Make It Official! Twins 10, White Sox 2: Royce Lewis, Barrage of 8th Inning Runs Bury Chicago

[Matt Braun]

Well, it was almost a close game. 

Image courtesy of Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score
Joe Ryan: 6 ⅓ IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 7 K
Home Runs: Royce Lewis (12), Willi Castro (8), Byron Buxton (14)
Top 3 WPA: Lewis (0.384), Ryan (0.108), Alcala (0.076)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

The White Sox are not good. One can never be too confident in anything in life, really, but this is a truth no lawyer could argue. They entered play on Friday amid a slow melting—a tedious collapse that already eliminated them from finishing the season with a record above .500. It’s August. Their last win came before the All-Star break on July 10th. It’s August. Their fans deserve some sort of medal for ushering this corpse of a squad to its lethargic death.

Two men and four first names took the mound as Joe Ryan started opposite Davis Martin. Ryan looked sharp early; he punched out the side in order to start the game and followed that showing up with a breezy 2nd. Life wasn’t as easy for Martin. He struck out Willi Castro, walked Trevor Larnach on four pitches, caught Byron Buxton window shopping, and nearly exited the frame unscathed before Royce Lewis pounded a two-run homer to left field. 

Martin should have known better: was the most boisterous Twin since Kirby going to announce his return to Target Field in secrecy?

The excitement was short-lived, though, as the White Sox fired back with help from a player they recently acquired at the deadline. Miguel Vargas—an outsider in L.A., an everyday figure in Chicago—worked the count full against Ryan and clobbered a game-tying homer just above the left-center wall. 

Yet, that excitement was short-lived as well: Lewis stepped up to the plate the next inning with a pair of runners on and delivered both of them home with a stinging double just over Luis Robert Jr.'s head. 

That settled things for a time. Runners reached base, but excitement rarely crescendoed above mezzo forte. Even the outs were of a lazy nature; Jose Miranda drastically overestimated his fleetness and ran into an out at second, while Larnach nearly cracked a three-run homer just for his flyball to land safely in Dominic Fletcher’s glove. So it goes. 

The good news was that Ryan wasn't allowing runs, either. He shed his 3rd-inning struggles to work into the 7th, perhaps a bit more laborious than usual, but still effective; no one scored following Vargas' homer. Andrew Benintendi chased him from the mound and straight into the appreciative cheers of the grateful home crowd. 

Then, the dam broke. Lord, did it break. With two outs in the 8th, Minnesota's fortune swung wildly in the other direction; Christian Vázquez perfectly plopped a two-run double in-between outfielders, Willi Castro blasted a home run out to right, and Byron Buxton hammered the third multi-RBI hit of the frame, depositing an offering to Chicago's bullpen. The flurry shot the score to 10-2. Suddenly, Jhoan Durán could take the night off. 

 

Trevor Richards entered instead and bucked the curse of Kevin Jepsen (continued by Sam Dyson) of new Twins relievers imploding in their first outing. He did exactly what he needed to do—and the Twins' win was secured after just nine pitches. 

Notes:

Byron Buxton hit his 129th career home run. He is three away from tying Jacque Jones for the 15th-most in Twins history.

Joe Ryan's seven strikeouts give him 523 in his MLB career. He is four punchouts away from tying Jim Merritt and Scott Erickson for the 23rd most in Twins history.

Royce Lewis has eight 4+ RBI games in his MLB career.

Jorge Alcalá lowered his season ERA to 1.60.

Post-Game Interview:

 

 

What’s Next?
The Twins and White Sox will play the second game of their series on Saturday. Bailey Ober faces off against Garrett Crochet. First pitch is at 6:10 PM.

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

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[Blyleven2011]

Nice double digit win ...

I'll take it ...

Twins win , the Minnesota twins win  ...

[D.C Twins]

We need to keep ROYCE F-ING LEWIS healthy!!!!!!

[tony&rodney]

Decent crowd too.

[Fatbat]

Its time to be serious about winning every game.  Lets go on a season long winning streak and win the central div!!

[TheLeviathan]

We'd have won this game if Rocco just mastered the space time continum so he could use hindsight like all us toxic geniuses.

[BH67]

The White Sox have had two losing streaks of at least 14 games this season...and eight other losing streaks of at least four games. Good thing the Royals are done with them and that Cleveland has only three games left.

The bats have been strong the last two games, and Ryan had a great start tonight. With a Cleveland-KC homestand beginning next Friday, these are promising signs. The playoff run is underway.

[DocBauer]

Best thing that happened with the break was a rest. 

Worst thing with the break was a rest. 

We didn't end or begin the break well. We were competitive, but that only means you are OK, not taking care of business. 

I know it's the Dirty Sox and they're bad. So go ahead and dominate and feel good and puff your chest out and destroy them and strut to Chicago to beat the Cubbies! 

Sorry for  my language, but screw Cleveland, and screw ownership, this is a really good team. Strap up boys, you know how good you are. You've been one of the best teams in all of baseball for months now. Just keep chomping at the bit and take no prisoners. You already know your manager believes in you. And he's called "Rocco". He's a former ML stud who's career didn't turn out right. But it's also part of the reason you respect him.

How about we do a "F it. Let's win the whole thing"?

[knothole61]

29 minutes ago, DocBauer said:

Best thing that happened with the break was a rest. 

Worst thing with the break was a rest. 

We didn't end or begin the break well. We were competitive, but that only means you are OK, not taking care of business. 

I know it's the Dirty Sox and they're bad. So go ahead and dominate and feel good and puff your chest out and destroy them and strut to Chicago to beat the Cubbies! 

Sorry for  my language, but screw Cleveland, and screw ownership, this is a really good team. Strap up boys, you know how good you are. You've been one of the best teams in all of baseball for months now. Just keep chomping at the bit and take no prisoners. You already know your manager believes in you. And he's called "Rocco". He's a former ML stud who's career didn't turn out right. But it's also part of the reason you respect him.

How about we do a "F it. Let's win the whole thing"?

Nice energy Doc...like Brother Love's Travelin' Salvation show on this hot August night! Yeah, I'm a believer...but Cleveland has some serious mojo working this year, and I can't deny it. The Guardians are playing .700 ball at home (.700!) with a potent offense and solid pitching, all assembled with a $105 million payroll. Only three A.L. teams are paying less this season.

They have some tough road games coming up (at Twins, Brewers, Yankees, and Dodgers) and we may catch them, but at this point they are "such stuff as dreams are made on" and I tip my cap. 

[USAFChief]

1 hour ago, tony&rodney said:

Decent crowd too.

Almost 31k.

[jmlease1]

I liked almost everything about this game. I was annoyed at Ryan giving up the dinger, because it felt like Ryan let them off the hook with that one, but maybe I'm being too hard on him. The other thing was I really don't like the "city connect" uniforms. blegh.

Love everything about healthy Royce Lewis and Byron Buxton, though!

[Mark G]

6 hours ago, USAFChief said:

Almost 31k.

Is that enough to get a starter next year?  Or do we need 36K?  🤭

[William K Johnson]

8 hours ago, D.C Twins said:

We need to keep ROYCE F-ING LEWIS healthy!!!!!!

We need to keep BYRON F-ING BUXTON healthy as well.   He is quietly putting together the best season of his career.   With the Mike Trout news, it is sure nice to have such a great player roaming center field on a daily basis.

[JD-TWINS]

8 hours ago, knothole61 said:

Nice energy Doc...like Brother Love's Travelin' Salvation show on this hot August night! Yeah, I'm a believer...but Cleveland has some serious mojo working this year, and I can't deny it. The Guardians are playing .700 ball at home (.700!) with a potent offense and solid pitching, all assembled with a $105 million payroll. Only three A.L. teams are paying less this season.

They have some tough road games coming up (at Twins, Brewers, Yankees, and Dodgers) and we may catch them, but at this point they are "such stuff as dreams are made on" and I tip my cap. 

Gotta tip your cap to Cleveland. I thought for sure that losing Francona it would be worth a couple swoons during the season …….all they do is win.

The HOT AUGUST NIGHT energy nod is maybe the most positive TD comment of the year. If that doesn’t get you going nothing will!!

[Whitey333]

Nice win Twins.  It's nice to beat up on a AA team.  The White Sox are a disgrace and embarrassment to MLB. But the have a good pitcher throwing on Saturday.  But we have a better one in Ober.  It's stretch drive time.   They need to adjust their starters schedule so that our best are facing the Guardians next weekend.  Go Twins.

[DJL44]

Christian Vazquez had an OPS of 910 in July. He's hitting quite well lately.

[tony&rodney]

2 hours ago, Mark G said:

Is that enough to get a starter next year?  Or do we need 36K?  🤭

Well, attendance is a real thing and if the Twins mange to average last night's numbers for the entire season, the dynamics change.

[Jeff K]

2 hours ago, William K Johnson said:

We need to keep BYRON F-ING BUXTON healthy as well.   He is quietly putting together the best season of his career.   With the Mike Trout news, it is sure nice to have such a great player roaming center field on a daily basis.

Yea verily

[h2oface]

I hope they saved some runs for the close games.......... 

Gotta keep wining, because KC and Cleveland just keep rolling.

[mikelink45]

11 hours ago, BH67 said:

The White Sox have had two losing streaks of at least 14 games this season...and eight other losing streaks of at least four games. Good thing the Royals are done with them and that Cleveland has only three games left.

The bats have been strong the last two games, and Ryan had a great start tonight. With a Cleveland-KC homestand beginning next Friday, these are promising signs. The playoff run is underway.

But I hope we do not start Ober against KC - they have been toxic for him so far. 

[mikelink45]

10 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

I liked almost everything about this game. I was annoyed at Ryan giving up the dinger, because it felt like Ryan let them off the hook with that one, but maybe I'm being too hard on him. The other thing was I really don't like the "city connect" uniforms. blegh.

Love everything about healthy Royce Lewis and Byron Buxton, though!

The concern going forward is Ryan's giving up a HR.  That has been an issue and I hope he can keep them in the park.  Everyone gives up HRs, but our almost Ace needs to avoid a HR illness going forward- the second half has not been as good as the first and hopefully he is feeling stronger this year.

[JD-TWINS]

Not really in tune with the comments about adjusting our rotation so our best are throwing against Cleveland next weekend…….not having Ober face the Royals as well?? The Top 3 guys (unless physically not right) are going to throw every 5th game - no adjusting who’s pitching against who - reality doesn’t allow for this type of thing. Pretty sure SWR is right behind them in throwing on his scheduled turn every 5th game as well.

The last spot is up for debate based on results they get from Festa in next outing or two. Maybe a Varland or Paddack spot start or two in September to get a guy to skip a start ……rest related.

[BH67]

48 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

But I hope we do not start Ober against KC - they have been toxic for him so far. 

Or, look at it as Ricky Vaughn now being ready to face Haywood in the closing scene of Major League. Cue the music...

[Danchat]

I actually got to watch this game on TV! It's about dang time.

Playing the White Sox feels like playing a minor league team. It doesn't feel right beating up on a squad that doesn't belong in MLB!

[Parfigliano]

14 hours ago, Blyleven2011 said:

Nice double digit win ...

I'll take it ...

Twins win , the Minnesota twins win  ...

Easy to see how Chisox have such a bad record

[Shaitan]

18 minutes ago, Parfigliano said:

Easy to see how Chisox have such a bad record

We've been on the CWS side with enough 100-loss teams. Enjoy it while it lasts :) 

[IndianaTwin]

2 hours ago, Shaitan said:

We've been on the CWS side with enough 100-loss teams. Enjoy it while it lasts :) 

Do you mean the one in 2016 or the one in 1982. Or are you including the Senators as well? 

But overall I agree, two of them in 60+ years is more than enough. 

[IndianaTwin]

7 hours ago, DJL44 said:

Christian Vazquez had an OPS of 910 in July. He's hitting quite well lately.

Careful. Such kind comments about Vazquez could get you banned from these threads. 😄

[Shaitan]

10 hours ago, IndianaTwin said:

Do you mean the one in 2016 or the one in 1982. Or are you including the Senators as well? 

But overall I agree, two of them in 60+ years is more than enough. 

I mean I'm glad we aren't the 2024 CWS. 

But we have been.

'Tis a hard world.