SEA 8, MIN 6: Mariners Score Eight Unanswered Runs

[Matthew Lenz]

Alexander Colomé entered the ninth inning Sunday tasked with protecting a one-run lead. It did not go well. A pair of singles followed by a Kyle Seager home run, the first Colomé has surrendered since 2019, gave Seattle a series-clinching win.Box Score

Shoemaker: 5.0 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 7 K

Home Runs: Buxton (5)

Bottom 3 WPA: Colomé -.748, Cave -.078, Kepler -.052

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs):

Download attachment: chart.png

 

Arraez and Buxton Continue Torrid Starts

The Twins were aggressive early with Mariners’ starter Chris Flexen as he threw only 11 pitches in the first inning, but faced six Twins batters, allowing three hard hit singles, and a line drive sacrifice fly” to Nelson Cruz. Flexen responded by leaning on his off speed more, but the Twins offense continued to hit. They added three additional runs in the third, and then Byron Buxton hit a two-run, 428-foot shot to center field that, based on his body language, he seemed to think was going to stay in the park in the bottom of the fifth. The home run was his fifth of the season and his second extra-base hit of the day.

The Twins only other threat of the day came in the bottom of the seventh inning where they had Miguel Sanó and Max Kepler on 1st and 2nd base, respectively, with two outs but a Jake Cave ground out ended the inning.

 

Matt Shoemaker Cruises Through Five Innings

Right out of the gates, Shoemaker struggled to find the zone hitting the second batter of the game and issuing a five-pitch walk to the third batter, Kyle Seager. He escaped that jam and proceeded to throw strikes at a 67% clip, striking out five Mariners, and allowing no runs between innings two and five. Then came the sixth, where he started hanging breaking balls and the middle of the Mariners lineup was banging breaking balls. It started with a solo shot from Seager, then a José Marmolejos double that was just a few feet from being gone, and then Taylor Trammell made it a 6-4 game with a three-run bomb of his own. Regardless, Shoemaker was likely done for the day as he was nearing 100 pitches anyway but home plate umpire Manny Gonzalez made sure of it by ejecting Shoemaker for saying “freaking”... I guess.

 

Alex Colomé Implodes ... Again

Stashak relieved Shoemaker, and despite struggling with command, was able to shut down Mariners in the sixth and was pulled after hitting France to start the seventh. He was followed by Caleb Thielbar, who allowed one-run on a fielder's choice, and Hansel Robles who pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning. Twins fans were ... uhhh … ”treated” to the Alex Colomé Experience in the ninth where he allowed back-to-back singles to the first two batters and then a three-run blast to Seager, which was his second of the day.

Colomé did record an out on a deep fly ball, but then allowed another single before being pulled in favor of Jorge Alcala making his third appearance of the spring who closed out the inning unscathed.

 

Postgame Interview

 

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

Download attachment: pen.png

 

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[cHawk]

I have a joke.

 

The front office.

[peterb18]

What is the reason for not putting Rogers in against Seager? I think the manager needs a little more feel in managing games. Seems like everything is pre-planned.

[Monticore]

Colome' is a worthless BUM! Whoever said he has the Romo vibe was right, except Romo, as bad as he was, wasn't this bad. Make Alcala the closer or this will happen time and time again.

[Aggies7]

Three auto outs in the lineup and a guy who shouldn’t be the closer pitching the 9th

[USAFChief]

As bad as Colome was, I believe Rocco letting Shoemaker pitch to Trammell in the 6th was just about as bad a piece of managing as imaginable.

 

And before anyone says "second guess," I said so at the time, on the game thread, before the HR.

 

It was incredibly obvious.

 

I already knew the bullpen isn't up to the task, so it's hard to get too upset about that. Colome's pitch to Seager might as well have been placed on a tee.

[Aggies7]

Boston has won 6 in a row and JD Martinez hit 3 homers today. Should be an interesting series

[Rosterman]

Yes, pull Shoe. You had Stashak ready. Whole new game. 

 

Columbe...if you can't trust him, might as well give the ball to the rookie. Alcala could be the future!

[shimrod]

It was interesting hearing the booth guys praising Rocco for his demeanor. Doesn't matter if they win by a walkoff or lose on a walkoff, Rocco's the same guy. 

 

Perhaps a manager who gives a damn whether they win or lose could get a little more focus out of the players. At least they didn't kick this one away; it was just lousy pitching. 

 

That plus another failure to produce hits (or even productive outs) when the game is on the line. 

[Aggies7]

What in the world has happened to Jorge polanco

[h2oface]

 

Yes, pull Shoe. You had Stashak ready. Whole new game. 

 

Columbe...if you can't trust him, might as well give the ball to the rookie. Alcala could be the future!

 

 

I think I am with you.... but there is Alex(ander) Colome, and Danny Coulombe (who we also signed to a minor league contract this off season), but who is this Columbe guy?

 

After the double after the lead off homer in the 6th, that was the pull time for Shoemaker. Absolutely. As much as I have little hope and faith for Dobnak, that was the time to put him in for a long relief outing, maybe to finish the game if he held. I guess Baldelli is not so keen after the Dobnak mess the last outing in low leverage in the ninth. And the pitch to Seager that Shoemaker was still complaining about after giving up a double, single, and another home run, and finally got tossed 3 runs later? Clearly a high pitch, by at least 6 inches.

[h2oface]

How many games is Baldelli gonna let Colome lose for us this year? So far, Colome has given up the lead, the tie, or the lead and the game, in the 8th and 9th innings, in 33% of all the games the Twins have played in 2021, and in 75% of all our 4 losses. SSS? You can only use what you have, and that is the reality of it all right now. I cringed at the signing, and I dislike it even more now. If they keep going to Colome, it will only get worse. Even his 2 saves were cringe worthy. First the FO went with Rodney, and now this. This is what so called pitching development experts give us?

[Monticore]

Re Baldelli's unfazed demeanor. It is cloying. A manager who can get upset, or enraged,or exultant, ie a human being - is much preferable.

[VivaBomboRivera!]

 

USAFChief, on 12 April 2021 -  06:50 AM, said:

And before anyone says "second guess," I said so at the time, on the game thread, before the HR.

It was incredibly obvious.

 

 

Photographic evidence of the Chief witnessing the duel.

 

Today's result shows a clear difference in the performance of the top and bottom halves of the batting order. Hitting still has much more to do with these four losses than pitching, but after this game there is a fair amount of nostalgia for last year's bullpen.

[VivaBomboRivera!]

Somehow fumbled the link to the Chief's post in the above quote.

As bad as Colome was, I believe Rocco letting Shoemaker pitch to Trammell in the 6th was just about as bad a piece of managing as imaginable.

 

And before anyone says "second guess," I said so at the time, on the game thread, before the HR.

 

It was incredibly obvious.

 

I already knew the bullpen isn't up to the task, so it's hard to get too upset about that. Colome's pitch to Seager might as well have been placed on a tee.

 

[MNT1996]

Cave should be DFA'd. Waste of a roster spot that could be given to either Kirilloff or Larnach. There's no minor league season yet so might as well get them some MLB reps.

[chinmusic]

Why not leave Robles in to pitch the 9th? I was surprised that did not happen. You've got to manage the game you're playing.

 

Switching gears... what a pleasure to watch Buxton this year (so far).

His confidence and positivity. He even grinned after getting hit!

 

If misery loves company, note the rough start of Liam Hendriks. A little irony there.

 

 

[jun]

Polanco should be benched and Cave should be let go. Dobnak should be demoted and Colome should pitch 6th or 7th, Alcala should be the closer.

[wavedog]

Half-joking here but I have a suggestion for watching Twins games - watch for the the first 3 hours and then turn off the game - don't waste more of your time.   Colome needs to be moved to mop-up duty and too many dead spots in the line-up - yes that means you Sano, Cave and Jeffers.   Its early and I am sure those batters and relievers can turn things around.    

[jun]

 

Half-joking here but I have a suggestion for watching Twins games - watch for the the first 3 hours and then turn off the game - don't waste more of your time.   Colome needs to be moved to mop-up duty and too many dead spots in the line-up - yes that means you Sano, Cave and Jeffers.   Its early and I am sure those batters and relievers can turn things around.    

Garver and Polanco are not much better. I would give Jeffers more rope for playing much less. Yes Jeffers really needs to start hitting.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

At least the Twins didn't lose in extra innings today.

[tony&rodney]

Relax folks - the ground is still frozen in some places. Wait until at least Memorial Day before such frantic cries for help. There are bound to be some really ugly games played and remember that we are back to playing 162. I think everyone has won at least three games and lost three (Dodgers lost 2). There is a ton of baseball in our future; try not to burn out before the ice all melts.

[blindeke]

 

As bad as Colome was, I believe Rocco letting Shoemaker pitch to Trammell in the 6th was just about as bad a piece of managing as imaginable.

 

And before anyone says "second guess," I said so at the time, on the game thread, before the HR.

 

It was incredibly obvious.

 

I already knew the bullpen isn't up to the task, so it's hard to get too upset about that. Colome's pitch to Seager might as well have been placed on a tee.

 

I agree with this completely! He's coming back from an injury. No reason to push it there. You have a 14 man pitching staff FFS.

[Nine of twelve]

Sometimes teams lose because a player has an off day. Sometimes teams lose because the manager has an off day. This game was the latter.

[wabene]

Yuck

[Nine of twelve]

 

Relax folks - the ground is still frozen in some places. Wait until at least Memorial Day before such frantic cries for help. There are bound to be some really ugly games played and remember that we are back to playing 162. I think everyone has won at least three games and lost three (Dodgers lost 2). There is a ton of baseball in our future; try not to burn out before the ice all melts.

These stats don't tell all, but I think they are worth noting.

The Twins are fifth in the majors in team ERA.

The Twins are fourth in the majors in OPS.

Small sample size though it may be, if we can stay in this range all season I think we will do well.

[insagt1]

Epic Fail today. You have to work hard to blow a 6-0 with 4 innings to go. Colome should not be the closer. He has been brutal so far. The 9th inning was painful to watch. After Mariners got the 3 runs, it sure looked like the Twins just gave up. They went down like beaten puppies, quickly, in the bottom of the inning. Clearly, they looked and acted defeated at that point.

 

Yes its early. Of course it is. Games like this will happen, but it doesn't make it any easier to swallow when you lose like this. Starter in too long; closer can't close.

 

A few Twins hitters are starting slow. Very slow. And a few are really hot. Wonder if Polanco and Sano will ever get untracked. Jeffers struggling. Cave should probably be given his pink slip. But...Twins choked bigtime today. Pitching was in the bullseye, but the hitters did their part to do nothing after they got the 6 runs early.

 

Time to get straightened out.

[h2oface]

 

These stats don't tell all, but I think they are worth noting.

The Twins are fifth in the majors in team ERA.

The Twins are fourth in the majors in OPS.

Small sample size though it may be, if we can stay in this range all season I think we will do well.

 

Unfortunately, unearned runs count just and much, and have lost 3 of the 4 games, and some were kinda earned.... Colome first game on his own throw and bonehead decision.

[bobs]

Geez people.  The vitriol in here.  It's April 11.  We are NINE games into a 162-game season.  A year ago we didn't know when or if we'd even have baseball in 2020.  Just enjoy the games!  This FO and Rocco have won back-to-back division titles....gotta trust that they'll make adjustments and changes as needed.

[weneedjackmorris]

We can score runs.  Our starting rotation is good enough to get us into the 6th or 7th.  The defense is okay.  It's about the bullpen.  It's always been about the bullpen.  It will always be about the bullpen.  This team will NEVER win anything post season or otherwise until they fix the bullpen...  Hey front office?!  Are you there?!  Anybody home?!