Rangers 6, Twins 5: Jorge Alcalá Implodes, Extra-Inning Miscues Cost Twins Sweep

[Hans Birkeland]

The Twins have not excelled on getaway days this year. Sadly, Sunday's tilt proved no exception, despite knocking former Twin Tyler Mahle out of the game after the third inning. Jorge Alcalá did not have it, and although Carlos Santana once again brought his team back with a late-inning home run, his misplay at first base allowed the Rangers to walk it off in the 10th.

Image courtesy of © Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score:
Starting Pitcher: Pablo López: 6 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 K (107 Pitches, 66.3%)
Home Runs: Ryan Jeffers (19), Carlos Santana (18)
Bottom 3 WPA: Jorge Alcalá (-.686), José Miranda (-.247), Matt Wallner (-.108)
Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs):

Following a three-game span in which the Twins insisted on kicking the defending champs while they were down, they were greeted in the fourth game of the series by old friend (or perhaps nemesis?) Tyler Mahle, making his third start of the year since returning from a UCL tear suffered while pitching for the Twins. That part went well for the Twins, at least.

Mahle only made nine starts for the Twins after being acquired at the 2022 trade deadline. I normally would never blame an individual for the injuries they suffer, especially pitchers. However, with Mahle, it was reported that he didn't do the shoulder strengthening exercises prescribed to him during the 2022 stretch run, and his insistence that he was "fine" despite throwing his fastball in the mid-80s (he sat in mid-90s at his healthy best) certainly rubbed me and many Twins fans the wrong way. Despite all that, he performed pretty well for the Twins, posting a 3.64 ERA.

So it was a little cathartic to see Mahle throw quite a few fastballs at 88-89 MPH, while facing the Twins in a game that could vault Minnesota to within a game of Cleveland for the division lead. Rocco Baldelli stacked right-handers against Mahle, who has reverse splits for his career, and following a strikeout by leadoff man Willi Castro, José Miranda rifled an 89-MPH fastball just over left fielder Wyatt Langford's glove for a triple. He would score on a Trevor Larnach double, before Ryan Jeffers jumped on a 90-MPH fastball at the top of the zone and deposited it in the bullpen from a 21-degree launch angle (translation: he hit a 2-iron).

The balls put in play in the first inning in terms of exit velocity: 105, 110, 105, 92, and 103 MPH. How was Mahle feeling? He'll never tell. Besides his fastball, his split-changeup had very little action, and he only threw his slider six times, all taken for balls.

Meanwhile, Pablo López was sweating through multiple jerseys trying to keep the under-performing but powerful Rangers lineup off the board. Marcus Semien greeted López with a soft single, and all-world shortstop Corey Seager struck out on a perfectly placed sinker. A single, fly-out and a walk loaded the bases for one of the stars of last year's playoffs, Josh Jung. But Jung flew out weakly to end the threat. López threw 31 pitches in the first inning, all told.

He issued a leadoff walk to Langford in the second, but stranded him at third base, with Semien popping out to end the frame. He entered the third inning with over 50 pitches thrown, and at that point almost largely abandoned his sweeper in favor of his curveball. He started allowing more contact, but none of it was damaging, and López got through the third and fourth innings efficiently. His fastball had good life and velocity all day, sitting at 95-96 and hitting 98 MPH on occasion.

Mahle allowed an RBI single to Jeffers in the third, and following an inning-ending double play from the suddenly cold Matt Wallner, Mahle's afternoon was over, as Armando Garabito took over to start the fourth. The Twins had a hard time adjusting to the live arm of Garabito, who had previously started games for the Rangers, and went scoreless in the fourth and fifth innings.

López usually struggles when hitters can eliminate his sweeper from consideration, and it looked like his luck might run out in the fifth, with Semien singling to start the frame, bringing up Seager, who rarely lets a pitcher get him out three times in a row. He took some prodigious hacks on Lopez's best velocity of the day, but ultimately got jammed on an inside fastball, softly lining a ball up the middle. López initially tried to snag it, but pulled his glove down just in time, allowing Castro to field the ball on the bounce, right at second base, and relay to first for an easy double play.

I was thinking that Baldelli might pull López before the sixth, but with no off day until Thursday, they tried to squeeze another inning out of him. Adolis García greeted him with a screaming liner off the wall in left. He then hit Nathaniel Lowe on an 0-2 pitch. López was allowed to face Jung, who rapped into what was initially called a double play, but was overturned on review. Langford then flew out weakly, bringing up the hot-hitting Carson Kelly. With the count 2-2, the Twins' ace threw a 97-MPH fastball by Kelly on his 107th pitch, somehow completing six scoreless innings despite oodles of traffic and a 3/3 strikeout/walk ratio.

It's a good thing the Rangers were scoreless to that point, because Jorge Alcalá's afternoon started with a single to the nine-hole hitter, Leody Taveras, then a ringing double off the bat of Semien, followed by another sharp double from Seager. After retiring Josh Smith on a fly ball, Alcalá tried to sneak a 2-0 fastball up and away to García, who pummeled it 389 feet to tie the game in the blink of an eye. After striking out Lowe on a nice changeup, Alcalá again got too much of the plate, this time to the always-hacking Jung, who smashed a 1-2 fastball 420 feet to give the Rangers the lead.

It didn't look good, with the Rangers having the dominant David Robertson and Kirby Yates available to close the game out. Robertson, for his part, pitched a shutdown eighth inning, but Yates, after taking the loss in Thursday's game, gave up a mammoth home run to Carlos Santana to tie the game at five. It was the first blown save of the season for Yates, and approximately the 17th time this year Santana has brought his team back from the dead in the late innings.

Griffin Jax came on to pitch the ninth. For a moment, it looked like Garcia hit a walk-off home run with two outs, but he was just a hair out front on a changeup, and flew out to the warning track in left.

Facing lefty Andrew Chafin in the 10th, Castro advanced the zombie runner, Edouard Julien, to third, but Miranda grounded into the drawn in infield and Julien was retired at home plate. Christian Vázquez then pinch hit for Larnach and struck out, handing the Rangers a golden opportunity to walk it off.

Jhoan Durán was called upon for the fourth time in five days, and predictably, he did not have his A stuff, sitting 98-99 MPH with his fastball. He did strike out Lowe swinging for the first out, but then Jung hit a tapper to Miranda that evoked some memories of the 2004 ALCS in which Alex Rodríguez swatted away a ball that was in pitcher Bronson Arroyo's glove as he covered first. In that case, the play was called an out, but today Santana caught the ball and made a swipe tag of Jung. Unlike A-Rod, Jung did not make any sort of swatting motion, but the ball was jarred loose by his body and the ball trickled away, allowing García to score the winning run.

Trends:

	Healthy	Hurt
Performing Great
Fine
Poor
IL/Minors
C	Ryan Jeffers 📈	Christian Vazquez 📈
1B	Carlos Santana 📈	Alex Kirilloff 📉	Jose Miranda 📈
2B	Edouard Julien 📉	Kyle Farmer 📈'
3B	Royce Lewis 📈
SS	Carlos Correa 📈	Brooks Lee 📉
LF	Matt Wallner 📉	Trevor Larnach 📈	Austin Martin 📈
CF	Byron Buxton 📉	Manuel Margot 📉
RF	Max Kepler 📉
UTIL	Willi Castro 📈
SP	Pablo Lopez 📈	Bailey Ober 📈	Joe Ryan 📉	Chris Paddack 📉	Louie Varland 📈
RSP	David Festa 📈	Zebby Matthews 📈	Simeon Woods Richardson 📈
CR	Jhoan Duran 📈	Griffin Jax 📈
SR	Brock Stewart 📉	Jorge Alcala 📈	Cole Sands 📈
MR	Trevor Richards 📈	Caleb Thielbar 📈	Steven Okert 📉
LR	Josh Winder 📈	Ronny Henriquez 📈	Randy Dobnak 📉

Stray Notes:

-Willi Castro has been dealing with some sort of back issue in recent weeks, and appeared to aggravate his injury beating out an infield single in the third. He was checked out by trainers in the dugout but remained in the game.

-After stealing a crucial base against closer Kirby Yates in game one of the series, Wallner timed up Garabito and stole second again without a throw in the sixth. Wallner's sprint speed is decent (27.2 MPH) and I wonder if he has taken some pointers from Carlos Santana, who seems to really enjoy opportunistic base-stealing.

What’s Next: Zebby Matthews (1-0, 3.60 ERA) faces Michael King (10-6, 3.19 ERA) as the Twins head to San Diego to take on the surging Padres. Those Padres have the game's best record since the All-Star break, and are putting a scare into the perennially great Dodgers in the NL West division. King is a converted reliever having a lot of success now that he has been given a chance to start, quite similar to the Royals' Seth Lugo. Matthews makes his second career start after delivering an impressive performance against the Royals last Tuesday.

Postgame Interviews:

(Coming soon)

Bullpen Usage Chart:

	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN	TOT
Durán	22	18	13	0	6	59
Alcalá	0	20	0	9	19	48
Richards	33	0	0	0	13	46
Jax	0	15	19	0	9	43
Sands	0	0	18	9	0	27
Henríquez	0	0	0	27	0	27
Okert	15	0	8	0	0	23
Thielbar	0	0	18	0	0	18

View full article

[thelanges5]

Next three series:

Twins - Padres, Cards, Braves

Guardos - Yanks, Rangers, Royals

Royals - Angels, Phils, Guardos

LFG Twins!!!

[USAFChief]

How does a manager sit through a reliever turning a 4 run lead into a 1 run deficit without even blinking?

[thelanges5]

10 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

How does a manager sit through a reliever turning a 4 run lead into a 1 run deficit without even blinking?

Maybe we’ll hear something in the post game, but that is the question of the day.

[Craig Arko]

Booger of a loss.

[Hubie29]

51 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

How does a manager sit through a reliever turning a 4 run lead into a 1 run deficit without even blinking?

Since he only threw 19 pitches maybe Rocco will let him redeem himself tomorrow night with a 5 run lead

[Blyleven2011]

A double jeopardy loss in a way , twins lose and fail to gain a game on Cleveland  , who also lost ...

Acala a melt down and Rocco  leaving him in allowing 5 runs is just plain insane  , when a pitcher doesn't have it , you can pull him after 3 batters , but Rocco seems to not want to bring in a relief pitcher in  with runners on , he always seems to want a reliever to start a fresh  inning ... 

Crazy ...

Why did he ( Rocco )  pinch hit for larnach  with Vazquez  ???? ...

Do we have a major league manager with the right mind set  that wants to win every game like I do ??? ...

[Parfigliano]

Very frustrating loss.

[Nashvilletwin]

55 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

How does a manager sit through a reliever turning a 4 run lead into a 1 run deficit without even blinking?

Couldn’t agree more. Alcala pitched last night (albeit only 9 pitches, but he still went through the entire drill), Jax was rested, and the best part of their lineup was up.

So mistake #1 was to not go with Jax in the 7th.  Mistake #2 was not to pull Alcala after the third batter.

Sure, the play by Miranda was little league ball, but this one is on Rocco.

This team had the chance to put the series away with Cleveland, bury KC, and complete a statement 4 game sweep on the road - and blew all three opportunities.

Horrible loss. Simply horrible.  

[Craig Arko]

He’s got a point.

[jorgenswest]

1 hour ago, USAFChief said:

How does a manager sit through a reliever turning a 4 run lead into a 1 run deficit without even blinking?

Maybe he should have more confidence in Richards, Theilbar or Okert. suppose he starts warming up one of them after the third batter. Are they ready for batter 6? Probably not. It was 5 pitches to batters 4 and 5. The next batter struck out. Should he take him out after the 6th batter strikes out? In hindsight yes. I am not sure I would have trusted Richards, Okert or Thielbar to have better success against the right handed Jung especially after the strike out.

[USAFChief]

48 minutes ago, Craig Arko said:

He’s got a point.

He gets no pass from me. Jax could have been up when Maki starts ambling to the mound. SHOULD have been up. At that point Jax is definitely coming in next inning anyway, almost no matter what. He could have been ready by the time Alcala faced Garcia, if not before. 

Easily.

I mean, this is the top of the Texas order. Once Seager reaches, the game is clearly on the line. Garcia is a long ball threat and has been hot. Alcala clearly can't locate ANYthing. 

We've all seen managers stall long enough to get a reliever ready.

That Rocco can't pull that off, or see the need, isn't a defense.

It's additional evidence for the prosecution. 

[wabene]

The problem I have with all this is every team is going to lose at least 50 games. You can't live and die with each one. At least I can't anyway. I wanted the sweep bad. I want to put the Spiders behind us. Didn't happen gotta let go

[JD-TWINS]

1 hour ago, USAFChief said:

How does a manager sit through a reliever turning a 4 run lead into a 1 run deficit without even blinking?

The guy threw 4 pitches to his required 3 batters and two runs were in with a guy on 2nd.

His ERA is/was 2.15 entering the 7th inning.

What’s the Manager supposed to do? Is he supposed to show zero composure? Is he supposed to get somebody loose when Alcala takes the mound with a 4 run lead? ALCALA is 110% at fault - Baldelli isn’t throwing letter high change-ups to Cory Seager nor center cut fastballs to other guys………,should Baldelli throw his hat and start swearing? He’s the Manager of 26 grown men and he’s not a fan.

Not really sure what your expectations are of what his behavior should be?

Other than a complete lack of offense after the 3rd inning, Alcala blew the game all on his own!

[Doctor Gast]

15 minutes ago, Nashvilletwin said:

Couldn’t agree more. Alcala pitched last night (albeit only 9 pitches, but he still went through the entire drill), Jax was rested, and the best part of their lineup was up.

So mistake #1 was to not go with Jax in the 7th.  Mistake #2 was not to pull Alcala after the third batter.

Sure, the play by Miranda was little league ball, but this one is on Rocco.

This team had the chance to put the series away with Cleveland, bury KC, and complete a statement 4 game sweep on the road - and blew all three opportunities.

Horrible loss. Simply horrible.  

This Alcala's return season from an extended IL & surgery last season. I'd take it easier on Alcala by not letting him go multiple innings & not go consecutive days. If Jax was available I'd have gone with him. I wouldn't also not have Duran pitch 4 out of 5Xs. CLE is really working their BP, IMO it'll turn around & bite them. I don't want that to happen to the Twins but we have Stewart already gone we can't afford any more injuries or ineffective innings. We should have swept the Rangers.

[Whitey333]

Loss is definitely on Rocco today.  One of a handful of games the manager has lost this year.  Excuse the people backing Rocco for keeping Alcala in there while he is getting hammered.  There is no excuse for how he handled it.  Alcala may have made rotten pitches but Roccos continued lack of game management skills is astounding. People say how lucky the Guardians are because the Twins lost. It works both ways.  Maybe the Twins are lucky because Clevelanf lost. Very disappointing and needless loss.

[JD-TWINS]

33 minutes ago, Nashvilletwin said:

Couldn’t agree more. Alcala pitched last night (albeit only 9 pitches, but he still went through the entire drill), Jax was rested, and the best part of their lineup was up.

So mistake #1 was to not go with Jax in the 7th.  Mistake #2 was not to pull Alcala after the third batter.

Sure, the play by Miranda was little league ball, but this one is on Rocco.

This team had the chance to put the series away with Cleveland, bury KC, and complete a statement 4 game sweep on the road - and blew all three opportunities.

Horrible loss. Simply horrible.  

Can’t believe that anybody would try to put ALCALA’s complete failure to do his job on Baldelli. After 4 pitches there were 2 runs in and a guy standing on 2nd.

The 20/20 hindsight is out of control. What did your crystal ball tell you was to happen in the 8th & 9th after Jax pitched a perfect 7th?

Just because there’s 6 other ways to approach a situation it doesn’t mean that what was done was in any way a mistake! The Manager did exactly what has been a formula for numerous wins……..Alcala was not focused, period.

[USAFChief]

6 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

The guy threw 4 pitches to his required 3 batters and two runs were in with a guy on 2nd.

 

You seem to be making my point. 

[JD-TWINS]

49 minutes ago, Blyleven2011 said:

A double jeopardy loss in a way , twins lose and fail to gain a game on Cleveland  , who also lost ...

Acala a melt down and Rocco  leaving him in allowing 5 runs is just plain insane  , when a pitcher doesn't have it , you can pull him after 3 batters , but Rocco seems to not want to bring in a relief pitcher in  with runners on , he always seems to want a reliever to start a fresh  inning ... 

Crazy ...

Why did he ( Rocco )  pinch hit for larnach  with Vazquez  ???? ...

Do we have a major league manager with the right mind set  that wants to win every game like I do ??? ...

It’s got nothing to do with needing a fresh inning……when the 7th started the Team needed 9 more outs. Also, Alcala had a 2.15 ERA. He threw 4 pitches and there were 2 runs in, and a guy standing on 2nd. 4 pitches.

Things couldn’t get any worse……he got the next guy & then HE, not Baldelli, gave up a middle-middle pitch to guy for a HR. Now there’s one out and nobody on…..he’s thrown maybe 10 pitches……should be able to get 2 outs! He gets one and then HE serves up another HR. The professional athletes need to get it done…..it’s difficult to achieve what Alcala did - hard to be that bad.

2.15 ERA entering the inning.

[USAFChief]

12 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

It’s got nothing to do with needing a fresh inning……when the 7th started the Team needed 9 more outs. Also, Alcala had a 2.15 ERA. He threw 4 pitches and there were 2 runs in, and a guy standing on 2nd. 4 pitches.

Things couldn’t get any worse……he got the next guy & then HE, not Baldelli, gave up a middle-middle pitch to guy for a HR. Now there’s one out and nobody on…..he’s thrown maybe 10 pitches……should be able to get 2 outs! He gets one and then HE serves up another HR. The professional athletes need to get it done…..it’s difficult to achieve what Alcala did - hard to be that bad.

2.15 ERA entering the inning.

Do you think maybe it's not a coincidence he threw one "middle middle" pitch after another?

Might that be a signal, of some sort?

[Blyleven2011]

13 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

Can’t believe that anybody would try to put ALCALA’s complete failure to do his job on Baldelli. After 4 pitches there were 2 runs in and a guy standing on 2nd.

The 20/20 hindsight is out of control. What did your crystal ball tell you was to happen in the 8th & 9th after Jax pitched a perfect 7th?

Just because there’s 6 other ways to approach a situation it doesn’t mean that what was done was in any way a mistake! The Manager did exactly what has been a formula for numerous wins……..Alcala was not focused, period.

If acala was not focused  , then rocco should have removed him after 3 batters  and I don't care how many pitches were thrown , acala should have been  taken out ( he did this with richards about 10 days ago when richards couldn't find the strike zone and walks and runs were allowed  )  , the manager did what he always does to let a game get away  , he wants a pitcher to complete a whole inning and not bring in a relief pitcher to clean up his mess , ( if you believe Rocco's a capable manager , then i will disagree , I've said many times , Rocco will never bring us to a world series or win it  ) ,...

it's rocco's MO not to change horses mid stream , he wants a relief pitcher to have a fresh inning  ,,, richards finally was brought in ( after 5 runs were scored off Alcala  when he wasn't focused )  and did get the out and pitched another inning ...

[Schmoeman5]

Alcala did give up the homer to Garcia. But stop saying it was middle middle. It was actually a good pitch up and out of the strike zone.  It just wasn't up enough. Tip your cap to Garcia. I just think that by that time someone would be close to ready. 1 hitter too far. He shouldn't have faced Jung 

[Old Twins Hat]

I watched most of the game and then had to go pick-up my step-son and listened on the radio.

After watching Pablo struggle, inning after inning, and yet escape, and knowing how the BP has been used/abused, my assumption was Rocco would go to Richards.

And if Richards faltered, he still had Jax and Duran, if not Okert and Thielbar.  It was the 7th after all.

Alas, Twins found a way to lose, as convoluted as it was. 

Baseball is about second-guessing when you lose, and celebrating when you win.

But why get Richards if you can't live what he does in high leverage situations?

[Fatbat]

Brutal 19 pitches by Alcala. Better days ahead boys!!! Keep your heads up!!!

Cleveland has lost 3 in a row.  Lets go take 3 in SD and no one will care about this loss. 

[Aggies7]

There wasn’t enough time to take him out before the game was tied. But no one is mentioning the delay after wallner’s glove went over the fence after the tying home run. It eventually got tossed up into the stands causing more of a delay. If the above timeline is correct, Jax had been warming up for at least 2 minutes when the home run happened. 
 

I find it hard to believe that a major league reliever wouldn’t have been ready after the home run and subsequent delay. Remember he also gets 2 minutes to warm up once he gets onto the field.

Rocco tried to squeeze two more outs out of the bullpen and it ended up biting him. It happens to every manager, but denying it happened that way is a bit weird to me.

[Rufus]

Momma said there would be days like this, there would be days like this Momma said.

[Parfigliano]

2 hours ago, Fatbat said:

Brutal 19 pitches by Alcala. Better days ahead boys!!! Keep your heads up!!!

Cleveland has lost 3 in a row.  Lets go take 3 in SD and no one will care about this loss. 

SD aint TX.  They will be a much tougher nut to crack.

[Fatbat]

2 minutes ago, Parfigliano said:

SD aint TX.  They will be a much tougher nut to crack.

With some positive luck and solid play, we can take all 3.  We are better than our current record.

[old nurse]

10 hours ago, USAFChief said:

He gets no pass from me. Jax could have been up when Maki starts ambling to the mound. SHOULD have been up. At that point Jax is definitely coming in next inning anyway, almost no matter what. He could have been ready by the time Alcala faced Garcia, if not before. 

Easily.

I mean, this is the top of the Texas order. Once Seager reaches, the game is clearly on the line. Garcia is a long ball threat and has been hot. Alcala clearly can't locate ANYthing. 

We've all seen managers stall long enough to get a reliever ready.

That Rocco can't pull that off, or see the need, isn't a defense.

It's additional evidence for the prosecution. 

A pitcher can warm up in 30 seconds? Mound visits have been limited sinew 2018. Igiven history

Mound Visit

Definition

The members of the coaching staff (including the manager) can make one mound visit per pitcher per inning without needing to remove the pitcher from the game. If the same pitcher is visited twice in one inning, the pitcher must be removed from the contest. These mound visits are limited to 30 seconds, starting when the manager or coach has exited the dugout and been granted time by the umpire. The mound visit is considered to be concluded once the manager or coach leaves the 18-foot circle surrounding the pitching rubber, though they are permitted to temporarily leave that area to notify the umpire of a substitution. In that case, the manager or coach can then return to the mound without it being counted as two mound visits.

Mound visits are limited to four per team per nine innings, though an extra mound visit is awarded for the ninth inning if the defensive team has zero remaining visits at the end of the eighth. Teams also receive an additional visit for every extra inning played.

Any manager, coach or player visit to the mound counts as a mound visit under this rule, though visits to the mound to clean cleats in rainy weather, to check on a potential injury or after the announcement of an offensive substitution are excepted. Normal communication between a player and pitcher that doesn't require either to vacate his position on the field doesn't count as a visit. If a team is out of visits, the umpire will have discretion to grant a brief visit at the catcher's request if a cross-up has occurred between the pitcher and catcher.

History of the rule

Mound visits had no time limit prior to the 2016 season, when Major League Baseball began limiting visits by managers and coaches to 30 seconds. The rule limiting each team to six mound visits per nine innings was instituted prior to the 2018 campaign and changed to five per nine innings prior to the 2019 season. The number of mound visits was reduced again to four per nine innings prior to the 2024 season.

Prior to 2018, the only restriction on the number of mound visits each team could make was the one requiring a pitcher to be removed if he was visited twice in one inning.

[Peter]

Terrible terrible terrible loss-rather get blown out, can’t lose anymore games like this rest of season!!! Need to win every game take division from Cleveland/win World Series championship!!!