Twins 7, Astros 5: Royce Lewis Storybook Return Fuels Extra-Inning Win

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

(Trigger warning)

Royce Lewis did in his first game back what Carlos Correa hasn’t done in his entire time here—get a huge hit when the Twins most needed it! 

[tarheeltwinsfan]

11 hours ago, Steve Lein said:

Fun note from the radio broadcast on my way home today: Ryan Pressly had not given up a hit, or a walk, to a Twins batter since being traded to Houston until Kyle Farmer's single in the ninth. 

That's got to be a mental thing. 

[Fire Dan Gladden]

Best hope at the moment:  Royce Lewis = Shannon Stewart

[stringer bell]

1 hour ago, Squirrel said:

They see him strike out, often, and forget the rest. I get that, though, but agree with you that he has delivered

The nature of his game (and Buxton's too) is peaks and valleys. He went quite a while between home runs, then connected for a few and now again hasn't hit one for some time. Joey has kept his BA above .200 and his OBP in the acceptable range, but without the long balls he is a net liability. 

Gallo has been fine at first base, but I still think AK is a better first baseman mostly because of the inherent advantages that left handers have there. Also, while it was fun to see a 6'5" 260 lb. lead off hitter, it makes more sense to bat him down in the order. I'd pick Julien (while he's playing), Kirilloff or Lewis before Gallo. 

[Mark G]

41 minutes ago, PDX Twin said:

What would Jack Morris have done if Rocco had been his manager? Fist-fight on the mound maybe?

He probably gets pulled in the 6th inning of Game 7, 1991.

The ball would have been pulled out of SOMEONE'S cold dead hand.  🤭

[mikelink45]

2 hours ago, DJL44 said:

Gallo has been about as good as can be expected. Higher OBP and OPS+ than Buxton and good defense too. I don't know what more people want from him, he's delivered.

As his constant critic I want him to make contact with the ball when we have runners on base. 

[Mark G]

4 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

As his constant critic I want him to make contact with the ball when we have runners on base. 

No, no, no, no, no, no......when he makes contact, he hits a HR.  And if he started hitting home runs with men on base......do you realize what that could lead to??  

[mikelink45]

4 minutes ago, Mark G said:

No, no, no, no, no, no......when he makes contact, he hits a HR.  And if he started hitting home runs with men on base......do you realize what that could lead to??  

And what is the result when he strikes out?

[DJL44]

14 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

As his constant critic I want him to make contact with the ball when we have runners on base. 

Got it. You want him to try for weak grounders instead of HR if there are runners on base. That guarantees he never homers unless bases are empty. It also craters his walk rate.

You're not going to change Joey Gallo into Luis Arraez. For what Joey Gallo is you're getting as good as you can expect. You're also getting more from him than you've been getting from Larnach or Kepler.

[mikelink45]

16 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Got it. You want him to try for weak grounders instead of HR if there are runners on base. That guarantees he never homers unless bases are empty. It also craters his walk rate.

You're not going to change Joey Gallo into Luis Arraez. For what Joey Gallo is you're getting as good as you can expect. You're also getting more from him than you've been getting from Larnach or Kepler.

How did a hit become a weak grounder?  How many of his HRs have been with men on base? 

[DJL44]

10 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

How many of his HRs have been with men on base? 

6 of them. Splits are readily available at baseball reference. His numbers with runners on base (.943 OPS) are actually better than with the bases empty (.814 OPS).

[Mark G]

1 hour ago, DJL44 said:

6 of them. Splits are readily available at baseball reference. His numbers with runners on base (.943 OPS) are actually better than with the bases empty (.814 OPS).

Okay, he has 11 home runs and 23 RBI's.  Assuming all six of his home runs with runners on base are only one runner (is that the case), that leaves him with 6 RBI's the entire 1/3 of the season if he doesn't hit a home run.  

Hmmmmm......how can I put this........Not good enough!!

And Joey is not the only Twin that takes that approach, either.  Enough of the golf swings......make contact!!  Please.....PLEASE......tell, me, where has the MLB lead in strike outs gotten us?  

Sorry, I am tired today.  😒

[DJL44]

11 minutes ago, Mark G said:

Okay, he has 11 home runs and 23 RBI's.  Assuming all six of his home runs with runners on base are only one runner (is that the case), that leaves him with 6 RBI's the entire 1/3 of the season if he doesn't hit a home run.  

Harmon Killebrew's RBI numbers look terrible if you subtract all 573 of his HR too. Knocking himself in was 36% of his career RBI. Guess the Killer wasn't good enough either.

[Mark G]

12 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Harmon Killebrew's RBI numbers look terrible if you subtract all 573 of his HR too. Knocking himself in was 36% of his career RBI. Guess the Killer wasn't good enough either.

You may very well be right; and when Joey exceeds 96 RBI's 10 out of 13 years in his career I will attend his HOF induction.  

Ratios don't mean anything until the numbers are large enough to actually compare.  And I compared their numbers, and........well, you know.  

I am honestly curious, though;  how do you subtract 573 home runs? Not to mention a lifetime BA of .256 to .200, an OBP of .376 to .326........and on and on and on and on.  Are we really comparing the 2?   

[DJL44]

21 minutes ago, Mark G said:

You may very well be right; and when Joey exceeds 96 RBI's 10 out of 13 years in his career I will attend his HOF induction.  

Ratios don't mean anything until the numbers are large enough to actually compare.  And I compared their numbers, and........well, you know.  

I am honestly curious, though;  how do you subtract 573 home runs? Not to mention a lifetime BA of .256 to .200, an OBP of .376 to .326........and on and on and on and on.  Are we really comparing the 2?   

I'm just pointing out the silliness of "If I subtract out all the home runs from our home run hitter his stats look bad". There were people who wouldn't vote for Killebrew for the Hall of Fame because he didn't hit .300. Thank goodness we've moved beyond raw batting average as a way to evaluate hitting production.

[Dave Borton]

18 hours ago, Twins_Fan_In_Texas said:

So lucky I got the be at the game today in person! Royce is the real deal! 

I was at his last game in Cedar Rapids before being called up to FtM (then, Hi-A) in 2017. Delighted to see him play then even if he booted one. Kid hustled even when he got a drink of water.

Anyone else remember the gritching and moaning when Twins selected him over Greene? I loved the selection then and couldn't be more pleased now. The young man is the real deal. Don't mean to sound trite but if I had a young son, I would say, "You emulate him and you will do alright."

[Dave Borton]

3 hours ago, Mark G said:

The ball would have been pulled out of SOMEONE'S cold dead hand.  🤭

Or other assorted parts of the human anatomy.

[Dave Borton]

7 hours ago, Mark G said:

... but the body language suggested (to me at least) he wasn't happy to see Rocco.  And his reaction to the grand slam said it all.  

He has been very diplomatic, but he has also been up front about wanting to pitch his game...

Agree. I am old school. You made the mess. Be big enough to clean it up. Build some trust with you SPs, Baldelli.

Good luck re-signing Gray next year. As outspoken as Gray has been, that attitude suggests to me that Gray will say to his agent, "Let's shop that Twins offer ..."

[h2oface]

9 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

they also had 14 hits? (and took 5 more walks. walks are "boring" too, though)

Difficult spot for Rocco with the pitching in the 7th. Gray was really good to that point, and then started to lose the plot. If you leave him in and he gives up the Big Fly, you get buried for it. If you pull him and the bullpen can put out the fire, you get buried for it (like he's getting slammed here). It's something of a no-win situation: if the players can't get the job done, the manager is going to get whacked (especially by the people who have been gunning for the manager all season).

Storybook return for Royce indeed. Love to see it. Everything we know about him to date says "good dude", and he deserves this. Looking forward to watching Royce Lewis more.

Nobody that is a fan wants to not like what Baldelli does and how he manages. We all inherently want to be proud of him. He is all we have. I know I really want to like him, speaking just for myself. Unfortunately, repeated decisions like taking Gray out, the ERA leader in the show, or at least close (thanks to Stewart he was gifted a couple yesterday), with less than 80 pitches is just disrespectful to your pitcher. And when the Slam happens on a pitch so very middle middle....... You don't have to be gunning for him to be so very tired of his process.

At least he let Duran pitch 2 innings. Redeemed? I don't know. Still very disrespectful to Sonny Gray.

[Battle ur tail off]

6 hours ago, Hosken Bombo Disco said:

(Trigger warning)

Royce Lewis did in his first game back what Carlos Correa hasn’t done in his entire time here—get a huge hit when the Twins most needed it! 

2 of them.

[stringer bell]

42 minutes ago, h2oface said:

Nobody that is a fan wants to not like what Baldelli does and how he manages. We all inherently want to be proud of him. He is all we have. I know I really want to like him, speaking just for myself. Unfortunately, repeated decisions like taking Gray out, the ERA leader in the show, or at least close (thanks to Stewart he was gifted a couple yesterday), with less than 80 pitches is just disrespectful to your pitcher. And when the Slam happens on a pitch so very middle middle....... You don't have to be gunning for him to be so very tired of his process.

At least he let Duran pitch 2 innings. Redeemed? I don't know. Still very disrespectful to Sonny Gray.

I really don't want to rip on Sonny Gray, but Sonny is not one of the top innings pitched guys in baseball. His last five outings were 5, 5.1, 4 and 5 innings plus the 6 Sonny worked yesterday. If you want to stay in the game you don't walk a guy to put the tying run at the plate with no one out no matter how many pitches you've thrown. He had pitched well, but Gray doesn't overpower people and needs razor-sharp command to succeed. I think he would be more vulnerable than many facing an order for the third or fourth time. 

Sonny's a good pitcher and wants to get paid in 2024. He's not likely to agree to an extension before checking out free agency. He isn't Cy Young and he isn't 1991 vintage Jack Morris. 

[h2oface]

58 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

I really don't want to rip on Sonny Gray, but Sonny is not one of the top innings pitched guys in baseball. His last five outings were 5, 5.1, 4 and 5 innings plus the 6 Sonny worked yesterday. If you want to stay in the game you don't walk a guy to put the tying run at the plate with no one out no matter how many pitches you've thrown. He had pitched well, but Gray doesn't overpower people and needs razor-sharp command to succeed. I think he would be more vulnerable than many facing an order for the third or fourth time. 

Sonny's a good pitcher and wants to get paid in 2024. He's not likely to agree to an extension before checking out free agency. He isn't Cy Young and he isn't 1991 vintage Jack Morris. 

Especially with Baldelli pulling him with less than 80 pitches (and in situations like this he has earned to stay in the game in the past this season). Especially when 2 of the pitches in the said walk were actually strikes and not balls (1 not even close!), and mis-called by the sorry plate umpire. Abreau should have been wrung up looking on the 4th pitch. And the double was just the 4th hit in the whole game given up, and the only extra base hit, and was barely fair and not hit that well. I disagree that a starter with less than 80 pitches, in the 7th, doesn't deserve to put out the fire himself. 80, not 105. 80. You don't have to be a CY Young to deserve it. And certainly don't deserve to be disparaged. But then, even though I want to like Baldelli's decisions, I am definitely not a Baldelli apologist.