Article: MIN 11, CHW 1: Rosario Hits 2 HRs, Buxton Exits With Injury

[Tom Froemming]

Jose Berrios was dominant, the defense was great and the offense kept rolling. It was another great August night for the Twins, what a month they've had. Eddie Rosario went deep twice. Byron Buxton made another four-star catch, but left this game early with a hand injury.Snapshot (chart via Fangraphs)

Download attachment: Snap830.png

As fun a night this was for the offense, seeing a starter completely have his way with a team is as beautiful a sight as there is for a Twins fan. Berrios struck out 11 batters over 7.0 shutout innings. He gave up just four hits and a walk. Maybe the most encouraging part was it only took him 88 pitches to do it, 67 of which were strikes.

 

It can be very difficult for left-handed hitters to hit homers at Target Field, but Eddie Rosario hit two tonight, avoiding right field altogether. His first blast was an oppo-taco and the second was to center field.

Rosie was the headliner, but there were plenty of other big offensive performances. Brian Dozier had four hits. Ehire Adrianza was 3-for-5 with two triples and four RBI. Mitch Garver, who started behind the plate, also had three hits, including a double and a triple. Buxton made another great catch, but was forced to leave this game early.

Ryan Pressly pitched a perfect eighth before Glen Perkins blew the shutout by giving up a run on the ninth. Perkins has given up four runs in three innings since returning from the DL.

Standings

Cleveland swept a doubleheader on Wednesday, so they now hold a 7.0-game lead in the division. The good news? They swept the Yankees. The Twins are now just 1.0 game back of New York for the top wild card spot. They hold a 1.5 game advantage over Baltimore, who won again Wednesday, and the Angels, who were still playing at the time this is published.

 

Postgame With Molitor

Bullpen Usage

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

Download attachment: Bullpen830.png

Looking Ahead

Thu: Twins (Bartolo Colon) vs. White Sox (Miguel Gonzalez), 12:10 pm CT

Fri: Twins (Dillon Gee) vs. Royals (Jason Hammel), 7:10 pm CT

Sat: Twins (Kyle Gibson) vs. Royals (TBD), 6:10 pm CT

 

Looking Back

MIN 6, CHW 4: Polanco Does it All

MIN 7, TOR 2: Buxton Hits 3 Homers, Twins Win Series at Toronto

TOR 10, MIN 9: Sloppy 8th Inning Costs Twins in Comeback Effort

 

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[snepp]

Quick peek at Berrios' game logs for the year...

 

1 start of 4 walks

3 starts of 3 walks

16 starts of 2 or fewer walks

[SwainZag]

How fun is this team?  Buxton homers 3 times, Polanco homers from both sides of the plate, Dozier gets 4 hits, Rosario has a 2 HR night, Berrios strikes out a career high 11.......... these are full season highlights......that happened within a 5 day period!!  

[Eephus]

Great game. Fun times for fans. Curious -- I was half listening to the game on the radio -- how Garver did behind the plate? Seemed like I heard several "...the ball gets away from Garver...". I guess with Berrios' ball movement this is probably not uncommon.

[USAFChief]

IMO that was Berrios' best "stuff" of the year. Dominant.

[theBOMisthebomb]

The Buxton hand injury is not good news. Here's hoping he is Ok.

[rcfarmer]

Was listening to the game on the way home from the airport. When I got far enough south to lose the FM signal I searched AM and the first feed I got was the White Sox. So I had them for innings 5,6 and 7. And I can safely say they had a man crush on Jose Berrios. The Twins hitters were hitting the ball in the right direction to gain as much wind help as possible.

It was really kind of fun listening to them when Mike Pelfrey was pitching. They were discussing how good of stuff he had but it was always 3-1 or 2-0 counts. They said there were pitchers with not nearly as good of stuff as him but could get batters out. it all seemed so familiar to the time s he pitched for the Twins.

[the blade]

 

Great game. Fun times for fans. Curious -- I was half listening to the game on the radio -- how Garver did behind the plate? Seemed like I heard several "...the ball gets away from Garver...". I guess with Berrios' ball movement this is probably not uncommon.

 

He looked great, he's also caught Berrios a ton in AAA so there was familiarity.  There was one inning when the speedy Hansen was on first and a few balls rolled away, but they were nasty curves.  Hansen should have advanced but did not for some reason.  Both Dick and Roy were praising him, and he did look good.  No idea how Garver is framing-wise, but otherwise solid.

[SirLoin]

Is it safe to assume Perkins won't be included on any post-season roster?

[mikelink45]

 

Is it safe to assume Perkins won't be included on any post-season roster?

The real question is why Perkins is up here now when we are pushing for a WC.  I love Perkins history with us, but this is not how we should be managing the roster.  We should have put another hitter on the bench.  Now that it is September it does not matter, but the way this was handled raises lots of questions. 

 

[mikelink45]

The loss of Buxton would be terrible.  With Sano out we need bats and with our pitching we need defense. 

[jbissell]

Am really really hoping Buxton's injury isnt serious. A lineup without Buxton right now has a huge hole in it!

 

Plus, its been an absolute joy watching him become a star these past several weeks!

[Respy]

 

Is it safe to assume Perkins won't be included on any post-season roster?

 

Well he's on the current 25-man, and playoff roster eligibilities are funky (they can't necessarily just swap Perkins with anyone they please), unless Perkins gets put back on the disabled list to finish the year.  So I'd say there's a reasonably good chance he would be on hypothetical playoff roster.

Edited August 31, 2017 by Respy

[Steve Lein]

 

Great game. Fun times for fans. Curious -- I was half listening to the game on the radio -- how Garver did behind the plate? Seemed like I heard several "...the ball gets away from Garver...". I guess with Berrios' ball movement this is probably not uncommon.

 

Well, when this is happening:

 

 

Or this (from last night)

 

 

(this from last week vs. White Sox):

 

 

I'm not sure you can fault Garver very much for anything that got by...

 

[bluechipper]

Mitch Garver getting off to a good start at the plate has been lost a little with all of these great performances. He's got a .924 OPS in 7 games.

[ashbury]

On that 'Completely Disgusting "Batter's Box to Batter's Box" 83mph Curveball', you can see why tipping his pitches could have been the difference between success and failure in his earlier trials. Imagine thinking that's a fastball inside coming at you. Now imagine knowing it's a bender.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

All around great effort last night

[Mike Sixel]

I'm glad Garver is up and having success. So, SSS, he's a great catcher, right?

[ashbury]

I'm glad Garver is up and having success. So, SSS, he's a great catcher, right?

Yes, and the good news is that .500 BABIP looks sustainable.

[drjim]

It would would be great if someone could summarize the rules regarding the 25 man roster for the playoffs. Do we have to make a change today to get Perkins off the 25 man for the playoffs unless he goes on the DL in September? Or, can he not be put on the 25 man for the playoffs, leave an empty spot and someone called up on 9/1 (Boshers) be put in? Also, how does the fact that there are 3 guys on the DL play into this? Does the 25 man playoff roster include their replacements who are then dropped when they come back? If that's true, i could easily see Perkins on the 25 man playoff roster submitted today and then dropped for Grossman, Sano or Castro when they come back so the pitching staff shrinks and the bench increases by keeping Garver (my preference), Vargas or Granite.

 

Fun topic. Never thought we'd be discussing the playoff roster this year.

Basically anyone on the 40 man or 60 day dl can be on the postseason roster.

 

Someone in the org but not on the 40 man on September 1 can replace a guy on the 60 day dl.

[drjim]

I'm glad Garver is up and having success. So, SSS, he's a great catcher, right?

Certainly has enough bat to be a catcher, if....

 

But that was never really the question.

[dbminn]

Doesn't sound good for Buxton. Strib report says hamate bone. Awaiting MRI results.

[70charger]

 

Doesn't sound good for Buxton. Strib report says hamate bone. Awaiting MRI results.

 

Those injuries are never good. Here's hoping he's okay.

[Mike Sixel]

 

Doesn't sound good for Buxton. Strib report says hamate bone. Awaiting MRI results.

 

that would be most unfortunate and sadness inducing.

[drjim]

 

Doesn't sound good for Buxton. Strib report says hamate bone. Awaiting MRI results.

 

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

 

Breath.

 

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[USAFChief]

Season over.

 

//obligatory

[mazeville]

Ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffuuuuuuu ...

 

I'd spell the rest of it but I don't want my comment to get deleted. 

 

Feel awful. Buxton was an exciting player. And he was a HUGE reason the Twins are winning.

 

Now he'll probably be out for the year. 

 

Ffffffffffffuuuu ....

[Vanimal46]

http://blogimages.thescore.com/nfl/files/2013/01/dr.-nick.jpg

 

Hi Everybody! 

I was the one that did the MRI on Byron Buxton, and should clear up the confusion! I was telling Byron that there's a ham bone calling my name after the MRI. A reporter tried eavesdropping and thought I said hamate bone.... 

Don't worry about it! Byron will be fine. 

[70charger]

Edit: was supposed to be in the game thread for today.

 

But I too am concerned about Buxton...

Edited August 31, 2017 by 70charger

[jbissell]

Just saw on the Star Tribune that the injury is a bone contusion and that Buxton is available off the bench!

 

Thank God!! What a freakin relief! I feel like I could do a cartwheel in the office right now!