Make It Official! Twins 4, Astros 3: Miranda's Heroics Tilt Balance for Twins

[Hans Birkeland]

Facing the team that ended their 2023 playoff run, the Twins battled the Astros in a game that was tight from the start on Lou Gehrig Day. Through a lot of high-leverage moments, it was José Miranda who proved to be the difference, driving in the tying and winning runs.

Image courtesy of © Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score:
Starting Pitcher: Simeon Woods Richardson: 4 1/3 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K (66 Pitches, 45 Strikes, 68.2%)
Home Runs: Trevor Larnach (6), José Miranda (6)
Top 3 WPA: Miranda (.368), Jhoan Durán (.199), Steven Okert (.145)
Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs):

After being humbled in Joe Ryan's worst start of the year, losing the middle game of the three-game series in Houston 5-2, the Twins sent out rookie Simeon Woods Richardson, hoping to complete a 5-2 road trip. It was a homecoming for the Sugarland, Tex. native, and he looked good, striking out Alex Bregman and Jeremy Pena in a solid first inning.

Opposing Woods Richardson was attempted Justin Verlander clone, Hunter Brown. Brown doesn't draw as many JV comparisons these days, and in fact, has altered his pitch mix since stumbling down the stretch last year and coming out of the gates as one of the worst starters in MLB this year. He has implemented a sinker in an attempt to neutralize right-handed hitters (who entered Sunday's game with a .910 OPS against Brown).

That would prove to be a good adjustment, but in the early going, it was the Twins' left-handed hitters who did damage to Brown, beginning with Trevor Larnach hitting a leadoff homer on a cutter left middle-in. Another lefty fighting to not be demoted upon the return of Royce Lewis, Alex Kirilloff, hit a hanging sinker from Brown off the fence in right-center in the second inning to score Willi Castro from first, making the game (briefly) 2-0.

That lead would be cut in half when Victor Caratini hit a changeup from Woods Richardson on an 0-2 count into the right-field stands. The stuff looked good from the rookie, but Houston's experience and baseball IQ were better. Woods Richardson threw three consecutive changeups before Caratini's homer, and with a man on an inning later, he tried to flip a first-pitch curveball to Alex Bregman. Bregman was expecting just that, and obliterated the pitch beyond the Crawford boxes to make the score 3-2.

Brown started to settle into a rhythm following the Kirilloff double, establishing his sinker and allowing zero hits or walks from Twins righties through four innings. The pitch hit 97 MPH and was complemented well by his splitter and curveball. In Kirilloff's second at-bat, Brown didn't even go to the fastball, throwing two splitters in the zone to get ahead 0-2, and then getting Kirilloff to swing through a curveball to strike him out.

Woods Richardson kept the score where it was, but with the off day Monday, he was not allowed to pitch to the Houston lineup a third time, finishing with 66 pitches. Caleb Thielbar came in and was able to retire Kyle Tucker and Bregman to complete the fifth inning.

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Twins Daily's winning "Make It Official!" game recaps are sponsored by Official Fried Chicken, which you can find in center field of Target Field. With a name like "Official," we know we have to be the best in the game every day, and from your first bite, you'll know that's a promise we make good on.

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Brown nearly got through his outing with six innings and only two runs allowed, but Miranda had other ideas, demolishing a four-seamer on the upper outside corner 406 feet to tie the game at three.

The Astros attempted to rally against Jorge Alcalá in the seventh. After Caratini launched a ball that Byron Buxton made a leaping catch on, he allowed a walk and a bunt single to bring up Tucker. Steven Okert relieved Alcalá and got Tucker to pop out. Bregman singled, but Okert threw some excellent pitches to Alvarez before inducing a weak flyout to retire the side.

The Twins immediately pounced on the opportunity. Larnach took five balls (one called strike was not close) to draw a walk leading off the inning against Ryan Pressly. Jeffers bunted to advance pinch runner Manuel Margot to second, which would have been a very questionable decision had Miranda not stepped to the plate and ripped a double to give the Twins a 4-3 lead. Max Kepler lined out, and Buxton came about five feet from hitting a ball off the Crawford boxes, with Alvarez catching the fly ball to end the threat.

Griffin Jax and Jhoan Durán both pitched 1-2-3 innings to seal the victory.

The Good:
-Woods Richardson threw well, but poor pitch sequencing led to all of the runs against him. Still, he showed good composure and his fastball registered as fast as 95 MPH.
-Larnach, Miranda and Kirilloff, all potential roster casualties upon Lewis's return, had good at-bats and all drove in runs with authority.
-Steven Okert, who has given up a couple of big hits thus far in 2024, retired both Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez in a key spot in the seventh.

The Bad:
-Ryan Jeffers did not record any hits, and his pitch calling led to three Houston runs.
-Thielbar just can't get Alvarez out, as he scorched a single 110 MPH off of him to lead off the sixth.

What’s Next: Bailey Ober (5-1, 3.02 ERA not against the Royals, 5-3, 4.89 ERA overall) faces former Twins farmhand Luis Gil (7-1, 1.99 ERA) as the Twins open a series in New York on Tuesday. The Yankees swept the Twins at Target Field in May, and are playing quite well, easily leading MLB in runs allowed despite losing Gerrit Cole to start the year, with Aaron Judge and Juan Soto more than making up for a lack of lineup depth.

Postgame Interviews:
(Coming soon)
Bullpen Usage Chart:

	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN	TOT
Castillo	29	0	0	34	0	63
Durán	0	20	0	0	17	37
Sands	18	0	13	0	0	31
Alcalá	0	13	0	0	19	32
Jax	0	10	0	0	14	24
Staumont	0	0	0	10	0	10
Okert	8	0	10	0	16	34
Thielbar	0	12	0	0	9	21

 

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[UK Twin]

Miranda continuing his bounce back season with an excellent day - 2 game winning swings. That was properly ground out win, Thought Rocco got his pitching match ups spot on, even if he did pull SWR early. 

Very good series win and a good way to make the trip to New York where I fully expect Lewis to hit a grand slam on his return. 😁

[Dman]

Happy to see SWR get through 4 innings at least and not let the game get out of hand.  Okert came up big in a tough situation and Miranda saved the day with that double to give them the lead.

All the guys on the bubble did something positive today.  Going to be very interesting to see who gets sent down.  Feels like Miranda and Larnach are safe to me.

A much needed win with the hot Yankee's next on the schedule and a much needed loss by Cleveland to get us back to 6 games back.

[jorgenswest]

42 minutes ago, Hans Birkeland said:

The Bad:
-Ryan Jeffers did not record any hits, and his pitch calling led to three Houston runs.

Jeffers executed the bunt to put Margot in scoring position for Miranda. That keeps him off my bad list.

[Parfigliano]

8 minutes ago, Dman said:

Happy to see SWR get through 4 innings at least and not let the game get out of hand.  Okert came up big in a tough situation and Miranda saved the day with that double to give them the lead.

All the guys on the bubble did something positive today.  Going to be very interesting to see who gets sent down.  Feels like Miranda and Larnach are safe to me.

A much needed win with the hot Yankee's next on the schedule and a much needed loss by Cleveland to get us back to 6 games back.

Julien's a bubble guy isnt he?

[BH67]

Into the valley of Bronx cheers

Ride the twenty-six

Hopefully led by a (Rolls) Royce...

[Schmoeman5]

So if Jeffers pitch calling leads to 3 runs today. Does Vasquez take it on the chin for 5 runs yesterday? No but he gets praised for throwing out 2 runners. Oh and his GIDP when they were trying to come back. You can pick every player apart. After every game. What did Buxton do today? His catch in CF wasn't all that difficult. Alvarez play in LF was better. Where were Castro and Kepler today? And I'm not a big Jeffers fan. But to call him out for The Bad??? Thielbar too. Alvarez when he goes hot. No one gets him out.

[wabene]

Another tough win against the crumbling dynasty, lol. A day off and a good frame of mind heading into the house of horrors. All that, Lewis' return and a 2 day break for Correa. Let git it!

[RocRedWing]

Sounds like Julien is getting sent down. Hopefully he figures it out quickly - I love his energy. 

 

[High heat]

Gotta find a way to get 3 more win in the next 6 games.  5–4 road trip would be a big win.  

[Hans Birkeland]

1 hour ago, jorgenswest said:

Jeffers executed the bunt to put Margot in scoring position for Miranda. That keeps him off my bad list.

Fair, definitely something I debated. Looking back it feels like he wasn't bunting on his own, and if so he did his job.

[Hans Birkeland]

46 minutes ago, Schmoeman5 said:

So if Jeffers pitch calling leads to 3 runs today. Does Vasquez take it on the chin for 5 runs yesterday? No but he gets praised for throwing out 2 runners. Oh and his GIDP when they were trying to come back. You can pick every player apart. After every game. What did Buxton do today? His catch in CF wasn't all that difficult. Alvarez play in LF was better. Where were Castro and Kepler today? And I'm not a big Jeffers fan. But to call him out for The Bad??? Thielbar too. Alvarez when he goes hot. No one gets him out.

I'm not into whataboutism, but bad pitch sequencing led to all three Houston runs

[Mike Sixel]

Lack of lineup depth? The Yankees give the least at bats to bad players in all of baseball. 

[GNess]

1 hour ago, Parfigliano said:

Julien's a bubble guy isnt he?

Plus, Brooks Lee played 2B today.

[Doctor Gast]

HOU is still a smart team, it was good experience for SWR, Like you said Hans, SWR was composed, that means a lot for a young SP. Miranda,Larnach & Kirlioff had nights in the absence of Correa

[Dman]

1 hour ago, Parfigliano said:

Julien's a bubble guy isnt he?

He at least had a walk that is something positive.  Looks like as many predicted he will get sent down.  He has the most options left and Castro or Farmer can slide into that spot.  Hopefully Castro as his bat has been better.  Julien will be back and I think a AAA reset should do him a lot of good.

[singlesoverwalks]

Quote

former Twins farmhand Luis Gil (7-1, 1.99 ERA)

He ceased being a Twins farmhand in 2018 when they traded him for Yankee outfielder Jake Cave.

[FlyingFinn]

I think even people who don't like Rocco would say he outmanaged the opposition today. Good use of the pen with a day off tomorrow, pinch running at the right time (unlike not doing so for Abreu), bunting when both teams had their great bullpen pitchers lined up, and getting our better defenders out there in the end.

[Hans Birkeland]

28 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Lack of lineup depth? The Yankees give the least at bats to bad players in all of baseball. 

No offense but have you been alive the past 3-4 years? Jake Bauers, Willie Calhoun, Oswaldo Cabrera, Franchy Cordero, Jose Trevino, Aaron Hicks, IKF, Billy McKinney, Greg Allen, Kyle Higashioka, Harrison Bader, Oswald Peraza, Joey Gallo, Marwin Gonzalez, Miguel Andujar and Tim Locastro would like a word

[Squirrel]

5 minutes ago, singlesoverwalks said:

He ceased being a Twins farmhand in 2018 when they traded him for Yankee outfielder Jake Cave.

Thats why it says former

[Mike Sixel]

6 minutes ago, Hans Birkeland said:

No offense but have you been alive the past 3-4 years? Jake Bauers, Willie Calhoun, Oswaldo Cabrera, Franchy Cordero, Jose Trevino, Aaron Hicks, IKF, Billy McKinney, Greg Allen, Kyle Higashioka, Harrison Bader, Oswald Peraza, Joey Gallo, Marwin Gonzalez, Miguel Andujar and Tim Locastro would like a word

There was literally just an article about this on fangraphs, thanks for the rude reply. 

[Danchat]

Nice game for the bullpen, I'm starting to gain some trust for it again. It would be nice if Okert could keep this up and become the top lefty in the pen.

[Hans Birkeland]

11 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

There was literally just an article about this on fangraphs, thanks for the rude reply. 

I wasn't finished.

Roughned Odor, Clint Frazier, Tyler Wade, Mike Ford, Andrew Velasquez, Jay Bruce, Estevan Florial, Gary Sanchez, Josh Donaldson, Thairo Estrada, Erik Kratz, and frequently DJ LeMahieu, Anthony Rizzo, Giancarlo Stanton and Gleyber Torres.

Ask any Yankees fan, the problem with the team since 2019 has been the lack of lineup depth behind Judge. They scored under 700 runs last year. They are doing better this year because the role players are hitting a little better in addition to Soto being Soto, but mainly they are pitching their brains out.

[tony&rodney]

Simeon Woods Richardson had a really good game. Baldelli was correct in lifting SWR because both Tucker and Bregman seemed to like hitting against our young starter. 

I'm not sure who calls the pitches but a couple of the sequences were open for debate. That doesn't necessarily mean those are on Jeffers. The pitcher must dictate what is thrown in the final analysis. Conversations usually are fairly complete before the game and also there are multiple times for discussions between innings for catcher and pitcher in addition to observations from the coaches. Simeon probably doesn't feel he can shake off the pitch calls because of his relative inexperience.

Miranda looked pretty keyed in at the plate which made the bunt a good call from Baldelli. Houston should have pitched around Miranda.

[Parfigliano]

1 hour ago, Hans Birkeland said:

I'm not into whataboutism, but bad pitch sequencing led to all three Houston runs

A. HR scored every Astro run in the series.

[Mike Sixel]

1 hour ago, Hans Birkeland said:

I wasn't finished.

Roughned Odor, Clint Frazier, Tyler Wade, Mike Ford, Andrew Velasquez, Jay Bruce, Estevan Florial, Gary Sanchez, Josh Donaldson, Thairo Estrada, Erik Kratz, and frequently DJ LeMahieu, Anthony Rizzo, Giancarlo Stanton and Gleyber Torres.

Ask any Yankees fan, the problem with the team since 2019 has been the lack of lineup depth behind Judge. They scored under 700 runs last year. They are doing better this year because the role players are hitting a little better in addition to Soto being Soto, but mainly they are pitching their brains out.

Doubling down? On this year? Unreal. They give the smallest amount of at bats to bad players. The data is out there. They don't have Margot, Vazquez, Santana, Wallner, Kiriloff types on their roster. Why are you mentioning players not even on the roster this year?

[David HK]

Good job, boys!  It's great we took this series, because our automatic losing streak coming up this week could potentially be limited to 3 games only. 😀

[jmlease1]

Winning a series is great. Winning a series on the road is even better. No complaints.

Houston may not be up to snuff this year, but they still have some scary players in the lineup. That top half is scary even with Bregman off to a slow start (and he's heated up recently to be sure). Winning is excellent.

Glad the bullpen was able to keep things down. I have no problem with going to them early with a day off for monday. Hopefully, we can go into NY and play without fear and get the job done. Royce should inject some confidence into the lineup; he fears nothing and no one.

[Linus]

So who televised the game?  Came in to catch the last half the of the game only to discover the $120 per month I pay Direct Stream didn’t include this game. Unreal. 

[tony&rodney]

32 minutes ago, Linus said:

So who televised the game?  Came in to catch the last half the of the game only to discover the $120 per month I pay Direct Stream didn’t include this game. Unreal. 

ROKU