Yankees 5, Twins 1: Umpires Stubbornly Refuse to Award Five Runs for Cool Homer

[Ted Schwerzler]

The Minnesota Twins kicked off a three-game set with the New York Yankees Tuesday night. That sentence just reads like a threat on its own, doesn't it?

Image courtesy of © Brad Penner - USA TODAY Sports

Box Score
SP: Bailey Ober 5.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 2 K (89 pitches, 51 strikes, 7 whiffs)
Home Runs: Royce Lewis (2)
Bottom 3 WPA: Bailey Ober -0.128, Trevor Larnach -0.094, Carlos Correa -0.080

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

A Familiar Face
Luis Gil never played for the Minnesota Twins, but he was once a prospect in their farm system. With the Twins in need of a fourth outfielder, he was dealt to the New York Yankees in exchange for Jake Cave. He was just a teenager at the time. Minnesota certainly didn’t foresee him becoming the American League Pitcher of the Month in May 2024, but here we are.

Holding the Twins down through the first seven batters he faced, Gil struck out a pair and issued a walk. That walk was to Royce Lewis, who returned to the lineup for the first time since injuring his quad on Opening Day.

Minnesota starter Bailey Ober nearly matched Gil early. Gleyber Torres went to right field for a home run that Max Kepler nearly robbed, and the ball reached the seats by a matter of inches. Yankee Stadium is literally the only venue in baseball where the ball would leave the yard.

Christian Vázquez doubled in the top of the third inning, which was shocking. He was stranded at second, though.

Judge Renders Verdict
A leadoff walk by DJ LeMahieu put Ober in a bad spot to start off the third inning. Walking the nine batter with a sub-.600 OPS is never a good idea. Leadoff hitter Anthony Volpe then singled the other way. Ober got good fortune in the form of a Juan Soto foul pop, but then Aaron Judge went the other way with a 2-2 pitch that brought both baserunners home. He did get Giancarlo Stanton to swing at a slider in the opposite batter’s box to end the inning, so there’s that.

In his second plate appearance, Lewis got behind Gil 1-2 but then showed solid restraint and worked another walk. While his rehab assignment with the Saints wasn’t offensively impressive, it appears that his approach has been dialed in. Alex Kirilloff struck out to end the inning though, and Minnesota’s third baseman didn’t move past first base.

Royce With the Good Glove
It was never going to matter what Jose Miranda did at third base in the absence of Lewis. The hot corner would be his when he returned from the injured list, and it’s because he’s a far superior talent defensively. Having already walked twice in his return to the lineup, it didn’t take long for him to flash the leather. Torres, who already got a lucky home run, was going to be robbed by an incredible stop and throw on a shot to third base. Originally called safe, he was deemed out after replay review.

Chris Segal attempted to give the Yankees extra life in the bottom of the fifth inning when he missed an awful strike three call to Judge, but Ober got out of the jam anyways. The Twins came up and went down in order during the sixth inning, and Gil had continued to hold a one hitter. Now 32 innings into a scoreless streak against New York, Minnesota was lost.

Return of the Royce
Of course Lewis had already made his presence felt in the field, and he walked twice during his first two plate appearances, but more theatrics were afoot. With Tommy Kahnle taking over for Luis Gil, the Twins star stepped in and sent a ball flying into the stands. As only Lewis does, an opportunity for the theatrics was risen to. The Twins had just a single hit, and snapping a scoreless inning streak, their star was back.

Cole Sands cruised through a pair of innings in relief, and his six outs kept Minnesota within striking distance. He looked the part of a solid arm that was utilized in multiple situations by Rocco Baldelli earlier this season, and getting back to that would be big for the bullpen. Unfortunately the lineup’s lackluster results continued and they remained down two headed to the bottom of the eighth inning.

Caleb Thielbar came on against Juan Soto and got the lefty to miss a middle-middle fastball that could have gone for 600 feet. Judge got him for a single though, and after a Verdugo strikeout, Stanton blasted his 15th home run of the season. Now with a 5.65 ERA, and stuff that looks like it simply doesn't work, the end may be near for the former feel-good story.

Notes
While Royce Lewis was the big news of the day, both Walker Jenkins and Brooks Lee were activated from their rehab assignments as well. Jenkins returns to Fort Myers where he opened the year, and Lee joins the Saints for the first time this season. Jenkins went 0-3 with a pair of strikeouts while St. Paul's game was cancelled due to rain.

Two top 100 Twins prospects have been on the shelf for more than a week. Gabriel Gonzalez remained sidelined for the Cedar Rapids Kernels and no update was available, though he did take batting practice last week. Emmanuel Rodriguez is day to day. He will take batting practice on Tuesday, and if things go well, return to the lineup on Wednesday for Wichita.

What’s Next? 

The Sheriff is in town for a matchup against the Yankees Wednesday night. Chris Paddack will look to bounce back from a tougher start. He will be opposed by Carlos Rodon and the New York Yankees. Last time New York saw Paddack there was some concern that he was tipping his pitches. We’ll see how round two goes.

Postgame Interviews

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

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[h2oface]

Our bats totally shutdown by Gil and Hamilton. Cast offs haunt again. People get paid a lot of money to make these decisions. 

[strumdatjag]

Is there anyone other than me who thought the home plate umpire, on the close pitches, clearly favored the Yankee pitchers over the Twins pitchers tonight?

it wasn’t just one or two pitches.  

[Aggies7]

Safe to say there has been absolutely no momentum carried over from last year against these guys. Can’t say I expected it to, but cripes I thought we’d at least score a few runs and win a couple games. 2 runs in 36 innings is domination on a remarkable level. Doesn’t matter how well we’ve been playing going in, it’s always the same.

[Aggies7]

4 minutes ago, strumdatjag said:

Is there anyone other than me who thought the home plate umpire, on the close pitches, clearly favored the Yankee pitchers over the Twins pitchers tonight?

it wasn’t just one or two pitches.  

He was bad for both sides. None of it seemed to greatly affect the outcome.

[strumdatjag]

Just now, Aggies7 said:

He was bad for both sides. None of it seemed to greatly affect the outcome.

Bailey Ober would disagree.  He was exasperated over the lousy balls and strikes calls tonight. 

[Ted Schwerzler]

15 minutes ago, strumdatjag said:

Is there anyone other than me who thought the home plate umpire, on the close pitches, clearly favored the Yankee pitchers over the Twins pitchers tonight?

it wasn’t just one or two pitches.  

Yes, me.

[Aggies7]

3 minutes ago, strumdatjag said:

Bailey Ober would disagree.  He was exasperated over the lousy balls and strikes calls tonight. 

Yes, but the umpire had no effect during the innings where he allowed the runs that sunk us

[Dlee]

so now we need just four Lewis'; Lewis Jr; Lewis Jr Jr; lewis Jr Jr Jr; and Lewis Jr Jr Jr Jr (JJ for short)

[mikelink45]

Okay - time to step back and wonder - Yankees versus Twins.  What is this curse?  It is not the umpires.  Only Royce seems to have missed the memo that says roll over and play dead. 

[tony&rodney]

11 minutes ago, strumdatjag said:

Is there anyone other than me who thought the home plate umpire, on the close pitches, clearly favored the Yankee pitchers over the Twins pitchers tonight?

it wasn’t just one or two pitches.  

Not sure there was any favoritism but the umpire was all over the place with his zone. It seemed to favor New York though because those glove side pitches mid height favored Gil and the pitches in the zone for Ober hurt his pitch count. 

On TBS there was some nonsensical discussion that the ABS system is still several years away because they don't know where the strike zone would be calibrated for players from Altuve to Judge. Apparently, Manfred and MLB doesn't have access to modern technology.

[Aggies7]

5 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

Okay - time to step back and wonder - Yankees versus Twins.  What is this curse?  It is not the umpires.  Only Royce seems to have missed the memo that says roll over and play dead. 

44-121 since ‘02. More than a season’s worth of games. A .266 winning percentage. For reference, the 1962 Mets, considered on of the worst teams of all time, had a .248 %

[tony&rodney]

9 minutes ago, strumdatjag said:

Bailey Ober would disagree.  He was exasperated over the lousy balls and strikes calls tonight. 

Ober was, indeed, exasperated because the strike zone seemed to move from inning to inning. There is nothing more frustrating for a pitcher than to not know what the umpire is calling a ball or a strike.

Still, except for pitch count which is very important, the bad calls did not necessarily influence the game. We have all seen egregious calls for the Yankees, especially in New York. This pretty much happens from time to time to all teams when they play the Yankees in New York and I don't believe it is a conscious decision by the umpires. Such is life.

[DocBauer]

I like this Twins team a lot. I don't think the position player side of things is where it's going to be...for the better...later in the year. And I don't want to sound like a depressed fan, but I really am just hoping for 1 win out of 3 before we go to Pittsburgh.

IDK what to think about Thielbar. He was still good last season. He missed all of ST, and then was hit and miss when he came back. I thought recently he was looking more like his old self. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought his velocity was back up to 93-94 again? Is he toast or still trying to find a groove? He was solid his previous 4 games and the K's have still been there and the FIP is much lower than the ERA. Just too many hits and BB so far. 

Lee and Jenkins and Lewis back where they belong. Cory Lewis also back throwing again and Emma hopefully back in the field within the next couple of days. Things are starting to look better health wise across the system. Just need to get Stewart back. 

[thelanges5]

"We just have to do a better job at-bat wise than what we did today." #MNTwins manager Rocco Baldelli after the 5-1 loss to the Yankees
 

36 innings and 2 runs against the Yanks in 2024. 

[Longdistancetwins]

20 minutes ago, strumdatjag said:

Is there anyone other than me who thought the home plate umpire, on the close pitches, clearly favored the Yankee pitchers over the Twins pitchers tonight?

it wasn’t just one or two pitches.  

Sitting in a Manhattan bar, playing bar trivia and trying to watch the game at the same time.  As soon as that ball call was made on Judge and before I could say anything, my Yankee fan friend turned to me and said, “When you are good, you get the calls.”

[purplesoldier4u]

Why even watch this team ... even if you can? They just are not good enough to beat good teams, and the management's failure to make the team better has created a great deal of apathy amongst the fan base. What a sad, sad mess this team has become.

[MMMordabito]

Turned it off after the early Judge double. Good choice. Might as well just clock out until Friday. The team has.

[h2oface]

43 minutes ago, strumdatjag said:

Is there anyone other than me who thought the home plate umpire, on the close pitches, clearly favored the Yankee pitchers over the Twins pitchers tonight?

it wasn’t just one or two pitches.  

Definitely. I doubt it was malicious though. I think that umpires do the best they can, it just isn't good enough, especially when there is a better option.

[h2oface]

ROYCE LEWIS!

[Patzky]

47 minutes ago, strumdatjag said:

Is there anyone other than me who thought the home plate umpire, on the close pitches, clearly favored the Yankee pitchers over the Twins pitchers tonight?

it wasn’t just one or two pitches.  

That's part of the recipe we need to overcome every time so it shouldn't be a shock. Still woefully inadequate hitting but we are hardly the only team Gil has shut down.

[David HK]

So what if Luis Gil blew the Twins (and the rest of the AL) away.

I'm still tasting the sweet champagne from the Jake Cave Era, where we won all those championsh...  Oh, wait...

[Patzky]

18 minutes ago, thelanges5 said:

"We just have to do a better job at-bat wise than what we did today." #MNTwins manager Rocco Baldelli after the 5-1 loss to the Yankees
 

36 innings and 2 runs against the Yanks in 2024. 

Bat Wise? I'd settle for Bat Thoughtful 

[USAFChief]

Once again, Rocco "can't wait to get my best hitters out of the game" Baldelli lets Christian ".400 OPS" Vazquez hit in the 8th inning trailing by a couple runs. 

We need a MLB manager.

 

[thelanges5]

1 hour ago, Aggies7 said:

44-121 since ‘02. More than a season’s worth of games. A .266 winning percentage. For reference, the 1962 Mets, considered on of the worst teams of all time, had a .248 %

Two decades of futility against the Bronx Bombers. Doesn’t matter who is on the team, who is managing the team, who is in the front office. 

[FlyingFinn]

"both Walker Jenkins and Brooks Lee were activated from their rehab assignments as well."

 

Why did Jenkins get pulled early? Usually only happens on rehab assignments.

[D.C Twins]

ROYCE F-ING LEWIS!!!!!!!

[D.C Twins]

1 hour ago, Ted Schwerzler said:

Yes, me.

 

[D.C Twins]

2 hours ago, strumdatjag said:

Is there anyone other than me who thought the home plate umpire, on the close pitches, clearly favored the Yankee pitchers over the Twins pitchers tonight?

it wasn’t just one or two pitches.  

[bean5302]

Looking back at all the pitches to Yankees hitters it seems like Ober got the benefit on a couple calls. There was only one single significant miss IMHO which helped Judge earn a walk. 

Royce Lewis... can we clone him?