Twins 5, Diamondbacks 3: Keuchel Shines and Twins Bats Rally for a Walk-Off and Series Sweep

[Sherry Cerny]

Dallas Keuchel made his return to the big leagues in Sunday’s final game. The Twins and Diamondbacks battled in the final game of the series, but in a weekend celebrating the career of a hometown hero, a Forest Lake kid played hero to complete the series sweep. 

Image courtesy of Nick Wosika | USA Today

Box Score
SP: Dallas Keuchel 5 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 0 K (74 pitches, 46 strikes (60%)
Home Runs: Max Kepler (18), Matt Wallner (7, Walk-Off)
Top 3 WPA: Max Kepler (0.396), Matt Wallner (0.200), Dallas Keuchel (0.114)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

While it's been a while since Keuchel has seen a big-league mound, he found himself settling in early in the game. Keuchel is known for throwing a ton of ground balls and that’s exactly what he did. He did what was expected out of him and managed to go scoreless through three innings and only allowed one run over all in his first appearance with the Twins. He didn’t get his first win, but he certainly showed fans and the club alike that he still has what it takes to be on the mound. 

Defense Shows Up
The game was a pitcher's duel, forcing both defenses to put in the effort to keep the other team off the board, and it stayed that way through the first four innings. The Twins' defense got a workout with Keuchel on the mound, with 50% of his outs coming via the ground ball, the balls were spraying all over the infield. Keuchel's fastest pitch was an 89 mph sinker to Emmanuel Rivera that went into left field. 

More than once, the defense made outstanding plays to help Keuchel keep runs off the board. In the second inning, the first hard-hit ball was from Emmanuel Rivera to Willi Castro, who lunged into the ball in a flying motion for the out. 

In the fourth inning, Wallner and Castro both went after the fly ball hit by Jake McCarthy and in an acrobatic move, Wallner slid under Castro to grab the ball as Castro hurdled over him, avoiding a collision. 

In the fifth inning, Keuchel allowed a few more hits than the first four, and the defense was a little late with throw-outs and tag-outs. Carson Kelly hit a double off Keuchel's sinker, starting a run of singles that allowed the Diamondbacks to get on the board first with a force out from Tommy Pham, scoring Kelly before the end of the inning. 

He had an excellent first game back, only allowing one run, seven hits and no walks, but he also didn't strike anyone out. 

The Game Must Go On
Dylan Floro replaced Keuchel in the sixth inning. Floro, who was acquired for Jorge Lopez, threw 20 pitches in his inning but managed to get out of the sixth with no damage even with a single, a walk and double steal. The Diamondbacks had two double steals against Keuchel as well, and stole bases eight times in the game, six of them double steals. 

Zac Gallen struggled in the sixth inning, and the Twins showed up to take advantage starting with a long hit to right field from Castro that was cut off by McCarthy, but not before Castro got to second base for the Twins first extra-base of the game and Castro’s 13th double. During Julien's at bat, Castro advanced to third on a poorly blocked pitch from Kelly before Julien was walked. With two outs and runners in scoring position, Correa came up to bat and hit a ball into the gap of left field for a two-run hit, putting the Twins out in front of the Diamondbacks 2-1. 

It's Not Over Until It's Over
Emilio Pagan was back in the early relief position in the seventh inning, where he has been effective over the past few months. He walked his first batter, Corbin Carroll, who scored on a double from Lourdes Gurriel Jr. which tied the game 2-2. Sunday was the first time Pagan allowed a run since July 25th, and before that was July 3rd. 

The Twins couldn’t make anything happen in response to the Diamondbacks game-tying run in the seventh, but Jeffers hit the snot out of a grounder and got to show off his "wheels" with an infield single. The Twins moved to the eighth with Griffin Jax on the mound. The inning was ugly and Jax, another pitcher victim to a stolen base by the Diamondbacks, managed to get out of the inning with no runs. 

Caleb Theilbar came in the ninth inning and gave up a line drive home run to Christian Walker that put the Diamondbacks in front 3-2. The Twins would need to show up in the ninth inning, and they did. 

Max Kepler, whose bat had been silent during the game but hot since the All-Star break, led off the top of the ninth for the Twins. He smashed a home run deep to right field to tie the score and really excite the crowd.

And then, in what seemed like a storybook ending, Matt Wallner stepped up to the plate and finished the game and the series sweep with a walk-off home run. It marked the Forest Lake star's first walk-off home run of his career, another hometown hero!!! 

What’s Next? 
The Twins will start a long road trip starting with a four-game series in Detroit. The Tigers continue their struggles, and have no dog in the play-off fight except as a spoiler. Now is not the time to get complacent. 

Monday 5:40 pm CDT: RHP Pablo Lopez (6-6, 4.01 ERA) vs. RHP Joey Wentz (2-9, 6.37 ERA)
Tuesday 5:40 pm CDT: RHP Sonny Gray (5-4, 3.18 ERA) vs. RHP Eduardo Rodriguez (7-5, 2.96 ERA)
Wednesday 5:40 pm CDT: RHP Bailey Ober (6-5, 3.21 ERA) vs. TBD
Thursday 12:10 pm CDT: Kenta Maeda (3-6, 4.22 ERA) vs. RHP Reese Olson (1-5, 4.94 ERA

Postgame Interviews

 

 

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

 

 

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[jorgenswest]

I have confidence when Kepler is batting again. I expected a good at bat leading off the ninth. 

Kepler is showing best average exit velocity, barrels and hard hit of his career. In 2019 he was a pull hitter. I wonder if he spent the last three years trying to hit the ball to the opposite field to avoid the shift. All it resulted in was weak contact. His pull percentage in July was nearly 50%. Make contact and hit it hard. Good stuff will happen.

I had a lot of confidence with Wallner up also. That first called strike wasn’t close. Loved the reaction. A little smirk and back to work. He didn’t let a really bad call effect his mindset on the next pitch.

That is two series in a row. Hope they make it three for the first time this year.

[stringer bell]

In most respects, the Twins stole one today. They didn't let the Diamondbacks break the game open and in fact stranded a whole bunch of runners in scoring position. Big hits from Correa, Kepler and Wallner and a lot of good defensive plays. 

I commented in the game thread that Willi Castro should win a Gold Glove as a utility player. I hope he's at least considered.

[JD-TWINS]

Kuechel was solid!

Better than solid - rest Ryan - Ober - Gray - Lopez over next month. 5 innings and 3 runs or less would be great per outings

Keppler might be the best overall RF in the game for about 6 weeks! Hard to admit. Gotta get off his back……,he’s gonna hit 25HR & .240BA with a .320 OBP…………maybe a .750 plus OPS?

Don’t want to hear about how we should have traded him at the deadline due to his “peak value”……,.we need him to win games!!!

What a transformation over past 6 weeks!

[John Belinski]

Some of the young players are helping the Twins win. The team seems to be a better team without Buxton. Hope he will get better and come back a better player, but without him the Twins can have a DH that can help them win. Twins waited way too long to bring up Wallner and would probably have a better record if he hadn't been sent down after being on base 8 times in a row before being sent down. It just didn't make sense to send him down since the Twins needed hitters.

[jimbo92107]

Sounds like the Twins have another good starter in Dallas Keuchel. Not the greatest start, but he still gets guys out. 

Skol!

[PseudoSABR]

21 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

a Gold Glove as a utility player. 

This should be a thing.

[USAFChief]

Happy to get the W.

 But I hope Kuechel can offer better than that. 

 

[BH67]

Gritty performance by Keuchel and resilient offense late.  Great to see Rick Aguilera's* walkoff homer as well.

(*Some Twins uniform numbers are stuck in my mind in 1991. So be it.) 

[HrbieFan]

1 hour ago, John Belinski said:

Some of the young players are helping the Twins win. The team seems to be a better team without Buxton. Hope he will get better and come back a better player, but without him the Twins can have a DH that can help them win. Twins waited way too long to bring up Wallner and would probably have a better record if he hadn't been sent down after being on base 8 times in a row before being sent down. It just didn't make sense to send him down since the Twins needed hitters.

I don't believe they are better without Bux, but I do believe they are better with Gallo on the bench. Watched him closely the last 2 games and the dude is a freak in the field! 

[Dantes929]

Name of this game was defense.    You can say Keuchel looked good and I was very happy he got the chance but without the defense his numbers probably don't look good at all and we lose the game.    A real team win this afternoon.

[stringer bell]

1 hour ago, PseudoSABR said:

This should be a thing.

I believe 2022 was the first year they awarded a Gold Glove for a utility player (Arraez was a candidate, but LeMahieu  won). I really believe Castro has a chance to win. He’s certainly played all over, committed few errors and made some highlight reel plays. 

[PseudoSABR]

3 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

I believe 2022 was the first year they awarded a Gold Glove for a utility player (Arraez was a candidate, but LeMahieu  won). I really believe Castro has a chance to win. He’s certainly played all over, committed few errors and made some highlight reel plays. 

Really. That's cool. I tuned out the tail end of 22 for obvious reasons. 

[TwinkieFan4life]

What a fun weekend!  Twins dominate with great performances from our catcher and the hometown kid.  It really couldn't have gone any better.

[Fat Calvin]

I really hope the Twins take their time with Buxton.  A long, long rest is what I would prescribe.

[UK Twin]

Guardians gave up 3 runs in the 9th to turn a W into a L. Twins scored 3 in the 9th to turn a L into a W. Beautiful symmetry.  😁

Thought Keuchel was good, bit unlucky to give up 8 hits but at the same time a bit lucky to give up just 1 run! 

Keeping Kepler is looking a better and better decision with each game that we play at the moment. He's been really good since the AS break. 

I'm not taking anything for granted after last year but we really should win the division from here. No excuses, get it done Twins. 

[Aerodeliria]

5 hours ago, stringer bell said:

In most respects, the Twins stole one today. They didn't let the Diamondbacks break the game open and in fact stranded a whole bunch of runners in scoring position. Big hits from Correa, Kepler and Wallner and a lot of good defensive plays. 

I commented in the game thread that Willi Castro should win a Gold Glove as a utility player. I hope he's at least considered.

Castro looked very comfortable over at third and proved it with that bullet throw from foul territory.

[Aerodeliria]

If Keuchel gets hitters to swing at those pitches just off the strike zone and mixes his pitches and speeds ala Greg Maddux, he'll be just fine.

[pierre75275]

The Wallner fan club is growing by the day! This young man can play! If he keeps this up I can't believe when Lewis/Buxton comes off of the DL that Gallo keeps his spot. 

[mikelink45]

Keuchel strikes out zero - the Twins strikeout 10 times and we win.  It reminds me of all the pitchers in years past who relied on ground balls to win and knew how to pitch.  Nice game. 

[Doctor Wu]

8 hours ago, jorgenswest said:

I have confidence when Kepler is batting again. I expected a good at bat leading off the ninth. 

Kepler is showing best average exit velocity, barrels and hard hit of his career. In 2019 he was a pull hitter. I wonder if he spent the last three years trying to hit the ball to the opposite field to avoid the shift. All it resulted in was weak contact. His pull percentage in July was nearly 50%. Make contact and hit it hard. Good stuff will happen.

I had a lot of confidence with Wallner up also. That first called strike wasn’t close. Loved the reaction. A little smirk and back to work. He didn’t let a really bad call effect his mindset on the next pitch.

That is two series in a row. Hope they make it three for the first time this year.

For a rookie player Wallner DOES seem to have both confidence and poise. Doesn't look like he's easily rattled, such as his reaction to that called strike you mentioned. Like so many others, I'm excited about his performance so far, and his potential going forward. Needless to say, I don't think he needs any more AAA seasoning at this point!

[Peter]

Wow wow wow!!!This is season changing turning point win!!!! Castro was fantastic with his play at 3rd base and yes Kepler has turned it on!!! Wallner with walkoff was huge!!!! As I said this is the season changing turning point win we needed!!!! Just wow wow wow!!!!!

[Riverbrian]

Very enjoyable game to watch. The game had a lot of baseball in it. Two crafty starters, defense, stolen bases and the long ball. It was certainly a win to be enjoyed. 

The lineup which is normally kinda predictable... had some curveballs in it and I couldn't have been happier with it. I'd high five Rocco if I could. 

I would have bet my washer and dryer that Julien would DH this one with Keuchel the hopefully ground ball pitcher on the mound.

With Arizona tossing a right hander. Julien DH, Gallo 1B and Polanco 2B would have made more defensive sense with Keuchel. 

Rocco seemed to go with the hot hand instead.

Jeffers has been one of our hotter hitters and he just had a two dinger day... So Jeffers gets the DH spot which puts Julien at 2B. 

Gallo has been one of the coldest hitters on the planet and Gallo sits despite: Arizona throwing a Right Hander, ground ball pitcher starting for us... and... and... We are about to face a bunch of left handed starters with the Tigers... which means that Gallo sat against the last right handed train leaving the station for a while. 

To me it was an indication that Rocco could get off the script.

I Loved it because I needed to know that he could.   

 

 

 

 

 

[rv78]

Really refreshing to see the right guys in the lineup. Julien leading off where he belongs, sorry C4, you don't belong there or deserve it. Solano at 1st base instead of dud Gallo. Jeffers at DH with Vazquez catching, finally using a hitter at the DH spot that is hitting instead of dud Buxton. Keep him on the IL until he can play in the outfield where he belongs. And the best move, Wallner getting at bats verses the doubledud Gallo. Should have been that way since opening day.

[Karbo]

I've never seen so many scratch hits in one game, and I also can't remember seeing as many stolen bases in a game.

[Karbo]

6 minutes ago, rv78 said:

Really refreshing to see the right guys in the lineup. Julien leading off where he belongs, sorry C4, you don't belong there or deserve it. Solano at 1st base instead of dud Gallo. Jeffers at DH with Vazquez catching, finally using a hitter at the DH spot that is hitting instead of dud Buxton. Keep him on the IL until he can play in the outfield where he belongs. And the best move, Wallner getting at bats verses the doubledud Gallo. Should have been that way since opening day.

Putting Correa in the #2 slot is foolish. He hits so many hard grounders that with a guy on 1st are automatic DP's. I'd drop him down to 7 or 8.

[Major League Ready]

13 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

 

I would have bet my washer and dryer that Julien would DH this one with Keuchel the hopefully ground ball pitcher on the mound.

With Arizona tossing a right hander. Julien DH, Gallo 1B and Polanco 2B would have made more defensive sense with Keuchel. 

Rocco seemed to go with the hot hand instead.

 

I think Gallo is still here because we have no depth a 1B. If we let him go, what do we do if Solano gets hurt?  CJ Cron would have looked pretty good on this roster.  What will they do if/when Kirilloff gets healthy?  The roster management is going to be interesting the rest of the way.  

[jmlease1]

Good to see the Twins come back and win one late.

Keuchel did ok, but still looks very hittable. D-backs do score some runs (10th in MLB) but that was still a pretty nervy 5 innings. And the 5 inning starts aren't great unless the offense comes in big because of how many pitchers end up getting used to get through the game.

Still, have to be happy about a sweep! Good opportunities to really put the foot down on the necks of the rest of the division here, hopefully the Twins respond better to success than the last time they had this kind of division lead.

[Nine of twelve]

Twins fans look at the bottom of the ninth as a hitting success. Diamondback fans look at the bottom of the ninth as a pitching failure. Not sure which is more accurate.

[Dman]

Really happy for Keuchel to come out and only give up one run.  A bit much traffic on the bases for me, but I will take those results any day of the week.  My only hope with him on the mound was to keep it close enough to give the offense a chance once Gallen was out of the game and he did just that.  Couldn't have asked for more especially given his stuff in this game.

Like everyone else it is nice to see Kepler emerging as a key bat in the lineup and getting key hits in games.  For all the angst I have had with him he leads the team in Home Runs and plays good D in right. He has been on hot streaks before though so not buying into the SSS just yet, but needed to give him props as he has earned it.

I have never liked Wallner's K rate but the kid can hit and hit the ball hard.  I still have my concerns that he see's fewer fastball's as teams start to realize the damage he can cause but right now he and Jullien are doing pretty much the same things they did at AAA at the MLB level.  Hopefully that remains their standard of performance.

Great game with beautiful ending. Nice to have Cleveland lose late and the Twins win late for a change as it seems like the opposite was happening earlier in the year.

Need to keep things rolling in Detroit as they have had our number this year and there are two lefties to conquer.