Article: MIN 8, TEX 4: Colon Pitches a Complete Game (Yes, Really)

[Tom Froemming]

What planet is Bartolo Colon from? Seriously? Because there’s no way he’s an earthling. Colon, a 44-year-old man pushing 300-pounds who pumps 90 mph fastballs up to the plate, pitched a complete game for the Twins in a much-needed victory. And it was a fun one.Win Expectancy (via Fangraphs)

Download attachment: WinEx84.png

How great is baseball? We have giants like Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. We have little guys like Jose Altuve and Mookie Betts. And we have extraterrestrial pitchers like Bartolo Colon.

 

Colon’s previous current season high in innings was 7.0, and the longest he had gone in his three starts with the Twins was 6.1 innings. He had also thrown over 100 pitches just once this season, way back on April 21. Tonight he threw 106, 78 of them for strikes.

 

Colon got off on the wrong foot, giving up two runs in the first inning. But Brian Dozier popped an opposite field leadoff homer and Robbie Grossman added a three-run shot in the bottom of the first to give Big Sexy new life.

 

From innings 2-8, Colon held the Rangers to one run and gave up just five hits. Carlos Gomez cracked a solo homer with two outs in the ninth inning, but all that really did was add more drama. Just when you thought there was no way Bartolo was going to make it, he coaxed a ground ball that Joe Mauer made a great play on for the final out.

It’s always difficult to gauge something like momentum, and it seems to be fleeting. But we know this: The Twins have had a pretty rough go of things. Not only have they been losing a lot of games, but the clubhouse was not pleased about the front office shipping away a couple pieces around the trade deadline. Basically, this was not a happy bunch.

 

Now, as evidence from all the post-game celebrations and interviews, this team is having fun. Maybe that only lasts a day, who knows, but the Twins need this. Hell, we all needed this.

 

On top of providing relief from the losing and general downward trend, Colon’s complete game also allowed an already rested bullpen (thanks to a complete game from Ervin Santana just two days ago) to take another night off. Some of the guys out there had really been dragging of late and it was pretty clear some were wearing down from overuse.

 

Not to be lost in all the Bartolomania is the fact that the offense had a great night, too. Dozier hit two homers, Eddie Rosario had a big two-out single that scored two runs and every Twins starter reached base safely.

Miguel Sano was forced out of this one after he was hit on the wrist by a pitch. He was clearly in pain (duh), but x-rays came back negative. Miguel was also active in the postgame festivities (as you’ll see below), so that’s a good sign that he’ll likely be dealing with “just” some soreness and swelling.

 

After the game it was announced Zack Granite was optioned back to Rochester to make room for Kyle Gibson, tomorrow’s starter.

 

Postgame With Colon

Postgame With Dozier

Twins W-L Record

Overall: 52-54 (.491)

Last 10: 3-7 (.300)

Last 20: 7-13 (.350)

Last 40: 18-22 (.450)

Last 80: 38-42 (.475)

 

Defensive Lineups

Here’s a look at the starting lineups from the past seven games:

Download attachment: Lineups84.png

Bullpen Usage

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

Download attachment: Pen84.png

Looking Ahead

Saturday: Twins (Kyle Gibson) vs. Texas (Cole Hamels), 6:10 pm CT

 

Hamels is coming off a strong July in which he posted a 3.66 ERA, 0.94 WHIP and 4.57 K:BB ratio over six starts. Joe Mauer is 0 for 12 with no walks and three strikeouts against Hamels.

 

Gibson was excellent in his three starts down in Triple A. He had a 2.08 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and 23 strikeouts over 17.1 innings pitched. A lot people point to the first pitch being a big key for Kyle, which is certainly true, but he also needs to do a better job getting the first batter of each inning out. Batters who leadoff an inning are hitting .315/.394/.598 (.992 OPS) off Gibson this season.

 

Sunday: Twins (Jose Berrios) vs. Texas (Nick Martinez)

Next Series: Twins host the Brewers in a two-game series before heading to Milwaukee for two games.

 

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[Han Joelo]

I guess I'd eat my words, if Bartolommeo hadn't already. And I'll just leave that fun auto-correct.

 

Say, does Dozier read TD or something? He's still a bum! And I'd still bat Granite lead off, all the way from Rochester.

 

Fantastic write-up, Tom. National outlets should provide a link to this stuff. First class.

[howeda7]

Impressive and watch to watch Colon do that with that stuff. I hope Mejia is watching closely. 

[jimbo92107]

 

Impressive and watch to watch Colon do that with that stuff. I hope Mejia is watching closely. 

I did see a camera shot of Colon chatting up Mejia late in the game. It was like he was showing him it's possible to go deep in games without killer stuff. 

[Brandon]

So.....we dont need a closer cause Bartolo pitches complete games

[drjim]

I like this new strategy of complete game victories.

[Tommygun921]

I don't know whether to hope the Twins keep it up and make it interesting till the end of the year. Or to hope they don't just so we aren't wishing we still had Garcia and Kintzler.

[Otto von Ballpark]

And Jaime Garcia got tagged for 6 runs over 4.2 IP in his Yankees debut last night. Of course, it was against a bit hotter / more competitive squad (Cleveland). And I suppose the Twins are in the odd position of paying his salary while he lost to our division rival...

[Han Joelo]

Garcia pitches for a Wild Card rival, though. Was one week enough time to program a sleeper cell? The Yankees still need to be paid back for that suckiness virus they vectored over with Murphy.

[ashbury]

Colon may be even older than we realized. From Dozier's postgame interview: "I faced Bartolo five or six years ago when he was probably 96...".

[bighat]

Dozier getting hot. The Twins need a shot in the arm offensively, hope this provides a spark.  Would be fun to see this team win a few in a row and get back above .500!

[Dman]

Tom you make reading about the Twins so much fun.  I feel lucky that I get to read your stuff.  You should be getting paid big bucks for this stuff as your recaps are the better than any of the others I read.  Thanks!

[spinowner]

 

And Jaime Garcia got tagged for 6 runs over 4.2 IP in his Yankees debut last night. Of course, it was against a bit hotter / more competitive squad (Cleveland). And I suppose the Twins are in the odd position of paying his salary while he lost to our division rival...

My son told me that Garcia is the first pitcher since the 1890's to make 3 consecutive starts for 3 different teams.

[MN_ExPat]

Yeah, the announcers mentioned that during the game last night

[Tom Froemming]

Fantastic write-up, Tom. National outlets should provide a link to this stuff. First class.

 

Tom you make reading about the Twins so much fun.  I feel lucky that I get to read your stuff.  You should be getting paid big bucks for this stuff as your recaps are the better than any of the others I read.  Thanks!

Thank you. Happy to hear people are enjoying these. Definitely gives me fuel to keep rolling.

[yarnivek1972]

It seems odd to me to go back to 13 pitchers when only 3 relievers have thrown more than 5 pitches since Sunday.

[drjim]

It seems odd to me to go back to 13 pitchers when only 3 relievers have thrown more than 5 pitches since Sunday.

Agree. And it's not like there weren't reliever options to send out.

 

On the other hand, Granite wasn't likely to play much.

[yarnivek1972]

Agree. And it's not like there weren't reliever options to send out.

 

On the other hand, Granite wasn't likely to play much.

I was going to add that not having Granite isn't a big deal. But why not bring up Garver or even Vargas? Give the manager an actual bench.

[DocBauer]

Colon is 44, not 24, doesn't light up the radar gun. But his stuff has movement, hits the spot most of the time, and he varies speed effectively. Were his last couple of performances about getting his arm up to speed? If so, shouldnt we be glad we have him, regardless of age and not being part of the long term?

[drjim]

I was going to add that not having Granite isn't a big deal. But why not bring up Garver or even Vargas? Give the manager an actual bench.

Point is even morr obvious with the embarrassing lineup they're running out there today.

 

If Sano is out it looks bad in a hurry.

[Otto von Ballpark]

Most remarkable about Colon's complete game is how late he was able to stay up.