Make It Official! Twins 5, Rangers 2: Twins Rally Late to Clinch Series

[Sherry Cerny]

The Twins continue to excel without Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa, taking the series from the Royals and now clinching a second straight against the defending champs.

With the division deficit down to two, Minnesota will angle for a four-game sweep on Sunday.

 

Image courtesy of Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score
SP: David Festa 5.0 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K (81 pitches, 54 strikes (68%)
Home Runs: Trevor Larnach (12)
Top 3 WPA: Willi Castro(.257), Austin Martin (.125), Ronny Henriquez (.092)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

The Twins lineup continues to impress and hold their own in lieu of team veterans Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton. Players like Christian Vásquez, who just celebrated his 10 years of MLB service time, have been among those players who contributed to the on-field success. Vasquez struggled off and on throughout the season, but over the last seven games has slashed .375/.407/.750. He has come in clutch many games, giving the Twins insurance runs that have been valuable. 

The first part of the Twins lineup was retired quickly in the top of the first. Willi Castro was first up and got on base first but was stranded after Trevor Larnach, Royce Lewis, and Matt Wallner were victims of in-game outs, stranding Castro. 

Twins Pitching Keeps It Low
David Festa started his sixth game tonight since coming up from Triple-A. Festa has been learning the difference between hitters in the minors and majors, with some hard contact, but he has continued to adapt quickly, and has thrown strikes at a surprising rate. Saturday’s start was no different. 

The Rangers struck first with a run from Wyatt Langford. Langford got on base right away with a single and was able to advance on the two groundouts from other players before finally scoring on the single from Carson Kelly. Festa struck out the final hitter to close out the inning, giving the Twins a chance to answer, but they went scoreless. 

The Rangers carried their lead into the fourth, where Eovaldi fell behind Larnach 2-0 and the slugger took advantage, hitting a 403-foot solo home run to get the Twins on the board. Eovaldi continued to battle with players at the plate, running up his pitch count, but managed to prevent more damage. 

The Rangers answered the same inning after Jonah Heim doubled with two outs, followed by another double from Kelly on a fly ball to center field, scoring Heim. Kelly drove in both runs for the Rangers. Festa saw just one more inning before giving way in the sixth two Henriquez, who didn’t allow a run through his two innings. 

Twins Keep it Spicy
Although Julien struggled at the plate tonight he made some adjustments and hit a single on a curveball to start the eighth. Vázquez followed with a line drive single to center, putting two on with no one out. Eovaldi had a mound visit with Mike Maddux to figure out a strategy to keep the hitters from scoring, but in the next at-bat, Austin Martin singled on a bunted ground ball to Josh Jung.

Martin was initially called out on the close play, but Twins manager Rocco Baldelli challenged. New York overturned the call, loading up the bases with no outs. The Rangers brought in veteran reliever David Robertson; however, Castro ripped a single on the first pitch to center field, scoring Julien and Vázquez to put the Twins ahead 4-2. There were still no outs, but it ended quickly with a groundout from Larnach and a strikeout double play from Lewis that had Castro in a pickle, ending the inning. 

The Twins continued the threat against in the next inning against pitcher Walter Pennington, with Santana getting on base, followed by Max Kepler who has been hitless through this series delivering a line drive double to get Santana on third, bringing Farmer up to bat and one out. The Twins forced the Rangers to make another pitching change to bring in Jose LeClerc to keep the damage low, but instead, Farmer hit a sac fly to center field and Santana got a chance to come home pushing the score 5-2. 

This is the first win for Henriquez, leaving the Twins 17 games above .500 with their the 70th win this season! It took them until September of last season to get to 70 wins. With the Guardians falling to the Brewers, the division lead is down to two.

Interviews

 

What’s next?
The Twins wrap up their series with the Rangers tomorrow. Minnesota will send out Pablo Lopez (11-8, 4.67 ERA) who continues to slowly improve, against Rangers pitcher Tyler Mahle (0-1, 2.79 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 1:25PM CT.

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[BH67]

The last three games explain why I am optimistic about the Twins in October. Big plays come from the least expected places occur night after night, with the bottom three of the order breaking through tonight against a dominant Nathan Eovaldi in the 8th to start the comeback. Another great start for David Festa kept the Twins close, and the bullpen of Henriquez, Alcala and Sands shut the Rangers down to secure the win.

For all their injuries and uncertainties, the Twins after 123 games are only three games behind the best record in Major League Baseball. A healthy Correa and Buxton are necessary for a genuine run to the World Series, but they keep fighting regardless. Sellout crowds on the nine-game homestand beginning next weekend are well deserved.
 

[wabene]

Sands got it done atta boy. Alcalá has arrived, they clearly aren't messing around with him like they did early on.

[gregens]

Welcome to an elite club!!  The Twins are now 1 or 7 teams with 70 or more wins.

[SD happy]

Sooo good to see Julien and Vasquez come up big with 0-2 hits to start the eighth. Twins have given up their share of big 0-2 hits, so it was good to see our guys come through.

[TheLeviathan]

We'd have won this game if Rocco hadn't told Gobert to guard Luka at the three point line.

Moron.

[USAFChief]

Yeah baby, yeah!

[Parfigliano]

24 minutes ago, BH67 said:

The last three games explain why I am optimistic about the Twins in October. Big plays come from the least expected places occur night after night, with the bottom three of the order breaking through tonight against a dominant Nathan Eovaldi in the 8th to start the comeback. Another great start for David Festa kept the Twins close, and the bullpen of Henriquez, Alcala and Sands shut the Rangers down to secure the win.

For all their injuries and uncertainties, the Twins after 123 games are only three games behind the best record in Major League Baseball. A healthy Correa and Buxton are necessary for a genuine run to the World Series, but they keep fighting regardless. Sellout crowds on the nine-game homestand beginning next weekend are well deserved.
 

I will be really optimistic if they somehow dont face NYY in the playoffs

[GNess]

The Twins are rolling. Young pitchers have been key.

[gregens]

Once again this spiny backed dinosaur roars through the pleasant valley of Twins Daily swinging a lethal tail of destruction toward any fan with the audacity to whisper a word of mild critique of the immaculate manager.

[FlyingFinn]

@Sherry Cerny Minor correction - I think you flip-flopped the pitch counts for Alcala and Henriquez. Thanks for the writeup.

[ashbury]

12 hours ago, gregens said:

a word of mild critique of the emaculate manager.

Did you use your immaculate spell-checker or an off-brand one like Rocco prefers?

[stringer bell]

Congrats to Henriquez on his first MLB win. A gritty victory with some help from the Rangers.

Outstanding bunt by Martin, and it often happens that a sacrifice bunt becomes a single. Willi had a big hit to get the win. 

[darwin22]

56 minutes ago, wabene said:

Sands got it done atta boy. Alcalá has arrived, they clearly aren't messing around with him like they did early on.

Who would've predicted that Cole Sands would become an important and DEPENDABLE part of this pitching staff this season after two seasons of less than stellar performance?

For those not aware---Sands has put up the following numbers this season:

W-L record:  6-1

WHIP:  0.99!...this after a +1.50 last season

ERA:  3.23---a full half of a run better than last season (3.74)

Most impressive is his K to BB ratio:

64 K's over 56.67 IP------------walks for the season= 8

With my limited math skills that is an outstanding ratio of 8:1

Keep it going Cole!

[IaBeanCounter]

I can't remember when the 1st to 7th seeds were only separated by 6 games in the loss column this late in the season.  I believe the Twins could end as the 1st or 2nd seed as well as the7th seed and missing the playoffs.  The margin for error for all of the teams is extremely narrow.  It should be an exciting finish.

[JD-TWINS]

Kepler’s double to get Santana to 3B & then Farmer’s sac fly created a nice cushion.

Bullpen came up big with Jax & Duran off for the night.

Ronny Henriquez!!

Castro keeps up his steady play - not always flashy but he helps the Team win games day in & day out. Last night it was the big play in the 9th from the hole at SS & tonight a 2 RBI single…….he’s really been a key piece.

Didn’t get to see Festa pitch but it appears he was solid enough for 5 innings.

A sweep would be a nice shot of momentum going into next week!

[Fatbat]

63-40 since their horrible 7-13 start in April. We learned how to win tough games. 

[stringer bell]

Just about everyone contributed today—all four pitchers, Julien and Vázquez with hits to start the rally, Martin with the bunt single, Castro’s bases loaded knock, Larnach homer, Farmer SF, Santana’s walk and run scored and Kepler’s double. 

[August J Gloop]

1 hour ago, BH67 said:

For all their injuries and uncertainties, the Twins after 123 games are only three games behind the best record in Major League Baseball. 

Let us not forget that the Twins having their worst games against the 3 teams ahead of them are all that actually separates them. If they just don't get swept by the yankees and go 2-4, the Twins are .5 up. 1-2 vs BAL, Tied. 3-6 rather than 2-7 vs CLE? Tied. Obviously the games were the games, but the season is long for a reason.

At this point in the 117 games the the Twins and Yanks have played vs not each other the Twins are 70-47. The Yanks are 67-51. 

[tony&rodney]

Great game and Festa was terrific. Pablo is up tomorrow and well rested. Broom time. 

[CCHOF5yearstoolate]

Really nice outing from Festa, bullpen is starting to pull their weight in the 2nd half. Pretty good team!

[bean5302]

Wouldn't it be great if the Twins uniforms were made with the same color for the pants and jerseys?

[Doctor Gast]

Great job Sherry. Texas has pitched well but the Twins w/o Correa & Buxton plus Lewis & Miranda not excelling lately, have come through by out (small) balling them by underrated Twins players by getting clutch hits at the right time, reliable pitching & executing. Castro came through the biggest. Congratulations to Henriquez on his 1st win. Against his former team, that had to be extra sweet. 

Correa has been our best player & I didn't think we had a chance w/o him & then later w/o Buxton & Ryan. But the Twins have come through by winning close games, hitting key hits towards the end of the game showing great team effort, our SPs keeping us in the game and our RPs holding the games. I have defended the Twins' line-up when many have given up on them & they have proven to be better than I thought.

[Old Twins Hat]

Something is wrong with Lewis.  You can see it with his hitting and his defense.

It looks like he can't get his legs working together, and it hampers all his baseball moves, especially throwing across the diamond and trying to hit for power.

He's been hitting a lot of weak ground balls to the left side.  And his throws just look pathetic.

Meanwhile his average and OPS are sinking, while his defense tumbles below average.

Great kid, unlimited potential, but, at this point, he may need a break.

[blindeke]

With Mahle pitching tomorrow, I assume his arm will fall off in the 3rd inning.

[JD-TWINS]

17 minutes ago, blindeke said:

With Mahle pitching tomorrow, I assume his arm will fall off in the 3rd inning.

Can’t be too cocky - pretty sure that after 2 deep starts his ERA is sub 2.00? Just hoping for a W.

[wabene]

4 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

Can’t be too cocky - pretty sure that after 2 deep starts his ERA is sub 2.00? Just hoping for a W.

Just make him throw strikes. He will nibble his way to a bloated pitch count.

[Peter]

That was another nerve wracking intense game last night but huge huge huge win!!! Let’s get the sweep!!! Go twins!!!

[Patzky]

10 hours ago, IaBeanCounter said:

I can't remember when the 1st to 7th seeds were only separated by 6 games in the loss column this late in the season.  I believe the Twins could end as the 1st or 2nd seed as well as the7th seed and missing the playoffs.  The margin for error for all of the teams is extremely narrow.  It should be an exciting finish.

The White Sox have skewed the maths for everyone 😂

[terrydactyls]

Sherry - Early in the article, you wrote that Lewis and Wallner were victims of "in-game outs".  Aren't all outs "in-game"?