Royals 4, Twins 1: Twins Swing and Miss at Chance to Bury Kansas City

[Steven Trefz]

The Twins looked to push the Royals even further into their rearview mirror Wednesday, after taking the first two games of the series easily. The Royals sent their season-opening ace to the mound in hopes of staying in the race for the long haul. Something had to give. Alas, this time, it wasn't the Kansas City pitching staff.

Image courtesy of © Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score
SP: Louie Varland - 6 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K ( 98 pitches, 66 strikes (67% Strikes)
Home Runs: Carlos Santana (16)
Bottom 3 WPA: Ryan Jeffers -.099, Willi Castro -.086, Royce Lewis -.091 

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Get Out the Brooms?
Wednesday afternoon presented a chance for the Twins to sweep the Royals and to put some much-needed distance between them and their AL Central foe. Louie Varland got the assignment, potentially his final chance to remain firmly in the starter conversation as the playoff push ramps up. The Royals sent their second All-Star starter in as many days to the mound, in hopes of salvaging a game and a hope, as lefty Cole Ragans looked to rebound from already losing two games to the Twins this season (after surrendering only 4 earned runs over 11 innings in March and May).

Royals Make Things Messy
Varland’s day started with cluttered bases, and the Royals finally broke through with the first run of the game in the top of the second inning, with a dribbling grounder to Varland that allowed Paul DeJong to score from third. While Varland was able to limit the damage in those first two threats, Bobby Witt Jr. showed him why he’s an MVP threat with a leadoff home run in the top of the third inning to make it 2-0 Royals early.

Meanwhile, Ragans was looking very much the All-Star, holding the Twins hitless through their first 11 batters.

Santana Starts a Rally that Never Quite Materializes
Ragans’s 12th batter faced had more success--much more. Carlos Santana went down swinging in his first at-bat, but left the yard in his second to cut the Royal lead in half.

José Miranda followed up with a ringing double to left field, but was stranded there. The bottom of the fifth saw the bottom of the Twins lineup continue to batter Ragans around, ultimately loading the bases with two outs for Grand Slam Hero Royce Lewis. Ragans won the battle, however, inducing a weak grounder from Lewis to end the threat.

Royals Continue to Add to the Pile
The Twins’ inability to capitalize immediately came back to haunt them in the top of the sixth inning, when DeJong continued his perfect day at the plate with a moonshot to left-center to make the score 3-1 Kansas City, and to essentially finish Varland’s day on the mound.

Jhoan Durán came in to pitch the seventh inning, after remaining in the bullpen since Friday afternoon. While the move made sense with the heart of the Royals order coming to the plate, it didn’t pay off, with Durán surrendering another run on a two-out double to Vinnie Pasquantino. The Twins have posted the third-highest bullpen ERA since the All-Star break, and today continued this disturbing trend.

Meanwhile, Ragans seemingly gained energy, movement, and velocity with each insurance run that he was given, mowing down the Twins 1-2-3 in the bottom of the seventh to end his day and hand off a 4-1 lead to the Kansas City bullpen.

Last Chance to Clean Up?
In the top of the eighth, Trevor Richards got the call, and after getting the first two outs innocently enough, the drama began: a walk, a single, and another walk to load the bases. Facing Maikel García with a full count, and Witt Jr. in the on-deck circle, Richards threw ball four...but Garcia took a rip anyway, to go down swinging and prevent the nail from reaching the coffin for the moment.

Would the Twins take advantage of this gift? Manuel Margot and Lewis delivered back-to-back singles against Sam Long in the bottom of the eighth to bring up Santana as the potential tying run. The lone engine of offense for the team today, Santana delivered a deep fly, but to the wrong part of the ballpark, and Kyle Isbel put away out number two at the warning track in center. With Miranda ready to take his cuts at tying the game, the Royals switched to righty Lucas Erceg, and the move paid off with Miranda grounding out weakly to Witt to end yet another Twins threat.

Steven Okert walked Witt to lead off the ninth, but picked him off to clean off the bases yet again and to get the Twins back in the dugout with a chance for one last rally. Erceg wiped away that dream 1-2-3 to save the game and the moment for this pesky Kansas City ballclub.

What’s Next? 
The Twins begin a seven-game road swing in Texas against the stumbling Rangers Thursday evening. This series could be a potential window-shopping opportunity, if Texas looks to shed payroll at the waiver wire after a disappointing season. The Twins send out Bailey Ober (12-5, 3.52 ERA) in hopes that he will continue his dominant ways, while the Rangers have yet to name their starter. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05pm CT.

Postgame Interviews

 

Bullpen Usage Sheet

	SAT	SUN	MON	TUE	WED	TOT
Richards	0	0	25	0	33	58
Thielbar	0	32	0	14	0	46
Okert	0	0	0	15	15	30
Durán	0	0	0	0	22	22
Alcalá	0	15	0	0	0	15
Jax	0	0	12	0	0	12
Sands	0	9	0	0	0	9

 

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[insagt1]

Rocco said the team played hard and they were determined.

Thoughts for those who watched the game?

[Mike Sixel]

8 minutes ago, insagt1 said:

Rocco said the team played hard and they were determined.

Thoughts for those who watched the game?

Why would we think otherwise? Do we think they aren't trying?

[bean5302]

The Twins got lucky Varland allowed only 3 ER on 8 hits and a walk, including 2HR given his 7.01 FIP. It was a start which didn't bury the Twins, but the lack of offense again is getting old. They're scoring more than 3 runs a game barely 50% of the time back through the Mets series.

We need more consistent offensive production. It was a winnable game again today, just like the last two flops against Cleveland.

[CRF]

12 minutes ago, insagt1 said:

Rocco said the team played hard and they were determined.

Thoughts for those who watched the game?

I don't think there's any doubt about that, but it's the usual Rocco-speak. We just reverted to the RISP issue again, and had plenty of poor PA's. 

[BH67]

Happy Meat Loaf Day. Two out of three ain't bad, especially against the Royals starting trio the Twins faced.

These Twins take many losses of this variety and forget them the next day, and I shall also. Delighted that Varland, Richards and Okert ate up eight innings while allowing only three runs, though its inelegance was obvious. Duran's inning wasn't pleasant, though if it de-rusted him for the Rangers and Padres that's okay.

Twins high-leverage relievers are less successful in back-to-back games than those in Cleveland, and they struggle with more than three days off between appearances, too. Curious as to whether that durability can increase this fall or next season. For now, 6-7 innings for a starter and at least two relievers to finish looks like the best strategy for a string of victories, regardless of the bats.

[LA Vikes Fan]

Varland looked shaky but put up a decent line - 6 innings, 3 earned runs, 8 hits. Survived would be the word that I would use - never felt comfortable but kept us in the game. Ragans was dominant for KC. 7 innings, 1 earned run, 5 hits, 8 SOs, no walks Lewis' ground out with the bases loaded and 2 outs was the game. It was 3-1 at the time and the failure to score really ended it.  Miranda and Santana looked pretty good at the plate. Everyone else mostly flailed away. Jeffers and Castro both looked bad in particular - gassed, and clueless at the plate. I think Castro badly needs a day or two off or maybe even 3 or 4. He's wearing down big time. Farmer has got to give us innings at SS or we have to find someone else unless Correa is back in the next day or so.  Jeffers also looks beat down. Might be a good idea to give him a little breather by having Vasquez catch 5 of the 7 games on the road trip. 

Decent homestand at 4-3. One more against Cleveland and it would have been a great homestand. Problem is we are just a couple guys short from being able to sustain a long winning streak and I don't see a lot riding to the rescue except for Correa.

Good news and bad news. The good news is that we're still exactly on track to win 90 games (actually at 67-52, we are on track to win 90.45 games). The bad news is that probably won't win the division. Probably will get us the 2nd or 3rd Wild Card. The 2nd gets us a matchup against the Yankees or Baltimore, and then probably Cleveland.  The 3rd gets us a series in Seattle or Houston, then probably Baltimore. I'm hoping for either a Cleveland collapse that gives us the division or a fade to the 3rd wild card. 

[Doctor Gast]

Varland did what he was supposed to do. Give the rotation a good breather. Went 6 and keep us in the game. Twins' getaway day lineup with poor ABs didn't strike fear in the hearts of KC. Ragan had an easy day.

[USAFChief]

12 minutes ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

 I'm hoping for either a Cleveland collapse that gives us the division or a fade to the 3rd wild card. 

Small and dangerous needle to try threading.

 

[LA Vikes Fan]

I have seen some comments about a getaway lineup. I don't think the lineup was a matter of poor choices; the problem is we just didn't have anybody else to put in against a very good LH starter. Correa and Buxton are both out, so there go two RH hitters who hate left-handers well. The only other options would have been to play Kepler or Wallner instead of Larnach, and maybe Vasquez instead of Jeffers. I don't think it was really a getaway day lineup in the traditional sense where you play your reserves on Sunday afternoon. I think this is what we've got to go against LH pitching at the present time.

I would have been tempted to sit Castro, and play Farmer at SS with Martin at 2B. Kepler could then have played RF with Margot in CF - that effectively trades Castro for Kepler. Castro is in a major slump and looks gassed. We could've tried Wallner but that would've meant sitting either Lewis or Larnach. Statistically, neither Larnach or Wallner can really hit left-handed pitchers so I think that's kind of a pick your poison situation. I agree with the idea that they should get a chance to hit left-handers to improve but when we do that you have to endure days like today when Larnach wasn't much value at the plate.

We really need Correa and Buxton back to go against LH starting pitching PLUS we need Lewis to start hitting. Lewis is hitting .231/.311/.519 in his last 30 games, .250/.308/.417 in his last 7. Not horrible production but not middle of the order production either. Without him hitting like a true #3 or #4 hitter and then without Correa and Buxton, we are easy pickings for a LH starter. 

 

[LA Vikes Fan]

6 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

Small and dangerous needle to try threading.

 

Agreed. I'm not suggesting we should try to do that, I'm just hoping that's how things wind up.

[Danchat]

Solid job getting 2 of 3 from a scrappy Royals team. Still concerned with the bullpen, they are gonna be exposed if they're putting Thielbar and Richards out there in playoff games. They really need to move Varland to the pen but they don't have the depth to do that. 

[Mike Sixel]

52 minutes ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

I have seen some comments about a getaway lineup. I don't think the lineup was a matter of poor choices; the problem is we just didn't have anybody else to put in against a very good LH starter. Correa and Buxton are both out, so there go two RH hitters who hate left-handers well. The only other options would have been to play Kepler or Wallner instead of Larnach, and maybe Vasquez instead of Jeffers. I don't think it was really a getaway day lineup in the traditional sense where you play your reserves on Sunday afternoon. I think this is what we've got to go against LH pitching at the present time.

I would have been tempted to sit Castro, and play Farmer at SS with Martin at 2B. Kepler could then have played RF with Margot in CF - that effectively trades Castro for Kepler. Castro is in a major slump and looks gassed. We could've tried Wallner but that would've meant sitting either Lewis or Larnach. Statistically, neither Larnach or Wallner can really hit left-handed pitchers so I think that's kind of a pick your poison situation. I agree with the idea that they should get a chance to hit left-handers to improve but when we do that you have to endure days like today when Larnach wasn't much value at the plate.

We really need Correa and Buxton back to go against LH starting pitching PLUS we need Lewis to start hitting. Lewis is hitting .231/.311/.519 in his last 30 games, .250/.308/.417 in his last 7. Not horrible production but not middle of the order production either. Without him hitting like a true #3 or #4 hitter and then without Correa and Buxton, we are easy pickings for a LH starter. 

 

Agreed. This was the best lineup against a lefty right now, alas.

[tony&rodney]

Varland pitched wonderfully. Keeping KC to 3 runs in 6 innings was a terrific start. Beating the Royals twice was excellent. Ragans is a really good pitcher. It's baseball, all the teams in MLB are pretty good (well, ? CWS ?).

The Twins need Carlos Correa back .... and Buxton. Castro has done a decent job at SS but there isn't anyone behind him. If Correa can return by next week the Twins should be better at the plate and in the field. I'm not sure the team can survive the season with Buck and Correa. They are key.

[USAFChief]

1 hour ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

I have seen some comments about a getaway lineup. I don't think the lineup was a matter of poor choices; the problem is we just didn't have anybody else to put in against a very good LH starter. Correa and Buxton are both out, so there go two RH hitters who hate left-handers well. The only other options would have been to play Kepler or Wallner instead of Larnach, and maybe Vasquez instead of Jeffers. I don't think it was really a getaway day lineup in the traditional sense where you play your reserves on Sunday afternoon. I think this is what we've got to go against LH pitching at the present time.

I would have been tempted to sit Castro, and play Farmer at SS with Martin at 2B. Kepler could then have played RF with Margot in CF - that effectively trades Castro for Kepler. Castro is in a major slump and looks gassed. We could've tried Wallner but that would've meant sitting either Lewis or Larnach. Statistically, neither Larnach or Wallner can really hit left-handed pitchers so I think that's kind of a pick your poison situation. I agree with the idea that they should get a chance to hit left-handers to improve but when we do that you have to endure days like today when Larnach wasn't much value at the plate.

We really need Correa and Buxton back to go against LH starting pitching PLUS we need Lewis to start hitting. Lewis is hitting .231/.311/.519 in his last 30 games, .250/.308/.417 in his last 7. Not horrible production but not middle of the order production either. Without him hitting like a true #3 or #4 hitter and then without Correa and Buxton, we are easy pickings for a LH starter. 

 

I had the same thoughts about Farmer at SS and Martin at 2nd. My thought was to get Martin out of CF. I'd have used Castro though, because Margot isn't any good either. 

However, I dunno if Farmer can play SS at all. He's really, really immobile. 

 

It's a conundrum. 

 

 

[KirbyDome89]

23 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

Varland pitched wonderfully. Keeping KC to 3 runs in 6 innings was a terrific start. Beating the Royals twice was excellent. Ragans is a really good pitcher. It's baseball, all the teams in MLB are pretty good (well, ? CWS ?).

The Twins need Carlos Correa back .... and Buxton. Castro has done a decent job at SS but there isn't anyone behind him. If Correa can return by next week the Twins should be better at the plate and in the field. I'm not sure the team can survive the season with Buck and Correa. They are key.

Did you watch the game?

[Brandon]

Varland pitched a quality start today.  6 innings 3 earned runs.  also, first 4 starts 17 earned runs in 16 2/3 innings for a 9.18 ERA.  His next 4 appearances 20 innings and 8 earned runs 3.60 ERA.  He seems back on track and should be a 4.00 ERA pitcher moving forward.  but I am more convinced now his future is in the pen.  

[Mike Sixel]

37 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

I had the same thoughts about Farmer at SS and Martin at 2nd. My thought was to get Martin out of CF. I'd have used Castro though, because Margot isn't any good either. 

However, I dunno if Farmer can play SS at all. He's really, really immobile. 

 

It's a conundrum. 

 

 

Farmer being unable to play short is not good.... As you point out, it moves Martin to the OF....

[MMMordabito]

Got to see my first live Witt, Jr. homer today. Yeah!

Seriously though, I thought Varland pitched better than I expected until the DeJong homer. Louie seemed like he got into empty the tank mode and threw the new Royal nothing but fastballs including the pipe shot that was crushed.

Quality start anyway.

Injury gods owe us at least a couple quick heals and a handful of shield blessings for McCarthy. I expect Buxton and Correa to heal up quickly, and then, along with Lewis, to be healthy for the balance of the regular and post-season. 

[mikelink45]

I am not sure Varland deserves the accolades that the posters have given him.. not a terrible start, but not sterling either.  I want more and we need more.  Interesting to see how the rotation pans out.  I would go with a six man rotation now that we are so heavy in prospects.  

[LA Vikes Fan]

I agree with mikelink on Varland. The stats aren't bad, but the stats were more than just a little lucky., The Royals hit Varland pretty hard and he was lucky to escape the 4th and 5th innings. I would call this an ok start at best, and nothing that would make one think that he could be an effective starter every 5th day down the stretch. 

Most importantly, we have to evaluate how he looked as compared to Festa and Matthews. Festa has looked better with a 2.2 ERA over his last 4 appearances and 18.2 innings. He also has a lot more strikeouts. He was also better than Varland in AAA. Matthews only has one appearance where he went 5 innings, 5 hits, 2 runs, 5 SOs, and no walks. So far Festa has looked better than Varland and has a big enough sample size to be meaningful. Matthews has also looked better but we need to see at least one more start before ranking. Right now, I would say Varland is number 3 of 3 headed either back to AAA as starter #6 or to the BP but we need to see one more Matthews start before we can be more confident in that. 

[tony&rodney]

1 hour ago, KirbyDome89 said:

Did you watch the game?

Did you expect Varland to pitch a perfect game? 3 runs in 6 innings from Varland, at this point, is a terrific game. What were your expectations?

[mikelink45]

6 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

Did you expect Varland to pitch a perfect game? 3 runs in 6 innings from Varland, at this point, is a terrific game. What were your expectations?

He did okay, but lets not exaggerate 

[h2oface]

I wish our offense would hit to the game like Jack Morris would pitch to the game. Funny how I was almost expecting a Grand Slam from Lewis with the bases juiced. That was the moment to pounce.

Cleveland just keeps winning since they took the last two of our series. Winning the series is great, but time is running out. 

I sure hope Duran can become dominant again. Seems like very batter is making some contact against him during their at bats.

[tony&rodney]

14 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

He did okay, but lets not exaggerate 

Feeling that a quality start from Varland is great/terrific is not an exaggeration. Louie is not a very accomplished or complete pitcher at this time and it is a strong start that kept the Twins in the game. All anyone can expect from these rookies is a quality start at best. Yes, some balls were hit hard (Salvy) and Varland definitely missed on that pitch to DeJong, but Witt Jr. (Superman) hit a pitch that is a swing and miss most times and once again it was a soft double (DeJong) and dribbler (Isbel) that hurt. The Twins are lucky that they are getting these good outings from Woods Richardson, Festa, Matthews, and Varland. Pitching against the best hitters alive is hard, especially for inexperienced players.

I might be a little perplexed with the negatives that seem to suggest none of these pitchers are worth beans. The days of 7-9 inning starts giving up 0-2 runs has largely faded. Not a single pitcher in baseball has 2 shutouts and Bert Blyleven had more shutouts as a 22 year old than the entire total of shutouts by all pitchers in 2024. Time to be really pleased right now with our guys.

[stringer bell]

On today’s game—the Royals had more hard-hit balls and many more opportunities. It would have been very disappointing for them if they lost today.

Varland has a high-velo straight fastball and ???? With exceptional command or if he’s got his secondary pitches working, he’s okay. I honestly don’t know if he really profiles to be better as a reliever.

Agree that both Jeffers and Castro have had plenty of poor ABs lately, but two days ago, we could have said the same thing about Miranda. Hitting comes and it goes.

Not a huge fan of using Durán as early as the seventh, but despite what some here have said, Rocco was trying to win.

Martin should have caught Witt Jr.’s fly ball and he’s made too many misplays in the OF. I think he’s looked better than okay at second, but with his skill set, he needs to play more than one position.

Its asking for an awful lot for this club to win against quality opposition without both Buxton and Correa.

The completed 4-3 homestand vs. Cleveland and KC is status quo. One more win would have equaled success. 

[IaBeanCounter]

Wasn't able to watch, but based on thread comments and GameDay, it was possible the Varland could have given up no runs.  The first run was the result of Farmer not making a play per Chief.  The 6th pitch to Witt appeared to be the 3rd strike on Gameday.  If both of these are made DeJong doesn't come up.  

This was one of those games the Twins were not destined to win.  The Twins lost the third game of each KC series, scoring just 2 runs while giving up 21 runs.  

[Blyleven2011]

I was on the road  listening on the radio  , after the game  I thought man we seem to lose alot of Wednesday games ...

I looked it up when I got home  , twins are 11 and 9 on Wednesday  ...

Just Seemed like the opposite to me  , I guess I listen to to many games to keep it straight when I'm on the road  ...

I to was hoping for a Lewis grand slam  , I'm sure he was too ...

[tony&rodney]

52 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Its asking for an awful lot for this club to win against quality opposition without both Buxton and Correa.

 

This is huge. Correa returns and then Castro gives the Twins a serviceable second baseman. Buxton may not be the best any more in CF but he makes numerous plays that drop if Martin, Margot, or Castro are out there. Take Judge and Soto out of the Yankees lineup, .... and so on. 

[knothole61]

 

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
the band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
and somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
but there is no joy in Minnie—mighty Lewis grounded out.