Brewers 8, Twins 7 (F/10): Bullpen Blows Another Lead, Crew Wins in Extras

[Thiéres Rabelo]

Kenta Maeda delivers five solid innings, and the bats homer three times. However, the bullpen gives up five runs, allowing the Crew to complete the sweep, even the season series.

Image courtesy of Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score
Starting Pitcher: Kenta Maeda, 5.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K (92 pitches, 59 strikes, 64.1%)
Home Runs: Royce Lewis (5), Michael A. Taylor (17), Kyle Farmer (7)
Bottom 3 WPA: Jhoan Duran (-.660), Emilio Pagan (-.146), Jordan Luplow  (-.146)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Starters struggle against the heat early
With a temperature of 97ºF at first pitch and heat index readings ranging from 107ºF to 112ºF, both teams knew it would be a tough afternoon at American Family Field – especially the pitchers. Both starters, Kenta Maeda and Corbin Burnes, had long first innings, and neither seemed comfortable on the mound.

Burnes needed 22 pitches to go through the top of the first. He gave up back-to-back singles to open the game against Edouard Julien and Donovan Solano, allowing Carlos Correa to drive in the first run with a sac fly. Max Kepler also got a single before the inning ended, but both runners finished stranded.

When Maeda took the mound, it was evident how much the heat and humidity affected the game. One rosin bag didn’t seem enough for him, who was applying it to his elbows. He struggled with his command, and the Brewers had two men on quickly, on a leadoff single by Christian Yelich and a walk by William Contreras. He retired the next two but hit Mark Canha to load them up to Andruw Monasterio. The rookie infielder singled to bring in two runners but got tagged out at second to end the busy first inning.

Twins’ bats show up!
Both hurlers settled in command-wise as both tossed scoreless frames in the second. But it was inevitable for the bats to take advantage of the hot weather, and both lineups exchanged punches in the third. Burnes retired the first two batters in the inning, but before he could finish the business, Correa connected for a single, and Royce Lewis followed with a two-run shot that put the Twins back ahead.

That lead didn’t last long. After a lengthy at-bat, Contreras smashed a leadoff home run to open the bottom of the third, and suddenly, the game was tied at 3-3. But this wouldn’t last much, either! Minnesota’s offense was back in business in the fourth, with Ryan Jeffers hitting a leadoff double and Kyle Farmer drawing a walk. Jordan Luplow grounded into a double play next, but before Burnes could escape the jam, Michael A. Taylor crushed a two-run jack to put the Twins back on top, 5-3. That was Taylor’s 17th home run of the season, and he’s now two shy of matching his single-season career high – he hit 19 for the Nationals in 2017.

Maeda finishes off strong and gets more run support
Judging by how he started this game, one could’ve imagined that Maeda’s outing would soon be over and a high-scoring one. But he proved doubters wrong. After giving up the game-tying home run in the third, he retired the next eight batters he saw to complete five. Maeda continues to be incredibly solid for Minnesota lately, with his second-half ERA now sitting at 2.91 after today’s start.

Shortly after Maeda departed the game, the offense added on to try and secure his fourth win of the season. After Burnes quickly retired the first two batters he faced in the sixth, Farmer crushed a solo shot to center to score Minnesota’s sixth run of the game. This represented the first time Burnes has given up at least three home runs in a game since May 22, and only the second time that happened this season.

The bullpen can’t hold on to the lead… again
The theme of Tuesday night’s loss was how Minnesota’s middle relief blew up the game. Today, as soon as Maeda departed the game, the story seemed to be headed the same way. Emilio Pagán took over in the sixth, lost Carlos Santana to a leadoff single, and then Willy Adames hit a two-run shot to cut down the Twins’ lead to one. Then, with Caleb Thielbar pitching in the seventh, the Crew tied the game with a Tyrone Taylor solo home run.

Milwaukee’s bullpen mostly dominated Twins pitching for the final three innings of regulation, but All-Star reliever Devin Williams pitched himself into a jam in the ninth. Jorge Polanco drew a leadoff walk, then a pitch hit Matt Wallner on the hand, and the Twins suddenly had two runners on with no outs. 

However, they failed to capitalize, as Williams retired the next three. Jhoan Durán came in to pitch the bottom of the ninth, and he managed to prevent the Brewers from scoring – despite a Yelich walk and subsequent stolen base – taking the game into extra innings.

Twins tumble their way into the lead… Only to lose it shortly afterward
Joey Gallo began the 10th inning on second base and would wind up scoring in dramatic fashion. After Correa worked a leadoff walk, Lewis grounded into a double play, sending Gallo to third with two outs. Kepler drew a walk to put more pressure on Elvis Peguero, and it worked. Jeffers hit a soft grounder towards third that Monasterio bobbled. Jeffers tumbled and fell before reaching first, but he crawled to the bag while Gallo scored to give Minnesota the lead.

But as was the case during this game, that lead was short-lived. In the bottom of the 10th, with Durán still on the mound, Milwaukee tied the game on a leadoff single by Adames that drove in ghost runner Carlos Santana. Adames reached third on a Monasterio flyout, and Brice Turang completed the rally with an RBI grounder that Lewis didn’t manage to throw to first in time.

What’s Next?
The Twins come back home on Thursday, where they’ll kick off a four-game set against the visiting Texas Rangers at Target Field. Pablo López (9-6, 3.51 ERA) is set to throw the game’s first pitch at 6:10 pm CDT, and he’ll be opposed by Andrew Heaney (9-6, 4.27 ERA).

 

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	SAT	SUN	MON	TUE	WED	TOT
Floro	27	0	0	31	0	58
Durán	0	17	0	0	33	50
Thielbar	0	18	0	0	22	40
Sands	8	0	0	18	0	26
Ortega	0	0	0	25	0	25
Jax	0	11	0	0	14	25
Pagán	0	0	0	0	21	21
Winder	0	0	0	0	0	0

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[rwilfong86]

Tough loss to a superior team. Hopefully they can salvage a split against Texas

[Patzky]

Time to put on the Dodgers cap and take off the Duran jersey. 😡

[darwin22]

As much as many want to place the blame on the bullpen for ANOTHER blown game, I place 90+ % of blame on 1 person:

Derrick Falvey   ( feel free to insert/add Thad Levine) to this

When you're (supposedly) a contending playoff team how do you explain fielding a bullpen at this point in the season when 50% of your RPs are NOT USABLE/TRUSTED in a close game?

The quartet of Ortega, Winder, Floro and Sands are NOT MLB quality RPs.  They are AAAA players at best.

Although I find NUMEROUS faults with Baldelli's pitching decisions (ie hooking Ober last night at 78 pitches), I can't blame him today.  Simply put, Pagan, Thielbar and Duran failed to protect leads.

Which brings me back to Falvey (front office) for failing to make upgrading the bullpen a priority in the offseason.  What was done?  I can't think of ANY effort to bring trade for or sign an established RP.

I can only surmise Falvey believed that 3 pitchers would rebound to strengthen the bullpen:  Jorge Lopez, Jorge Alcala and Jovani Moran

How did that work out Derrick?

Answer:  Complete failure

Lopez became so bad (5.09 ERA) that he was traded for Floro at the trade deadline.

Alcala:  Only pitched 15.33 innings (6.46 ERA) before going on the IL in mid May.

Moran:  5.31 ERA in just over 42 IP. with 27 BB.  

I will give the front office credit for the signing of Brock Stewart.  Saying that, Stewart last pitched on June 25th.

Which brings me back to Falvey's failure to upgrade the pen at the trade deadline.  You did nothing!  What was the plan?  Trust that Stewart would have a miraculous recovery?  Trust that Moran would somehow be able to find the strike zone? 

I really don't enjoy being such a pessimist, but with a 4-man bullpen for the last 35 games, who honestly believes this team will win the division?  Out top 4 arms can't pitch every night.  The way Baldelli has managed recently, get ready for a bunch of games that the pen will need to record 12 outs.  Its not happening.

The next 13 games----7 vs. Texas and 6 vs. CLE--------will be the season.  

I hope I'm wrong, but when you combine a VERY inconsistent offense with a bullpen that has only 4 reliable arms, I don't see much in the way of any positive result for this team by the end of September.  

Thanks for nothing Derrick.  

 

[terrydactyls]

Baldelli removes Jax when he's doing well.  Baldelli leaves Duran in when he's doing poorly.  Why can't Baldelli predict the future and make the correct decision.  It's so frustrating!!!!!

I know I'm not Randball but this is satire.  I figure people are going to bitch about Baldelli's bullpen decisions so I thought I would get the ball rolling.

[Patzky]

24 minutes ago, darwin22 said:

As much as many want to place the blame on the bullpen for ANOTHER blown game, I place 90+ % of blame on 1 person:

Derrick Falvey   ( feel free to insert/add Thad Levine) to this

When you're (supposedly) a contending playoff team how do you explain fielding a bullpen at this point in the season when 50% of your RPs are NOT USABLE/TRUSTED in a close game?

The quartet of Ortega, Winder, Floro and Sands are NOT MLB quality RPs.  They are AAAA players at best.

Although I find NUMEROUS faults with Baldelli's pitching decisions (ie hooking Ober last night at 78 pitches), I can't blame him today.  Simply put, Pagan, Thielbar and Duran failed to protect leads.

Which brings me back to Falvey (front office) for failing to make upgrading the bullpen a priority in the offseason.  What was done?  I can't think of ANY effort to bring trade for or sign an established RP.

I can only surmise Falvey believed that 3 pitchers would rebound to strengthen the bullpen:  Jorge Lopez, Jorge Alcala and Jovani Moran

How did that work out Derrick?

Answer:  Complete failure

Lopez became so bad (5.09 ERA) that he was traded for Floro at the trade deadline.

Alcala:  Only pitched 15.33 innings (6.46 ERA) before going on the IL in mid May.

Moran:  5.31 ERA in just over 42 IP. with 27 BB.  

I will give the front office credit for the signing of Brock Stewart.  Saying that, Stewart last pitched on June 25th.

Which brings me back to Falvey's failure to upgrade the pen at the trade deadline.  You did nothing!  What was the plan?  Trust that Stewart would have a miraculous recovery?  Trust that Moran would somehow be able to find the strike zone? 

I really don't enjoy being such a pessimist, but with a 4-man bullpen for the last 35 games, who honestly believes this team will win the division?  Out top 4 arms can't pitch every night.  The way Baldelli has managed recently, get ready for a bunch of games that the pen will need to record 12 outs.  Its not happening.

The next 13 games----7 vs. Texas and 6 vs. CLE--------will be the season.  

I hope I'm wrong, but when you combine a VERY inconsistent offense with a bullpen that has only 4 reliable arms, I don't see much in the way of any positive result for this team by the end of September.  

Thanks for nothing Derrick.  

 

I will stand in line to bash Rocco (and plenty of batters are culpable today too despite scoring seven) but let's see, Ortega is unavailable and Winder is persona non grata. Floro also likely to stay sitting. Ok it's hot so you pull Kenta. Who's left? Maybe you didn't plan to cough up a three run lead but lets say the game went 12 or 13 innings. Do you put Keuchel or Sonny out there and call up Ryan to take their place in the rotation? Why didn't they make plans and bus someone out while sending Ortega down? A shaky Duran asked to throw two innings in 110 degree heat seems a  poor choice.. and The emergency pitcher Luplow was already out of the game.

 

Things you think about when you're not the manager, sigh..

[Patzky]

9 minutes ago, terrydactyls said:

Baldelli removes Jax when he's doing well.  Baldelli leaves Duran in when he's doing poorly.  Why can't Baldelli predict the future and make the correct decision.  It's so frustrating!!!!!

I know I'm not Randball but this is satire.  I figure people are going to bitch about Baldelli's bullpen decisions so I thought I would get the ball rolling.

There is plenty of culpability. I'd have loved to see another inning from Kenta but in those conditions I don't think it would have been wise. 

[mikelink45]

We are close, but not good enough to take on the winning teams.  They battled - but just could not do it.  It was an interesting game, at least. 

[SwainZag]

That's some insane negative WPA for Duran.  Are you sure that's right?

[Vanimal46]

15 minutes ago, SwainZag said:

That's some insane negative WPA for Duran.  Are you sure that's right?

Checks out on FanGraphs 

[Vanimal46]

I’m just settling into the reality that the Twins are going to back into a division title because the other 4 teams gave up. It’s going to take a gem pitching performance from one of our starters to win a single playoff game this year. 

[Peter]

Tough tough tough-umps won it for brewers. 💩🤬👎😡🤮🖕. How will twins recover from this? Next 13 games will decide season but I still think twins win division! They have to!!!

[JD-TWINS]

We can fly people to Milwaukee & don’t need to bus them in overnite. Not replacing Ortega is truly one of the first FO/Management issues I’ve had with the Twins this year. No excuse for not having a full roster, particularly with a tough 4 games series starting tomorrow evening.

Where the hell is Funderburk???

Why are TD contributors giving Duran a hard time? He pitched the 9th, no issues. He came back out in the 10th with a runner at second base with the designed intent from MLB of promoting scoring. He gives up a line drive to center and our former Gold Glove centerfielder butchered the play and turned a single into a double (1 base error). This guy ends up at 3rd after a fly ball to right. The next guy tops a pitch 5 feet off the ground to 3B so slowly Lewis can’t throw him out. The guy who got the extra base earlier scores on the chopper to 3B. Duran pitched well - things don’t go right sometimes but no fault of his!

Kenta - Emilio - Caleb all made Willie Adammes look like Willie Mays……ahead in the count then leave a pitch thigh high in middle of plate. If pitches are thrown there they will be punished, even by a guy hitting .212 or whatever ugly BA he has. I don’t know who hit all the homers - felt like it was all Adammes. 

Cannot give up HR when ahead in the count …..same thing Ober did last night. HR’s after getting behind happen…..gotta throw strikes at that point, I get it……..cannot give up 1-2 or 0-2 jacks!

Pagan & Thielbar killed us today……both have good stuff, particularly Pagan. Lack of thought or command is my problem. I do wonder about the pitch calling/location demanded by our catchers in some instances.

[JD-TWINS]

22 minutes ago, SwainZag said:

That's some insane negative WPA for Duran.  Are you sure that's right?

I thought that was crazy - he pitched a scoreless 9th & then had to start with a guy on 2B in the 10th.

Pagan gave up 2 runs in 6th with one swing …..no pre-set runner in scoring position. 2 runs prior to recording an out.

Pagan has 1/3 the blame v. Duran????

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

2 hours ago, Thiéres Rabelo said:

Lewis didn’t manage to throw to first in time.

This makes it sound like Lewis had trouble with the transfer, or something. I just watched the replay. Lewis made a hell of a play. The only problem was Lewis was playing too deep and that’s not necessarily Lewis’s fault. 

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Yup, we need to line up Lopez and Gray for the first two games, hope they pitch well, and that Rocco doesn’t get cold feet and pull them out of the game too soon. 

[Vanimal46]

7 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

I thought that was crazy - he pitched a scoreless 9th & then had to start with a guy on 2B in the 10th.

Pagan gave up 2 runs in 6th with one swing …..no pre-set runner in scoring position. 2 runs prior to recording an out.

Pagan has 1/3 the blame v. Duran????

Yes. That is called leverage in baseball. Duran pitched in very high leverage situations today. 

[Vanimal46]

5 minutes ago, Hosken Bombo Disco said:

This makes it sound like Lewis had trouble with the transfer, or something. I just watched the replay. Lewis made a hell of a play. The only problem was Lewis was playing too deep and that’s not necessarily Lewis’s fault. 

Lewis could not get the ball out of his glove and on the way to first base quicker than he did. 

[hitterscount]

19 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

I’m just settling into the reality that the Twins are going to back into a division title because the other 4 teams gave up. It’s going to take a gem pitching performance from one of our starters to win a single playoff game this year. 

Not trying to be an ass... but you just are figuring this out? This team should be better than their record with the starting pitching they have. Yet Rocco finds new ways to lose a game or two on a weekly basis. 

The Brewers are playing loose, having fun, have a BP that performs at a major league level. make contact with RISP, and manager that they believe in... the Twinkies are the polar opposite. They are fortunate to be playing in a minor league division. It's a joke that they could be the playoffs with a .500 record... give or take a few games. 

This team should be better than this.... the FO decision not to add BP help and RH batter and a manger that is struggling at best doesn't bring much hope for the next few weeks. 

[SwainZag]

17 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Yes. That is called leverage in baseball. Duran pitched in very high leverage situations today. 

Yeah, that tells me the WPA Stat is heavily flawed. 

[tony&rodney]

Same old strike outs and failure to move runners. Fundamental baseball is not high on Falvey's checklist.

[Blyleven2011]

41 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

We are close, but not good enough to take on the winning teams.  They battled - but just could not do it.  It was an interesting game, at least. 

Interesting game for sure but it was all predictable when Rocco brought in pagan with a 6-3 lead  , everyone but Rocco  knows pagan is going to serve up a homerun  , it was unpredictable that theilbar would give up a solo homerun to tie it ... 

It was also kind of predictable  that Duran  would not do well in his second inning of work , he hasn't faired all that good in 2 inning outings  ....

I don't think it's funny at all that our bullpen  faltered 2 games in a row when our FO could have added some free agent bullpen arms  this past off season  , I get not adding at this year's deadline  because of the talent we traded at last year's deadline  they were gun shied away and didn't want to look bad 2 years in a row making poor choices on deadline trades ... 

The FO continues to make poor choices  and this year's poor choice was not finding a couple of quality bullpen arm's  in free agency last off season  ...

[Vanimal46]

19 minutes ago, SwainZag said:

Yeah, that tells me the WPA Stat is heavily flawed. 

Today is the first time you’ve had a problem with the WPA calculation in its history? If so, breathe, and come back tomorrow. 

[SwainZag]

9 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Today is the first time you’ve had a problem with the WPA calculation in its history? If so, breathe, and come back tomorrow. 

Honestly haven't paid that much attention to it, but spied that big number. 

[Vanimal46]

2 minutes ago, SwainZag said:

Honestly haven't paid that much attention to it, but spied that big number. 

That big number happens a lot in close losses. Welcome aboard. 

[USAFChief]

39 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

That big number happens a lot in close losses.

Just another example of new and "analytical" doesn't equal useful or insightful. 

Check out xBA for another example. 

Duran wasn't 5 times more responsible for that loss than any other player. He didn't even give up an earned run.

In fact, I wonder if that's not an error. It happened previously this year.

[Vanimal46]

2 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

Just another example of new and "analytical" doesn't equal useful or insightful. 

Check out xBA for another example. 

Duran wasn't 5 times more responsible for that loss than any other player. He didn't even give up an earned run.

If you’re looking for a debate on WPA I’m not your guy. I’m pointing out that these big numbers happen in close games. You and SwainZag are free to look at previous game recaps to see these numbers during close losses and yell into the clouds. 

[BillyBallLives]

 

Is the bullpen a priority now?????

https://twinsdaily.com/minnesota-twins-free-agents-trade-rumors/falvey-says-bullpen-not-a-priority-r80/page/6/?tab=comments#comment-1313435

[terrydactyls]

1 hour ago, SwainZag said:

Yeah, that tells me the WPA Stat is heavily flawed. 

I thought the WPA (Works Progress Administration) ended in 1943?

[SoDakTwinsFan4]

The bullpen isn't going to be this teams potential downfall come playoff time, the offense will be.