Make it Official! Twins 6, White Sox 5: Minnesota Resolve Walks it Off

[Ted Schwerzler]

After an ugly start to the game, and a troubling start by ace Pablo López, the Minnesota Twins continued to battle and came through last with a walkoff victory. Trevor Larnach, Byron Buxton, and Alex Kirilloff showed that the fight is definitely in them.

Image courtesy of © Matt Blewett-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score
SP: Pablo Lopez 4.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K (76 pitches, 45 strikes, 5 whiffs)
Home Runs: Trevor Larnach (2), Byron Buxton (1)
Top 3 WPA: Byron Buxton (.506), Alex Kirilloff (.243), Ryan Jeffers (.209)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Welcome Back Kep
Pablo Lopez toyed with walking Nicky Lopez to lead off the game but ultimately battled back from 3-0 and got him to ground out for the first out of the game. Stretching the strike zone against Eloy Jimenez, the Twins ace had his first strikeout. Still yet to give up a walk in the first inning, Lopez has walked just four this season.

After Alex Kirilloff fanned on some Erick Fedde splitters, and Edouard Julien watched the strike zone stretch against him, the recently returned Trevor Larnach grabbed his second double of the season. In scoring position with two outs for Max Kepler, the right fielder picked up where he left off last night. His single to center made it a 1-0 game. Byron Buxton doubled to give Minnesota runners on 2nd and 3rd, but Willi Castro couldn’t cash them in.

Pablo Hits a Wall
Fedde continued to keep Twins hitters off balance, and while Minnesota was up 1-0, he had racked up six strikeouts in just three innings while walking none. Danny Mendick started the fourth inning with a single before giving him a pair of bases on an overthrown pickoff attempt. Walking Gavin Sheets put runners on the corners before Ely Jimenez stepped in. A hanging breaking pitch that sat close to middle-middle got deposited into the left field seats and Chicago had a 3-1 lead.

While the temperature dropped following a pregame rain, it may have been the culprit for Lopez struggling to find his typical stuff. After working at 94-95 mph during the first three innings, he had dropped to 92-93 mph in the 4th inning. Walking Andrew Vaughn following the home, the Twins starter had added a quick pair of walks to his otherwise slim season total.

With pitches mounting and a serious lack of effectiveness in his stuff, Rocco Baldelli got Kody Funderburk up with sights on bailing out Lopez. Getting a gift of a strike-three call against Dominic Fletcher, Lopez ended up striking out the side, but he was now at 76 pitches and looking anything but his dominant self.

Fedde Flusters Twins
After being non-tendered by the Washington Nationals in 2022, the former top-100 prospect took his talents to Korea. Posting a 2.00 ERA in more than 180 innings, he seemed to find something that worked. Pitching for the White Sox this season, he came in with a 3.10 ERA despite a 5.98 FIP.

Through four innings Tuesday against the Twins, Fedde looked every bit the dominant starter Washington once hoped he would be. Allowing three hits in the first inning, he then shut it down from there and racked up eight strikeouts while walking none. Minnesota got out to an early lead but then seemed to lose their way against the Chicago starter.

Meanwhile, Lopez saw his night come to a close after just four innings and 76 pitches. His 38-pitch 4th inning did him in, but throwing a 91.9 mph fastball for his last pitch is something to monitor. That’s well below his 95.2 mph average this season and was the slowest pitch he has thrown in a Minnesota uniform.

Still on in the 6th inning, Fedde continued to stymie the Minnesota lineup. With 11 strikeouts, he had set a new career high, and getting the Twins to consistently go down in order seemed like something of a breeze. On top of whiffing like crazy, the Twins had drawn no walks despite Fedde coming in with nine free passes across 20 1/3 innings this year.

Santana Comes Through
Despite looking like an absolute corpse in the batter’s box all season, and being fooled mightily for the second strike of his 7th-inning at-bat, Carlos Santana brought the Twins back within one. After a Buxton bloop single and a 90-foot advancement on a wild pitch, the Minnesota first baseman lined a ball to the left-center gap. Buxton raced home and Santana pulled into second with his second double of the season. Kyle Farmer stranded him there, but Minnesota was in the White Sox bullpen and had shown some signs of life.

Unfortunately, Chicago immediately wiped away Minnesota's resurgence in the top of the 8th inning. With Steven Okert starting another inning, Danny Mendick recorded his first double of the season to open the frame. Baldelli countered with Jay Jackson, who got Robbie Grossman on a flyout before pitching around Jimenez to set up the double play. Striking out Andrew Vaughn, he was one out from escaping danger, Andrew Benintendi came through with a two-out single to bring home both Mendick and Jimenez making it a 5-2 game.

Larnach Launches
With Michael Kopech coming on in relief for the White Sox, Minnesota was forced to face velocity out of the bullpen to claw back. Christian Vazquez greeted him with a single to start the inning, and it was Larnach who launched a big fly to again make it a one-run game. Getting an opportunity with Matt Wallner struggling, Larnach is looking to make this the season he can harness his power and stick at the major league level. While the book against him has been about struggling with breaking pitches, Larnach handles velocity just fine. He turned around a 99 mph fastball and sent it into the outfield seats.

Facing Steven Wilson in the 9th inning, it took Buxton just two pitches to tie the game up. Swinging on the second pitch of his at-bat, he ripped a 110.5 mph laser down the line that left in a hurry. Hitting the netting on the foul pole, Buxton's first home run of the season came at a necessary time for Minnesota.

After a Santana walk, Ryan Jeffers pinch hit for Farmer and blooped an excuse me swing into left field in front of Benintendi. The White Sox outfielder wasn't able to get there and the Twins had runners on second and third. Austin Martin took over at third base for Santana, and Christian Vazquez stepped in with one out and an opportunity to walk it off. Wilson got him swing and it was on the shoulders of Alex Kirilloff to send Minnesota home happy. Working a 3-1 count, he sent a base hit through the right side and allowed Martin to scamper home walking it off for the victory.

On a night where little went right early, Minnesota made their luck and came through late.

Notes
Jhoan Duran was officially assigned to the St. Paul Saints on Tuesday to begin a rehab stint. The hope would be that he could throw a few days this week and join the major league team for the first time this season by sometime next week. Justin Topa, who was the key big-league piece in the Jorge Polanco trade, progressed to throwing against live hitters today and should be nearing a rehab assignment soon.

What’s Next? 
The Twins continue with their series against the Chicago White Sox and play a third-night game on Wednesday. With Joe Ryan taking the ball for Minnesota, he will be opposed by strikeout machine Garrett Crochet.

Postgame Interviews

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[singlesoverwalks]

Was that not a bit of brainlock on Rocco's part when he chose NOT to pinch-run for Santana when he was standing on first with one out in the bottom of the ninth? (Sorry to be a spoilsport.)

[Parfigliano]

22 minutes ago, singlesoverwalks said:

Was that not a bit of brainlock on Rocco's part when he chose NOT to pinch-run for Santana when he was standing on first with one out in the bottom of the ninth? (Sorry to be a spoilsport.)

I thought so.

[Parfigliano]

Even with TC in strike out machine mode the CWS still managed to find a way to lose.

[mikelink45]

Thankfully we were playing the White Sox.  It is hard to celebrate a victory over this AAA team (am I putting them too high?  Should it be AA?) when we struggled in so many ways.  

Loving Larnach doing so well. But 169 Castro batting sixth?  What am I missing?  And 149 Santana batting seventh???????????????

Of course we had them followed by Farmer .073 and Vasquez 150 so I guess it makes sense?

[stringer bell]

6 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

Thankfully we were playing the White Sox.  It is hard to celebrate a victory over this AAA team (am I putting them too high?  Should it be AA?) when we struggled in so many ways.  

Loving Larnach doing so well. But 169 Castro batting fourth?  What am I missing?  And 149 Santana batting fifth???????????????

Of course we had them followed by Farmer .073 and Vasquez 150 so I guess it makes sense?

You have your batting order out of whack. Castro was hitting sixth, followed by Santana, Farmer and Vázquez (aka Mirderer’s Row). 

[Linus]

Just hope Pablo is ok. 91 mph fastball at the end doesn’t sound good. 

[GNess]

The Chisox are clearly the worst team in MLB right now.  But the Twins trying tø shake off a case of April fogginess need some W's to get right regardless of the suckitude of the opponent.

[mikelink45]

6 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

You have your batting order out of whack. Castro was hitting sixth, followed by Santana, Farmer and Vázquez (aka Mirderer’s Row). 

I am so excited by our lineup I can't count - of course Julien (200) is second where the best hitter on the team is positioned. And 143 hitting Kepler is fourth.  But with the team hitting like it is, who can you bat?  

[Parfigliano]

7 minutes ago, GNess said:

The Chisox are clearly the worst team in MLB right now.  But the Twins trying tø shake off a case of April fogginess need some W's to get right regardless of the suckitude of the opponent.

Yup.  Need to run up the W's against bad teams

[RpR]

49 minutes ago, GNess said:

The Chisox are clearly the worst team in MLB right now.  But the Twins trying tø shake off a case of April fogginess need some W's to get right regardless of the suckitude of the opponent.

A pitcher from the suckitude team struck out 11 Twins batters.

[Ted Schwerzler]

2 hours ago, singlesoverwalks said:

Was that not a bit of brainlock on Rocco's part when he chose NOT to pinch-run for Santana when he was standing on first with one out in the bottom of the ninth? (Sorry to be a spoilsport.)

Didn't get that either. And then to pinch run for him at 3B?

[h2oface]

Pablo Day Lopez now with 3 really ugly starts and 2 very good ones. Bonafide Ace? Well, we need one. The Twins are so desperate to have one, they crown 'em way too early. April ERA now 5.49, 4.39 for the season. He made the 3-19 White Sox look pretty good. So far the so called "off" days are more common than good ones. He hasn't been able to string 2 good ones in a row, yet.

Twins need to keep winning. The 3 above them are. Exciting walk-off.

[UK Twin]

4 hours ago, singlesoverwalks said:

Was that not a bit of brainlock on Rocco's part when he chose NOT to pinch-run for Santana when he was standing on first with one out in the bottom of the ninth? (Sorry to be a spoilsport.)

In the end it turned out to be a good call as he read Jeffers' hit perfectly and got to third, allowing Jeffers to get to second (removing the ground ball double play from the equation). I don't think anyone would have scored from first on that hit. A bad read would have meant runners on first and second.

[UK Twin]

Bit of an ugly win, but it's always fun to walk off the White Sox! And that would have been a CRUSHING loss for them. Larnach looks like he's got a point to prove - Wallner may struggle to get back on the team for a while. 

Buck's found his swing as well. That HR left in a hurry! 

Slightly concerning about Pablo's FB velocity dropping, Hopefully he just wasn't feeling it.

[CRF]

Definitely concerned about Lopez. Hopefully, he's ok. Ugly win...gotta beat these guys. Despite Rocco's genius managing, we pulled it out. Go get another one tonight with Ryan on the mound. 

[jmlease1]

Lopez having a rough game against the ChiSox was the worst part about this game. We need him to be good and he wobbled pretty badly against a team he could have gotten well against. Hopefully it's more about the weather than anything else, because we're a bit thin in the rotation with Varland having been (deservedly) sent down.

Offense scratched it through late, but the lack of walks in this one is the bad signal for me. 14Ks against 1 BB is not a good formula, but they were able to bunch their 10 hits together enough to get it done. Larnach is certainly seizing his opportunity, which is good to see and Buxton looks like he's heating up as well. And Jeffers certainly has picked up where he left off from last season, which is huge. Hopefully they can hold it together until Correa and Lewis get back.

Sands seems to have found something this season. Still small samples, but he really does seem legitimately better. Okert & Jackson have been underwheming but it's still early. Funderburk got it done, but I'm a little concerned about how hittable he's been. the big K numbers aren't as impactful when you're also giving up a hit every inning; hopefully that's just sample noise.

No style points, but a win is a win and we're not in a position to question how we're getting them right now. It's not like you get extra credit in the standings for making it pretty!

Bet parking was a mess last night with the Wolves playing at the same time across the street.

 

[Riverbrian]

7 hours ago, Ted Schwerzler said:

Didn't get that either. And then to pinch run for him at 3B?

I was a little confused as it happened. The only thing I can think of is that he was doing some preparation for the 10th. 

Keeping Santana's defense and Martin to replace a slower ghost runner.

Once Santana reach third with less that two outs making them a fly ball or well placed groundball from not needing a 10th. He then pinch ran Martin taking Santana out. 

Which leads to the next question. Letting Vazquez hit.?

Jeffers has already entered the game when he pinch hit for Farmer. Jeffers could remain in the game at catcher.

Martin has the best strikeout percentage on the team. Could have left Santana at third and put your best contact dude at the plate when contact was needed and a strikeout is the absolute worst thing. 

Ok... he uses Martin to pinch run... justifiable... baseball is a game of inches. 

Then his choice is Vazquez or Miranda. Margot is not an option because he is going to need a 3B and 1B to play defense with Farmer and Santana out of the game and Margot shouldn't pinch hit against right handers period. 

He chose Vazquez over Miranda pinch hitting. I'm not complaining just pointing out what his choices were. 

Once Vazquez strikes out... If Kirilloff doesn't come through. The 10th... with Farmer and Santana out of the game. Martin would have to play 3B. Miranda would have to enter as the 1B unless Rocco's elects to let Vazquez of Jeffers play 1B.

Not complaining... just pointing out that the hand he was dealt in the ninth could have been played multiple ways. 

 

[Jocko87]

Larnach doesn't hit many cheap home runs, does he?  WPA doesn't reflect but that was the play of the game. Two runs are obviously nice but at that moment the Pale Hose reverted to a 3-19 team.  It was up to the Twins to not screw it up after that.

As for Pablo, he was at roughly the single inning pitch limit they pull everyone at. Hoping nothing more. He didn't have it, but then the long inning took whatever was left.

[Riverbrian]

I find it interesting that our 5th starter in the rotation Paddack can throw a shut out followed by #1 starter Pablo Lopez struggling so we go to the bullpen early and have to rally from a 3 run deficit. 

The thing that is interesting about that is that their numbers don't suggest these outcomes. Lopez should have shut out the White Sox. If we need to rally from 3 runs down in the final two innings... that should have occurred on Paddack's watch. 

We watch the opposite happen because this sort of thing happens all the time in baseball and yet we don't take notes because we still post like beating the White Sox is no accomplishment. Like we better beat the White Sox. 

A win is a win... there are major league players competing against us at all times... can we please not diminish our victories. We haven't had enough of them to have people ruining the few we have with their spit. 😁

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

9 hours ago, Parfigliano said:

I thought so.

I always laugh when the camera zooms in on Rocco and he's just staring into space - doesn't seem to be connected to the game at all. Not pinch running Martin immediately after the walk is further proof of that. How does it happen?

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

8 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

I find it interesting that our 5th starter in the rotation Paddack can throw a shut out followed by #1 starter Pablo Lopez struggling so we go to the bullpen early and have to rally from a 3 run deficit. 

The thing that is interesting about that is that their numbers don't suggest these outcomes. Lopez should have shut out the White Sox. If we need to rally from 3 runs down in the final two innings... that should have occurred on Paddack's watch. 

We watch the opposite happen because this sort of thing happens all the time in baseball and yet we don't take notes because we still post like beating the White Sox is no accomplishment. Like we better beat the White Sox. 

A win is a win... there are major league players competing against us at all times... can we please not diminish our victories. We haven't had enough of them to have people ruining the few we have with their spit. 😁

Something that struck me as strange is when Rocco said it was 'conviction' issue with Pablo. What the hell does that mean? I get the guy getting tired especially after throwing a lot of high-leverage pitches in the 4th. Maybe he wasn't trusting his stuff or something. Either way, odd word choice.

[wabene]

2 minutes ago, Twins_Fan_in_NJ said:

I always laugh when the camera zooms in on Rocco and he's just staring into space - doesn't seem to be connected to the game at all. Not pinch running Martin immediately after the walk is further proof of that. How does it happen?

Perception is reality I Guess.

[rv78]

Like a blind squirrel finding an acorn once in a while, the Falvine approach of "all or nothing" worked this time. Larnach's and Buck's HR's saved them.

[stringer bell]

43 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

I was a little confused as it happened. The only thing I can think of is that he was doing some preparation for the 10th. 

Keeping Santana's defense and Martin to replace a slower ghost runner.

Once Santana reach third with less that two outs making them a fly ball or well placed groundball from not needing a 10th. He then pinch ran Martin taking Santana out. 

Which leads to the next question. Letting Vazquez hit.?

Jeffers has already entered the game when he pinch hit for Farmer. Jeffers could remain in the game at catcher.

Martin has the best strikeout percentage on the team. Could have left Santana at third and put your best contact dude at the plate when contact was needed and a strikeout is the absolute worst thing. 

Ok... he uses Martin to pinch run... justifiable... baseball is a game of inches. 

Then his choice is Vazquez or Miranda. Margot is not an option because he is going to need a 3B and 1B to play defense with Farmer and Santana out of the game and Margot shouldn't pinch hit against right handers period. 

He chose Vazquez over Miranda pinch hitting. I'm not complaining just pointing out what his choices were. 

Once Vazquez strikes out... If Kirilloff doesn't come through. The 10th... with Farmer and Santana out of the game. Martin would have to play 3B. Miranda would have to enter as the 1B unless Rocco's elects to let Vazquez of Jeffers play 1B.

Not complaining... just pointing out that the hand he was dealt in the ninth could have been played multiple ways. 

 

Or he could lose the DH and put Kirilloff at first. I think in one of the recent telecasts, Provus quoted Rocco as saying that Martin would be an option at third, but behind Farmer, Miranda and Castro.

If Martin isn't trying to steal a base, I think it is defensible to not pinch run until Smooth got to third base. Third base with one out would likely have the contact play on for ground balls and the extra step or two that Martin might provide could be the difference between out and safe. Pretty much the same thing on a fly ball and with the second out being recorded, sending the runner on a 50-50 play or less is likely. 

[wabene]

7 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Or he could lose the DH and put Kirilloff at first. I think in one of the recent telecasts, Provus quoted Rocco as saying that Martin would be an option at third, but behind Farmer, Miranda and Castro.

If Martin isn't trying to steal a base, I think it is defensible to not pinch run until Smooth got to third base. Third base with one out would likely have the contact play on for ground balls and the extra step or two that Martin might provide could be the difference between out and safe. Pretty much the same thing on a fly ball and with the second out being recorded, sending the runner on a 50-50 play or less is likely. 

Stringer you are one hip old dude, lol.

[Blyleven2011]

Buxton had a good night at the plate , larnach also was a huge contributor  and kiriloff with the game winning clutch hit  ...

The bright side might be right around the corner ... 

[stringer bell]

11 minutes ago, wabene said:

Stringer you are one hip old dude, lol.

With my recent joint replacement I kind am a “one hip dude”. 😁

[Guest]

9 hours ago, Linus said:

Just hope Pablo is ok. 91 mph fastball at the end doesn’t sound good. 

48 degrees at time of first pitch.  Almost anyone's arm muscles (except Fedde's apparently) would stiffen in that.  Too dam cold to play ball at night.

[Peter]

Who cares if it’s white sox-it’s a huge win and very important one!!! We need to follow this up with sweep of sox and start winning series along with winning baseball/getting over .500 and reclaiming division lead. Let’s go Twins!!!