Twins 4, Reds 8: Elly De La Cruz Grand Slam Sinks Twins

[Matt Braun]

I've never cared much for baseball anyway.

Image courtesy of © Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

Box Score
Bailey Ober: 6 ⅔ IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 6 K
Home Runs: Byron Buxton (17)
Bottom 3 WPA: Jorge Alcalá (-.166), Ryan Jeffers (-.109), Edouard Julien (-.105)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Action was curt to start on Friday. If you helped with making dinner or otherwise moved your attention away from the game for just a second, eons passed; batters phased in and out of the box at a rapid pace. The beginning and middle phases of a normally turgid game blew away. No one knows where they disappeared to. 

It was apparent, though, that Bailey Ober was on his game once more. The elongated righty dominated in his usual fashion: with command and unpredictability. Cincinnati stood uncomfortable for the majority of the game. His mighty low 90s fastball and dastardly changeup—the great equalizer in his ordinary pitch mix—cut down Reds hitters where they stood, leaving little more than frustrated remarks and unbelieving reactions. His only early mistake was when TJ Friedl shot a decent cutter just over the right-field wall. 

Cincinnati’s starter was on his game, too. Julian Aguiar worked with similar vigor, never appearing to overwhelm Minnesota’s hitters but nonetheless finding ways to get them out; for four innings, the only Twins hit was an infield single that reasonably could have been ruled an error. 

Other than that? Nothing. Movement simply never materialized. Outs came and went. Innings melted away. By the time a normal game might enter its middle phase, this one transitioned to its crucial final act. Still, almost nothing happened.

Well, outside of a Byron Buxton homer. In his first start off the IL, Buxton perfectly estimated the movement of an Aguiar sinker and deposited the pitch 393 feet away to mark Minnesota’s first score of the game. 

Not long after, sadly, is when the game’s ethos took a turn, and Ober’s assumed efficiency failed him. Kicking off the 7th, Spencer Steer cracked a hit off the right field facade, fooling an inexperienced Matt Wallner into overplaying his hand as the former Twins prospect rolled safely into 3rd. Then, Friedl bunted him home. God, it was a beauty; Ober attempted in vain to catch the runner at the plate, but even Jim Kaat couldn’t have made the play. Continuing the whole ugly frame, Ty France cracked a double into the left-center gap, scoring Friedl as the Reds' lead turned from 1 to 2. 

And then it got worse. Much worse. Jorge Alcalá entered the game as the “relief pitcher”—which is an oxymoron—and walked Jonathan India to load the bases for Elly De La Cruz. Friends: never load the bases for Elly De La Cruz. One lethargic slider morphed the match from a close affair to a laugher. De La Cruz blasted the pitch deep into the nether; it’s set to return to our three-dimensional plane sometime in 2028. 

A skirmish by the Twins in the bottom of the frame pushed them within striking distance, but the game continued to whittle down until it reached its assumed conclusion, finally mercifully ending when Willi Castro grounded out to second. 

Notes:

Carlos Correa will be activated before tomorrow's game.

Byron Buxton's 132nd home run ties him with Jacque Jones for 15th place in Twins history. He is nine away from away from the next batter, Michael Cuddyer.

Bailey Ober struck out his 461st career batter on Friday, keeping him in 30th place in Twins history. He is five away from tying Tyler Duffey. 

Willi Castro added to his team-leading hit total with his 126th knock of the season. Jose Miranda is in 2nd place with 115. 

Post-Game Interview:

 

What’s Next?
The Twins and Reds match up again on Saturday, with Simeon Woods Richardson set to face off against Nick Martinez. First pitch is at 6:10 PM. 

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

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[thelanges5]

 

[Nashvilletwin]

Up to and including Alcala tonight, three of our previous six relief pitchers have walked the first batter they faced.

Is there anything really more inexcusable and frustrating for a team than that from a relief corps? 

[USAFChief]

Inexcusable offense, yet again. And against one of the worst starters they'll face all season. 

That Sunday in Texas really changed things.

[Parfigliano]

On the bright side the TC bullpen is well rested.  On the dark side its the TC bullpen.

[hitterscount]

Matt Wallner at this point should not be considered “inexperienced “. 
Things are getting interesting with Detroit’s win tonight. I just don’t see how they hold on to the final WC spot, they have a tough schedule to close out the season. The positive is if they do manage to hang on they would have earned it by to playing well against quality teams.

[gregens]

I supposed it's now too late to sweep the Reds this weekend.

[Blyleven2011]

I really should just say no comment on the  game !!!!

But really  what has happened to acala  , why can't they get him back on track  , no Homer's first half and a crazy amount  of Homer's the second half   ....

His velocity  is still upper 90's , has he just lost command  and can't locate ,  is he fatigued  , is he tipping his pitches  ,  he's just walking to many and to many hits  . Can't our coaching staff fix him ...

Our bullpen  that looked good on paper in the spring just keeps coming of the tracks  , the train is just about wrecked  ...

With the score close , I wasn't to ecstatic  acala was coming in to pitch  ...

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

If Wallner fields the ball off the limestone instead of waiting on the warning track for it to come down, or if Julien runs out to help, then Steer probably holds at second base with a double, and there is no squeeze bunt attempted. 

Two inexperienced players. A huge 90 feet. The was the huge play that might have changed the game, in my opinion. 

[Matt Braun]

29 minutes ago, hitterscount said:

Matt Wallner at this point should not be considered “inexperienced “. 
Things are getting interesting with Detroit’s win tonight. I just don’t see how they hold on to the final WC spot, they have a tough schedule to close out the season. The positive is if they do manage to hang on they would have earned it by to playing well against quality teams.

Well, considering the guy who usually plays right field has done so in 927 games, I'd say Wallner is still a little green. 

[mikelink45]

I think Alcala is the big story. All season we've been hoping he would expand the quality relief corps, but over and over he has failed. Duran s definitely not what he used to be. For a team that relies so much on his bullpen these are bad issues.  

[Whitey333]

Well the Twins have had a big problem all year with the bullpen coming in and allowing inherited runners to school.  Great job Kris Attebery for staying on top of that Stat all year.  It is huge. Part of the relief pitchers role is to come in and stop rallies by the opposing team.  The Twins have the worst record in all of baseball by far in that area.  Well much is made of Buxton coming back.  Well he homered.  Big deal.  Twins still lost.  Team played very poorly.  They had 4 runs but only 5 hits all game.  Keep in mind that if the Twins make it to the playoffs they likely would open kn the road.  The team would likely play the first round on the road.  It is a best of 3 and the home team gets all the games. The Twins would open at Astros, Yankees, or Orioles with all three games at their park.  Ouch.  That's IF they make it.  It's starting to look like a big IF.

[Peter]

need to win out rest of season!!! Horrible loss last night!!! Not worried at all as corea in back and with him/buxton back in lineup this will give twins the much needed spark to make playoffs and possibly steal division from Cleveland!!!

[Whitey333]

Get serious.  Buxton and Correa will prove to be too little/too late in the long run

[Karbo]

Yep, the experts really nailed it this past spring, one of the best pens in league.

[thelanges5]

3 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

I think Alcala is the big story. All season we've been hoping he would expand the quality relief corps, but over and over he has failed. Duran s definitely not what he used to be. For a team that relies so much on his bullpen these are bad issues.  

First half Alcalá was great, maybe he is too worn down. 

[Patzky]

Top of lineup can't hit again. We always have a size three donut somewhere. Hard to score runs like that.

[DJL44]

43 minutes ago, thelanges5 said:

First half Alcalá was great, maybe he is too worn down. 

Or maybe the league figured him out. Or maybe he's just pitching worse. Or maybe a bit of all three.

[Doctor Gast]

Very encouraging Buck homering right away but everything else stunk.

[Peter]

1 hour ago, Whitey333 said:

Get serious.  Buxton and Correa will prove to be too little/too late in the long run

No way!!! This is huge with both returning!!! Cleveland best be careful after twins get sweep and steal division title 

[Parfigliano]

1 hour ago, thelanges5 said:

First half Alcalá was great, maybe he is too worn down. 

He's 28yoa and thrown 52 innings.  If he's worn down thats pathetic.

[Parfigliano]

35 minutes ago, Peter said:

No way!!! This is huge with both returning!!! Cleveland best be careful after twins get sweep and steal division title 

Early weekend morning hallucinogens.  Reminds me of law school.

[JD-TWINS]

10 hours ago, hitterscount said:

Matt Wallner at this point should not be considered “inexperienced “. 
Things are getting interesting with Detroit’s win tonight. I just don’t see how they hold on to the final WC spot, they have a tough schedule to close out the season. The positive is if they do manage to hang on they would have earned it by to playing well against quality teams.

Tigers still have 5 games with Orioles, who are equally hungry. They also play 3 in K.C. starting Monday. They really NEED to win 5 or 6 of those 8 games. Will be interesting.

If Twins go 7-8 over last 15, they get to 85 wins and tiebreaker forces Tigers to get to 86 wins. Tigers are certainly in the mix but it isn’t all lost as of 9/14. IF Twins can get to 85 W’s the Tigers need to go 10-4 over their last 14……..can be done.

Wallner’s lack of common sense on the ball off the wall will hopefully be corrected over another 30-50 games out there. A little physics discussion with him wouldn’t hurt in the meantime.

[JD-TWINS]

Alcala - walks a guy & gives up grand slam on a get it over slider to start 2nd AB…..maybe 6 pitches? He threw 9 pitches v. Texas and the 4-0 lead was gone. Can happen fast!

FIVE hits. 2 Walks.

Julien - Wallner - Lewis were 0-12 in the first 3 spots in the line-up. Jeffers 0-3 as well.

If they get to 85 Wins they have a great shot at the Wildcard but anything less than 7-8 over last 15 makes things look very concerning.

Pen is rested for whatever that’s worth. Need to get something positive done over the weekend because Cleveland & Boston will be ready to play next week.

[chinmusic]

The final two weeks of the regular season are going to be very intriguing and very exciting. It sure beats being out of the playoff picture!

[thelanges5]

37 minutes ago, Parfigliano said:

He's 28yoa and thrown 52 innings.  If he's worn down thats pathetic.

That is true, but I don’t think he’s pitched this many innings in quite a few years due to injury. That is the same for most of our guys playing more innings than they’ve ever played before. Veterans need to show the rookies how to condition for 162 game season?

[LambchoP]

You've got to wonder, is Alcala hurt or something? When he goes from one of the best relievers in the league in the first half to basically un pitchable the last month, something's going on and they need to figure it out quick. Jax and Duran can not pitch every single game. The offense needs to wake up too. These are not good pitchers that we are facing, but Twins lineup is making them all look like cu young candidates. Hopefully with Buxton and Correa back they can inject some life into this team, which seriously looks like it's running on fumes and playing on auto pilot.

[AKTwinsFan]

Send Alcala back to St.Paul. Activate Winder, or Okert. Stop messing around with Alcala, he can't stop giving up HRs.

[NYCTK]

11 hours ago, Blyleven2011 said:

But really  what has happened to acala  , why can't they get him back on track  , no Homer's first half and a crazy amount  of Homer's the second half   ....

He was largely a mirage. His xFIP in the first half was 4.79. He's fine, he's not great. 

[NYCTK]

11 hours ago, Matt Braun said:

Well, considering the guy who usually plays right field has done so in 927 games, I'd say Wallner is still a little green. 

Matt Wallner has played over 350 games in RF in his professional career. Is that experience? Or does it not count if it's not specifically in Target Field?