Twins 1, Cardinals 6: Pitchers Walk Many, Hitters Score Few in Apple TV Dud

[Matt Braun]

Remember: a fabulously rich entity paid actual money for the rights to this performance. 

Image courtesy of Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score
David Festa: 3 2/3 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
Home Runs: None
Bottom 3 WPA: David Festa (-.185), Matt Wallner (-.148), Trevor Larnach (-.117)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

37 years ago, these two teams—the Twins and Cardinals—battled in the grandest of baseball’s stages: the World Series. In one of the sport's more special miracles, Minnesota bested their opponents, claiming 85 regular-season wins and eight playoff victories to finish the season as champions. Winners. An outcome unseen in the franchise’s previous 63 years, dating back to Calvin Coolidge. On Friday, the two squads faced off once again in a matchup likely to stir memories and nostalgia.

David Festa would probably like to hold little thought regarding his start, though. One of Minnesota’s “Opps, (Almost) All Rookies” starting rotation, the Seton Hall product mowed down batters early but ran into second-time-around trouble yet again; the extra exposure stiffened discipline and expanded damage, leading to three hits—but three runs—against the youngster across four frames. So it goes. 

One of St. Louis’ main poisons? Stolen bases. As it has been said, the more things change, the more they stay the same. 

On the opposite end, Twins’ hitters found no such fortune against their opponent. Andre Pallante was too strange, too weird for them. His heater confounded all night long; even the swings that resulted in a ball in play typically found a glove. Perhaps it’s fitting that the only run scored against him was a well-placed dribbler by Austin Martin, just outside of Nolan Arenado’s range. 

That was it. Pallante settled into an unshakable groove—the kind of pitch-to-contact brilliance unseen in a decade—and bled the Twins dry with seven gorgeous innings. He allowed just five hits, none for extra bases.

Minnesota’s relievers offered no peace of mind: Jorge Alcalá allowed another run amidst a terrible span of pitching in August, and Trevor Richards continued his expressionist and experimental waltz with the strike zone, or anything close to it. He tried to court but could never quite seal the deal. The result was a suffocating 6-1 lead, far too much to overcome as even finally breaking into the St. Louis bullpen couldn’t alter the Twins' fortunes on Friday; the wells ran dry no matter who took the mound. 

The game finally ended when Max Kepler lined out, ironically, on one of the few hard-hit balls of the night. 

Notes:

Caleb Thielbar appeared in his 333th game as a Twin, the 8th-most in franchise history for a relief pitcher. He is 32 games away from tying Glen Perkins for 7th place.

Ryan Jeffers is slashing .300/.341/.675 in August.

David Festa earned his 44th strikeout of the season, the 15th-most amongst AL Rookies in 2024. 

Post-Game Interview:

What’s Next?
The Twins and Cardinals play the second game of their series on Saturday. Pablo López will face off against his playoff partner-in-crime, Sonny Gray. First pitch is at 6:10 PM. 

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

 

 

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[Parfigliano]

Couldn't watch it.  Doesn't seem like I missed anything.

[BH67]

Six of the first nine Twins reached base, yet only one run scored. Only two more Twins reached base the rest of the evening against Cardinals pitching that threw only 58% strikes. Rocco looks sage in letting Trevor Richards throw a second inning and maximizing the likelihood of winning two out of three. Throw this game away.

However...

...here's a key reason why the bullpen may be tiring: only once in the last 19 games has a Twins starter pitched past the sixth inning. Though starter ERA and WHIP are very good, they throw too many pitches to achieve it. Twins starters in August average 100 pitches per every six innings -- and reducing that number is critically important.

[Danchat]

Seems like some of the hitters are running out of steam, some are falling back to earth after getting hot this summer. Can't be surprised that this collection of pitchers who threw tonight gave up 6 runs. This team needed reinforcements. Obviously there's no replacing Buxton and Correa so it's hard to be too critical of the lineup struggling, but still. 

Why is Farmer pinch-hitting for Jeffers in any situation? I'm fine with platooning pinch hitters but not the likes of Margot and Farmer!

Since when did Goldschmidt have a sub .700 OPS? And Arenado is having a career worst season at the plate, that's a lot of money between those two. Not really related to this game but feels like their dominance of the past 10+ years is over.

[thelanges5]

Pallante pitched well and he just held the Dodgers to 2 runs in his last start. That being said it didn’t seem like the hitters had much of a plan. “Aggressive” swings on first or second pitches. He didn’t have to work very hard tonight. 

[thelanges5]

31 minutes ago, BH67 said:

Six of the first nine Twins reached base, yet only one run scored. Only two more Twins reached base the rest of the evening against Cardinals pitching that threw only 58% strikes. Rocco looks sage in letting Trevor Richards throw a second inning and maximizing the likelihood of winning two out of three. Throw this game away.

However...

...here's a key reason why the bullpen may be tiring: only once in the last 19 games has a Twins starter pitched past the sixth inning. Though starter ERA and WHIP are very good, they throw too many pitches to achieve it. Twins starters in August average 100 pitches per every six innings -- and reducing that number is critically important.

Festa - Opponents are hitting .134 (9 for 67) in their first at-bats against the right-hander and .393 (24 for 61) in the second at-bats.

[Hashim]

Another loss to a crappy team. We can’t have another Cubs series again. 

[Blyleven2011]

Festa gave it all he had tonight after 3 2/3rd innings  3 hits , 3 runs , 5 strikeouts  and 2 walks  , then the shakey bullpen arms come in and nothing got better , way to many walks given up and a total of 3 more runs between 4 bullpen arms  ...

Twins batters left there hits in San Diego  , they definitely had trouble trying to hit , seemed like almost everyone was hitting on top  of the ball and fouling  the ball off  ...

They only had 6 strikeouts  but when they hit it , they hit it right at someone  , not to solidly i might add until Keplers hard line drive fly out to end the game ...

Are some of the batters tired ,  or did they still have jet lag  ...

Julien seems to be swinging more often  , 4 hit night in San Diego on Wednesday  , tonight 0  for 2 with a walk and only 1 strikeout  , his swing looks good , sure hope he is heating up ...

[knothole61]

I've watched or listened to some 10,000 MLB games in my life and I've never witness a player being interviewed on the field during play, and I'm horrified. Apple has gone too far! I've put up with the endless stream of probable outcomes, banal and distracting dugout interviews, and too-hip announcing combos, but I draw the line at putting a mic and earpiece on a player and having him field questions when his complete concentration should be placed on fielding the ball Did that really happen? Really?

I throw up my hands and leave those of you who crave this kind of intrusive experience (what I consider sacrilege) to your Brave New World, while gladly I bid Apple adieu.

  

[tony&rodney]

14 minutes ago, knothole61 said:

I've watched or listened to some 10,000 MLB games in my life and I've never witness a player being interviewed on the field during play, and I'm horrified. Apple has gone too far! I've put up with the endless stream of probable outcomes, banal and distracting dugout interviews, and too-hip announcing combos, but I draw the line at putting a mic and earpiece on a player and having him field questions when his complete concentration should be placed on fielding the ball Did that really happen? Really?

I throw up my hands and leave those of you who crave this kind of intrusive experience (what I consider sacrilege) to your Brave New World, while gladly I bid Apple adieu.

  

Same. 

[mikelink45]

Quote

Remember: a fabulously rich entity paid actual money for the rights to this performance. 

Love the opening.  Has anyone noticed that Farmer is now the preferred PH?  Same results, different name.

Quote

and Trevor Richards continued his expressionist and experimental waltz with the strike zone, or anything close to it.

Yup - trade deadline - we struck when the iron was hot.  Is that the right metaphor?

But of course we can all take pride in a hard hit ball!  

Quote

The game finally ended when Max Kepler lined out, ironically, on one of the few hard-hit balls of the night. 

 

 

[mikelink45]

3 hours ago, BH67 said:

Six of the first nine Twins reached base, yet only one run scored. Only two more Twins reached base the rest of the evening against Cardinals pitching that threw only 58% strikes. Rocco looks sage in letting Trevor Richards throw a second inning and maximizing the likelihood of winning two out of three. Throw this game away.

However...

...here's a key reason why the bullpen may be tiring: only once in the last 19 games has a Twins starter pitched past the sixth inning. Though starter ERA and WHIP are very good, they throw too many pitches to achieve it. Twins starters in August average 100 pitches per every six innings -- and reducing that number is critically important.

But we do not want ground balls, we want strikeouts - which take more pitches to achieve.

[mikelink45]

Quote

Twins batters left there hits in San Diego  , they definitely had trouble trying to hit

Is that Tony Bennett I hear?

[Mark G]

I won't be in a position to watch the game tonight, but I sure would love to see Sonny pitch again.  While he is not having the season he had last year, he is still pretty decent.  Here's hoping we have a game plan for him.  And having Pablo on the mound opposite him makes it even better.  

[CRF]

If we don't somehow win tonight with Lopez...we're gonna get swept by the Cards. 

[Peter]

Need to win every series rest of season!!! No more Apple TV🤮💩

[Guest]

8 hours ago, Danchat said:

Why is Farmer pinch-hitting for Jeffers in any situation? I'm fine with platooning pinch hitters but not the likes of Margot and Farmer!

Odd complaint.  Seemed like a no-brainer to me; Jeffers took a foul ball off his forearm, and was having trouble gripping the bat.  

[Whitey333]

Apple TV broadcast was awful.  I detest in game interviews while the play is going on.  I don't like it when the other networks do the same thing.  The distractions are very intrusive and take away from the game.  Of course we can always listen to Kris Atteberry on the radio broadcast.  He is an expert about talking about everything except the game going on the field.  He's impossible to follow and get a feel for the game.

[wabene]

It took some finagling, but thanks to the network of the 3 kids under this roof, we were able to obtain the necessary Apple ID and password to watch this disappointing game. I did do the 3 month trial early in the season, but when it came time to cancel I had problems. Since I don't use any Apple products, even after following prompts and downloading Apple apps, I was unable to cancel my trial membership resulting in a $10 charge. As a final resort I used my excellent Chase Visa to dispute the charge getting it waved. This is getting pretty ridiculous. 

Here is hoping that next year there will be an option for á la carte streaming to watch ALL the Twins games! $250 a year? The very crappy Fubo costs me $100 a month or about $700 for the season. $250 sounds like a bargain. Let's do it!

 

[David Maro]

As I have brought up before how many times after scoring 10+ does a team come out flat.What was Wallner thinking two at bats 2 pitches.Lewis more interested in talking to Apple TV.

Festa was only OK in the 1st and 2nd inning after that he spiked pitch after pitch getting his pitch count to climb.

Where was Rocco when all this was happening,in the clubhouse taking a nap.As you see KC is now ahead of the Twins and yes they have a tuff road ahead but they are playing far better at this time.

[DJL44]

9 hours ago, thelanges5 said:

Festa - Opponents are hitting .134 (9 for 67) in their first at-bats against the right-hander and .393 (24 for 61) in the second at-bats.

Based on what I saw last night it's because Festa can't hit his spots when he's tired. As the game goes on he starts leaving fastballs middle-middle.

[DJL44]

8 hours ago, knothole61 said:

I've watched or listened to some 10,000 MLB games in my life and I've never witness a player being interviewed on the field during play, and I'm horrified. Apple has gone too far! I've put up with the endless stream of probable outcomes, banal and distracting dugout interviews, and too-hip announcing combos, but I draw the line at putting a mic and earpiece on a player and having him field questions when his complete concentration should be placed on fielding the ball Did that really happen? Really?

I throw up my hands and leave those of you who crave this kind of intrusive experience (what I consider sacrilege) to your Brave New World, while gladly I bid Apple adieu.  

I blame Royce Lewis. He should have flatly said no. I normally dislike athlete interviews because they are vapid and uninteresting. When they happen during a baseball game I get irritated. It would be great if they could shut up for a while so I could watch the game.

[DJL44]

Pallante did a great job keeping the ball off the barrel of the bat. He owned Trevor Larnach.

[Blyleven2011]

2 hours ago, CRF said:

If we don't somehow win tonight with Lopez...we're gonna get swept by the Cards. 

If we don't start a 10 game winning streak soon  , we won't  be in contention  at the end for the central division , we currently have fallen to the last wildcard spot  , ahead of Boston by 3 1/2 games  ...

[Blyleven2011]

47 minutes ago, wabene said:

It took some finagling, but thanks to the network of the 3 kids under this roof, we were able to obtain the necessary Apple ID and password to watch this disappointing game. I did do the 3 month trial early in the season, but when it came time to cancel I had problems. Since I don't use any Apple products, even after following prompts and downloading Apple apps, I was unable to cancel my trial membership resulting in a $10 charge. As a final resort I used my excellent Chase Visa to dispute the charge getting it waved. This is getting pretty ridiculous. 

Here is hoping that next year there will be an option for á la carte streaming to watch ALL the Twins games! $250 a year? The very crappy Fubo costs me $100 a month or about $700 for the season. $250 sounds like a bargain. Let's do it!

 

I use uzzu tv app for 140 a year , all sports , no black outs ...

[USAFChief]

4 minutes ago, Blyleven2011 said:

If we don't start a 10 game winning streak soon  , we won't  be in contention  at the end for the central division , we currently have fallen to the last wildcard spot  , ahead of Boston by *5 1/2 games  ...

*3 1/2 games.

[wabene]

4 minutes ago, Blyleven2011 said:

I use uzzu tv app for 140 a year , all sports , no black outs ...

That's cheap. Do you get a DVR to record the games or do you have to watch them live?

[strumdatjag]

I was at Target Field.  There were many Cardinals fans.    They had a good old time.  There was no joy for the locals in Mudville, however.  

[DJL44]

5 minutes ago, strumdatjag said:

I was at Target Field.  There were many Cardinals fans.    They had a good old time.  There was no joy for the locals in Mudville, however.  

I think the locals are all at the State Fair. Tonight they'll all be watching Caitlin Clark at the arena next door.

[OvertheHill]

Disappointed in the outcome last night obviously but it’s pretty incredible to me that we’re still in the thick of it considering how few times we’ve been able to have our core lineup intact for a game. I don’t know that Cleveland has had to patch together lineups this year like the Twins; sometimes that’s the difference. What’s the latest on when Buxton and Correa are back?