Make It Official! Twins 4, Guardians 1: The Thing That Happens Didn't Happen This Time

[Hans Birkeland]

It wasn't without some scary moments, but the Twins held everything together this time, collecting a much-needed and relatively straightforward win in Cleveland.

Image courtesy of © David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score:
Starting Pitcher: Zebby Matthews: 4 2/3 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K (76 Pitches, 47 Strikes, 61.8%)
Home Runs: Willi Castro (12)
Bottom 3 WPA: Matt Wallner (.250), Castro (.205), Matthews (.121)
Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs):

 

Full disclosure: I wouldn't have watched this game if I wasn't assigned to report on it. Watching the Guardians is excruciating, worse than any Yankee game, including the playoffs. If I have to watch the Twins carry a one- or two-run lead to the late innings and that godforsaken Will Brennan gets one more bloop hit to set off a rally, I will not be in a healthy place mentally. I would gladly prefer that José Ramírez, whom I dislike personally for the market impacts of his contract (as well as his flagrant assault of Tim Anderson), actually win one of these games for Cleveland, instead of going 0-4 and letting some weird-looking rookie drive home the go-ahead run for the 40th time in three years, after the Twins blew easy scoring chances in each of innings two through six. Just for a change of pace; I expect to lose, just mix it up a little.

Sometimes when you lose all hope, that's all you need.

Today's game featured two rookies, Zebby Matthews for Minnesota, and Gavin Williams for Cleveland. Williams was much-heralded as a prospect, and watching him pitch with his hammer curve, 94 MPH cutter and 98 MPH fastball, its hard to imagine how he has an ERA over 5.00, but he has given up a lot of hard contact. Matthews is still figuring out how many strikes to throw and when, and if tonight didn't go well, I wouldn't have been surprised if newly signed Cole Irvin takes his final two starts of the year.

Matthews certainly looked like he was pitching for his job at the start, hitting 97 MPH with his fastball and retiring the first five hitters he faced. After a walk to Monday night's hero, Kyle Manzardo, Brennan delivered his customary bloop hit, but Matthews struck out Bo Naylor on a sharp slider to end the threat.

Williams pitched well against the Twins in August, and cruised through the first few innings, getting a lot of chase from aggressive Twins hitters. Ryan Jeffers broke the seal with a swinging bunt to start the third, and after two outs, Byron Buxton worked a walk. That brought up Matt Wallner, who was in a 0-17 skid. He fell behind 0-2, but took a tough cutter for a ball and then stroked a mistake fastball into right field to score Jeffers.

Matthews allowed a runner into scoring position for Ramírez with two outs in the third, but struck out Cleveland's third baseman with a darting slider way out of the zone for the third out. But hey, if these games were won in the first three or four innings, the Twins would be 8-2 in these match-ups, not 2-8.

Right on cue, Lane Thomas demolished a fastball 424 feet from Matthews in the bottom of the fourth. Matthews didn't let that snowball, however, and retired the side after the homer, including a challenge strikeout of Brennan on a middle-middle fastball.

The Twins responded with two outs in the fifth. Buxton, whom we were all concerned would be rusty and/or limited physically coming back from his hip injury (which is by no means healed), rocketed a ball 107 MPH into the gap and easily turned the hit into a double, despite the ball being cut off by the center fielder. Wallner then fought a ball off his hands over Andrés Giménez's outstretched glove to score Buxton.

Matthews allowed a leadoff hit in the fifth, but got a key double play from Brayan Rocchio, who was initially attempting to bunt. Facing the lineup a third time, he allowed a sharp single to Angel Martinez, which prompted Rocco Baldelli to turn to his new acquisition, lefty starter Cole Irvin. Irvin got Giménez on a one-hopper to Royce Lewis, and the game marched on, a slow drumbeat toward the inevitable--or so it seemed.

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With one out in the top of the seventh, Buxton drew his second walk of the game. Baldelli was then faced with a test: Wallner was due up and the Guardians were bringing in lefty Tim Herrin. Manuel Margot has more range in right field and is employed to hit lefties, but he is 0-28 pinch-hitting this year. Make that 0-29, as he chopped into an inning-ending double play. The drumbeats grew louder.

Baldelli made, perhaps, an even more curious decision in the bottom of the frame, with Ronny Henriquez taking over for Sands. This was partially a result of an even stranger decision from the front office: the optioning of Jorge Alcalá.

Manzardo bleeds a single up the middle.

Myles Straw pinch runs (he's fast). Brennan bats. Henriquez picks to first and... Straw is OUT? Has the curse been broken? With no momentum to capitalize on, Brennan actually makes an out. That brings up Cleveland's no-hit, no-field catcher, Bo Naylor. He grounds out. What is going on here? Is Henriquez an answer? Did the offbeat choice to go to a middle reliever in a high-leverage spot throw off the cruel universe's rhythm?

The Guardians then brought in their most flammable reliever, Nick Sandlin. He got Santana to pop out and fooled Lewis so badly on a slider that trainers came out to check on the oft-injured slugger's wrist. But there is a reason Sandlin is the bane of every Cleveland fan's existence: Larnach stroked a single and then the struggling and forgotten Willi Castro murdered a fastball middle-in to change the game and give the Twins a three-run lead.

What am I talking about? A three-run lead late against Cleveland is more like a two-run deficit. In any case, Jhoan Durán was brought in to keep them in the game. 

But he didn't let the leadoff hitter on. He got the next guy, too, with a tremendous diving stop from Santana robbing Martinez of a sure hit. Then Giménez, who exists only to play defense and torment the Twins, struck out on an excellent Durán curveball.

 

This one was really going to hurt. It felt like that scene in the Lord of the Rings when the stupidest hobbit drops the chain down the well. It looked for a bit like the Twins' most hobbit-like reliever, Louie Varland, was coming in to close it out, but this was a clever ruse by Baldelli, who opted to use Durán for another inning.

To no one's surprise, Ramírez doubled. The good Naylor struck out. Lane Thomas worked the count to 3-2. Durán's pitch count got to 30. A close pitch was called ball four, and Griffin Jax was summoned with the tying run at home plate. All-Star David Fry was summoned to pinch-hit. Jax manhandled him, striking out Fry on four pitches.

But Brennan was next, and despite having little power, you could tell he was trying to tie the game up with one swing. Instead, Jax got him to tap a ball to Brooks Lee, who booted the ball, giving the Guardians life. Visions of the hole in C.J. Cron's glove whirled around my head. But before the moment could sink in and sink the Twins, Bo Naylor swung at the first pitch and tapped back to Jax, who took the ball himself for the game-winning out.

Trends:

	Healthy	Hurt
Performing
Contributing
Low Impact
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 📉	DaShawn Keirsey Jr. 📈
RF	Max Kepler 📉
UTIL	Willi Castro 📈	Michael Helman 📈
SP	Pablo Lopez 📈	Bailey Ober 📈	Joe Ryan 📉	Chris Paddack 📈
RSP	David Festa 📉	Zebby Matthews 📈	Simeon Woods Richardson 📉
CR	Jhoan Duran 📉	Griffin Jax 📉
SR	Brock Stewart 📉	Cole Irvin 📈	Cole Sands 📈
MR	Caleb Thielbar 📈	Scott Blewett 📈	Michael Tonkin 📈	Louie Varland 📉
LR	Josh Winder 📉	Ronny Henriquez 📈	Randy Dobnak 📉	Diego Castillo 📈

 

 

Stray Notes:
-This team has very little speed to work with. With Larnach, who can't run due to a hamstring issue, on first in the eighth, the Twins pinch-running options were Christian Vazquez, Jose Miranda and the footless Carlos Correa. Ouch.
-How hurt is Miranda exactly? He hasn't played either of the Cleveland games and Margot was the choice to pinch-hit for Wallner. He had a back issue in July and when he returned got drilled in the head by a fastball. Perhaps it is some combination of those maladies, or perhaps a new issue has surfaced?

What’s Next: Bailey Ober (12-7, 3.90 ERA) opposes Tanner Bibee (11-8, 3.60 ERA) in game three of the series. Ober has been pretty great outside of a couple of fluke outings and fluke innings, and dominated the Guardians at Target Field in August. Bibee has been no slouch himself, and is likely the de facto ace of the Guardian's staff. He has had plenty of success against the Twins, with a 2.73 ERA over six starts in his career.

Postgame Interviews:

Bullpen Usage Chart:

	FRI	SAT	SUN	MON	TUE	TOT
Sands	0	0	36	0	14	50
Blewett	0	41	0	0	0	41
Thielbar	0	27	0	13	0	40
Durán	0	0	0	0	30	30
Varland	0	29	0	0	0	29
Jax	0	0	0	21	8	29
Tonkin	28	0	0	0	0	28
Henríquez	0	0	17	0	10	27
Irvin	0	0	0	0	3	3

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[BH67]

Kudos to the Twins for spitting into the abyss tonight. Magic numbers at 8:45pm CDT Tuesday after the Twins and Rays wins:

Detroit, 9. Tied with Royals in the bottom of the 8th.
Seattle, 9. About to take the field at home against the Yankees.
Boston, 7.
 

[D.C Twins]

Wait... did the sky just stop falling in midair?!

[LewFordLives]

Nice write up. I think you nicely summarized how many of us were feeling.

[TheLeviathan]

Rocco'd again.  Has this guy not figured out that he should just replace this paltry lineup with the juicy options all over his bench?  Or just, you know, stop telling them to strikeout?

Moron.

[thelanges5]

Darnit KC, we need you to beat the Tigers!

[Mike Sixel]

Sorry, what's the pitching rule about three batters? Did the new guy face one?

[JD-TWINS]

4 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Sorry, what's the pitching rule about three batters? Did the new guy face one?

Only need to face 3 guys in same inning. If you end an inning, whether you faced one, two, or more guys you don’t have to come back out. It’s a speed up rule……..no time difference if you replace the pitcher between innings.

[Mike Sixel]

1 minute ago, JD-TWINS said:

Only need to face 3 guys in same inning. If you end an inning, whether you faced one, two, or more guys you don’t have to come back out. It’s a speed up rule……..no time difference if you replace the pitcher between innings.

Thanks

[mnfireman]

And Detroit wins again....

[cmoss84]

1.5 above

1.5 below

Go outside for the lunar eclipse and enjoy the show.

[mnfireman]

Kind of disconcerting that Correa is only available every other day...

[AceWrigley]

And Cole "The Vulture" Sands swoops in to snag another victory.

[AceWrigley]

8 minutes ago, mnfireman said:

Kind of disconcerting that Correa is only available every other day...

Kind of awesome that Correa is available to play every other day.

[JD-TWINS]

22 minutes ago, thelanges5 said:

Darnit KC, we need you to beat the Tigers!

That’s one path……….however, Royals just lost to Tigers and we’re only 1.5 games back of K.C. and we own tiebreaker with them (w/Tigers too) …….. Royals NEED a win tomorrow or they start really feeling pinched!!!

Theoretically, while playing the ChiSox at home the last weekend, the Tigers could go by both the Twins & the Royals. If we tie Royals were in as #3 Wildcard with Tigers as #2.

Royals have 3 games with Giants in K.C. this weekend……… then 3 games on road with each of Nationals & Braves.

It would be cool to sneak by K.C. with some decent ball over last eleven games and get the #2 spot…………Orioles are wobbling. That last weekend with them at Target will be big.

[Aerodeliria]

10 minutes ago, mnfireman said:

Kind of disconcerting that Correa is only available every other day...

Yeah...this bugs me to no end. We need him in the field in the 8th and 9th inning especially. I don't really care if he can't swing the bat properly or can't sprint down to first, but I want someone who can field a ball now and then and make the correct decisions and throws...it almost bit the Twins again...

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Sometimes just a spark can get things turned around. 

[IndianaTwin]

35 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

Only need to face 3 guys in same inning. If you end an inning, whether you faced one, two, or more guys you don’t have to come back out. It’s a speed up rule……..no time difference if you replace the pitcher between innings.

With one additional tidbit. If Irvin had come out for the next inning, the end-of-inning rule goes away and he would have had to pitch to two batters to get to the minimum three. 

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

1 hour ago, Hans Birkeland said:

He got the next guy, too, with a tremendous diving stop from Santana robbing Martinez of a sure hit. 

 

That was a great play by Santana. It’s a step and a dive to the backhand, which for the record most corner infielders should be able to make. You have to be willing to get dirty.

Maybe not as many first baseman get that ball, given how some teams just park players out there at first who can’t field, but many should. It’s the majors, after all. 🙂

Really nice play. 

[Jocko87]

It was always going to be tight.  The next two will be tight as well.

And of all the people to throw random stray shots at, you chose Jose Ramirez?  On his birthday, for 1-run-Peter sakes?  For the crime of…signing a contract?  

Weak sauce.  Act like you’ve been here before. 

[knothole61]

2 hours ago, thelanges5 said:

Darnit KC, we need you to beat the Tigers!

Hey 5, I have my sights set on the #2 wild card spot and as of now we are exactly one loss behind KC for that more coveted spot. So, I'm glad that the Tigers won tonight but I'm happy to let them lose tomorrow now that we're essentially just a game back of KC. They say that Detroit has a pretty easy remaining schedule, but they do have one more in KC and 3 in Baltimore and I can see at least 2 and maybe 3 losses in there. We win the tie in the pairing with Detroit and I think that we can stay ahead of them the rest of the way.

It all means nothing of course if we can't take care of business going forward. This would be a great time to get hot. 

[Mark G]

The bullpen chart is making me a little nervous; Jax, Duran, and Sands look a little spent.  How much are they available today, if at all in come cases?  Ober needs to go pretty deep to give them a rest.  Or should I say Rocco needs to LET Ober go deep if he is going good.  

[Peter]

Huge huge huge win!!! What about passing KC-Detroit may pass them as well as it could be twins Detroit as wild cards. 

[Doctor Gast]

Great game from Matthews & Castro. We got the win but it was hard to understand why Irwin was brought in for 1 batter when, he was gotten to eat innings, that forced to bring in Duran in the 8th & again the 9th. With no Alcala, & Sands, Duran & Jax spent, I hope Varland is on his A game.                 

[Riverbrian]

1 hour ago, Fezig said:

I don't understand the criteria for the manager. I'm not disagreeing with you but I call him Rockhead and I get put on double secret probation. You call him Moron and it sounds nothing like his name and crickets. I say, Good for you!

It's also possible that you don't understand Levi's bit. 

[jmlease1]

A good win. Nice job by Matthews; it would be awesome if he's figuring some things out and forces hitters to adjust to him down the stretch rather than him needing to adjust more.

I would still like to see more from the offense; 4 runs isn't bad, but sure would be nice to see the team put up 6 again and make it a little easier to breathe when the bullpen is trying to hold the lead.

[Blyleven2011]

It was a win,  stressful as it was  ....

It was a good game until it wasn't  ...

Pinch hitting for wallner who had both rbi's at the time again is a head scratcher , Margot pinch hits for wallner because wallner is lefthanded and pitcher is  lefthanded , Margot continues to go hitless as a pinch hitter,  0 for 29  , I guess the twins like to break records , last year it was breaking the strikeout record for a season  ....

The twins , as the season winds down and wears down ( with injuries ) and barely in playoff  contention  need to analyze  the team for 2025 ...

They need to make a TO DO LIST  for 2025 ...

I'm sorry to say ( this roster is supposed to be major league caliber) but it seems like our players talent is being wasted , I emphasize that a player should never stop learning and coaches should never stop coaching  ...

We have quality talent that just isn't performing up to our expectations  or I'm sure the players expectations  too ...

the TO DO LIST  .  Teach these players the fundamentals of the game  , ( bunt , ( jeffers hits a scribbler down the third base line and reaches 1st base , yes an imitation of a bunt ) , steal bases , better base running , defense and a better approach at hitting for more consistency  at getting on base  , rbi's and runs do matter ..

all the above referenced reflects that of the coaching   , it's time for a change on coaching but FO might blame this all on injuries  , if we have the talent  that will be a lame excuse  once again   , players have talent , take that talent and make it a better talent  , the players need to keep learning at this level and not be wasted on bad coaching  ...

[Doctor Gast]

6 minutes ago, Blyleven2011 said:

It was a win,  stressful as it was  ....

It was a good game until it wasn't  ...

Pinch hitting for wallner who had both rbi's at the time again is a head scratcher , Margot pinch hits for wallner because wallner is lefthanded and pitcher is  lefthanded , Margot continues to go hitless as a pinch hitter,  0 for 29  , I guess the twins like to break records , last year it was breaking the strikeout record for a season  ....

The twins , as the season winds down and wears down ( with injuries ) and barely in playoff  contention  need to analyze  the team for 2025 ...

They need to make a TO DO LIST  for 2025 ...

I'm sorry to say ( this roster is supposed to be major league caliber) but it seems like our players talent is being wasted , I emphasize that a player should never stop learning and coaches should never stop coaching  ...

We have quality talent that just isn't performing up to our expectations  or I'm sure the players expectations  too ...

the TO DO LIST  .  Teach these players the fundamentals of the game  , ( bunt , ( jeffers hits a scribbler down the third base line and reaches 1st base , yes an imitation of a bunt ) , steal bases , better base running , defense and a better approach at hitting for more consistency  at getting on base  , rbi's and runs do matter ..

all the above referenced reflects that of the coaching   , it's time for a change on coaching but FO might blame this all on injuries  , if we have the talent  that will be a lame excuse  once again   , players have talent , take that talent and make it a better talent  , the players need to keep learning at this level and not be wasted on bad coaching  ...

Margot's record PHing streak is still intact. Wonder how far he can take it?

[chinmusic]

9 hours ago, AceWrigley said:

And Cole "The Vulture" Sands swoops in to snag another victory.

In 1966, Phil Regan went 14-1 in relief for the Dodgers, and was nicknamed "the vulture", allegedly by Sandy Koufax.  Second coming of THE VULTURE. Just keep him away from that sausage...

[Whitey333]

Nice win Twins.  Glad to see everyone now thinks we are going to the world series.  Amazing what one win will do.  Even though they have one of the worst won/lost records in baseball the past three weeks they will probably make the playoffs.  But the final weekend could be interesting to follow as the Twins play the Orioles, the Royals play the braves and Tigers play the White Sox.  Go Twins!!