Guardians 2, Twins 0: Quantrill, Guardians bullpen one-hit Twins in loss

[Theodore Tollefson]

A first inning with four singles and two runs proved to be the difference in what was otherwise a master-class pitching duel between Joe Ryan and Cal Quantrill. But the Twins offense couldn't do anything after an early run scoring opportunity with the bases loaded in the second. 

Image courtesy of Ken Blaze, USA Today Sports

 

Box Score
SP: Joe Ryan  6 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K (100 pitches, 77 strikes (77% strikes))
Home Runs: None
Top 3 WPA:  Joey Gallo .088, Alex Kirilloff .070, Emilio Pagan .022
Bottom 3 WPA: Nick Gordon -.205, Jose Miranda -.159, Max Kepler -.111

Win Probability Chart 

Ryan Dominates Following the First
The Guardians teed off Ryan in the first inning hitting single after single and getting ahead of the Twins defense running first to third on almost every hit that followed Steven Kwan’s lead-off single to start the first. 

Cleveland tallied a total of four hits and two runs, but after Josh Bell’s RBI single in the first, Ryan retired 10 straight batters until Guardians rookie Gabriel Arias hit a two-out double in the bottom of the fourth. 

While the Guardians managed to get three more hits off Ryan before his afternoon was done, his command of the strike zone in Sunday afternoon’s ball game has been the best by a Twins starter on the season so far. Throwing only 23 pitches called for balls, Ryan avoided any walks keeping his walk total to six on the year in 42 2/3 innings pitched. 

Sunday’s start is now Ryan’s third on the season where has not allowed a single walk. However, this was the start with the fewest amount of strikeouts (four) and no walks on the season to start. 

Bases Loaded Blunders Continue 
The Twins offense continued to freeze up at the plate when they get bases-loaded against their opponents. In the second inning, Buxton, Kirilloff, and Gallo reached base with no outs. The Twins would only get two batters to the plate to have a chance to do something, unfortunately, Jose Miranda popped out to the infield on the first pitch he saw and Nick Gordon grounded into a double play. 

The at-bats by Miranda and Gordon brought the Twins to a team batting average of .114 (4 for 35) with the bases loaded on the season. The second inning would also prove to be the Twins' only time getting runners on base until the seventh inning as Quantrill dominated the Twins' hitters from the third inning on. 

Narrowly Avoiding a No-Hitter
Following the failure to cash in with a bases-loaded opportunity, it looked like Quantrill’s no-hit bid would flourish until the end of the game. That was until Kirilloff had the Twins' first hit of the game with two out in the top of the seventh. 

Gallo followed Kirilloff with his second walk of the game, but Miranda failed to come through once more as he struck out to end the Twins' second threat to score runs in the game. 

Other notes
Michael A. Taylor pinch ran for Christian Vazquez in the eighth following a lead-off walk. Taylor managed to steal his team leading, fifth stolen base on the year and bringing the Twins to nine total on the season. The stolen base was also the 100th for Taylor in his career.

The steal brought the Twins out of the cellar, for only a few minutes. The Colorado Rockies, who were tied with Twins for last in the league, did have a stolen base in their game Sunday keeping the Twins tied with them for last in the league with team stolen bases at nine. 

What’s Next? 
The Twins are off Monday but return home for a six-game homestand against National League opponents. They open the homestand against the San Diego Padres Tuesday night. Louie Varland will go for the Twins against Michael Wacha for the Padres. 

Postgame Interview 

 

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

 

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[#3Killer]

The Twins are truly a pathetic offensive team

[PopRiveter]

Wow, what an offense. I have been so disinterested in the style of this year’s team, that this was just the second game I watched. It certainly didn’t make me a fan. 
I sure miss having a Twins team that gives you hope they will put the ball in play and string together some hits. With this group, it’s hope for a couple solo home runs.

When the first run scored almost immediately, I joked “There went the game.”

Turned out, that was the winning run.

[HokieRif]

 

[USAFChief]

6 game road trip, consisting of almost 6 5 games worth of innings...28 hits.

Cure for insomnia. 

[David Maro]

When you're manager tells the team he is happy with them scoring by the homerun,this is what you get. They strike out more than any other team and swing at more pitches out of the zone. Miranda needs to go down to St. Paul,because his poor plate discipline is now showing up on the field. Joey pop up has to sit,because he only has 2 out comes strike out or pop up. We finally are getting pitching after years of 1 pitcher worth starting. We need changes before Tuesday or I see a 500 club by the weekend.

[rwilfong86]

2 of the 3 outs in the ninth inning were one pitch at bats. That is abysmal. 

[darwin22]

For everyone that was pleased (count me in the camp) with a winning record (17-12) in April, reality is starting to rear its UGLY head as this team offensively is HORRIBLE!  The April record, as others have noted, was skewed by going 6-1 against the Royals.

4-35 with the bases loaded this year speaks for itself.  I don't see any imminent signs of hope---a dangerous thing------with this team as it seems inevitable that Gray and Ryan will regress.  We've already seen that recently with Lopez.  Bullpen also showing signs of trouble with Jax & Lopez being very average over the last couple of weeks.

Nothing like another summer of mediocre baseball followed by "excuses" to explain a spiral below .500 by seasons end.

[rwilfong86]

14 minutes ago, darwin22 said:

For everyone that was pleased (count me in the camp) with a winning record (17-12) in April, reality is starting to rear its UGLY head as this team offensively is HORRIBLE!  The April record, as others have noted, was skewed by going 6-1 against the Royals.

4-35 with the bases loaded this year speaks for itself.  I don't see any imminent signs of hope---a dangerous thing------with this team as it seems inevitable that Gray and Ryan will regress.  We've already seen that recently with Lopez.  Bullpen also showing signs of trouble with Jax & Lopez being very average over the last couple of weeks.

Nothing like another summer of mediocre baseball followed by "excuses" to explain a spiral below .500 by seasons end.

I see below .500 by June 1. 

[KirbyDome89]

Master-class pitching duel is probably overstating it a bit. Cleveland is arguably the worst offensive team in all of baseball right now, and the Twins struggles are well documented. Quantrill is an incredibly hittable pitcher, and he lacked command for a good part of the game this afternoon. 

 

[Joel KSD]

This is like professional soccer. One team scores a goal (in this case, the Twins' opponent) and it's an insurmountable lead!

[lukeduke1980]

That's all we got, one gosh darn hit?

[CoastiePilot08]

Disgraceful effort in both series by the offense. 
 

The FO needs to shake things up. DFA Gordon and Solano. Get Miranda a AAA reset. 
 

Anyone is better than that trio of incompetence. 
 

Lewis can’t get cleared soon enough. 

[218263]

The Twins sure are wasting a lot of good pitching. The bases loaded situation was really frustrating. Miranda gets himself out on a high pitch, and Gordon takes two balls then swings at the last two pitches that also were balls fouling off the first, and hitting a weak double play grounder to end it. Swinging at those pitches is a big reason they’re 4 for 35 with the bases loaded.

 

[h2oface]

Ryan was saying that he peppers the zone because he knows he has such great defense behind him in a past interview. Well, he got weak singles hit against him in the first. And with Miranda at third, and Solano at first (not today) he is being forsaken.

Today he, like others, just keed saying they have a great team. The think they are great. Hopefully, they results start to show it.

[USAFChief]

18 minutes ago, KirbyDome89 said:

Master-class pitching duel is probably overstating it a bit. Cleveland is arguably the worst offensive team in all of baseball right now, and the Twins struggles are well documented. Quantrill is an incredibly hittable pitcher, and he lacked command for a good part of the game this afternoon. 

 

Quantrill is decidedly below average. Probably in the bottom 25% of starters the Twins will face this year. 

 

 

[rwilfong86]

18 minutes ago, CoastiePilot08 said:

Disgraceful effort in both series by the offense. 
 

The FO needs to shake things up. DFA Gordon and Solano. Get Miranda a AAA reset. 
 

Anyone is better than that trio of incompetence. 
 

Lewis can’t get cleared soon enough. 

Lewis is headed to Wichita on a rehab assignment 

https://www.mlb.com/news/minnesota-twins-minor-league-roundup-may-7

[KirbyDome89]

7 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

Quantrill is decidedly below average. Probably in the bottom 25% of starters the Twins will face this year. 

 

 

Yeah I never once thought he looked dominant during the game. He threw nearly 100 pitches, and only about half of them were strikes. He was giving up more than 1 hit per inning coming into the game; couple that with his control issues and it's unreal that a team would only threaten to score in two times in seven innings. 

[mikelink45]

I do not get WPA and never will Joey Gallo was 0 - 3 with two Ks but gets credit because he walked.  He is now on an 0 - 23 streak and watching his BA plummet back to his 160 level.  Give me a break, he added nothing to win probability.  The fact is, we are settling for mediocrity and making excuses.  No matter what it means, get Julien and anyone else that can make contact with the ball into this lineup. 

[Eephus]

Quantrill tranquillized the Twins bats and Twins fans 😴

[Nashvilletwin]

1 hour ago, PopRiveter said:

Wow, what an offense. I have been so disinterested in the style of this year’s team, that this was just the second game I watched. It certainly didn’t make me a fan. 
I sure miss having a Twins team that gives you hope they will put the ball in play and string together some hits. With this group, it’s hope for a couple solo home runs.

When the first run scored almost immediately, I joked “There went the game.”

Turned out, that was the winning run.

I believe your comment about lack of interest may not be that uncommon - particularly among those Twins fans who do not frequent the TD.  Several of us on this site predicted an overall light hitting team consisting of several somewhat transient players that would find it difficult to generate true enthusiasm.

This lack of interest excludes the more passionate, but much fewer in number, of us fans who might appreciate this year’s strategy of winning through outstanding pitching, mostly via our starting staff.

This strategy, however, relies on having a winning ball club to keep our renowned front running fan base with myriad other outdoor summer activities to pursue interested (and attending/watching!).  So far, that has been more or less the case.  Let’s hope we can keep that strategy working and more fans will become more invested as the summer progresses.  This seems like a likely scenario still.

Otherwise, a shift to Plan B (trade the transients and call up the prospects in August) might need to be implemented. 
 

 

[Riverbrian]

39 minutes ago, 218263 said:

The Twins sure are wasting a lot of good pitching. The bases loaded situation was really frustrating. Miranda gets himself out on a high pitch, and Gordon takes two balls then swings at the last two pitches that also were balls fouling off the first, and hitting a weak double play grounder to end it. Swinging at those pitches is a big reason they’re 4 for 35 with the bases loaded.

 

Third pitch was a ball. Bad plate discipline for the situation for sure. However... the 4th pitch that he grounded into DP on was dead center strike. 

Miranda on the other hand... He didn't give himself a chance to DP on a dead center pitch. 

After watching HBP, BB, BB he swung at the first pitch. That first pitch was up and in. He can't seem to stop doing that. 

Oh Well... Nothing that I haven't seen before. Tomorrow is another day and so is the Tuesday after that. 

[stringer bell]

25 minutes ago, rwilfong86 said:

Lewis is headed to Wichita on a rehab assignment 

https://www.mlb.com/news/minnesota-twins-minor-league-roundup-may-7

This is the earliest that Lewis could be sent out on rehab. Great news! He still might be optioned after his rehab ends, but he could be on the active roster before the month is over. 

[Riverbrian]

31 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

Quantrill is decidedly below average. Probably in the bottom 25% of starters the Twins will face this year. 

 

 

Agreed and after watching him pitch today. I believe he threw a below average game. Worst 1 hitter I've seen in quite some time. 

[bighat]

An absolute embarrassment of a road trip. 2-4 against teams that had a combined record well below .500. Can't hit meatballers like Quantrill and Koepech, who have been throwing batting practice all season. Same goes for Sale in Boston, the guy's getting absolutely drilled out there by everyone, but the Twins come to town and he throws 7 shutout innings and strikes out 10. 

News flash: it's not the opposing pitching that's good. The Twins offense is downright horrific. 

It's been going on since Day 1 in KC. An offense with all the attributes of quicksand has the Twins solidly entrenched at the bottom tier of MLB offenses this year.  And no, help isn't on the way. 

Kirilloff is rusty and while serviceable he's not a game-changer. Lewis has been out for a year, not sure how much difference he can make. There's really nobody else out there to help. Brooks Lee? I don't think so. 

It's going to be a long, drag of a summer. Watching a team that can't hit is about as bad as it gets. 

[DocBauer]

I don't dislike any of our players. I don't even hate the offense because we're still around league average even with horrendous Aprils  from Miranda, Correa, and Gordon. Not to mention beginibg the season without Polanco. 

It's not that we have bad players. And it's not like the keague average offense can't still get better. But they are built for power and some OB but lacking contact. 

We shouldn't be saying to ourselves; "Oh crap! Bases are loaded! We're screwed now!"

[Riverbrian]

It's May... Little too soon to be declaring the summer over. 😄

But... Yeah... Today was bad. Can't put a bright whatever on it. It's a long season... plenty games to get happy and pissed about. 

[stringer bell]

Yes, some bad at-bats for sure in today's game and the series. I won't categorize everyone as trying to hit a five-run homer, but when the pitcher is working the outside corner as much as Quantrill did, going the other way should be an option. There were a bunch of first-pitch swings and there seemed to be no adjustment as the game wore on. The first-pitch swings got zero hits, a lot of outs and quite a few strikes. Quantrill only got three real strikeouts, so maybe taking a few pitches wouldn't put the at-bats in jeopardy. 

I'll try to "big picture" the road trip and the road ahead. Right now, precious few are swinging well. Maybe Kepler, perhaps Taylor and /or Kirilloff, and several guys are really fighting it--Vazquez, Gallo, Miranda. The three best hitters all seemed to cool on the trip--Polanco, Buxton and Correa--and that makes a huge difference. The offense will improve, it just has to. Being patient, especially when the pitching has been so good, is difficult for us fans. I do fear that the team as put together right now, is too slow and too dependent on home runs. Everything would look so much better if a host of hitters were hitting to their career norms/expectations. 

[roger]

Will not disagree with any of the above comments.  But the umpire behind the plate was also having a terrible game.  Forget the inning, but it was late.  I believe Keps was leading off.  The first two pitches were at least 4” outside and the count was 0-2.  How does any hitter come back from that.

And other than the Lewis news there was one good thing happening in Cleveland.  AK started his first game of the year, going 1-2 with 2 walks.  Manybe he will make a difference.

[D.C Twins]

Correa is being paid to be a star. 

He is not playing like a star. 

Over half of Buxton's value is his defense.

He is not playing defense. 

We need to put more responsibility on our designated difference makers as opposed to focusing on the level of play for our replacement level players.