Final: Diamondbacks 5, Twins 4: Comeback Thwarted Late

[Ted Schwerzler]

Joe Ryan fell behind early on Tuesday night, and while it was an ugly start, he settled in and gave the Twins a chance to come back and reset the game. Unfortunately, the bullpen couldn't slam the door, and the resurgence was all for naught.

Image courtesy of © Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score
SP: Joe Ryan 6.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 5 K (86 pitches, 58 strikes, 8 whiffs)
Home Runs: Bryon Buxton (6), Ryan Jeffers(13)
Bottom 3 WPA: Joe Ryan (-.186), Trevor Larnach (-.184), Jorge Alcala (-.155)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Diamondbacks Early Liftoff
Willi Castro kicked off the contest with a single to open the game against Brandon Pfaadt, but he never advanced beyond second base with Trevor Larnach quickly grounding into a double play. Royce Lewis, who was coming in off an 0-for-4 game, will test his slump theory. He opened with a ground out, and the reigning National League champions were headed to the plate.

2023 rookie of the year Corbin Carroll has really struggled this season, but he opened with a single against Joe Ryan before Ketel Marte took him deep for his 16th home run of the season. The Twins starter doesn’t have the 1.8 HR/9 he did last season, but has continued to be plagued by the big fly this year. Marte’s home run was the 15th Ryan has allowed in 92 innings this year.

The second inning saw Ryan allow a Jake McCarthy single to start the frame, and then Eugenio Suárez crushed a ball to the gap that Byron Buxton couldn’t come up with. His triple drove in a run before Tucker Barnhart cashed him in the last 90 feet. Just three outs into the ballgame, Minnesota was staring at a 4-0 deficit.

Buck Truck Takes Off
Putting down the Diamondbacks in a pair of back-to-back 1-2-3 innings, Ryan began to settle in. With four strikeouts through five innings, he had dialed in the command that escaped him a bit to start the game. Byron Buxton rewarded his starter’s zeroes with the Twins first run of the game. A big fly made it 14 straight games with a home run, the longest stretch of the year. Buxton is definitely heating up, and Rocco Baldelli’s lineup could use that presence.

Minnesota began to see Brand Pfaadt well in the seventh inning with Carlos Correa crushing a 109.8 mph groundout. Carlos Santana walked and then Buxton blasted a 107.3 mph single that knocked over shortstop Geraldo Perdomo. Ryan Jeffers emptied the bases with a 101.9 mph dinger that sent the Arizona pitcher to the showers and tied the game at four.

Walks Will Haunt
Jorge Alcala came on for the Twins in the seventh inning and quickly got through the first two batters. Walking the nine-hitter Perdomo, the Minnesota reliever put himself in a bad spot. Carroll blooped a single in front of Buxton and Marte beat out an infield single to put Arizona back up 5-4. It was an ugly way to give up a run, but allowing a bottom-of-the-order batter a free base is never a good strategy.

Minnesota couldn’t break through against Ryan Thompson during the eighth inning, and any comeback was going to need to happen against Paul Sewald in the ninth inning. After Cole Sands worked a scoreless top half, Buxton ripped a 110 mph two-out double to put the tying run in scoring position. Jeffers followed with a 103 mph liner that had a .940 expected batting average, but Lourdes Gurriel Jr. made the play to end the tilt.

Notes
Chris Paddack was placed on the injured list after all but begging for a break. Coming back from Tommy John surgery, he is in a similar boat to Kenta Maeda last year, but lasted a few weeks longer before the rest. Ronny Henriquez was called up in his place, but Minnesota will need a starter on Thursday. The most likely candidates are David Festa, Caleb Boushley, and Randy Dobnak. The hope is for Paddack is to return before the All-Star Break.

Former Twins starter Dallas Keuchel was traded from the Seattle Mariners to the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday. He had been pitching well at Triple-A Tacoma, and will give the Brewers an immediate option at the big league level for their depleted rotation.

An update has finally arrived on Brock Stewart. He will throw another pair of bullpens before the next course of action is decided. He is working back towards a resumption of play, but returning prior to the All-Star Game seems unlikely. Justin Topa is also building back up.

Prospect Matt Canterino had resumed throwing bullpens a week and a half ago according to a report. A new report today updated his situation with another bad turn of events. He’s back shelved and headed for another MRI after his shoulder flared up again.

Former Twins second baseman recently returned to the Mariners off the injured list, and he’ll be active and in the lineup for their series over the weekend. Mitch Garver also has a .923 OPS in his last 15 games and will be eager to see his former squad.

What’s Next? 
Simeon Woods Richardson goes on Wednesday night against Ryne Nelson and the Arizona Diamondbacks. He will continue his pursuit of American League Rookie of the Year consideration alongside Yankees starter, Luis Guil.

Postgame Interviews

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

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[Peter]

Hate the one run games-especially when they lose the one run games😥😭🤬😡🤮💩

[wabene]

The margins, they're small

[howeda7]

That Jeffers guy who leads the team in HR's is pretty good. Too bad he's only legally allowed to play 50% of the games. 

[William K Johnson]

The difference between the Cleveland Guardians and us, BULLPEN

[bighat]

Bad defense by Buxton, that should have been ruled an error. He straight up dropped the ball. 

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

Ryan should have pitched the 7th. The bullpen has limited options - that's on the front office. But it is on Rocco to read the room and not be so quick to yank his starter. 

Four straight 1-run losses. That's the sign of a poorly managed team.

[wabene]

Maybe TD should start charging for emoji usage. First one per post is free, next one is 25¢, third one 50¢, 4th one 75¢ and so on. If we had to we could crowd source Peter.

[Karbo]

36 minutes ago, William K Johnson said:

The difference between the Cleveland Guardians and us, BULLPEN

After all the early season hype? This pen needs help.

[Karbo]

33 minutes ago, bighat said:

Bad defense by Buxton, that should have been ruled an error. He straight up dropped the ball. 

Very few would have gotten to that ball, but he did. I thimk 90% of the time he holds onto that.

[MABB1959]

It was a nail biter for sure.  One loss isn't the end of the world but they need to avoid losing the series and going on losing streak.  It is mid season and Cleveland is right now the top team in the MLB and on a 7 game winning streak and the Twins are 9 games behind.  Not impossible to catch up but it will be hard.  Overall a little disappoint in June given their schedule.  Astros .494, our favorite Yankees .642, Pirates .491, Rockies .342, A's .354, TB .500, AZ .494 and upcoming Seattle .549.  The Twins are .500 for the month (thank you A's for 6 of the total 11 wins in June.  Two more against Arizona is a must as they wrap up June with the Mariners.

IMO going to be tough to win the ALC and a Wild Card spot may be hard too.

 

[Whitey333]

Not looking good for the Twins at this point.  Simply put Cleveland is just a better team than the Twins.  Although our great radio announcers keep blaming bad luck, bad umpiring, and bloop hits that always seem to go against the Twins.  It's obvious to them that the Twins never get those bloopers.  After today Cleveland plays 4 against the free falling Royals then e against the hapless White Sox.  Twins need to stay afloat.  This is such a Jeckyll and Hyde team.

 

[JD-TWINS]

Don’t get the criticism for bringing in Alcala? That situation is him doing his job. Bullpen was completely rested going into the game. He walked a guy (#9 hitter) after getting first 2 outs……gave up an ugly run…….not the Manager’s fault.

Jeffers has been played less (no DH role) for 3-4 weeks because he was in an absolute free fall. He hit the ball great last night and has shown signs of coming around lately……no reason to re-write how poorly he hit for a month. I think last night was his first, maybe 2nd HR of June?

Glad to see Buxton & Jeffers pick up the back end of the line-up!

[mikelink45]

I like one run games - that is how parity should work, but the Twins have obvious weaknesses in the pen.  All the washed up arms available during the off season does not make a good pen. 

I am surprised that Varland was not mentioned for the Paddock spot, but I am happy to see any young arms come up.

[bighat]

27 minutes ago, Karbo said:

Very few would have gotten to that ball, but he did. I thimk 90% of the time he holds onto that.

Agree that few would have got to that ball. 

But he did. And he dropped it. 

That's a play Buxton makes most of the time. It was an error. 

[umterp23]

15 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

I like one run games - that is how parity should work, but the Twins have obvious weaknesses in the pen.  All the washed up arms available during the off season does not make a good pen. 

I am surprised that Varland was not mentioned for the Paddock spot, but I am happy to see any young arms come up.

Mike, kind of agree, but he did just get lit up in last start at AAA.  Now the flip side is has been okay last couple of big club starts.  Some folks reference our AAA hitters and does it translate to big club due to quality of pitchers at AAA... does it not say something about AAA starters if they get crushed?  Reason I pose the question is do we believe Varland jus thad a bad day or just isn't a good starter option.  I don't know good answer, but on paper stats don't look great.  

 

[Peter]

35 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

I like one run games - that is how parity should work, but the Twins have obvious weaknesses in the pen.  All the washed up arms available during the off season does not make a good pen. 

I am surprised that Varland was not mentioned for the Paddock spot, but I am happy to see any young arms come up.

Disagree about the one run games!!! That needs to stop rest of season-hate hate hate them!!! What good is comeback if you can’t win? Twins need to win these next 2 with Arizona and win series against Seattle! Same with winning series rest of season! No more one run games and losing streaks. Division title is gone but make playoffs-wild card will be better instead. It’s all about winning!!! Winnings fun losings not!

[stringer bell]

1 hour ago, Twins_Fan_in_NJ said:

 

Four straight 1-run losses. That's the sign of a poorly managed team.

14-9 in one-run games, so previously they were well managed?

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

Just now, stringer bell said:

14-9 in one-run games, so previously they were well managed?

There's layers to it. Not all one-run games are created equally. Some instances, you'll have a big lead and hang on. Other times, you'll be down big, get within a run and fall short. Managers not always at play.

But these last four games, we've seen some really bad bullpen management and its bit them in the ass each time. That's on Rocco.

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

Ryan threw 86 pitches and had retired 14 of his last 15 batters. And he's pulled. There's no defending that. It was a terrible decision.

[Linus]

I’m doing this from memory so…..but if I recall the Twins have gained zero ground on Cleveland during the Twins hot streak and have now dropped back even further. Nothing is impossible but as the games click by without the Twins gaining ground makes the math really hard for winning the Central. 

[jmlease1]

6 hours ago, howeda7 said:

That Jeffers guy who leads the team in HR's is pretty good. Too bad he's only legally allowed to play 50% of the games. 

He's 4th on the team in games played, 4th on the team in plate appearances. Currently appearing in 80% of the games, not 50%. He's only catching 50%, but they're still getting his bat in the lineup.

[stringer bell]

1 minute ago, jmlease1 said:

He's 4th on the team in games played, 4th on the team in plate appearances. Currently appearing in 80% of the games, not 50%. He's only catching 50%, but they're still getting his bat in the lineup.

Not so much this month. With Miranda around to DH, he hasn't been DHing against RH pitching. It is an opportunity to play him more behind the plate (with less Vázquez), but so far Rocco has resisted that temptation and stuck with alternating the two catchers. 

[JD-TWINS]

23 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

14-9 in one-run games, so previously they were well managed?

Who threw the ball off line to first allowing 3rd run to score last week? (Lewis) …..should have been 3rd out in inning.

Who got thrown out at 3B when tagging up at 2B in the 10th inning? (Lewis)

Who walked #9 hitter with 2 outs last night? (Alcala)

Off top of my head, these 3 of last 4 one run losses that have zero to do with the Manager.

[LambchoP]

Good news on Topa and Stewart, hopefully getting them back soon will help the pen a lot. Too bad about Canterino though. Iv always thought he had the best stuff out of all our minor league pitchers and would be a huge weapon in the bullpen. Sure sounds like he's done though, guy just can't stay on the field. Heck he can't even GET on the field. Do the twins give up on him and give his roster spot to someone else? I'm sure if he goes to another team he'll finally get healthy and become an all star closer lol...

[jmlease1]

3 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Not so much this month. With Miranda around to DH, he hasn't been DHing against RH pitching. It is an opportunity to play him more behind the plate (with less Vázquez), but so far Rocco has resisted that temptation and stuck with alternating the two catchers. 

He also had a rotten June hitting, that would have been almost impossibly bad if not for a good last week, so the idea that the Twins have been failing Jeffers by not playing him more recently is an interesting one. If he doesn't get hurt (which is something they're working hard to guard against because he's an important player) he's going to easily play in more than 50% of the games this season and hit career highs for starts and games played. Seems fine, especially with Vazquez no longer looking helpless at the plate (in an admittedly small sample, but his June was certainly good enough).

I mean, i think we want Miranda's bat in the lineup too.

Maybe it would be better to play Jeffers and extra 3-4 games a month at catcher and tilt the balance, but this is also getting into the part of the season where players start getting worn down and dinged up. Since Jeffers slumped badly for most of June, maybe he was feeling a little worn down from handling a bigger workload (in total) at this point in a season than he's ever experienced in his entire MLB career...

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

8 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

Who threw the ball off line to first allowing 3rd run to score last week? (Lewis) …..should have been 3rd out in inning.

Who got thrown out at 3B when tagging up at 2B in the 10th inning? (Lewis)

Who walked #9 hitter with 2 outs last night? (Alcala)

Off top of my head, these 3 of last 4 one run losses that have zero to do with the Manager.

1. Rocco pulled Ryan last week. Turned it over to Sands. Tossing gas on the fire with Sands in a high leverage spot.

2. Rocco let Jackson pitch the 9th and essentially conceded the game.

3. Rocco put Alcala in the game last night despite his starter throwing less than 90 pitches and having retired 14 of 15.

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

With the way Rocco manages the 'pen, he really must have believed all those off-season fluff pieces.

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

Rocco zealots out in full force this morning! 

[TwinsDr2021]

18 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

but this is also getting into the part of the season where players start getting worn down and dinged up

This excuse/reason is absolutely unacceptable excuse/reason. These are professional athletes and have the best nutrition, workouts, doctors and such. I agree with the rest of what you said.