Make It Official! Twins 3, Astros 2: It's Christian Vázquez's World, We're All Just Living In It

[Hans Birkeland]

After some captivating baseball in the first two games of the series, the rubber match featured some good pitching, bad baserunning and another multiple hit game for Brooks Lee. And all three runs were driven in by Christian Vázquez, with one of those being the result of a walk-off home run off of Josh Hader.

Image courtesy of © Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score:
Starting Pitcher: Simeon Woods Richardson: 6 IP 3 H 2 ER 2 BB 4 K (88 Pitches, 59 Strikes, 67%)
Home Runs: Christian Vázquez (4)
Top 3 WPA: Vázquez (.353), Matt Wallner (.143), Jhoan Durán (.136)
Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs):

After a chippy first two games of the series against the red-hot Astros, the Twins turned to Houston native Simeon Woods Richardson as they hoped to win two of three for the fifth series in a row. Woods Richardson has seen middling results lately, with hitters punishing his change-up in particular. Spencer Arrighetti took the ball for Houston, a rookie with a good strikeout rate and not much else.

Woods Richardson looked pretty good, stuff-wise. After an easy first inning, however, the patient Astros laid off numerous chaneg-ups and sliders on the corners that were called balls in the second. After a Jon Singleton single, SWR walked Jake Meyers and Chas McCormick. A sacrifice fly followed for the first run, and then SWR made his only true mistake of the inning, an elevated change-up to Jose Altuve, and that's been an automatic hit for the second baseman for about 12 years. Jeremy Pena was retired quickly afterward, limiting the damage.

The Twins had trouble stringing together hits against Arrighetti, but had consistent traffic throughout the day. A scary moment occurred when the Houston rookie lost his grip on a fastball and hit Carlos Correa on the hand (because of course it hit his hand). Correa exited the game but X-rays were negative.

In the second, Byron Buxton, who is hitting in the .270's these days, rolled a single through the right side and then the newly-recalled Matt Wallner worked a ten pitch at-bat that ended in a walk, fouling off some high fastballs we are all used to him swinging through in the past. Christian Vázquez then looped a single over (definitely not his listed 6'0") Alex Bregman's head to cut the lead in half.

Vázquez wasn't done. After a Jose Altuve error (later changed to a base hit) allowed Brooks Lee to reach, Wallner scorched a 117 MPH line drive into the right-center gap to put runners on the corners with no outs. Vázquez grounded to Bregman, who probably could have started a traditional double play as he threw to second to retire Wallner. But Altuve threw home to try to cut down the advancing Lee, who would have been out by several steps had catcher Cesar Salazar held on to the throw, but he instead dropped the ball three separate times as Lee slid in to tie the game. Vazquez then was caught too far off first base for some reason so that two outs were, in fact, recorded on the play.

SWR continued to command the ball well, and got several quick pop outs in the middle innings to extend his outing, generally just by pumping fastball after fastball in good locations. He retired 13 in a row to end his day. He only allowed three hits to one of the hottest offenses in baseball over the past month, albeit one without Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez.

Jose Miranda didn't start the day following the conclusion of his historic hitting streak, but was called up on to pinch hit for Farmer in the seventh and promptly lined a sharp single to left. He then got a great jump off of reliever Bryan Abreu but had a poor slide and was thrown out stealing, courtesy of a seed from Salazar.

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The Astros led off the top of the eighth with a double from folk hero Joey Loperfido, but even with Altuve, Pena and Bregman coming up, they could not get a hit against Griffin Jax. Altuve was caught looking at a 3-2 fastball and Bregman swung through a beautiful sweeper to end the frame.

The Twins then led off their half with a walk from Kepler, and an infield hit from Buxton. Lee then rolled a ball up the middle that Pena made a great play on, taking it himself to retire Buxton and firing to first to nab Lee for the double play. Manuel Margot then grounded out to end the threat.

After a nice inning from Jhoan Duran, at least stuff-wise, Vázquez led off the bottom of the ninth against all-world closer Josh Hader. Naturally, he drove in his third run of the game with a walk-off bomb into the flower beds in left field; a thrilling end to a great series against a hot opponent.

 

The Good:
-SWR had a good combination of stuff and command. His fastball reached 95 MPH and he had very few misses over the plate.
-Josh Staumont has pretty pedestrian underlying numbers, but has hit 99 MPH in his last outing, and hit 101 MPH today. I can't think of any other pitcher with Thoracic Outlet Surgery who has recovered this well. I can't even think of anyone who lasted more than a couple of years in the league after that surgery.
-Wallner only got two plate appearances, but both were excellent in quality.
-Vázquez has been taking more competitive at-bats lately, and was rewarded for it today.

The Bad:
-Correa may not have broken a bone, but a deep bruise could easily still result in a few days off, or even an IL stint, which is exactly what happened in 2022 when Royce Lewis was first called up. Lee did move over to shortstop in the eighth after Miranda pinch-hit for Farmer.
 

What’s Next: Chris Paddack (5-3, 5.29 ERA) starts the first of a three game set in Chicago opposing Chris Flexen (2-7, 5.08). Chicago, you may have heard, is pretty bad this year. Flexen was once a good number four starter for the Mariners, but has played for several teams since then and hasn't been the same. Paddack had a difficult last few starts, and was placed on the IL with shoulder fatigue, which may have just been a way to give him a break and limit his innings. Facing a bad offense like the White Sox might be the perfect confidence boost.

Postgame Interviews:

 

 

Bullpen Usage Chart:

	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN	TOT
Funderburk	37	0	26	0	0	63
Winder	0	0	43	0	0	43
Sands	0	14	0	28	0	42
Alcalá	0	0	24	2	0	26
Thielbar	9	0	0	9	0	18
Jax	0	0	0	0	16	16
Durán	0	0	0	0	22	22
Staumont	13	0	0	0	9	22
Okert	0	0	0	0	0	0

 

 

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[akmanak]

They just keep finding ways to win. 

[BH67]

A game with evident October atmosphere brought out the best in so many Twins. SWR was strong after the 2nd inning. Wallner made a big catch. The bullpen ended the 8th and 9th innings by strikeouts with runners on base.

And Ryan Jef --- oh, I mean the other lighter-hitting catcher. He goes yard off the Astros closer to win it.

Jack Buck's words after a famous Cardinals win in October apply here. "Go crazy, folks! Go crazy!"

And here's hoping for no lasting damage to CC4.

 

[tony&rodney]

Three cheers for Christian Vazquez .... hip, hip, hooray ..... MVP. Today.

[CRF]

Vazquez...as expected. 

[Craig Arko]

Christian Vazquez,

[FlyingFinn]

I wonder if Staumont needs longer rest between appearances to hit this speed on his fastball. The Twins certainly have been trying not to overuse him.

[Mike Sixel]

This game is why I've stopped going to game threads. By page three SWR was the worst pitcher ever....

Yikes on CC getting hit again. Happy for Vazquez, dude has really struggled the last year and a half. .

If Lopez could rediscover last year, this team is dangerous. 

[MMMordabito]

Manuel Margot is now 0-24 with a .167 OPS as a pinch-hitter. Fix your macro, Rocco.

[Mike Sixel]

5 minutes ago, MMMordabito said:

Manuel Margot is now 0-24 with a .167 OPS as a pinch-hitter. Fix your macro, Rocco.

Who else can he hit with? He's on the roster....

[thelanges5]

Kept the home run streak alive. 25 games and counting. ⚾️

[Doctor Gast]

SWR didn't have control over his command in the beginning but hung in tough to finish strong. There was never any doubt in my mind that Lee was a MLer, & he showed it again today, Wallner looked really well both at the plate & in the field. I'm pumped for Vazquez who knocked in all 3 runs, Staumant had another superb outing this time in a higher-leverage spot. It's not unusual for a TOS pitcher to pitch a good inning after recovering but not much after 1 & I wouldn't press him.

It's great finally winning a close game after losing so many lately. The policy is probably to stick in Margot whenever there is an LHP opportunity. Pitch-hitting Margot always backfires.  I advocated trading Margot when he was doing alright, but now it's too late. We can still trade Santana before he regresses too much. 

[Guest]

I think I think SWR is the real deal after today’s performance. Happy for the young man!!

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

This game is why I've stopped going to game threads. By page three SWR was the worst pitcher ever....

Yikes on CC getting hit again. Happy for Vazquez, dude has really struggled the last year and a half. .

If Lopez could rediscover last year, this team is dangerous. 

Totally agree! If anything , this series should show that it is a nine inning game.

[USAFChief]

12 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Who else can he hit with? He's on the roster....

He doesnt have to hit for anyone. 

Great win, but Rocco...

[JD-TWINS]

20 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

This game is why I've stopped going to game threads. By page three SWR was the worst pitcher ever....

Yikes on CC getting hit again. Happy for Vazquez, dude has really struggled the last year and a half. .

If Lopez could rediscover last year, this team is dangerous. 

Looked at OPS+ numbers for individuals on  the really good Teams this morning …..Baltimore - Minnesota (w/o Lewis) are the most balanced line-ups top to bottom…….. Yankees - Dodgers have the real exceptional guys but not as much balance.

Really like what we’re seeing from SWR at 23!!!

Lopez is definitely a key for Team to do anything special.

Vazquez has 3 consecutive multi-hit games……wow!

[Colbeh]

25 minutes ago, MMMordabito said:

Manuel Margot is now 0-24 with a .167 OPS as a pinch-hitter. Fix your macro, Rocco.

Every streak has to end at some point. Let's hope its in an upcoming big moment.

[jorgenswest]

At this point last year I pushed on how the Twins could not string together multiple series wins. I don’t think they even had more than two in a row by the all star break. It was my reasoning for why the Twins should not be active at the deadline and should replace Rocco. If you can’t utilize your roster, manage your bullpen and keep everybody contributing it is going to show up by failing to put together stretches where multiple series are won. I think this is five series wins in a row. Well done.

[DocBauer]

Super happy for Vazquez. Never saw that coming but such a dramatic way to end the game. 

Didn't understand Vazquez on the basepaths though. That huge turn and subsequent throw out at 1B confused me. I didn’t think the move to 2B seemed there. Just my opinion. But did Lee take off late for home late deliberately? Sort of looked like they were trying to sneak him home, thinking the Astros would look elsewhere. I mean, it worked, but it looked clumsy.

Hate seeing Martin out. But excited to see Wallner get his shot. His AB looked really solid.

SWR has been a life preserver for the rotation, and IMO, keeps getting better. Velocity keeps ticking up and he keeps gaining experience and confidence. And he won't even turn 24yo until late September. I keep wondering how good he just might end up being.

On to Chicago for a sweep!

But would someone please tell Cleveland they aren't this good and it's time to lose a few games.

[JD-TWINS]

25 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

SWR didn't have control over his command in the beginning but hung in tough to finish strong. There was never any doubt in my mind that Lee was a MLer, & he showed it again today, Wallner looked really well both at the plate & in the field. I'm pumped for Vazquez who knocked in all 3 runs, Staumant had another superb outing this time in a higher-leverage spot. It's not unusual for a TOS pitcher to pitch a good inning after recovering but not much after 1 & I wouldn't press him.

It's great finally winning a close game after losing so many lately. The policy is probably to stick in Margot whenever there is an LHP opportunity. Pitch-hitting Margot always backfires.  I advocated trading Margot when he was doing alright, but now it's too late. We can still trade Santana before he regresses too much. 

Don’t give up, don’t ever give up.

[DJL44]

37 minutes ago, MMMordabito said:

Manuel Margot is now 0-24 with a .167 OPS as a pinch-hitter. Fix your macro, Rocco.

Batting .276 when he's not pinch hitting. Subtract his pinch hitting and he's had a decent season.

[DJL44]

29 minutes ago, Verified Member said:

I think I think SWR is the real deal after today’s performance. Happy for the young man!!

He can pitch. His stuff is not overwhelming but he gets outs with good command and changing speeds.

[DJL44]

16 minutes ago, Colbeh said:

Every streak has to end at some point. Let's hope its in an upcoming big moment.

[JD-TWINS]

12 minutes ago, jorgenswest said:

At this point last year I pushed on how the Twins could not string together multiple series wins. I don’t think they even had more than two in a row by the all star break. It was my reasoning for why the Twins should not be active at the deadline and should replace Rocco. If you can’t utilize your roster, manage your bullpen and keep everybody contributing it is going to show up by failing to put together stretches where multiple series are won. I think this is five series wins in a row. Well done.

Since the Rangers Series started on May 24th the TWINS have won 10 of their 13 series.

Nationals - Pirates - Yankees all were one up & 2 down. Won the other 10 series over last 44 days.

White Sox & Giants are both winnable - hope they keep it rolling!!!

[darwin22]

Have to give props to Vazquez for his game today (minus his baserunning foibles).  

In the category of who would be the LEAST LIKELY to hit a walk off HR against Hader---CV had to be the top candidate on this roster.  Saying that, he has (finally) looked like a serviceable hitting catcher over the last 3 games (6-12).  With Jeffers hitting in a rut for a long period we need Vazquez to at minimum be an average hitter.  Happy for him and will refrain from bashing him until after the ASB.

SWR showed me a lot today.  After his rough 2nd inning--2 walks---he looked to me like he told himself, "Ok..enough of the ^#$# nibbling---I'm going to be aggressive and go after these guys".....I honestly think Festa has better overall stuff than SWR, but SWR has shown a great amount of maturity since securing a slot in our rotation.  His confidence appears to be growing with every start.  Maybe Lopez should pay attention to what he's doing.

Absolutely thrilled with the series win!  Just hoping C4 is back in the lineup by Tuesday.  Can't afford a letdown on upcoming trip to CHI and SF as CLE is still 6 games ahead and faces DET at Comerica for their next 4 games.  Sure wish Skubal had pitched yesterday as he won't get a start.

Like what Baldelli has done with lineup recently against RHP with Kepler-Buxton and Lee hitting in lower third of lineup.  Not sure how sustainable this is as Larnach is in a 2-15 slump over his last 5 games hitting in the 2/3 hole.  

 

[Mike Sixel]

27 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

He doesnt have to hit for anyone. 

Great win, but Rocco...

Third or fourth best team in the league, but the manager can do no right.... Without Lewis most of the year, and Lopez being bad. 

[Matt Braun]

Underrated turning point was Jax allowing a weird, flopping double before locking in and mowing down the next three batters in order. That's all-star level stuff, folks. 

[Joe A. Preusser]

14 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Third or fourth best team in the league, but the manager can do no right.... Without Lewis most of the year, and Lopez being bad. 

Not sure if agree with this.

Everyone here is more than willing to give the players all the credit when things go well.  And none of the blame when things go poorly. 

 

 

😋

[twinstalker]

Since I see I now have to read ads, can you unblock us from the videos that require ad-blockers to be turned off?  I've turned everything off and still can't see the videos for the years you've posted them.

[CCHOF5yearstoolate]

15 minutes ago, Matt Braun said:

Underrated turning point was Jax allowing a weird, flopping double before locking in and mowing down the next three batters in order. That's all-star level stuff, folks. 

Certainly should have been All-Star stuff...