Make it Official! Twins 6, White Sox 3: Willi Whacks Twins to Victory

[Ted Schwerzler]

Joe Ryan got some early breathing room, and while the Chicago White Sox attempted to claw back, the Minnesota Twins made sure to keep piling on and never let this one become much of a game. Their modest three-game winning streak is a season-best.

Image courtesy of © Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score
SP: Joe Ryan 6.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 8 K (92 pitches, 60 strikes, 19 whiffs)
Home Runs: Willi Castro (2)
Top 3 WPA: Max Kepler (.178), Willi Castro (.156), Christian Vazquez (.103)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Austin “Only Doubles” Martin
With Joe Ryan cruising through the first two innings for the Twins, including striking out the side in the 1st inning, Minnesota got to Garrett Crochet in the 2nd inning. Thanks to an egregious strike zone from Laz Diaz, Carlos Santana drew a leadoff walk. Austin Martin then doubled, his fifth in a total of just 12 hits, and Rocco Baldelli’s squad had runners on second and third with no one out. Christian Vazquez and his 14 OPS+ stepped in and blooped a single that just barely scored Santana from third.

Willi Castro has struggled to get the bat going this year, and after Kyle Farmer went down flailing while being given an extra strike, the Twins shortstop stepped in. He connected for his second dinger of the year, and it was a birthday banger. The three-run blast made it a 4-0 game for the Twins and they had Chicago on the ropes early.

Ryan Jeffers reached on an infield single looking to keep it rolling, but Byron Buxton struck out and Manuel Margot grounded out softly to end the inning. A sizeable lead is something that Ryan definitely will sign up for though, and he had breathing room against the worst team in baseball.

White Sox Get Ryan
Ryan has been the Twins' best starter this season, and he’s picked up strikeouts in droves. What he has also done, and what was previously a problem, is giving up the long ball. Kevin Pillar was victim number one on Wednesday, and after getting Braden Shewmake on strikes, Korey Lee tagged him for a second solo shot in the 3rd inning. Very quickly, after jumping out to a four-run lead, Minnesota had their lead halved.

Back on for the 4th inning, Ryan came for vengeance. Although he allowed an Andrew Benintendi double, strikeouts of Eloy Jimenez, Andrew Vaughn, and Paul DeJong gave him the side again. Through four innings of work, the Twins starter had seven strikeouts.

Shewmake dropped down a one-out bunt in the 5th inning to give the White Sox a runner and advanced to second on a walk. Stealing third while catching Ryan napping, Vazquez then threw through to second with Danny Mendick striking out and Shewmake came home. In an inning that Ryan largely nibbled, Chicago had made it a 4-3 game.

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Kepler Keeps Cruising
With the White Sox turning to Deivi Garcia in relief of Crochet, the Twins brought on the platoon bats and looked to add on. Manuel Margot got Crochet for a double before the pitching change, and it was Max Kepler driving him in on a blooper that had a .060 expected batting average. DeJong couldn’t come up with the catch going out from short and Minnesota made it a 5-3 game.

Vazquez kept his good night rolling, and another single pushed him to 3-for-3 allowing Kepler to make third base. Farmer has been nothing short of a colossal disappointment and while he swung at a pitch that bounced in the left-handedStewart batter’s box, the wild pitch generated an RBI when Kepler raced home to give the Twins a 6-3 lead.

After Matt Bowman took over for Ryan in the 7th inning, Minnesota went back to work against Tim Hill in the bottom half. Kepler got his second double on a blooper that again should have been caught, but it was enough to chase the reliever from the game and bring on Dominic Leone for Chicago. Vazquez, Farmer, and Castro went down on strikes to end the inning.

Bullpen Locks it Up
Despite not having some of the expected horses in relief to start the year, Baldelli has seen his bullpen perform admirably. There was more of that tonight as Matt Bowman came on for Ryan in the 7th inning and worked three outs on just six pitches. Brock Stewart then took over in the 8th inning, and he continues to be one of the greatest success stories for the franchise over the past two seasons. His strikeout of Mendick was something that appeared to redefine the laws of gravity.

After warming up for extras and not being needed last night, Griffin Jax came on in a save opportunity Wednesday. Looking to nail down his third of the season, he was set to face Chicago’s 5-6-7 hitters. Getting a fly out to start the inning and a ground out on the next batter, Jax made quick work of the White Sox hitters with DeJong stepping in as the game's final out. Grabbing the strikeout, Jax gave the Twins their first three-game winning streak of the season and set up a four-game sweep on Thursday.

Notes
The Twins could be getting their starting shortstop back in the next few days. While Carlos Correa has been dealing with an intercostal strain, it seems he may be on the fast track for a return. Minnesota heads out on a road trip beginning Friday, and they travel to both Los Angeles and Chicago. He could rejoin the team without a rehab assignment according to reports.

Closer Jhoan Duran worked Tuesday night for Triple-A St. Paul. While he struck out the side, he also gave up a pair of runs on four hits. Most notably though, his velocity was considerably down. Right now that doesn’t seem to be a concern. He is scheduled to pitch on Friday and could be an option for Minnesota next week.

While his late-game heroics last night were exciting, Byron Buxton continues to be an absolute problem in Minnesota’s lineup. With three strikeouts tonight, he now owns a 28/1 K/BB on the season. This article is dated, but the strikeouts have been a problem for some time now.

What’s Next? 
Finishing out the four-game series against the Chicago White Sox with a matinee on Thursday, the Twins will head out on the road. Simeon Woods Richardson is being recalled to make the start in game four, and Ronny Henriquez is being optioned. This means Bailey Ober will start game one against in Los Angeles, and Minnesota could bring another reliever on the road. Set for a weekend series against the Los Angeles Angels, they will see old friends Miguel Sano and Aaron Hicks along with superstar Mike Trout.

Sano’s defense Wednesday against the Orioles was on display, and he has the hardest average exit velocity in baseball at the moment.

Postgame Interviews

 

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

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[FlyingFinn]

Bowman has actually been really good so far. I'm thinking SWR for Henriquez and then Duran for Funderburk next week. But when Topa comes back, so many guys don't have options (including Bowman), so who would be the odd man out...........................

[stringer bell]

Woods Richardson will pitch tomorrow. Henriquez was optioned. 

[h2oface]

Shewmake’s 5th inning was my favorite part of this whole game. Absolutely beautiful bunt, taking advantage of the Twins incessant and predictable shifting, stealing third on a careless Ryan, and scoring on the horrible throw for anything to second by Vazquez in a play some like but I hate and would never do with 2 outs (which there was at time of throw). 
 

That whole sequence was a thing of baseball beauty!

[knothole61]

Tonight's box score lists eight Twins who reside at or below Mendoza (Vasquez after a hot night rose slightly above that ignominy at .205). And even in that inglorious group Farmer stands out glaringly with his .067 average and 297 (!) OPS. He's a likable man and deserves much credit for coming back from the horrendous HBP he endured, but allowing him to continue to take MLB at bats at this point is cruelty. Sad but true...  

[D.C Twins]

Looks like CWS are going to do their best Washington Generals impression this year in the MLB!

[Althebum82]

Great video find on the Sano fielding play!  

Yeah, at this point it is hard to envision this White Sox team achieving a forty win season.

Everybody wants to see a healthy CC on the field.  In this day and age it is pretty uncommon to have a player return without a rehab assignment, but sadly even a rehabbing CC at this point is an upgrade to what has been happening to the left side of the Twins infield without him (even with the birthday boy bash acknowledgement in this game).

[UK Twin]

I'm not sure Buxton is an issue TBH. Sure, he's striking out a ton, but his BA is heading in the right direction and when he gets hits around half are going for extra bases (19 hits this season - 9 for extra bases). His last 7 games, while striking out 9 times, he's hitting .333/.357/.630. I'll take the K's if he can keep up those numbers. 

Nice birthday game for Willi, Kepler is on a tear since returning from the IL. And Correa's return looks imminent. Good stuff.

[Mark G]

Too bad we don't play the '62 Mets.....oops......the CWS 19 times a year anymore.  An awful lot of our guys are looking a lot better this week; will it carry over when the Mets.....crap.....the White Sox aren't on the schedule until July?  Let's hope so.  

[Patzky]

5 hours ago, stringer bell said:

Woods Richardson will pitch tomorrow. Henriquez was optioned. 

Friday?

[FlyingFinn]

21 minutes ago, Patzky said:

Friday?

SWR goes today (Thursday) and Paddack on Friday.

[UK Twin]

54 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

SWR goes today (Thursday) and Paddack on Friday.

Ober on Friday I think you meant!

[Patzky]

54 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

SWR goes today (Thursday) and Paddack on Friday.

Thanks.. wonder why they moved him up? 

[jmlease1]

Farmer looks completely lost at the plate right now. Just a brutal slump. I don't think he's completely forgotten how to play baseball or had his skills utterly wiped out by age yet, but right now he's so far inside his head that he desperately needs some kind of reset. If Correa were back I'd say it's time for the 10 IL stint with a "sore back". Maybe some naked BP. Throw yourself in the laundry machine with your uniform on. Call in someone to cast out the demons & evil spirits (I know a guy, Kyle!). Anything to get him out of his head. This is painful, and he's a good dude.

The dingers from Ryan are concerning, but as long as he's not putting guys on in front of them, it can be managed. But that's a bit of a tightrope. He's still getting plenty of K's, so it's pretty clear that he just gets punished hard for his mistakes. But he still got through 6.

Bullpen has been good. We thought it would be a strength and they're doing well. Bowman...the results have been good, but some of the underlying numbers make me a little concerned. Stewart and Jax, though: no worries there. Looking forward to adding Duran back to the mix so they don't get overused though.

[Riverbrian]

7 hours ago, h2oface said:

Shewmake’s 5th inning was my favorite part of this whole game. Absolutely beautiful bunt, taking advantage of the Twins incessant and predictable shifting, stealing third on a careless Ryan, and scoring on the horrible throw for anything to second by Vazquez in a play some like but I hate and would never do with 2 outs (which there was at time of throw). 
 

That whole sequence was a thing of baseball beauty!

Agreed... Hat tip to Shewmake. He created a run out of thin air.

Ryan and Miranda were both not focused. It's the only way he can swipe third without a throw to the plate. Two players were asleep. If Miranda is at the bag. He's probably still out. If Ryan is focused... it's a run down. 

The double steal of home? That works like a charm at the little league level. It should be properly defended by the time players reach the high school level. At the major league level. With the arm strength and talent... it just shouldn't happen. 

[weneedneshek]

6 hours ago, knothole61 said:

Tonight's box score lists eight Twins who reside at or below Mendoza (Vasquez after a hot night rose slightly above that ignominy at .205). And even in that inglorious group Farmer stands out glaringly with his .067 average and 297 (!) OPS. He's a likable man and deserves much credit for coming back from the horrendous HBP he endured, but allowing him to continue to take MLB at bats at this point is cruelty. Sad but true...  

Agreed, unfortunately we'll have to wait for a healthy Lewis/Lee for him to get bumped

[Doctor Gast]

CWS is just what the doctor ordered. I have expected more from the bottom of the order (Castro, Vazquez & Farmer) so I was happy to see Castro & Vazquez having great nights. I'm very concerned with Farmer, tonite against an easy LHP, Farmer should have hit the snot out of ball instead he SO 3Xs. Something is broken, the Twins need to find out what happened & fix it! The Twins are still striking out way too much with only 1HR to account for it. Ryan's HRs are still a concern. Wish SWR well tonight, Go Twins!

Thanks for that Sano clip. I'm still marveled at how quick Sano is for being such a big man. I've been very hopeful that Wash'll help correct Sano. Sano is close to the top team OBP. I wish him well but hope LAA loses against us.

[stringer bell]

8 minutes ago, weneedneshek said:

Agreed, unfortunately we'll have to wait for a healthy Lewis/Lee for him to get bumped

Talking about disappointing veterans would have to start with Farmer and Santana. Farmer and Santana would both have to have over 100 at-bats at their lifetime average to get to the Mendoza Line for the season.

 

[Jocko87]

42 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

Farmer looks completely lost at the plate right now. Just a brutal slump. I don't think he's completely forgotten how to play baseball or had his skills utterly wiped out by age yet, but right now he's so far inside his head that he desperately needs some kind of reset. If Correa were back I'd say it's time for the 10 IL stint with a "sore back". Maybe some naked BP. Throw yourself in the laundry machine with your uniform on. Call in someone to cast out the demons & evil spirits (I know a guy, Kyle!). Anything to get him out of his head. This is painful, and he's a good dude.

The dingers from Ryan are concerning, but as long as he's not putting guys on in front of them, it can be managed. But that's a bit of a tightrope. He's still getting plenty of K's, so it's pretty clear that he just gets punished hard for his mistakes. But he still got through 6.

Bullpen has been good. We thought it would be a strength and they're doing well. Bowman...the results have been good, but some of the underlying numbers make me a little concerned. Stewart and Jax, though: no worries there. Looking forward to adding Duran back to the mix so they don't get overused though.

Farmer being injured or hurting might make alot of sense. He looks lost on both sides of the ball and is much better on defense than we have seen. If he's fighting something but not on the IL because they just need warm bodies it would explain a lot, possibly including why Castro is playing short over him.

[bighat]

Can't complain, as a fan and a team you have to take these wins. 

With the hole the Twins have dug themselves, a sweep is a must to continue to build a bit of momentum. The White Sox are historically bad. It looks like several AAA teams might be better than them this year, I don't think that's a stretch. 

Good to see Correa's coming back soon. Would love to see Woods-Richardson pitch 6 scoreless today. 

[stringer bell]

Five wins in the next seven (against 3-21 WSox and 10-15 Angels) would lift the Twins to .500. They will face a bunch of left handed pitching (two of three starters for the Angels and Crochet again for the Sox) so the right handed platoon will be called on. Margot, Santana and Farmer will have opportunities to break out of it. Less play for Larnach and Kirilloff for sure and it wouldn't surprise me if Kepler and Julien get a start or two vs. a lefty.

[FlyingFinn]

2 hours ago, Patzky said:

Thanks.. wonder why they moved him up? 

Any time the Twins have a chance to slide Paddack back, they will do it. They are concerned about his total innings for the year after hardly pitching for two years.

Edit: Scratch the above. It's Ober who got moved back. Not sure, maybe the Sox will be easier for SWR?????

[JD-TWINS]

1 hour ago, Doctor Gast said:

CWS is just what the doctor ordered. I have expected more from the bottom of the order (Castro, Vazquez & Farmer) so I was happy to see Castro & Vazquez having great nights. I'm very concerned with Farmer, tonite against an easy LHP, Farmer should have hit the snot out of ball instead he SO 3Xs. Something is broken, the Twins need to find out what happened & fix it! The Twins are still striking out way too much with only 1HR to account for it. Ryan's HRs are still a concern. Wish SWR well tonight, Go Twins!

Thanks for that Sano clip. I'm still marveled at how quick Sano is for being such a big man. I've been very hopeful that Wash'll help correct Sano. Sano is close to the top team OBP. I wish him well but hope LAA loses against us.

I agree that Farmer has been well below expectations……,however, Crochet hit 98 a couple times - decent slider - 90-92mph change-up……other than Castro’s HR & Martin’s double, not a lot of balls punished by the rest of the group.

There’s hope. F. Lindor hit .104 his first 14 games - on fire now. Farmer needs a couple hits to get his mind right, for sure.

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

If this team can be .500 and within 4-5 games of the Guardians on May 1st - after the injuries and brutal offense, I'd say things look decent going forward.

[JD-TWINS]

2 minutes ago, Twins_Fan_in_NJ said:

If this team can be .500 and within 4-5 games of the Guardians on May 1st - after the injuries and brutal offense, I'd say things look decent going forward.

If they are .500 at the end of May I’d be OK with it ……58-57 in mid-August last year. Gotta get Lewis back by mid-June and other guys out of their collective Funk through May.

Buxton is a key…….he seems to be warming!

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

1 minute ago, JD-TWINS said:

If they are .500 at the end of May I’d be OK with it ……58-57 in mid-August last year. Gotta get Lewis back by mid-June and other guys out of their collective Funk through May.

Buxton is a key…….he seems to be warming!

Yup. The division is definitely better than last year so the Twins will need to keep pace. Looking at Cleveland, not sure how they're doing it. They could stumble soon.

Agreed on Buxton. He's one of those guys that when he gets it going, gives the team such a shot in the arm. 

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

14 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

Any time the Twins have a chance to slide Paddack back, they will do it. They are concerned about his total innings for the year after hardly pitching for two years.

Edit: Scratch the above. It's Ober who got moved back. Not sure, maybe the Sox will be easier for SWR?????

I was really surprised that Paddack almost hit 100 pitches the other night especially because the game was in hand. 

[wabene]

2 hours ago, Patzky said:

Thanks.. wonder why they moved him up? 

 

28 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

Any time the Twins have a chance to slide Paddack back, they will do it. They are concerned about his total innings for the year after hardly pitching for two years.

Edit: Scratch the above. It's Ober who got moved back. Not sure, maybe the Sox will be easier for SWR?????

Maybe the Twins actually learned from watching Bundy and Archer go back to back and burn the pen. Put the reliable Ober in between your two least reliable starters to hopefully give the pen a break. If they all pitch well even better. With the current competition they've got a great chance.

[USAFChief]

1 hour ago, Jocko87 said:

Farmer being injured or hurting might make alot of sense. He looks lost on both sides of the ball and is much better on defense than we have seen. If he's fighting something but not on the IL because they just need warm bodies it would explain a lot, possibly including why Castro is playing short over him.

Posted the same in game thread a few days ago. There's got to be a reason he's not playing SS.

[TouchEmAllGuy]

Solid game last night, I told my wife Willi would get a birthday bomba!

 

Bullpen has been fantastic this year! Getting Duran back will only make it stronger. Let's go streaking!