Front Page: Twins Game Recap (8/7): Perez Struggles and Offense is too Late in Rubber Match

[AJ Condon]

The Atlanta Braves got going right where they left off last night and hammered Perez early. For the second straight game, the Twins offense was silent through five innings, this time Fried was striking out batters left and right. They awoke in the sixth, and tried another comeback in the ninth, but it wasn’t enough as they drop the series and are in trouble to be up just two games before their series against the Indians.Box Score

Perez: 6 IP, 11 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 65.9% strikes (67 of 102 pitches)

Bullpen: 3 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

 

Home Runs: Sano (20)

Multi-Hit Games: Rosario (2-for-5), Sano (2-for-5, HR), Cron (2-for-4), Cave (2-for-4, 2 2B)

Bottom 3 WPA: Rosario -.049, Schoop -.085, Perez -.321

 

Braves Ready For Perez

 

The Atlanta Braves came out swinging early today and jumped all over Martin Perez for another rough start by Perez’s. Perez has been the Twins’ worst starter for quite some time now. Since May 30th, 11 starts, he holds a 6.21 ERA and a 1.47 WHIP. Today was no different for him.

 

After getting Ronald Acuna Jr. to fly out to start the game, Albies and Freeman went back-to-back, while both only seeing one pitch. The inning wasn’t over as the Braves put together a 2-out rally with a single and double scoring another run. The home runs and double were all on fastballs left right over the heart of the plate, and Perez paid.

 

After a quick 1-2-3 in the second, the deficit got worse in an ugly third inning that ended featuring the only Twins highlight thus far. The ugly inning went single, single, walk, passed ball to score one, error, RBI single, and a walk to bring in a run. All of this was done with no outs, but what better way to get out of an inning then getting three outs in one pitch.

 

For the second time in just over two weeks, the Twins turned a triple play and both were behind Perez. Last time it was Arraez-Schoop-Sano, and today it started with Sano going to Schoop and ending it with Cron at first. This was the fifth time in franchise history to turn two triple plays in the same season.

 

 

Perez was able to settle down after that triple play and gave up one run in his next three innings. Perez had two very bad innings, but was able to stay in the game and give the Twins six innings to allow the bullpen to do less work than seemed likely after the first inning.

 

Fried Fires Through Twins

 

Max Fried was red hot to start off this game, and gave the Twins offense a lot of trouble through his first five innings. After the first time through the order, Fried was perfect while striking out seven of the nine batters he faced. Jeremie Rehak was the home plate umpire and had a lot of questionable calls that had the whole Twins dugout in a frenzy and Marwin Gonzalez smashing his helmet into the ground following a strikeout.

 

The Twins got their first hit to start the fourth inning which was a double, and later had runners on second and third with two outs. Miguel Sano drilled a liner to center field that was caught to end the Twins threat. The next inning the Twins had another second and third, this time with only one out, but Fried picked up a huge strikeout on Schoop and then Graver flew out to end the threat again.

 

Through five innings, Fried had given up just three hits while striking out a season-high 10 batters, but much like last night, the Twins woke up in the sixth inning. The Twins put three singles together and Fried’s day was over. Fried ended up being responsible for the three runs that were ultimately scored that inning.

 

Twins Comeback Falls Short

 

The Twins, just like last night, were dead through the first five innings, but in the sixth inning they came alive to make things interesting. Tonight it was four singles and a double in the sixth to score three runs and trim the lead to four. Unlike last night, the Twins couldn’t use the momentum to get closer.

 

Ronald Acuna Jr. put the finishing touches for the Braves this series as he hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning to put them back in front by six runs. The Twins stranded runners on second and third in back-to-back-to-back innings, though the third time was after they scored three runs. The Braves added two more runs in the ninth to really put the game away.

 

The Twins put together three more singles in the ninth to score another run and a Miguel Sano three-run home run brought the deficit down to just four.

 

Next Series

 

The Twins will face the Cleveland Indians tomorrow for a four-game series that will be huge in terms of standings. The Indians won game one today and if they win game two, they will be just two games back of the Twins.

 

Though the starters got hammered these past two games, Zack Litell, Cody Stashak, and Kohl Stewart gave the Twins quality innings in the bullpen so the Twins’ top guys could have some time off for this huge series.

 

Postgame With Baldelli

 

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[yarnivek1972]

I guess the good news is that Perez won’t face the Indians.

[VATwinsFan]

I have some good news and I have some bad news.

 

What's the good news?

 

The Twins scored 46 runs in six games against the Yankees and the Braves.

 

Wow, that's fantastic! What's the bad news?

 

The Yankees and the Braves scored 56.

Edited August 7, 2019 by VATwinsFan

[Mr. Brooks]

Disappointing series.

The silver lining, IMO, is the way the offense continued to battle yesterday and today.

I've been forced to watch Twins teams in the past that lay down and die in games like these.

 

I'm not declaring any moral victories, but I still was happy to see them keep fighting.

[twins_89]

Perez has pretty much pitched himself into the bullpen. Smeltzer seems like he's one OK start from taking over the 5th spot in the rotation.

[Battle ur tail off]

They are gonna have to start getting creative. Especially when rosters expand. Time to use the opener/primary pitcher strategy. We simply do not have good enough arms to go more than 3-4 at most deep in the rotation. They are gonna have to mix it up. 

 

And also hope Berrios gets back into form, Pineda gets healthy and Gibson can be consitent. Hopefully those 3, Rogers and Romo can get us through the playoffs. Because as I see it, that is about all we have throughout the entire pitching staff. 

[denarded]

This is not a knee jerk reaction. Perez needs to go to BP. We need to bring up a couple of young arms like Graterol or Alcala and get a sense for where they are and see what needs to be developed in the off season. I just don't believe we have what it takes with our entire pitching staff to get to October. Amd call me crazy, but even with the HR today, Stewart has looked good this year. Just not sure what role. Anyways, Go Twins

[Danchat]

I just read that Randy Dobnak is getting called up. I would be fine is this is the last we see of Stewart, he just isn’t MLB caliber and his minor league track record shows that.

 

Here’s hoping Smeltzer will be in the rotation over Perez once pineda is healthy. Wes coaxed one great month out of Perez, but he’s back to the old version he used to be.

[jz7233]

I would not consider Stashak and Stewart's performance as giving Twins quality innings.

[jz7233]

 

I just read that Randy Dobnak is getting called up. I would be fine is this is the last we see of Stewart, he just isn’t MLB caliber and his minor league track record shows that.

Here’s hoping Smeltzer will be in the rotation over Perez once pineda is healthy. Wes coaxed one great month out of Perez, but he’s back to the old version he used to be.

I predicted right?

[Blake]

Disappointing series.

 

Didn't expect the clunker from Berrios but Perez didn't really surprise me.

 

Perez has really lost his mojo since the first of the year.

[JadenPoint]

I understand that the upcoming cleveland series is huge, but it seemed like Rocco treated the last two as if they were throw away games once they got behind.

[Mike Sixel]

I understand that the upcoming cleveland series is huge, but it seemed like Rocco treated the last two as if they were throw away games once they got behind.

I don't agree at all. That exactly why Stewart was on the roster. Same with yesterday. I don't know what people want him to do when the starter is awful.

[JadenPoint]

Fair point Mike. It was a frustrating series!

[Mike Sixel]

Fair point Mike. It was a frustrating series!

Very. Especially yesterday.

[jctwins]

Based on this series, this isn't a team that's ready to contend in the post season. At least not right now.

 

As far as treating them like throwaways, I was glad to see Rocco leave the starters in to use up some innings rather than shred the bullpen.

[Aggies7]

Lead about to drop to 2 games. Amazing after the high of monday’s win combined with the Indians loss that night. Last night was the matchup the twins needed to win. Today was never going to work with Perez pitching and kepler/arraez not in the lineup. What was our win probability before the game? 15%?

[Minfidel]

Perez is a triple-play pitcher! Of course, to get a triple play you generally have to load the bases, which has been his strong suit. 

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Well, Perez was my “pick to click” for the last couple months. His last few starts weren’t horrible, until today. The team can decide if it’s time to move him to the bullpen once Pineda returns and all five are healthy, unless they want to skip his start next week and use Smeltzer in Texas.

 

No, he’s not being DFA’d.

[yarnivek1972]

I would not consider Stashak and Stewart's performance as giving Twins quality innings.

At least they were innings none of the key guys had to pitch.

[jz7233]

 

Well, Perez was my “pick to click” for the last couple months. His last few starts weren’t horrible, until today. The team can decide if it’s time to move him to the bullpen once Pineda returns and all five are healthy, unless they want to skip his start next week and use Smeltzer in Texas.

No, he’s not being DFA’d.

I think he should be sent to IL.

[rkevin]

 

I don't agree at all. That exactly why Stewart was on the roster. Same with yesterday. I don't know what people want him to do when the starter is awful.

 

I think Rocco should become Manager\Player and then, when needed, he can toss a few innings for the team. Maybe even pinch-hit once in awhile. That would be great fun. Besides, novelties are a good sell at MLB ballparks.

[Darius]

The pitching is very concerning right now. The offense scored more than enough to win or even sweep that series. Really discouraging considering the offenses we’ll potentially face in the playoffs.

 

The up coming Cleveland series could be disasterous. If we continue to pitch like this we’ll be 2 games back at the end of this series.

[Eephus]

Curious what the Twins record is since the All-Star break against teams with a winning record?

[Otto von Ballpark]

Curious what the Twins record is since the All-Star break against teams with a winning record?

Over .500 as of now: 6-9

[Riverbrian]

 

Based on this series, this isn't a team that's ready to contend in the post season. At least not right now.

 

As far as treating them like throwaways, I was glad to see Rocco leave the starters in to use up some innings rather than shred the bullpen.

 

Thank God it isn't based on this series then. 

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

I think he should be sent to IL.

yeah.... something is probably bothering him somewhere, at this point in the season.

[mikelink45]

Perez giving us six innings has no value when he gives away the game in those six innings.  With all the call ups and send downs just replace a pitcher when he stinks whether Perez or Berrios.  What are we waiting for?  The season is on the line right now. 

[VivaBomboRivera!]

Bright note is that Jake Cave has had much better at bats in these last two games.  Now has his average above .200.  Is the International League hitting monster finally making his transition to pitchers in the Bigs?  Couldn't happen at a better time...

[yarnivek1972]

yeah.... something is probably bothering him somewhere, at this point in the season.

Then something has been “bothering” him for 2 months and no one has said anything about it.