Game Score: Twins 7, Reds 5

[Jamie Cameron]

The Twins won a topsy-turvy game in Cincinnati, 7-5 on Tuesday night. Mitch Garver and Jorge Polanco continued to rake, each crushing a three-run home run, while Kenta Maeda’s night was mixed, allowing three home runs in five innings of work.

Box Score
Maeda: 5.0 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 9 K
Home Runs: Garver (12), Polanco (17)
Top 3 WPA: Polanco .503, Garver .372, Gordon .119
Win Probability Chart (via Fangraphs)

For the fourth straight night, Josh Donaldson was not in the starting lineup, continuing to struggle with hamstring tightness. Here is how the Twins lined up for the opener of their two-game set in Cincinnati. 

The Twins took the lead in the third inning. Back-to-back doubles from Max Kepler and Brent Rooker gave them a 1-0 lead. Meanwhile, Kenta Maeda continued a strong second half of the season with two scoreless frames, before running into trouble in the third. Maeda gave up back-to-back home runs to Eugenio Suarez and Tucker Barnhart, immediately erasing the Twins slender lead. Back to back Jonathan India and Jesse Winker doubles extended the Reds lead to 3-1 before Maeda recovered to end the inning.

After a scoreless fourth, the Twins fought back in the fifth inning. A Kenta Maeda single and Brent Rooker walk put men on first and second before Mitch Garver took Tyler Mahle deep for a three-run home run to give the Twins back the lead at 4-3. 

The Twins lead didn’t last long, as rookie of the year candidate Jonathan India hit a two-run home run. Despite giving up some hard contact and three home runs, Maeda walked only one and struck out nine hitters in an up and down display. His performance will be one of many Twins to monitor in the coming weeks ahead of 2022. A competing Twins team will rely on Maeda heavily for consistency as a top-three starter. He will need to look like the second half iteration for the Twins rotation to even tread water next season. In spite of mixed results tonight, Maeda has back-to-back starts with 13 swings and misses in less than six innings.

Innings six through eight became a battle of the bullpens. Newly-acquired John Gant, pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings, surrendering a hit, a walk, and striking out two. Danny Coulombe added 1 1/3 scoreless innings of his own. The Reds pen matched the Twins, whose offense sputtered in the late innings before things became interesting in the ninth.

Heath Hembree entered to close the game for the Reds in the ninth inning. Hembree immediately walked Jake Cave and Brent Rooker to put runners at first and second with no outs. Brent Rooker struck out swinging before Jorge had one of the at-bats of the year for the Twins. Polanco fouled off five pitches from Hembree before launching a three-run go-ahead home run to right field put the Twins up 7-5.

Alexander Colomé entered in the ninth to try and close the game for the Twins. A Naquin single and a Suarez walk gave the Reds a threat before Colomé recovered to record three straight outs to complete the comeback win for the Twins. 

Bullpen Usage Chart

	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN	MON	TOT
Coulombe	0	23	0	21	13	57
Burrows	0	0	0	45	0	45
Gant	0	0	0	16	22	38
Colomé	0	0	16	0	20	36
Duffey	0	32	0	0	0	32
Alcala	0	0	21	0	0	21
Minaya	0	0	18	0	0	18
Thielbar	0	0	14	0	0	14

Postgame Interviews
 

 

What’s Next?

On Wednesday, the Twins will finish their two-game series against the Reds. First pitch is at 11:35 CST.

 

 

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[Danchat]

Maybe the Reds shouldn't have traded Rasiel Iglesias for pennies on the dollar in the offseason... 

[theBOMisthebomb]

Yes, great clutch AB from Polanco. Then, of course, I knew the whole time that the Twins closer Colome would slam the door in the 9th and get the save. There's still a lot of entertainment in a lost baseball season like the 2021 version of the Twins. 

[mikelink45]

"Meanwhile, Kenta Maeda continued a strong second half of the season with two scoreless frames, before running into trouble in the third. Maeda gave up back-to-back home runs"    Five runs in five innings and we call his pitching good?  That is a pretty low bar for our new number one pitcher to clear.  

Polanco is looking great - he has become our number one hitter with speed, power, and clutch performance.  How nice to have him going like this. 

[wabene]

Sweet home run call by Bert! Just close your eyes and watch it all play out in your minds eye. Magic

[Whitey333]

Nice win.  And wasn't it great to see our opponents bullpen implode instead of ours?  Great job Twins!!

[KFEY93]

2 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

"Meanwhile, Kenta Maeda continued a strong second half of the season with two scoreless frames, before running into trouble in the third. Maeda gave up back-to-back home runs"    Five runs in five innings and we call his pitching good?  That is a pretty low bar for our new number one pitcher to clear.  

Polanco is looking great - he has become our number one hitter with speed, power, and clutch performance.  How nice to have him going like this. 

The bar for "Good Pitching" in Twins territory has been pretty low for about 30 years. Lets be honest. There are some fans that still think Berrios was/is an "Ace". 

[bighat]

Yep, Polanco is definitely the #1 hitter and pretty clearly the best offensive player on this team. Might be time to start thinking about him as a guy to build around.

Where the heck is Donaldson? Has he played since the trade deadline?

[PDX Twin]

If he played this season a couple hundred miles north, India could be an Indian!

[mikelink45]

1 hour ago, KFEY93 said:

The bar for "Good Pitching" in Twins territory has been pretty low for about 30 years. Lets be honest. There are some fans that still think Berrios was/is an "Ace". 

I would take him back!  I am not part of an ACE dialogue.  There were a lot of great pitchers who were not ACEs by the limited definition that we now use.  Radtke, Viola, Kaat, Perry...Not ACES perhaps, but damn good and dependable.  

[Swing Batter-Batter]

6 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

"Meanwhile, Kenta Maeda continued a strong second half of the season with two scoreless frames, before running into trouble in the third. Maeda gave up back-to-back home runs"    Five runs in five innings and we call his pitching good?  That is a pretty low bar for our new number one pitcher to clear.  

Polanco is looking great - he has become our number one hitter with speed, power, and clutch performance.  How nice to have him going like this. 

I was thinking the same exact thing about the Maeda comment.

 

 

[Danchat]

10 hours ago, bighat said:

Yep, Polanco is definitely the #1 hitter and pretty clearly the best offensive player on this team. Might be time to start thinking about him as a guy to build around.

Where the heck is Donaldson? Has he played since the trade deadline?

He PH'd yesterday, but had missed the previous 5 games with a "tight hamstring".

[KFEY93]

22 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

I would take him back!  I am not part of an ACE dialogue.  There were a lot of great pitchers who were not ACEs by the limited definition that we now use.  Radtke, Viola, Kaat, Perry...Not ACES perhaps, but damn good and dependable.  

He more than likely is not worth the $$$ him and his agent wanted. Which is why the Twins pulled the trigger on the trade. 

[mikelink45]

36 minutes ago, KFEY93 said:

He more than likely is not worth the $$$ him and his agent wanted. Which is why the Twins pulled the trigger on the trade. 

Nobody is worth the money that is being paid to the ball players, but the key question is - can we use the money to get someone as good or better or are we just helping the budget?