Twins 10, Mariners 3: Ober Turns it Around Into Minnesota Slugfest

[Ted Schwerzler]

Things started ugly for Bailey Ober, but the Twins added to their first inning total and Alex Kirilloff came up just short of a cycle. Edouard Julien had another solid night, and WIlli Castro helped to beat the Seattle Mariners.

Image courtesy of © Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports

 

Box Score
SP: Bailey Ober 6.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 5 K
Home Runs: Alex Kirilloff (6), Edouard Julien (8), Kyle Farmer (6), Carlos Correa (12)
Top 3 WPA: Alex Kirilloff .275, Willi Castro .255, Edouard Julien .109

Mike Muchlinski was behind the plate calling balls and strikes tonight, and it appears his vision had not improved after his foul ball call last evening. He rung Edouard Julien up on ball four before being uncertain about the correct calls against Alex Kirilloff. Even still, Minnesota put runners on second and third with only one out. Max Kepler's sacrifice fly to left field scored Carlos Correa and put Minnesota on the board first.

The Twins added more in the first opportunity tonight than last evening. Willi Castro drove an 0-2 pitch to center, allowing Kirilloff to come home. Matt Wallner read the throw well and advanced to third on the play. Muchlinski made his mark again when he punched out Kyle Farmer on a ball to end the frame.

Despite making Mariners starter Bryan Woo work, Bailey Ober gave up a single to J.P. Crawford before Eugenio Suarez sent a ball into the seats and evened things for Seattle in the bottom half. Ober continued to be hit hard throughout the frame, and a double from Ty France scored Jarred Kelenic. Teoscar Hernandez did give Minnesota a break running through the stop sign and being cut down at the plate. Mike Ford's single in the next at-bat threatened another run, but Manny Acta erroneously sent France, and Kepler's throw nailed him this time. The 35-minute first inning came to an end.

Starting the third inning with a ripped single right back up the box, Julien gave the Twins a baserunner. Wanting to partake in the Tuesday festivities, Kirilloff then blasted an oppo taco over the left field wall. Minnesota was back on top 4-3 and could look to add more.

With Kepler and Castro on the corners, the Twins' stolen base leader went for second base, and Cal Raleigh's throw tailed into centerfield. Kepler could quickly scamper home on the play, and they had now put up five runs through the first three innings of the night.

Getting the fourth inning going nicely, Julien turned on an inside pitch and deposited it into the right field seats. Kirilloff again followed with a hit of his own, grabbing a triple. He found himself just a double and a single away from the cycle less than halfway through the contest. Kepler made sure the final 90 feet were taken care of when he doubled for the seventh time this season to make it a 7-3 lead.

After being hit around in the first inning, Ober was on cruise control through the fifth. He continued to pound the strike zone and was retiring Mariners batters in succession. The resolve continued to be extremely impressive, given how his night started.

Minnesota threatened again in the sixth inning with runners on second and third, and Castro came through with a single to score Julien. Kepler didn't see the send from Tommy Watkins, but the Twins found themselves with an 8-3 lead. Joey Gallo couldn't come through with the bases loaded to do even more damage, or the inning would have gone sideways for Seattle.

Despite giving up three runs in the first inning, and seven hits the first time through the order, he didn't give up either since. Working through the sixth inning on just 90 pitches, Rocco Baldelli got a great outing from his starter. With Minnesota pitching scuffling a bit since the All-Star Break and this one looking ugly right away, the turnaround was encouraging to see.

Of course, the Twins have been jobbed at times by replay this year, but in the seventh inning Major League Baseball fell flat on its face again. Correa had an infield single taken away when the Mariners were awarded an out despite first baseman France never making a tag. It's been disappointing to see the replay process so poorly instituted at times this season. Finding unrelated third parties to make decisions could be a worthwhile change.

Singling to lead off the eighth inning, Kirilloff was just a double shy of the cycle. While it seemed unlikely that he would get a fifth at-bat, just having a night like this has to feel good as he continues to put the wrist injury in his rearview mirror. Jordan Balazovic and Emilio Pagan pitched scoreless innings of relief to set up the ninth, but Minnesota wanted to make history first. After Farmer went way out for the sixth time this season, Correa turned on a pitch and sent his 12th homer into the seats. They scored double-digit runs and became the 12th team across Major League Baseball to do so on the evening. Michael A. Taylor did swing at ball four twice, leaving Kirilloff's cycle chances in the on-deck circle, but the good guys had done plenty of damage.

Cole Sands emerged from the shadows to work the ninth inning. Despite not having pitched in what feels like decades, he was sharp, retiring the Mariners in just four batters. The Twins took care of business against Seattle this evening to secure at least a series split. They'll face a tall task against dominant arm Luis Castillo tomorrow night. Cleveland did take their game with the Pittsburgh Pirates today so no change will be felt in the AL Central standings.

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Notes
Sonny Gray reached ten years of Major League service time today, and the Twins hooked him up with a fantastic gift.

 

Carlos Correa continued to hit well out of the leadoff spot and extended his on-base streak to 15 games with a first-inning single.

The Twins scored at least five runs for the fifth straight game. It was the second time they had done so all season and the first since April 28.

The Twins helped see the second-most teams across MLB accomplish that feat by scoring ten runs tonight. The stat dates back to the late 1800's per Sarah Langs.

What’s Next? 
With just two games left for the Twins against the Mariners in this series, both of those two tilts will feature the best Seattle pitchers Minnesota has seen. Continuing to roll on with a 13-game-in-13-day stretch, Rocco Baldelli’s club returns home on Friday against the Chicago White Sox. 

Wednesday 7/19 Kenta Maeda vs Luis Castillo (8:40pm)
Thursday 7/20 Pablo Lopez vs George Kirby (2:40pm)

Postgame Interviews

 

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

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[GNess]

Ober struggled early, but really liked how he settled in. He competes. Twins needed that sort of tough-minded performance by Ober after a string of suspect efforts by the rotation. 

Scoring 10 runs didn't hurt either.

[Blyleven2011]

Good game to stay up and watch , lots of action ...

Julien and Kirilloff's hitting is fun to watch  , Correa  heating up as the number 1 batter  , Kepler is streaky and making a claim to stay on the team  or adding value for being traded ...

Ober didn't have a good 1st inning  and I thought we might be in for a long night , he managed very well through the next 5 innings ...

Thanks twins for a deciding victory  , it was a team effort ....

[VivaBomboRivera!]

This blowout win moves almost all the offensive numbers farther in the right direction since 30 June. Perhaps today we can forgive a strikeout rate of .261.  😎

[curt1965]

What a pleasure to not have an automatic out in the 3 hole.

Right now, this is a much better team without Buck. Let’s see how long it lasts. 

[Jocko87]

2 minutes ago, curt1965 said:

What a pleasure to not have an automatic out in the 3 hole.

Right now, this is a much better team without Buck. Let’s see how long it lasts. 

Stop it. This **** is exhausting.  They've been much better with him since the break as well.  He's struggling, he's not dead.

[stringer bell]

Nice win. Julien can hit....also nice to see Kirlloff have a third straight multi-hit game. The nine best offensive players for the Twins: (minimum 100 PAs) Julien (.927), Kirilloff (.828), Lewis (.827), Solano (.786), Jeffers (.785), Gallo (.780), Polanco (.725), Correa (.725), Kepler (.715).

[Rik19753]

It is a treat to watch Kirilloff and Julien in the same lineup. They are special. Hopefully Royce can join them soon. As bad as the lineup has looked at times this year, the future seems bright with Kirilloff, Julien, Royce and Correa forming a solid top of the order. Hopefully Buxton can turn it around and get in the mix, then we would have a solid top 6 with him and Jeffers.  

[Peter]

Great bounce back win after night before!!! Ober had trouble in 1st inning but 2 outs at plate was huge!!! Go Twins 

[Karbo]

The boys finally have figured out there's more to hitting then trying to pull everything out of the yard! Love to see them going with the pitch to take it the other way. Lets hope Buxton was watching. At some point pitchers will make an adjustment and try to get inside more, and that's when they can try to pull more, if the hitters can also make an adjustment. Great to see the youngsters looking so good!

[jmlease1]

Really nice seeing the offense kick some butt last night. Julien and Kirilloff are both pretty locked in right now and showing their talent. Julien can really punish the ball and knows the strike zone, and he's done a really nice job making adjustments since his recall. Kirilloff looks healthy and comfortable up there and that was really the only thing holding him back before. Good to see him showing the power stroke a bit more, but this is why a lot of us thought he could be a core hitter for a lot of years.

Ober did a nice job of pulling it together after a rocky start.  I got nervous that it was going to be a night where he didn't have it after giving up the big bomb in the first inning, but he got it done after the wobbly first.

Hate seeing another baffling job by the umpires: inconsistent strike zone again early (when Bremer and company are calling it out, it's a problem; that's not really their style), the blown call on Correa's infield hit was absurd, and Twins got one back on that play by Kirilloff to end the inning...but if that ball was fair, then the one he hit the night before was definitely fair. (IMHO, the umps blew both of them: Kirilloff's liner sure looked fair, and the one he fielded tonight for the out looked foul) Too many missed calls, it's exhausting.

[Beast]

Julien is an absolute monster.

[mikelink45]

6 hours ago, curt1965 said:

What a pleasure to not have an automatic out in the 3 hole.

Right now, this is a much better team without Buck. Let’s see how long it lasts. 

And at least they put Gallo and his 3 ks at the bottom of the order. 

[mikelink45]

Please no more comments about sending Julien down when Polanco returns.  He is doing his best to replace Luis Arraez in the lineup.  He and Kiriloff have been great and I hope Wallner gets a chance to catch fire. 

[2wins87]

Two pitches before Julien's HR I was thinking "They keep pitching him inside, I really think he could turn on one of those."  Really fun seeing him do exactly that.

He's really locked in right now and he's got such a professional approach that it's hard for opposing teams to find a good way to get him out.

There are still holes in the offense, but now 5 games out of the break with 5+ runs in each game, it's already around the longest stretch of competent offense they've had this year.  Don't want to get too optimistic yet, but it's been nice seeing some run scoring.

 

[TwinsDr2021]

1 hour ago, Karbo said:

The boys finally have figured out there's more to hitting then trying to pull everything out of the yard! Love to see them going with the pitch to take it the other way.

and yet they hit 4 homers ans struck out 12 times. Not complaining just pointing that out. They did score 5 runs without the homers and that would have been enough to win.

6 of their 14 hits where for extra bases, not really sure they changed that much of an approach and shows if you have guys hitting well the approach works and people love it, it is just when they aren't it looks horrible.

I mean if Correa, Julien, AK and Kepler would have been hitting like this all year, we wouldn't be complaining about the approach we would be talking about a World Series parade because they be 10 plus games up in the division.

Again not complaining, great win and fingers crossed they have 2 or 3 players every night hitting like this, because it will be a much more fun summer than what we have seen so far this year.

[jmlease1]

Correa has been doing a very nice job in the leadoff role. I'm guessing his foot is feeling better, which I'm sure is helping his swing and his power production, but he's also just doing a good job taking professional ABs at the top of the order. Twins don't have the most natural leadoff man on the club in a lot of ways (Julien certainly gets on base, but he's hardly speedy and you'd rather him hitting with guys on base; Buxton has the speed, but his power and injury struggles make him less ideal right now) so it's good that Correa is comfortable stepping in. I'm annoyed that they screwed him out of an extra hit, even if the Twins didn't need it.

If the twins can get Buxton right and Polanco back, the offense could easily be what we hoped it would be with Correa, Julien, and Kirilloff leading the charge.

[MMMordabito]

A game like this just begs for Buxton to be put on the IL until he can play in the outfield.

[insagt1]

Good to see Kirilloff going the opposite way with his power. I'd keep Buxton on the bench for the rest of this series. Hopefully some serious conversations have to ensue with him as to what has gone wrong with him this season. If his injuries are the cause of his awful AB's, then he needs to sit it out. Problem is he is chronically injured and that is unlikely to change barring a miracle of sorts. The Buck we yearn to see again, has been missing all season. Wish it weren't so.

[Unwinder]

23 minutes ago, insagt1 said:

Problem is he is chronically injured and that is unlikely to change barring a miracle of sorts. The Buck we yearn to see again, has been missing all season. Wish it weren't so.

I keep seeing people posting very confidently on here that Buxton isn't going to heal. Why do you think this?

[Schmoeman5]

Good bounce back win for the Twins. In the article I see it was mentioned that the Correa call of out at 1st cost him a hit. Replay showed he was clearly safe. But my gripe is even if the call was overturned, that's not a hit. The official scorers job is to be fair and impartial. Over and over I see scorers ruling hits on errors because they don't want to penalize their guy. And if it's their guy who hits the ball he's rewarded a hit to help the home teams player. And not picking on Julien but there was a game where he could have had 3 errors but the official scorer ruled differently.  And then fans who might not watch the game look at stats and say, well he can't be that bad. He only has 2 errors. That's my problem with statistics. It kind of like the adage that history is written by the victors. Enough of my venting. Go get em tonight

[Nashvilletwin]

2 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

Please no more comments about sending Julien down when Polanco returns.  He is doing his best to replace Luis Arraez in the lineup.  He and Kiriloff have been great and I hope Wallner gets a chance to catch fire. 

The only two people in the entire Twins related community who might think about sending Julien down when Polanco returns are Falvey and Rocco.

Four solid young player core for ‘24 and beyond has emerged: Lewis, Jeffers, Kiriloff and Julien. It would be nice to get at least two more of the following players solidly into that group before year end: Lee, Larnach, Wallner, Miranda and, yes, even Gordon, Martin and Celestino.

BTW, if Ober is our theoretical #5 starter, we are in great shape.  The man shakes off the long lay off rust and is a bulldog the rest of the way.  

[John Belinski]

It was great to see the Twins with a good hitter in 3 spot who got 3 hits and 2 RBI's.

Put Buxton on IR until he is ready to play. I know Rocco keeps saying Buxton is ready to play, but it is easy to see that Buxton is not all right when he is batting below .200 and strikes out 2 or 3 times a game.

[wabene]

21 minutes ago, Unwinder said:

I keep seeing people posting very confidently on here that Buxton isn't going to heal. Why do you think this?

I think the fear with Buxton is he didn't have a knee repair like an ACL surgery which can promise full recovery. He had a cleanup, likely of meniscus material which is cartilage. Cartilage doesn't grow back, so if enough is damaged, it becomes a chronic, degenerative condition. 

[MN_ExPat]

2 hours ago, Beast said:

Julien is an absolute monster.

You should read his Bio from Auburn, he matched or broke some pretty major milestones/records.

https://auburntigers.com/sports/baseball/roster/edouard-julien/12065

He has been doing this since even back in HS.  As Correa said back in ST... "Man, this guy can hit."

[Mike Sixel]

Last week two people told me Julien wasn't close to the Twins best hitter, and I'm still trying to figure out who is better.

[Vanimal46]

4 out of 5. Keep it up! 

[stringer bell]

1 hour ago, jmlease1 said:

Twins don't have the most natural leadoff man on the club in a lot of ways (Julien certainly gets on base, but he's hardly speedy and you'd rather him hitting with guys on base; Buxton has the speed, but his power and injury struggles make him less ideal right now) so it's good that Correa is comfortable stepping in. I'm annoyed that they screwed him out of an extra hit, even if the Twins didn't need it.

I think Julien is a near-ideal leadoff guy. He always has had a high OBP and he has above average speed--he stole 34 bases in '21 and 19 in '23. The move was designed to get Correa going and seems to have worked.

 

40 minutes ago, Schmoeman5 said:

Good bounce back win for the Twins. In the article I see it was mentioned that the Correa call of out at 1st cost him a hit. Replay showed he was clearly safe. But my gripe is even if the call was overturned, that's not a hit. The official scorers job is to be fair and impartial. Over and over I see scorers ruling hits on errors because they don't want to penalize their guy. And if it's their guy who hits the ball he's rewarded a hit to help the home teams player. And not picking on Julien but there was a game where he could have had 3 errors but the official scorer ruled differently.  And then fans who might not watch the game look at stats and say, well he can't be that bad. He only has 2 errors. That's my problem with statistics. It kind of like the adage that history is written by the victors. Enough of my venting. Go get em tonight

Official scorers aren't the most consistent, but if Correa had correctly been ruled safe, I think 100% of official scorers would have ruled the play a hit. Yes, the throw clearly was there ahead of the runner, but it was beyond an ordinary effort to get to the ball and make the throw and that is the justification for many plays ruled as hits. 

[stringer bell]

12 minutes ago, wabene said:

I think the fear with Buxton is he didn't have a knee repair like an ACL surgery which can promise full recovery. He had a cleanup, likely of meniscus material which is cartilage. Cartilage doesn't grow back, so if enough is damaged, it becomes a chronic, degenerative condition. 

That's my fear. If the knee "cleanup" didn't work, I would expect there is some chronic damage. The fans haven't been informed of the exact nature of the injury (it is not required that we do) and we are all speculating. 

[TwinkieFan4life]

1 hour ago, Unwinder said:

I keep seeing people posting very confidently on here that Buxton isn't going to heal. Why do you think this?

Because the front office has said that he is incapable of playing outfield, and that rest is unlikely to change that.  They are telling the fan base point blank that he is unlikely to heal with rest.  It happens, think Brandon Roy with the Blazers in the NBA.