Tigers 7, Twins 1: Ryan Has One Awful Inning, Detroit Breaks Open Early

[Thiéres Rabelo]

Joe Ryan got hit hard early, and the offense had no answers to Detroit’s bullpen game. Still in first place in the AL Central, the Twins drop two in a row, fall back to .500 (35-35), and can only hope to even the series against their division foes.

Image courtesy of Matt Blewett-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score
Starting Pitcher: Joe Ryan, 7.0 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 0 BB, 7 K (99 pitches, 74 strikes, 74.7%)
Home Runs: Alex Kirilloff (4)
Bottom 3 WPA: Joe Ryan (-.382), Joey Gallo (-.073), Carlos Correa (-.052)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Twins strike first, but Detroit chooses violence
Looking to bounce back from a disappointing loss on Thursday, the Twins turned to Joe Ryan tonight, and they were hoping the offense would remain hot. Minnesota came into this game having scored at least four runs in each of its last five games, something they’ve done only one other time this season. With Detroit going with a bullpen game, Minnesota was in business early.

After a scoreless first inning, the Twins put the game’s first run on the board in the second. Facing reliever Mason Englert, Alex Kirilloff hit a leadoff home run, his first since May 21. And the bats weren’t done: Donovan Solano grounded down the middle next, and a couple of at-bats later, Joey Gallo smoked a double to the corner right for his 500th career hit. But instead of having two men in scoring position with only one out, Solano made a baserunning blunder in that Gallo double and was tagged for the second out. The inning was over moments later, and Gallo was stranded.

Wasting those opportunities proved costly for Minnesota. Just like the Twins, the Tigers are also having a tremendous offensive outburst, as the team had scored at least five runs in six of their seven games prior to tonight. They opened the third with four consecutive singles, tying the game on an RBI groundball from former Twin Jonathan Schoop. Édouard Julien failed to make the play that originated the leadoff single, so not only the Tigers tied the game, but they also took the lead later on a Kerry Carpenter sac-fly that could’ve been out number three but instead brought Eric Haase home.

To keep this a one-run game and give the offense another chance, Ryan needed to take care of Javier Báez next, with men on the corners. Ryan tried to get him with a splitter, but Báez obliterated it for a long three-run shot to deep left, making it 5-1 Detroit. In the fourth, the Tigers added on with a Matt Vierling solo shot, and for the first time this season, Ryan allowed six runs in a game. This was also the second time in the year in which he gave up two home runs in a game.

Bats produce runners, but no more runs
Similarly to last night’s game, the Twins lineup was dominated by the Tigers' bullpen, failing to produce any more runs. But they didn’t go down without at least a little fight. In the bottom of the fourth, Solano lined a single to center and was followed by a Royce Lewis walk. But the rally was over when Gallo grounded into an inning-ending double play.

After the fourth inning, Ryan settled down and delivered three scoreless to close out his start. He allowed one hit (a double) but struck out four in that span. The bullpen took over, with Josh Winder tossing a scoreless eighth. He was brought back to pitch the ninth and gave up a solo home run to Vierling, his second of the night, scoring Detroit’s seventh run. A miraculous rally didn’t come even close to happening in the bottom of the ninth, as the offense went down in order to end the blowout.

Postgame interview

What’s Next?
The series goes on this Saturday, with game three scheduled to start at 1:10 pm CDT. Minnesota's starting pitcher has yet to be determined, while lefty Joey Wentz (1-6, 7.23 ERA) is expected to toe the rubber for Detroit.

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	MON	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	TOT
Winder	0	38	0	0	32	70
J. López	0	0	0	32	0	32
Pagán	0	0	0	24	0	24
De León	0	24	0	0	0	24
Morán	0	0	0	22	0	22
Stewart	0	0	14	0	0	14
Durán	0	0	12	0	0	12
Jax	0	0	11	0	0	11

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[Guest]

This team is not ready for prime time....

[Blyleven2011]

The game of adjustments  ....

Baseball is a game of adjustments  and the twins  batters just don't seem to get it and maybe the plan the FO and manager have don't get it either ...

We went against  the opener  , adjustment 1 ...

Went went against  2nd pitcher , adjustment 2 and had some success  ...

We went against 4 other pitchers and adjustments  3 through 6 ...

Rocco says the players don't need infield and batting practice so long as the players are prepared to play , they may take the field but they sure don't come to play  ...

To my knowledge we have played 3 games that the other team has sent an opener  in to start a game and we have lost all 3 games  , not sure this is correct  on openers because I was out of town  for some weekend series  , cubbies , cleveland  and others ... 

3 losses to the team that starts an opener against us , did the players prepare themselves mentally  for these games , did they look over Rocco stats sheets on each pitcher to see what they throw and where they throw it ...

Are they prepared for adjustments in situational hitting with runners on base  , the answer is obviously  a no ...

no because there is no consistency to their preparation of the daily game and it shows on a daily basis from one game to the next , they get lucky once in a blue moon and score a crooked number by hitting a few homeruns  , rest of the game  they can't seem to string any hits together to score any runs , can't even hit a sacrifice fly with bases loaded and no outs , can't seem to hit the pitch to the opposite fields , the list goes on and on ...

can't wait until Lee gets here and starts hitting the gaps for doubles , doubles have been way down  for the twins hitters , ( when was the last time we had a player hit 40 doubles in a season ) ...

People are saying strikeouts,  batting averages don't matter , if you don't make contact  it definitely matters ... 

Whatever happed to the purist form of baseball in hitting , we have the purists form of pitchers and it is being wasted on mediocrity  hitting ...

The strikeouts gotta go ...

 

[VivaBomboRivera!]

This ball club needs an enema!

[howeda7]

Make some moves and shake it up.

Out: Falvey, Rocco, Kepler, Castro, Pagan, J Lopez (IL)

In: Levine, Toby G, Larnach, Wallner, Funderburk, Maeda

[rwilfong86]

After Solano was thrown out, I knew at that moment the game was over. The momentum was gone.

[Nashvilletwin]

I’m beginning to think that hitters who have a superior understanding/recognition of the strike zone are at a disadvantage. They might as well hack at those pitches two - six inches off the plate if those very clearly balls are going to be called strikes anyway.  

[dogsday]

Halfway to the sweep of the Detroit series!

[Doctor Wu]

Buxton is back in the lineup, but at this point you have to wonder how that is even helping. 

[tony&rodney]

It was an ugly game.

[mikelink45]

We seem to have a pattern of winning against good teams and then dropping the opportunity against bad teams.  Detroit should have been where we begin to separate, now we are back to 500 and hope to leave 2 games over like we started.  How do we turn this around?  Ryan was my top hope, Gallo and Correa are with Ryan in the bottom WPA - Correa has to step up and stay hot for the rest of the season.  Gallo (you know he is at the bottom for me all the time).  

Who is hot?  We need some consistency.

[umterp23]

Big Money offensive players aren't getting the job done in any shape of reliability.  

Stuck in contracts with Big 3 who aren't doing much to "lead" this team: 

'23 salaries on multi-year contracts: Correa $33MM Buxton $15MM, Vazquez $10MM ... this group went 1 for 11 with 5 K's.  

'23 salaries on final year they should be a twin: Gallon $11MM, Kepler $8.5MM with Gallo going 1 for 3 and Kepler didn't even play (not a bad thing).

Combined with these guys they make up 50.74% of the team payroll.  Gallo is what we thought we would get, so not surprised there except sucks to pay him $11MM for a .196 K/HR guy. 

Buxton, injury prone on team friendly deal who has lingering knee, ribs ailments.  Knee should have bene addressed off-season as he is hurting the team more than helping. I don't want to hear or praise how they are bubble wrapping this guy and he will play in over 120 games this year.  He is appearing in that amount of games has influenced the game for about 4 minutes per game.  Must be exhausting walking up to bat and walking back to the dugout.

Correa has to be laughing at the steal of paycheck he is earning at the moment. 

$10MM per year to Vazquez at age 32 for a "great" game caller and no hard contact guy.  Sure 2 rings but I just don't see the influence he has on the team. 8 prior seasons he made $20MM and we want to pay him $30MM for 3 years where he is aging on the downside of his career at catcher position.  Yeah us

Kepler didn't even play las night, enough said about dead pull hitter who can't beat the non-shift defense. 

Time to jettison some dead money is now, starting with Kepler.  Trade him for a low level prospect at best or just plain DFA the guy.  Don't care that he plays decent defense at this stage in his lackluster career, give the spot to others and let it roll.

Go Twins

 

[Doctor Wu]

12 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

We seem to have a pattern of winning against good teams and then dropping the opportunity against bad teams.  Detroit should have been where we begin to separate, now we are back to 500 and hope to leave 2 games over like we started.  How do we turn this around?  Ryan was my top hope, Gallo and Correa are with Ryan in the bottom WPA - Correa has to step up and stay hot for the rest of the season.  Gallo (you know he is at the bottom for me all the time).  

Who is hot?  We need some consistency.

Yes, consistency sure would be nice, at least consistency of the quality variety. I'm sure many of us were salivating at the prospect of facing the Tigers this weekend ... and now?

[Vanimal46]

This team screams mediocrity. I just saw this season play out for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Surprisingly playing okay against the top teams, and falling flat on their face against the bad teams. 

[Dave Borton]

17 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

We seem to have a pattern of winning against good teams and then dropping the opportunity against bad teams.

Actually, Twins are 12-16 against clubs with .500 or greater records.

[dogsday]

35 minutes ago, davidborton said:

Actually, Twins are 12-16 against clubs with .500 or greater records.

Always one person who tries to confuse the conversation with facts.

[David Maro]

When Salono over ran 3rd base this one was over. Arraez had almost as many hits today as this whole team,he went 5-5 with everyone's favorite a homerun. I have decided to go watch some little league games,they will be much more fun. Maybe a strike out vest is needed to get things around.

[OvertheHill]

1 hour ago, Doctor Wu said:

Buxton is back in the lineup, but at this point you have to wonder how that is even helping. 

It’s not. Clearly not at the plate and he isn’t even allowed to play in the field. 

[Old Crow]

In order to get any value out of Buxton they need to play him in center field and slide Tayler to Right.  That would not only give the Twins the best defensive outfield possible but open up the DH to someone who can make solid contact.  Matt Wallner comes to mind.

[joefish]

7 hours ago, howeda7 said:

Make some moves and shake it up.

Out: Falvey, Rocco, Kepler, Castro, Pagan, J Lopez (IL)

In: Levine, Toby G, Larnach, Wallner, Funderburk, Maeda

What has Toby done for us? It doesn't appear to me that the guys coming up are prepared fundamentally. I don't think Toby is the answer. 

[ashbury]

Quote

Bats produce runners, but no more runs

Runners? After the second inning, they got 4 more hits and one walk, in 26 PA, give or take (just doing simple math from the box score).  That's a .160 batting average.  Yes, they didn't literally get no-hit the rest of the way, runners were produced, plural.  But the bats went to sleep, just as they so often do.

Putrid game.  Glad I missed it.  I was at a memorial service for an acquaintance, and had arguably a better time.

/ edit - oops, didn't take into account double plays. 4-for-24, .167 BA. Much better.

[Schmoeman5]

Juliens error. Scored a hit. And it was an error in 2 ways. #1 cutting in front of Correa and taking his momentum towards 3rd base and #2 botching the play. And Solano getting caught at 3rd potentially taking away a crooked number. Not saying they would have won with the way they hit, but it sure didn't help

[D.C Twins]

As goes Correa and Buck, so will go the team. 

Buck is simply not a good option for a permanent DH. 

If he remains a permanent DH, his contract is absolutely NOT team friendly anymore because of the downstream effects it has on positional and lineup flexibility.

I'm not even convinced that he will be the best permanent DH option by the end of the year (looking at you Julian)

[John Belinski]

When the 2 highest paid players  go 0-8 and Buck strikes out 3 times the Twins will not win many games. Really sad watching the two high paid players not getting even 1 hit. Two good teams walked away from Correa, but Rocco wanted him back and that shows his lack of judgement.

[saviking]

Ryan could have only given up 2 runs and we still wouldn't have won the game.

I honestly think Buxton would hit better if he was playing the field. Put him in left or right field if you like where it's safe with less running. Sure he could get hurt. All of our players seem to get hurt all the time. But if he's going to suck at DH, what does it matter. I'd rather have Buxton hurt and Wallner at DH than Buxton floundering at DH. 

And having Kepler robbing Larnach or Wallner from abouts at the major league level to continue their development is unconscionable. 

[joefish]

OBI  

One Bad Inning. 

[mikelink45]

4 hours ago, davidborton said:

Actually, Twins are 12-16 against clubs with .500 or greater records.

Compared to the competition, our 500 twins plane like that against the plus 500 teams is probably better than we can out for

[Blyleven2011]

2 hours ago, D.C Twins said:

As goes Correa and Buck, so will go the team. 

Buck is simply not a good option for a permanent DH. 

If he remains a permanent DH, his contract is absolutely NOT team friendly anymore because of the downstream effects it has on positional and lineup flexibility.

I'm not even convinced that he will be the best permanent DH option by the end of the year (looking at you Julian)

I know you like Julien as a hitter  and not so much as a 2nd baseman  , Julien bat has done well in a small sample  ,,, 

I hope his defense  does get better  after the jitters subsides  , what would you think of a veteran  of Polanco as a DH ,,,

I think Polanco for sure would be better than Buxton as DH and maybe would help him stay healthy  , I posted this during spring training  of my thoughts  ...

[Swing Batter-Batter]

6 hours ago, Doctor Wu said:

Buxton is back in the lineup, but at this point you have to wonder how that is even helping. 

It's not and it might even be a negative, given his performance.

[howeda7]

16 hours ago, joefish said:

What has Toby done for us? It doesn't appear to me that the guys coming up are prepared fundamentally. I don't think Toby is the answer. 

He might not be the long-term answer but he's the most logical internal candidate for the rest of the season.