Twins 7, Rangers 5: Twins Emerge Victorious in Slugfest, Backed by Resilient Bullpen

[Sherry Cerny]

The Twins are in for a hot and heavy last week of summer where they start with the Texas Rangers tonight and then follow up with playing Cleveland, Texas and Cleveland. The dog days of summer are certainly here and the Twins are going to need to stay ahead of the count in the game and the standing.

Image courtesy of USA Today Jesse Johnson

 

Box Score
SP: Pablo Lopez 5 IP, 10 H,  5 ER, 1 BB, 4 K (91 pitches, 58 strikes (66%)
Home Runs:   Royce Lewis (6), Kyle Farmer (8), Ryan Jeffers (10), Matthew A. Taylor (19)
Top 3 WPA: Ryan Jeffers (.341), Carlos Correa (.256), Royce Lewis (.219)
Bottom 3 WPA: Max Kepler (-.291), Pablo Lopez (-.325), Jordan Luplow (-.70)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Pablo Lopez, who came into tonight's game with 19 straight scoreless innings, had the streak abruptly ended with Marcus Semien's home run off his first offering of the night.

The Rangers kept the pressure on throughout the game, but the Twins countered with timely defense. In the second inning, Travis Jankowski bunted for a base hit and went first to third on a single from Ezequiel Duran to right. With the Rangers threatening, Lopez induced an inning-ending double play, proving that it will be vital for the Twins' defense to make key plays in this series. 

The heat and humidity Minnesota is experiencing likely aided in the baseball carrying at Target Field, and there was no lack of action. 

Kyle Farmer matched Semien's solo home run to tie up the game. 

But the Rangers weren't done. Lopez struggled heavily in the third inning. Corey Seager added another solo shot, and Texas followed with a pair of singles and a walk to load the bases. Jankowski drove in two more, putting the Rangers up 4-1. 

The Twins battled back with a solo home run from Michael A. Taylor, bringing the score closer to 4-2, but Leody Taveras answered back with his solo home run -- the third home run of the night on Lopez -- and the Rangers a 5-2 lead. In the 5th, Michael A. Taylor added another solo home run to close the gap, 5-3. 

Lewis continued to help the Twins battle back with another solo home run in the bottom of the sixth, closing the gap to a one-run game and the Twins fourth home run. 

The Twins called on Josh Winder in the sixth inning. Winder hasn't seen action in eight days, but as a Virginia kid, he has played in this heat his whole life and seemed unphased as he gave the Twins their first 1-2-3 inning of the game. Winder did well and returned to have another scoreless seventh and eighth. It was the first time Winder had gone that long all season, and it provided a much-needed rest for a bullpen that was depleted in the Milwaukee series!

In the eighth inning, Matt Wallner and Carlos Correa matched doubles to tie the game with no outs. 

With the bases loaded, the Rangers brought lefty Will Smith to face Max Kepler and Edouard Julien. The Twins called on Ryan Jeffers as a pinch hitter. Jeffers hit a go-ahead two-run home run to push the Twins ahead 7-5, complete with an epic bat flip! Jeffers is now a .571 hitter in pinch-hit situations. 

The Twins got a strong finish, and it was fun watching Griffin Jax come out in the ninth inning to close out the game, and he did so in fiery fashion. 

Griffin struck out Semien before walking Seager, and he was visibly frustrated as the officiating appeared questionable to both sides all night. Lowe grounded into a double play to Donovan Solano, Carlos Correa and ended with Joey Gallo on first base. The crowd erupted as the Twins won their first of the four-game series and handed the Rangers their seventh loss in a row.

 

See you all tomorrow night!

What’s Next? 
The Twins continue their homestand with three more games from Texas in this series before coming head to head with Cleveland.

Friday 7:10 pm CDT: RHP Sonny Gray (6-6, 3.15 ERA) vs. RHP Dane Dunning (9-5, 3.19 ERA)
Saturday 6:15 pm CDT: RHP XX (7-6, 3.77 ERA) vs. RHP Max Scherzer (7-6, 3.77 ERA)
Sunday 12:35 pm CDT: RHP Bailey Ober (6-6, 3.41 ERA) vs. LHP Jordan Montgomery (8-10, 3.12 ERA)

Postgame Interviews

 

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

 

View full article

[BH67]

Magic number: Rod Carew.

Going for Circle Me Bert tomorrow.

[SD happy]

A great come behind win after two very frustrating losses. A  big salute to Winder and Jax for four, much needed, scoreless innings. And to the offense for late, timely hitting. A great, enjoyable win.

[Aggies7]

That was a great win. 

[stringer bell]

I’d like to see Jeffers get more starts behind the plate. He’s hitting to well to play less than half the time. 
 

Good appearance for Winder. Maybe he can go on a good run. 
 

You can’t hit the ball much harder than Wallner did to lead off the eighth. 
 

Improved their results against lefty pitching for the Twins tonight. 

[GNess]

In a season with so many ups and downs the ups like tonight's win seem all the more enjoyable.

[chinmusic]

So many notable performances. Great come from behind win to kick off the homestand!

[Peter]

Wow!!! What a comeback!!! Down5-2 5 home runs!! From farmer/Lewis as well 2 with Taylor matching his career best and Jeffers with excellent pitch hit home run to win. Winder is mvp tonight with 3 shut out innings!!!huge huge huge win especially with Cleveland losing division lead is up to 6 games!!!

[Doctor Wu]

Those 3 scoreless innings by Winder, after the rocky start by Lopez (hope it was just a bad day at the office and no other concerns) was huge! And those homers by Royce Lewis and Michael Taylor, and that ultimate one by Jeffers! Wow! One of those rare feel good moments of late. Let's hope we can string together another win like that. 

[AlwaysinModeration]

Wallner hit a single, not a double.  He crushed that ball was too hard.

Umpire had a lousy game.  It’s a bad situation when everyone watching the game on tv, and the announcers, can see clearly how badly the ump is missing calls.  

[JD-TWINS]

Royce Lewis is a weapon isn’t he!!

Really hoping for some good news on Kirilloff to really lengthen the line-up soon. Any news on his health?

Veteran pick-ups by FO paying off again……Farmer - Solano - Taylor all hit the ball & played solid Defense. How about Solano at 2B, after all night at first, in the 9th and initiating the double play flawlessly? Nice!

CC - RBI big double after Wallner’s laser off the wall. Sweet base running by Wallner to score.

Looked like a complete club last night even with Pablo struggling through 5.

[Doctor Wu]

39 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

Royce Lewis is a weapon isn’t he!!

Really hoping for some good news on Kirilloff to really lengthen the line-up soon. Any news on his health?

Veteran pick-ups by FO paying off again……Farmer - Solano - Taylor all hit the ball & played solid Defense. How about Solano at 2B, after all night at first, in the 9th and initiating the double play flawlessly? Nice!

CC - RBI big double after Wallner’s laser off the wall. Sweet base running by Wallner to score.

Looked like a complete club last night even with Pablo struggling through 5.

It's almost like we have forgotten Royce Lewis, or assuming he's injured again and/or on another rehab assignment ... but man, it's great to see him healthy and playing, and playing well! Keep it up!

[Riverbrian]

9 hours ago, Sherry Cerny said:

last week of summer

This is in my head now.

Your fault... Thank you

[jmlease1]

Royce Lewis is definitely back. We may need to encase him in bubble wrap or something, but dang he's good when he plays. 

Texas has been good this season; they have some big time players, and if not for Ohtani Seager would be the MVP (with Ohtani's injury, it's still possible Seager could take it if he continues to roll like he has been; dude has been awesome this year).  So this is a really big series for the Twins and taking the first game really helps.

Correa was clutch last night and that was great to see too. His double could not have come at a better time.

Winder really did the job last night. It would be great if he could be a guy who could be counted on to pitch 2 innings in the middle innings on those days when a starter isn't able to get deeper into a game, or even  when the bullpen needs a break. It's an important role to be more than just a mop-up guy and Winder did great last night. He's hard to figure out: really good breaking ball, good velocity on the fastball, but he's never been able to put it together consistently in MLB.

[Karbo]

1 hour ago, AlwaysinModeration said:

Wallner hit a single, not a double.  He crushed that ball was too hard.

Umpire had a lousy game.  It’s a bad situation when everyone watching the game on tv, and the announcers, can see clearly how badly the ump is missing calls.  

I wonder if the strike box is a little out of calibration. So many low strikes just below the box by so many umps. I agree with some of the announcers that the velocity that has become common makes some sort of auto strike zone a must. I've been watching games since 1960, and the amount of miscalled balls and strikes have become so common over the last few years that something needs to be done.

[JDubs]

The bat flip was cool as hell, but I really like the hops looking into the dugout. It's always fun to me when dudes flip from mean mugging and posing to being little kids who are excited they made a fun baseball play and their friends are all excited.

[Doctor Wu]

3 minutes ago, JDubs said:

The bat flip was cool as hell, but I really like the hops looking into the dugout. It's always fun to me when dudes flip from mean mugging and posing to being little kids who are excited they made a fun baseball play and their friends are all excited.

I agree, the hop was much cooler than the bat flip! 

[Old Twins Cap]

What happens if the defensive replacement for B uxton ends up hitting more homers than he does.?

[John Belinski]

Winder pitching 3 hitless innings was really a surprise. It almost seemed like he was forgotten since he had not pitched for a long time. I was surprised Rocco left him in for 3 innings and I expected Rocco to pull him after 1 or 2 innings. Every once in a while Rocco surprises me.

[Riverbrian]

I got a phone call from an old friend that I had not spoken with in maybe a decade just as the bottom of the 8th was getting underway. One ear on the conversation... one eye on the game. 

Old Friend: It's good to talk to ya... I think the last time I spoke with you was back at Mike's graduation party. 

Me: I know... what a pleasant surprise to hear from you. We really got some catching up to do. How is Mikey doing? He must be what... 30 Now. 

Old Friend: He's doing great... he's getting himself together. The Ankle Monitor comes off next year with continued good behavior. 

Me: Ankle Bracelet? Did he get in some kind of... (Wallner hits a Rocket off the RF Wall)... Holy... Wow... Atta Boy Matt.  

Old Friend: Matt? You Meant Mikey... Mike Right? My boys name is Mike.  

Me: No No... I'm watching the Twins right now... Matt Wallner just hit one a million miles an hour off the wall... I think it left a dent in the wall.  

Old Friend: You have always liked your Twins. I see that hasn't changed.  

Me: I still do and always will... you know me. So... How are you and Tammy?  

Old Friend: Well... We got  divorced a couple of years ago.  

Me: Really? (Correa rips a double)... Yessssss!!!  

Old Friend: I don't know... if it's a Yes... I still care for her but you know how it is... these things happen. She is happier now.

Me: You two were really close so it's kinda surprising.  

Old Friend: After the house fire burned everything we owned to the ground... Things got kind of stressful for us. 

Me: House fire? What?

Old Friend: Yeah... Mikey had a bad day... came home and set the house on fire. That's why he was in prison and wearing that ankle bracelet. 

(Jeffers hits the home run)

Me: Boom! It's Gone! 

Old Friend: Yep... Gone... Yes... Big Explosion... We were lucky to get out alive.   

 

 

 

 

[terrydactyls]

8 hours ago, stringer bell said:

I’d like to see Jeffers get more starts behind the plate. He’s hitting to well to play less than half the time. 
 

Good appearance for Winder. Maybe he can go on a good run. 
 

You can’t hit the ball much harder than Wallner did to lead off the eighth. 
 

Improved their results against lefty pitching for the Twins tonight. 

What in the world was the exit velocity on Wallner's single????

I thought the game-ending double play was going to be close.  I just haven't seen enough of Correa (I live in Maine) to remember that he throws the ball as hard as Wallner hits the ball.

[bighat]

Any doubt this was the best Twins win of the season? 

[terrydactyls]

1 hour ago, Karbo said:

I wonder if the strike box is a little out of calibration. So many low strikes just below the box by so many umps. I agree with some of the announcers that the velocity that has become common makes some sort of auto strike zone a must. I've been watching games since 1960, and the amount of miscalled balls and strikes have become so common over the last few years that something needs to be done.

There wasn't the technology years ago for anyone to truly know how good or bad the umpiring was.  For all we know, the umpiring may have improved.  But maybe that's why baseball was more fun back in the old days.

[jmlease1]

1 hour ago, Karbo said:

I wonder if the strike box is a little out of calibration. So many low strikes just below the box by so many umps. I agree with some of the announcers that the velocity that has become common makes some sort of auto strike zone a must. I've been watching games since 1960, and the amount of miscalled balls and strikes have become so common over the last few years that something needs to be done.

The box is a little bit of a problem for showing balls and strikes because it's a flat plane rather than a 3D box of the strike zone. Home plate is big enough that a pitch can dip into or out of the strike zone and not always be reflected on the basic window they show on screen. And they've also said on the broadcast that what they show on screen isn't the exact zone that umpires are evaluated on (probably in part because the umpires are evaluated on a 3D box rather than a flat plane as well). The ones where it's tight on the border but look low or outside or whatever don't bother me much, so long as it's consistent. The ones where it was always 3-5 inches off the plate and they call it a strike drive me crazy.

Consistency is the most important thing, which is why I'm ready to go with the electronic zone. We still need a home plate umpire to handle the oddball stuff, keep the game going if the technology fails, resolve balks, tags, foul tips, etc. but giving them the electronic assist to keep the strike zone consistent would be good for the game. It's not fun to frequently be unhappy with the way they're calling balls and strikes.

[AceWrigley]

3 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

This is in my head now.

Your fault... Thank you

Yeah, the coldest winter I experienced was the summer I spent in Duluth.

[blindeke]

Great team win!

[Guest]

What "phased" me most this morning was learning that Michael A. Taylor has a brother named Matthew who also plays for the Twins.

Do you need a proofreader?

[Guest]

2 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

The box is a little bit of a problem for showing balls and strikes because it's a flat plane rather than a 3D box of the strike zone. Home plate is big enough that a pitch can dip into or out of the strike zone and not always be reflected on the basic window they show on screen. And they've also said on the broadcast that what they show on screen isn't the exact zone that umpires are evaluated on (probably in part because the umpires are evaluated on a 3D box rather than a flat plane as well). The ones where it's tight on the border but look low or outside or whatever don't bother me much, so long as it's consistent. The ones where it was always 3-5 inches off the plate and they call it a strike drive me crazy.

Consistency is the most important thing, which is why I'm ready to go with the electronic zone. We still need a home plate umpire to handle the oddball stuff, keep the game going if the technology fails, resolve balks, tags, foul tips, etc. but giving them the electronic assist to keep the strike zone consistent would be good for the game. It's not fun to frequently be unhappy with the way they're calling balls and strikes.

Well said.  Would you be able to direct me to a site that describes how the electronic zone is set up and calibrated?  I don't understand for example how any electronics would measure a batter's letters and knees.  

[twinfan]

Winder was the hero yesterday with his great relief. But have you ever seen a strike zone so poorly called (or not) in that game? At least both sides had to suffer (or get the breaks). I almost always side with the umpires but yesterday was ridiculous. Was it because he didn't have his own mask? Who knows. And as far as umps having too much to do, maybe. But the rule about hitters having to be looking at the pitcher is just dumb (IMHO). It's the hitter's responsibility to be ready.

And as far as Rocco's decision to PH Jeffers, that was a no-brainer. If a manager makes a move and it works, he's a hero. If it fails, he's a bum. I judge a manager more by who he plays and what the lineup is. Our lineups are generally all over the place though they have gotten better lately. Also, a decision to try to move (bunt) a runner over into scoring position and other strategies will factor into how I judge a manager.

[Karbo]

2 hours ago, terrydactyls said:

There wasn't the technology years ago for anyone to truly know how good or bad the umpiring was.  For all we know, the umpiring may have improved.  But maybe that's why baseball was more fun back in the old days.

Another dif is in the "old" days you had American or National league umps. Pitchers and catchers in particular would have a better sense of their tendencies. Whether they called high or low or in or out pitches.