Twins 3, Royals 1: France Continues to Guillotine Nobility

[Matt Braun]

Image courtesy of © Brad Rempel-Imagn Images

Box Score
SP: Pablo López: 5 ⅔ IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K
Home Runs: Carlos Correa (3), Ty France (4)
Top 3 WPA: Ty France (.294), Pablo López (.204), Cole Sands (.134)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

With thoughts of rain solidly in the past, Minnesota could finally move on. The weather that had so strangely chopped up their series with Cleveland fled for other pastures, leaving Minnesota with a traditionally beautiful late-spring evening, neither quite too cold nor too warm—but chilly enough to remind all that summer’s comfort was still more than a few sleeps away. Would that augur success for the home team? Only the players could determine that.

Straits appeared a little dire early. Pablo López smoked Jonathan India with his second offering of the day, and a blooped single from Vinnie Pasquantino pushed the situation into “legitimate run-scoring threat” territory. Indeed, it was: López claimed his second out before relinquishing a run off a hittable fastball. Cavan Biggio served as the beneficiary. The Royals were up 1-0.

Squaring up against Minnesota’s ace was one Noah Cameron. Bespectacled and green—Friday’s start was just his third in the big leagues—the lefty nonetheless offered the aesthetics of one referred to as “crafty;” with a below-average heater and extended collection of off-speed pitches capable of putting hitters on their heels. Across 12 2/3 frames, he had just three allowed hits to his name. His first career start saw a no-hit bid creep into the seventh inning. 

The dominance potential became apparent across the fullness of his start—he walked off the mound after striking out eight Twins over six and two-third innings—yet Carlos Correa punctured a chink into his armor early. The veteran took the second pitch he had seen since coming off the IL and deposited it 429 feet away into the bullpens nestled in left-center. Tie game. 

The homer ushered in a period of classic baseball emptiness. Surely, the game saw action. One could interrogate the box score to collect the fullness of each minute detail. Entire dramas lived within Kansas City’s two-strike hits, or Minnesota’s clear difficulties handling Cameron’s arm slot. Yet, in a game dominated by runs, only one truth stood out: no one scored. For a while. The third became the fourth, which evolved into the fifth, which, which, which… One could look down for a time, then look up just to conclude the entire game was an exercise in human futility. Maybe it is. That’s baseball. 

The funny thing about the seemingly endless supply of zeroes is that everything can change in an instant. And any small move can incite. 

The great running of the bullpens spat out Kansas City's Lucas Erceg in the ninth. He punched out Trevor Larnach before Correa softly grounded a ball to third. One would typically Maikel Garcia to handle it properly, yet he bobbled the ball and allowed Carlos to reach base. Oh well. Certainly, the next batter wouldn't hit a homer on the first pitch he saw.

Anyways, Ty France crushed a homer on the first pitch of his at-bat to win the game for the Twins. Don't let anyone tell you this game doesn't have a sense of humor. 

Notes:

The Twins are 16-2 in their last 18 games. 

Friday was the first walk-off homer of Ty France's big league career.

Carlos Correa hit his 190th career homer, the 24th-most for a primary shortstop in MLB history. He's five away from tying Toby Harrah.

Pablo López earned his 486th strikeout in a Twins uniform, good for 30th all-time in team history. He's one away from tying Joe Mays. 

Griffin Jax picked off a runner for the third time in his big league career.

Post-Game Interview:

 

What’s Next?
The Twins will face the Royals again on Saturday, with first pitch set to arrive at 1:10 PM. Zebby Matthews is scheduled to start opposite Michael Wacha.

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

 

View full article

[Parfigliano]

Good game.  Timely hitting.   Don't understand the Stewart throws 3 pitches decision.

[The Great Hambino]

This is a fantastic headline

[Blyleven2011]

France comes through with walk off ...

Nice win but it took nine innings for the fireworks  , but it was worth it  ...

Pablo alittle off his game but managed to keep us in the game ...

[knothole61]

France, Royals, the guillotine: 1793, but it's still too soon, ouch!!

A great win that deserves an 8 out of 10 on the "team-of-destiny" scale. I'm still hopeful that Lewis can find his stride and even approach superstardom over time--regarding Lee, I'm not so sure. And, don't look now, but the Twins (April's hitless wonders) are just 3 games back in the loss column of the Division lead.

Go Wolves...please.

 

[USAFChief]

Snapped this one pitch too early. Correa at the plate.

[FlyingFinn]

23 minutes ago, knothole61 said:

Lee, I'm not so sure.

He's fine IF he would just swing at strikes. 

[thelanges5]

Vive la 🇫🇷

[Parfigliano]

48 minutes ago, knothole61 said:

France, Royals, the guillotine: 1793, but it's still too soon, ouch!!

A great win that deserves an 8 out of 10 on the "team-of-destiny" scale. I'm still hopeful that Lewis can find his stride and even approach superstardom over time--regarding Lee, I'm not so sure. And, don't look now, but the Twins (April's hitless wonders) are just 3 games back in the loss column of the Division lead.

Go Wolves...please.

 

Lee does have about 65 points on Lewis OPS wise

[Guest]

Thousands of dollars for witty writeups! Just consider yourself the Bill Bryson of Twins Daily. I know I do.

[techie55105]

Matt, very punny!

Re: "I spent thousands of tuition dollars to conjure history jokes like that".
assuming you majored in history, I am happy that you nevertheless found a profitable career writing sports stories. Much better than one that involves repeatedly saying "would you like fries with that?".

 

[Patzky]

It's rather timely that the feature articles yesterday were What's Wrong With Carlos Correa and Is Ty France Worth It. 

 

Who you got today? 🤣

[Linus]

8 hours ago, Blyleven2011 said:

France comes through with walk off ...

Nice win but it took nine innings for the fireworks  , but it was worth it  ...

Pablo alittle off his game but managed to keep us in the game ...

I felt the same way about Pablo and then you look at his line and it is pretty good. 

[Linus]

8 hours ago, USAFChief said:

Snapped this one pitch too early. Correa at the plate.

This picture explains the allure of outdoor baseball. 

[Linus]

Royce’s running right now is not good. I wonder how healthy he is. 

[JD-TWINS]

9 hours ago, Parfigliano said:

Good game.  Timely hitting.   Don't understand the Stewart throws 3 pitches decision.

Relievers, on any club, seldom sit and go back out……especially a guy with a history of arm problems. Team is trying to use Stewart in key spots while minimizing his pitches so he gets through the season. 

Carrer high is 34 innings & that was 2017…….25 in 2019 & 27 in 2023. He’s pretty fragile!

[JD-TWINS]

8 hours ago, Parfigliano said:

Lee does have about 65 points on Lewis OPS wise

Lee may have the softest swing I’ve ever seen……he looks like he’s 35 and out of shape, soft (he’s 25). He said himself a week or so ago that if he were to play SS everyday he’d need to be about 6lbs lighter. He needs to get his upper body more fit/stronger.

Lewis may not be producing at the level we would like to expect - he’s battling ailments to get right (definitely getting old) but Lee looks TO ME like a guy that might be a back-up to CC & Luke Keaschall before the end of this season. Also, I don’t see Lee being some big threat as a PH either. He needs to get better!

[JD-TWINS]

9 hours ago, knothole61 said:

France, Royals, the guillotine: 1793, but it's still too soon, ouch!!

A great win that deserves an 8 out of 10 on the "team-of-destiny" scale. I'm still hopeful that Lewis can find his stride and even approach superstardom over time--regarding Lee, I'm not so sure. And, don't look now, but the Twins (April's hitless wonders) are just 3 games back in the loss column of the Division lead.

Go Wolves...please.

 

I saw this a.m. that they are 15-2 since May 3 with a Team ERA of 2.53. That helps the offense appear better than it may be……I’ll take it though.

[stringer bell]

8 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

Relievers, on any club, seldom sit and go back out……especially a guy with a history of arm problems. Team is trying to use Stewart in key spots while minimizing his pitches so he gets through the season. 

Carrer high is 34 innings & that was 2017…….25 in 2019 & 27 in 2023. He’s pretty fragile!

Agree. Both Stewart and Topa are over 30 with long injury histories, but also with a history of being effective when able to pitch. Neither guy has been asked often to work multiple innings or exceed 20 pitches and work on a second day. I think their usage has been prudent so far and no one else has been overworked. 

[stringer bell]

6 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

Lee may have the softest swing I’ve ever seen……he looks like he’s 35 and out of shape, soft (he’s 25). He said himself a week or so ago that if he were to play SS everyday he’d need to be about 6lbs lighter. He needs to get his upper body more fit/stronger.

Lewis may not be producing at the level we would like to expect - he’s battling ailments to get right (definitely getting old) but Lee looks TO ME like a guy that might be a back-up to CC & Luke Keaschall before the end of this season. Also, I don’t see Lee being some big threat as a PH either. He needs to get better!

Lee has had a couple weeks where he’s hit well, but overall numbers are subpar. Right now, I’m envisioning him as a three position backup infielder who could step into regular play with any injury to the guys he backs up—sort of a Willi Castro without outfield play. He just hasn’t been good enough to become a full time regular at any one position IMHO. 

[CharlieDee]

52 minutes ago, Linus said:

Royce’s running right now is not good. I wonder how healthy he is. 

I agree. On the slow chopper he hit to 3rd, it looked like he was not running at full speed.  I thought he may be able to beat the throw, but the throw beat him easily.

[Otaknam]

“The homer ushered in a period of classic baseball emptiness. Surely, the game saw action. One could interrogate the box score to collect the fullness of each minute detail.”  ” &nb Love the literary style of this column! Well done!

[Bodie]

1 hour ago, Linus said:

I felt the same way about Pablo and then you look at his line and it is pretty good. 

You have just summed up "analytics" vs. "scouting".

He wasn't "good" (on the Pablo scale), but "good enough".  Everyone wants to be good, but the winners are always good enough. 

[DJL44]

10 hours ago, Parfigliano said:

Don't understand the Stewart throws 3 pitches decision.

The inning was over. He's not going to sit down and go back in the ballgame. It's hard enough to keep Stewart healthy as it is.

[David Maro]

Sorry but Lee is hard to watch at the plate right now. It doesn't matter if it's from the left or right side. He may need to be sent to St Paul to get right. Can't keep hoping he will get better when they are already hoping with Lewis. The pitching staff is doing their job,but for how long. Not going to win with only one or two guys hitting.

[Bodie]

35 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

Relievers, on any club, seldom sit and go back out……especially a guy with a history of arm problems. Team is trying to use Stewart in key spots while minimizing his pitches so he gets through the season. 

Carrer high is 34 innings & that was 2017…….25 in 2019 & 27 in 2023. He’s pretty fragile!

The vase (pronounced "vaaz", please) on my mantle is fragile. If I knock it down it'll break. Stewart doesn't need to be knocked down... enjoy him while you can!

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, Linus said:

This picture explains the allure of outdoor baseball. 

You don't think a roof would improve the aesthetics? Joking.

18 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Lee has had a couple weeks where he’s hit well, but overall numbers are subpar. Right now, I’m envisioning him as a three position backup infielder who could step into regular play with any injury to the guys he backs up—sort of a Willi Castro without outfield play. He just hasn’t been good enough to become a full time regular at any one position IMHO. 

It's a good role for him right now. The team needs that.

[terrydactyls]

12 minutes ago, Otaknam said:

“The homer ushered in a period of classic baseball emptiness. Surely, the game saw action. One could interrogate the box score to collect the fullness of each minute detail.”  ” &nb Love the literary style of this column! Well done!

I thought it read more like a bad imitation of Jane Austin.

[Doctor Gast]

Good pitching, defense, and clutch hitting win close games. Good teams win close games. Winning close games isn't being lucky; it's playing sound baseball.

[DJL44]

Random thoughts from the game

Vinnie Pasquantino is very much a first baseman. He looks like a first baseman - if you lined up all the Kansas City Royals and asked me to pick out the first baseman I'd pick Vinnie. He has a first baseman name. He makes plays like he belongs at first base, not like he's learning it on the fly.

Cavan Biggio and Kody Clemens hung out together when their dads were on the Astros, right? I know they played against each other in high school and played on some of the same showcase teams in the summer. I can't seem to find a picture of them together on the internet. I wonder if both dads will show up in Minnesota this Memorial Day weekend.