Guardians 11, Twins 4: The Slide Continues

[Ted Schwerzler]

The Minnesota Twins hoped to stop their losing streak at four behind Bailey Ober, but instead just kept on spiraling with one of their worst performances of the season.

Image courtesy of David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score
SP: Bailey Ober 4.0 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 4 K (91 pitches, 63 strikes, 14 whiffs)
Home Runs: N/A
Bottom 3 WPA: Bailey Ober (-.262), Jose Miranda (-.144), Carlos Santana (-.050)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Jose Ramirez, Again
Already on a four-game losing streak, the Minnesota Twins lineup has struggled to find positive offensive production. Ryan Jeffers opened with a single before Carlos Correa walked, but Jose Miranda quickly grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Bailey Ober took the bump and gave up a Tyler Freeman single before getting Andres Gimenez to fly out. Jose Ramirez fouled off seven pitches before launching a two-run homer and putting the Guardians up 2-0. Needing 38 pitches to get three outs, Rocco Baldelli already was forced to warm up Kody Funderburk in the 1st inning.

Across their first trip through the order, Minnesota managed a single hit while striking out four times, walking once, and leaving a pair in scoring position. Ramirez wasted no time in his second at bat, rapping an RBI double during the 3rd inning to make it 3-0, before Josh Naylor brought home the Guardians fourth run on a sacrifice fly.

Ober Exits, Hits Keep Coming
It was certainly not Ober’s night against the Guardians as his start lasted just four innings while giving up five runs. Freeman’s 4th inning double to score Brayan Rocchio was enough to do him in.

Funderburk came on to give up a pair of runs over two frames, and then it was Jay Jackson’s turn. The slider specialist has been awfully ineffective all season, and despite a Kyle Farmer error, four runs scored on three hits and a walk because he couldn’t fool anyone.

Down 11-0 in the 8th inning, Willi Castro took the mound to record the final three outs.

Twins Offensive Woes Continue
While the strikeouts weren’t prominent on Saturday, the lineup failed to do anything productive. Finishing 3-for-8 with runners in scoring position, they stranded six. Manuel Margot finished with three of the ten total hits, and only Farmer grabbed an extra base tally.

In what amounted to garbage time, Byron Buxton drove in Castro with a 9th inning single during his return to plate the first run. Carlos Santana singled home Jose Miranda and then a Kyle Farmer double brought both of the previous hitters in. The 11-4 final score never represented how far apart Minnesota was Saturday.

Having scored just seven runs since game one of the New York Yankees series, Minnesota has gone a stretch of 45 innings while showing complete offensive ineptitude. They’ll see a fresh start Sunday in hopes of avoiding the sweep and ending a five game losing streak.

Notes
Austin Martin went back to Triple-A St. Paul with the activation of Byron Buxton. Josh Winder continues his major league rehab for the Saints.

What’s Next? 
The Twins turn to Chris Paddack on Sunday as they look to beat Tanner Bibee and the Guardians, avoiding a series sweep. Trying to cut down on the AL Central Division deficit, they’ll need to grab a much-needed victory.

Postgame Interviews

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

 

 

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[Patzky]

Nowhere to go but up. Maybe the ninth inning will serve as a springboard.. or a diving board..

[Fezig]

This is what I worried would happen. The Twins watched the Wild last season and the intrigue of losing streak, winning streak, losing streak, winning streak, losing streak seemed to much to pass up. 

 

[darwin22]

Time to face reality with this club.   When facing good to above average teams, this group is poor.

W-L record against teams at or above .500:   10-19/ win pct= .345

W-L record against teams below .500:  14-2/ win pct= .875

21st game this season (out of 45) in which this offense has generated 3 runs or less. When your offensively inept nearly 50% of the time (46.7%), its pretty simple:  You're NOT going to challenge for a dvision title.

Now 24-21 with an ugly 5-game losing streak in which the bats have gone back into hibernation and the pitching has been, at best, mediocre.

Where are the leaders on this team?  Where is the fire? Where are the guts?

 

[Whitey333]

Another very poor performance.  Not totally unexpected.  They aren't that good.  Since their 12 game winningbstreak I believe they are 5-9.  Again we started a b lineup with a lefty starting for Cleveland.  But the radio announcers on WCCO have it solved.  About all you heard from them other than all the bs they banter about that has little to do with the game being played was whining about bad umpiring, bad luck, and bad bounces.  It's getting old because that's all they talk about.  I guess since tge team went in the tank there isn't much else to talk about.

[Danchat]

This team has some wild mood swings, sometimes piping hot and ice cold. They played the same for most of last year and got hot late, so I guess we better hope they get hot late again.

I don't get what the fascination with Jay Jackson is. Most innings pitched in the bullpen despite having an ERA over 6. Time to get Alcala back up and DFA Jackson.

[D.C Twins]

Someone explain why Jackson is on this team... GO!

[USAFChief]

"We have to find a way to lift ourselves up and score some runs." #MNTwins manager Rocco Baldelli

 

I realize you do not have many good options but Here's a thought: try less of your worse options.

 

[Mark G]

1 hour ago, USAFChief said:

We have to find a way to lift ourselves up and score some runs." #MNTwins manager Rocco Baldelli

 

I realize you do not have many good options but Here's a thought: try less of your worse options.

 

The "we", Rocco, begins with ye.  

[howeda7]

-Start holding players accountable for mental lapses and poor play.

-Stop being a slave to your spreadsheet and giving Vazquez, Margot and Farmer 40 AB's a week. 

[VivaBomboRivera!]

It appears to have taken 44 innings of watching the Yankees and the Guards slap hits around the yard for the Twins lineup to realize that they could take more than one approach at the plate depending on circumstances.  Let's hope that 6-hit, 4-run ninth sticks in their minds.

[h2oface]

I sure hope the pretending a sausage is your savior, and then adding the narcissism of group selfies on the mound immediately after games is over now forever. 

[Mark G]

5 hours ago, D.C Twins said:

Someone explain why Jackson is on this team... GO!

I think it is because Castro can only pitch under certain circumstances; too bad.  🫠

[bighat]

Any team that can win 12 straight and follow that up with 5 straight losses has a huge identity crisis. We can pretty clearly see now that yes, the win streak was indeed a result of historically bad competition. And it turns out that relying on guys like Ryan Jeffers and Carlos Santana to carry a team for a month is indeed unsustainable. 

This team could very well win 12 in a row and lose 12 in a row in the same year, would certainly be an interesting trivia footnote someday. 

When this team is bad, they are BAD. Buxton and Correa look old and worn out, Kirilloff's out of gas, Farmer, Margot, and Vazquez are all hitting .120....Willie Castro is a career utility guy who's got the yips and the guy needs a rest, Julien is watching Strike Three go by at historic rates....and that's what we have. Who else can the Twins count on here? A 31 year-old Max Kepler - a guy who has been a solid complimentary player most of his career? That's the best they got? 

 

[Peter]

Ugly game last night-need to end losing streak and start week with a win. We can take series with Washington (sweep) then 2-1 against Texas. Radios guys were right with umpires!!! Mlb needs to get rid of them and go AI/robotic!!! Our twins need our support!!! Im not giving up on them and neither should you!!!

[rv78]

Poor pitching, poor hitting, poor managing. Let's blame the umps. 

Ober laid an egg followed by Funderburk and why is he on the team Jackson. Rocco, note to self, if you use your better pitchers, the game may not get out of hand giving you a slight chance to come back and win a game. When your worst bullpen pitchers have pitched the most in the last week you are doing a poor job of managing your bullpen. Note to this FO, when you have a worthless player, waiting to DFA him makes you look worse at doing your job than signing him in the first place.

Who stole the sausage? It belongs to the better team on the field on that particular day. Competition wise, this team can't keep up with the good teams. 

[Karbo]

8 hours ago, Danchat said:

This team has some wild mood swings, sometimes piping hot and ice cold. They played the same for most of last year and got hot late, so I guess we better hope they get hot late again.

I don't get what the fascination with Jay Jackson is. Most innings pitched in the bullpen despite having an ERA over 6. Time to get Alcala back up and DFA Jackson.

The Pioneer Press says his locker was cleaned out, so maybe he's gone?

[Karbo]

6 hours ago, howeda7 said:

-Start holding players accountable for mental lapses and poor play.

-Stop being a slave to your spreadsheet and giving Vazquez, Margot and Farmer 40 AB's a week. 

2 lefties coming up in Washington

[Old Crow]

5 hours ago, VivaBomboRivera! said:

It appears to have taken 44 innings of watching the Yankees and the Guards slap hits around the yard for the Twins lineup to realize that they could take more than one approach at the plate depending on circumstances.  Let's hope that 6-hit, 4-run ninth sticks in their minds.

Changing their approach might mess up their launch angle.  

[Doctor Gast]

A tip of the cap to the Santana/ Vazquez DP. Great effort on both parts, especially Santana for initiating it. For being mainly being a flyball pitching staff,  too many GBs get through.

[Cap'n Piranha]

The 3 best teams in the AL, by both record and run differential, are BAL, NYY, and CLE.  The Twins are now 0-10 against those teams, with a combined run total of 19-57.

There’s 10+ weeks to the trade deadline, and if this team can’t demonstrate some sustained offensive capability, it will be time to blow some things up.

[JD-TWINS]

19 minutes ago, Karbo said:

2 lefties coming up in Washington

Agree completely with statement #1 from Karbo!!

The lefties coming up are always a concern ……could really use Lewis sooner than later. Could be a long 3-4 more weeks. Buxton has to contribute in batters box.

Farmer has 2 RBI doubles in consecutive games and Margot went 3 for 4 yesterday. Guys need AB’s to get their performance back to the norm. Both Farmer & Margot are .255ish CAREER hitters. Last year Farmer hit .256 & Margot hit .264. Can’t get out of a hole without AB’s…………they play maybe 3-4 games per week maximum…….in range of 13 - 16 AB’s per week. Can’t quit on guys on May 1st………EVERYONE wanted Kepler to be DFA’d by mid-May last year and were almost rioting by mid-June. Often things work out over 6 months.

 

[JD-TWINS]

Ober dug a hole yesterday - gotta consider pitching around guys occasionally as an approach from the staff………Rameriz and Judge have done some serious damage over last handful of games!

No issue with Funderburk - pitchers give up runs regularly. He gave up a run scoring double to a left handed hitter on a flare that hit 4 feet inside the left field line. He had to get loose in the first inning when Ober got to pitch number 30. Then he’s brought in 50-60 minutes later in the 5th.

Jackson has been pretty routine. 1-2 good outings - then a clunker. Pretty regular pattern. Thought with more even usage and time he’d work things out. He’s not a regular use guy……….not a good fit and needs to the “mysterious IL stint” or be released. Assumption is they are trying to get to July to trade him and a couple others but he can’t be in the regular Pen mix.

That said, relievers are human - not really an exciting opportunity to come into a game down 7-0. Some of his issues Saturday may have started between his ears (little focus)  and leaked into his physical performance?

[David Maro]

All I can say is this team has become unwatchable.I think it is time to blow up the whole thing,starting with the FO.I am so happy I didn't pay for the MLB TV.

[DJL44]

9 hours ago, Danchat said:

I don't get what the fascination with Jay Jackson is. Most innings pitched in the bullpen despite having an ERA over 6. Time to get Alcala back up and DFA Jackson.

Blewett has pitched a LOT better than Alcala in AAA.

[Doctor Gast]

19 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Blewett has pitched a LOT better than Alcala in AAA.

Blewett & Alcala are 2 different situations. Blewett is content in AAA & hungry to get to the MLB. While Alcala has had a lot of success in the MLB & AAA is a demotion & being put in the doghouse. Varland isn't doing that well in AAA yet he proven himself on the MLB level in the BP. That's where he should be in long relief one step away from the rotation.

[Patzky]

1 hour ago, Cap'n Piranha said:

The 3 best teams in the AL, by both record and run differential, are BAL, NYY, and CLE.  The Twins are now 0-10 against those teams, with a combined run total of 19-57.

There’s 10+ weeks to the trade deadline, and if this team can’t demonstrate some sustained offensive capability, it will be time to blow some things up.

So did the Twins have bad luck to run into every top team in the first 40 days or did playing the Twins make those team that way? 😅

[USAFChief]

54 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

Assumption is they are trying to get to July to trade (Jackson) and a couple others but he can’t be in the regular Pen mix.

 

They're trying to get to July to trade Jackson?

And a couple others?

1. Who is trading for Jackson? 

2. Who are the "couple others"?

3. Unless the Twins are out of contention,  I doubt they're trading away bullpen pieces. So are you predicting that?

[tony&rodney]

The schedule turns more friendly after the Twins leave New York on June 6. The stretch from May 3 to June 6 includes only the three with Washington for relief in those 32 games and the Nationals have been pretty good too.. Thus far the Twins are 7-8 for this period. The Minnesota squad is not playing good baseball at the moment and people can justifiably point to the putrid offseason of missed opportunities or pile on about the lack of talent, but there are still months to go in the season where the players can make adjustments and correct current weaknesses. It isn't time to get down on the local nine.

I will be curious to see where the Twins are as they head to PNC Park in Pittsburgh for an early June series with the Pirates. 

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, Doctor Gast said:

Blewett & Alcala are 2 different situations. Blewett is content in AAA & hungry to get to the MLB. While Alcala has had a lot of success in the MLB & AAA is a demotion & being put in the doghouse. Varland isn't doing that well in AAA yet he proven himself on the MLB level in the BP. That's where he should be in long relief one step away from the rotation.

And they brought up Boushley which makes some sense because they want a long reliever and Alcala is a short reliever.

There is an open spot on the 40 man roster. They don't really need to open a spot to add anyone since Topa is eligible for the 60 man IL.