Angels 4, Twins 2: Twins Fail with Bases Loaded Once Again in the Series Finale

[Theodore Tollefson]

The Twins loss on Sunday came down to one moment in the game, and it, of course, came at a moment when the Twins had the bases loaded. 

Image courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, USA-Today Sports

Box Score
SP: Pablo Lopez  6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 9 K (101 pitches, 64 strikes (63.36% strikes))
Home Runs: Alex Kirilloff (3)
Top 3 WPA:  Pablo Lopez .168, Willi Castro .072, Edouard Julien .069
Bottom 3 WPA: Jorge Lopez -.272, Ryan Jeffers -.125, Kyle Farmer -.120

Win Probability Chart 


Lopez effective through trials and tribulations 
Pablo Lopez made his 10th start of the season for the Twins Sunday and had a strong command of the strike zone allowing only two walks to the Angels hitters. Unfortunately with that command of the strike zone came a lot of hits from the Angels. 

The Angels mounting hit after hit against Lopez put him to the test throughout the game. The fourth inning proved to be the biggest challenge in the game as Hunter Renfroe and Jared Walsh had back-to-back singles to lead off the inning. Renfroe would score to tie up the game at one from a Gio Urshela RBI sac fly. But Walsh made a base running mistake, second-guessing his tag from first to second allowing the Twins to get an unexpected double play. 

Another test came Lopez’s way in the fifth when he allowed his first walk of the game to Angels shortstop Zach Neto. He retired Mickey Moniak and Mike Trout back-to-back after Neto, but the Twins did not want to take any chances with Ohtani at the plate and intentionally walked him. The intentional walk turned out to be the right move as Lopez struck out Renfroe to get out of his second jam in the game. 

Despite those jams, Lopez ended his afternoon pitching into the seventh after walking the leadoff man. His nine strikeouts Sunday afternoon put him at 75 total on the season and kept him only behind Kevin Gausman of the Blue Jays (81 K’s) and Ohtani (77 K’s) for the American League lead in strikeouts. 

Sneaking in a run against Shohei
The Twins faced their greatest challenge of the road trip on the mound with Shohei Ohtani having the start for the Angels on Sunday. Aside from walks to Joey Gallo and Edouard Julien to start the first and second innings, Ohtani dominated the Twins lineup the first time through the order. 

It looked as though he’d maintain that dominance until he walked Gallo again with two outs in the third. That’s when the clutch version of Carlos Correa showed up for the team, smacking an RBI double into center field to get the first run of the game. 

Ohtani dominated the Twins hitters following that run as he tallied up nine strikeouts and ended his afternoon on the mound striking out the side in the sixth. 

Twins miss another bases-loaded opportunity. 
Ohtani’s exit from the game after the sixth would be exactly what the Twins needed to get their offense going. Kyle Farmer led off the seventh with a single, Willi Castro followed with one of his own and Donovan Solano drew a walk to give the Twins a chance to take the lead back with the bases loaded. 

Unfortunately, the Twins, once again, failed to deliver with the bases loaded. Ryan Jeffers and Gallo both struck out leaving the game tied at one.

Kirilloff receives a huge break 
While he put the Angels up in the seventh, Moniak had a bad fielding blunder that proved to be costly for the Halos. With one out, Kirilloff drilled a ball to left field and Moniak practically robbed him of a home run, until the ball slipped out of his glove when he tried to show the umps he caught the ball.

The huge break for the Twins brought them within a run putting them behind 3-2. But that's as close as they would get as the Angels scored an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth on a double by Matt Thaiss that scored the final run of the game. 

What’s Next? 
The Twins return home for a three-game series against the San Francisco Giants. Bailey Ober is set to throw for the Twins against the Giants' Alex Cobb with first pitch set for 6:40 p.m. 

Postgame Interview 
Coming soon.

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

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[Squirrel]

The win for this series was Plouffe in the booth 

[Aggies7]

10 chances with the bases loaded this road trip. 0-9 with 5 K’s and 0 RBI. 5-43 with the bases loaded this season. All singles.

Pathetic.

[Linus]

Bullpen: 2 innings 2 runs. Not gonna cut it. 

[tony&rodney]

Moniak made quite an effort but it wasn't ever clear if he had any control of the ball. He dove into the stands and the replays show that the ball bounced up, out of his glove. It would have been a miraculous catch. Kirillof is looking to make a difference.

I sure hope Buxton is back tomorrow and that Julien is at second base. The Twins need some runs. 

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

I feel like the recent bullpen struggles is giving Rocco the itchy trigger finger with starters, too. I mean, I realize that Rocco didn’t deal this hand to himself.

I would like to see a starter go 8 innings in this next series against the Gigantes. 

[Nashvilletwin]

Typical 2023 Twins loss, just so typical…..

[wabene]

18 minutes ago, Hosken Bombo Disco said:

I feel like the recent bullpen struggles is giving Rocco the itchy trigger finger with starters, too. I mean, I realize that Rocco didn’t deal this hand to himself.

I would like to see a starter go 8 innings in this next series against the Gigantes. 

That doesn't make a lot of sense to me. If the bullpen is faltering why would that make a manager pull starters earlier? 

[ashbury]

50 minutes ago, Linus said:

Bullpen: 2 innings 2 runs. Not gonna cut it. 

And that's just their own pitching lines.  Doesn't include the inherited runner charged to the starter.  Very poor showing after a fine start that had us in a pitchers' duel to that point.

[LastOnePicked]

30 minutes ago, Nashvilletwin said:

Typical 2023 Twins loss, just so typical…..

Winnable division. Punchless Twins. 2022 lives on.

[shabbos1]

Hopefully Rocco took notice of Kirilloff taking a lefty deep to left field in this contest.

[mikelink45]

Hopefully this is not a trend for Jorge Lopez - last year great start bad finish, the opposite of Correa who so far has had two bad starts - will he pick it up again to finish strong?

But Ks - Larnach, Jeffers, Gallo - two with bases loaded.  Great situational baseball.  we did not need a HR, just a run.  So frustrating.

Kiriloff looks like the real deal and so far no injury!!!!!! 

Pablo had a wonderful start. 

[USAFChief]

I guess I don't understand sending Lopez out for the 7th if you're going to pull him after 1 hitter.

Either he was spent, in which case you start the inning with a reliever, or Lopez gets the opportunity to pitch to at least 3 hitters, which would be what you ostensibly sent him out to do.

In any case, pretty dismal road trip, with seemingly every Twins weakness costing them. 

 

 

[darwin22]

2 hours ago, Aggies7 said:

10 chances with the bases loaded this road trip. 0-9 with 5 K’s and 0 RBI. 5-43 with the bases loaded this season. All singles.

Pathetic.

I'm at the point the point that teams should intentionally walk the bases loaded EVERY inning.  That wold ensure ZERO runs scoring.

That would prevent the occasional solo HR---which is all this putrid offense seems to produce.

[Blyleven2011]

As I said in a post yesterday or was it this morning  ...

I was worried  Rocco would use J.  lopez for relief again today if game was close ,,,

Has anyone noticed besides me that Lopez has been terrible relieving a starter in the middle of an inning ,,, 

Seems like he gives up more hits when relieving  with inherited runners on bases ...

He pitches better at a start of an inning ... 

Why wasn't Stewart used again  today  after last night ,,, he hasn't given up a run as of yet and looks like he handles pressure from what I've seen ...

I wanted Robertson for relief in the bullpen this off season , a veteran experienced pitcher would have gone along way and he has been very consistent  throughout his career  , TO BAD , SO SAD ...

13 strikeouts  today , another bases loaded less than 2 outs and opportunity wasted ....

What have you learned Dorothy  ,

I THINK THE PLAYERS SHOULD GO SEE THE OZ AND ASK HIM for some heart and courage ... 

I think the manager and coaches should ask the OZ for a brain  ... 

This road trip of 6 games were all winnable , but it ended as a disappointment  ....

[darwin22]

1 hour ago, LastOnePicked said:

Winnable division. Punchless Twins. 2022 lives on.

Not sure this is correct---but I'm sure it is--------Twins have a +43 run differential, but are only 3 games over the .500 mark.

Baltimore is 15 games over (31-16) with a +41 run differential.

Yankees (29-20)/ +31

Astros  (27-19)/ +38

To me this further shows how inept our offense is and how this team should have a much larger lead than 3.5 games.  

CLE will---you know its coming---start to hit with their SP remaining strong in addition to a much more stable and productive bullpen.  What this means?  Another mediocre season playing out meaningless games in September.

 

 

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, darwin22 said:

which is all this putrid offense seems to produce.

The "putrid" offense that is 11th out of 30 teams in scoring runs?

I don't think people here have a clue about what is happening around baseball. Every team has a ton of strikeouts. We're seeing the highest rate of strikeouts in 150 years of major league baseball. The teams that strike out the least are the 20-27 Nationals and the 20-26 Guardians. They also hit the least home runs and are 24th and 28th in runs scored. Swinging for the fences is the way teams score runs in major league baseball. People pine for Luis Arraez but don't notice that Miami has the worst offense in the league.

They're not going to win every game or every series or even every homestand but they are a good team. I am really tired of the constant whining here win or lose. Every game someone will rant about Buxton's injured knee, or strikeouts, or Pagan (whether he pitches or not) or how the coaching staff sucks or (the most ridiculous) how this team "lacks courage" or "doesn't know how to win".

It's a west coast road trip against two playoff contenders. They're not going to sweep the teams.

[Old time Twinkie47]

Take 3 outliers out and you see the real offence

[wabene]

Get off my fence!!

[KirbyDome89]

3 hours ago, DJL44 said:

The "putrid" offense that is 11th out of 30 teams in scoring runs?

I don't think people here have a clue about what is happening around baseball. Every team has a ton of strikeouts. We're seeing the highest rate of strikeouts in 150 years of major league baseball. The teams that strike out the least are the 20-27 Nationals and the 20-26 Guardians. They also hit the least home runs and are 24th and 28th in runs scored. Swinging for the fences is the way teams score runs in major league baseball. People pine for Luis Arraez but don't notice that Miami has the worst offense in the league.

They're not going to win every game or every series or even every homestand but they are a good team. I am really tired of the constant whining here win or lose. Every game someone will rant about Buxton's injured knee, or strikeouts, or Pagan (whether he pitches or not) or how the coaching staff sucks or (the most ridiculous) how this team "lacks courage" or "doesn't know how to win".

It's a west coast road trip against two playoff contenders. They're not going to sweep the teams.

The same offense that has scored 3 runs or fewer in nearly half their games? 

Is it actually "clueless," to point out that the Twins lead all of baseball in strikeouts? Yeah, K rates have risen, but this team is an extreme version of that. Arraez is sitting at .382/.437/.478 right now; he's probably not a great example of Miami's offensive issues. 

But whining about the whining....

[Doctor Wu]

11 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

Moniak made quite an effort but it wasn't ever clear if he had any control of the ball. He dove into the stands and the replays show that the ball bounced up, out of his glove. It would have been a miraculous catch. Kirillof is looking to make a difference.

I sure hope Buxton is back tomorrow and that Julien is at second base. The Twins need some runs. 

Kiriloff please stay healthy!

[mikelink45]

8 hours ago, DJL44 said:

The "putrid" offense that is 11th out of 30 teams in scoring runs?

I don't think people here have a clue about what is happening around baseball. Every team has a ton of strikeouts. We're seeing the highest rate of strikeouts in 150 years of major league baseball. The teams that strike out the least are the 20-27 Nationals and the 20-26 Guardians. They also hit the least home runs and are 24th and 28th in runs scored. Swinging for the fences is the way teams score runs in major league baseball. People pine for Luis Arraez but don't notice that Miami has the worst offense in the league.

They're not going to win every game or every series or even every homestand but they are a good team. I am really tired of the constant whining here win or lose. Every game someone will rant about Buxton's injured knee, or strikeouts, or Pagan (whether he pitches or not) or how the coaching staff sucks or (the most ridiculous) how this team "lacks courage" or "doesn't know how to win".

It's a west coast road trip against two playoff contenders. They're not going to sweep the teams.

The total runs is a farce.  They score big 10 - 11 runs in 5 games throws the stats out of whack.  Take those 5 games out of our 47 and we drop to3.9 runs per game from 4.7.  Scoring big is fun, but scoring consistently is essential and scoring in the clutch is even better. 

[William K Johnson]

Some random thoughts from the road trip:

- For those wanted to DFA Castro, it is probably not a good idea as bad as this team is offensively.    He had three hits yesterday, can play almost anywhere, and has good speed on the bases and is good from both sides of the plate.   What else do you want?

- The main reason for the terrible bases loaded numbers are that it seems like every time we load the bases, several of the strikeout machines (Larnach, Gallo, Jeffers, Kepler, Correa) are up in the order.    Farmer, Kiriloff and the contact guys never seen to be at bat with the bases loaded.

- Speaking of Jeffers, his play is dismal.   Twice in the past week he has attempted to throw out a base runner and the results have been disastrous.  He contributes nothing at the plate.   I was hoping with the Vasquez signing that he would pick it up a little, but he seems to be worse now than before.

- All winter I bitched and moaned about the Urshela trade.   We had to trade a great fielder, good clubhouse guy, and solid hitter to make room for the "Golden Boy".   Well, that blew up in our face.    Urshela batting over .300, still making great defensive plays (check out the DP yesterday) and where is "Golden Boy"?    He is at St. Paul batting .147 without an extra base hit and don't even get started on his defense.    

- The bullpen is getting to be a major concern.   Jax is terrible, Lopez is who he is, Pagan is a nightmare.  Thankfully we discovered Stewart in the dumpster.    The jury is still out on Jose De Leon.

- Our only saving grace is that the rest of the division is simply terrible.   Cleveland can't score, Kansas City can't pitch and Detroit, who knows.    Chicago looks like they may be putting it together, but a weekend sweep of Kansas City does not tell you anything.

[umterp23]

1 run or 10 runs doesn't matter, just need one more than the other team and it is a W.  A couple breaks here and there and the road trip is 5-1 or at least 4-2.  Umps gave the home teams a couple favorable calls vs Dodgers and Jeffers gets rung up on pitch outside with bases loaded which then has Gallo having to protect anything close late in game yesterday.  We benefit from time time and when we don't always seems to be in the wrong spot.  

Time to move on and keep battling. Correa has to turn into something more than he is, which at the moment is an 80 lb lighter weight version of Sano.  No matter what the count is, his swing is so long and not quick at all and then he stares at the ball once he hits or stares at the video screen to see himself K again walking back to the dugout. 

Farmer sure has stepped up in a big way on left side of infield.  Glad we have him.  

Go Twins

[Riverbrian]

8 hours ago, DJL44 said:

The "putrid" offense that is 11th out of 30 teams in scoring runs?

I don't think people here have a clue about what is happening around baseball. Every team has a ton of strikeouts. We're seeing the highest rate of strikeouts in 150 years of major league baseball. The teams that strike out the least are the 20-27 Nationals and the 20-26 Guardians. They also hit the least home runs and are 24th and 28th in runs scored. Swinging for the fences is the way teams score runs in major league baseball. People pine for Luis Arraez but don't notice that Miami has the worst offense in the league.

They're not going to win every game or every series or even every homestand but they are a good team. I am really tired of the constant whining here win or lose. Every game someone will rant about Buxton's injured knee, or strikeouts, or Pagan (whether he pitches or not) or how the coaching staff sucks or (the most ridiculous) how this team "lacks courage" or "doesn't know how to win".

It's a west coast road trip against two playoff contenders. They're not going to sweep the teams.

I applaud your post.

I do believe that in order to be fair in criticism... posters should be at least aware of what the other 29 teams are doing. 

Applause was the main reason for my reply...  however... I don't believe the offense compares very well to others and I do pine over Luis Arraez. 😉

[DJL44]

2 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

The total runs is a farce.  They score big 10 - 11 runs in 5 games throws the stats out of whack.  Take those 5 games out of our 47 and we drop to3.9 runs per game from 4.7.  Scoring big is fun, but scoring consistently is essential and scoring in the clutch is even better. 

Take out the 5 highest scoring games for any team and their average runs per game will fall. If I take out their 5 lowest scoring games their average runs will go up too. Removing data from the sample makes it less representative, not more.

[Whitey333]

This team continues to do the same thing it has done the past couple of years.  That is lose very winnable games.  And losing them in similar fashion for quite a while.  We've git people saying they could have been 5-1.  People blaming the regularly bad umpiring.  But they didn't go 5-1.  They went 2-4!!  Good teams go 5-1 on that trip. At keast they are home now where they are a very good 14-8.  Let's hope we get back on track.

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, William K Johnson said:

- Speaking of Jeffers, his play is dismal.   

It's so dismal that he's been above average both offensively and defensively compared to his peers at his position.

[DJL44]

3 minutes ago, Whitey333 said:

Good teams go 5-1 on that trip.

No, good teams generally go .500 on a road trip or 3-3. They go 4-2 at home. That's a 94 win pace - win half your game on the road and 2/3 at home. Your expectations are completely unrealistic - you're expecting a 135+ win pace.

[David Maro]

The last time I looked you have to protect the plate with 2 strikes. With bases loaded again Jeffers stood there with the bat on his shoulder. That is this team in a nut shell. Swing at pitches in the dirt like the first pitch he saw or watch a close pitch go by. Even if which is a big if they make the playoffs they will loss in the first round like always. The game is called baseball not homerun,they play homerun.