Twins 20, Guardians 6: Twins Bats on Fire, Bury Guardians in Series Opener

[Theodore Tollefson]

Royce Lewis made history, Pablo Lopez returned to form, and the Twins made many a loud noise with their bats to take the first of three games in Cleveland Monday night. 

Image courtesy of David Richard, USA Today

Box Score
SP: Pablo Lopez  6 IP, 8 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K (89 pitches, 57 strikes (73% strikes))
Home Runs: Jorge Polanco (12), Royce Lewis (11), Carlos Correa (17), Joey Gallo (21), Kyle Farmer (9), Matt Wallner (11)
Top 3 WPA: Royce Lewis .225, Jorge Polanco .202, Pablo Lopez .082

Win Probability Chart 

Something Out of a Video Game
Royce Lewis already had back-to-back games a week ago with grand slams and found himself in a spot to make history Monday night. Aside from Alexei Ramirez in 2008, no other MLB rookie has hit four grand slams in a season.

Unbeknownst to Lewis, he could become the second player in the history of the game to meet that moment, and he did. 57th career game, bases loaded, two out, and Lewis hammers a 92 mph fastball to the left field bleachers. 6-0 Twins. 

Then in the top of the sixth, he had the chance to become the first player ever with five career grand slams in 60 or fewer career games. Lewis did not hit a grand slam but still had a two-run single to put the Twins up 11-1. This marked the first six RBI game in Lewis’s career. 

His four grand slams came under half the time that it took the next fastest guy to the same number of slams in his career. Rudy York had played in 132 career games back in 1937 with the Detroit Tigers before he had his fourth grand slam. Lewis did it in 56 games. 

Lewis's six-RBI game was the first for any Twin in 2023 and the first rookie to do so in two seasons when Ryan Jeffers did it in 2021 in a 17-14 loss to the Tigers on July 28, 2021. 

Twins make Giolito look lackluster in his Guardians debut
After doing all they could to ensure they had the best pitchers available from Thursday’s waiver wire madness, the Guardians sent their newly acquired start Lucas Giolito to the mound.

Giolito has had hit-or-miss success against Minnesota in his career. The first inning showed some signs of that with Jorge Polanco hitting a solo home run to put the Twins up earl 1-0. Giolito regained his composure from there and held the Twins from scoring any more runs following a Royce Lewis single.

The second inning was a different story entirely. Giolito struck out the first two batters, and he had an 0-2 count in Ryan Jeffers. The Twins catcher worked a walk. Then Giolito gave up a single, and walked two more batters giving Polanco an RBI walk. Lewis came up again with the bases loaded and made it 6-0.

Surprising to all, Giolito stayed in for the third inning and the Twins didn’t stop their home runs raining on his parade there. Carlos Correa led the inning off with a solo home run, his first since August 25. 

The Twins added two more runs from a Ryan Jeffers RBI double and Willi Castro sacrifice fly. Giolito threw 75 pitches to get through the gauntlet and the Twins had a 9-0 cushion with his early departure. 

Lopez Gives Bullpen Much-Needed Rest
Lopez didn’t pitch without a lead Monday night and with the game becoming more and more a blowout victory each inning, he didn’t need to be in full ace form.

Lopez did not have a single inning in the game where he faced the minimum number of hitters as the Guardians rallied for eight hits and their sole run on a Jose Ramirez RBI triple in the bottom of the third. 

On top of the hits surrendered, Lopez was also lacking in strikeouts compared to previous starts. Lopez hadn’t had a start with fewer than five strikeouts since September 10, 2022, when he only recorded two in 3 2/3 innings. Monday night he had three over six innings falling one short of getting his 200th of the year. 

Position Players Give Twins Late Inning Batting Practice
The Twins put this game out of reach from the Guardians in the first three innings. But like the Twins, their bullpen had also been taxed in their previous series, leaving bullpen options limited for them Monday night. 

Following a scoreless fifth, Guardians reliever Enyel De Los Santos gave up two walks and a single to give Lewis the bases loaded once more. Lewis tagged his two-run single to put the Twins up 11-1. 

Terry Francona took De Los Santos out of the game, but he didn’t bring in another arm from the bullpen. He waived the white flag by putting catcher David Fry on the mound. The Twins rallied for two more runs before Fry got three outs in the sixth.

The seventh became a slugfest with the righty on the mound. Rocco Baldelli pulled his lefties off the bench and they delivered. Joey Gallo slugged a two-run homer to put the Twins up 15-1, then three batters later, Kyle Farmer hit a three-run homer to double the Twins lead from Giolito’s last pitch and make it 18-1. 

Even in the ninth inning the Twins weren't done. Matt Wallner took a swing straight out of batting practice to a meatball from Fry to extend the lead 20-3. 

Other Notes
Brent Headrick had the seventh inning and started the eighth. Even with an extensive lead he still gave up two runs and struggled with his command of the strike zone. His one walk wasn’t the main issue. He hit two batters that led to warnings being given out by the umpires. 

While he gave his fellow relievers some rest, hitting two batters and throwing 46 pitches to get three outs wasn’t enough to keep him in to get any more outs. Dylan Floro came in out of the bullpen and retired the side from there. 

The ninth inning saw the strangest defensive alignment from the Twins all year. Up 20-3, newly-minted father Willi Castro was on the mound, Donovan Solano moved over to third and replacing him at second was Christian Vazquez. While 17 runs is a comfortable lead, Castro gave up hits and walks left and right that allowed the Guardians to score two runs before he got the first out. 

What’s Next? 
The Twins play the second of three games in their critical finale series of the year against Cleveland. Sonny Gray will make the start for the Twins against the Guardians Tanner Bibee.

Postgame Interview 
Coming soon.

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

View full article

[BH67]

It's just one win...but what a statement in achieving it. Now 7-4 in this stretch against Cleveland and Texas. Great opportunity to finish off Cleveland by winning Tuesday and Wednesday. 

[LastOnePicked]

I have a very strange feeling. It's like the opposite of pessimism. I can't remember what it's called, but it's good. It's very, very good.

Win the series, boys. Go get at least one more in Cleveland. Don't let up.

[Tibs]

When the Twins score 20 runs, I think to myself "yes"

[IndyTwinsFan]

6 minutes ago, Tibs said:

When the Twins score 20 runs, I think to myself "yes"

... and do something similar to this more often, please. 

(Not necessarily 20 runs, but even half of that more than just occasionally would be more than acceptable.)

[IndianaTwin]

Spot Lopez 20 runs, and he’s tough to beat. 

[GCTF]

Are the Twins unbeaten in team history when they score 20 or more runs in a game? If so, they may have found the key to success.

[mikelink45]

Lewis is looking like the player we have dreamed of the last three seasons - how great is this!  

Hard to give credit to the HRs off Fry, but better than Ks.

Lewis has been more than a hitter - he has provided an energy the team really needed.  

So now we are glad Giolito did not get by the Guardians and get taken by the Twins.  But we do have to see one of our next round of RP replace Headrick.  He is not ready for post season.  

[Althebum82]

With every start as the season progresses Lopez has shown how important it was for the Twins to acquire him.  Arraez is truly special, but a quick look at across the river (along with the signings of Solano and Farmer) shows how much infield depth this franchise has which made Arraez expendable.  Even Steer and ES were expendable, unfortunately the expected return for giving them up didn't pan out like Lopez has.

[Danchat]

This game is going to be the answer to some very odd Twins trivia questions in the future...

Nice to see the offense erupt. Better to get hot at the end of the year after being ice cold the first half of the season rather than vice versa.

[DJL44]

Royce Lewis is now tied for 10th for career grand slams by a Twin with Rod Carew, Bob Allison and Shane Mack. Killebrew is #1 with 10 Grand Slams. Single season record is six (Hafner 2006 & Mattingly 1987). Single season record for a rookie is 4 - Alexei Ramirez 2008.

[Fat Calvin]

Here's a comment from a Guardians fan site game thread today: "Nothing like a royal ass whooping to cleanse the soul!"

[9moons27]

Lopez shakey for second straight game. And Headrick-Yikes!

[darwin22]

As others have noted---this counts as only 1 win.  Resounding....yes, but still counts as 1.  

Need Gray tomorrow night and Ryan Wednesday afternoon to pitch effectively into the 6th inning and beyond.  

Hopefully our hitters will review their recent performance against Bibee in which they got his pitch count up to 90 after 5 IP.  

Get your rest boys and come out hungry tomorrow night!

[adjacent]

I know it was a whooping for the ages. But what do you think about putting a position player to pitch..in the sixth inning! Less that 2/3 of the game. I know Francona is a great manager, and I understand why he did it. But to me that is kind of disrespectful to the people who pay their tickets to see a major league game. 

[ashbury]

Mrs Ash and I attended a AAA game in Reno last night in which the score was 13-0 after three innings.  Glad the Twins decided to take a page from that same playbook, to go up by a couple of touchdowns before letting the opponents do much.  How many sacks did the Twins defense manage to accumulate?

[mnfireman]

Cleveland's social media department at least has a sense of humor...

https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2023/09/05/guardians-post-epic-tweet-in-regards-to-pitching-availability-after-big-loss-to-twins

[stringer bell]

The Twins can really take a stranglehold on the division with another win, but today's victory pretty much makes both the current road trip and a fifteen game gauntlet a success. Given the season-long frustration of not quite putting series and opponents away, it won't surprise me if they return home with only a four-game lead.

[UK Twin]

Win one of the next two and the job's all but done. Hard to see Cleveland making up 6 games when we have the A's, Rockies, Angels, White Sox and Mets to play. Hopefully Correa will rub a large amount of salt into the Mets very large wound when they come to Target Field. 

Hard not to be very excited about Royce Lewis. Ever since he got called up to the Twins for the first time, he's hit Major League pitching. For someone who is technically still a rookie to thrive in the big situations as much as he has is incredible. 

[UK Twin]

4 hours ago, adjacent said:

I know it was a whooping for the ages. But what do you think about putting a position player to pitch..in the sixth inning! Less that 2/3 of the game. I know Francona is a great manager, and I understand why he did it. But to me that is kind of disrespectful to the people who pay their tickets to see a major league game. 

TBH I'm fine with it. The game as a contest was long done. It's unfortunate for the fans to see such a one sided contest but that is sport for you. I must admit I had to laugh at Rocco bringing Willi Castro on to pitch in the 9th. Talk about rubbing salt into the wound!

[Fat Calvin]

5 hours ago, adjacent said:

I know it was a whooping for the ages. But what do you think about putting a position player to pitch..in the sixth inning! Less that 2/3 of the game. I know Francona is a great manager, and I understand why he did it. But to me that is kind of disrespectful to the people who pay their tickets to see a major league game. 

How do you feel about a guy like Gallo teeing off on the position player's lobs in the top of the 9th to pad his home run total when the score was already 18 to 3?  Don't seem very sportin.

[wabene]

5 hours ago, 9moons27 said:

Lopez shakey for second straight game. And Headrick-Yikes!

C'mon man, how's about one positive post? Just one.

85 pitches, 6 innings of 1 run ball. Only a few strikeouts and quite a bit of traffic against a lineup that doesn't strikeout. B+. 

[Karbo]

Time for MLB to make a change to the rule about position players pitching. Maybe not before 8th inning and even then not unless you're down by 10 or more? I understand why Francona put him in but it became a joke of a game in the 6th? And Rocco also putting Castro in the 9th? IMO it just was a mockery.

[Doctor Wu]

9 hours ago, adjacent said:

I know it was a whooping for the ages. But what do you think about putting a position player to pitch..in the sixth inning! Less that 2/3 of the game. I know Francona is a great manager, and I understand why he did it. But to me that is kind of disrespectful to the people who pay their tickets to see a major league game. 

I'm not a fan of using position players for mop-up duty in these sort of blowouts, but in this instance I especially hate the way it was done by Cleveland, using their catcher to pitch 4 full innings!? Honestly, I hope that Cleveland is fined for doing that. I understand the "strategy" by Cleveland, but that doesn't make it any more tolerable. And if you resort to doing stuff like that, and if I'm the Twins, why not try and hit more home runs!

[Doctor Wu]

2 hours ago, Fat Calvin said:

How do you feel about a guy like Gallo teeing off on the position player's lobs in the top of the 9th to pad his home run total when the score was already 18 to 3?  Don't seem very sportin.

I say, more power to Gallo and anyone else in the lineup who wants to hit homers. Cleveland is basically giving up by using their catcher to pitch a few innings, so I'd go ahead and take advantage of the situation. It's still a real game. 

[Jeff D.]

Winning this first game of the series was huge. While it looks bright for the Twins to actually win this poor division, it is no guarantee. 

One thing is clear. Royce Lewis is a STUD!

 The second clear thing is that while I am never sure of where he is strongest defensively, (probably second), Jorge Polanco is a clutch STUD!

Twins Geezer................out!

GO TWINS!

[bighat]

Remember when Miguel Sano hit a grand slam a few years ago to shut the door on Cleveland and essentially clinch the division for the Twins? That Royce Lewis slam kinda had that same feeling. 

Nice statement win. Get these next 2 and we can hit the cruise control button. 

[CRF]

Big win. It was especially nice to see Giolito get shelled! I hope they saved a little in the tank for Gray today. It would be great to get him a win, they way he's been pitching. I know what Tito was doing yesterday, but it's still ridiculous to have a position player pitching in the 6th inning! That shouldn't be allowed. In any event, let's get a couple more wins out in Cleveland! 

[insagt1]

Well so nice to see that Gallo can at least hit a lob ball. His HR was meaningless.

But I hope they saved some runs off real pitching for tonites game. A series win would just about do it for the division.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

6 hours ago, Karbo said:

Time for MLB to make a change to the rule about position players pitching. Maybe not before 8th inning and even then not unless you're down by 10 or more? I understand why Francona put him in but it became a joke of a game in the 6th? And Rocco also putting Castro in the 9th? IMO it just was a mockery.

The rule is “down 8 runs you can pitch with a position player at any time, up 10 you can pitch with a position player in the 9th”.

Edited September 5, 2023 by Richie the Rally Goat
Corrected runs down