Front Page: Twins Game Recap (9/3): Twins Win Nail-biter In Fenway!

[Andrew Thares]

With two weeks of nothing but Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox behind them, the Minnesota Twins opened up perhaps the franchise's most pivotal two week stretch in nearly a decade tonight in Boston. The Twins appeared to be sailing to an easy victory, with an early 6-0 lead, however, a couple of Red Sox home runs made things very interesting. In the end, the Twins walked away with their second one-run victory in as many days, and extended their lead in the American League Central to 6.5 games.Box Score

Thorpe: 3.1 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 58.3% strikes (35 of 60 pitches)

Home Runs: Cruz (35), Sano (27)

Multi-Hit Games: Arraez (2 for 4), Sano (2 for 5, HR)

WPA of +0.1: Rogers .146, Dyson .133, Cave .101

WPA of -0.1: None

 

Back in June, in Target Field, Rick Porcello had one of his best starts of 2019, in what has otherwise been a down season for the 2016 AL CY Young Award winner. In that start, Porcello threw seven shutout innings, leading the way to a rare Twins shutout this season. Tonight, that wouldn’t be the case, as the Twins jumped on him early. After a Max Kepler hit-by-pitch and a Nelson Cruz walk, Luis Arraez appeared to load the bases with a one-out walk of his own, but a 3-2 pitch that clearly missed the strike zone high, was called strike three. Fortunately for the Twins, Miguel Sano came up with a clutch two-out base hit, bringing Kepler around from second to score the game’s first run.

 

It was another clutch two-out hit that allowed the Twins to add to their lead in the third inning. Jorge Polanco started the inning with a leadoff single. That was followed by a one-out double off the Green Monster from Luis Arraez, but when Miguel Sano failed to advance either runner, thanks to a strikeout, it was up to Jake Cave to deliver. Deliver is exactly what Cave did, has he drove a high fly ball that hit high off the center field wall for a two-RBI triple.

 

The Twins pounced on Rick Porcello yet again in the fifth inning. It all started with this leadoff home run from Nelson Cruz.

 

 

Luis Arraez followed up that home run with a single into right field, his second hit of the game. This put an important runner on base, as Miguel Sano obliterated a baseball just a few pitches later, ending the night for Rick Porcello.

 

 

Everything was going along smoothly on the pitching side of things, until Lewis Thorpe lost all sense of command in the fifth inning.

 

Randy Dobnak had opened the game with a shutout first inning, striking out Rafael Devers and J.D. Martinez in the process. Thorp came in to start the second, and had three excellent innings. However, after Thorpe gave up a single, two walks and a wild pitch to the first four batters of the bottom of the fifth inning, his night was done, and on came Trevor May to get out of the jam. May got Mookie Betts to fly out to get the second out, and was one strike away from limiting the damage to one run, when Rafael Devers did this to him.

 

 

The game got even more interesting in the seventh and eighth innings. Tyler Duffey led off the seventh with two strikeouts, but after a Jackie Bradley Jr. ground-rule-double, Rocco Baldelli went to Sam Dyson, who promptly issued a wild pitch and a walk. He was able to get out of the jam, when LaMonte Wade Jr. made a long running catch to end the inning. Dyson stayed in to pitch the eighth inning, and got both Xander Bogaerts and J.D. Martinez out to lead off the inning, before getting lifted for Taylor Rogers to face the left-handed hitting Andrew Benintendi. Benintendi then proceeded to hit an opposite field home run over the Green Monster, cutting the Twins lead down to one. After hitting Mitch Moreland, Rogers was able to strike out Christian Vazquez to get out of the jam.

 

Things got even more nerve-racking in the bottom of the ninth for Taylor Rogers and the Minnesota Twins. Brock Holt made his way aboard with a seeing-eye single to lead off the inning. The pinch hitter, Gorkys Hernandez, then proceeded to advance him to second base with a sacrifice bunt, bringing the dangerous top of the Red Sox order up, with the tying run in scoring position and just one out. Taylor Rogers then reared back and got two of the biggest outs he has gotten all season, getting Mookie Betts to hit a comebacker to the mound for the second out, and striking out Rafael Devers to end the game.

 

Bullpen Usage

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

 

Next Three Games

Wed at BOS, 6:10 pm CT (Berrios-Rodriguez)

Thu at BOS, 6:10 pm CT (Perez-Eovaldi)

Fri vs CLE, 7:10 pm CT (TBD-TBD)

 

Last Game

Twins Game Recap (9/2): Late Labor Day Offense Propels Twins

 

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[Bandit34]

Scary...

[Han Joelo]

I don't mind the blowouts, but winning these tight games--head off seeming implosions--is powerful stuff.

[Danchat]

Good win, boys. With a 6.5 game lead on the division, I think we have this wrapped up for good this time.

 

Meanwhile, Oakland is just a half game back on Cleveland. Not a great spot for the Indians, getting swept by Tampa was huge.

[Dantes929]

I'' feel like we have it wrapped up when we are X games up with X-1 to go.    Pretty nice though to have reached the win total many predicted before the season and still have 24 games to go.   Great win.   I

[Tom Froemming]

Here's the Twins Pitch from this game. Taylor Rogers' performance on zero days rest was one of many topics of conversation.

[Kelly Vance]

Wins like this build confidence 

[Monticore]

May did the same dumb thing Jack Morris said he shouldn't trying to be too cute when the fastball had Devers back on his heels. But, a win's a win. Getting Betts and Devers at the end made up for Roger's gopher ball to Benintendi.

[IndianaTwin]

I'' feel like we have it wrapped up when we are X games up with X-1 to go.    Pretty nice though to have reached the win total many predicted before the season and still have 24 games to go.   Great win.   I

 

I was an optimist. I had them at 88. I think they can do it!

[terrydactyls]

Yesterday was Tuesday, September 3rd. It was the 138th game of the year putting the Twins 85% of the way through the season. The Twins hit 2 home runs upping their MLB record-breaking season total to 271 home runs.

 

[JadenPoint]

I've never seen a twins team so much better on the road vs playing at home. Does anyone else think they appear more focus and relaxed away from target field? Fun win tonight!

[Dantes929]

 

I was an optimist. I had them at 88. I think they can do it!

I think I had them at the range of 77-97.   I'm hoping I'm wrong

[VivaBomboRivera!]

 

Good win, boys. With a 6.5 game lead on the division, I think we have this wrapped up for good this time.

 

Meanwhile, Oakland is just a half game back on Cleveland. Not a great spot for the Indians, getting swept by Tampa was huge.

 

After today the Indians' division hopes are pretty much sunk, being 7 losses back and having played one more game.  They could take all 6 remaining against Minnesota and still be down.  That won't happen anyway - the Twins are 20 - 10 (only Yankees are better at 21 - 9) over the last 30 and 15 - 5 (!) in the past 20 games. Winning 100 games now only requires them to play at a paltry .583 pace.  Cleveland is nowhere near the Twins' recent clip, and now must win 20 of their last 23 to reach 100.  No further posts on this topic - turn out the lights, good luck in the wildcard chase, case closed.

 

Gained a game on Houston, now 3 back, but stiff-armed by New York at 4.

[Platoon]

Here's the Twins Pitch from this game. Taylor Rogers' performance on zero days rest was one of many topics of conversation.

Having a "closer" who does not recover well in back to back outings isn't a recipe for success in playoff baseball.

[VivaBomboRivera!]

 

Here's the Twins Pitch from this game. Taylor Rogers' performance on zero days rest was one of many topics of conversation.

 

Rogers is good, but he's not Reardon or Aguilera, nor even Nathan or Guardado. Today's performance on no rest was too shaky to be trusted when it's time to go big or go home. The Twins are going to have to platoon him with other throwers in order to secure late-inning lockdowns.  Dyson should be another member of that team, but at this moment he is not the performer his numbers said he was before the trade.  This and the missing teeth in the gears of the starting rotation are a problem to be solved before the Division Series begin.

 

The good news is that the team has 24 games and a rack of arms to solve the problem.  It may be that the idea of starter and reliever get thrown out in favor of a matrix that accounts for opposing lineup matchups, endurance, rest, L/RP vs L/RB, leverage, pitch repertoire, contingency, etc.  In this arrangement, all that matters is how to mix-n-match the best set of pitchers to get the team 27 outs on a given day. Every game becomes a puzzle to be solved.

[Old Twins Cap]

Don't look now but Yankees hit 5 homers last night, closing to within single digits of the Twins.

 

Be hilarious after setting "the record" for homers in a season if the Yankees actually out-homer the Twins this year.

 

Hope that Garver gets his gear back from Cooperstown.

 

Why even worry about HR records now that they happen every year, every month, every day?

[rdehring]

Great results last night.  Way to scarry getting there.

 

Thought Thorpe showed us what type of pitcher he can be for three innings last night.  Was wondering when the last time was that he pitched more than 3.0 innings?  May have something to do with his fifth inning struggle.  Still only gave up a couple singles and would have looked so much better had May not thrown another curve ball to a lefty home run hitter.  Look for Lewis to be in the Twins rotation in 2020.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Sano's blast last night should count as 2 home runs. He hit it so hard that there were 3 sailors in uniform chasing the ball to keep it from  rolling off the yard arm, off the ship and into the ocean.

Edited September 4, 2019 by tarheeltwinsfan

[TFRazor]

 

Don't look now but Yankees hit 5 homers last night, closing to within single digits of the Twins.

 

Be hilarious after setting "the record" for homers in a season if the Yankees actually out-homer the Twins this year.

 

Hope that Garver gets his gear back from Cooperstown.

 

Why even worry about HR records now that they happen every year, every month, every day?

They should out-homer the twins playing in that soapbox they call a ballpark.

[TFRazor]

Big shout out to the White Sox. Way to come through in the clutch.

[Dantes929]

 

After today the Indians' division hopes are pretty much sunk, being 7 losses back and having played one more game.  They could take all 6 remaining against Minnesota and still be down.  That won't happen anyway - the Twins are 20 - 10 (only Yankees are better at 21 - 9) over the last 30 and 15 - 5 (!) in the past 20 games. Winning 100 games now only requires them to play at a paltry .583 pace.  Cleveland is nowhere near the Twins' recent clip, and now must win 20 of their last 23 to reach 100.  No further posts on this topic - turn out the lights, good luck in the wildcard chase, case closed.

 

Gained a game on Houston, now 3 back, but stiff-armed by New York at 4.

All you say is true, or at least I am trusting you on the stats but if the Indians get a game back this series and then sweep us this weekend, everything will look different.

[In My La Z boy]

We sure could use a all-star caliber start tonight! Great bullpen win last night dials us in for a couple power starts to finish off the bosox season. I do not want to see Romo have to close them out tonight. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

Don't look now but Yankees hit 5 homers last night, closing to within single digits of the Twins.

 

Be hilarious after setting "the record" for homers in a season if the Yankees actually out-homer the Twins this year.

 

Hope that Garver gets his gear back from Cooperstown.

 

Why even worry about HR records now that they happen every year, every month, every day?

The Yankees are also +2 in games played. While it’s possible they pass the Twins, it’s also very unlikely.

[IndianaTwin]

 

Big shout out to the White Sox. Way to come through in the clutch.

 

And yet, in the all important Eliminate-the-White-Sox portion of the pennant race, with last night's win, the Twins have clinched finishing ahead of Chicago. They are 25 up with 24 to play.

 

This is the first goal in any season. Then we can move on to loftier goals such as the Wild Card, Division championship, etc.  

[Blake]

Too early to discuss the Twins magic number? (it's 18, by the way)

[gocgo]

If the Twins were to play .500 ball the rest of the way and win 12 of 24, the Indians would have to win 19 of the 23 that they have left to win the division outright.  18 of 23 gives them a tie.  So, just win Twins and we are good to go.

[jmlease1]

Nice win tonight, although May & Rogers made it a little too interesting.

 

Sano's HR was a massive blast, so fun to watch.

 

I said before this series started that i thought the twins had a solid chance of taking 2 out of 3 and that the bullpen game didn't scare me. feeling pretty good about that call right now, lol. 

 

Keep winning series, twins. you'll be fine if you just keep winning series.

[Shaitan]

 

Having a "closer" who does not recover well in back to back outings isn't a recipe for success in playoff baseball.

I want to agree...but the way they schedule off days in the post-season might make that point moot.

[SpicyGarvSauce]

 

I want to agree...but the way they schedule off days in the post-season might make that point moot.

 

Not really - the ALDS is set up to play back-to-back games (1&2), off day, then back-to-back games (3&4), off day, then game 5.

[DocBauer]

I want to be sure we don't understate how good Thorpe looked for those 3 IP. Kid has a good arm and a good future. Still wouldn't be surprised if he makes the post season roster as an extra LH arm.