Make It Official! Twins 6, Athletics 5: Max Kepler Walk-Off Punctuates City Connect Debut

[Matt Braun]

Not that they have to continue wearing the jerseys. 

Image courtesy of Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score
Simeon Woods Richardson: 4 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 4 K (For real)
Home Runs: Max Kepler (5)
Top 3 WPA: Max Kepler (.621), Jhoan Duran (.445), Jose Miranda (.153)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Donned in a uniform that can only be described as the result of the Mariners creating a soccer kit, the Twins entered Friday’s game with a unique pressure. Sure, their rival Guardians appeared incapable of losing, but a real problem underscored the match: they needed to win with their City Connect jerseys. You can’t look weird and play bad. That’s uncouth. Minnesota had to establish an attitude of dominance—and they needed to do it now.

That mandate flailed early. Simeon Woods Richardson pitched perhaps a little too much; his 1st inning was a series of extended plate appearances, dunked changeups, and anxious vibes that clearly rattled the otherwise smooth and collected rookie. He entered the frame with a 2.84 ERA. He left it a few ticks higher. With men on each base, Woods Richardson delivered Shea Langeliers a lethargic cement mixer of a slider and watched in horror as he deposited it 408 feet out to left field. 4-0 A’s. The Twins haven’t even hit. 

And so they didn’t, for a time. Minnesota batters thrice hit into double plays against starter Mitch Spence, struggling to turn on his odd cutting-fastball with any sort of authority. With the exception of Byron Buxton—who absolutely clobbered an RBI triple off the righty in the 2nd—the Twins mostly found gloves and false hope in the game’s first five innings.

Perhaps, then, some big thank-goodness-someone-finally-came-through knock was in the works for Minnesota. Runners don’t remain stranded forever; given enough chances, even the coldest batter will find a cookie, some pitch they’ve handled for as long as they can remember, and turn fortunes around. 

That hit came in the 6th, and Max Kepler was its architect.

Staring down a .158/.214/.184 month of June, Kepler lit up on the first he saw, whacked a slider, and delivered just enough oomph on the ball to clear the high wall in right-center, tying the game on one critical blow.

If that somehow wasn't dramatic enough, the rest of the game surely satisfied your unrealistic palate. The Twins immediately surrendered the lead when Brent Rooker—evidently feeling a type of way against his former team—cracked a triple into center to score the go-ahead run. Buxton made a valiant effort. To no avail. Rooker hit it too tall.

Minnesota stayed at bay in the 7th but decided to strike in the 8th; a horrible error, hit-by-pitch, walk combo reminded the team they were indeed playing the Athletics—and the threat coaxed manager Mark Kotsay into smashing his let-Mason-Miller-save-my-ass button, summoning his closer a frame earlier than usual. It kind of worked. The young righty walked in the tying run but lured tepid contact to walk away with nothing more. 

The 9th melted into the 10th, and suddenly, we entered a strange present: the Manfred Man zone, where runners earn bases for free. This bizarro baseball could spell disaster for home teams, but the Twins simply let Jhoan Duran, in his second inning of work, cut down Oakland in order. So he did; the free runner didn't even budge.

And—fueled by their pitching dominance—Minnesota culled a win from their fortunes and needed just one pitch to do it: Scott Alexander intentionally walked Carlos Correa, and his opening pitch to Kepler was scalded beyond Oakland first baseman Tyler Soderstrom. Austin Martin, the free runner, booked it around the bases, sliding into home as the throw could only reach the catcher's glove a few ticks too late. Twins win. 

Notes:

Max Kepler's homer gave him 81 in his Target Field career, passing Brian Dozier for the most homers hit in the stadium by one player. 

Kepler's four RBIs give him 493 in his career, passing Dozier once again, this time for 12th all-time for RBIs hit in Twins history. Kepler is 87 away from tying the next hitter, Michael Cuddyer. 

Carlos Santana's 8th-inning walk earned him his 1,045th career RBI, passing Ron Fairly for 264th all-time in MLB history.

Byron Buxton's 24th career triple ties Shane Mack for 21st place in Twins history. Rod Carew claims 1st place with 90 three-baggers. 

Post-Game Interview:

 

 

What’s Next?
The Twins and Athletics are set to play the third game of their series on Saturday. Bailey Ober will start opposite Joey Estes. First pitch is at 1:10 PM. 

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

 

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[BH67]

SWR and Jax had off nights. Margot and Vázquez began their regression to the mean at the plate. A big opportunity to take the lead in the 8th was missed.

And the Twins won anyway, a clutch team performance when it mattered. Messrs. Kepler, Sands and Duran were tonight’s heroes, and Buck’s and Correa’s bats are heating up.

Here’s hoping Bailey has a 7-inning start and considerable run support Saturday. A guy can dream.
 

[Dman]

Boy that was a tough start, but a great finish!  Nice to see clutch Max back.

[USAFChief]

One of the best W's of the season.

I'm amazed Rocco let Duran go 2, and flabbergasted he let Margot hit in the 8th, and Vazquez in the 9th.

Pretty neat win though.

[mikelink45]

Let's keep beating the bad teams - we need all the wins we can get.  I was at the Blue Jays - Cleveland game tonight and I saw Cleveland win - again.  And I am still not sure how they are doing it, but I do not think they are going to fade - we have to catch them. 

[SotaSports in NM]

Awesome comeback! But boy, y'all may remember me loving on the City Connect jerseys initially, but in action I gotta say the yellow is just not good. It could be worse, but it could be a lot better, too.

[RpR]

3 minutes ago, SotaSports in NM said:

Awesome comeback! But boy, y'all may remember me loving on the City Connect jerseys initially, but in action I gotta say the yellow is just not good. It could be worse, but it could be a lot better, too.

It is disgusting.

[terrydactyls]

Is Lewis hurt?  If not, why didn"t he pinch hit for Vasquez in the bottom of the 9th?  His batting average is only 200 points higher than Vasquez.

[RpR]

14 minutes ago, terrydactyls said:

Is Lewis hurt?  If not, why didn"t he pinch hit for Vasquez in the bottom of the 9th?  His batting average is only 200 points higher than Vasquez.

Twins won, does not matter.

[Alex Wilde]

3 hours ago, RpR said:

Twins won, does not matter.

That doesn’t justify a bad decision. Vasquez and Margot should have never been batting in those situations even if they have been “hot”.

[Mark G]

5 hours ago, BH67 said:

SWR and Jax had off nights. Margot and Vázquez began their regression to the mean at the plate. A big opportunity to take the lead in the 8th was missed.

And the Twins won anyway, a clutch team performance when it mattered. Messrs. Kepler, Sands and Duran were tonight’s heroes, and Buck’s and Correa’s bats are heating up.

Here’s hoping Bailey has a 7-inning start and considerable run support Saturday. A guy can dream.
 

I, as well, am hoping for a pretty lengthy start from BO; looking at the bullpen chart after they had to work 6 innings tonight, we might not have some of the arms available today.  And the better ones, at that.  

 

5 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

Let's keep beating the bad teams - we need all the wins we can get.  I was at the Blue Jays - Cleveland game tonight and I saw Cleveland win - again.  And I am still not sure how they are doing it, but I do not think they are going to fade - we have to catch them. 

We do seem to make hay against the bottom feeders; good thing too.  A little research showed me we are 14-1 against the White Sox, the Angels, the Rockies, and the A's (so far).  We are 1-16 against the Dodgers, the Yankees, the Guardians, and the Orioles.  We can make up ground in the next 2 weeks if we just keep beating up the teams we should.  Even after that there is no one on the horizon that we shouldn't be able to hold our own against.  But the Guardians do look tough.  🫤

[UK Twin]

6 hours ago, BH67 said:

SWR and Jax had off nights. Margot and Vázquez began their regression to the mean at the plate. A big opportunity to take the lead in the 8th was missed.

And the Twins won anyway, a clutch team performance when it mattered. Messrs. Kepler, Sands and Duran were tonight’s heroes, and Buck’s and Correa’s bats are heating up.

Here’s hoping Bailey has a 7-inning start and considerable run support Saturday. A guy can dream.
 

I'm not sure you can call it a big opportunity when the pitcher on the mound is Mason Miller TBH. He's averaging getting on 2 strikeouts per inning pitched. 

[CRF]

Nice comeback win, but it was done despite our manager. 

[Peter]

Huge big time comeback win!!! Doesn’t matter if we beat teams below us. It’s a win and all wins in mlb are tough!!! Ober needs to go deep today-let’s win this series!!! Go twins!!!
 

 

Love the city connect uniforms!!!!

[William K Johnson]

Time to extend Kepler.    Royce Lewis not batting in that game is criminal. 

 

[Fatbat]

The yellow in the uniform color combination is just horrible.  Probably why its there. For distraction purposes. Yuck.   Great win tho!!!

[Fezig]

Those uniforms are the ugliest things I've ever seen - and I lived through a time when men wore leisure suits! Wal-mart customers wouldn't have shed their pajamas to put on those hideous things. If Nike makes $1 on the sales of those things it shows that we are truly screwed as a nation. Lastly, Yesterday would have definitely been a recovery day for me if I were on the roster. 

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

Nice comeback. Twins have to bank wins against bad teams and they have been doing just that. Hopefully Ober keeps it going today with a good outing...and one that goes into the sixth or even seventh.

[Whitey333]

Nice comeback win against another bottom feeder.  If we could just get major league baseball to revamp the playoffs so we could face these terrible teams we might go deep in the playoffs lol.  If Lewis isn't hurt he should be playing.  If he was available to pinch hit late last night he should have.  Lewis needs to play!  We won despite our manager.  Rocco is a very poor manager.

[MMMordabito]

Great walk-off win in a vacuum. They said that was Kepler's 10th walk-off delivery of his career. 

I'll pass on the corporate contrived clown show event day though. The catcher's gear was the diabetes-inducing, buttercream frosting on that gaudy tasteless cake.

Get off my lawn, I guess.

[Doctor Gast]

2 hours ago, UK Twin said:

I'm not sure you can call it a big opportunity when the pitcher on the mound is Mason Miller TBH. He's averaging getting on 2 strikeouts per inning pitched. 

A very good point.

[wabene]

4 minutes ago, Whitey333 said:

Nice comeback win against another bottom feeder.  If we could just get major league baseball to revamp the playoffs so we could face these terrible teams we might go deep in the playoffs lol.  If Lewis isn't hurt he should be playing.  If he was available to pinch hit late last night he should have.  Lewis needs to play!  We won despite our manager.  Rocco is a very poor manager.

[JD-TWINS]

9 hours ago, BH67 said:

SWR and Jax had off nights. Margot and Vázquez began their regression to the mean at the plate. A big opportunity to take the lead in the 8th was missed.

And the Twins won anyway, a clutch team performance when it mattered. Messrs. Kepler, Sands and Duran were tonight’s heroes, and Buck’s and Correa’s bats are heating up.

Here’s hoping Bailey has a 7-inning start and considerable run support Saturday. A guy can dream.
 

Margot was picked up to be a RH hitting platoon guy and for OF depth……,he’s a career .255 hitter …..BA for last 3 seasons has been .254, .274, & .264 ……he’s hitting .231 as of this morning…….he was at .130 about 5 weeks ago…they said on the broadcast that he’s hitting .371 over last 23 games. What’s the mean he’s regressing to?

Jeffers is one of the worst hitters in the game for nearly a month - an epic spiral with a two homer game in the middle. W/o Vazquez to split the time, while continuing to be a top 10-12 defensive catcher it could really be ugly.

Agreed, Duran & Sands were as good as it gets!

Hope this is a continued upswing for Kepler & Buxton…..,they both look encouraging in the past couple games…….,Correa performing at a high level …..,hope he can maintain the energy……needs a day-off, maybe Sunday?

Ober is sort of due today - fingers crossed.

[Karbo]

Good game but those uni's looked bad. They should at least wear different pants!

[JD-TWINS]

11 minutes ago, Whitey333 said:

Nice comeback win against another bottom feeder.  If we could just get major league baseball to revamp the playoffs so we could face these terrible teams we might go deep in the playoffs lol.  If Lewis isn't hurt he should be playing.  If he was available to pinch hit late last night he should have.  Lewis needs to play!  We won despite our manager.  Rocco is a very poor manager.

Seriously, everything is the Manager’s fault?

He had a torn quad - they have a scheduled level of activity for him, obviously. Nobody wants to write Lewis into the line-up more than Baldelli. 

[Doctor Gast]

A comeback is great no matter which team you're playing. I saw the 1st inning & went to bed behind 4-0. But fell asleep with a quiet confidence that we'd be on top when I woke up. They didn't disappoint me even w/o Lewis & Martin (they always put on a good show).

[Doctor Gast]

Kepler came through again. Buxton, Polanco & Kepler have been quite the camaraderie that support each other through the years. It'd be hard to see Kepler being able to do what has been doing alone on a different team.

[Ricky Vaughn]

Did that god awful catchers gear gear distract Woods-Richardson enough to affect his command of the strike zone in the first inning.

[jorgenswest]

I suspect the decision to rest Lewis frequently coming out of his injury is not on Rocco. I have no idea if it is a necessary decision. I would have pinch hit for Vazquez in the 9th with Jeffers. The organization may also have been intentional about full rest for the catcher in this long stretch of games. I don’t think that is necessary. The Twins also have managed to keep both Jeffers and Vazquez healthy for a season and a half but that could be a coincidence and not due to their usage.

If the organization chose to make those two not available short of injury that leaves a bench of Martin and Farmer. Martin was utilized well. The other spot for Martin would have been to hit for Margot in the 8th but they are both pretty similar in putting the ball in play.

Do the Twins need to be more transparent when they are giving players full rest in a game day? That would be foolish. It would be better to take the ridicule from the fans. They don’t need to let the A’s know that Lewis is not an option on the bench.

[JD-TWINS]

1) Margot - hitting .231 with a career average of .255 ………last night, broadcast mentioned he’s at .371 last 23 games.

2) Santana - hitting .227 (.242 career) with a 104 OPS+ and solid defense. …….unheralded walk last night v. one of Top 3 closers in the game - to tie the game!!

3) Farmer - hitting .192 & up from .085 about 5 weeks ago……headed toward career .255 BA.

4) Vazquez - hitting .183 and no real. vision of him getting much above .200……really good defense relative to League metrics & provides insurance through the season (modern day Phil Roof)

5) Jeffers - .233 (his career BA) and OK on defense - really good power, in streaks ……,he has regressed to the mean. (.199 & .208 BA in ‘21 & ‘22)…….hope he figures something out in next week or two - had hoped he may get an All-star nod as a reserve………that seems to be a real stretch!

6) Kirilloff - Wallner - Julien are the real disappointments ………all the guys above were to be role players…….these 3 were to be part of the CORE.

7) Lewis & Lee & even Duran/Topa/Stewart have had very limited to no availability.

Seems to me the Team record and the management of the resources and the individual’s performances to date have been very positive.