Twins 4, White Sox 2: Byron Buxton is Superman. He's Superman.

[Steven Trefz]

In a game that the Twins couldn't lose, they got help from their opponents' defense and some late-inning heroics from Trevor Larnach and Byron Buxton to deliver a much-needed victory. Here's how the game unfolded.

Image courtesy of © Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

Box Score
SP: Bailey Ober 6.0 IP, 8 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K (87 pitches, 62 strikes (71%)
Home Runs: Trevor Larnach (2)
Top 3 WPA: Ober (.248), Larnach (.171), Louis Varland (.119)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) 
 

Bailey Ober looked to build upon his first win of the season against the cellar-dwelling White Sox. The Sox put up a valiant fight, scattering eight hits across his six frames of work. The biggest threats came early, with a Luis Robert Jr. double in the first inning that Ober managed to wipe out with an Andrew Vaughn fly out. Then Chicago filled the bases with only one out in the top of the second inning. Again, Ober induced a fly out, but this sacrifice fly by Jacob Amaya plated the first run of the game and staked Chicago to a 1-0 lead.

Unearned Runs Still Count
Ober managed to limit the damage to that lone run, and the Twins immediately were able to capitalize on the first of two major defensive gaffes by the hapless White Sox. After Larnach worked a leadoff walk against White Sox starter Davis Martin, Carlos Correa bounced into what appeared to be a tailor-made 3-6-3 double play, but second baseman Lenyn Sosa snuck in and tried to snag the throw instead. Fortunately for the Twins, he failed, and the ball bounced away for an error. Now with runners on the corners, Ty France came through with an opposite-field single to plate Larnach and tie the game at one apiece.

In the worst case of Groundhog Day possible for Martin, in the bottom of the third inning, Luke Keaschall worked a two-out walk. Keaschall then showed off his great speed, stealing his first of two bases on the evening. Larnach hit a two-strike changeup a whopping one, count 'em (...er, it?), one foot. Catcher Edgar Querro took that swinging bunt, and promptly chucked his throw into Larnach's back. Keaschall's speed was still speeding around third base, and he slid home while the Sox slept to stake the Twins to a lead that they would never relinquish. The play could very plausibly have been called interference by Larnach, who was inside the baseline when the ball struck him, but that's not reviewable, for good reason.

Martin left the game having surrendered two unearned runs, and the Twins and their desperate fan base could care less how they got the lead. The only question now was could they keep it?

Late-Inning Struggles
The Twins failed to get a baserunner over the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings in Atlanta, and their season's OPS in the closing innings qualified them for dead last heading into this homestand. Griffin Jax got his chance at redemption after his shaky recent outings, and notably, he was sent into the seventh inning to face the bottom of the White Sox order. Jax survived, and so did Louis Varland in the eighth, to keep the score 2-1 Twins—thanks to some sweet defense from Edouard Julien.

The Twins needed some insurance runs, and again it was a Keaschall walk that started the next rally in the bottom of the eighth, before Larnach earned all 434 feet of his next swing to make it a 4-1 ballgame.

That's Why You Get Insurance
With the Twins up three runs, Jhoan Duran had an opportunity to acquire only the second save of the season with some breathing room to spare. After an infield dribbling single and two straight walks, suddenly there was no margin for error because the bases were loaded and nobody was out. Larnach's homer allowed the situation to breathe, and Duran struck out Joshua Palacios and induced a groundout by Nick Maton. Now it was 4-2 Twins, with runners on second and third, and two out.

What happened next ended the game. Words can't express what happened. Andrew Benintendi, meet Byron Buxton. He plays center field for the Minnesota Twins and he's been healthy this season.

What’s Next?
The Twins look to take the series against the White Sox with righty David Festa (0-0, 0.00 ERA) getting the call for the Twins. Chicago has yet to name their starting pitcher for game two of this series. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40pm CDT.

Postgame Interviews

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	FRI	SAT	SUN	MON	TUE	TOT
Durán	0	0	11	0	32	43
Topa	17	24	0	0	0	41
Alcalá	0	39	0	0	0	39
Jax	26	0	0	0	13	39
Varland	18	0	6	0	7	31
Coulombe	17	0	8	0	0	25
Sands	13	0	0	0	0	13
Stewart	0	13	0	0	0	13

View full article

[thelanges5]

Much needed W! Good job Twins. Tomorrow we go for two. 

[Aggies7]

Scary Duran but he couldn’t be perfect every time out 

[The Great Hambino]

6 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

Scary Duran but he couldn’t be perfect every time out 

I think he pitched better than the results suggest and was getting a little unlucky or missing by a thin margin

60 foot hit, full count walk, full count walk, dominant strikeout, weak groundout to score a run, and then the only solid contact he allowed wound up in Buxton's glove.

I'd like to see more whiffs, struggling to put them away sometimes, but he's still pitching well. Velo was good tonight

[DocBauer]

Buxton is still an elite CF. He's still a difference maker. Hopefully his bat will follow, though we have seen glimpses. 

[S Bart]

 The AL team with the worst record lost to the AL team with the second worst record this evening. I agree with the comment about Buxton. I pray that he and the team's new rookie can push others to improve... The team is six games back and have AL CENTRAL #1 Cleveland to play next week.

[GNess]

Buxton seems more engaged than in the past few years. 

[UK Twin]

Buxton is a clear bright spot in a so far dismal season. Good news is there's still time to turn things around. Duran can be very thankful that A) Buxton is an incredible CF and B) Twins scored 2 runs in the 8th. Infield hits will happen, don't mind that but walking back to back hitters (especially lower order batters) is a huge no no for a closer. Still, he did fight back to get the 3 outs, even of the last one owed a lot to Buxton (who should be credited with the save TBH). 

I hope Festa stays in the rotation when Pablo is activated this week. DFA Paddack. 

[Aerodeliria]

I still say why not pitch to Luis in that situation. Benintendi is basically the only guy who can hurt you besides Quero...

Anyway,  we escaped against an awful team. (Yes, I'm complaining about a win. I like quality baseball.) I will say that our defense was better than theirs. To me,  that was the big take away. I can forgive a lot for good defense. 

[Doctor Gast]

A must-win against a AAA team, w/o Martin Perez, CWS also had a bad day. Not impressive, but still a win. It still took a great play by Buck to keep the game from getting out of hand.

[Karbo]

That Keaschal might just be the spark plug this team needs. Love to see him all year, maybe even ROY candidate.

[jmlease1]

CWS is the team to get well against.

Ober was a bit frustrating last night, just kept giving up hits early in the inning. He wriggled out of it because CWS, but he can't be too happy with his game. Was definitely not spotting his changeup well, which has been an issue this season.

Keaschall looks like a guy who doesn't want to go back to the minors. Good for him. His speed definitely adds something, and he's getting on base.

Nice seeing the big bomb from Larnach, And what else is there to say about Buxton? He's health and fielding like Buxton. Love it.

[mickster]

4 hours ago, UK Twin said:

Buxton is a clear bright spot in a so far dismal season. Good news is there's still time to turn things around. Duran can be very thankful that A) Buxton is an incredible CF and B) Twins scored 2 runs in the 8th. Infield hits will happen, don't mind that but walking back to back hitters (especially lower order batters) is a huge no no for a closer. Still, he did fight back to get the 3 outs, even of the last one owed a lot to Buxton (who should be credited with the save TBH). 

I hope Festa stays in the rotation when Pablo is activated this week. DFA Paddack. 

Paddack has done his job the past two outings...........I think Festa needs to go down

[stringer bell]

Buxton will probably be forever frustrating as a hitter, but what he has done this season on the bases and in the field show why it is fun to be a fan of his. Keaschall adds a (so far) good bat with pretty impressive speed. I'd like to see him more in the field, but as long as the Twins are playing shorthanded there are plenty of PAs for him at DH.

Too many guys not hitting to have any kind of consistent offense. I think they should give Bride some at-bats, particularly since none of France, Julien or Lee is setting the world on fire. 

[stringer bell]

3 minutes ago, mickster said:

Paddack has done his job the past two outings...........I think Festa needs to go down

With the glimmer of success that Paddack has shown in his last starts, I think he stays in the rotation for now. Zebby and Morris have both been knocked around lately, so it isn't like the Twins are keeping a young Koufax in the minors. 

[Whitey333]

Bottom line is Twi n s won 4-2.  An ugly win perhaps but they won due to a great catch by Buxton and larnachs homerun and base running.  The Twins slept through the first 8 innings and were aided by 2 big errors by the White Sox.  Plus Larnach was hit by a thrown ball while clearly running inside the box.  He could have easily been called out and the run wouldn't have scored.  When blaming umpires throughout the season let's not forget that play that two umpires missed. Plus in the first inning the Sox missed a home run by inches as ball hit very top of fence.  Twins only had 3 hits through seven and were outfit by 10- 5 for the game.  Thanks to very poor defense by Sox and their inability to score it helped us until we woke up.  But they won.  Nice.

[Jeff K]

1 hour ago, mickster said:

Paddack has done his job the past two outings...........I think Festa needs to go down

I'd like to see the Twins go with a 6 man rotation for a few turns through the rotation.  Paddack looked good the past 2 starts.  Longer term, I think he helps as a reliever.  For now, I would send Alcala down.

[Riverbrian]

Some Thoughts: 

1. That catch by Buxton was a great way to end a game. 

2. Keaschall scoring from 2nd on that Larnach dribbler was almost as exciting as the Buxton catch. Luke is showing me how much I've been missing the running part of the game. I have no idea if Luke will continue to hit, I have no idea if Luke is here to stay or if he will be sent back down at some point. However, right now he is showing me something that the Twins haven't had in years. The extra base, the stolen base, havoc on the base paths. Keaschall will become my favorite Twin if he keeps playing this way. 

3. It was nice to see Larnach drill one deep. I'm counting on Trevor this year. We tend to look at the big three (Correa, Buxton and Lewis) and lose sight of Trevor. Trevor and Wallner need to make it a big 5.   

 

[DJL44]

I think that is the best defensive play I have seen from Julien.

[LambchoP]

Buxton and Keaschal are the only reasons to watch this team right now. If Luke keeps playing like he has been, he will force management to keep him in the majors, even when Lewis and Castro are healthy. On the flip side, Lee looks lost at the plate. He's good defensively but hasn't shown he can hit MLB pitching yet. What's with Bader? Started out so good now he's striking out more than Miguel Sano...!

[Twinsrtheworst]

8 hours ago, GNess said:

Buxton seems more engaged than in the past few years. 

I'm sure it much easier to be engaged playing almost every day than from the IL.  That being said I don't really recall him not being engaged even from the bench.

[laloesch]

Glad to see a win against one of the worst teams in baseball.  If they can start winning against the rest of the league I'll get excited.  Keaschal is exactly the boost this team needed.  

As I said in previous posts they need to call up Emmanuel Rodriguez and Walker Jenkins (when he gets healthy and hitting).  

Rocco pleaseeee stop leading off with Julien, he's horrible at it.

[D.C Twins]

Hopefully we can get Buck to wave his no trade clause....

The trade haul for Pablo and Buck will be the most important in the rebuild

[D.C Twins]

Man.... Correa..... what a mess... 

[bean5302]

28 minutes ago, laloesch said:

Glad to see a win against one of the worst teams in baseball.  If they can start winning against the rest of the league I'll get excited.  Keaschal is exactly the boost this team needed.  

As I said in previous posts they need to call up Emmanuel Rodriguez and Walker Jenkins (when he gets healthy and hitting).  

Rocco pleaseeee stop leading off with Julien, he's horrible at it.

Can we put the stipulation that Rodriguez start hitting before he gets the call as well? He can't even tread water in AAA. .238/.360/.286 OPS .646 wRC+ 84, 16.0% BB, 34.7% K doesn't exactly project well at the MLB level. 0 HR, 3 doubles in 75 PA in a hitter friendly league.

[Blyleven2011]

I was very late to the party , I tuned into the top of the ninth inning with Duran pitching , I missed the single but seen the 2 walks to load the bases , it was another edge of your seat ninth inning trying to lock down the win , kinda of thought we were going to find another way to lose ...

Duran worked into trouble but worked out of trouble  , it wasn't pretty but the job got done for his second save  and a much needed win ...

The bats need to get going  , can't be gifted a win every night and buxtons catch was good but I think it was alittle more dramatic than it needed to be , to me it looked like he got there in plenty of time and didn't need the dive ...

[Nashvilletwin]

Now that’s the kind of catch your team leader makes when his manager’s job is on the line. Well done.

[Mike Sixel]

8 freakin games for Lee..... Doesn't matter. Lewis isn't back any time soon. 

[bean5302]

14 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

8 freakin games for Lee..... Doesn't matter. Lewis isn't back any time soon. 

Are you voicing your displeasure people are criticizing Brooks Lee's performance based on 8 games?

Personally, I think Lee is doing just fine at the plate, the balls just aren't finding openings. That's coming from somebody who isn't exactly bullish on the guy. Average exit velocity is very good, his xwOBA looks great, he's taking walks which he didn't do last year. Everything looks like his results should be there.

Even site writers were calling Julien not MLB worthy despite him more than holding his own this year by expected results in a similar amount of PAs. Fans are enraged and, honestly, unstable around here.

There's some luck going on for the Twins right now, and there are some guys who I think are trying to be heroes rather than just doing their job at the plate.

[bean5302]

For the record, Byron Buxton made a 50% catch last night. 3 stars.
Catch Probability 50%
Opportunity Time 4.4sec
Distance 76ft