Twins 9, Blue Jays 4: Offense Wakes Up Late, Twins Take Series in Toronto

[Hans Birkeland]

The Twins’ bats continued to languish against Toronto’s bullpen attack, being held scoreless for six innings and falling behind 3-0. But Joe Ryan kept the game close despite an effective approach by the Blue Jays’ hitters, and Carlos Correa made up for a lot of missed RBI chances the first half of the season with a go-ahead grand slam in the eighth. Max Kepler added a three-run homer and the bullpen held on to clinch a series win against the previously hot Blue Jays.

Image courtesy of John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score
SP: Joe Ryan: 6 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K (84 Pitches, 56 Strikes, 66.6%)
Home Runs: Larnach (6), Correa (8), Kepler (7)
Top 3 WPA: Correa (0.474), Julien (0.171), Solano (0.120)

Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs):

Ryan looked to have decent command and stuff coming off a largely dominant outing against Cleveland last Sunday. He missed with most of his offspeed offerings the first time through the lineup, however, and the Blue Jays seemed to have a game plan to be aggressive early in the count, sit fastball and hit the ball the other way. Their best contact hitters, Bichette, Guerrero and Merrifield used this approach to great effect in scoring the two runs that Ryan allowed. Ryan threw the split-change and sweeper for more strikes the second and third time through the order, with a split-change to strike out Bichette a notable highlight.

It does seem that the book on Ryan has evolved, given that he now throws an effective split-change and decent sweeper, toward attacking the opposite field early in counts. Ryan bent but didn’t break and gave the Twins his tenth quality start of the year.

Trevor Richards mystifies Twins hitters with something called a changeup
The Blue Jays countered Ryan with one of their more fungible relievers, Trevor Richards, operating as an opener. Richards came in with a 3.61 ERA and five home runs allowed in 27 innings, but flummoxed the Twins with his changeup heavy pitch mix. After allowing a solid double to the left field corner off the bat of Eduoard Julien to start the game, he retired Donovan Solano on a fly ball, struck out Alex Kirilloff and got Carlos Correa to pop out weakly. He then mowed down the rest of the Twins order, setting down Trevor Larnach, Willi Castro, Max Kepler, Ryan Jeffers and Michael A. Taylor on strikes, all on the changeup.

Ed Julien sets the tone early
With everyone on the team striking out (twelve of the first sixteen outs recorded that way) Julien took some great at-bats and ended up going 2-for-3 with a double and a walk, his lone out occurring when he took a borderline pitch on a 3-2 count from Bowden Francis for strike three. After looking pressed following his nightmare game a couple of Sundays ago against these same Jays, Julien looked the part of a patient spark plug, taking balls and not uppercutting his swing quite as much on balls in the zone. His bloop hit against Adam Cimber was key to their seven run eighth inning.

Correa changes the game
After Kirilloff struck out with the bases loaded and no outs, the second time he struck out with a runner on third and less than two outs, Correa stepped up and launched a 75 MPH slurve from Adam Cimber for a go ahead grand slam. The choice of Cimber was curious, as he has not been particularly effective on the year and gave up the go-ahead run of Friday’s game just hours earlier. He had also allowed three straight singles prior to the strikeout of Kirilloff. Their best reliever, Jordan Romano, didn’t pitch on Friday and was looming in the ninth if Toronto was able to maintain its lead, so it's odd he wasn’t allowed to come in and get more than three outs, something he does relatively often.

Kepler shows signs of life
Max Kepler has been the subject of most Twins fans ire in recent weeks, despite carrying a nearly .800 OPS and great defense prior to his most recent leg injury. He certainly has been brutal since returning, going 4-for-33 with no power and a crucial baserunning mistake in Tampa Bay. But one thing about Kepler is that whenever he seems his most hopeless is when he tends to impact a game with a big swing, and he delivered, following Correa’s grand slam with a three run shot of his own. This was important because had Kepler tapped into a double play like we all thought, a 5-3 lead would have been handed to José De León, who had not pitched in high-leverage games coming into today’s game. Making it 8-3 gave some breathing room to De León, who was about to face the meat of Toronto’s lineup. Kepler also singled against a tough lefty, Tim Mayza, earlier in the game.

Bullpen takes care of business without Duran
After Jhoan Duran threw 38 pitches to seal the win on Friday, it would have been justifiable to have Joe Ryan start the seventh inning, as he had thrown just 84 pitches to that point. Instead, Baldelli turned to Jorge López, and for the first time in years, López turned in a clean inning, allowing just an infield single to George Springer. De León came in for the eighth after the Twins took the lead and set down the 3-4-5 section of the Jays’ lineup in order. He ran into a little trouble in the ninth, allowing three straight batters to reach and handing the ball to Brock Stewart, who threw one pitch and got the last two outs to book the win.

What’s Next
Louie Varland (3-2, 4.40 ERA) faces off against Blue Jays ace Kevin Gausman (5-3, 2.63 ERA) as the Twins look to complete a surprising sweep of a quality Toronto team at Rogers Centre. Varland is coming off his worst start of the year in St. Petersburg, when he gave up seven runs to the Rays over six innings. Gausman was last seen striking out 13 Astros over seven innings in a win on Tuesday and his splitter will be a tough test for the strikeout-prone Twins lineup.

Postgame Interviews

Bullpen Usage Chart

	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	TOT
De León	0	0	26	0	31	57
Durán	0	2	0	38	0	40
Stewart	0	13	0	24	1	38
Jax	0	0	10	13	0	23
Pagán	20	0	0	0	0	20
J. López	0	0	0	0	13	13
Morán	0	0	0	7	0	7
Winder	0	0	0	0	0	0

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[ashbury]

Offense Wakes Up Late

sounds like the beginning to a Randballs Stu headline for an article where the Twins had to forfeit.

Glad that instead it was a winning situation.

[Matt Braun]

After losing so many games they probably should have won, it’s good to see two wins in games they probably should have lost. 

[USAFChief]

Had to feel good for everyone in the dugout.

Good for CC. Hopefully a start. 

[LastOnePicked]

Good win. Very good.

Look, here's all I'm asking this year: If the Twins are going to be good, let them be good. Let's pile on, crush the division and build a little swagger for Fall. But if they're going to be bad, just be bad. Bring on change. Let's get out of this hazy middle ground, please.

I know, I know, it doesn't always work that way.

[jkcarew]

First time caller, long-time listener…

I just wanted to say that even though it’s taken ten years, this Stewart guy is finally starting to show that he was worth that high first-round pick!

I’ll hang up and listen.

[UK Twin]

There's something about Toronto that the Twins really like - they've got a great record at that ball park. 

I really dislike bullpen games - too many stoppages and pitching changes - so I was thrilled when the Twins blew theirs up in the 8th inning. This is where batting average means nothing. Correa "only" went 1-5 today but when that one hit is a go ahead grand slam in the 8th who cares about the other 4 at bats.

That inning was really nicely constructed as well. A perfect bunt by Taylor followed by a really good at bat from Julien where he was rewarded with a busted bat single (finally, some justice after the hard hit balls that resulted in outs). Then Solano cracked a single then the dreaded bases loaded situation. AK struck out and the fear of getting nothing yet again grew. Then Correa took one right down the middle and I thought he'd missed his pitch there. Thankfully he came through big time and Kepler made it a stress free end to the game.

I'm glad Richards is a reliever because the at bats the Twins had against him were truly horrendous (apart from Julien who was the only one able to lay off the changeup below the zone). 

After being swept by the Rays we needed to take 2 from this series and we've done that with a chance to sweep tomorrow. Everyone should be confident going into it as well after two really good wins.

[wabene]

5 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

Had to feel good for everyone in the dugout.

Good for CC. Hopefully a start. 

Concur sir. As much as young guys like Julien and Wallner sparking the team and MAT hitting bombs, bunts and stealing bases will help, Correa hitting for 100 games like he did last September is the key.

[wabene]

5 minutes ago, UK Twin said:

There's something about Toronto that the Twins really like - they've got a great record at that ball park. 

I really dislike bullpen games - too many stoppages and pitching changes - so I was thrilled when the Twins blew theirs up in the 8th inning. This is where batting average means nothing. Correa "only" went 1-5 today but when that one hit is a go ahead grand slam in the 8th who cares about the other 4 at bats.

That inning was really nicely constructed as well. A perfect bunt by Taylor followed by a really good at bat from Julien where he was rewarded with a busted bat single (finally, some justice after the hard hit balls that resulted in outs). Then Solano cracked a single then the dreaded bases loaded situation. AK struck out and the fear of getting nothing yet again grew. Then Correa took one right down the middle and I thought he'd missed his pitch there. Thankfully he came through big time and Kepler made it a stress free end to the game.

I'm glad Richards is a reliever because the at bats the Twins had against him were truly horrendous (apart from Julien who was the only one able to lay off the changeup below the zone). 

After being swept by the Rays we needed to take 2 from this series and we've done that with a chance to sweep tomorrow. Everyone should be confident going into it as well after two really good wins.

True that, good post. Even Kirilloff couldn't resist that change. Nice to see the boys pick up Ryan who grinded out a nice start today.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Great Win today!

[stringer bell]

Who has been struggling more than Kepler, Correa and Larnach? 
 

Today, all three hit long balls to give the team a big victory. 

[wabene]

Man I hope the worm has turned on these bats

[Original_JB]

14 minutes ago, wabene said:

Man I hope the worm has turned on these bats

Still had 17K's today, so maybe just 'getting the barrels together'

[NotAboutWinning]

How often does a team strike out 17 times and score 9 runs? Felt like we stepped into an alternate reality in the 8th 🤣

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Just when I thought I was out, they  pulled me back in.

[Blyleven2011]

There was alot of excitement on the thread in our come from behind win , it took 7 innings but the game was still winnable being behind 3-1 ....

The eighth  inning there was hooting and hollering  , yippee ki aye  , no way , yes way after that grand slam by Correa  and that was just the beginning  , Kepler belted a 3 run homer in the same inning and more of the same ...

My point is it was fun being on the daily thread in a twins win to the end , finally delivering some big runs late in the game rather than calling for their mommy to go home ...

Strikeouts still alarming , but they picked each other up  in that 8th inning  , it picked me up too ...

[Blyleven2011]

3 minutes ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

Just when I thought I was out, they  pulled me back in.

If Larnach hadn't hit that homer in the seventh  I would have been  fishing for my dinner ...

It pulled me back in to till the end , a good win is hard to come by these days  ...

[Riverbrian]

It was nice to not worry about the offense for 1 inning. 😉

[Riverbrian]

3 hours ago, ashbury said:

Offense Wakes Up Late

sounds like the beginning to a Randballs Stu headline for an article where the Twins had to forfeit.

Glad that instead it was a winning situation.

I would have preferred the headline to read "Bats Wake Up Late". 

[darwin22]

For as much criticism as I've reaped on Correa and Kepler this season, I will give each their "necessary props" for delivering clutch and crucial hits today!   Nice work boys!

As veterans of this team it would be awesome to see this game to be a springboard to good days ahead.

With Buxton out for a long period, Polanco back to the IL and Gallo needing time to rehab at SP---your bats are desperately needed to support our strong pitching!

Very good job today.  

Thank you

 

 

[stringer bell]

19 minutes ago, darwin22 said:

With Buxton out for a long period, Polanco back to the IL and Gallo needing time to rehab at SP---your bats are desperately needed to support our strong pitching!

Very good job today.  

Thank you

 

 

Buxton and Gallo are both eligible to come off the IL on Tuesday. I have presumed they both will come back as soon as that day. 

[tony&rodney]

3 hours ago, LastOnePicked said:

I know, I know, it doesn't always work that way.

Funny comment and actually might represent many frustrated fans who get worked up over the strike outs and close losses. We all want better

You are right on though, that's not the way it works.

[tony&rodney]

23 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Buxton and Gallo are both eligible to come off the IL on Tuesday. I have presumed they both will come back as soon as that day. 

They both need some work at AAA.

[Peter]

Huge huge huge win!!! Just huge!!! This is season turning!!! C4 comes through big time as does Kepler!!! 

[Eephus]

My analogy with all those strikeouts was going to be that, just like the sunnies under your dock, they'll bite on anything. Instead, today was more like fishing for muskies....sooner or later if you keep casting (watching) something big will come along 

[wabene]

1 hour ago, Riverbrian said:

I would have preferred the headline to read "Bats Wake Up Late". 

It's never too late for a bat to wake up my friend. 

[stringer bell]

Credit to the home run hitters, but also credit to the table setters. Taylor started the big inning with a bunt hit and Julien and Solano both reached to set up the huge inning. 

[Fat Calvin]

1 hour ago, tony&rodney said:

They both need some work at AAA.

Gallo hit a bomb today at AAA.  And Buxton should be good to go on Tuesday.

[Rik19753]

Honestly, while it was nice to score runs for a change, nothing about the approach has changed. The Twins still struck out in 17 of their 41 PAs. Meanwhile, they only walked once. That's a 41.5% K% and 2.4% BB%.

When you take out the 3 HRs, out of the remaining 20 AB that resulted in balls in play, 9 were hits. That's a .450 BABIP, which is tremendously high. The bad approach was masked by the long ball and good batted ball luck for a day, but it's still there.

[Rosterman]

The 17 strikeouts is truly alarming. But...home runs do work!