Guardians 2, Twins 1: Twins Denied Sweep as the Offense Stalls

[Thiéres Rabelo]

Despite an hour-long rain delay, Twins pitchers managed to limit the Guardians to only two runs. However, Minnesota’s offense never really showed up, and Cleveland avoided the sweep.

Image courtesy of Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score
Starting Pitcher: Joe Ryan, 4.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K (89 pitches, 60 strikes, 67.4%)
Home Runs: none
Bottom 3 WPA: Max Kepler (-.177), Jorge Polanco (-.139), Carlos Correa  (-.139)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

A rain delay likely takes a toll on Ryan’s start
Looking to continue his return to form, Joe Ryan took the mound this afternoon after having posted a 1.64 ERA in his two starts since coming off the Injured List. However, things didn’t look promising for him to begin this game. Though he kept Cleveland off the scoreboard in the first, it took him 28 pitches to conclude the inning.

Ryan gave up a leadoff ground-rule double to Andrés Giménez, and the Guardians second baseman would wind up scoring after moving to third on a flyout and being driven in by a Will Brennan single. Fortunately, for the first portion of the game, that was all the damage Cleveland was able to do against Ryan.

Meanwhile, the offense was having a tough time finding its groove against rookie Gavin Williams. It was a tall order for the bats to maintain the same kind of productivity they’ve had in the first two games of the series – but you also wouldn’t expect them to look so uninspired.

Williams no-hit Minnesota’s offense through four, and all Twins hitters could muster were three walks in that span. Granted, the Guardians' defense made a pair of impressive defensive plays during the second inning that might’ve stolen a run from Minnesota.

The game went into an hour-long rain delay with two outs in the bottom of the third, but both starters remained in the game. Williams was all over the place when he returned to the mound, but home plate umpire Paul Clemons made a few really wild strike calls in the top of the fourth, allowing Williams to catch a big break.

The bottom of the fourth would be Ryan’s last frame, as his pitch count continued to rise. Giménez and Brennan teamed up to score another run for Cleveland, with the former hitting a one-out single and the latter pushing his teammate across with a two-out double.

Williams’ no-hit bid continued in the fifth, but Willi Castro’s leadoff walk would come back to haunt him. During Ryan Jeffers’ at-bat, Castro stole second for his 30th stolen base of the season, the most by any Twin since 2012 (Ben Revere, 40). He becomes the ninth Twin in history to steal at least 30 bases in a season. Andrew Stevenson hit a grounder to left to drive in Castro and put the Twins on the board.

Varland has a hot start, but bats can’t come alive
Making his first big-league relief appearance and first big-league appearance overall since mid-June, Louie Varland looked as solid as ever. He delivered three perfect innings on only 30 pitches, throwing 70% strikes and striking out two. But things changed in the bottom of the eighth, as he gave up a leadoff single, followed by a walk and his departure from the game.

Kody Funderburk came into the game, and he managed to retire the side, making it four innings of scoreless ball provided by the Twins bullpen. However, the great relief effort wasn’t enough for Minnesota. Since Stevenson’s RBI single in the fifth, the offense went 1-for-11 heading into the top of the ninth. Then, reliever Emmanuel Clase had no trouble against the cold Twins bats, retiring the side on only ten pitches.

Postgame interview

What’s Next?
The Twins have a day off on Thursday (Sep 7), and they head back home to begin a weekend set against the New York Mets at Target Field. The series opener is scheduled for Friday (Sep 8) at 7:10 pm CDT, with Dallas Keuchel (1-1, 5.06 ERA) toeing the rubber for Minnesota and Kodai Senga (10-7, 3.08 ERA) making the start for New York.

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	SAT	SUN	MON	TUE	WED	TOT
Headrick	15	0	46	0	0	61
Varland	0	0	0	0	43	43
Pagán	24	0	0	12	0	36
Funderburk	9	14	0	0	11	34
Jax	7	0	0	17	0	24
Floro	8	0	14	0	0	22
Durán	21	0	0	0	0	21
Thielbar	6	0	0	10	0	16
Winder	6	5	0	0	0	11

View full article

[mikelink45]

Nice job by Varland.  I think he is going to be a difference maker.  

Wallner has been sitting to close to Gallo - make contact!!!!

11 Ks by this team on its crash course to a new strikeout record.

[Matt Braun]

Hate to see any loss but I think we’d all take winning 4 of 6 in Texas and Cleveland 

[stringer bell]

51 minutes ago, Matt Braun said:

Hate to see any loss but I think we’d all take winning 4 of 6 in Texas and Cleveland 

A longer look back show the Twins going 8-7 while playing first-place Milwaukee and then Texas and Cleveland both home and away. Not great, but good enough to keep a nice lead and enjoy a softer part of the schedule. They still play Tampa Bay (at home) and Cincinnati (on the road), but the rest of the teams have losing records and are looking to 2024.

[CRF]

I said before the road trip that I thought we'd have to go at least 3-3. It sure would've been great if we swept Cleve, but going 4-2 is fine with me.

[rwilfong86]

2/3 in Cleveland isn't bad, 6 game lead with 22 to play is pretty solid.

[jkcarew]

Lest anyone is gnashing their teeth over this loss…

1. The Twins are too far ahead with too few games remaining and the schedule is very soft. They’ll win the division.

2. If the club totally collapses over the final 22 games despite an ultra soft schedule, the failure would be epic…and at that point, they’re not at all deserving, and we look forward to the lottery.

3. The Twins are going to win the division.

[BH67]

So it's practically a five-and-a-half game lead for the Twins with 22 games to play. Cleveland now heads to Anaheim for four against the freefalling Angels, of which they should win at least three -- but series against San Francisco, Texas, Cincinnati and Baltimore remain ahead for them.

Meanwhile, these Twins don't appear to be watching scoreboards. A great two-week run has revealed a justifiable team optimism in the final days of the regular season. The division title is a matter of when, not if.

[spanman2]

4-2...well done!!!

[wornsmooth]

Is it a bad sign that Joe was lifted so early?

Pitch count? or did he tweak something?

[Shaitan]

2 minutes ago, wornsmooth said:

Is it a bad sign that Joe was lifted so early?

Pitch count? or did he tweak something?

Rain delay.

[Fatbat]

Nice to see Duran get a week off for much needed rest. Varland looked like a beast today. Sweep the Mets this weekend and we will be getting some national respect. 

[darwin22]

5 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

Nice job by Varland.  I think he is going to be a difference maker.  

Wallner has been sitting to close to Gallo - make contact!!!!

11 Ks by this team on its crash course to a new strikeout record.

On pace...with 22 games left.....to end regular season with 1663 whiffs, which would topple the 2021 record set by the Cubs of 1596.

With recent play...8-5 record vs. TX and CLE over the 13-game stretch that I thought would be worse, I'm choosing to remain optimistic.  

[Aerodeliria]

Sometimes, you just gotta tip your hat to the other guys...

[Jocko87]

Would have loved to get a sweep but all hail meatloaf. Enough was done.

The buried headlines are the story today. Varland a smooth 99 out of the bullpen is a big deal. As he get comfy he can have more leverage and take load off the back of the pen in less crucial games down the stretch.  Also good news on Stewart and Paddack starting rehab, as far as I know.

Julien is a natural born first baseman. It's is proclaimed. Seriously though, Julien at first unlocks so many lineup possibilities and really renders Gallo redundant. For real this time. Or maybe when Kirrilloff comes back. Maybe.

[DuluthRoots]

I was living in the Philadelphia suburbs in 1964. Phillies had a 6 1/2  game lead with 12 games left. And did not win the pennant. So I have no confidence yet, only hope, that we make the playoffs.  Oh, and then WIN AT LEAST ONE GAME.

[William K Johnson]

I think the league has figured Julien and Wallner out.    Kiriloff goes back to first this weekend and Solano goes back to DH.

[Patzky]

8 hours ago, wornsmooth said:

Is it a bad sign that Joe was lifted so early?

Pitch count? or did he tweak something?

Probably an hour plus rain delay made it inevitable. I was surprised he came back out for the 4th.

[Doctor Wu]

Great to see Castro get his 30th stolen base of the season. But as was noted, that's the most for a Twin since Ben Revere stole 40 back in 2012! That's a lot of years!

[Doctor Wu]

8 hours ago, Fatbat said:

Nice to see Duran get a week off for much needed rest. Varland looked like a beast today. Sweep the Mets this weekend and we will be getting some national respect. 

I sure the hope the extra rest will help the unleash the beast in Duran. We will need him in top form if we make the post-season. 

[CoastiePilot08]

Great series. It’s over for Cleveland. 
 

if twins play .500 the rest of the way, Cleveland has to go 17-5. Not gonna happen. 
 

time to rest/recover for some guys and sort through the playoff pitching staff. 

[insagt1]

Would have loved a sweep but 2 of 3 is very acceptable. Twins still strike out way too much but realistically...lets say they go 11-11 in their final 22 games. For Cleveland to steal the division they would need to go 17-5. I could see Twins playing .500, but I can't picture any scenario having Cleveland win 17 of 22.

I could see them winning 4 from the Angels. But I also could see Twins sweeping the hapless Mets too.

In the writeup Ben Revere was mentioned. Haven't remembered much about him lately. He seemed to be on the way to a very nice career, but somehow it got derailed fairly early. Doesn't appear to be injuries. And with the exception of this last year, he was always around .300 with tons of speed. Did he just sort of lose it? Anyone have any background on this guy? He played briefly for the Red Wings just before coming up to the Twins.

[wabene]

1 hour ago, William K Johnson said:

I think the league has figured Julien and Wallner out.    Kiriloff goes back to first this weekend and Solano goes back to DH.

Julien and Wallner can adjust and break out of slumps. The question is will they? This is the same with any player, as they say it's hard to get to the bigs, but even harder to stay there. This will determine whether they are solid regulars or better going forward. One thing with Julien is he tends to take close pitches for strike three. Now this is tough. He has a good eye and being a rookie maybe isn't getting the calls he might get when more established. Does he keep doing what he is doing? Does he maybe adjust his 2 strike approach and just put those pitches in play?

 

[tony&rodney]

1 hour ago, William K Johnson said:

I think the league has figured Julien and Wallner out.    Kiriloff goes back to first this weekend and Solano goes back to DH.

The goal of offense is to score runs. Julien and Wallner have senn their batting averages drop but still have high on base numbers in September. Additionally, both are proving very difficult for pitchers, having long at bats which wears down opponents. Getting into bullpens because of long at bats has proven to be pretty successful for the Twins and Julien and Wallner have been good at having prolonged at bats. I do agree that it would be nice to see both guys hit for a higher average though. 

[Peter]

I’ll take 4-2 road trip! With 6 game lead with 22 left. Twins did what they needed to do! Let’s sweep the Mets!

[Blyleven2011]

St Paul saints  ...

I know this is only AAA  Baseball  but lately  they have had alot of clutch hitters and score a ton of runs , especially in their second half  ...

Twins have improved some in the clutch hitting department with Lewis and Polanco leading the way  ...

Today was an off day at hitting  ( 2 hits )  , a 2 to 1 loss wasn't so bad , Cleveland could have smoked us ...

Twins did out score the Cleveland team in the series ...

[tarheeltwinsfan]

2 hours ago, Patzky said:

Probably an hour plus rain delay made it inevitable. I was surprised he came back out for the 4th.

I was also surprised  Ryan came back to pitch the 4th. I am not worried about Ryan pitching poorly after an hour's delay, rather I am concerned about possible injury to Ryan in that scenario.  What did Ryan do during the hour delay? 

[Patzky]

1 hour ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

I was also surprised  Ryan came back to pitch the 4th. I am not worried about Ryan pitching poorly after an hour's delay, rather I am concerned about possible injury to Ryan in that scenario.  What did Ryan do during the hour delay? 

I was also surprised the Cleveland starter Williams came back. Maybe they played toss under the stands.

[IaBeanCounter]

You could make a strong case that Francona decision to pitch Fry in the first game probably won this game for Cle.  If RP pitchers had been used for 4 innings.  The Twins would have been more familiar with them and they may have been tired yesterday.   Didn't like the Fry pitching, but it was within the rules and may have allowed Cle to salvage a game. 

[JD-TWINS]

17 hours ago, wornsmooth said:

Is it a bad sign that Joe was lifted so early?

Pitch count? or did he tweak something?

Weather delay?