Twins 5, Royals 4: Another Walk-Off Win for Brooks Lee and the Twins!

[Steven Trefz]

Image courtesy of © Matt Blewett-Imagn Images

Box Score
SP: Zebby Matthews 4.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 9 K (81 pitches, 57 strikes (70%))
Home Runs: Harrison Bader (5), Kody Clemens (4)
Top 3 WPA: Brooks Lee (.406), Clemens (.156), Jhoan Duran (.134)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) 

The Twins looked to take another game against their division rivals and they sent young Zebby Matthews to the mound to get the job done. The Royals countered with Twins nemesis Michael "Offspeed" Wacha. What ensued was an odd mix of a pitchers' duel, opportunistic small ball, and bomba squad heroics.

Zebby Strikes Them Out, but Takes Too Long to Do So
Matthews struck out five Royals in the first two innings alone, but his pitch count began to climb in the process. By the time the third inning rolled around, the warning signs were mounting for the Twins youngster, and with two outs in the third Vinnie Pasquantino laced a single and the immortal Salvador Perez walked to load the bases. The red hot Maikel Garcia came to the plate, and by the time his single landed out in right field it was 2-0 Kansas City. Even more importantly for Matthews and the Twins, he had thrown 72 pitches in just three innings. This led to early bullpen usage and eclipsed the fact that Zebby had notched a career-high nine strikeouts in only four innings.

This meant that Justin Topa needed to enter the game in the top of the fifth inning, and he walked the lead-off man Jonathan India. Bobby Witt Jr. struck out for the third time in the game, but Pasquantino did not miss, crushing an RBI double to left to make it 3-0 Royals. Before a packed Target Field could even get angsty, Perez singled in Pasquantino to make a laugher potentially appear. Two more singles loaded the bases with two outs, but Topa managed to recover enough to close out the inning and leave the ballgame at a reachable 4-0 score.

Rally on Wacha
The Twins looked to ride that momentum into the run column in the bottom of the fifth, and Harrison Bader went first-pitch hunting to do just that, crushing a solo home run off the second deck in left to get the crowd on their feet and the Twins back in the game at 4-1.

Wacha followed up by hitting Willi Castro and giving up a single to Christian Vazquez. Trevor Larnach moved the runners over with a grounder to first, and with two outs and two strikes, Ty France made Wacha and the Royals pay with a two-run single to make it a 4-3 ballgame

Kody Clemens is Him
Jorge Alcala wiggled his way out of a jam in the top of the sixth inning to keep it a one-run game. Kody Clemens led off the bottom of the sixth against Wacha and sent the Target Field faithful into a frenzy with another moon shot to the seats in right. All tied, 4-4.

More Walk-Off Magic?
After the bullpens traded scoreless innings with mixed levels of drama, the ninth inning brought drama enough for an entire game. Jhoan Duran faced Witt Jr. to start the inning, and the superstar Royal finally delivered, and then took a couple of bases to make the go-ahead run a threat right from the get-go. Strikeouts kept Duran and the Twins alive, and with the bases loaded and two outs, Drew Waters weakly grounded out to Duran to end the threat and to set up another walk-off scenario.

Carlos Correa pinch-hit for DaShawn Keirsey Jr. to start the bottom of the ninth, and he worked a seven-pitch walk off of lefty reliever Daniel Lynch IV. Vazquez flared a ball into the outfield, and it looked like a potential hit until Witt Jr. did his best Correa impression for the out. Ryan Jeffers came in to bat for Larnach with the lefty on the mound and he fought his way to another seven-pitch walk to put the winning run at second with only one out. This sent the Royals to reach back into the bullpen for righty Steven Cruz to face last night's hero France. One pitch later, there were runners at second and third, but two out as France grounded out to the pitcher. Brooks Lee finally broke an 0-12 slump in the bottom of the eighth with a single, and now he looked to be the hero of the afternoon. Lee worked the count full, and then he sent 30,000 plus home happy by hitting it where they weren't for a 5-4 victory!

What’s Next?
The Twins look to sweep another series at home on Sunday against the rival Royals. Twins righty Bailey Ober (4-1, 3.68 ERA) looks to continue to re-write his script against the Royals, and he will face Kansas City ace lefty Kris Bubic (5-2, 1.47 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 1:10pm CDT.

Postgame Interviews

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	TOT
Durán	0	23	0	0	23	46
Jax	0	20	0	11	12	43
Sands	0	20	0	14	0	34
Topa	0	0	0	0	34	34
Alcalá	0	0	0	0	26	26
Varland	0	14	0	9	0	23
Funderburk	0	11	0	0	0	17
Stewart	0	0	0	3	7	10

 

 

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[Peter]

That was stressful/nerve wracking!!! Bp is sky high/nerves are shot😬😬😬🔥🔥🔥huge huge huge walk off win!!!

[Guest]

Fun win!!

[Galen]

Great win...looks like Zebby might be a 2 inning guy

[knothole61]

Wow....back from 4-0 in the 5th is exceptional, netting a full 10 of 10 team-of-destiny points. The Twins could easily have lost the last two but found a way to come out on top...maybe some of the magic will find its way to the nearby Wolves?

 

[Parfigliano]

Hard to believe this is same team that started year

[Linus]

Zebby is living proof that control and command are two different things. He doesn’t walk anybody but does not locate his pitches with accuracy often enough. 

[bean5302]

I do not understand Keirsey's continued presence in the lineup now that Castro is back. Wallner can't return soon enough.

[Guest]

I need to admit that I no longer know what to think about Alcala. It is now just an love/hate response to each outing. Will trust others much smarter than me on his continued use, although I suspect they are in the same boat as I am.

Question for the the commenters: If your name is Daniel Lynch IV, are you pressured to name a son of yours DL V? I knew a III and always wondered if this was desired or not??

[JD-TWINS]

23 minutes ago, Linus said:

Zebby is living proof that control and command are two different things. He doesn’t walk anybody but does not locate his pitches with accuracy often enough. 

Exactly!! He overpowers people in Minors but throwing a bunch of strikes, wherever they happen to go in the zone, doesn’t fly in the Show. He’s got the ability - he’ll get better. SWR had a great outing the other night. Festa came back from tired shoulder and looked good as well……maybe there’s a rotation with the 3 of them through St. Paul until somebody sticks?

[JD-TWINS]

Gotta tip my hat to Lee…….bad mouthed him here this morning……he’s young and improving and need patience with him!

Didn't think France would help much after his signing - thought Bader was a real stretch……everyone is making me look bad and I love it!!!

[gmwannabe]

Why is Kearsey, a buck -0-8 hitter still on a big league roster? Why did we call up McCuster? I don't get it.

[RpR]

5 minutes ago, gmwannabe said:

Why is Kearsey, a buck -0-8 hitter still on a big league roster? Why did we call up McCuster? I don't get it.

Rocco deals with rookies in mysterious ways.

[jmlease1]

9 minutes ago, gmwannabe said:

Why is Kearsey, a buck -0-8 hitter still on a big league roster? Why did we call up McCuster? I don't get it.

Keirsey plays CF, plays it better than Castro by a lot, and with Bader coming off a tweak he's there to play defense until Buxton is back. He seems ticketed for AAA since he's performing so poorly at the plate, but at least he has a role. I don't really know why we called up McCusker, since Rocco's uninterested in playing him. Yesterday was the day to play McCusker, with a LHP starting and he couldn't crack the lineup then either. Wacha as a RHP at least you could understand, but if there's no room for McCusker against a LHP than he's little more than insurance on the bench. seems like a waste to me.

Still a very nice win. Right now, if the Twins can just keep winning series they;re going to be in very good shape, and scratching out a win against a division rival like this is very nice work. Shame they couldn't be a little more efficient, because they're really using a lot of pitchers again, but at least that means they're competing and winning games.

The increased bat speed sure seems to be making a difference for Clemens and he's doing a very nice job. Sometimes you can find a guy on the waiver wire. It's a fairly small sample so far, but he's been a lovely surprise and shows no signs of yielding his job.

[bjorks]

Small sample size, but looking forward, if Clemens proves to be serviceable this year, does he replace Castro in 26? Castro probably wants a multi-year deal with maybe a lower AAV than his $6.4. Clemens won't break the bank and is controllable through 28? I realize it's a stretch, but...

[Blyleven2011]

2 hours ago, Parfigliano said:

Hard to believe this is same team that started year

Very hard to believe but it seems someone everyday is making the contributions to winning , today it was LEE , 0 FOR 12 coming into the game and has 3 hits , a game winning hit to boot , his first career walk off hit  , thank you LEE ...

It was a good team effort to comeback from a 4 run deficit  and win 5-4 in walk off fashion  ...

Keaschall seemed to kick start the offense when he was called up , but Clemens has taken his run of playing time and  is doing alright in my book keeping the offense going along with France and Bader  ( 3 players the twins fans didnt want , make it 4 for bride who plays decent defense ) ...

Zebulon had 9 strikeouts in 4 innings , I see relief pitcher in the future unless somehow we start grooming these pitchers on how to build up stamina , SWR , Festa and Matthew's have a hard time pitching 5 innings , maybe they'll surprise us someday  ...

Another great come from behind walk off win in the bottom of 9th , I'm starting to think the players don't like the man̈fred man innings any better than the fans  ...

In 1965 the twins were notorious for winning games in the ninth either on the road or at home , I can't remember how many but it was a bunch ...

[TheLeviathan]

This is what a well managed clubhouse looks like when facing adversity.  You just won't hear the usual chorus give praise at even a fraction of the ludicrous criticism.

Team is playing good baseball.

[Gamblerssoftball]

58 minutes ago, Blyleven2011 said:

Very hard to believe but it seems someone everyday is making the contributions to winning , today it was LEE , 0 FOR 12 coming into the game and has 3 hits , a game winning hit to boot , his first career walk off hit  , thank you LEE ...

It was a good team effort to comeback from a 4 run deficit  and win 5-4 in walk off fashion  ...

Keaschall seemed to kick start the offense when he was called up , but Clemens has taken his run of playing time and  is doing alright in my book keeping the offense going along with France and Bader  ( 3 players the twins fans didnt want , make it 4 for bride who plays decent defense ) ...

Zebulon had 9 strikeouts in 4 innings , I see relief pitcher in the future unless somehow we start grooming these pitchers on how to build up stamina , SWR , Festa and Matthew's have a hard time pitching 5 innings , maybe they'll surprise us someday  ...

Another great come from behind walk off win in the bottom of 9th , I'm starting to think the players don't like the man̈fred man innings any better than the fans  ...

In 1965 the twins were notorious for winning games in the ninth either on the road or at home , I can't remember how many but it was a bunch ...

In 1965 the Twins actually made an album ( a 33 1/3 rpm vinyl record, for you youngsters) called "The last of the ninth". I think my brother still has it, although we probably played it a hundred times. Lots of walk off wins in their pennant winning season of '65.

[USAFChief]

Another walk off. 

Yawn. Boring. 

[stringer bell]

2 hours ago, gmwannabe said:

Why is Kearsey, a buck -0-8 hitter still on a big league roster? Why did we call up McCuster? I don't get it.

Contrary to popular opinion, I think Rocco values defense and the belief is that Keirsey is one of his best three defensive outfielders, even with Buxton active. Baldelli has consistently pulled Larnach or an infielder (with Castro moving to the infield) to get Keirsey in the game in late innings when the Twins have a lead. Keirsey has also often been used as a pinch runner and allowed to try to steal bases. What I'm saying is Rocco believes his talents are good enough to change games despite his really weak hitting profile.

I do predict that McCusker gets a start tomorrow in the series finale. Unless he hits a couple homers or hits four screaming liners, he will probably be sent to St. Paul when Wallner or Buxton return.

[stringer bell]

Guards beat the Tigers in extra innings today. The Twins are only three games back, but tied with Cleveland for second place. I don't know which team I was pulling for in that game. I'm pretty sure I don't want Cleveland to sweep a four game series at Detroit. 

[Fatbat]

23 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Guards beat the Tigers in extra innings today. The Twins are only three games back, but tied with Cleveland for second place. I don't know which team I was pulling for in that game. I'm pretty sure I don't want Cleveland to sweep a four game series at Detroit. 

They will continue to beat up on each other. Hope for 12 inning games in tiger town.

[tony&rodney]

Nice win. The strength of the team is definitely pitching. Matthews gives up 2 runs but it seems like 5 because runs are so dear. I think he could have gone two more easily enough. But the bullpen has been rolling so starters come out near 80 pitches unless Pablo is struggling giving up 1 run and even he is pulled at 100 pitches. As long as it works, it works. Whatever.

[thelanges5]

3 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

Keirsey plays CF, plays it better than Castro by a lot, and with Bader coming off a tweak he's there to play defense until Buxton is back. He seems ticketed for AAA since he's performing so poorly at the plate, but at least he has a role. I don't really know why we called up McCusker, since Rocco's uninterested in playing him. Yesterday was the day to play McCusker, with a LHP starting and he couldn't crack the lineup then either. Wacha as a RHP at least you could understand, but if there's no room for McCusker against a LHP than he's little more than insurance on the bench. seems like a waste to me.

Still a very nice win. Right now, if the Twins can just keep winning series they;re going to be in very good shape, and scratching out a win against a division rival like this is very nice work. Shame they couldn't be a little more efficient, because they're really using a lot of pitchers again, but at least that means they're competing and winning games.

The increased bat speed sure seems to be making a difference for Clemens and he's doing a very nice job. Sometimes you can find a guy on the waiver wire. It's a fairly small sample so far, but he's been a lovely surprise and shows no signs of yielding his job.

Lefty again on Sunday. I’d like to see McCusker run into a home run ⚾️🚀

[stringer bell]

52 minutes ago, thelanges5 said:

Lefty again on Sunday. I’d like to see McCusker run into a home run ⚾️🚀

I think McCusker will get a start tomorrow, but it may well be his last before he's sent back to the minors.

 

1 hour ago, tony&rodney said:

Nice win. The strength of the team is definitely pitching. Matthews gives up 2 runs but it seems like 5 because runs are so dear. I think he could have gone two more easily enough. But the bullpen has been rolling so starters come out near 80 pitches unless Pablo is struggling giving up 1 run and even he is pulled at 100 pitches. As long as it works, it works. Whatever.

Disagree. Matthews was over 80 pitches and had struggled with over 25 pitches in two innings. I suppose they could have gone batter to batter with Zebby, but he likely would go out with the first guy getting on base. The Royals three best hitters were coming up in the fifth (really the only guys right now who seem like threats) and it would be the third time through the order. 

[Parfigliano]

1 hour ago, thelanges5 said:

Lefty again on Sunday. I’d like to see McCusker run into a home run ⚾️🚀

I'd like to see him get a chance to hit

[tony&rodney]

2 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

I think McCusker will get a start tomorrow, but it may well be his last before he's sent back to the minors.

 

Disagree. Matthews was over 80 pitches and had struggled with over 25 pitches in two innings. I suppose they could have gone batter to batter with Zebby, but he likely would go out with the first guy getting on base. The Royals three best hitters were coming up in the fifth (really the only guys right now who seem like threats) and it would be the third time through the order. 

Well Falvey and Baldelli agree with you too, so you are not alone and I'm sure many others also agree with the low pitch count and third time through the order strategy.

Matthews had a 9 pitch 4th inning and was looking sharper in that inning. Management is always edgy about extending the pitchers. A counter argument, not currently popular, is that starters often need an inning or three to get their mechanics and pitches lined up. In the 3rd inning Matthews was nibbling too much. Seemed like he was ready to go another couple of innings. However, you are correct that we shouldn't expect a pitcher to go much beyond 80 pitches until they are handsomely paid or well established and then it is 100 and go to the shower. But, hey, maybe Matthews told Baldelli he was gassed and couldn't throw any more pitches or Baldelli didn't want Matthews to face any batters for a third time. A continuing concern I have is how these 80-90 pitch outings wear on a bullpen as the season moves into August and beyond. I'm a strong believer in the Twins bullpen but 4+ relief guys each game is dicey. Hope is works out. 

 

[Doctor Wu]

6 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

A continuing concern I have is how these 80-90 pitch outings wear on a bullpen as the season moves into August and beyond. I'm a strong believer in the Twins bullpen but 4+ relief guys each game is dicey. Hope is works out.

Yes, that wear on the bullpen is a real concern. It sure would be nice to have one of our starters treat us to a complete game every once in a while, or at least a solid 7 innings. 

[Doctor Gast]

12 hours ago, RpR said:

Rocco deals with rookies in mysterious ways.

Rookies are very different; they all have different talents & progress offensively differently. Players have to adjust at each level, but the adjustment to MLB is by far the hardest. We need a lot of patience with them. You have rookies who are very adept at hitting like Keaschall, they come up hitting practically right away & then you have rookies like Kody Clemens who came up at 26, who was given a lot of regular ABs over 3 yrs. Who had started out with the same results as Keirsey (who, though, had very rare regular ABs), Who has progressed very little in that time. This year, PHI gave up on him & they stopped giving him regular ABs & failed to get a single hit. Magically, after MN claimed him, gave him regular ABs, & 400 ABs, everything clicked.

Keirsey is a better fielder & baserunner than both & he's at the point in his development where he still needs a lot of regular ABs & it takes him 4 ABs in a game to get grooved in. In those times he has come through with key hits. Just when he's ready to hit, they take him out. Twins quit micromanaging & let him hit his 4th AB.

I have to admit that there are players that I don't have as much patience but with Keirsey he has what it takes to contributes to the Twins if given the opportunity. 

[JD-TWINS]

10 hours ago, stringer bell said:

Contrary to popular opinion, I think Rocco values defense and the belief is that Keirsey is one of his best three defensive outfielders, even with Buxton active. Baldelli has consistently pulled Larnach or an infielder (with Castro moving to the infield) to get Keirsey in the game in late innings when the Twins have a lead. Keirsey has also often been used as a pinch runner and allowed to try to steal bases. What I'm saying is Rocco believes his talents are good enough to change games despite his really weak hitting profile.

I do predict that McCusker gets a start tomorrow in the series finale. Unless he hits a couple homers or hits four screaming liners, he will probably be sent to St. Paul when Wallner or Buxton return.

McCusker or Kiersey is going down Monday - maybe both as Team heads out of town and Buxton started swinging Wednesday and running bases Thursday (would be surprised if he didn’t head to Tampa)………Wallner back as well.

I don’t think there’s a scenario where McCusker hits his way on to the Roster on Sunday. The lefty (Cameron) that started Friday was nasty - Bubic, today has been good as well. Would like McCusker over Kiersey in line-up…….maybe he’s the DH with Larnach on bench to pinch hit against RH relievers?

Kiersey is on the roster because there are no other reasonable options in the organization. Rocco keeps him engaged when it’s advantageous to try and get a win.