Twins 6, Astros 2: Pablo Lopez Provides Ace-Level Performance, October Correa Leads Offense and Defense

[Steven Trefz]

Pablo Lopez broke "The Streak" last week. Tonight, he was tasked with breaking the serve of the defending champions on their home turf. It was just another Pablo Day in paradise, as the Twins delivered the runs early and often. Here's how the series-evening victory went down.

Image courtesy of Erik Williams, USA Today

Box Score:
Starting Pitcher: Pablo Lopez - 7 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K (105 Pitches, 69 Strikes, 66%)
Home Runs: Kyle Farmer (1)
Top WPA: Lopez (.261), Carlos Correa (.192), Kyle Farmer (.118)
Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs):

The Twins came into Sunday evening's matchup with the defending World Series Champion Astros looking to end the next steak: a nine-game road playoff losing skid dating back to 2004 at Yankee Stadium. The right man for the job was on the mound in streak-breaker Pablo Lopez. The Twins' resurgent offensive attack against left-handed pitching was locked and loaded, with Carlos Correa feasting on lefties in his post-season career (.937 OPS career) Kyle Farmer (1.240 OPS against lefties over the past 20 games) in particular licking their chops with Framber Valdez on the mound for the Astros

Cashing In Early...and Often!
The crowd at Minute Maid Park was looking to get rocking yet again Sunday night, but due to an MLB decision the roof was open and there would be no resonating echoes this evening. If that didn't dampen the crowd's excitement, the Twins offense soon did. Valdez was all over the zone to start the top of the first inning, and Donovan Solano and Royce Lewis couldn't make solid contact. Luckily Jorge Polanco let Valdez's wildness garner him a walk, and Carlos Correa sat on a curveball to give the Twins their first lead of the series at 1-0.

In Game 1, Jose Altuve and Yordan Alvarez controlled the game offensively. Tonight, Pablo Lopez took the early lead and endured a first inning that featured a lead-off bunt single by Jose Altuve and a "I thought it was gone!" fly out to right field by Yordan Alvarez. After one inning it was still 1-0 Twins.

In the top of the second inning, Willi Castro ripped a single up the middle under the legs of Valdez. With the speedy Castro at first, Valdez should have paid more attention to the batter in the box, Kyle Farmer. Farmer took a first pitch sinker that didn't sink, and launched it up where fielders don't exist for a 2-run shot! 3-0 Twins!

Things Settle Down, and Quiet Down
Both starting pitchers won their battles in the third and fourth innings. Brilliant defense from Jeremy Pena snuffed out a potential Polanco hit, and a slick double play by Farmer and the Twins helped to keep the respective offenses at bay in the third. The Astros drew a walk and got a two-out single from Michael Brantley in the fourth to get runners at the corners and Chas McCormick up as the tying run. After getting squeezed on the strike zone throughout the inning. Lopez decided that a swinging strike three would be indisputable.

Time to Blow This Game Wide Open
The top of the fifth inning started with Valdez pitching to Michael A. Taylor. After he blooped his way to first base, Solano went opposite field for another single. Polanco dropped a bunt to advance the ducks on the pond, and Royce Lewis walked to load the bases with one out. Correa came to the plate with a chance to exorcise a season's worth of bases-loaded demons. And he delivered!

That two-run single chased Valdez from the game, and the Astros brought in right-hander Phil Maton. On Maton's first pitch, Ryan Jeffers attempted a safety squeeze bunt. The curveball caused Jeffers to pull the bunt, Lewis was caught off third base in no man's land, and Twins Territory freaked out with every twist and turn that he took as he attempted to elude the pickle of his own making. Lewis got tagged out at home, appeared to stave off more injury to insult, and the Twins failed to score again as Farmer missed that same curveball for a swinging strike out on a full count with the bases loaded. Hopefully cashing in a few runs, but not all of the runs, wouldn't come back to bite the Twins.

The Astros Have a Good Shortstop Too, but it's Pablo Day
The reason the Astros allowed Correa to walk into free agency last season has a name and it's World Series MVP Jeremy Pena. Pena led off the bottom of the fifth inning with a rocket off of the top of the wall in left-center for a double. Lopez found great joy in the fact that Martin Maldonado was up next, and he retired him without allowing Pena to advance. Altuve popped up weakly to Polanco at second, and Alex Bregman swung and missed to send a pumped Pablo and the Twins into the late innings. In fact, Lopez took his shutout through seven full innings, silencing the most potent offense since the All-Star break and setting up the Twins for victory.

Lewis Flies, Correa Rakes, and the Twins Add Runs
No lead feels safe in Houston, and the Twins didn't let off the gas or the pinch-hitting pressure in the late innings. Correa continued to clobber the ball, driving another shot off of the wall to move Lewis to third with a double in the top of the seventh inning. After Jeffers took one for the team, Castro struck out looking at what he and most of the Twins dugout considered to be a ball. With two outs, Edouard Julien pinch hit for Farmer, and the rookie delivered with a single to right which plated Lewis, but got Correa caught out at home on a laser throw from Kyle Tucker. 6-0 Twins.

Time to Bring this Series Home
The Twins players and coaching staff stated over and over how much the Target Field environment helped lead them to victory in the Wild Card round. Heading home tied 1-1 in the ALDS was the goal, and it was up to Brock Stewart to take care of business in the eighth. Unfortunately for Stewart, Alvarez is a beast, and he delivered a two-run opposite-field home run to tighten the score to 6-2. This forced Rocco Baldelli's hand in the ninth, and he put in Jhoan Duran to leave no doubt that the Twins would leave Houston victorious. 1, 2, 3, ballgame.

Twins Win! They head back to Target Field with a chance to win the series at home, and *Twins Territory plans to do their best to make it so.

What's Next
Game 3 pits Twins RHP Sonny Gray (1-0, 0.00 ERA) against Astros RHP Cristian Javier (0-0, 0.00; 10-5, 4.56 ERA in regular season). First pitch is scheduled for 3:07pm CDT for the next greatest sporting event in Twins history.

Postgame:

 

 

Bullpen Usage Chart:

	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN	TOT
Maeda	0	0	0	43	0	43
Stewart	13	0	0	0	22	35
Thielbar	4	0	0	18	0	22
Durán	13	0	0	0	7	20
Paddack	0	0	0	19	0	19
Varland	17	0	0	0	0	17
Jax	15	0	0	0	0	15
Pagán	0	0	0	14	0	14
Funderburk	0	0	0	0	0	0

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[BH67]

I wondered if Pablo López gave Rocco Baldelli the scowl à la Jack Morris to let him pitch the 7th.

I then realized my error. He scowled at Derek Falvey instead.

[IndianaTwin]

Lopez threw three pitches with two runners on base:

• Strike 1 (foul).
• Strike 2 (called). 
• Strike 3 (swinging). 

And then Mr. McCormick returned to the dugout. 

 

(Those were also the only three pitches he threw with a runner on third.)

[D.C Twins]

Another game to confirm what we ALL on TD have UNIVERSALLY espoused right from the beginning... The Lopez trade and Correa signing were genius! (no need to go review the archives....I said NO NEED!)

[Eephus]

Pablo cruised. The Lopez/Gray 1-2 is looking so strong right now.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Correa was great, and Lopez was dominant. 🙂

My not so small nitpick was that squeeze play and forcing Lewis to make a play running on that bad hammy, and he was actually forced into a rundown. Ouch. On the other hand, Rocco let Lopez go 7, which was wonderful.

We’ve got a series! 

[FlyingFinn]

Great postgame comment by Rocco - Lewis is running better. That explains why we tried the Jeffers bunt. Wonder if the Twins play Lewis at 3B on Tuesday..........

[Aerodeliria]

This is great. I wanted Farmer in Game 2 regardless of who was on the mound because Kirilloff was looking a bit overwhelmed yesterday. 

I said to myself (and probably half of Twins Nation) that losing two in a row in Houston would result in a very quick exit, but now, the Twins are in this fight.

I couldn't watch either of the games here in Japan, but I'll be cheering on Wednesday (Tuesday evening in US) albeit delayed (I have to work).

I couldn't see Julien's hit on any highlight reel...

[Aggies7]

Going on the road and beating the defending champs in a must win game, and doing it relatively stress free. That’s something. 

[dxpavelka]

22 minutes ago, D.C Twins said:

Another game to confirm what we ALL on TD have UNIVERSALLY espoused right from the beginning... The Lopez trade and Correa signing were genius! (no need to go review the archives....I said NO NEED!)

I fear you may not like what you find.

[Squirrel]

We head home 1-1 so it essentially is now a 3-game series and we have home field advantage

[dxpavelka]

4 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

Great postgame comment by Rocco - Lewis is running better. That explains why we tried the Jeffers bunt. Wonder if the Twins play Lewis at 3B on Tuesday..........

The real question is why no obstruction on the catcher when he didn't have the ball and Lewis had to run around him to get past him?

[tony&rodney]

8 minutes ago, Aerodeliria said:

I couldn't see Julien's hit on any highlight reel...

Line drive single to right field. The outfielder made a good play and the throw was on the money to nail correa at the plate. Tucker is a gold glove outfielder, but it was a good send too. Nice swing by Julien. i hope he brings his A game on Tuesday.

[Fat Calvin]

11 minutes ago, Aerodeliria said:

This is great. I wanted Farmer in Game 2 regardless of who was on the mound because Kirilloff was looking a bit overwhelmed yesterday. 

I said to myself (and probably half of Twins Nation) that losing two in a row in Houston would result in a very quick exit, but now, the Twins are in this fight.

I couldn't watch either of the games here in Japan, but I'll be cheering on Wednesday (Tuesday evening in US) albeit delayed (I have to work).

I couldn't see Julien's hit on any highlight reel...

Me too.  I couldn't watch the games either because I'm also in Japan.  Where are you, Aerodeliria?  I live just outside of Nagoya.

 

[tony&rodney]

5 minutes ago, dxpavelka said:

The real question is why no obstruction on the catcher when he didn't have the ball and Lewis had to run around him to get past him?

Lewis actually has to make contact with Maldonado to get that call. i think Royce was a bit flustered or he should have intentionally run into him bringing on the interference call. Without contact there cannot be a ruling of interference.

[tony&rodney]

I wondered why Baldelli did not use one of his two challenges to see if New York would rule that Correa did not have a sliding lane. He could not reach the plate without making contact with the catcher, which resulted in Carlos sliding wide and never touching the plate.

[Aerodeliria]

2 minutes ago, Fat Calvin said:

Me too.  I couldn't watch the games either because I'm also in Japan.  Where are you, Aerodeliria?  I live just outside of Nagoya.

 

Yoroshiku onegaishimasu. I am about 100 km from Tokyo in Gunma--very near to Takasaki-shi.

[tony&rodney]

Farmer had the biggest hit. That home run was huge. 

On a different note, why was Farmer playing all the way at the back skin of the infield with Altuve at the plate to start the game? That was confusing and Altuve DID notice. 

[Aerodeliria]

6 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

Line drive single to right field. The outfielder made a good play and the throw was on the money to nail correa at the plate. Tucker is a gold glove outfielder, but it was a good send too. Nice swing by Julien. i hope he brings his A game on Tuesday.

Thanks! I'm not too worried about Julien. I think with Julien, what you see is what you get more-or-less...Wallner and Kirilloff are the ones who have to really step up their games IMHO.

[FlyingFinn]

3 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

I wondered why Baldelli did not use one of his two challenges to see if New York would rule that Correa did not have a sliding lane. He could not reach the plate without making contact with the catcher, which resulted in Carlos sliding wide and never touching the plate.

I thought that originally as well. But on replay, I think the catcher closed off the lane after he caught the ball so I think it was a correct ruling.

[Jocko87]

5 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

 Without contact there cannot be a ruling of interference.

Technically it would be obstruction but either way there is no rule that requires contact. Umpire discretion rules on these calls.  Many youth sanctioning bodies will require an attempt to avoid contact for the kids safety but there is nothing in any rule book that requires contact to get a call. 

 

[Aerodeliria]

The Twins win was big. According to the strike zone provided by MLB.com, the home plate umpire was squeezing Lopez, but not Valdez and we still were able to produce some big time hits.

[tony&rodney]

Just now, FlyingFinn said:

I thought that originally as well. But on replay, I think the catcher closed off the lane after he caught the ball so I think it was a correct ruling.

I saw the same, but the new rules state that the catcher must give the runner an ability to reach the plate (a sliding lane so to speak). Either way, I thought he was out. Some of the rulings in the past two years have been bogus and I would not have been satisfied with a ruling in this case in favor of the Twins. The out call was correct. i just wondered why late in the game .... maybe Rocco asks for those guys in New York to earn their keep. There was one particularly egregious ruling last season with Gary Sanchez that cost a game.

[Aerodeliria]

27 minutes ago, Hosken Bombo Disco said:

Correa was great, and Lopez was dominant. 🙂

My not so small nitpick was that squeeze play and forcing Lewis to make a play running on that bad hammy, and he was actually forced into a rundown. Ouch. On the other hand, Rocco let Lopez go 7, which was wonderful.

We’ve got a series! 

The game I could watch this morning was Rangers and Orioles (that Bochy is one clever coach). It was interesting because Schmoltz who was the color commentator said that Bochy completely ignored the righty lefty matchup thing simply because Cody Bradford was pitching so well in relief. I guess, everyone assumed that Bradford would pitch one inning and come out, but because he looked impressive, Bochy just left him and was rewarded with 3 2/3 innings of stellar relief. He waited until Bradford tired and then replaced him. Analytics are fine and important, but what is more important is to sense the atmosphere of the game. Three cheers to Baldelli for leaving Lopez in the game.

[Hashim]

Great game by Lopez, C4, Farmer and Polanco too. I’m very happy with our team I’m just worried about the lefties and who are overmatched in this series. I hope Lopez can comeback and close out the series. I don’t know if he can pitch only on 2 days rest but we need him definitely. 

[JD-TWINS]

19 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

I wondered why Baldelli did not use one of his two challenges to see if New York would rule that Correa did not have a sliding lane. He could not reach the plate without making contact with the catcher, which resulted in Carlos sliding wide and never touching the plate.

Once you have the ball - which Maldonado did - you can be wherever you like.

[tony&rodney]

12 minutes ago, Jocko87 said:

Technically it would be obstruction but either way there is no rule that requires contact. Umpire discretion rules on these calls.  Many youth sanctioning bodies will require an attempt to avoid contact for the kids safety but there is nothing in any rule book that requires contact to get a call. 

 

You are correct. I should have stated that in MLB an umpire will nearly always require some contact.

Also, the rules for high school and youth baseball are different.

Good call on your part. I was too hasty and inexact with my language.

[JD-TWINS]

39 minutes ago, Aerodeliria said:

This is great. I wanted Farmer in Game 2 regardless of who was on the mound because Kirilloff was looking a bit overwhelmed yesterday. 

I said to myself (and probably half of Twins Nation) that losing two in a row in Houston would result in a very quick exit, but now, the Twins are in this fight.

I couldn't watch either of the games here in Japan, but I'll be cheering on Wednesday (Tuesday evening in US) albeit delayed (I have to work).

I couldn't see Julien's hit on any highlight reel...

Solano was playing, does play 1B, when Kirilloff is out. ……….Farmer took Julien’s spot in the line-up. Both playing with a LH Valdez on the mound. As usual, both contributed!

[mnfireman]

36 minutes ago, dxpavelka said:

The real question is why no obstruction on the catcher when he didn't have the ball and Lewis had to run around him to get past him?

Just re-watched this play on mlb.com game recap. Lewis had to swing way out to his right to avoid Maldonado standing in the baseline. I think if the game was closer Baldelli may have used a challenge there. 

[Jocko87]

3 minutes ago, mnfireman said:

Just re-watched this play on mlb.com game recap. Lewis had to swing way out to his right to avoid Maldonado standing in the baseline. I think if the game was closer Baldelli may have used a challenge there. 

The Correa play at the plate would’ve been a better place for a challenge.  Vanishing small chance of any challenge on a rundown as the baseline is reestablished every time the runner changes direction. The defender generally has to full body block to get called there, fielder and runner both get reasonable movements and chances to make their plays.