Orioles 6, Twins 2: O's Ride 6-Run 2nd Inning, Great Defense to Series Win

[Hans Birkeland]

The Twins started with a promising first inning, but a catastrophic second doomed the Twins and Sonny Gray. Meanwhile Tyler Wells repeatedly pitched out of trouble to keep Twins hitters outside of striking distance.

Image courtesy of Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score
Starting Pitcher: Sonny Gray: 6 IP 6 H 6 ER 3 BB 5 SO (91 Pitches, 60 Strikes, 65.9%)
Home Runs: None
Bottom 3 WPA: Gray (-.408), Ryan Jeffers (-.082) Kyle Farmer (-.088)

Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs):

Sonny was pretty good in five of his innings
After an easy first inning, newly named All-Star Gray ran into trouble in the second. He left three offspeed pitches up in the zone in consecutive fashion, allowing three singles (one of which should have been field by Ed Julien). He then fell behind rookie Colton Cowser 3-0 and threw a fastball right down the middle that was inexplicably called a ball, tying the game at one. He had a more competitive sequence against Ramon Urias, but lost him, allowing a second run to score. Urias has had a number of excellent at-bats against the Twins this season, with his double against Jhoan Duran leading off the tenth inning in Friday’s game the shining example. As one might expect, two flare singles followed, making the score 5-1 in the blink of an eye. Anthony Santander then roped a single for the sixth and final fun of the inning. Ryan O’Hearn, batting for the second time in the inning, lined into a double play to mercifully end the frame.

Gray settled down after that, throwing his secondary pitches below the zone and getting a number of ground balls and grinding through six innings with no further damage.

Twins have very few answers for former Twin Tyler Wells
Tyler Wells opposed Gray, and he might represent the greatest loss the Twins took from COVID, as he was a part of the minor league system before being left unprotected in the Rule 5 draft following the 2020 season. Having no recent evaluation of Wells, a 15th round pick in 2016 who, of course, didn’t get to pitch in 2020, or in 2019 due to Tommy John surgery the Twins probably felt pretty safe leaving Wells exposed. The Orioles called that bluff, and now Wells pitches atop their rotation, moving his cutter and slider away from righty bats and his sinker and changeup away from lefties to great effect. He does allow quite a few home runs, but held the Twins in check in that regard, with Donovan Solano's three doubles the only minor exception.

The Twins started to build a few rallies off of Wells, with multiple doubles in the first resulting in the game’s first run, a leadoff walk in the third by Michael A. Taylor, and a leadoff double by Donovan Solano in the fourth that was followed by a walk to Max Kepler. Double plays extinguished the latter two rallies.

Athletic plays by Orioles infielders played a big part in those, with shortstop Henderson making an athletic adjustment on a Kyle Farmer ground ball in the fourth, as he bobbled the ball attempting to make a flip to second, then decided to take it himself, stepping on second and firing first to finish a huge double play.

Urias made a great play of a wicked hop off the bat of Farmer in the second, and O'Hearn's spear of Ed Julien's hot ground ball in the sixth that hit the first bag bag was huge in hindsight, as Byron Buxton followed with a hit, and then Solano added his third double of the game to score Buxton.

Pablo López earns first All-Star nod
It was announced in the seventh inning that López would join the AL All-Star team as a replacement. If that comes as a surprise to Twins fans, keep in mind that Joe Ryan will pitch tomorrow, making him ineligible for the game. If you think Bailey Ober has been better, well, you might have a point. However, López is among the league leaders in strikeouts (11.2 K/9) and his peripheral numbers are exemplary (.639 OPS against, 3.18 FIP). He has been a huge part of the Twins' successful rotation.

What’s Next: Joe Ryan (8-5, 3.42 ERA) goes against old friend Kyle Gibson (8-6, 4.73 ERA) looking to salvage one game in the final series of the first half.

Postgame Interviews:

Bullpen Usage Chart:

	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	TOT
Ortega	13	0	0	0	25	38
Durán	0	0	0	21	0	21
J. López	8	0	0	0	13	21
Morán	0	0	0	16	0	16
Jax	0	0	0	13	0	13
Pagán	0	0	0	4	0	4
Balazovic	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sands	0	0	0	0	0	0

 

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[weitz41]

I stepped away for ten minutes and the game was over when I came back...6 runs is too much for this offence to overcome. Can't expect the starters to hold them under 3 runs every game...

[D.C Twins]

Tyler Wells.... Tyler Wells....why DOES that name sound soooo familiar....  (Happy for him that he seems to be developing into a quality MLB starter!) 

[stringer bell]

Glad for López. Ryan pitches on Sunday, so I don''t know if he was considered. 

[USAFChief]

This offense has been described as "inconsistent."

I do not concur.

The offense is tragically consistent. 

[mikelink45]

Too bad we can't develop pitchers. Oh well. 

Why is it going to have a tendency to roll my eyes when I hear only one bad inning? Seems to be in most games. It's settled by one bad Inning and the idea is to not have one bad inning. 

[Mike Sixel]

18 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

This offense has been described as "inconsistent."

I do not concur.

The offense is tragically consistent. 

Ya. It's very consistently bad. But the FO is doing nothing about it, so we got that going for us. 

[jmlease1]

Odd game. All the O's hits were in one inning, and it's not like they were bashing them off the walls. Julien missed a play that he probably should have made. Ump makes one of the most inexplicable ball 4 calls I've seen this side of Phil Cuzzi. Frustrating.

If you'd told me before the game that the Twins were going to out-hit the O's and lose by 4 runs, that the O's would have zero extra base hits and the Twins would have 5, my response would have been what in the holy hell happened in the game?!? And I was there today, and I still only kinda understand it.

But you know what? Today was still a lovely day to be at the ol' ballpark.

[D.C Twins]

40 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Ya. It's very consistently bad. But the FO is doing nothing about it, so we got that going for us. 

.... which is nice....

 

[AceWrigley]

And the Twins drop to 2nd place in the Central. My fear is Josh Bell finds his groove and the Guardian's starters start to gel. Could all end similar to last year.

[AceWrigley]

Donnie Barrels sure likes to wack the ball around . . . i dig it.

[jkcarew]

2 hours ago, USAFChief said:

This offense has been described as "inconsistent."

I do not concur.

The offense is tragically consistent. 

But sometimes it too many K’s and sometimes it’s soft contact, and sometimes it’s poor situational hitting and/or failure with RISP, and sometimes it’s rally-killing GiDPs, and sometimes it’s bad baserunning, and frequently it’s a permutation or combination of two or more.

I never know how they’re not going to score.

[QuinnSwanny]

Surprise, surprise. Our offense has no clutch yet again. I don’t know how our FO or coaching seems to care? Our pitchers bust their butts day in and out trying to preserve games and keep our team in the game and our offense can only muster 0-2 runs a game. Sure, sonny wasn’t strong today, but I really hope after losing 1st place again our offense takes a long look in the mirror and wakes up. We are basically paying these guys to strike out and get weak contact at this point. Donnie barrels is the only consistent batter at this point. Offense NEEDS help by the deadline. Whether that be a big trade or simply a new hitting coach. Something needs to happen. Because obviously a team meeting doesn’t help.

[jkcarew]

33 minutes ago, AceWrigley said:

And the Twins drop to 2nd place in the Central. My fear is Josh Bell finds his groove and the Guardian's starters start to gel. Could all end similar to last year.

Meanwhile, Cleveland has the youngest roster in baseball. The Twins are middle of the pack age-wise and the core aren’t getting any younger (or better). What to do?

[Brandon27]

This needs to be buyers and sellers blowup this lineup cause the offense ain't helping right its like watching the vikings 2022 defense 

[bobajoul]

Went did the game today. It was over by the second inning. The rest of the team spent all of its time flailing away, hoping to hit four home runs every inning which results in a lot of strikeouts.  The only two hitters, who looked like they were trying to adapt for Julian and Solano. The rest look like they’re swinging from their heels on every single pitch. Nobody shortened op there swings, nobody tried to adapt to the situation in the at bat.  This isn’t really a player problem, it’s a team, philosophy and organization philosophy problem. We’re being driven by statistics,  and those statistics are pretty rotten right now. Great pitching staff has been totally wasted. When you’re down by four runs, you rarely make it up by hitting four home runs.  Multiple players on base several times during the game had multiple players on base. Predictably was followed by several strikeouts and a ground out.  Missing Royce Lewis, and more importantly, Luis arise, is put a great big hole in this lineup. You need to contact hitters as well as sluggers.  They have two few of the former, and virtually none of the latter.

[VivaBomboRivera!]

Most of the numbers say that this was not a bad offensive game, consistent with the "season beginning on 30 June." Two numbers, 2 R and 8 team LOB (all in scoring position, no less) deliver the sting of disappointment. It hurts to hit 5 (5!) two-baggers and still lose the game.

Batting average, on base percentage and strikeout rate have all improved markedly today and for the eight days since the miserable 82-game first half.  Under normal circumstances, we'd be pretty happy going 5-3 (extra-inning loss excepted), but the fact that the club had to climb out of a 2-game-under hole leaves most of us feeling...   meh!

 

Edited July 9, 2023 by VivaBomboRivera!
Added bitterness

[HerbieFan]

The season is like a broken record.....

[hitterscount]

3 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

Odd game. All the O's hits were in one inning, and it's not like they were bashing them off the walls. Julien missed a play that he probably should have made. Ump makes one of the most inexplicable ball 4 calls I've seen this side of Phil Cuzzi. Frustrating.

If you'd told me before the game that the Twins were going to out-hit the O's and lose by 4 runs, that the O's would have zero extra base hits and the Twins would have 5, my response would have been what in the holy hell happened in the game?!? And I was there today, and I still only kinda understand it.

But you know what? Today was still a lovely day to be at the ol' ballpark.

Ok.. this BS of blaming umps for missed balls and strikes needs to stop… it goes both ways and is truly a pathetic argument/excuse for the mounting losses. Secondly…. Julien’s defense has been subpar since he was called up, he is constantly missing plays that most MLB starting 2nd basemen make. Does his offense negate his shi•• defense… I think it’s too early to tell, but to date, no. 

[hitterscount]

34 minutes ago, VivaBomboRivera! said:

Most of the numbers say that this was not a bad offensive game, consistent with the "season beginning on 30 June." Two numbers, 2 R and 8 team LOB deliver the sting of disappointment. It hurts to hit 5 (5!) two-baggers and still lose the game.

Batting average, on base percentage and strikeout rate have all improved markedly today and for the eight days since the miserable 82-game first half.  Under normal circumstances, we'd be pretty happy going 5-3 (extra-inning loss excepted), but the fact that the club had to climb out of a 2-game-under hole leaves most of us feeling...   meh!

 

And thankfully we play in the AL Central, or the season would already be over. The new schedule is exposing how bad this division is. But let’s keep running out the same lineup and expect different results.

[Mark G]

4 hours ago, bobajoul said:

Went did the game today. It was over by the second inning. The rest of the team spent all of its time flailing away, hoping to hit four home runs every inning which results in a lot of strikeouts.  The only two hitters, who looked like they were trying to adapt for Julian and Solano. The rest look like they’re swinging from their heels on every single pitch. Nobody shortened op there swings, nobody tried to adapt to the situation in the at bat.  This isn’t really a player problem, it’s a team, philosophy and organization philosophy problem. We’re being driven by statistics,  and those statistics are pretty rotten right now. Great pitching staff has been totally wasted. When you’re down by four runs, you rarely make it up by hitting four home runs.  Multiple players on base several times during the game had multiple players on base. Predictably was followed by several strikeouts and a ground out.  Missing Royce Lewis, and more importantly, Luis arise, is put a great big hole in this lineup. You need to contact hitters as well as sluggers.  They have two few of the former, and virtually none of the latter.

The other night FS1 had the Marlins game on and I got the joy of watching Arraez go 3-5 with the best bat control in baseball.  Carew esq, and it was almost effortless.  You are right; it is clearly an organizational approach, and has been for years.  Golf swings......er.......launch angles may get you the occasional solo home run, but level swings and line drives will generate a sustainable offense far more often.  

As we say in my field:  do you want something better?  Then it is going to have to be something different.  Because if you do what you've always done, you're going to get what you've always got.  In this case, different means a different approach.  And you are not going to get a different approach with the same people.  The FO is in its 7th year; the manager and his staff are in their 5th.  Time to stop living off the laurels of 307 home runs and adjust to your personnel.  Or let someone else.  I am available.  And I have been told more than once I am different.  You know where to find me JP.😎

[big dog]

I'm sure another players-only meeting will fix this right up.

[Doctor Wu]

10 hours ago, AceWrigley said:

Donnie Barrels sure likes to wack the ball around . . . i dig it.

He has certainly turned into a very productive "under the radar" pickup for the Twins this year. Without him and Taylor and Farmer, things would be a LOT more bleak this season. 

[mikelink45]

7 hours ago, hitterscount said:

And thankfully we play in the AL Central, or the season would already be over. The new schedule is exposing how bad this division is. But let’s keep running out the same lineup and expect different results.

We are tied for 9th place in the AL overall standings.  Only the Central division saves us and now Cleveland has put us in second.  Are we in free fall like the end of last year?  

[jmlease1]

9 hours ago, hitterscount said:

Ok.. this BS of blaming umps for missed balls and strikes needs to stop… it goes both ways and is truly a pathetic argument/excuse for the mounting losses. Secondly…. Julien’s defense has been subpar since he was called up, he is constantly missing plays that most MLB starting 2nd basemen make. Does his offense negate his shi•• defense… I think it’s too early to tell, but to date, no. 

It's all part of the package, and I think I do get to complain about it. It's not about whether it cost the game or the mistakes even out: it's about getting it right and getting obvious calls wrong is bad for baseball, especially when there are solutions to fix it that won't slow down the game. Gray might have walked in the run anyways, but we'll never know because the ump made a terrible call. He called an obvious strike a ball, and literally everyone knew it. But the only way we're going to see baseball (which is still the slowest to change of any of the major professional team sports) do anything about it it is to keep pointing it out and complain about it.

[Hubie29]

1 hour ago, Doctor Wu said:

He has certainly turned into a very productive "under the radar" pickup for the Twins this year. Without him and Taylor and Farmer, things would be a LOT more bleak this year

It's hard to teach old dogs new tricks. Kepler, Correa, Polanco, Gallo. This is going to take a complete rebuild on the offensive side, cause they truly are offensive. I said before the season started in a post that this offense was going to be terrible and that we would lose alot of 3-2, 2-1 games. I was pretty close. Seriously, what other team offense would you take the Twins over? Maybe Oakland, Kansas City? Certainly not Washington or Cubs or other cellar dwellers. That says it all

[Blyleven2011]

12 hours ago, AceWrigley said:

And the Twins drop to 2nd place in the Central. My fear is Josh Bell finds his groove and the Guardian's starters start to gel. Could all end similar to last year.

Yes it has ended similar to last year only earlier this year....

Worst plan I have ever seen , FO is trying to follow the plan like the movie moneyball  and they aren't succeeding,  but the aberration  is they believe it IS ...

WHAT A CROCK  ...

[wabene]

2 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

  Are we in free fall like the end of last year?  

Not with this pitching staff. 

[JD-TWINS]

7 hours ago, Mark G said:

The other night FS1 had the Marlins game on and I got the joy of watching Arraez go 3-5 with the best bat control in baseball.  Carew esq, and it was almost effortless.  You are right; it is clearly an organizational approach, and has been for years.  Golf swings......er.......launch angles may get you the occasional solo home run, but level swings and line drives will generate a sustainable offense far more often.  

As we say in my field:  do you want something better?  Then it is going to have to be something different.  Because if you do what you've always done, you're going to get what you've always got.  In this case, different means a different approach.  And you are not going to get a different approach with the same people.  The FO is in its 7th year; the manager and his staff are in their 5th.  Time to stop living off the laurels of 307 home runs and adjust to your personnel.  Or let someone else.  I am available.  And I have been told more than once I am different.  You know where to find me JP.😎

What I can’t explain is if this hitting (lack of it) issue is an organizational problem how did Luis have a career BA of .316 after 4.5 seasons in the Show? Did he tell the coaches to screw themselves? Did he get lucky? No, he the batter, was accountable for his own approach & his own success!!!

We have guys making 10’s of millions of dollars and we are making excuses for them by saying the hitting coach has ruined the roster’s approach.

Did our coaching hurt Gallo? Nope, he has the identical, mediocre stats he’s had for past 2-3 years!

Kepler has sucked, for the most part, for 3.5 years!

Buxton has always been streaky & struck out more than anyone would care for…..!

Farmer - Taylor - Castro - Jeffers are all what their previous stats would tell you they were going to be.

If CC gets going, we are what we thought we’d be.

Lewis & Kirilloff are the only real multi-talented hitters we have in the line-up.

Vazquez is down - Solano is up……that’s baseball year to year.

Larnach, a disappointment, but more of what we’ve seen previously.

I don’t love our hitting coach - some adjustments should be being made - but come on, it’s the player’s issue!

[Mark G]

7 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

What I can’t explain is if this hitting (lack of it) issue is an organizational problem how did Luis have a career BA of .316 after 4.5 seasons in the Show? Did he tell the coaches to screw themselves? Did he get lucky? No, he the batter, was accountable for his own approach & his own success!!!

We have guys making 10’s of millions of dollars and we are making excuses for them by saying the hitting coach has ruined the roster’s approach.

Did our coaching hurt Gallo? Nope, he has the identical, mediocre stats he’s had for past 2-3 years!

Kepler has sucked, for the most part, for 3.5 years!

Buxton has always been streaky & struck out more than anyone would care for…..!

Farmer - Taylor - Castro - Jeffers are all what their previous stats would tell you they were going to be.

If CC gets going, we are what we thought we’d be.

Lewis & Kirilloff are the only real multi-talented hitters we have in the line-up.

Vazquez is down - Solano is up……that’s baseball year to year.

Larnach, a disappointment, but more of what we’ve seen previously.

I don’t love our hitting coach - some adjustments should be being made - but come on, it’s the player’s issue!

Good points, one and all.  Can't argue.  

But I do wonder how so many players who excelled in amateur ball, minor league ball, and in a lot of cases (CC?) major league ball, all of a sudden digress.  Buck is the perfect example of a phenom who changed his swing and became a Sano with much better defense.  Not saying the hitting coach is ruining anyone.  But there has to be a doubt that he is helping anyone, either.  The theory is that it is an organizational approach, as this is not the first hitting coach this management team has brought in.  As for Arraez, is it just the National League that has him hitting 70 points higher than he hit here?  Why is CC down?  Gallo not improved?  Kepler?  And, by your own argument, no one who has come here, or come up through our minor league system, has improved measurably.  Just asking the question:  is it an organizational approach, or is it something else?  Why all the golf swings over the last handful of years?  Launch angle??  They all seem to fall into it. or is it just me (and a ton of others)?  Last year just over 48% of our games we scored 3 runs or less.  This year well over 1/3 of our games are TWO runs or less.  Some people wonder why, especially with the roster turnover year after year.  Can't all be the players, or we would eventually land players who think like Arraez and Lewis.  Count me as one of the ones who is wondering..........