Week in Review: Stringing Wins and Stinging Losses

[Nick Nelson]

The Minnesota Twins ran their longest winning streak since 1991 to 12 games before finally seeing it snapped on Sunday. They have risen from the ashes of a hideous start to firmly reassert themselves as power players in the American League.

And yet, a couple of troubling injury developments and a disastrous turn of events with the team's TV broadcast situation served to keep the good vibes in check this past week.

Image courtesy of Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

Weekly Snapshot: Mon, 4/29 through Sun, 5/5
***
Record Last Week: 5-1 (Overall: 19-14)
Run Differential Last Week: +5 (Overall: +13)
Standing: T-2nd Place in AL Central (2.5 GB)

Last Week's Game Results:

Game 28 | MIN 3, CWS 2: Twins Grind Out Win to Extend Streak
Game 29 | MIN 6, CWS 5: Durán Nails Down Save in Return
Game 30 | MIN 10, CWS 5: White Sox Buried by Late Scoring Flurry
Game 31 | MIN 5, BOS 2: Paddack Powers Twins Past Red Sox
Game 32 | MIN 3, BOS 1: López Shoves, Winning Streak Reaches 12
Game 33 | BOS 9, MIN 2: Streak Reaches an End in Sloppy Loss 

IF YOU'D RATHER LISTEN TO THE WEEK IN REVIEW THAN READ IT, YOU CAN NOW GET IT IN PODCAST FORM. FIND THE LATEST EPISODE HERE. ALSO AVAILABLE ON APPLE AND SPOTIFY.

NEWS & NOTES

In rapid succession, the Twins have been getting back key players from injuries, serving to fuel their longest winning streak in more than 30 years. Freshly activated Max Kepler was already making a huge impact before Carlos Correa returned to the fold on Monday, followed by Jhoan Durán on Tuesday. For a brief moment, the roster was beginning to look like a near-complete version of itself.

But the injury carousel continues to spin relentlessly. No sooner had Correa and Durán returned than Byron Buxton and Brock Stewart swapped into their places on the injured list with worrisome health issues. Buxton came up limping on a stolen base attempt Wednesday, experiencing soreness in his twice-repaired right knee. Stewart apparently has been dealing with a right shoulder issue, and went for an MRI. 

Neither of these are being framed by the team as grave long-term concerns. Buxton's knee has no structural damage – for what that's worth at this point – and the Twins say they want to get out front of Stewart's shoulder discomfort. But it's a bummer to see. These two bright talents have had such a hard time staying on the field over the years, and watching them out there doing their thing was a big highlight of the first month. Hopefully, the Twins are simply erring on the side of caution and these familiar hurdles can be overcome in due time.

In the roster shuffle, Austin Martin and Kody Funderburk were briefly sent down to Triple-A before quickly returning. Jorge Alcalá returned to the fold. Caleb Boushley was added to the 40-man roster and spent one day on the active roster, but didn't pitch. Matt Bowman was designated for assignment. I think that just about covers it.

HIGHLIGHTS

As you'd expect during such an extraordinary stretch of nonstop winning baseball, the Twins have been clicking on all cylinders, receiving contributions from various players and units across the roster with crisp performances night after night. 

Willi Castro has been the star of the show of late, showcasing his valuable flexibility while also going on an absolute tear at the plate. Freed up from everyday shortstop duties by Correa's return, Castro went back to his versatile roving defensive role, making starts at third base, left field and center. He appeared at multiple positions in four of six games, and needless to say, his ability to handle center is especially handy with Buxton going down.

Offensively, the switch-hitter went 9-for-24 with two doubles, two triples and three stolen bases, electrifying the lineup with his dynamic play. On Saturday, Castro found himself batting third in the order, a sign of his elevated esteem in the eyes of manager Rocco Baldelli. The super utilityman is living up to his label in a big way. 

 

Kepler is on a heater of his own ever since coming off the injured list. He continued to rake in a week where he went 8-for-23 with a home run against a left-handed pitcher. Kepler looks fantastic at the plate, consistently turning in excellent at-bats and driving the ball upon contact. He's stuck out only four times in 45 plate appearances since being activated, with six walks. 

We've also gotta once again give props to Ryan Jeffers, who shows no signs of slowing down in his early-season offensive conquest. The past week saw him notch a home run and four doubles as he continues to alternate between catcher and DH. Jeffers is doing his best Mike Piazza impression, with a .563 slugging percentage that ranks ninth among qualified big-leaguers.

The ascendance of the offense, which scored five-plus runs 10 different times on the 12-game winning streak after doing so three times total in their first 20 games, has clearly been very noticeable. But pitching is the engine that has made the Twins almost impossible to beat. 

While the lineup is now producing more than five runs with some regularity, the team didn't allow more than five during the entire 12-game streak, and has done so in only six games total this year, including Sunday's streak-snapping loss. Complete breakdowns from the staff have been ultra-rare and, as we've seen, that's an excellent way to rattle off consistent wins once the offense is doing its thing.

The rotation has grown extremely reliable with Simeon Woods Richardson aboard and Chris Paddack stabilizing at the back end. Pablo López had a very encouraging bounce-back start on Saturday, firing six innings of one-run ball with eight strikeouts. Joe Ryan chipped in a pair of quality starts; he has pitched into the sixth every time out and has yet to allow more than three earned runs in a start.

Backing up the quality work of the starters, the bullpen keeps on coming through in almost every instance. Durán came back with a bang, striking out five and issuing no walks over three scoreless appearances. He picked up a pair of saves and handled the heart of the Boston order to protect a two-run lead in the eighth on Saturday. 

 

Durán is supported by quite the effective entourage in Minnesota’s phenomenal relief corps. He combined with Griffin Jax, Caleb Thielbar, Alcalá and Steven Okert for 10 shutout innings with 14 strikeouts. Okert came through in a big spot with the bases loaded on Saturday to help secure their 12th straight win.

LOWLIGHTS

All of the great on-field energy was dampened by some very unfortunate developments regarding the team's broadcast situation and viewership availability. On Tuesday night, fans learned out of nowhere that Bally Sports North (and other regional Diamond Sports networks) would be going dark on Comcast/Xfinity cable as of May 1st, meaning that a huge portion of people would lose their ability to watch the games on TV, right in the middle of a historic winning streak.

 

In a rather tone-deaf public statement, the Twins attempted to absolve themselves of responsibility, claiming they have "no role or voice" in a matter they very much played a role in creating. The Twins betrayed their own promise by choosing money over reach during the offseason, and now their fans continue to experience the negative impacts of this decision. 

The Twins are playing great baseball on the field and have hoist themselves right back into the contention picture. It's a fun time, but the positive vibes are being muted by these frustrating access barriers, as well as the buzzkilling health setbacks for Buxton and Stewart. Not to mention recent updates that indicate the organization's top two prospects, Walker Jenkins and Brooks Lee, are nowhere close to playing in the minors as their early injuries threaten to wipe out large chunks very important campaigns for both. 

TRENDING STORYLINE

Though Stewart's injury lessens the logjam to a degree, the Twins will have another tricky bullpen decision upcoming with Justin Topa due to wrap up his rehab stint sometime in the coming week or so. He's already made four appearances for the Saints, posting a 6-to-1 K/BB ratio. As much as the club seems inclined to let him build up after being sidelined for more than a month, it can't be long until he's ready. 

The same question we pondered last week, in the face of Durán's impending return, must be asked again: who goes to make room? Do you send down Cole Sands with an eye on stretching him out as a potential starter? Does Alcalá go back down undeservingly? Right now the most likely candidate may be Funderburk, who gave up four earned runs on five hits in a rough outing on Sunday, though he's generally looked good.

To lose such a crucial piece as Stewart and still find yourself in this kind of scenario – a veritable embarrassment of relief riches, with no clear weak links in the chain – speaks very favorably to how deftly this bullpen was built and how well each arm has been utilized. We'll see soon what Topa can bring to the table as another reinforcement.

LOOKING AHEAD

The Twins are now past the easy part of their schedule and will be embarking on a bit of a gauntlet here in May, beginning with this week's slate featuring matchups against a pair of bona fide playoff contenders in Seattle and Toronto.

With their impressive play against a solid Boston squad over the weekend, Minnesota made a statement that their turnaround was about more than clobbering shoddy competition, and they will have a chance to build on that message in the week ahead. The offense will be tested heavily by a barrage of top-tier starters.

MONDAY, 5/6: MARINERS @ TWINS – RHP Luis Castillo v. RHP Simeon Woods Richardson
TUESDAY, 5/7: MARINERS @ TWINS – RHP Emerson Hancock v. RHP Bailey Ober
WEDNESDAY, 5/8: MARINERS @ TWINS – RHP George Kirby v. RHP Chris Paddack
THURSDAY, 5/9: MARINERS @ TWINS – RHP Pablo López v. RHP Logan Gilbert
FRIDAY, 5/10: TWINS @ BLUE JAYS – RHP Joe Ryan v. LHP Yusei Kikuchi
SATURDAY, 5/11: TWINS @ BLUE JAYS – RHP Simeon Woods Richardson v. RHP Kevin Gausman
SUNDAY, 5/12: TWINS @ BLUE JAYS – RHP Bailey Ober v. TBD

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[D.C Twins]

What exactly is Jenkins' injury?  I feel like his injury and trajectory have not been clearly shared by the club.... or I missed it

[wabene]

Hamstring

[Parfigliano]

Its great with the new additions of guys coming back off the IL.  The FO needs to man up and admit that a huge addition could (must) be made through subtraction and DFA Margot.

[MABB1959]

Blocking out most of MN is horrible.  Is there any satellite services that still broadcast the Twins.  I cannot believe the Twins signed a contract when they knew most Minnesota fans have no way to watch the team.  They lowered the payroll and then got the $$$$ but have not spent any to upgrade.  This makes no sense at all,  There should have been something in the contract that would require Bally's to contract with all satellite companies.

[Peter]

With Seattle/Toronto coming up I’ll take 4-3 week, interested in seeing how twins respond after loss yesterday. 

[wabene]

36 minutes ago, MABB1959 said:

Blocking out most of MN is horrible.  Is there any satellite services that still broadcast the Twins.  I cannot believe the Twins signed a contract when they knew most Minnesota fans have no way to watch the team.  They lowered the payroll and then got the $$$$ but have not spent any to upgrade.  This makes no sense at all,  There should have been something in the contract that would require Bally's to contract with all satellite companies.

Anybody with internet can sign up for a streaming service like Fubo for $90 a month and watch the Twins or record and watch them on your schedule. Now that the feds are making high speed Internet in rural areas (like mine) a priority, satellite TV is a relic. We suffered with 4mps DSL and five users for years. The fiber optic cable has brought us into the light.

[jccracraft]

The jury is still very much out on Simeon Woods Richardson. But yes, the others obviously have looked good. Ober particularly, post his first start of the year.

[roger]

Twins are still available on Directv streaming.  I had it last summer, then dropped it when they lost NBC for a couple months last fall.  Switched to Hulu, then back to Directv this spring so I would get the Twins.  

Have lost so much interest in the minors with Jenkins, Lee, Canterino and Prielipp out again.  Two of that group could be a big help to the Twins this year and the last duo are the best pitching prospects in the organization, in my opinion.  None of them on the field hurts!