Twins 5, Padres 3: Correa Comes Up Big in Series Win Over Padres

[Sherry Cerny]

The Twins have been struggling with runners in scoring position lately, and Bailey Ober didn't have his best stuff in this outing, but the team pulled out a win and Carlos Correa stepped in big time to help give the Twins a victory over the Padres. 

Image courtesy of Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score
SP: Bailey Ober 6 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 6 K (96 pitches, 66 strikes (69.0%)
Home Runs: Kyle Farmer (2),
Top 3 WPA: Carlos Correa (.259), Joey Gallo (.183), Kyle Farmer (.165), 

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) 

On the very first pitch of the game, Bailey Ober gave up a home run to Fernando Tatis Jr. giving the Padres the first run of the game. Ober ran up his pitches and found himself in some jams but still only gave up three earned runs. In his six innings, Ober allowed a couple of doubles and two home runs that gave the Padres the lead, but the defense was there to help manage the damage. 

Nick Gordon had the play of the game helping Ober get out of another jam in the fifth inning, flying into center field to catch a ball off Manny Machado to end the inning. 

“A pair is overrated,” said Justin Morneau in the booth - but not when it comes to the Twins offense in the second inning with a pair of singles from Alex Kirilloff and Jorge Polanco against the Padres Yu Darvish. With the bases loaded and one out, Darvish walked Joey Gallo to bring home Kirilloff and tie the game. The Twins had bases loaded for four straight hitters and only brought in one run, with Byron Buxton and Ryan Jeffers both striking out. 

Emilio Pagan was the first pitcher out of the bullpen and seems to be coming out of his 2022 slump these past few weeks. Pagan struck out his first batter with four pitches and had a scoreless seventh inning, making it look seamless and easy. 

Brock Stewart had a rough eighth inning. He threw just 10 strikes, loaded up the bases with two walks and a hit batter. Thanks to great defense from Michael A. Taylor, who robbed the Padres of two fly balls, and a big strikeout, Stewart was able to get out of the inning with no runs.

Kyle Farmer returned to the line-up on Wednesday, after taking a fast ball to the face a month ago. On Thursday, the inevitable happened... he was hit by a pitch for the first time since the injury. Farmer didn’t flinch. He just took first base. After nearly missing a home run the previous night, Farmer caught a hanging breaking ball over the plate and hit his second home run of the year to tie up the game. 

The Twins took advantage of the Padres bullpen, scoring three runs in the seventh inning to pull ahead. Padres pitcher Brent Honeywell Jr. loaded up the bases and Kepler hit a groundball to short that wasn’t executed quickly enough for a double play to end the inning. Instead Gallo scored when Kepler beat the throw do first base (despite a cramp that caused him to slow down as he approached the base and then leave the game).

Why stop there? After Gallo was brought home, Carlos Correa stepped up to the plate and hit a line drive double down the third base line to bring home Ryan Jeffers and Michael A. Taylor (who replaced Kepler) gave the Twins a 5-3 lead. 

Jorge Lopez came in for the ninth inning and had a 1-2-3 inning. He struck out Nelson Cruz - who came in to pinch hit with two outs - to give the Twins a game and series win over one of the best National League teams. 

What’s Next? 
The Twins welcome the Cubs to Target Field for the first time since 2021 for more interleague play!
Game 1 - Thursday – 7:10 pm CDT – RHP Sonny Gray (4-0, 1.35 ERA) v. LHP Drew Smyly (3-1, 3.05 ERA) 
Game 2 - Friday – 2:10 pm CDT - RHP Joe Ryan (5-1, 2.45 ERA) v. RHP Hayden Wesneski (2-1, 3.93 ERA)
Game 3 - Saturday – 2:10 pm CDT - Louie Varland (0-0, 4.32 ERA) v. RHP Marcus Stroman (2-3, 2.28 ERA)

Postgame Interviews

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	SUN	MON	TUE	WED	THU	TOT
Pagán	12	0	24	0	12	48
Stewart	11	0	0	9	25	45
Jax	0	0	18	17	0	35
Lopez	0	0	0	17	15	32
Alcala	0	0	23	0	0	23
Durán	0	0	0	17	0	17
Morán	0	0	0	0	0	0
Rodriguez	0	0	0	0	0	0

 

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[GNess]

Correa will almost certainly hit better as the season progresses. (Right?) What doesn't get mentioned much is his stellar defense at short and how important that is.

 

[railmarshalljon]

Nice series win against a stacked team. Love to see it.

 

Is Pagan... good at baseball now? I'm beginning to believe it.

[railmarshalljon]

Also, great write up! Always appreciate these, even more so when I have to miss most of the game.

[Mike Sixel]

Great write up!

[Dman]

Really happy to see Carlos come up with the big hit in a big spot.  That hit was the game winner.  Hopefully he gets hot and stays hot.

[Craig Arko]

Farmer is definitely a gamer. He’s signed for next year, too, isn’t he?

[chpettit19]

2 minutes ago, Craig Arko said:

Farmer is definitely a gamer. He’s signed for next year, too, isn’t he?

Arbitration eligible.

[Dman]

8 minutes ago, Craig Arko said:

Farmer is definitely a gamer. He’s signed for next year, too, isn’t he?

Man Farmer has some guts.  I just don't think I would be the same hitter after taking a pitch to the face.  He just seems fearless in the box coming back.  If I were him I would have taken more time but he is proving he is ready to go.  He certainly has my admiration.  I have liked everything about this guy.

[USAFChief]

I know its only May, but this felt like a pretty big win.

 

[Melissa]

Nice write up, Sherry! We were at the game today, and leaving the bases loaded again was so frustrating! But it was fun to see Kiriloff looking so healthy, the defense sparkled, bailing out Ober more than once (lol) and ultimately the bats came through.

I’d never seen the Padres in person before, and that murderer’s row of Tatis and Soto and Machado and Bogaert was quite impressive.

We sat in section 108 this time with our flex 20 plan.

[rwilfong86]

Maybe the booing incident will be the catalyst to a Correa turn around.

[tony&rodney]

The Twins took two out of three from the team favored to win the World Series this year. San Diego has a good ball club.

It has been fun to watch the starters keep the Twins in nearly every game. I know the bullpen appreciates those six and seven inning outings too, as the relievers have done a really good job too.

The Cubs have been playing well and getting good pitching, so another tough series begins tomorrow. I think we will see the Twins break out the bats.

[rwilfong86]

33 minutes ago, Melissa said:

Nice write up, Sherry! We were at the game today, and leaving the bases loaded again was so frustrating! But it was fun to see Kiriloff looking so healthy, the defense sparkled, bailing out Ober more than once (lol) and ultimately the bats came through.

I’d never seen the Padres in person before, and that murderer’s row of Tatis and Soto and Machado and Bogaert was quite impressive.

We sat in section 108 this time with our flex 20 plan.

Nice view!!

[jmlease1]

Any series win is a good win, but taking two of three against a pretty good Padres teams feels even better. they're doing a very fine job of defending home territory this season.

Still some issues to work on with the offense, but the rotation will keep us in every game. Ober was good enough today to get the job done. 

I was a little underwhelmed with the Farmer acquisition at the time, but that was also when it looked like he might be our starting SS. He's definitely a tough guy who plays hard and his ability to slot in easily at so many positions is excellent. Really impressed that after getting hit again he came back with a Big Fly.

(FYI, the "What's Next" has the days wrong for the Cubs series)

[Mike Sixel]

44 minutes ago, Dman said:

Man Farmer has some guts.  I just don't think I would be the same hitter after taking a pitch to the face.  He just seems fearless in the box coming back.  If I were him I would have taken more time but he is proving he is ready to go.  He certainly has my admiration.  I have liked everything about this guy.

It is impressive for sure. 

[weitz41]

I doubt I'm in the majority but the guy in the 1st picture may be the most important add of the off season. Pushed into a full time roll 92 OPS+ (per baseball reference) that's with who we expected to play CF hitting OPS+ of 127 per Baseball references.  What's between the field and the AB. +120? Seems like the OF defense is worth an investment.  My point is Taylor has been good to VERY good and short term and long term (3-4 seasons) that may be a wise investment. 

[wsnydes]

This is a nice series win.  The Padres have plenty of talent to test the pitching staff and they held their own pretty well and the bats showed enough life to pull out a pair of wins.  Overall, a pretty good momentum grab heading into the weekend.

[Nashvilletwin]

Excellent series win. A couple observations:

1. Farmer is a pro.

2. Ober and Varland > Mahle and Maeda (i.e. I’ll take the youngsters as a pair over the veterans as a pair).

3. Welcome back from the dark side Pagan.

4. Do we always need to walk the lead off batter in the 8th when we have a lead?

5. Defense counts big time - Martin, Correa, and Gordon standing out today.

[mikelink45]

Another enjoyable game and that is what we as fans want and need.

No nitpicking today.

[stringer bell]

It was a fun game to attend. Lots of youngsters made the crowd a little more lively. Outstanding outfield defense and just enough hitting to win the game. The two HBP both contributed to scoring innings and Joey Gallo showed signs of life. 

Still only six hits, it would really help to get more guys on base

[Peter]

Gordon had play of the game with great catch in 5th as did Taylor in 8th. Great to see farmer hit home run and C4 with huge clutch double!!  This was big time series win against a great podres team. Very easily could’ve got swept. This hopefully bodes well for weekend series with cubs. Go Twins!

[Jocko87]

The Brock Stewart experience is fun. Until it isn't. Stuff is good enough to just hammer the zone, hopefully he can adjust and embrace boredom.

[darwin22]

A few other observations after ( I know its only May) a crucial series win after losing the last 2 vs. the Sox & Tribe:

1.  Bailey Ober:  Sure looks confident and ready to seize a rotation slot for the rest of the year and beyond. 6 solid IP without his best stuff.  Like his aggressiveness.  Seems that Rocco is trusting him to go deeper in games.

2.  Farmer:  As already noted---a solid vet who's bat and glove will provide needed pop and stability.  Hoping Miranda gets things figured out at SP, but when he returns--he may be the "rotation" bat to spell in at 1B or DH (if Buxton returns to CF).

3.  Pagan:  Very few words--dont want to mess with his good karma since the beating he took in BST a few weeks ago

4.  If this offense collectively can find a way to score 4+ runs a game 60% of the time.....not an unreasonable goal...this team POSSIBLY could be playing meaningful games late in the season.

With today's W----------Twins offense has scored 4+ runs in 20 of 38 games---52.6%.  Record is 15-5/.750 win%.

Going into today--Twins offense was tied for 23rd (with SEA) in MLB in runs scored.  That was 2 runs less than KC.

Got to decrease those games scoring 3 or fewer runs, which has happened in 18 of 38 games. 

5.  With Ober's solid outing today----the rotation continues to perform admirably.  

Even with some recent bullpen struggles, it might surprise some that going into today's game that Twins pitchers were tied for 2nd place (with the Cubs) with the FEWEST RUNS allowed--135.  Tampa pitchers have allowed only 116 runs through 38 games.

When Twins pitchers allow 3 runs or less their record is 16-6...727 win pct.

Not going to gripe about Twins being in 1st place, but it could be argued that their divisional lead should be much more over CLE and DET if the offense produced runs at a better rate.  

Of the Twins 17 losses--------only 7 occurred as a result of the SP having a bad outing.  Two by Mahle, 3 by Maeda (one in which he was injured and Pagan got hammered for 6 runs), 1 by Lopez (loss to Nats) and 1 by Varland (vs. White Sox)

In the other 10 losses---seven Twins SPs----pitched 58 innings and gave up ONLY 13 ER--------for an excellent 2.02 ERA!

With better hitting, imo, at least 5 of those losses could've been in the W column.

Time to move on and win the weekend series against the Cubs.  

 

 

 

 

[jkcarew]

Nice win.

For you Batting Averages folks…

The Twins BA in this game was 200.

But the OBP was 314. And the K% was ‘only’ 26%. Mix in the XBH power…and this is about what success is going to look like for this club.

[blindeke]

IMO Rocco has been pretty masterful the last two games with his bullpen management.

[Melissa]

3 hours ago, stringer bell said:

It was a fun game to attend. Lots of youngsters made the crowd a little more lively. 

Next to us and in the row ahead of us were a family of seven celebrating the first birthday of the cutest Twins fan in attendance (and not my grandson!). Two grandmas, one grandpa, an uncle, two parents, and the birthday boy. All the cooing and squirming and parents leaning and turning made it hard to see either the pitcher or the batter or both. But hard to play Mrs. Grinch with all that baby goodness!

The kid had a big smile on his face through all the ups and downs of the game, never a cry or a whine, unlike some of us grownup fans. 🤣🤣

[jimbo92107]

I like this pitching staff. Each starter is capable of putting up multiple innings with no runs. Each one can keep his team in the game. The relievers are pretty good, too. Not bulletproof, but all of them are fighters, and each one has talent. Excellent closers with Lopez and Duran. 

The offense isn't really clicking yet, but it's showing signs of life. Polanco provided some inspiration, and now Kiriloff is doing the same. Correa and Kepler are starting to apply more pressure. The team as it is right now could be capable of making the playoffs. However, to go further, they're going to need more from the rest of the guys. That, or from prospects like Lewis and Lee. The Twins system has the talent to do some postseason damage. But first they have to get here.

[terrydactyls]

6 hours ago, Nashvilletwin said:

Excellent series win. A couple observations:

1. Farmer is a pro.

2. Ober and Varland > Mahle and Maeda (i.e. I’ll take the youngsters as a pair over the veterans as a pair).

3. Welcome back from the dark side Pagan.

4. Do we always need to walk the lead off batter in the 8th when we have a lead?

5. Defense counts big time - Martin, Correa, and Gordon standing out today.

Who is Martin?

[glunn]

8 hours ago, railmarshalljon said:

Nice series win against a stacked team. Love to see it.

 

Is Pagan... good at baseball now? I'm beginning to believe it.

I believe that Pagan has always had great potential, and that if he could harness such potential then he could be an all star. That said, he has a history of struggling.