Make It Official: Twins 9, Astros 3, Jose Miranda Makes History; Brooks Lee Bashes First Career Homer

[Matt Braun]

Quite a day for fans of standing ovations.

Image courtesy of © Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score
Joe Ryan: 5 ⅔ IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 8 K
Home Runs: Brooks Lee (1), Byron Buxton (9)
Top 3 WPA: Jose Miranda (.118), Willi Castro (.104), Trevor Larnach (.083)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

 

Friday’s game stunk. The back-and-forth seesaw event turned blowout, turned “maybe Josh Winder shouldn’t have pitched as long as he did” bonanza burned the Twins and left fans with a terrible aftertaste. What a great game, and yet, what a rotten one. Fortunately, baseball never waits long to offer a new opportunity to succeed—and the Twins took full advantage on Saturday.

Entering the game, Astros starting pitcher Hunter Brown had been unhittable. His ordinary season stats belie a tremendous month of June: the righty allowed four runs all month, good for a 1.16 ERA. He then tossed six scoreless to start July.

And—evidently—no one told this to Minnesota’s hitters. They creamed him. Two runs in the first begat a trio in the second, concluding with another multi-run frame in the third. The Twins nearly had more runs than Brown had outs. 

Nestled at the heart of the offensive outburst was Jose Miranda, the man on a streak so incendiary that amateur prognosticators have flocked to the Thesaurus website in search of worthy synonyms for the word “hot.” He entered the day reaching base safely in ten straight plate appearances; an early hit-by-pitch and subsequent RBI single quickly grew that total to 12, a Twins franchise record. 

A later single gave him 12 straight at-bats with a hit, the most since Walt Dropo in 1952.

"So much for that being the focus,” thought Brooks Lee , perhaps stewing that his teammate has swiped so much attention. He was a top prospect, hitting .500 in his time in the majors; what the hell does he have to do to earn some respect? Well, Lee took over for at least one swing; he scooped a low curveball and just barely coaxed the ball over the towering right-field wall for his first career major league homer.

 

The runs were needed as “a safe lead” did not exist in anyone’s lexicon after last night’s game. In point, Joe Ryan was nearly dominant. He struck out eight, earned about a thousand whiffs, and still left the game in a state where one swing could have knotted things. That’s no insult to Ryan, who expertly diced up Houston’s veterans more than a few times; rather, it resulted from two blazing offenses refusing to settle quietly. Jon Singleton homered, Alex Bregman doubled, and a whole bunch of foul balls in the 6th forced Ryan to exit before earning the elusive quality start. 

Fortunately, Jorge Alcalá netted the final out, and in an even better turn of luck, Byron Buxton turned it into a six-run game with a 7th-inning two-run bomb. 

 

That was the final touch. Cole Sands cut down the Astros in the 7th and 8th, Caleb Thielbar flirted with an immaculate inning in the 9th, and Minnesota earned their 50th win of the season. 

Notes:

José Miranda's 12 consecutive at-bats with a hit tied an MLB record shared by three other players: Walt Dropo, Pinky Higgins, and Johnny Kling.

Miranda's streak of 13 consecutive plate appearances reaching base safely set a Twins franchise record. 

Minnesota's 12 pitching strikeouts give them 810 on the year, the highest total in MLB.

Byron Buxton's 124th homer is good for 16th place on the all-time Twins leaderboard. He is eight away from tying Jacque Jones for 15th. Harmon Killebrew remains deep on the horizon. 

Post-Game Interview:

 

What’s Next?
The Twins and Astros will play the final game of their weekend series on Sunday, with Simeon Woods Richardson facing off against Spencer Arrighetti. First pitch is at 1:10 PM. 

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

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[BH67]

Quite the smörgåsbord today! Let's feast:

Every batter in today’s lineup has a season OPS above .700. Six of them are .800 or better, with Castro, Jeffers and Buxton reaching that standard during the game. The Twins now trail only the Dodgers, Orioles and Yankees in team OPS this season. If the Twins stay healthy, that percentage may yet increase. No need right now for a bat via trade.

Alcalá and Sands came up huge in their relief appearances against a very good hitting team. Ryan deserves plenty of credit for 110 pitches and fortitude under pressure. Great final inning by Thielbar, too.

Miranda has failed to reach base in his last one plate appearance, alas. But he was on base for the previous thirteen and tied the MLB record for consecutive at-bats with a base hit. Bravissimo, José.

At full strength, these Twins are very good at playing baseball. And they play only one more road series this season against a team with a better record.
 

[Whitey333]

Nice win Twins!  Congrats Miranda.  We'll done.  Gotta love Brooks Lee.  He looks like the real deal.  Maybe this trade deadline it's time to think about trading a veteran or two as it appears some of our prospects look ready to stay.  Let's win on Sunday and take the series before heading to Chicago to takeon the white sox.

[mikelink45]

Farmer, Margot are the low hanging fruit if we feel the need to trade.  This is really fun.

[USAFChief]

Absolutely great day at TF. Big crowd too.

Nice bounce back.

[Patzky]

21 minutes ago, BH67 said:

Quite the smörgåsbord today! Let's feast:

Every batter in today’s lineup has a season OPS above .700. Six of them are .800 or better, with Castro, Jeffers and Buxton reaching that standard during the game. The Twins now trail only the Dodgers, Orioles and Yankees in team OPS this season. If the Twins stay healthy, that percentage may yet increase. No need right now for a bat via trade.

Alcalá and Sands came up huge in their relief appearances against a very good hitting team. Ryan deserves plenty of credit for 110 pitches and fortitude under pressure. Great final inning by Thielbar, too.

Miranda has failed to reach base in his last one plate appearance, alas. But he was on base for the previous thirteen and tied the MLB record for consecutive at-bats with a base hit. Bravissimo, José.

At full strength, these Twins are very good at playing baseball. And they play only one more road series this season against a team with a better record.
 

An embarrassment of riches? It seems Matt Wallner will be joining the Twins Sunday..

[LA Vikes Fan]

Interesting. What did you hear about Wallner? Who's going on the IL/going to AAA?

[Joe A. Preusser]

A pretty cool stretch we have going here.  

Miranda having the second best stretch of hitting games I've ever seen a Twin have.  1st is still Mauer going 14/15 in a series against the Royals in...2006 I think? 

Sure is great to see all that green behind some of our better relievers.  Nice rest now, another one at the ASB.  

Bring in a good, young, cost controlled SP at the deadline.  I don't want anything else.

 

[Patzky]

24 minutes ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

Interesting. What did you hear about Wallner? Who's going on the IL/going to AAA?

It was the ubiquitous 'sources' without the accompanying roster move given. I really hope they don't send Martin back..

[Patzky]

23 minutes ago, Joe A. Preusser said:

A pretty cool stretch we have going here.  

Miranda having the second best stretch of hitting games I've ever seen a Twin have.  1st is still Mauer going 14/15 in a series against the Royals in...2006 I think? 

Sure is great to see all that green behind some of our better relievers.  Nice rest now, another one at the ASB.  

Bring in a good, young, cost controlled SP at the deadline.  I don't want anything else.

 

I'm obsessed with getting Fedde from the White Sox.

[IndianaTwin]

28 minutes ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

Interesting. What did you hear about Wallner? Who's going on the IL/going to AAA?

My prediction is Winder. If you look above, you see that they've played the last couple days with a nine-man bullpen. Since they currently have only four starters on the roster, this would give them a couple days to play with a five-man bench before needing to make a decision with Paddack likely coming back Tuesday. But as Mama IT used to say, "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

[IndianaTwin]

58 minutes ago, BH67 said:

....At full strength, these Twins are very good at playing baseball. And they play only one more road series this season against a team with a better record.
 

That would be a particularly good series to win. And hopefully by then, they are no longer playing a team with a better record. 

[FlyingFinn]

2 minutes ago, IndianaTwin said:

My prediction is Winder. If you look above, you see that they've played the last couple days with a nine-man bullpen.

I agree. The only thing odd about that is that it wasn't done for today's game as Winder had zero chance of pitching today after that many pitches on Friday. With that timing, I wonder if they would really bring Wallner up for 1 or 2 days and then return him to St. Paul, as they couldn't recall him without an injury. I'm guessing Martin goes down on Monday with Paddack taking his place.

[USAFChief]

6 minutes ago, IndianaTwin said:

My prediction is Winder. If you look above, you see that they've played the last couple days with a nine-man bullpen. Since they currently have only four starters on the roster, this would give them a couple days to play with a five-man bench before needing to make a decision with Paddack likely coming back Tuesday. But as Mama IT used to say, "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

I gotta think it's Martin. With Winder down for Paddack Monday. 

If they send Winder down for Wallner, somebody needs to go Monday anyway. They need a starter Monday.

[JD-TWINS]

1 hour ago, BH67 said:

Quite the smörgåsbord today! Let's feast:

Every batter in today’s lineup has a season OPS above .700. Six of them are .800 or better, with Castro, Jeffers and Buxton reaching that standard during the game. The Twins now trail only the Dodgers, Orioles and Yankees in team OPS this season. If the Twins stay healthy, that percentage may yet increase. No need right now for a bat via trade.

Alcalá and Sands came up huge in their relief appearances against a very good hitting team. Ryan deserves plenty of credit for 110 pitches and fortitude under pressure. Great final inning by Thielbar, too.

Miranda has failed to reach base in his last one plate appearance, alas. But he was on base for the previous thirteen and tied the MLB record for consecutive at-bats with a base hit. Bravissimo, José.

At full strength, these Twins are very good at playing baseball. And they play only one more road series this season against a team with a better record.
 

The Road Series detail is a deep dive & interesting, I guess it’s Cleveland?

The offensive addition via trade is a fools errand, as you state!

The line-up balance & length of capable bats is formative!! Lewis is (will be) another pretty big shot in the arm relative to OPS as well.

The Pen will come together with health - Stewart - Varland - Paddack ……outside shot with Topa …..,all in September/October & it too will be formidable. Can’t LEAD MLB in strikeouts as a Staff w/o some pretty good talent!

[JD-TWINS]

9 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

I agree. The only thing odd about that is that it wasn't done for today's game as Winder had zero chance of pitching today after that many pitches on Friday. With that timing, I wonder if they would really bring Wallner up for 1 or 2 days and then return him to St. Paul, as they couldn't recall him without an injury. I'm guessing Martin goes down on Monday with Paddack taking his place.

I guess my assumption is Paddack for one of the relievers. Winder or the other guy from Friday nobody seems to be referencing, Funderburk.

Not sure why they’d take a look at Wallner for a couple days…….Martin, while. or a “power guy” is more versatile and has performed.

[Parfigliano]

1 hour ago, mikelink45 said:

Farmer, Margot are the low hanging fruit if we feel the need to trade.  This is really fun.

I really wish the TC would prune Farmer's branch.

[JD-TWINS]

1 hour ago, mikelink45 said:

Farmer, Margot are the low hanging fruit if we feel the need to trade.  This is really fun.

What possible return of interest to the Twins are either or both of those guys going to bring?……both would be rentals and neither are impact guys.

Margot will be on the Roster October 5th, unless he continues to drop fly balls. He’s going exactly what they sought out in the offseason. He was terrible for first 6 weeks - that ended though, 7 weeks ago. His .899 OPS since beginning of June have locked him in here.

[Joe A. Preusser]

38 minutes ago, Patzky said:

I'm obsessed with getting Fedde from the White Sox.

I like him, but IDK, he's not young, cost or team controlled. I'd much rather cash in a nice chunk of prospect equity and bring in a SP building block.  

[Doctor Gast]

This was a big win for Ryan, Congratulations!

A big day for Lee. Congratulations on your 1st HR! 

A very big day for Miranda. Congratulations on your record!

 

[IndianaTwin]

25 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

I gotta think it's Martin. With Winder down for Paddack Monday. 

If they send Winder down for Wallner, somebody needs to go Monday anyway. They need a starter Monday.

You're catching all my mistakes. 😀  Yes, the Paddack move happens Monday, not Tuesday as I've been speculating. Which means that Paddack gets the Sunday game heading into the break, though with the off day Thursday, they could also bring back Ober from Tuesday to pitch on Sunday. But that's a later conversation. 

So basically the question right now is whether you'd rather have Martin or Winder on the roster tomorrow. I guess my thought is that since we know that Winder won't pitch tomorrow, we might as well have Martin available for pinch-running. 

[USAFChief]

18 minutes ago, IndianaTwin said:

You're catching all my mistakes. 😀  Yes, the Paddack move happens Monday, not Tuesday as I've been speculating. Which means that Paddack gets the Sunday game heading into the break, though with the off day Thursday, they could also bring back Ober from Tuesday to pitch on Sunday. But that's a later conversation. 

So basically the question right now is whether you'd rather have Martin or Winder on the roster tomorrow. I guess my thought is that since we know that Winder won't pitch tomorrow, we might as well have Martin available for pinch-running. 

That makes sense.

[jimbo92107]

We're gonna need a bigger chicken for this dinner. 

Wonder what other ballplayers think of Jose Miranda's streak of hits. They work all their lives to get consistent contact. It's one of the hardest things in all of sports, hitting a ball that's just under three inches in diameter with a bat whose diameter is slightly bigger...

Except the ball is travelling between 75 and 103 miles per hour, so you have under half a second to decide whether to swing, and where. 

Oh, and the spin can be anywhere from 0 to about 3000 RPM. Meaning that it can curve a couple feet before you make contact.

Oh, and it can be anywhere inside a rectangle about the size of a kitchen trash can. 

Oh, and sometimes they throw the ball right at you. 

They actually did hit Miranda with a pitch, and he still got a couple more hits. They finally got him out on a routine fly ball, which means he hit the last one pretty well, too. 

What Miranda did was far more rare than bowling a 300 game, or pitching a no-hitter. There's no way he can do something like that again.

Is there?

[JD-TWINS]

6 minutes ago, jimbo92107 said:

We're gonna need a bigger chicken for this dinner. 

Wonder what other ballplayers think of Jose Miranda's streak of hits. They work all their lives to get consistent contact. It's one of the hardest things in all of sports, hitting a ball that's just under three inches in diameter with a bat whose diameter is slightly bigger...

Except the ball is travelling between 75 and 103 miles per hour, so you have under half a second to decide whether to swing, and where. 

Oh, and the spin can be anywhere from 0 to about 3000 RPM. Meaning that it can curve a couple feet before you make contact.

Oh, and it can be anywhere inside a rectangle about the size of a kitchen trash can. 

Oh, and sometimes they throw the ball right at you. 

They actually did hit Miranda with a pitch, and he still got a couple more hits. They finally got him out on a routine fly ball, which means he hit the last one pretty well, too. 

What Miranda did was far more rare than bowling a 300 game, or pitching a no-hitter. There's no way he can do something like that again.

Is there?

72 years is a long time since done last……I’d take a few more 3 hit games!

[thelanges5]

Curious to see if there is a Wallner call up. He was out of the Saints lineup for the past two days. Hate to see Martin go. 

[IndianaTwin]

1 hour ago, jimbo92107 said:

We're gonna need a bigger chicken for this dinner. 

Wonder what other ballplayers think of Jose Miranda's streak of hits. They work all their lives to get consistent contact. It's one of the hardest things in all of sports, hitting a ball that's just under three inches in diameter with a bat whose diameter is slightly bigger...

Except the ball is travelling between 75 and 103 miles per hour, so you have under half a second to decide whether to swing, and where. 

Oh, and the spin can be anywhere from 0 to about 3000 RPM. Meaning that it can curve a couple feet before you make contact.

Oh, and it can be anywhere inside a rectangle about the size of a kitchen trash can. 

Oh, and sometimes they throw the ball right at you. 

They actually did hit Miranda with a pitch, and he still got a couple more hits. They finally got him out on a routine fly ball, which means he hit the last one pretty well, too. 

What Miranda did was far more rare than bowling a 300 game, or pitching a no-hitter. There's no way he can do something like that again.

Is there?

SIze of a trash can on the day they played the Astros. I see what you did there. 

[Jocko87]

3 hours ago, JD-TWINS said:

What possible return of interest to the Twins are either or both of those guys going to bring?……both would be rentals and neither are impact guys.

The return isn't the reward, the roster spot is.  Cash considerations are undefeated. I could see a low upside rookie ball type too.  It just doesn't matter what they get.

[Wedman13]

4 hours ago, Joe A. Preusser said:

A pretty cool stretch we have going here.  

Miranda having the second best stretch of hitting games I've ever seen a Twin have.  1st is still Mauer going 14/15 in a series against the Royals in...2006 I think? 

Sure is great to see all that green behind some of our better relievers.  Nice rest now, another one at the ASB.  

Bring in a good, young, cost controlled SP at the deadline.  I don't want anything else.

 

 

[jkcarew]

3 hours ago, jimbo92107 said:

What Miranda did was far more rare than bowling a 300 game, or pitching a no-hitter. There's no way he can do something like that again.

Is there?

None. Odds are nobody will go 12-12 again in our lifetime.

The best hitters in history batted about 420 at their peak. Now…multiply 0.42 by itself 12 times. The result is infinitesimal….not even a fraction of 1/100th of one percent. Last one was 72 years ago. And batting averages are trending down…so.

Truly unbelievable.

[tony&rodney]

4 hours ago, Joe A. Preusser said:

I'd much rather cash in a nice chunk of prospect equity and bring in a SP building block.  

Starting pitchers worth putting in a Twins uniform at the high cost will be very dear in price. Gilbert, Kirby, Miller, Crochet, and even Luzardo will not come without screams and gnashing of teeth. Some combination (I have no idea how many or what combo) of guys like Jenkins, Rodriguez, Lee, Festa, Lewis, or others would be the ask. Who among Twins fans will part with Lewis, Wallner, and Varland for someone like Kirby? Who do the Twins count as an untouchable among the players in the organization?