Twins 6, Guardians 3: Matt Wallner Conquers Apple TV+

[Matt Braun]

Earl Weaver lies pleased in his assessment of the sport. 

Image courtesy of © Jordan Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

 

Box Score
Louie Varland: 4 ⅔ IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 0 BB 4 K
Home Runs: Matt Wallner (7)
Top 3 WPA: Matt Wallner (.346), Caleb Thielbar (.112), Cole Sands (.110)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

 

Hidden behind the almighty Apple TV+ paywall—I hope you know someone with a login—the Twins played their second game of the Most Important Series of the Year (™) against the Cleveland Guardians. Even the AL Central isn’t immune to the changing tides. 

An earlier Twins victory was accentuated by a magnificent Bailey Ober start; the 6’9” righty dazzled and outwitted his opponent, whiffing nine over six shutout frames. A tough act for any pitcher to follow, Varland—the one recalled to fill the extra double-header roster spot—needed to match his teammate or at least come close. No pressure.

He looked good early, though. The first four innings were breezy, efficient. A few runners reached base, but no threat seriously emerged; each rally ended in quiet, tepid fashion. 

All the while, the 36-year-old veteran starting for Cleveland for the first time—Alex Cobb—scuffled. He was earning his typical healthy share of grounders, yes; but the Twins knew how to place them properly, earning sharp worm-burning hits early. With runners on the corners, Royce Lewis took a walk while Matt Wallner sped for 2nd. Austin Hedges, perhaps listening too much to his primal instincts, fired the ball to the basepaths, allowing Willi Castro to dash home safely just before the throw back could get him. An early stolen run.

 

 

Minnesota soon stole another run, just in a slightly different way: a two-out infield single by Austin Martin with a runner on first appeared to portend a minor opportunity, but shortstop Brayan Rocchio’s impotent throw eluded Josh Naylor’s glove at first base. A whole 90 minutes passed, and Christian Vázquez finally concluded his adventure around the bases with a safe slide into home. 

Those runs appeared well-set to support Varland as he placed the finishing touches on a respectable, five-shutout inning start, but Louie forgot to seal the deal, hanging a hit-me curve to Naylor, which landed nearly 400 feet and three runs away. 

Well, two can play that game. Cobb had been so good at eliciting weak contact—forcing the Twins to hit directly into Guardian gloves—but he committed the same sin as Varland; the sinkerball gifted a cookie to Matt Wallner with two runners on, and the incinerating left fielder pounded the ball, landing it well into the overhang into right for a matching three-run homer. 

 

 

So began the running of the pens. Minnesota dipped into the well early with Cole Sands’ appearance to end the 5th; Cleveland didn’t acquiesce to their relief corpse until after Wallner’s blast fractured space and time. Their typical array of Dudes You’ve Never Heard of Sporting a Sub-3 ERA spit out a couple of names, placed a man on third, and one of their anonymous hurlers balked in a run. With Vázquez running. Only the finest from man’s most elusive athlete.

 

 

It appears Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt wasn’t a fan of the call. We’ll investigate further and announce when we know more.

The Twins' bullpen was perfect. Sands delivered the game to the 7th, and Caleb Thielbar covered perhaps the two most critical frames of the night, handing the ball off to the eventual 9th innings after clocking in six easy outs. Trevor Richards concluded the inevitable. The Twins won.

Notes:

Matt Wallner has hit 23 major-league home runs, the 23rd-most by a player born in Minnesota. He is one away from tying Howie Schultz for 22nd place and is 442 away from reaching Dave Winfield. 

Christian Vázquez is slashing .315/.362/.574 since the start of July.

Caleb Thielbar holds a 2.81 ERA since June 20th.

The Twins hit into five double plays on Friday night.

Willi Castro's four steals of home are second in Twins history; Rod Carew leads the way with 16. 

 

Post-Game Interview:

What’s Next?
The Twins and Guardians play again on Saturday, with first pitch coming at 6:10 PM. RHP Gavin Williams (1-4, 4.91 ERA) will face off against Simeon Woods Richardson (3-2, 3.87 ERA). 

 

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

 

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[IndianaTwin]

Bullpen sans Jax and Duran, 13 up, 13 down. 

[tony&rodney]

Twins bullpen should be ready tomorrow and the Twins bats that like fastballs get their chance against Gavin Williams. Twins need 5-6 good innings from SWR tomorrow. 

Varland was pretty tough tonight. It was a little bit of a strange game but one of the more exciting contests thus far. Bullpen was awesome. Great day for the Twins. Still need the bats to get hot.

[blindeke]

Chalk this one up to Jobu voodoo

[mikelink45]

I loved it. I especially enjoy seeing our hometown slugger lead the way. Not sure how to judge varland. 

[Panthers FTW]

Trevor Richards with the save, bet all of you trade deadline haters are feeling pretty silly right now.  (this is sarcasm)

[TheLeviathan]

Clearly we lost this game because Rocco hasn't done what every other big league manager does: become an omega level telepath.  A guy not running with two outs because he forgot the count/outs?  All on Rocco's lazy unwillingness to control minds and avoid human error at all times.

 

Pathetic.

[Blyleven2011]

A double header sweep , couldn't ask for more  today ...

But I'm asking for a 4 game sweep come Sunday  ....

Beautiful day for baseball  ...

[jkcarew]

Wallner can thank Lewis for that 3-0 fastball down the middle of the plate. No way he gets that pitch batting toward the bottom of the order where he’s been most of the time since coming back. Rocco not with a ton of options for the 3 whole with that lineup (Kepler/Santana)…still, he could have gone the ‘veteran’ route…instead he showed some trust in the young guy that’s been swinging it well lately. Nice.

[jorgenswest]

Vazquez was tremendous tonight. I couldn’t disagree more with the @Matt Braun 90 minute take. Great base running on that Martin groundball. Perfect lead, timed the pitcher well and went hard through second and third. Later he gets the balk. I am glad he is on this team.

Castro also took advantage of deep positioning of Jose Ramirez on that steal of home. Was that something the Twins planned to exploit?

[singlesoverwalks]

I am...happy.

[bean5302]

27 minutes ago, jkcarew said:

Wallner can thank Lewis for that 3-0 fastball down the middle of the plate. No way he gets that pitch batting toward the bottom of the order where he’s been most of the time since coming back. Rocco not with a ton of options for the 3 whole with that lineup (Kepler/Santana)…still, he could have gone the ‘veteran’ route…instead he showed some trust in the young guy that’s been swinging it well lately. Nice.

Wallner is one of the top hitters in all of baseball over his past 2 seasons and it showed in that at bat. Cobb wasn't trying to throw a meatball to Wallner there, but Wallner jumped on the mistake by laying off 3 pitches in a row. 2 outs, runners on first and third. Cobb clearly missed his intended down and away spot.

Wallner's OPS is 1.059. No idea why you think Lewis has anything to do with it? Wallner hasn't been hitting at the bottom of the lineup for a while, and the bottom of the lineup is where you more frequently see the type of "challenge" pitch you're alluding to.

[bean5302]

Happy to see the Twins get a win against the Guardians with Varland starting. 4.2 IP with 8 hits allowed isn't going to be too successful in most cases, but Varland was able to limit the damage on the scoreboard and the 3 ER was lifted by an outstanding bullpen effort and huge bats.

I really hope Matthews looks good in his start.

[jkcarew]

11 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

Wallner is one of the top hitters in all of baseball over his past 2 seasons and it showed in that at bat. Cobb wasn't trying to throw a meatball to Wallner there, but Wallner jumped on the mistake by laying off 3 pitches in a row. 2 outs, runners on first and third. Cobb clearly missed his intended down and away spot.

Wallner's OPS is 1.059. No idea why you think Lewis has anything to do with it? Wallner hasn't been hitting at the bottom of the lineup for a while, and the bottom of the lineup is where you more frequently see the type of "challenge" pitch you're alluding to.

It WAS a great job by Wallner. Once the count went to 3-0, the foremost thing in that situation is the pitcher doesn’t want to face Lewis with the bases juiced. He doesn’t challenge Wallner (who is known for power obviously) like that in that situation if Vasquez, Martin…or pretty much anyone else in tonight’s batting order other than Lewis is in the on deck circle. That’s all…not trying to take anything away from Waller. As you said, he set up the at bat with great patience. And he still had to hit it.

[Parfigliano]

Nice day to be a fan of the TC.

[1985Fan]

Can Rocco start some runners or call for a steal attempt to stay out of the DP?! They hit into 5 in the night cap. They got away with it and won the game, but that is a lot of wasted scoring chances! Not going to win against Cleveland most of the time hitting into 5 DP. We’ll see if Rocco can learn or if he is stuck following the script. 

[Schmoeman5]

1 hour ago, bean5302 said:

Wallner is one of the top hitters in all of baseball over his past 2 seasons and it showed in that at bat. 

OK. Whatever you say. His OPS. 1.059 now but where was that in April? One of the top hitters in all of baseball over his past 2 seasons. Top what? 50, 100, Where was that last Sept and Oct? He's doing well. Enjoy it. Lewis and Wallner just may become stars. Wallner is questionable because as long as Rocco is the coach, his opportunities will be limited to hitting right handers. Even after his homer. He still got ph for.

[knothole61]

Great DH sweep! It makes suffering through the AppleTV+ experience somewhat worthwhile, although I now have an 83% probability of needing psychological analysis.

How about that shot by Wallner? Shades of the Killer in his prime...

[Schmoeman5]

1 hour ago, bean5302 said:

Happy to see the Twins get a win against the Guardians with Varland starting. 4.2 IP with 8 hits allowed isn't going to be too successful in most cases, but Varland was able to limit the damage on the scoreboard and the 3 ER was lifted by an outstanding bullpen effort and huge bats.

I really hope Matthews looks good in his start.

If Varland's defense did what they should have he throws shutout ball over 5 innings and gives up 5 hits. There were at least 4 plays that should have been made, but weren't.  Louie did fine until the Naylor homer. Naylor should have never hit that inning.

[Markdumont25]

What did everyone think of the balk? I thought I saw it but I was looking at the TV from an angle after several beers so I'm not the most reliable source... Apparently on the broadcast they said they didn't see anything?

[Nashvilletwin]

16 minutes ago, Schmoeman5 said:

If Varland's defense did what they should have he throws shutout ball over 5 innings and gives up 5 hits. There were at least 4 plays that should have been made, but weren't.  Louie did fine until the Naylor homer. Naylor should have never hit that inning.

It’s not out of the realm of possibility Varland could’ve thrown a sixth inning.  Those four little league plays cost him 20 pitches or more.

When a team is undermanned - both due to injuries and the demands of a doubleheader - and a pitcher like Varland takes the mound and gives it his best, the defense must be there to support him.  The d let Varland down tonight and, if they had made the plays they should’ve as Major League Baseball players, the headlines tonight would be about how Varland got called up and answered the call with a no-run gem.

[Eephus]

1 hour ago, Markdumont25 said:

What did everyone think of the balk? I thought I saw it but I was looking at the TV from an angle after several beers so I'm not the most reliable source... Apparently on the broadcast they said they didn't see anything?

I only saw the video on the Twins app  after putting on my CPAP and over the gentle whirring of the machine it sounded a little like someone is yelling "balk, balk" or something similar and then the balk is called.

[I Never Bet On Sports]

4 hours ago, Markdumont25 said:

What did everyone think of the balk? I thought I saw it but I was looking at the TV from an angle after several beers so I'm not the most reliable source... Apparently on the broadcast they said they didn't see anything?

I watched the 8 minute game recap on mlb.com but couldn't see anything in that video that would make me think it was a balk either. However, the video in this article above seems to clearly show that he rocked forward and back then stopped which I believe is a clear balk. It's unfortunate that the camera feed switches right in the middle, but the video above makes it pretty clear to me why the balk was called. Tip of the cap to Vazquez on his base running in this game, stole two runs. 

[I Never Bet On Sports]

4 hours ago, Schmoeman5 said:

If Varland's defense did what they should have he throws shutout ball over 5 innings and gives up 5 hits. There were at least 4 plays that should have been made, but weren't.  Louie did fine until the Naylor homer. Naylor should have never hit that inning.

Couldn't agree with you more. Varland pitched pretty well imo with the defense arguably giving Cleveland 4 extra outs, Lewis had one throwing error but but arguably should have had two. Castro got to one in the hole at short that should have been an out, and Kepler had the chance to catch the Kwan foul down the line, albeit a tough play, but you could tell after Kepler felt he should have had it. If all those plays are made, Varland pitches into the sixth having thrown only 61 pitches. 10 extra pitches in the 3rd after the error, 2 in the 4th after the bad throw from Lewis, and 12 extra pitches in the 5th. He still owns the pitch he threw Naylor, but overall I thought he did a pretty good job last night. He threw strikes, had velocity and good movement on his pitches.

[CRF]

Sure seems like we've been on crapple tv a lot this season. Can we be done with that...please?

[IndianaTwin]

Looking at the bullpen usage chart, I’m not sure that anyone is truly not available tonight. That’s pretty amazing coming off a doubleheader. 

[Doctor Gast]

8 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

I loved it. I especially enjoy seeing our hometown slugger lead the way. Not sure how to judge varland. 

That was great! Wasn't it? Varland was being Varland, You know what you'll get with Varland, 2 very good Xs through the order. The 3rdX is when batters catch up to him, especially at the top.

[Doctor Gast]

9 hours ago, jorgenswest said:

Vazquez was tremendous tonight. I couldn’t disagree more with the @Matt Braun 90 minute take. Great base running on that Martin groundball. Perfect lead, timed the pitcher well and went hard through second and third. Later he gets the balk. I am glad he is on this team.

Castro also took advantage of deep positioning of Jose Ramirez on that steal of home. Was that something the Twins planned to exploit?

CLE is noted for playing small ball, I liked what Lewis said "We out-balled them" Those 2 were perfect examples. It seems that Vazquez is just warming up.

Sands & especially Thielbar were life-savers in what turned out to be BP game.

[arby58]

9 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

Great day for the Twins. Still need the bats to get hot.

The bats haven't been the problem - Twins are 4th in the AL in runs scored. Pitching is the problem - 10th in the AL in ERA.

[JDubs]

9 hours ago, jorgenswest said:

Castro also took advantage of deep positioning of Jose Ramirez on that steal of home. Was that something the Twins planned to exploit?

Not sure if you had access to the game live or not, but during an in-game interview, Rocco noted that was 100% Willie doing that on his own. In the kind of tone that implied he wasn't super happy in the moment, but since it worked he wasn't going to complain.