Front Page: Twins Game Recap (9/10): Berrios Bounces Back in Twins Win

[Andrew Thares]

It has been a rough little stretch for the Minnesota Twins of late. With the announcement of the Michael Pineda suspension, and a string of Twins' injuries, leading up to Byron Buxton undergoing surgery on his labrum, shelving him for the next 5-6 months, the Twins needed something to go their way. Fortunately, that is exactly what happened tonight, as Jose Berrios looked to be back on his front-of-the rotation form in tonight's 5-0 win over the Washington Nationals.Box Score

Berrios: 7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 67.0% strikes (63 of 94 pitches)

Home Runs: Garver (30)

Multi-Hit Games: Arraez (2 for 4, 2B)

WPA of +0.1: Berrios .455, Garver .143

WPA of -0.1: None

 

The story of tonight was unquestionably the bounce back performance from Jose Berrios. After posting an 8.07 ERA over his last six starts, Berrios gave the Twins seven scoreless innings tonight against the Nationals. Berrios had a perfect game going into the fifth inning, until Howie Kendrick singled on a line drive to Eddie Rosario in right.

 

The Twins got their first real scoring chance of the game in the bottom of the sixth inning, after Luis Arraez drove a one out double over the left fielder’s head, setting the table for Jorge Polanco and Nelson Cruz to drive in the first run of the game. However, neither was able to come through with a clutch hit, and the game went to the seventh inning scoreless.

 

In the bottom of the seventh the Twins finally broke the scoreless tie, thanks to Mitch Garver blasting his 30th home run of the season.

 

 

The Twins were able to add one three more insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth, effectively blowing the game wide open. The inning started with a Jonathan Schoop hit by pitch, followed by a Luis Arraez single. Then after a wild pitch from Nationals pitcher Tanner Rainey, Jorge Polanco came through with a two-run double. The bases were reloaded thanks to walks from Eddie Rosario and Mitch Garver, leading to an Ehrie Adrianza sac-fly for the Twins fifth and final run of the game.

 

Those insurance runs were important, as Taylor Rogers was up and warming in the pen to get the save, but instead he was able to get the night off, as Trevor May came in and sent the Nationals down 1-2-3 to finish off the Twins win.

 

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 vs WSH, 6:40 pm CT (Strasburg-Perez)

Thu vs WSH, 6:40 pm CT (Corbin-Gibson)

Fri at CLE, 6:10 pm CT (TBD-TBD)

 

Last Game

Twins Game Recap (9/8) Clevinger Shuts Down the Scuffling Twins Offense

 

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[blindeke]

Thank god~

[IndianaTwin]

Unrelated to the Twins, but going into tonight, Bruce Bochy, whose managerial career has lasted from 1995-2019, has a career record of 1995-2019.

[USAFChief]

Unrelated to the Twins, but going into tonight, Bruce Bochy, whose managerial career has lasted from 1995-2019, has a career record of 1995-2019.

pffffft. No staying power for Bochy. Mark my words, this will be a here today, gone tomorrow type thing.

[ashbury]

pffffft. No staying power for Bochy. Mark my words, this will be a here today, gone tomorrow type thing.

You're going to feel pretty dumb tomorrow when you read on ESPN that they fired him, just to maintain this amazing stat.

[terrydactyls]

Yesterday was Tuesday, September 10. It was the 144th game of the year putting the Twins 89% of the way through the season. The Twins hit 1 home run upping their MLB record-breaking season total to 276 home runs.

 

[D.C Twins]

Great for Berrios....

 

But any news on his velo in the game?

 

Only 4 Ks....and if the velo is not back up this may only be a blip.

 

If the velo is coming back up then Yeeee Haaaaah!

[mrtwinsfan]

And the Yankees hit 6 home runs broke there record from last year and r tied with the twins, And they lost 12-11  funny!!!

[mrtwinsfan]

 

Great for Berrios....

 

But any news on his velo in the game?

 

Only 4 Ks....and if the velo is not back up this may only be a blip.

 

If the velo is coming back up then Yeeee Haaaaah!

he was at 92- 95  into the 7th-  looked good

[Aerodeliria]

Whew! We needed that one!! I said to myself that we need to take two from the Nationals. (Believe me when I say that there is no one in my neighborhood who knows anything about the Twins...most people have never even heard of the Twins despite the fact that they play the Yankees, Angels and Mariners, so if it is related to the Twins, I talk to myself.)

[Tom Froemming]

Berrios wasn't overpowering, but he obviously pitched very well. I was happy to see him working effectively at the top of the zone. Here's the Twins Pitch:

 

[Mike Sixel]

Very nice. I needed some good pitching to feel better about this team in the post season. It's been a tough week.... So this was nice

[JadenPoint]

"Strikeouts are boring! Besides that they're fascist" Was great to see Berrios keep that lineup off balance and induce weaker contact. Hope he can build on tonight's performance.

[rghrbek]

I was at the game, and after Eddie hit the double, I told anyone who would listen that garverr would go yard...proud of me.

 

I'm usually never right  But I was...

 

Again people are way too aroused about our homerun total.  Knew the Yanks would catch us.  Again I just don't care.  Fun but we are too injured, n I just want us to win games.  We beat a good team tonight, it was fun.

[theBOMisthebomb]

Whew! We needed that one!! I said to myself that we need to take two from the Nationals. (Believe me when I say that there is no one in my neighborhood who knows anything about the Twins...most people have never even heard of the Twins despite the fact that they play the Yankees, Angels and Mariners, so if it is related to the Twins, I talk to myself.)

Where do you live, Afghanistan? That must be awful not to be able to talk Twins. Don't stress too much about Twins victories this week. If they win 1 of the next 2 against the Nats, then just 1 of 3 at Cleveland they will have a minimum 3 game lead after the Cleveland series. It's starting to get to the point where the small number of games left really works to the Twins' advantage.

[yarnivek1972]

So, looking out my window (and at the weather.com forecast), I see zero chance of a game today or tomorrow in Minneapolis.

 

While it is pretty likely that the Twins will be able to clinch the division without the games, Washington is currently 2 1/2 games up for the first wild card. Thus, it is pretty likely that the games will matter for the Nationals.

 

So, it seems pretty likely that the two teams will have to make both games up after the end of the regular season. Both teams one more scheduled off day, but it is not the same day. My guess is they will have to play a double header on Monday, September 30. Gonna suck big time monkey n**ts.

 

The only way they wouldn’t make them up is if the Nat’s clinch the top wild card spot without them.

Edited September 11, 2019 by yarnivek1972

[VATwinsFan]

Garver is going to drag the Twins kicking and screaming into the post-season.

[Dantes929]

I think Berrios threw really well but also think he might be helped by the fact that the Nats never faced him.    That curve ball is really nasty and I think takes getting a little used to.   Its knee buckling but maybe a little too east to west and if teams see it enough get better at laying off it.   Along those lines I thought Berrios really got hosed on a couple important pitches.   If the ball ends up on the low outside corner and broke a foot down and across how can that not be a strike?   I am guessing Berrios would benefit by roboump more than anyone.

[Dman]

When it was zero to zero in the 7th I thought was thinking one slip up and we are done but they came through big time and we pitched a shutout.  Very happy and relieved with the win.  Hopefully we can get at least 2 out of 3 and keep ourselves in good shape moving forward.

[Number3]

Biggest play in the game was the catch against the wall by Luis Arraez, in my opinion. A double could have gotten the Nats going and shaken Berrios. Instead the Nats never posed a threat and Berrios stayed on cruise control in attack mode. Arraez seems a one in a million player and the Twins had best hang on to him. I like the Twins' chances against Strassburg tonight.

The lineup last night looks like it may be close to a playoff lineup now that regulars are dropping like flies. I would rather have "ball players" than raw athletic talent and last night the Twins fielded ball players.

[Alex Schieferdecker]

Love seeing that clean bullpen chart. Thanks to Berrios' excellent start and the insurance runs in the eighth, it feels good to only have to use two relievers and not have Taylor Rogers among them.

 

I do wish we could have a more decisive win sooner or later, however, so that we can continue to audition some of these back-end guys for the postseason. Five spots are obviously spoken for, and Littell seems likely to get a sixth. One to two spots remain.

[Old Twins Cap]

 

So, looking out my window (and at the weather.com forecast), I see zero chance of a game today or tomorrow in Minneapolis.
 

 

Rain really stacking up next two days.

 

For Twins, two off-days going into Cleveland for the weekend, a chance for Sano, Gonzalez, Cave, Cruz, Kepler, Dyson -- not to mention the entire pitching staff -- to rest.

 

I'll take that.

 

Bring on the rain.

[AlwaysinModeration]

Unrelated to the Twins, but going into tonight, Bruce Bochy, whose managerial career has lasted from 1995-2019, has a career record of 1995-2019.

That’s crazy. Not only that, but yesterday was 9-10-19, a palindromic day.

[USAFChief]

That’s crazy. Not only that, but yesterday was 9-10-19, a palindromic day.

Pfffft. So's the whole next week.

[AlwaysinModeration]

To me the biggest part of this win, and last Saturday against the Indians, is the resilience of the team after gut punches. Lose Pineda, face Cleveland after a series opening loss, face Clevingee to face on Sunday, and they win the game, backed by a big game for Odorizzi. Yesterday, lose Buxton, have already lost 1.5 games in two days to Cleveland, and Berrios comes up huge.

 

Those were the two biggest wins of the season, in my opinion. With rain on the horizon, Cleveland could have been 3.5 games back heading into this weekend if the Twins hadn’t won yesterday.

[jmlease1]

Terrific start by Berrios, hopefully it's just what he needed to get back/stay on track. I thought his command looked better tonight; really looked like he was putting his pitches where he wanted them. Sure, there were misses around the plate, but when he was missing a pitch it was by inches on one plane, not by 6-8+ and occasionally on 2. The velocity looked good, hitting 95 often enough. They still may want to look to find him some extra rest before the playoffs, though i know it's tougher right now with no days off and still being in a pennant race.

 

Beautiful dinger by Garver. Just majestic. we need his bat in the lineup right now.

[laloesch]

 

Thank god~

 

my thoughts exactly

[jkcarew]

Well, that was encouraging! And important, given the matchups aren't too friendly the next two games.

 

I think I'd rather have rain than Strasburg and Corbin against this Twins lineup at this particular point in time. We'll see.

[IndianaTwin]

 

Pfffft. So's the whole next week.

 

Also get ready to celebrate on... 

02-11-20

02-22-20

12-11-21

12-22-21

 

But after that, it will be a while, and I probably won't be around to see it. Ted Williams will, perhaps, if they can work out that freeze and thaw thing. 

 

[Don Walcott]

 

Love seeing that clean bullpen chart. Thanks to Berrios' excellent start and the insurance runs in the eighth, it feels good to only have to use two relievers and not have Taylor Rogers among them.

 

I do wish we could have a more decisive win sooner or later, however, so that we can continue to audition some of these back-end guys for the postseason. Five spots are obviously spoken for, and Littell seems likely to get a sixth. One to two spots remain.

We should get those games in the last two weeks of the season. And although I agree that I'd like to see some more auditions, I'd also like to see the bullpen we'll be using in the post-season continue this good momentum in close games. I think the confidence in the bullpen is growing with each good outing by May, Duffey, Romo and Rogers, in particular. Those guys will need some rest, of course, but they also need to stay in the groove they are in by continuing to pitch regularly.