Game Recap: Royals 14, Twins 5

[Jamie Cameron]

The Twins fall to the Royals after a nine-run first inning and a four-run second inning. They are now 4-6 in their last ten games, all against the Orioles and Royals, and drop to 22-35 on the season. That and more in tonight's recap.

Box Score

Matt Shoemaker: 0.1 IP (10 batters faced), 6 H, 8 ER (9 R), 2 BB, 1 K

Homeruns: Polanco (6), Sanó (10), Gordon (1)

Bottom 3 WPA: Shoemaker -.433, Astudillo -.048, Larnach -.039

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Historic First Inning Fells Twins

In a season of low lows for a Twins club entering 2021 with high expectations, Friday night was rock bottom. Matt Shoemaker gave up 9 first inning runs, making it through 0.1 innings and securing an infamous place in MLB history.

 

Shoemaker gave up 9 runs on a single, walk, double, single, walk, strike out, catcher interference, single, single, and a 3 run home run. The game was ostensibly over before Nick Nelson had even made it to his seat with his first Boulevard of the night. What a disgraceful performance. Indeed, Shoemaker’s latest capitulation encapsulates the performance of the Twins offseason free agent pickups. 

 

Has the performance of the Twins free agents and trades this offseason soured you on the Twins front office? Shoemaker now owns a 7.28 ERA as Minnesota’s fifth starter. It’s time to move on, and give those innings to literally anyone else.

Offense Generates Plenty of Hits, Few Runs

In another constant sub-narrative of the Twins season, the offense mustered plenty of hits. By the end of the 7th inning, the Twins had 9 hits to the Royals 12. The difference? The Royals were 8-14 with RISP (.571), the Twins? 0-8. Jorge Polanco provided the lone spark, cranking his 6th home run of the year, a solo shot in the 5th inning.

 

The Royals continued to add on in the second, generating 4 runs off recently recalled reliever Shaun Anderson, who the Twins rode for 3.2 innings and 62 pitches. The Twins were down 13-0 after two innings.

Gordon Hits HR #1 in Front of His Dad

The Twins offense continued to battle throughout the game and broke through in the 8th inning, hitting back to back home runs from Miguel Sanó and Nick Gordon. Gordon hit his first MLB home run in front of his father, Tom, in attendance for the first time watching his son play a MLB game, part of a strong 3-4 performance.

 

Willians Astudillo continued his grumpy facade pitching the 8th inning for the Twins, offering back to back pitches of 43 mph and 82 mph to Kelvin Gutierrez. After a pop out and a walk, Sanó bobbled a routine ground ball to 3rd base for the Twins 4th error of the night. Astudillo induced a double play to end the inning, but there was no escaping the consistently amateurish defensive play which, whether hinging on injuries or not, is now characterizing the Twins nightly performances.

The Twins ‘cleanup hitter’, Astudillo almost hit a home run but flew out to left field to end the game, capping a miserable night the the Twins which was ostensibly over after one half inning. Where do the Twins go from here? This team has a solid offense which never hits with runners in scoring position, poor pitching, struggling defense and a mountain of injuries. Surely a fire sale awaits?

Bullpen Usage Chart

	MON	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	TOT
Minaya	0	33	8	0	34	75
Anderson	0	0	0	0	62	62
Farrell	0	36	0	11	0	47
Colomé	0	17	21	0	0	38
Robles	16	0	0	20	0	36
Duffey	0	0	0	12	0	12
Alcala	0	0	3	0	7	10
Rogers	6	0	0	0	0	6

Next Up

The Twins send José Berríos to the mound on Saturday to face Royals lefty Mike Minor. First pitch is at 3:10 CT.

 

 

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[AceWrigley]

Just say it was 14-5, and it wasn't even that close. I've seen more life by poking a dead hedgehog with a stick.

[AceWrigley]

That win probability chart is like a flatline. About represents the Twins this season.

[Game7-91]

It was close until the 1st inning.

 

 

 

[Jamie Cameron]

8 minutes ago, AceWrigley said:

That win probability chart is like a flatline. About represents the Twins this season.

It’s funny you say that, I always look at the pattern of the probability chart as a proxy for what the game was like. Worst of the season for sure.

[D.C Twins]

Honest question... how was shoemakers WPA not - infinity.... What is the worst a WPA could be... wouldn't that 'effort' have to be it?!

[Jamie Cameron]

5 minutes ago, D.C Twins said:

Honest question... how was shoemakers WPA not - infinity.... What is the worst a WPA could be... wouldn't that 'effort' have to be it?!

This is a good question. WPA is split between the 2 teams in the game. The winning team, cumulatively, will contribute .500 WPA, the losing team, -.500. Shoemaker’s -.433 is out of a possible -.500 for the Twins as the collective losing team.

[Danchat]

Get out the DFA machine, prepare for the fire sale. This team has been dead in the water for weeks. The number of embarrassing games continues to mount... reminds me of the 2016 Twins and 2010 Vikings. Here's hoping the front office is learning lessons from this horrid season.

[Game7-91]

 

11 minutes ago, Jamie Cameron said:

This is a good question. WPA is split between the 2 teams in the game. The winning team, cumulatively, will contribute .500 WPA, the losing team, -.500. Shoemaker’s -.433 is out of a possible -.500 for the Twins as the collective losing team.

 

They should wear their wpa from their last game as the uni # for the next game.

[mikelink45]

Do home runs hit in a game that is no chance of being one really count for anything? What a pathetic outing. Cut Shoemaker now.  

[Taildragger8791]

I’m not sure which way I’d predict things would go if someone in March told me that at almost 1/3 of the way into the season, Astudillo is at 3 innings pitched with one of the best ERAs on the team.

[Aerodeliria]

Colome, Shoemaker and Happ for whom?

A: I have a bucket of low-grade pig swill here. How much is it worth to you.

B: You can keep it.

A: I thought you might drive a hard bargain. I'll make it three buckets of low-grade pig swill...

[GNess]

ugh

[jimbo92107]

Sad when the highlight of the game was El Cherubo befuddling the opposition with his 43 mph nothing ball. 

Actually, there was a better highlight. Congratulations to Nick Gordon's solid 3 of 4 hitting, including his first mlb home run. Sometimes a dream does come true. Good for you, Nick Gordon.

[Platoon]

Why is La Tortuga not on the relief pitching usage chat?

And, if you take the S out of RISP, is it still a pertinent Twins stat? 

[USAFChief]

If Shoemaker isn't DFA'd today, Falvine should be.

[wsnydes]

I wonder how much the off year for the minor leaguers is impacting keeping Shoemaker around.  Is the organization trying to determine where any potential in-house fill ins are as they come back?  

There's not been a lot of roster shuffling aside from for injuries.  Kinda makes you wonder.  The pitching staff has been mostly healthy, so they can't use that as an excuse to jettison a healthy player that's clearly not up to the task.

[Dan Engebretson]

The silver lining:  No inherited runners scored and Sano only struck out once!

[ashbury]

I skipped the game and watched Ready Player One on TBS with Mrs Ash. It was less surreal and dystopian than Shoemaker's performance, as it turns out.

[ashbury]

7 hours ago, Aerodeliria said:

Colome, Shoemaker and Happ for whom?

Pig swill aside, I am ready to re-deploy Wes Johnson, and get a pitching coach with prior experience. Make him the roving minor-league instructor or something. Bring in someone who has answers for when veterans struggle.  I have no inside knowledge of the personal dynamics, of course, but my inference is that the veterans tune him out and feel he has nothing to offer, if his special sauce for getting extra MPH out of their fastball doesn't happen to be applicable. Any individual pitcher can be explained away, but I find it hard to believe that experienced major-leaguers all suddenly find themselves unable to adjust at all.  Players can be a flash in the pan? Well, so can a pitching coach.

[denarded]

1 hour ago, Dan Engebretson said:

The silver lining:  No inherited runners scored and Sano only struck out once!

Now I feel better. Went to a friend's house last night to cook out (Cubs Fan) and he offered to put the Twins game on. Told him not to bother. Best call I made all week.

[D.C Twins]

10 hours ago, Jamie Cameron said:

This is a good question. WPA is split between the 2 teams in the game. The winning team, cumulatively, will contribute .500 WPA, the losing team, -.500. Shoemaker’s -.433 is out of a possible -.500 for the Twins as the collective losing team.

Thanks!

[mikelink45]

I just reread the summary (I am sitting on a boat in a harbor just north of Seattle and not sure why I would reread such a travesty of the game, but I am glad I did.  I missed the key comment by Jamie - Historic First Inning Fells Twins -  

I love history and this one will certainly stay with us for a long time and of course we hope Shoemaker does not. 

[FritzDahmus]

Pohlad let the Front Office [FO] sign one real expensive Free Agent [FA]...Donaldson. If the FO knew that would be the extent of FA signings [and they had to have known??].....they should have kept Trevor May [doing OK with the Mets] and signed other real Bullpen arms...not comeback kids. Keep Tyler Clippard as well. He is injured, but this is his 1st time on the DL. We need lots of Bullpen guys like him.

Now, everyone wants Donaldson gone for........wait......get this......more projects and prospects. That never does it in Yankee Stadium in October. Pohlad loves this. It's cheap!

Get rid of Pohlad. Maybe A-Rod wants to buy the Twins instead of the T-Wolves?? ? I'd welcome that purchase.

 

[Dave The Dastardly]

18 minutes ago, FritzDahmus said:

Pohlad let the Front Office [FO] sign one real expensive Free Agent [FA]...Donaldson. If the FO knew that would be the extent of FA signings [and they had to have known??].....they should have kept Trevor May [doing OK with the Mets] and signed other real Bullpen arms...not comeback kids. Keep Tyler Clippard as well. He is injured, but this is his 1st time on the DL. We need lots of Bullpen guys like him.

Now, everyone wants Donaldson gone for........wait......get this......more projects and prospects. That never does it in Yankee Stadium in October. Pohlad loves this. It's cheap!

Get rid of Pohlad. Maybe A-Rod wants to buy the Twins instead of the T-Wolves?? ? I'd welcome that purchase.

 

You suppose A-Rod's first move as owner would be to juice up the players?

[mikelink45]

I do not know where else to post this question - I wanted to see how many inherited runners each RP has given up.  I would like to see those added to the RP ERA because their job is to stop the bleeding - this has nothing to do with this game because the bleeding in this was a major artery cut by Shoemaker and no amount of RP could save it. 

[bighat]

Most embarrassing performance in the league so far and it's not even close.

[joefish]

We're going down!

I'm yelling TIMBER!

My eyes are starting to hurt watching the mess of a team.

[roger]

Last night's game spells the end of the season for the Twins, insofar as their being a potential factor in any post season play.  The emphasis now must be developing players for future Twins teams, whether that be getting prospects experience with the Twins or working trades to bring more prospects into the system.

[GCTF]

4 hours ago, USAFChief said:

If Shoemaker isn't DFA'd today, Falvine should be.

No need for exaggeration. Shoemaker hasn't even been given as many chances as Sean Bergman got.