Royals 4, Twins 2: Bailey Ober's Brilliant Start Wasted by Bullpen Blow-Up

[Sherry Cerny]

After dropping the opening game of their series at Kauffman Stadium, the Twins needed to press the gas and rally out of their recent funk. Bailey Ober ensured that gas was pedal to the metal tonight, but the bullpen brought the brakes to a screeching halt in an other crushing defeat.

Image courtesy of Peter Aiken-Imagn Images

Box Score
SP: Bailey Ober 7 IP, 1 H, 0 ER,  0 BB,  7 K (83 pitches, 59 strikes (71%))
Home Runs:  -0-
Bottom 3 WPA: Griffin Jax (-.468), Jhoan Duran (-.241), Royce Lewis (-.128)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Edouard Julien has not been in the leadoff position for some good time, but that changed tonight. Julien got the game off a good start battling against starting pitcher Alec Marsh, looking like his old self, and took seven pitches before hitting a line single to left. The Twins mounted a threat in the first but stranded two runners aboard.

Bailey Ober faced the Royals Saturday night for the third time this season. His first and second meetings were both ugly losses. He could have pitched in August against the Royals, but they moved him off the rotation, potentially stoking his fire for redemption.  Ober wasted no time setting the tone, striking out Tommy Pham, and getting Bobby Witt, Jr out on a pop-fly before bringing up Salvador Perez.  

The last time Ober and Perez met, Perez hung two home runs on Ober, so when Ober struck Perez in the shoulder during the first pitch of the at-bat, Perez slowly removed his guards and strolled to first base, never taking his eyes off of Ober. The pitcher was unfazed and finished the inning with no damage. 

The Twins and fans at the field and online welcomed rookie DaShawn Keirsey Jr. to center field and the lineup. Keirsey appeared defensively in the game on September 5th, but this game was his start, batting ninth. In Keirsey's first at-bat, he made contact on the second pitch, getting just a bit under it for a pop-out. He continued to make contact in each at-bat and showed promise for being a solid big-league hitter. 

In his second AB, Julien notched a double, putting him in the scoring position for Miranda, who'd struck out his first time up. Miranda squared up and hit a line-drive triple, scoring Julien. 

Wallner came up to bat and swung so hard at the first pitch he knocked himself down, but his next swing found contact, resulting in another line drive double, scoring Miranda for back-to-back runs, producing hits, and giving the Twins a 2-0 lead on the Royals. 

The game remained relatively calm for a while. The Royals brought in lefty reliever Daniel Lynch in the sixth, and he completely shut the Twins down for three innings. Ober cruised through inning after inning, retiring the last 15 men he faced.

With a 2-0 lead,  and Ober still at 83 pitches, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli made the controversial decision to bring in Jhoan Duran for the eighth inning, Things quickly turned stressful. Freddy Fermin got on base, and Duran then hit Robbie Grossman with a pitch to put up two runners on with one out. It was the most players the Royals had on all night. Kyle Isbel singled sharply to drive in a run, cutting the deficit in half. 

In this precarious spot, Baldelli pulled Duran and turned to Griffin Jax, with the tying run on second and go-ahead on first. Jax induced a chopper to short, but a charging Brooks Lee had no play at first. He threw it anyway, it short-hopped Kyle Farmer (replacement for Carlos Santana, who left with illness) and the Royals tied the game. Bobby Witt Jr. followed with a bloop single to take the lead. He was thrown out at home two at-bats later to end the inning, but not before the Royals had added another run.

The Twins went down 1-2-3 in the ninth to cap off another hugely discouraging loss in an important game.

What’s Next? 
The Twins continue with the Royals tomorrow in hopes of getting a win to not be swept. Simeon Woods-Richardson (5-3; 3.95 ERA) taking the bump against Michael Wacha (11-7; 3.50 ERA) at 1:10PM CST. 

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

 

 

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[Aggies7]

I count 4 candidates for loss of the year in the last 3 weeks.

The numbers do not bear out using Jax as the closer and Duran as set up. Each has excelled in their usual role and struggled how they were used tonight. I don’t understand swapping them. 
 

But regardless, I’ll take the guy who set down 15 in a row with 84 pitches. It’s madness to argue he should have been removed from the game.

[thelanges5]

Twins running on fumes and doing their best White Sox impression the past couple weeks. We’ll likely make the playoffs but it is hard to get too excited about it. Not a fun team to watch/follow right now. 

[TopTwinsFan]

Fun loss Rocco. Thanks for the heart break! The worst part is I know how you manage yet I was stupid enough to not see it coming. Duran brought in for the 8th. Ouch! what a way to hurt Twins fans.

[Aggies7]

1 minute ago, thelanges5 said:

Twins running on fumes and doing their best White Sox impression the past couple weeks. We’ll likely make the playoffs but it is hard to get too excited about it. Not a fun team to watch/follow right now. 

Boston is 4 back with 3 games in Fenway with the twins September 20-22.

This thing is not remotely over.

[TopTwinsFan]

2 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

I count 4 candidates for loss of the year in the last 3 weeks.

The numbers do not bear out using Jax as the closer and Duran as set up. Each has excelled in their usual role and struggled how they were used tonight. I don’t understand swapping them. 
 

But regardless, I’ll take the guy who set down 15 in a row with 84 pitches. It’s madness to argue he should have been removed from the game.

Rocco has been creative in finding new ways to put guys into positions to fail and hurt the Twins.

[AKTwinsFan]

Baldelli makes a LOT of questionable pitching changes, usually leading to a LOSS. Popkins must be teaching them to chase in the other batting box and let center cut fastballs go. Bad coaching all around!

[BH67]

These Twins, in a word?

Rudderless.

[tampatwins]

theres zero spark with this team - like no one in the clubhouse can get the team HYPED and ready to go to war. where's the intensity? Rocco sits around like a company's IT guy and puts in a new experimental iteration and thinks "how will this go today?" and hopes it pays off, and lately, it's been snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.  Don't get too comfortable, since even .500 baseball the rest of the way could blow this playoff run. This team needs to WAKE UP. I still dont understand why ESPN has our playoff odds consistently 10% above the Royals, but I digress...

[TopTwinsFan]

3 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

Boston is 4 back with 3 games in Fenway with the twins September 20-22.

This thing is not remotely over.

And the Red Sox have one of the best managers in baseball who will get the most out of his team. We have Rocco who will put his put his team into a position to lose. (see tonight)

[cheeseheadgophfan]

Not even talking about Duran vs. Jax in the 8th, can anyone please defend pulling Ober after 7??

1.  Pitch count?  84 pitches (he's thrown over 100 in starts before)

2.  Struggling?  Set down 15 in a row.

3.  Didn't want him to face the top of the order again?  I believe KC had 6-7-8 or 7-8-9 coming up....

4.  Hard contact?  One hit.  Literally ZERO hard contact.

5.  Rested bullpen?  Nope.  Tired bullpen.  Could've really used a day off.

Am I missing a reason???  Anyone?

[Nashvilletwin]

100% another Rocco loss.  Ober - 83 pitches, #6-8 coming up, one weak hit, no walks.  Can’t pitch the 8th though.  Geez.

Also, so tonight he switches things up and brings in Duran in front of Jax.  Hmmm.

Most of us friends on the TD are Rocco lovers.  He seems like a nice guy, but it’s hard to believe the Nephew brings him back next year if the Twins don’t make the playoffs or don’t win a playoff series.

Rocco very well should be managing for his job over the rest of the season..

 

[Fire Dan Gladden]

Start the bus... almost time to back it up.

[thelanges5]

Did Rocco make a poor decision? Probably but if we cannot score more than two runs or count on Jax and Duran to hold a two run lead then we are screwed anyways.

[USAFChief]

Rocco at post game presser:

[MMMordabito]

Duran had barely been an above replacement level performer up until today, and he's probably sub-replacement after that performance.

That doesn't scream good reason to take away a shutout opportunity from your starter.

[cheeseheadgophfan]

2 minutes ago, thelanges5 said:

Did Rocco make a poor decision? Probably but if we cannot score more than two runs or count on Jax and Duran to hold a two run lead then we are screwed anyways.

I don't disagree with this, but the ridiculous hitting right now is all the more reason you gotta squeeze every ounce out of your pitching staff.  Ober was CRUISING......, best game he's pitched all year, better than his complete game earlier this season based on the opponent and situation.

[RpR]

Good points:

1. Farmer's BA is now only 20 points below Julien, Kiersey Jr. did not strike out and Helman still has a .500 BA.

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

Twins got Rocco'ed....

[TopTwinsFan]

Of course he should but he has a ring of protection around him. Upper management likes that he doesnt have the capacity to make baseball decisions like say Tom Kelly or Gardenhire who would have told them 'no way' when they told him they had a great idea and that tonight Duran wouldnt be closing or that Ober would be taken out after the 7th with 83 pitches. 

Or it is his decision and he has no real baseball IQ as anyone who watches most/all games knows. This isnt a one off decision, its a conistent overthinking or not understading human beings. Human beings like to know their role and what to expect. Whos leading off? Am I the setup guy or closer?

Either Rocco or his bosses think simply looking at a spreadsheet will give them the answer and instead knowing your players avoids weeks of heart ache as the players see for themselves that the emporer has no clothes- good baseball decisions are NOT being made.

[cheeseheadgophfan]

1 minute ago, MMMordabito said:

Duran had barely been an above replacement level performer up until today, and he's probably sub-replacement after that performance.

That doesn't scream good reason to take away a shutout opportunity from your starter.

He's like 22/24 in save situations with sub 2 ERA.....let him do the one thing he is really good at.  It's like trying to turn David Ortiz into a slap hitter....oh shoot, bad example.

[Aggies7]

6 minutes ago, MMMordabito said:

Duran had barely been an above replacement level performer up until today, and he's probably sub-replacement after that performance.

That doesn't scream good reason to take away a shutout opportunity from your starter.

Duran has been dragged though the mud a lot on here because he’s throwing 102 and not 104 but he’s 22/24 in save ops and we remember how the defense failed him in his blown save a couple weeks ago. There are a lot of teams who would like to have him close games. The Yankees are one of em 

[nicksaviking]

************Moderator Note**************

Criticize Baldelli (without name calling of course) but stop with the strawmen crap trying to paint other posters as 'apologists' or 'protectors'. Stick to the topic.

[TopTwinsFan]

5 minutes ago, thelanges5 said:

Did Rocco make a poor decision? Probably but if we cannot score more than two runs or count on Jax and Duran to hold a two run lead then we are screwed anyways.

We were on our way to winning this game when Rocco's decision making got involved.

[TopTwinsFan]

This one hurt so much tonight that I might need to look into a therapy dog.

[David HK]

19 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

Boston is 4 back with 3 games in Fenway with the twins September 20-22.

This thing is not remotely over.

Dont worry.  I'm sure we can dip back into AA or AAA and find another ready starter.  You know, like we've been doing this whole 2nd half.

Thanks to the Pohlad family for doing all they could to solidify the team depth this year.  Oh, wait....

[Parfigliano]

3 minutes ago, TopTwinsFan said:

This one hurt so much tonight that I might need to look into a therapy dog.

Get a chihuahua.  They're great!!!

[MMMordabito]

2 minutes ago, TopTwinsFan said:

This one hurt so much tonight that I might need to look into a therapy dog.

You have options. Even peacocks, or so I've heard.

[David HK]

With the patch-work AAAA lineup we've been forced to field, it is absolutely CRUCIAL to go all out to win Lopez and Ober starts.  Rocco blew this one, and now we have to count on another rook to bail us out.  A rook who's stood tall all year, by the way, and whom Rocco removed after what, 3.2 last time out?  

Twinks need to re-activate Gladden, Torii, and maybe Bert for one day, and have them lead a players-only meeting.   

[Jocko87]

Just think, two years ago Rocco wouldn't let anyone pitch past the 5th inning.  Now it's an uproar that someone didn't get a chance at the 8th inning.

Progress, people, progress.