Twins 12, Rangers 2: Twins Bludgeon Texas in Dominant, Spicy Win

[Matt Braun]

Two Twins got ejected, the dugouts cleared, and the events weren't even related!

Image courtesy of © Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports

 

Box Score
Sonny Gray: 7 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
Home Runs: Carlos Correa (16), Edouard Julien (11), Max Kepler (21)
Top 3 WPA: Sonny Gray (.245), Matt Wallner (.200), Ryan Jeffers (.068)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Dane Dunning had nothing. He may have had less than nothing. The righty couldn’t find the strike zone if a maitre'd was there to guide him. He walked four in the inning, nearly escaping his mess by coaxing a double play from Carlos Correa, but he couldn’t quite fool Matt Wallner around; the rookie lashed a triple into the right field corner, unloading the bases with one fiery smash. Ryan Jeffers knocked in Wallner with a single.

Mitch Garver shaved off a run with a solo shot in the following frame—he will return a crucial player in our plot tonight—but Gray suffered no other damage, holding the lead intact after two.

The Twins hopped on Dunning once again. They loaded the bases once again, putting themselves in a prime position to crack the game in half. They didn’t do it. Joey Gallo went down looking after seeing a controversial (read: bad) strike call place him down 0-2. Gallo then offered a few selections from George Carlin’s famous 7 Words, and umpire Carlos Torres promptly sent him home for the night. 

The strike zone had been nebulous. Torres bailed out Dunning’s shakiness with some optimistic strike calls, pushing quite a few Twins fans to openly lament the unnecessary gifts. Rocco Baldelli soon also retired for the night when his discussion with Torres didn’t stop rising in intensity. 

The ejection was Baldelli’s 16th in his career.

The emotions of the night were far from lowering, though. When Gray faced Garver again in the 3rd, the plate appearance lasted one pitch: a fastball directly off the wallet. Jeffers had been smoked earlier in the game, perhaps as a response to his pimped go-ahead homer on Thursday, and it seemed that Gray’s choice to plunk Texas’ catcher—and a former Twin—was a response to the Jeffers beaning. The benches cleared. Not much came of it. 

And that was the peak of action for a while. Dunning found some semblance of control, enough to carry him through four sloppy frames with no further runs. 

Gray, on the other hand, was stellar. He didn’t miss as many bats as usual; instead, the veteran opted for subtle, quiet contact as his fielders worked harder than he did. The Rangers did place runners on against him—Gray wasn’t perfectly sharp—but they all walked back to the dugout with frowning demeanors. Gray threw 81 pitches. 

Oh, but the Twins weren’t done scoring runs. It seemed like they were. Their bats served up five empty innings, appearing to slip into a lethargic state perfectly ok with their first inning work. The 7th turned, though, as Correa cracked a homer to kick off the scoring, eventually leading to RBI knocks from Jeffers (he may need armor tomorrow), and Donovan Solano. Edouard Julien launched a three-run homer. And so on. 

The Rangers put in a position player in the 8th. And so on.

Cole Sands relieved Gray—that’s how safe Jayce Tingler felt with his nine-run lead—and all the Rangers could muster was an unearned run to soften the loss ever so slightly. 

Notes:

Rocco Baldelli's 16th ejection moved him into a tie for 111th all-time.

Max Kepler's 21 home runs is the second-most he's hit in a season, 15 behind his 2019 year. 

Saturday was the 4th time Sonny Gray pitched seven frames in a game in 2023. 

Carlos Correa's on-base streak extended to 16 games. 

Post-Game Interview:

 

 

What’s Next?

The Twins and Rangers will play the third game of their series on Saturday. Joe Ryan will come off the IL to make his first start since August 2nd. Max Scherzer will take Target Field’s mound for the first time since September 15th, 2014, when the future Hall-of-Famer was a Tiger. First pitch is at 6:15 PM. 

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

 

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[wabene]

Another good win against a tough team, but man the Rangers are on a skid. The team showed some fire. Some tough talk by Wallner in the post game interview with Audra, "if they want some, come get it". Lol, again the kid has got an edge to him, I like it. 

[karcherd]

Great game and performance by the Twins.  If there was ever a doubt about Kepler's reluctance to play in center tonight answered that question.  Luplow has played only 225 innings there and yet he was  the one manning center instead of Max when Gallo got tossed.  

[Schmoeman5]

Not as exciting as last night, but still entertaining. Gray gave the Twins the start they needed. The offense provided him a nice cushion in the 1st. And put it away in the 7th. They missed on a couple scoring opportunities between them, but it's hard to complain when they score 12. Hopefully they saved something for Scherzer tomorrow. Perhaps they can get past that 6 games over .500 barrier soon.

[Vanimal46]

Dominant win for the good guys. Correa is heating up alongside our rookies Wallner and Julien! 

[Jocko87]

Two days ago, the bullpen was spent, the Rangers were going to score 75 and the season was over.

Whoops, 5 innings and one unearned run from some guys named Winder and Sands the world is good again.

This team has something. I can't completely put my finger on it but it's there. Loved the scrappyness tonight and I expect to see more of it going forward.

Personally, I would not be beaning anyone in the Waller, Jeffers, Gallo section of the lineup. Not the ideal group to pick a fight with.

[IndianaTwin]

34 minutes ago, karcherd said:

Great game and performance by the Twins.  If there was ever a doubt about Kepler's reluctance to play in center tonight answered that question.  Luplow has played only 225 innings there and yet he was  the one manning center instead of Max when Gallo got tossed.  

Why weaken two positions? I’m guessing that the drop-off from Gallo to Luplow was less than the combined drop-off of Gallo to Kepler and Kepler to Luplow, particularly given that right field at Target is a little non-standard. 

[BH67]

Spicy. Dominant. Fleeting?

Is Ernest or Julio Gallo available instead?

[twins_89]

I'm a bit curious why Luplow is still in the majors, it seems like Austin Martin could provide a lot more production as a right-handed outfield bat. 

[Squirrel]

5 minutes ago, twins_89 said:

I'm a bit curious why Luplow is still in the majors, it seems like Austin Martin could provide a lot more production as a right-handed outfield bat. 

That’s the move many are clamoring for. And to think many here thought Austin Martin was done for

[Jocko87]

9 minutes ago, Squirrel said:

That’s the move many are clamoring for. And to think many here thought Austin Martin was done for

Three weeks ago Martin was a has been.  The clamoring here is the last thing in my mind. 

[Boswell]

How does Baldelli rank over the last 4 seasons?  The guy has got to be the Earl Weaver or Bobby Cox of his era…

[Nashvilletwin]

Was at Target field for the first time in about six years since my dad passed. In town to see family and friends and play some golf.

I could not have been more impressed with the entire “product” tonight. Obviously the team played a great all around game.  But everything from the stadium, the scoreboard, the greeters, the food, the fireworks, and the fellow fans made for an unbelievable night out. It was A1 entertainment.  The Twin Cities and the state are very lucky to have this team, in this facility, being led by an ownership group that clearly cares. Whether we keep the baseball guys or not next year can be a discussion for another day. Tonight was just simply a grand time out.

[USAFChief]

52 minutes ago, Jocko87 said:

Three weeks ago Martin was a has been.  The clamoring here is the last thing in my mind. 

I don't have much interest in Martin either, but I think he'd be more useful than Luplow. He could pinch run at least.

[Blyleven2011]

Is this  a psychological thing with the Twins players  .... 

They seem to lose against teams they should beat and they seem to win against teams that are better than they are  ...

Great double digit win tonight  , the rookies are performing  , Lewis , Julian and wallner are doing there part with the bats  on offense  ...

Now get kiriloff healthy and we're good to go  ...

[Althebum82]

Quite frankly Martin, Garlick, Keirsey, Stevenson, and Prato (who played OF to start the season in Wichita) are all overachieving expectations as well as infielders Hernan Perez, and Severino.  It's pretty easy to argue that at least one of these guys should have Luplow's roster spot.  In the end, most likely he will be gone when Willi Castro completes his rehab assignment and we can all go back to calling out Joey Gallo again.

[Jocko87]

7 hours ago, USAFChief said:

I don't have much interest in Martin either, but I think he'd be more useful than Luplow. He could pinch run at least.

I not out on Martin long term, happy to see signs of life but he's just as ready to contribute to the big club as Brooks Lee. As in, not.

[mikelink45]

8 hours ago, twins_89 said:

I'm a bit curious why Luplow is still in the majors, it seems like Austin Martin could provide a lot more production as a right-handed outfield bat. 

Because the FO traded for him so he has favored status, but your implication is correct - Luplow like Gallo could and should be replaced by a good young player.

[mikelink45]

Loved the game, but my off the wall take from the game was the laugh I got when Gallo, of all people, got tossed for protesting strike calls.  In the last 30 games in 65 ABs he has struck out 38 times!  Obviously this makes him an expert on strikes!  Put Taylor in CF or Austin or Celestino - not Gallo, not Luplow. 

[Peter]

Total domination!!! Keep it going let’s finish off rangers rest of series!!!

[Karbo]

31 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

Because the FO traded for him so he has favored status, but your implication is correct - Luplow like Gallo could and should be replaced by a good young player.

I think they claimed him off wavers

[DJL44]

9 hours ago, twins_89 said:

I'm a bit curious why Luplow is still in the majors, it seems like Austin Martin could provide a lot more production as a right-handed outfield bat. 

Luplow is a bench player. Austin Martin is playing every day in AAA. Do you want Martin to spend the rest of the season on the bench?

[DJL44]

59 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

Luplow like Gallo could and should be replaced by a good young player.

He will be replaced by Castro, Buxton or Kirilloff shortly. Two of those three are good, young players.

[tony&rodney]

Two good wins versus Texas. For those who wonder about why the Twins lost games to Detroit or Kansas City, note that both teams have managed to irritate a number of other good teams as well. 90 wins is more than expected for most teams which means 72 losses. MLB is a very competitive league and wins are always pretty tough to pile up. The 12-2 last night was a little unusual. It will be very interesting to see how Joe Ryan returns tonight versus the Texas bats as well as it will be fun to see how the Twins fare against a guy who always pitches with a chip on his shoulder, Max Scherzer.

[D.C Twins]

Lots of observations:

1. Julian, Lewis, and Wallner need to play every. single. day.  Jeffers probably needs to join this group playing every day being DH when not C.  They are young and clearly the spark plugs for our success. (by every day.... I mean at least 150 games a season... sporadic days off will be needed but not scheduled) 

2. Our SP has obviously been our bedrock this season

3. I still have absolutely no idea why Luplow and Gallo are on this team.

Options at AAA could not be worse, may be better, and would at least get development and provide the organization much needed information. 

4. What the hell happened to Kepler? His performance seems to have a flavor of development and not just a simple heater. 

I love to see it, but it would be interesting to know the why....

As he came up (and for probably too long after) I espoused that he would develop into a 3 hole hitter and be the heart of our offense (yep there is embarrassing documentation of this somewhere in the TD archives)....  

That is what he is hitting like now.... I know that he will not hit at this level always, but he does seem to have figured something out. 

5. Polanco is going to be one tough decision. My opinion changes almost daily :)

 

[Shaitan]

3 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

Because the FO traded for him so he has favored status, but your implication is correct - Luplow like Gallo could and should be replaced by a good young player.

This FO is hardly loyal to their waiver wire pickups. The majority don't ever put on a uniform before being re-waived.

[Shaitan]

2 hours ago, DJL44 said:

Luplow is a bench player. Austin Martin is playing every day in AAA. Do you want Martin to spend the rest of the season on the bench?

Sure (in September).

[mikelink45]

3 hours ago, Karbo said:

I think they claimed him off wavers

You are right - that makes it even more ridiculous that he bats 3 and 4 and our prospects sit in St Paul

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, Shaitan said:

Sure (in September).

I'm good with Martin coming up and sitting on the bench on September 25th when the Saints season is over.

[jkcarew]

I haven’t been a robo ump guy. Over the long run, the bad calls even out. But, man…a couple of recent games, including last night…at some point it’s embarrassing for the league and game.