Guardians 3, Twins 2: Leaking Bullpen and Quiet Offense Costs Twins

[Matt Braun]

Jose Ramirez's home run off of Jhoan Duran in the eighth inning wins the game for Cleveland.

Image courtesy of © David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score
Starting Pitcher: Simeon Woods Richardson: 5 ⅓ IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
Home Runs: Alex Kirilloff (3)
Bottom 3 WPA: Jhoan Duran (-.237), Steven Okert (-.225), Ryan Jeffers (-.186)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

If you successfully navigated the mess of streaming services and various “+” outlets—perhaps communicating with a younger relative to successfully accrue a login—a pitcher’s duel served as your reward for finding the game. Considering the matchup, this was unusual; Simeon Woods Richardson exited Canada with a far higher ERA than he entered the country with, and Triston McKenzie has so far walked a small island nation to start 2024. Naturally, both men excelled. 

The opening play should have tipped us off: Edouard Julien smoked a liner to center just to watch Tyler Freeman take off with the grace of a sprinter and dive perfectly to snag the ball. 

Things settled, at least for a time. The sudden excitement did not portend absurdity. Rather, the game lulled itself into quiet, sporadic neutrality, only occasionally broken when a Twins baserunner evaporated through double play means. Such a play happened three times in three innings. So it goes.

But one of those twin killers came following good news: Alex Kirilloff homered. The streak was over. The Dust Bowl fruitlessness carried through the Yankees series crumbled when the lefty caught up to a high fastball and deposited it over the right-center wall.

A few odds and ends happened in the middle innings—Kirilloff was later picked off first; Cleveland caught Carlos Correa shifting too far, certainly the only game in which both occurrences have ever been observed—but the result never wavered. The match stayed at a 1-0 advantage while Woods Richardson stood on the mound. The issue? He was in the dugout in the 6th. Steven Okert entered, coaxed an out, then threw a slider that forgot to break into the dirt, allowing David Fry to greet the offering with a home run swing. 2-1 Guardians. No win for Woods Richardson. 

Commiserating wasn't on the menu for Minnesota, though. While those watching at home groaned and complained, the Twins worked up a skirmish in the 8th. Jose Miranda singled. The pinch-runner, Austin Martin, swiped 2nd. Rocco Baldelli's infamous Platoon Preference (TM) arrived when Kyle Farmer entered to face the lefty Tim Herrin. It worked. The veteran stroked a double into the gap to tie the game. 

Maybe it's no surprise that something so rare turned out to be so tragically short-lived. Baldelli invoking his human trump card meant nothing to José Ramírez. Jhoan Duran hung a curve just a touch too high, and the forever thorn in Minnesota's side struck once again. Home run. Cleveland leads. Ballgame. 

Notes: Byron Buxton, who has been on the injured list and played a couple of days on a rehab assignment in St. Paul on Wednesday and Thursday, is in Cleveland with the team. It is expected that he'll be activated and play on Saturday. 

The Twins and Guardians will play the second game of their series on Saturday. First pitch is at 5:10 PM. Bailey Ober faces off against Logan Allen. 

 

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[Old Twins Cap]

Forgot to mention the truly egregious ball/strike calls by the umpire.

Love to see the umpire scorecard from last night.  Baseball has a real problem on its hands when the umpire is so far off.

As Baldelli said:  Every meaningful call over the last three innings went against the Twins.  Every one.

[Fatbat]

Our bats need to wake up! Our pitching is easily top 10. Hitting … not so good.

[Peter]

F—k Cleveland umpires won game for them last night!!! When will mlb get rid of umpires and go AI/robotic??? This needs to happen. Cost twins last night. Definitely need to win next 2 as this was 2 game swing in standings!!! Must must must win this series!!!!

[LewFordLives]

Yeah, the bullpen has some issues, but 4 hits is usually not gonna get it done. There's been too many games where the offense takes the day off.

[Aggies7]

Very streaky team that appears to be poorly coached. I’m talking about gameplay more than managerial moves (although that too). The twins had two chances to get Ramírez out and botched both with Correa lining up illegally and no communication on the foul pop up. Then they toss the ball into the outfield on the stolen base where Ramírez struck out. Maybe SWR would have stayed in the game without the extra pitches instead of being pulled

[Karbo]

My friend down in St. Pete Had to call me this morning just to ask if I still love Okert. He said he was so glad they found someone to dump him on. He told me at the time of the trade how happy he was to see him go. Now I'm starting to see why.

[Whitey333]

It's so disgusting to watch major league umpires calling balls and strikes.  But having said that it's just as disgusting, maybe more so, to have the Twins announcers, manager, and fans continually blame the losses on bad luck, bad bounces, and bad umpiring.  Yes I agree it was it's normally bad self.  But only getting 4 hits a game isn't going to cut it.  What's frustrating is that MLB does nothing to improve home plate umpiring.  They should at least look into it.  

[JD-TWINS]

1 hour ago, Peter said:

F—k Cleveland umpires won game for them last night!!! When will mlb get rid of umpires and go AI/robotic??? This needs to happen. Cost twins last night. Definitely need to win next 2 as this was 2 game swing in standings!!! Must must must win this series!!!!

IMO, with Buxton & Lewis out, Topa & Stewart out & the fact that it’s May 18th…….there are no musts. Could use a win, that’s for sure.

[USAFChief]

Anyone still wanna spout that "best bullpen in baseball" nonsense?

[mikelink45]

We need to start a streak against teams with winning records. Getting swept by the Yankees and then losing to the guardians is not a good sign. 

[Linus]

I didn’t see the game but it’s too bad SWR had a good game go to waste. 

[VivaBomboRivera!]

35 minutes ago, Karbo said:

My friend down in St. Pete Had to call me this morning just to ask if I still love Okert. He said he was so glad they found someone to dump him on. He told me at the time of the trade how happy he was to see him go. Now I'm starting to see why.

So this club gets four hits and scores two whole runs, but Okert is the goat?

[JD-TWINS]

28 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

Very streaky team that appears to be poorly coached. I’m talking about gameplay more than managerial moves (although that too). The twins had two chances to get Ramírez out and botched both with Correa lining up illegally and no communication on the foul pop up. Then they toss the ball into the outfield on the stolen base where Ramírez struck out. Maybe SWR would have stayed in the game without the extra pitches instead of being pulled

I have stood behind Baldelli for the past 3 years here. “Players play” has been my mantra for the most part - Baldelli (nobody) doesn’t have a crystal ball on how a guy is going to perform in a situation at the moment - just a track record & odds to play.

However, the quality of baseball over the last 4 losses (mentally & execution physically) has been tough to stomach. Some of that blame has to go to Coaching STAFF! Guys throwing behind runners - not knowing how many outs there are - illegal alignments - dropped fly ball on the track - etc. ……..all, principally falls on the players. it there needs to be a tightening of the mental attitude. I get that being wound too tight as a Manager could lead to team pressing but real time reminders - interaction with guys on the field from the dugout may help?

Jeffers hit a home run and stuck out the following 3 AB’s Tuesday. Julien & Jeffers struck out LOOKING on 3-2 counts on fastballs……..that can’t happen & it needs to be made perfectly clear, particularly with Eddie. Get somebody to watch some re-runs of his backward K’s - it’s gotta change! Duran has been flawless BUT not throwing a fastball to Rameriz and throwing 3 curve balls with a splinker mixed in just gets his timing set-up……don’t understand the approach. If concerned about his contact on a fastball, throw it high or wide but you gotta show it to get the curve to be effective. This is pitching 101 stuff - starts with the Coaching Staff!!!

[Riverbrian]

27 minutes ago, VivaBomboRivera! said:

So this club gets four hits and scores two whole runs, but Okert is the goat?

The Greatest Of All Time

[LambchoP]

Twins defense has been incredibly sloppy the past week or so. Hopefully getting Buxton back in CF will help, but Rocco needs to start holding these players accountable for all these little league looking mistakes. Sure would help if the offense woke back up. We cannot afford a second straight sweep especially against the team we're trying to beat our for the central...

[wabene]

This site has been glitchy for me the last couple of days and I'm unable to successfully upload a screenshot of the umpire scorecard from yesterday. The score was +1.55 runs for Cleveland. That combined with some more defensive mishaps and a paltry 2 runs scored were the recipe for another loss.

Watching the game I didn't like pulling SWR there. If the young man keeps performing well hopefully he will earn more trust. 

Speaking of trust, how has Okert acquired any?

[Patzky]

31 minutes ago, wabene said:

This site has been glitchy for me the last couple of days and I'm unable to successfully upload a screenshot of the umpire scorecard from yesterday. The score was +1.55 runs for Cleveland. That combined with some more defensive mishaps and a paltry 2 runs scored were the recipe for another loss.

Watching the game I didn't like pulling SWR there. If the young man keeps performing well hopefully he will earn more trust. 

Speaking of trust, how has Okert acquired any?

I had looked up Ortiz and they didn't post last night's at that time, but he had worked a Phillies-Padres game with a similar lack of a cohesive strike zone. Lots of strikes down the middle for balls. He also worked a Twins-Angels game where Jorge Lopez threw ball four right down the middle. Maybe that's why he went insane who knows.

 

The team should scout the umpires. I said it before and will say it again. Angel and CB are as advertised but knowing the ball-strike tendencies of the home plate ump would be helpful.  

[Rod Carews Birthday]

7 minutes ago, LambchoP said:

Twins defense has been incredibly sloppy the past week or so. Hopefully getting Buxton back in CF will help, but Rocco needs to start holding these players accountable for all these little league looking mistakes. Sure would help if the offense woke back up. We cannot afford a second straight sweep especially against the team we're trying to beat our for the central...

I would agree that there have been some sloppy plays this past week or so.  How do we know that Rocco isn't holding players accountable?  Would that mean mid-inning substitutions?  Public airing of grievances?  Several games of benching? I'm not thinking that is a good method for the team or for the player.  I'm reasonably certain that those plays don't get forgotten and that some bit of constructive criticism happens after the fact.  We just don't get to see it, and that's how it should be.  The players still have to execute and right now they're not doing that. 

[Aggies7]

18 minutes ago, Rod Carews Birthday said:

I would agree that there have been some sloppy plays this past week or so.  How do we know that Rocco isn't holding players accountable?  Would that mean mid-inning substitutions?  Public airing of grievances?  Several games of benching? I'm not thinking that is a good method for the team or for the player.  I'm reasonably certain that those plays don't get forgotten and that some bit of constructive criticism happens after the fact.  We just don't get to see it, and that's how it should be.  The players still have to execute and right now they're not doing that. 

Because the guy who, himself, cost the twins at least 5 runs in the Yankees series with a litany of mental mistakes and misplays, hasn’t missed an inning of play since. He should have been pulled right after the inning where he forgot how many outs there were. There are physical mistakes and then there is playing with your head up your behind. 

[Mark G]

1 hour ago, VivaBomboRivera! said:

So this club gets four hits and scores two whole runs, but Okert is the goat?

Um........yeah.......I'm OK with that.  😏

[wabene]

3 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

Because the guy who, himself, cost the twins at least 5 runs in the Yankees series with a litany of mental mistakes and misplays, hasn’t missed an inning of play since. He should have been pulled right after the inning where he forgot how many outs there were. There are physical mistakes and then there is playing with your head up your behind. 

Baldelli did publicly address Castro's run of snafus. He said that while the situation had been discussed, Willi had earned the benefit of the doubt with his contributions since coming here. 

Willi acknowledged his poor play as well. 

[USAFChief]

1 hour ago, VivaBomboRivera! said:

So this club gets four hits and scores two whole runs, but Okert is the goat?

Okert is certainly among the goats. High up on the list, too, IYAM.

 

[VivaBomboRivera!]

10 minutes ago, Mark G said:

Um........yeah.......I'm OK with that.  😏

OK...  Three different pitchers each give up an earned run. Why is one pitcher at greater fault than the others?

[USAFChief]

33 minutes ago, VivaBomboRivera! said:

OK...  Three different pitchers each give up an earned run. Why is one pitcher at greater fault than the others?

Well SWR pitched 5.1 innings to give up his 1 run, which didn't score while he was on the mound, BTW. The run that was charged to him got on base on a weakly hit infield single.

It took Okert 2/3 of an inning for his 1 earned, and both his and SWR's earned runs came off a HR given up by Okert. 

I don't think those pitchers pitched equally well. Do you?

 

[Mark G]

37 minutes ago, VivaBomboRivera! said:

OK...  Three different pitchers each give up an earned run. Why is one pitcher at greater fault than the others?

Read USA Chief......kind of says what I was thinking.  

[ashbury]

It's not ideal that Duran gave up the run, but not even the most dominant reliever carries an ERA of 0.00 through an entire season.  Bottom line, the pitching and defense held the other team to 3 runs; so an offense with aspirations toward making some noise in the post-season ought to win such a game, way more often than not. 

Don't blame a "bullpen leak", don't blame the umpires. Don't blame SWR's slightly short but very good outing, nor Steven Okert; between the two of them, they achieved 2 runs in 6 innings, otherwise a Quality Start except it took two of the to do it, which is then turned over to the bullpen in normal circumstances.

Blame the offense.  Except for that blip during the winning streak against weaker overall opposition, they've been the problem this season.  Every team tries to whomp mistake pitches, and every team tends to feast on a starter or a member of a bullpen who is having a bad day.  But the good teams are able to switch gears and find-a-way against the typically good major league pitcher having a typically good outing.

[wabene]

3 minutes ago, ashbury said:

It's not ideal that Duran gave up the run, but not even the most dominant reliever carries an ERA of 0.00 through an entire season.  Bottom line, the pitching and defense held the other team to 3 runs; so an offense with aspirations toward making some noise in the post-season ought to win such a game, way more often than not. 

Don't blame a "bullpen leak", don't blame the umpires. Don't blame SWR's slightly short but very good outing, nor Steven Okert; between the two of them, they achieved 2 runs in 6 innings, otherwise a Quality Start except it took two of the to do it, which is then turned over to the bullpen in normal circumstances.

Blame the offense.  Except for that blip during the winning streak against weaker overall opposition, they've been the problem this season.  Every team tries to whomp mistake pitches, and every team tends to feast on a starter or a member of a bullpen who is having a bad day.  But the good teams are able to switch gears and find-a-way against the typically good major league pitcher having a typically good outing.

Agree with all this except during the streak the Twins jumped all over some good starters from the Mariners and Red Sox.

[bighat]

4 runs in 4 days - no need to blame starters or bullpen for anything. 

Has any team that's won 12 straight NOT made the baseball playoffs? I'm sure it's happened, and if it hasn't, it just might this year. 

When this team falls into offensive slumps, they get REALLY cold. Unwatchable baseball this week. When's Royce back? This team has zero fire and is relying on guys who are running on fumes. 

[mnfireman]

I can't upload the screen shot, but to me Correa's positioning seemed within the rules, unless the camera angle behind home plate was slightly off. The line goes directly across second base, corner to corner, and Correa's feet appear to be slightly to the SS side of the base. His body is leaning to his glove side, but, to me, his feet, and thus his positioning, appear legal.

This is a situation where several different people's judgment came into play; the fielder, the umpiring crew, the opposing manager and, upon appeal, the umpire in the review office. The HP umpire, looking directly at Correa did not call it. I know his focus is on the P, but pre-pitch he can see fielder positioning. The 2B umpire, standing six feet from Correa did not call it. The opposing manager, from the 3B dugout, at field level, makes a challenge and the play is reversed (good for him).

MLB has dropped the ball on this rule. They need to take the judgment calls out of this and paint a stripe behind second base before this decides a more important game.