Royals 2, Twins 1: Twins Plead No Defense in Kansas City

[Steven Trefz]

They've been accused of being lifeless and sloppy, and they're not beating the allegations.

Image courtesy of © William Purnell-Imagn Images

On a night when the Twins had their ace on the mound and a sense of urgency in their dugout, fans were left with a worst-case scenario. By the end of the evening, Pablo López was getting evaluated for an injury and the Twins had lost a game to a division rival in which their pitchers had not surrendered an earned run. Here's how the farce unfolded.

Box Score:
Starting Pitcher: Pablo López: 4.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K ( 78 Pitches, 50 Strikes, 64%)
Home Runs: None
Bottom 3 WPA: Griffin Jax (-.219), Carlos Correa (-.167), Byron Buxton (-.141)

Win Probability Chart (via Fangraphs)

The Twins came into Tuesday night's matchup with the rival Royals in need of something positive. With their stopper on the mound, the opportunity to right the ship depended on the lineup's ability to figure out any semblance of an offense against a rare left-handed starter in Cole Ragans. Rocco Baldelli and Twins Territory both hoped that a change in the lineup would bring a change in the results, with only Trevor Larnach and Edouard Julien representing the Twins left-handed bats to start the game. 

Approaching a Lefty
The first wave of Byron Buxton, Ryan Jeffers, and Larnach proved to be no match for Ragans. Luckily, neither did the top of the Royals lineup against Ló. Carlos Correa did make his presence known in the clean-up spot, however, by blasting a leadoff double to the wall to start the second inning. Jose Miranda, Ty France, and Julien couldn't advance Correa any further, however, and the first threat of the game felt like more of the same from the Twins in April. López continued to match Ragans pitch for pitch, setting the Royals down in order in the second. After some continued chirping from Baldelli toward home plate umpire Nick Mahrley. Mahrley chirped back, had an odd call on a phantom foul ball, missed a ball four to Byron Buxton (which prevented a Twins baserunner)—and then it all mercifully ended, before anyone could embarass themselves any further.

Paging Brooks Lee...
Mickey Gasper got the call at second base again tonight, and in the bottom of the fourth inning, that proved to be problematic for Lopez's shutout. After surrendering a double to phenom Bobby Witt Jr. with one out, Lopez looked to escape trouble by inducing an easy grounder by Vinnie Pasquantino to Gasper. After what appeared to be four bobbles, Gasper couldn't get Pasquantino at first. Salvador Perez made the error count by exploiting the Twins' infield defense yet again, hitting a grounder that forced Miranda to dive at third and left Gasper unable to make the turn for a double play. While the play wasn't an error, it was Perez not getting doubled up on a ground ball. With Witt scoring the game's first run, López looked flustered, as he overthrew Ty France on what should have been out number three. Luckily, the Royals were only able to convert the one unearned run in the inning, but the continued struggles in the Twins infield were impossible to ignore.

Striking Back, and Leaving Hurt
France took his frustrations out on a Ragans changeup in the top of the fifth, crushing a double down the left field line with one out in the inning. Julien then took a first-pitch curveball off his name plate to put runners at first and second, and new Twins legend Harrison Bader found a way to hit a ball to the fence, off of Mark Canha's wrist, for a game-tying "single." Julien had to hold, so runners were still at first and second for Gasper. Then Buxton. Then the dugout. Another chance (largely) wasted.

López returned for the bottom of the fifth, and things started innocently enough, with two quick outs. Kyle Isbel started the horrors to come with a single. Jonathan India walked. On the last pitch, which sailed inside to India, López grimaced. Pete Maki interpreted that as frustration and came to the mound to settle down the Twins ace. As Maki walked back to the dugout after a good pep talk, Correa motioned for the training staff, because López was hurt.

How did Maki miss this? How bad is it? Stay tuned, Twins Territory, for what could be the story of the start of the 2025 season. (Spoiler alert: It's a tragedy, not a comedy, like we first assumed).

As the Sands Through the Hourglass...
Cole Sands came in with two outs, runners at first and second, and Witt at the plate. After a lengthy delay to warm up from scratch, Sands faced a daunting task. He got strike one without much of a threat, but four straight balls loaded the bases for the dangerous Pasquantino. What ensued was a 10-pitch marathon that impacted blood pressures for a five-state region, but what Royals fans thought was a grand slam dropped harmlessly in Bader's glove for out number three. Breathe with me.

The middle innings continued, and the ensuing hour of baseball left the scoreboard unscathed. Jorge Alcala and Danny Coulombe got the call for the sixth and seventh innings, and they did their jobs admirably. The Twins scattered some baserunners in each inning, but failed to push the go-ahead run across.

Sombreros and Rally-Killers
The eighth inning began with Buxton's putting on the Golden Sombrero for the first out. Then Jeffers and Larnach laced a couple of singles together and started a rally against Royals reliever John Schreiber. Unfortunately, the dreaded 6-4-3 came off of Correa's bat to end the threat.

Griffin Jax got the bottom of the eighth for the Twins (see inverse of Sunday's usage), and he got the first out easily. He was about to get the daunting Witt just as easily after a comebacker to the mound, only to airmail the toss into right field foul territory. Seriously. You can't make this stuff up. 

Witt thus danced around at third base, with Pasquantino at the plate, and the slugging first baseman did just enough to plate the go-ahead run with a dribbler up the first base line. The Twins were the only team with an earned run, but they still found themselves down 2-1 heading into the ninth.

The ninth brought nothing but more of the same for the Twins offense. An easy flyout from Matt Wallner and groundouts from France and Julien ended the night as quietly as it had begun. 

What’s Next: Joe Ryan (0-1, 4.50 ERA) looks to claim his first win of the season against fellow righty Seth Lugo (0-1, 3.27 ERA) in the series finale. Must-win games can't happen in April baseball, but whatever else rests one notch below that category is what Wednesday's contest should be. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 pm CDT.

Postgame Interviews:

 

Bullpen Usage Chart:

	FRI	SAT	SUN	MON	TUE	TOT
Blewett	15	0	0	31	0	46
Alcalá	0	23	0	0	16	39
Sands	0	11	10	0	15	36
Varland	0	16	15	0	0	31
Jax	0	0	17	0	12	29
Topa	0	17	10	0	0	27
Durán	0	8	13	0	0	21
Coulombe	0	0	8	0	13	21

 

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[Aggies7]

Do the twins ever look prepared to play baseball? Fundamentals are severely lacking and have been for quite some time 

[gregens]

Here is something positive about the 2025 Twins.   Humans have a propensity to complain, and the Twins provide countless ways to fulfill that need.

[Doc Lenz]

Gasper looks a lock for All Star game.

[USAFChief]

I would have thought SOMEone would ask Baldelli "why pitch to Pasquantino with 1 out and the go ahead run on 3rd? Slowest man in baseball on deck? A RH hitter to boot?" 

150 years of managers walk Pasquantino there.

But not Rocco.

I mean, I know it's not a good situation either way, but c'mon.

Edit much later: before I get accused of hindsight--and you'll just have to trust me on this--I asked this question in the game thread in real time prior to any results being known. My language may have been a tad more...colorful 

[darwin22]

A sad team with no guts or heart.  

[FlyingFinn]

I hope that was the last Gasp(er) for Mickey.

[$tryf4Life]

Who cares how good our pitching is and what moves Rocco does and doesn't make. This offense can't score runs and is a gift to any pitcher. 


 

[tony&rodney]

About the "Calling Brooks Lee". I think the Twins will. He played 2B tonight and made a nice play. At the plate, Lee grounded out to shortstop, blooped a hit into right center, and hit a slow roller to first. He looked like he was hitting off his front foot and he is so slow, but the Twins are counting on him, so expect it.

Witt Jr. is fun to watch. He hits one back to the pitcher (routine) and easily makes it to third hustling all the way right from his first step out of the box.

The Twins are rostering a large pile of DH batters so it is hard to escape balls falling, slipping through the infield, errors, or throwing it around. It is possible to hide two or sometimes three guys but the ball keeps eluding or finding the weak spots. Is that 4 losses to defense? These guys better figure it out. There really isn't anyone to call up that will step in, field, and hit though. Tomorrow should be better. Right?

[$tryf4Life]

3 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

I hope that was the last Gasp(er) for Mickey.

Not a major league baseball player....although this doesn't look like a major league team. 

[IndyTwinsFan]

7 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

About the "Calling Brooks Lee". I think the Twins will. He played 2B tonight and made a nice play. At the plate, Lee grounded out to shortstop, blooped a hit into right center, and hit a slow roller to first. He looked like he was hitting off his front foot and he is so slow, but the Twins are counting on him, so expect it.

Witt Jr. is fun to watch. He hits one back to the pitcher (routine) and easily makes it to third hustling all the way right from his first step out of the box.

The Twins are rostering a large pile of DH batters so it is hard to escape balls falling, slipping through the infield, errors, or throwing it around. It is possible to hide two or sometimes three guys but the ball keeps eluding or finding the weak spots. Is that 4 losses to defense? These guys better figure it out. There really isn't anyone to call up that will step in, field, and hit though. Tomorrow should be better. Right?

If it were me, I definitely wouldn't bet on it being the case.

[DJL44]

7 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

The Twins are rostering a large pile of DH batters so it is hard to escape balls falling, slipping through the infield, errors, or throwing it around. It is possible to hide two or sometimes three guys but the ball keeps eluding or finding the weak spots. Is that 4 losses to defense? These guys better figure it out. There really isn't anyone to call up that will step in, field, and hit though. Tomorrow should be better. Right?

The weak spot tonight was pitchers throwing to 1B.

[$tryf4Life]

Just now, DJL44 said:

The weak spot tonight was pitchers throwing to 1B.

The not scoring doesn't shine brightly either. Can't imagine we are going to win many games when scoring 1. 

[Parfigliano]

Would really like to know why Pablo didn't mention injury to the trainer/med guy when talking to him.

[Old Crow]

Just about the time you think they have finaly hit rock bottom these mutts surprise you.

[Parfigliano]

4 minutes ago, $tryf4Life said:

The not scoring doesn't shine brightly either. Can't imagine we are going to win many games when scoring 1. 

They couldn't win when up 7-1  two days ago.

[mikelink45]

What is there to add to the comments we've been making this entire season. Keep waiting until I think there is enough of the season to be able to see any trends, but we're playing so poorly. There's no trend to be found other than bad baseball. I know we're going to be bringing up a pitcher but I think we need some position players to come up for the minors too.  Gaspar is not the answer and should not be on the team. I'm sorry it was a nice story but we can't afford a nice story. We need to have a winning story. 

[knothole61]

31 minutes ago, Doc Lenz said:

Gasper looks a lock for All Star game.

Love the name Doc! Did Lenz invent that freeze spray he used all of the time?

[knothole61]

29 minutes ago, $tryf4Life said:

Who cares how good our pitching is and what moves Rocco does and doesn't make. This offense can't score runs and is a gift to any pitcher. 


 

Fair

[tony&rodney]

31 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

I hope that was the last Gasp(er) for Mickey.

Gasper was one of Falvey's big moves this offseason. Because he doesn't make $3M or more, it is possible that the experiment ends soon.

[bean5302]

Blaming the fielding when your team scores 1 run... Yep. It was the fielding that cost 'em!

[knothole61]

2 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

Blaming the fielding when your team scores 1 run... Yep. It was the fielding that cost 'em!

There's plenty of blame to go around-yes? No earned runs for the Royals tonight...looks like the Hitless Wonders 2025 might have won 1-0 without the errors. 

[bean5302]

1 minute ago, knothole61 said:

There's plenty of blame to go around-yes? No earned runs for the Royals tonight...looks like the Hitless Wonders 2025 might have won 1-0 without the errors. 

One of the errors was the pitcher. Not going to be able to do much about defense in regard to that. So maybe the Twins are tied 1-1 at that point?

Chances of a team winning a game scoring 1 run? Last year the Twins scored a single run 15 times. They won zero of those games.

[1985Fan]

Four K’s for Buxton. He looks totally overmatched at the plate. 3 of 4 AB’s were not competitive either. 4 pitches each. No fouls in his AB’s, so he must not be seeing the ball at all. Not good. Take a day off to reset. 
 

[USAFChief]

38 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

Blaming the fielding when your team scores 1 run... Yep. It was the fielding that cost 'em!

They lost 2-1 giving up 2 unearned runs.

They literally handed the game to KC.

Yeah, the offense blows. It would have been enough tonight with just regular,  normal defense. 

[Doc Lenz]

53 minutes ago, knothole61 said:

Love the name Doc! Did Lenz invent that freeze spray he used all of the time?

Yes I did. Tested it on Sam Mele and he gave me the go ahead. Thanks for remembering.

[Althebum82]

So we are hoping for the expedited return of Brooks Lee who had an OPS in the 550s last season, 600s in 40+ spring training plate appearances and went 1 for 6 in two minor league games.  Maybe he makes the play at 2B not made by Gaspar tonight.  However, I sure hope no one believes he is the spark to ignite an uncompetitive offense.

[Mike Sixel]

12 minutes ago, Althebum82 said:

So we are hoping for the expedited return of Brooks Lee who had an OPS in the 550s last season, 600s in 40+ spring training plate appearances and went 1 for 6 in two minor league games.  Maybe he makes the play at 2B not made by Gaspar tonight.  However, I sure hope no one believes he is the spark to ignite an uncompetitive offense.

Talk about small sample sizes, for a rookie.

[Mike Sixel]

I think this mess is on the front office, and I don't think they'll hire anyone different, but you may need to fire Rocco to shake them up. Which may or may not be fair to him....

If they don't turn this around, you have to blow it up this deadline imo. If you can.

[KirbyDome89]

11 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Talk about small sample sizes, for a rookie.

Ok, but is that really a point in favor of the Brooks Lee savior argument?