seen Mauer not bail out his fielder by making that scoop.     I know it is hindsight but I have seen it several times.   Gibson pitched 7 strong innings.    Get him out of there feeling good about himself.   Maybe you are right about Rogers coming in but he has been so awesome this season it is hard for me to criticize going to him.  

[Seth Stohs]

 

Why Taylor Rogers came in at that point, I have no idea. The Twins had a five-run lead and Justin Upton, who entered the game with a .918 OPS vs. lefties, was due up. Hindsight is 20/20 I guess, but Upton cracked a three-run homer off the foul pole.

 

I mean, I'm not a fan of inning-roles as much as situation roles, but it's clear that Rogers is their top set-up man, and he's dominated lefties and righties alike all season. He had a tough outing. That happens even to the best. I don't have a problem with that decision. 

[Guest]

Five run lead, eight man bullpen, good right-handed batters coming up? Seems like a great opportunity for Hildenberger.

[twinsnorth49]

Five run lead, eight man bullpen, good right-handed batters coming up? Seems like a great opportunity for Hildenberger.

That's not what the manual said though. Always follow the manual.

[drjim]

I mean, I'm not a fan of inning-roles as much as situation roles, but it's clear that Rogers is their top set-up man, and he's dominated lefties and righties alike all season. He had a tough outing. That happens even to the best. I don't have a problem with that decision.

I agree with this. Rogers hasn't been a specialist all year, he's pitched against both lh and rh. He's the best reliever, correct spot to use him.

[Old Twins Cap]

Jeff Reardon could have a second career going to Hemmingway look-alike events around the world.

[Han Joelo]

Kent Hrbek looks a lot like Tom Sizemore. Thanks for posting that video. I'm sitting here thinking how different I must look from my 13 year old self. Boy, without that team, I might not be a baseball fan at all, let alone a Twins fan.

 

Are those graphs team specific? Maybe it is still lingering from last season, but my personal win expectancy was a tad lower there at the end then what the graph shows. Kintzler may yet regress, but I don't think he's even peaked yet. He's making to most of this "opportunity."

[mikelink45]

That was a wonderful video and I really enjoyed bringing back those memories.  One thing that fascinated me was my inability to remember the bullpen.  Senor Smoke and Reardon were easy, but the rest disappeared.  Les Straker was such a story, it was fun to be reminded of him.  Sorry Bruno could not be there, but I wonder if his dismissal played into his decision.  After that presentation, the Twins did not dare lose the game.

[wabene]

Can't say I have a problem with going to Rodgers at that point, it has worked all year. I would like to see Molitor go to Hildenberger more often. He was surely rested. And where the heck is Busenitz?

[Jerr]

As, always a great job!!!!

[USAFChief]

I mean, I'm not a fan of inning-roles as much as situation roles, but it's clear that Rogers is their top set-up man, and he's dominated lefties and righties alike all season. He had a tough outing. That happens even to the best. I don't have a problem with that decision.

Rogers does not have the same results against LH and RH hitters.

 

That was some awful managing. He shouldn't even have been warming up. Why is your best reliever even warming up in a 6-0 game?

[wabene]

Hildenberger gives up a two run dinger today just goes to show ya

[Mr. Brooks]

Rogers opponents OPS is .749 vs RHH, .596 vs LHH.

That is a huge split.