White Sox 3, Twins 2: Walked-Off in Chi-Town

[Steven Trefz]

The Twins entered tonight's game with a chance to beat the White Sox while they were down. Instead, they gifted their division rivals another reason to hope again.

Image courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

 

Box Score
Starting Pitcher: Joe Ryan, 6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K (87 pitches, 60 strikes, 69%)
Home Runs: Nick Gordon (1)
Top 3 WPA: .Joe Ryan (.364), Nick Gordon (.177), Brock Stewart (.135)
Bottom 3 WPA: Jorge Lopez (-.397), Caleb Thielbar (-.365), Jose Miranda (-.155)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

 

Baseball Weather
Guaranteed Rate Field felt like 45 degrees at the start of the game, and the baseball acted accordingly. Minnesota missed out on a chance to bust out the "Land of 10,000 Rakes" vest early, as Carlos Correa's 350 foot blast only traveled 336 feet...and the White Sox had a guy there.

Joe Ryan Continues to Deal
Ryan entered the game with a 5-0 record and a 0.82 WHIP with 40 strikeouts in only 34 innings pitched. In these chilly conditions, Ryan managed to continue his pinpoint control and ability to mix up his pitches effectively, to the tune of six strikeouts over the first four innings. It was the first time all season that Ryan navigated the first 12 outs of a game without giving up a run.

Michael Kopech Picked a Bad Time to Start to Deal
Kopech entered the game with 0-3 record and a 1.58 WHIP with 32 strikeouts in only 29 2/3 innings pitched, with a 6.07 ERA. Tonight saw Kopech hold the Twins hitless through five innings, mixing three walks with his six strikeouts. The Twins attempted to slow him down by taking time outs with 0-2 counts. That strategy rarely worked, and pointed out how smoothly Kopech was rolling, and how mystified the Twins batters were feeling.

And He's Off! The Running Game Works...and Doesn't Work
In the top of the third inning, Byron Buxton earned a walk with two out, and stole his first base of the season to put himself into scoring position. While he was ultimately stranded there, it was an encouraging development for a team needing to manufacture runs on the road. 

The fourth inning, however, pointed out the downside of aggressive baserunning, as Trevor Larnach was thrown out attempting to steal on a Jose Miranda strike out. On a night where the ball wasn't traveling well, it was a calculated risk.

Finally! A Hit! And Some Baserunners! And a Run!
Buxton got the hit parade started with one out in the top of the sixth inning with a ground ball up the middle that just cleared under newly returned Tim Anderson's glove. Jorge Polanco came up next, and took a four-pitch walk to put runners at first and second for Correa. Kopech's next four pitches weren't even close to the zone, and now the Twins were in business with the bases loaded for Larnach, who just got under a Kopech fastball for a sacrifice fly to score Buxton to break up the shutout.

It All Adds Up
A key moment in the game occurred without a ball ever entering fair territory. With one out in the bottom of the sixth, Ryan was cruising along having only thrown 70 pitches. Anderson came to the plate, and 12 pitches later he had not only earned a walk, but had cost Ryan perhaps an extra inning of work later in the game. Andrew Benintendi eventually grounded into a 4-6-3 double play, but the damage to the beloved pitch count was done.

Bullpen Time
Gregory Santos was the first man up from the White Sox bullpen as he entered to start the seventh inning, and gave up a close call blast to Joey Gallo but escaped unscathed. Jorge Lopez entered the bottom of the seventh inning, and gave up a lead-off single to Andrew Vaughn and a go-ahead home run to Eloy Jimenez on only eight pitches. Eight. Pitches.

Thank You Alex Colome! And Nick Gordon of Course!
Luckily for Twins fans, the White Sox decided that their best chance at winning this game was to bring newly reinstated and Twins legend Colome into the eight inning. In a retrospectively masterful move, Gordon pinch hit for Michael A. Taylor, and suddenly the game was tied 2-2!

Gordon Giveth, and He Taketh Away
Twins Daily has been trying to figure out Gordon's role on the Twins as the season progresses, and other outfielders and bats come calling from the minors. Gordon showed in the bottom of the eighth how his impact to the roster carries into the field through his utility abilities as well by making an excellent catch in center field to end the inning. How he continues to play out this road trip will go a long way toward how long he stays on the roster.

Let's Hand the Game to... Brock Stewart?
Stewart got the call for the bottom of the ninth, and he walked Andrew Vaughn on six pitches, which led to the Billy Hamilton show entering the game as a pinch runner. Hamilton stole second, and stayed there after a successful White Sox challenge. Miranda made a nice play on a hard ground ball, but Hamilton took third on a groundout to third. The Twins then elected to intentionally walk Luis Robert, and pinch-hitter Adam Haseley flew out to Gordon in shallow center for the second out. Yasmani Grandal also walked, which brought up another pinch-hitter, Hanser Alberto. And yes, I'm stress-typing every one of these details out, please don't hate on me for it.

Could Stewart escape the bases-loaded jam to bring us to extras? Yes! He! Can! Alberto flys out to Kepler, and we never had a doubt that it would all be ok...

Extra Baseball!
Jimmy Lambert came in to pitch the 10th for the White Sox, and he couldn't throw a strike to save his life. Luckily for him, Christian Vasquez and Gordon decided they would swing at anything within three feet of the zone for a strike out on a ball four, and a groundout on a ball three. That left "ghost" runner Gallo at third base with two outs, with Buxton up at the plate. Three pitches and a strikeout later (on a very high pitch), an opportunity was missed and it was up to Caleb Thielbar to strand his inherited runner as well.

The White Sox began the 10th with some small-ball, with Elvis Andrus bunting Alberto over to third base. Anderson came up and laced a 2-2 pitch to a drawn-in Correa, who picked it clean and threw him out. Left-handed Andrew Benintendi was the next man up, and the Twins averted disaster as Thielbar bounced a fastball that Vasquez somehow miraculously kept around the home plate area to keep the winning run from coming in. All this relief quickly dissolved, however, when Benintendi laced a single to left field, ending the game at 3-2.

What’s Next?
The Twins will try to bounce back from this rough outing on Wednesday with RHP Louie Varland (0-0, 4.50 ERA) will be taking the mound for the Twins, while the White Sox will send out Twins-killer RHP Dylan Cease (2-1, 4.15 ERA). Tomorrow’s first pitch is scheduled for 6:10 pm CDT, and the temperatures should bring another low-scoring affair.

Postgame Interviews

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	FRI	SAT	SUN	MON	TUE	TOT
Thielbar	25	22	0	0	13	60
J López	20	16	0	0	15	51
Jax	16	15	0	0	9	40
Stewart	0	0	13	0	24	37
Pagan	0	0	23	0	0	23
Winder	0	0	23	0	0	23
Duran	0	15	7	0	0	22
Moran	0	0	0	0	0	0

 

South Dakotan Twins fan, on a quest to see a Twins series in every MLB stadium by 2025.

Follow Steven Trefz on Twitter: @TwinsTrefz

 

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[ashbury]

[jkcarew]

2023 Twins the epitome of the modern game offensively….an insanely high percentage of all runs scored are result of HR’s.

It’s a recipe for frustration in general, but all the more so because they’re not particularly good at it…big strike-out numbers, but mediocre BB/OBP rates, and ok, but not great, HR frequency.

[tony&rodney]

Yup, can't win 'em all.

Did anyone count how many swings and misses at high fastballs (more than four inches high out of the strike zone) there were in the game tonight. ? It seemed like an abnormal number of swings at pitches that cannot be hit.

Varland up next.

[VivaBomboRivera!]

Take the next two and all will be forgiven.

[USAFChief]

22 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

Yup, can't win 'em all.

Did anyone count how many swings and misses at high fastballs (more than four inches high out of the strike zone) there were in the game tonight? 

One miiiillion swings and misses

 

 

Just from Miranda

 

[Blyleven2011]

Opportunity ,  but a wasted opportunity ,  twins bat's do not come alive .... 

They did hit a solo homerun in. their 14th consecutive hame ...

 

Interesting use of tonight's bullpen  , I guess Rocco's gut didn't tell him that it was possible that we could play extra innings  ...

[Squirrel]

Don’t like losing to teams like this. I know it happens but … just shouldn’t happen. The bats and the BP. While I do believe the team is much improved over last year, this just isn’t good. Players need to come through

[Vanimal46]

The saving grace is the AL Central is a 2 team division. Cleveland could, and probably will heat up at some point. It’s a race to 83 wins. 

[Major League Ready]

8 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

Yup, can't win 'em all.

Did anyone count how many swings and misses at high fastballs (more than four inches high out of the strike zone) there were in the game tonight. ? It seemed like an abnormal number of swings at pitches that cannot be hit.

Varland up next.

It would have been an entirely different game had they been reasonably disciplined on that pitch.  Miranda doing it over and over in key situations is frustrating to watch.   Correa has been chasing all spring.

[Peter]

Can’t lose games like this to bad teams unacceptable!!! Win next 2 and series against Cleveland all is forgiven 

[Nashvilletwin]

Nice HR by Gordon and a great catch in CF. There is no chance he gets DFA’d - regardless of how many TDers are calling for it.

A batter really only has one job to do leading off in the 10th - at a minimum move the runner to 3rd.  Vasquez couldn’t get that done.

We need to lay off the high cheese.

Was Ryan gassed after 87 pitches?  Perhaps, but Gray just threw 107 and Ryan was still dealing. Who knows.

What is up with our late inning relievers walking the lead-off man in the 8th and/or 9th innings?  Happened twice against KC and last night in the 9th as well.  That is the cardinal sin. Lucky we didn’t lose in regulation last night. But if we continue to do that, we deserve to lose.  Period.

[Riverbrian]

9 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

Yup, can't win 'em all.

Did anyone count how many swings and misses at high fastballs (more than four inches high out of the strike zone) there were in the game tonight. ? It seemed like an abnormal number of swings at pitches that cannot be hit.

Varland up next.

Expanded chasing is what I would call it. Way too much of it in the game. That strikeout on a 3-2 pitch by Vazquez in the 10th was a fastball across his eyeballs... Maybe a foot high. Runner on 2nd... leading off the 10th... is a key moment. 

We haven't faced a left handed starter since Nestor on Tuesday and we are not scheduled to face a left hander until Logan Allen on Saturday. There is no sense looking to Jeffers, Solano, Castro or Gordon for help... they are not playing. 

It's up to Buxton, Polanco, Correa, Larnach, Miranda, Kepler, Gallo, Vazquez and Taylor to hit.  They don't appear to have any internal competition at the moment... So it's up to them.  

[Karbo]

I'm a little surprised they pulled Ryan when they did. They must have seen or known something that I didn't because I thought he had another inning in him. May not have made a difference. Lopez was bound to give up a run sometime, though he has pitched great so far. Now we see how Varland looks!

[Blyleven2011]

4 minutes ago, Karbo said:

I'm a little surprised they pulled Ryan when they did. They must have seen or known something that I didn't because I thought he had another inning in him. May not have made a difference. Lopez was bound to give up a run sometime, though he has pitched great so far. Now we see how Varland looks!

My eyes were telling me that Ryan was missing his location in the 6th inning and he had 90 pitches , I was okay with the move , I did think it was odd how Rocco used his bullpen when the score was close and a possible extra inning game was possible  , why didn't he use Stewart  first if he is going to use him in high leverage  games ...

[Blyleven2011]

9 hours ago, jkcarew said:

2023 Twins the epitome of the modern game offensively….an insanely high percentage of all runs scored are result of HR’s.

It’s a recipe for frustration in general, but all the more so because they’re not particularly good at it…big strike-out numbers, but mediocre BB/OBP rates, and ok, but not great, HR frequency.

I think Rocco is managing the same way he did in 2019 when we had a juiced ball and we hit 307 homeruns to beat the Yankees in that department  ( he's no earl weaver ) and yes the twins are not good at it in today's game  ,,, 

Would love to see more doubles and singles and walks  , more discipline and patience at the plate goes along way  , cut down on the strikeouts cause it is a pathetic way to play baseball and a rally killer  , just put the ball in play ...

Also noted is Rocco can't seem to win in extra innings  , just like he can't win in the playoffs  , he doesn't change his style of managing when he needs to ...

[hitterscount]

6 minutes ago, Blyleven2011 said:

I think Rocco is managing the same way he did in 2019 when we had a juiced ball and we hit 307 homeruns to beat the Yankees in that department  ( he's no earl weaver ) and yes the twins are not good at it in today's game  ,,, 

Would love to see more doubles and singles and walks  , more discipline and patience at the plate goes along way  , cut down on the strikeouts cause it is a pathetic way to play baseball and a rally killer  , just put the ball in play ...

Also noted is Rocco can't seem to win in extra innings  , just like he can't win in the playoffs  , he doesn't change his style of managing when he needs to ...

It would be interesting to see his winning % in 1 run and extra-inning games.... guessing it's around .400 . 

Take out the 7 games against KC and they are a sub .500 team. Tough stretch in the schedule lies ahead, we should know if they are true contenders in 3 weeks. 

[Blyleven2011]

3 minutes ago, hitterscount said:

It would be interesting to see his winning % in 1 run and extra-inning games.... guessing it's around .400 . 

Take out the 7 games against KC and they are a sub .500 team. Tough stretch in the schedule lies ahead, we should know if they are true contenders in 3 weeks. 

Sadly  we might even know after these two series with Chicago and Cleveland  , if they can't play with a killer instinct and go out a beat these teams when there down  ...

Twins can't let these games slip away  , they have to play every game and believe they can win them all ...

Rocco always says there is another game tomorrow  ,,,

What's wrong with inspiring the players to go out and win a ten game winng streak ...

[David Maro]

Why talk about Ryan being pulled,Nolan Ryan could of been pitching. The team had the worst at bats they have had all year. We should of had 8-10 walks,but no swinging at pitches at eye level. The game was half over before they got a seeing eye single. To me it looked like they all wanted to wear the dumb vest.

[stringer bell]

8 hours ago, Squirrel said:

Don’t like losing to teams like this. I know it happens but … just shouldn’t happen. The bats and the BP. While I do believe the team is much improved over last year, this just isn’t good. Players need to come through

The White Sox have pretty good talent. I think they finish around .500 when all is said and done, unless they don't think they can contend and dump a lot of players. One area other teams have exploited against the White Sox that the Twins haven't is the bullpen. They have been a disaster except for playing the Twins. 

[hitterscount]

2 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

The White Sox have pretty good talent. I think they finish around .500 when all is said and done, unless they don't think they can contend and dump a lot of players. One area other teams have exploited against the White Sox that the Twins haven't is the bullpen. They have been a disaster except for playing the Twins. 

And now we face Cease and Giolitto... a sweep could be a real possibility... for the wrong team 

[chinmusic]

Just now, stringer bell said:

I believe the Twins are 2-1 in extra innings this year. 

2-2 (after last night)

[stringer bell]

6 minutes ago, chinmusic said:

2-2 (after last night)

You're right. I forgot about that crazy Red Sox game.

[John Belinski]

I am certainly not a fan of our manager, but maybe after watching how a manager bunted over the runner in the 10th inning Rocco could learn something. He is a slow learner so maybe he will not move the runner over in the next game in the 10th inning. I think just about every other manager will have the first batter move the runner over. 

Rocco said we just did not get enough hits to win. The winner of the game is not which team gets the most hits, but which team scores the most runs. Someone has to tell batters to stop swinging at pitches out of strike zone. In the 10th inning their pitcher could not throw strikes, but Twins players kept swinging away. Hope some day the Twins get a real manager and not a trainee manager who is a slow learner.

[stringer bell]

1 hour ago, John Belinski said:

I am certainly not a fan of our manager, but maybe after watching how a manager bunted over the runner in the 10th inning Rocco could learn something. He is a slow learner so maybe he will not move the runner over in the next game in the 10th inning. I think just about every other manager will have the first batter move the runner over. 

Rocco said we just did not get enough hits to win. The winner of the game is not which team gets the most hits, but which team scores the most runs. Someone has to tell batters to stop swinging at pitches out of strike zone. In the 10th inning their pitcher could not throw strikes, but Twins players kept swinging away. Hope some day the Twins get a real manager and not a trainee manager who is a slow learner.

It just isn't true that bunting a runner over is the proper strategy in extra innings with the "ghost runner". This isn't the 60s or 70s when contact was expected. Batters strike out and pop out at a high rate. Giving away an out to advance a runner is debatable at best, especially given that the other side will have a runner on second and no one out in the bottom half. The bunt over didn't win the game for the Sox, either. It was a hit with two outs by a left handed hitter against a left handed pitcher. 

[tlkriens]

From what I saw and watched, nobody asked if Duran was available last night or why Brock Stewart was put in for the 9th inning.

[jmlease1]

1 hour ago, Blyleven2011 said:

My eyes were telling me that Ryan was missing his location in the 6th inning and he had 90 pitches , I was okay with the move , I did think it was odd how Rocco used his bullpen when the score was close and a possible extra inning game was possible  , why didn't he use Stewart  first if he is going to use him in high leverage  games ...

Because the 3-4-5 hitters were up in the 7th? I'm sure the thought process was to have Lopez (who has been excellent this season) face the heart of the order while trying to preserve the lead in the 7th, have Jax take the 8th, and Moran available to lock it down in the 9th for the save. With the score tied, I'm guessing they were looking at Stewart to run the 9th so that if they scored in the 10th they could again have Moran nail it down for the save. This is all fairly normal bullpen management.

The real issue is how little the offense did last night; 3 hits is pretty miserable. They've got to do better even in cold weather...but dang it Correa only needed about another foot to put that ball out and then we're in a whole different story.

Ryan did very well last night overall, although i was a little concerned about his inability to finish off a couple of hitters. He got the job done, but there were a few long ABs in there and that's really about the only thing holding him back right now from taking another leap.

[stringer bell]

The Twins offense is too hit-and-miss and reliant on homers to win. They have decent power throughout the lineup, but home runs aren't going to come all the time. There aren't enough innings of stringing together successful at-bats to produce runs. Way too many strikeouts. 

[JD-TWINS]

10 hours ago, Blyleven2011 said:

Opportunity ,  but a wasted opportunity ,  twins bat's do not come alive .... 

They did hit a solo homerun in. their 14th consecutive hame ...

 

Interesting use of tonight's bullpen  , I guess Rocco's gut didn't tell him that it was possible that we could play extra innings  ...

Rocco’s misstep w/Pen - don’t get it?

If López does his job, there’s no angst. Even if he’s not perfect - can’t give up the HR!

[stringer bell]

3 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

Because the 3-4-5 hitters were up in the 7th? I'm sure the thought process was to have Lopez (who has been excellent this season) face the heart of the order while trying to preserve the lead in the 7th, have Jax take the 8th, and Moran available to lock it down in the 9th for the save. With the score tied, I'm guessing they were looking at Stewart to run the 9th so that if they scored in the 10th they could again have Moran nail it down for the save. This is all fairly normal bullpen management.

The real issue is how little the offense did last night; 3 hits is pretty miserable. They've got to do better even in cold weather...but dang it Correa only needed about another foot to put that ball out and then we're in a whole different story.

Ryan did very well last night overall, although i was a little concerned about his inability to finish off a couple of hitters. He got the job done, but there were a few long ABs in there and that's really about the only thing holding him back right now from taking another leap.

Pretty sure you meant Duran, not Moran.