Final: Mariners 3, Twins 2: Minnesota Misplays Cost A Victory

[Ted Schwerzler]

There was minimal offense Friday for Rocco Baldelli's club. Carlos Correa was in the lineup and showed his arm felt good with a blast, but key missed plays sank the squad. A game that the Twins were in a position to win went by the wayside.

Image courtesy of © Stephen Brashear-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score
SP: Bailey Ober 6.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 9 K (88 pitches, 59 strikes)
Home Runs: Carlos Correa (9)
Bottom 3 WPA: Christian Vazquez (-.214), Griffin Jax (-.212), Cole Sands (-.196)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Ober, Correa, Go Deep
Through the first five innings of the game, Minnesota and Seattle struggled to get much of anything going offensively. The Twins managed just three hits with the Mariners recording a pair. It wasn’t until the bottom of the fifth inning that Josh Rojas doubled to score Mitch Haniger. He should have been out by 20 feet, but Christian Vazquez booted Willi Castro's relay to the plate.

The Twins had a quick response when Willi Castro provided a sixth inning baserunner by again getting hit by a pitch. Carlos Correa, back in the lineup after being hit on Thursday, just like he said he would be, launched a two-run dinger. His ninth blast of the season made it a 2-1 game. 

Bailey Ober turned in another great start, and his one allowed run came on two hits and a trio of walks. He struck out nine in his six innings and turned it over to Jorge Alcala.

Jax Jumped Late
Griffin Jax took over for the eighth inning and needed to hold the slim lead. Walking Haniger to start the inning, Luke Raley came on to run. A throwing error by Jose Miranda allowed him to score and the game was tied late. Intentionally walking Cal Raleigh, before getting Mitch Kepler to fly out. Dominic Canzone struck out and the Twins needed to win it in the ninth inning.

Jhoan Duran took over for the bottom half after the Twins couldn’t score. Seattle pushed runners to second and third with just one out, but got a strikeout of Rojas before J.P. Crawford flew out to end the inning. He didn’t touch more than 100.3 mph on the night, but made it work.

On To Extras
Facing Ryne Stanek with Miranda starting at second base in the tenth, Max Kepler began the frame with a fly out. Manuel Margot moved the runner with a fly out, but the Twins were working with two outs. Christian Vazquez grounded out and dropped his OPS to a truly astonishing .465. Beyond giving up the first run, and continuing to be an automatic out at the plate, he has become a substantial problem for Minnesota.

Cole Sands came on for the bottom of the tenth inning and Julio Rodriguez moved Crawford to third base for the first out. Raleigh grounded back behind Sands and Crawford raced home to walk it off for the Mariners.

Correa was the only player to record a pair of hits with Minnesota totaling just six on the evening. The Twins struck out only four times but didn’t draw a walk. Bad defense down the stretch was the story that sank Rocco Baldelli’s club.

What’s Next? 
Pablo Lopez starts for the Minnesota Twins, and gets to do so at a place in which he always enjoyed seeing fellow Venezuelan Felix Hernandez’s Kings Court. He’ll be opposed by the Mariners Bryce Miller.

Postgame Interviews

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

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[Mike Sixel]

Martin should have started on second, Buxton for Margot and Jeffers for auto out. Why he's in the roster is baffling at this point. Truly. And his vaunted defense was nowhere to be seen. Truly awful. 

I rarely blame the manager, but he did everything wrong in the top of the tenth. 

[Peter]

Unacceptable!!!! This loss really stings as I’m livid we blew that lead!!! You can’t walk batters whatsoever!!!!  5 one run losses in a row is very very very concerning!!!! I hate hate hate hate hate losing one run/extra inning games!!! Seriously I’d rather get blown out then to lose these one run games!!! I’ve had enough of the one run losses as well extra inning losses-that needs to stop!!! We desperately Need to win this series!!!

[USAFChief]

We need a MLB manager.

[BH67]

Oakland's bullpen, this ain't.

[howeda7]

There is absolutely no reason for Vazquez to start this game and 2 games in this series. Jeffers could have started tonight and Sunday. Rocco's insistence on giving the worst hitter in baseball half the AB's over a guy OPS'ing .800 is just ridiculous. And even his defense cost the team tonight. Letting him hit in the 10th inning is just pathetic and inexcusable. 

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Ugh ! There is no way to spin this loss into something positive. 

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

But some folks will defend Rocco.

[wabene]

5 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

I rarely blame the manager, but he did everything wrong in the top of the tenth

I'm in the same boat. I'd like to have a journalist ask Rocco to explain this. 

 

5 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

Martin should have started on second, Buxton for Margot and Jeffers for auto out. Why he's in the roster is baffling at this point. Truly. And his vaunted defense was nowhere to be seen. Truly awful. 

Just having Martin or Buxton as the dreaded Manfred Man and it's possible they would've advanced on the first flyout and scored on the second. Beyond that with the game on the line, Margot faces a righty and Vazquez faces anybody? Then you have Sands over Staumont which I'd say is a smaller quibble. 

The bats didn't provide much, but that was to be expected coming into this series, tight ballgames. The defense, however, didn't hold up it's end of the bargain. Vazquez, that ball should've been caught and the guy is out by 15 feet. Miranda's play is less egregious. Santana might usually pick that throw. Beyond that if Miranda went all in on going after the runner advancing to third he might have forced the ump to make the correct call on the base running infraction.

[wabene]

24 minutes ago, Twins_Fan_in_NJ said:

But some folks will defend Rocco.

You actually have 2 posters who don't rail on the manager questioning Rocco on this one. The defense isn't on Rocco, but the choices made in the 10th are on him. 

The Vazquez situation is a tough one for Rocco. The front office made the signing which most weren't against, but now what do they do? Rocco has to play him, so I'm not sure Howeda's complaint is valid. Sure this is a tougher series than the last so he could've set it up as Howeda suggests to have Jeffers in 2 of 3 against a tough staff. I don't think they are going to have Jeffers catching 2 out of every 3 games until the stretch run, so as long as Vazquez is here you're going to see him in the batter's box.

Tough loss.

[big dog]

Inexcusable decisions in the tenth, no doubt (and pre-game, starting Vasquez). I absolutely couldn't believe letting Vasquez bat in that situation- what?? I'm ready to cut him and bring up Camargo, but of course it's not my money.

However, there was some bad luck as well as bad fielding. The first run scored on a ridiculous missed catch at home; the next two scored on bad throws but both were on what were effectively well-placed swinging bunts. That "game-winning hit" in the tenth was a joke, but it was a joke in the right spot.

Meanwhile, the Twins hit at least four scorching line drives that infielders caught, largely out of self-defense. Oh well, let's get 'em today.

[Doctor Gast]

This was a tough pitching battle and Ober pitched a good game. Twins hit the ball hard & didn't fall in & SEA had some weak balls that fell in. Unlike many think, defense is important. It was concerning to begin the game with Margot in CF & Miranda at 3B. Not that Miranda is a bad 3Bman but to better our odds I preferred Lewis playing there if Correa or Buxton are not playing. Every play at catcher is a tough play, most of the time Vazquez makes superb plays & nothing is said but if he misses a play he's railed upon. Vazquez is not Superman but he's a better catcher than most. Defense is important, that's why Vazquez should play more not less.

If I had my way we wouldn't need Vazquez but the way things stand we do. So you'll never see me complaining about Vazquez. Because the alternative would be much worse.

[William K Johnson]

Most managers will walk the leadoff hitter in the bottom of the 10th if as a visiting team you do not score in the top of the 10th.    That run means nothing and sets up a double play opportunity.   The '27 Yankees could not win with Vasquez in the lineup.

[JD-TWINS]

7 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

Martin should have started on second, Buxton for Margot and Jeffers for auto out. Why he's in the roster is baffling at this point. Truly. And his vaunted defense was nowhere to be seen. Truly awful. 

I rarely blame the manager, but he did everything wrong in the top of the tenth. 

The changes in line-up would have been essentially moot, other than Jeffers pinch-hitting and having a little better opportunity. Kepler has to do better in the 10th, he’s spiraling again. I get your point that Martin could have run and played 2B …. moving Castro to 3B but weakening the defense (on paper) isn’t something typically done in extra innings.

Gotta move the runner to 3B with first hitter, somehow. 3-4 extra inning games w/o scoring in the 10th……..guy starts on 2B…..frustrating!

JAX walking the lead-off guy in the 8th, to me, not the Manager, cost the Team the ballgame!……..I’m sure I’m wrong but I didn’t recall Jax throwing a fastball in the zone until the 5th batter in the inning. Constantly trying to get guys to chase w/o starting pitches in a competitive spot (over the plate) & his stuff is better than that!

[Jocko87]

2 hours ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

Ugh ! There is no way to spin this loss into something positive. 

WPA captured the story of the game, even without counting defense?

[Old Crow]

1 hour ago, wabene said:

You actually have 2 posters who don't rail on the manager questioning Rocco on this one. The defense isn't on Rocco, but the choices made in the 10th are on him. 

The Vazquez situation is a tough one for Rocco. The front office made the signing which most weren't against, but now what do they do? Rocco has to play him, so I'm not sure Howeda's complaint is valid. Sure this is a tougher series than the last so he could've set it up as Howeda suggests to have Jeffers in 2 of 3 against a tough staff. I don't think they are going to have Jeffers catching 2 out of every 3 games until the stretch run, so as long as Vazquez is here you're going to see him in the batter's box.

Tough loss.

Vazquez has to catch every other game?  Where is T. K. when you need him.

[FlyingFinn]

The runner in the 8th should have been called out for running out of the baseline. You can move three feet from the line you are currently running to avoid the tag. He went from his normal running lane to well inside the grass, more than a 3 foot adjustment.

Vazquez is in there for defense and has to play better than last night.

[mnfireman]

The Twins had only 6 hits, but had a team xBA of .314. I'm not a fan of metric stats, especially this one as it as shown some 30/30 HR/Park as having an xBA of .100 or less. However, they had 12 hard hit balls (95.7 MPH and higher) and only struck out 4 times, and there was quite bit of bad luck - at 'em balls. 

The poor defense, falling behind batters and some questionable swings/PA are concerning, as these are signs of a poorly prepared/coached team.

[Whitey333]

Very questionable le managing again by one of the poorest managers the Twins have ever had.  His 10th inning decisions alone qualify him for that.  As I've said many times his stick with the process and not worry about the results costs the Twins several games each year.   Ot pinch hitting for Vazquez in the 10th is sheer lunacy.   But I'm not surprised.  He gets out managed a lot.

[Linus]

As I’ve stated before the Twins play sloppy baseball with regularity. Sometimes it doesn’t cost them, last night it sure did. 

[wabene]

23 minutes ago, Old Crow said:

Vazquez has to catch every other game?  Where is T. K. when you need him.

I was discussing Rocco. If you want to talk about letting Jeffers catch 120-130 games a year, that isn't a decision that is made by Rocco alone. As is said over and over a new manager would use the catcher in the same way. Look at the bright side, we don't roster 3 catchers anymore.

[mnfireman]

8 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

Martin should have started on second, Buxton for Margot and Jeffers for auto out. Why he's in the roster is baffling at this point. Truly. And his vaunted defense was nowhere to be seen. Truly awful. 

I rarely blame the manager, but he did everything wrong in the top of the tenth. 

Martin was already in the game, substituted for Larnach in LF in the 8th.

Buxton running for Miranda and Jeffers hitting for Vazquez absolutely should have happened though.

[wabene]

12 minutes ago, Whitey333 said:

by one of the poorest managers the Twins have ever had

Hyperbole, check the facts, look at the records. Plainly false.

[mnfireman]

36 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

The runner in the 8th should have been called out for running out of the baseline. You can move three feet from the line you are currently running to avoid the tag. He went from his normal running lane to well inside the grass, more than a 3 foot adjustment.

Vazquez is in there for defense and has to play better than last night.

I didn't realize how much of an effort Miranda made trying for the tag, on the MLB.com video it looked like he casually reached out in an attempt, the picture at the top of the article shows full effort for the tag. The runner should have absolutely been called out. 

[Old Twins Hat]

8 hours ago, Peter said:

Unacceptable!!!! This loss really stings as I’m livid we blew that lead!!! You can’t walk batters whatsoever!!!!  5 one run losses in a row is very very very concerning!!!! I hate hate hate hate hate losing one run/extra inning games!!! Seriously I’d rather get blown out then to lose these one run games!!! I’ve had enough of the one run losses as well extra inning losses-that needs to stop!!! We desperately Need to win this series!!!

 

Absolutely brilliant.

This is a parody, right? 

 

[mikelink45]

6 hours ago, howeda7 said:

There is absolutely no reason for Vazquez to start this game and 2 games in this series. Jeffers could have started tonight and Sunday. Rocco's insistence on giving the worst hitter in baseball half the AB's over a guy OPS'ing .800 is just ridiculous. And even his defense cost the team tonight. Letting him hit in the 10th inning is just pathetic and inexcusable. 

His bat in the 10th was the worst decision.  This is where you PH even guys who are getting the day off.

[mikelink45]

One more question - the short video clip makes me think the error could have gone to Santana as much as Miranda.  Does Santana's reputation protect him?

[wabene]

Miranda got himself caught in the middle impacting his throw. Go all out after the advancing runner and you might catch his heel or force the umpire to make the correct call. This call is inexplicably non-reviewable so if they don't rule the runner out for a base running infraction, you've given up the chance for the out at first. In hindsight Miranda should've just focused on the throw to first.

[Patzky]

Hope better bats in the lineup today (Jeffers and Buxton) will mitigate any pitching control issues or defense miscues. Anyone think the batting order needs a shakeup? Specifically bumping Royce (pressure?) and Kepler down. 

 

Castro Larnach Correa Miranda Jeffers Buxton Lewis Santana Kepler?

 

Probably the ideal offensive starters..

[Patzky]

37 minutes ago, Old Twins Hat said:

 

Absolutely brilliant.

This is a parody, right? 

 

Peter the Great does not jest about such things. Off with Rocco's head. 👑