Article: MIN 8, HOU 2: Twins Win! Take Season Series vs Astros!

[Andrew Thares]

Entering this two-week stretch of four straight series against the Baltimore Orioles and the Houston Astros, many Twins fans might have looked at them as a wash. If the Twins could just take care of the Orioles, there won’t be much pressure on them to do well against the Astros. Well, not only did the Twins take care of the Orioles going 6-0, they also took care of the Astros, finishing off the season series win 4-3!Box Score

Berrios: 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 77.3% strikes (68 of 88 pitches)

Home Runs: Castro (3)

Multi-Hit Games: Polanco (2-3, 2B&3B), Gonzalez (2-3), Schoop (2-4), Castro (2-4, 2B&HR)

WPA of +0.1: Castro .267, Berrios .136, Schoop .102

WPA of -0.1: None

 

Download attachment: vs Astros 5-2-2019.PNG

 

(Chart via FanGraphs)

 

Jose Berrios continued the trend of Minnesota Twins starters giving the team much needed length to help save the bullpen during this stretch of 33 games in 33 days. Since that stretch started back with the double-header in Baltimore, Twins starters have gone at least five innings in all 13 starts.

 

After getting down 1-0 early, Jason Castro answered back in the bottom of the third, hitting a leadoff solo shot to tie the game at 1.

Download attachment: Jason Castro vs Astros 5-2-2019.PNG

 

(Chart via Baseball Savant)

 

The bottom of the fourth is when all of the fun happened! After Eddie Rosario got robbed of a sure-fire double by Josh Reddick to lead off the inning, C.J. Cron walked, Marwin Gonzalez singled, Jonathan Schoop singled (driving in Cron), Jason Castro doubled (driving in Gonzalez & Schoop), Byron Buxton tripled (driving in Castro), Max Kepler hit a sac-fly (driving in Buxton), *Catches Breath*, Jorge Polanco doubled, Nelson Cruz doubled (driving in Polanco), before Eddie Rosario finally ended the inning with a strikeout. All told, the Twins put up six runs, and took control with a commanding 7 to 1 lead.

 

The Twins were able to add their eighth, and final, run of the game in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI groundout from Jason Castro. This gave Castro his fourth RBI of the day, doubling his season total that he had entering play today.

 

After Berrios completed seven strong innings, the Twins were able to turn to Ryne Harper and Trevor May, who were able to shut the door on yet another Twins win! Hopefully the Twins can build off this 6-1 home stand as they make their yearly dreaded trip to Yankee Stadium.

 

Bullpen Usage

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

 

Download attachment: 5-2-2019 vs Astros.PNG

 

(Morin’s pitches were thrown for AAA Rochester)

 

Next Three Games

Fri at NYY, 6:05 pm CT (Gibson-Paxton)

Sat at NYY, 12:05 pm CT (Odorizzi-Happ)

Sun at NYY, 12:05 pm CT (Pineda-German)

 

Last Game

MIN 6, HOU 2: MARTIN! MARTIN! MARTIN!

 

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[MMMordabito]

That's a pretty looking bullpen chart heading into the Bronx.  Everyone should be available to get outs when needed.

[Blake]

Hopefully the Twins can build off this 6 and 1 home stand as they make their yearly dreaded trip to Yankee Stadium.

 

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At the rate the Twins keep building, they're going to have a skyscraper.

[blindeke]

Nice to see Marwin have a good game at the plate.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

"Dreaded trip to Yankee Stadium" ? This year I'm looking forward to it.

[Tom Froemming]

Great to see your name at the site again, Andrew! What a win, what a series. This is FUN

[nater79a]

With their record of 19-10, I believe the Twins can own the best record in the majors by end of day with a Cards loss to the Nats.

[puckstopper1]

Rosario has always seemed to hit well at Yankee Stadium. 

 

Maybe that will be what gets him back on track. 

 

Bomb the Bombers boys!

[mikelink45]

This was a great series - now lets get rid of the Yankee curse!  You could not ask for better than the pitching, hitting and fielding today.  Loved it.

 

And conveniently Mejia is on the IL and now we will see what Morin brings to the pen. 

[Mike Sixel]

It's hard to believe how many games the Yankees have won, even with enough injuries that they've lost more projected WAR than some teams will have by the end of the year (once they lose it all as the weeks/months go by for the currently hurt players).

 

That said, I'm glad, for the Twins, that they are catching them while most of those players are still hurt. I like their odds more this way.

 

As for today, I continue to be impressed by Berrios. And Polanco. And have never understood the distaste for Castro ( a signing I longed for, and eventually got).

[Monkeypaws]

As promised, Rocco has these guys playing loose, having fun - I wonder if there is an advanced stat that correlates smiles and wins.

[Han Joelo]

Other than a rare Castro homer, nice to see them string a barrage of hits and walks together for a big inning.  

 

[RGR71]

This just keeps getting funner!! Now the House of Pain, you got to feel like we have a legitimate chance there, not like years past!

 

Kluber is down, hate to see that but it makes our road to the playoffs look better.

[twinssporto]

Hey Yankees.....Here come the Minnesota Twins BOMBERS!  

 

Your ballpark is for wimps.  Anyone with a 230 foot fly ball to RF with a light NE wind can hit homers there.

[twinssporto]

 

As promised, Rocco has these guys playing loose, having fun - I wonder if there is an advanced stat that correlates smiles and wins.

Having fun and making money is always a recipe for success.

[BoofBonser]

What's even more impressive about the Twins record is that 15 out of their 29 games have came against teams with winning records... compare that to the Rays who have only played 4, Yankees who have only played 5, Indians who have only played 10, and Seattle who is 0-10 against winning teams... the other top 4 teams in the AL excluding Houston. *Additionally, the Astros have played 21 teams with winning records, and the Twins went 4-3 against them while facing Verlander twice. 

 

This Twins team is for real. 

 

*Edit 

Edited May 3, 2019 by BoofBonser

[Richie the Rally Goat]

As promised, Rocco has these guys playing loose, having fun - I wonder if there is an advanced stat that correlates smiles and wins.

Wins cause smiles? Clearly

 

Smiles cause wins? The Twins from 1996 - 2001 would not imply that. Those guys smiled almost as much as they lost

[DiscGolfer]

This was a good check mark series win.  After the Yankees the next big series challenge will be @ TB at the end of the month.  Lot of mediocre teams to feast on in between.  Keep it rolling through May!

[Ncgo4]

These games in NY shape up potentially as a season defining week-end. If we can take the series, it puts us in position to have a truly important month. Everything right now is working. By the way, the signings of Polanco and Kepler, seem like great moves. How soon until we lock down Berrios?

Edited May 3, 2019 by Ncgo4

[MMMordabito]

With their record of 19-10, I believe the Twins can own the best record in the majors by end of day with a Cards loss to the Nats.

That happened!! Our Twins get to spend at least one morning all alone at the top of MLB!

[Aerodeliria]

I woke up early this morning for some reason (4:20 am). As I was wide awake, I suddenly remembered it was a matinee game, so I checked my baseball app. I caught the last two batters in the ninth--smiled--took a sleeping pill and had pleasant dreams until the alarm woke me again at 9:00 am (we're on holiday this week here).

 

Unfortunately I, don't think Tanaka-san will pitch this weekend, so the Twins won't be on TV.