Athletics 14, Twins 3: Twins Thumped in Finale, Settle for Series Win in Sacramento

[Matthew Taylor]

Image courtesy of © D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images

Box Score

Starting Pitcher: David Festa - 3 2/3 IP, 6 H, 8 ER, 2 BB, 6 SO
Home Runs: Matt Wallner (3)
Bottom 3 WPA: Festa (-.356), Larnach (-.080), Lee (-.065)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs):

The Minnesota Twins came into Thursday afternoon with a chance to finish off a four-game sweep of the lowly Athletics. Instead, they got punched in the mouth early, stumbled to their biggest blowout loss of the season, and had to turn to a position player on the mound to just get through it.

Festa Falters in Opportunity

With Pablo López hitting the injured list, the Twins turned to top pitching prospect David Festa to fill his spot in the rotation. It was a tough assignment made tougher by circumstance, Festa hadn’t pitched in over a week and was thrust into action immediately after his call-up. It didn’t go well.

The A’s teed off on the right-hander, tagging him for eight earned runs in just 3 2/3 innings. Festa gave up three home runs, walked two, and served up a steady stream of hard contact as Oakland jumped all over him. The big blows included a pair of third-inning long balls from Jacob Wilson and Tyler Soderstrom, which turned a rough start into a disaster.

It was a tough break for Festa, who likely has a decent runway in the rotation given the expected length of López’s absence. But his first start on that runway did not go the way anyone hoped it would.

The Bullpen Didn’t Help

The back half of the Twins bullpen didn’t stem the bleeding. Jorge Alcala coughed up a three-run homer to Soderstrom, his second of the game, in the fourth inning, and the A’s added another in the fifth to push the lead to 12-1. It continued the drought for Alacala and only amplified the questions surrounding his spot on the Twins' roster.

The Twins scraped together a couple late runs thanks to RBI from Ty France and Brooks Lee, but the damage had long been done.

A Position Player on the Mound

With the game well out of reach and a weekend series looming, the Twins turned to utility man Jonah Bride to mop things up on the mound. Bride tossed two innings in his first career Major League pitching appearance, a silver lining only in that it saved the bullpen from further wear and tear.

Road Trip in Perspective

The 13-2 loss prevented a series sweep, but not a series win. The Twins took three of four from the A’s and finished their grueling 10-game, 11-day, two-coast, two-minor-league-park road trip with a 5-5 record, a perfectly acceptable outcome given the circumstances.

What's Next

Now, the Twins head home to Target Field, where they’ll open a weekend set against the Blue Jays. They’ll aim to flush this one and get back on track, hopefully with stronger outings from their reshuffled rotation.

Bullpen Usage

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[big dog]

Between the action on the field and Dan Gladden handling the radio booth all by himself, I quit listening early. Sometimes you just have to make the decision to save yourself, no one's going to help you out.

[Parfigliano]

Head home.  Regroup.

[LA Vikes Fan]

That was ugly. The ump did Festa no favors on the low strike, but this loss wasn't the Ump's fault. He looked rattled and the rest of the guys looked like a team finishing a 10 day cross country road trip barely able to get through the game. At least we didn't burn any relief pitching other than the 2 most likely to be in St. Paul next week. 

Well, the depth experiment is here with Matthews and Festa on the mound every 5th day. I kind of expect them to demote Funderburk for someone that can pitch multiple innings in relief while Coloumbe shakes off the rust in AAA. Maybe Adams, McCaughan, Misiewicz, or our old friend Randy Dobnak can play that role? It's hard to see how this bullpen holds up when 2 of the 5 starters are unlikely to go beyond 5+ innings a start. That pitcher or Alcala can then be sent back or DFA'd when Coloumbe is ready to go.  I'm hopeful we can get through the Blue Jays series without a long man with Ober, Paddack and Ryan up but we'll need a long man next week for the Rangers series starting Tuesday. Those of us who wanted Matthews and Festa to get a nice long look are now getting our dream. Hope it isn't a nightmare. 

[IndianaTwin]

7 minutes ago, big dog said:

Between the action on the field and Dan Gladden handling the radio booth all by himself, I quit listening early. Sometimes you just have to make the decision to save yourself, no one's going to help you out.

I've been one of the bigger complainers about Gladden over the years, but I actually think he's improved this year. I haven't heard nearly as much name-butchering and the camaraderie between him and Atteberry feels more genuine (though not necessarily enjoyable). On Opening Day, he actually said the couple of Spanish names correctly when doing the lineups. I've often said that if he spent even an hour getting a lesson in Spanish phonics from a native Spanish-speaker it would go a long way in not making him sound so much like a doofus. It seems like he may have done that. 

But yeah, not looking forward to nine innings of play-by-play the next several days.

[IndianaTwin]

Does Funderburk have options left? Because 40 pitches from the No. 8 guy in the bullpen often leads to a transaction. (I recognize that Alcala make be more deserving of an exit, but I'm operating from the assumption that the Twins aren't yet ready to cut bait.)

[h2oface]

8-8 since the streak. 5-5 on the road trip. Losing close games is hard to watch, but getting slaughtered and the offense not even putting up a fight shouldn't be perfectly acceptable, even if you have to accept it. 

How about that famous pitching pipeline. Trade Paddack, eh? Never enough pitching, especially performing well and healthy pitching.

The Twins seem to love "good stories" even more than more competitive replacements on the roster in waiting. As long as they were throwing in the towel today, it was the day for .........Clemens to take the mound. Now that would have been a "good story". Opportunity missed.

[mikelink45]

Wow. Sorry for Festa. Alcala did what I posted yesterday. He looks promising for a couple games and then implodes. Bottom of the pen is not good. 

Glad to see Wallner back in the lineup. 

Twins were terrible. Then they were great. And now 50,-50  which are they?

[Sjoski]

"Jorge Alcala coughed up a three-run homer to Soderstrom"

It was a Grand Slam. Not a 3 run bomb.

 

[Sjoski]

I thought for sure the title for today's game was going to read:

" A's Feast on Festa"

 

[CRF]

1 hour ago, big dog said:

Between the action on the field and Dan Gladden handling the radio booth all by himself, I quit listening early. Sometimes you just have to make the decision to save yourself, no one's going to help you out.

Yep...I was so interested that I went outside to cut grass. 

[Mike Sixel]

DFA Alcala. Please.

[hitterscount]

1 hour ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

That was ugly. The ump did Festa no favors on the low strike, but this loss wasn't the Ump's fault. He looked rattled and the rest of the guys looked like a team finishing a 10 day cross country road trip barely able to get through the game. At least we didn't burn any relief pitching other than the 2 most likely to be in St. Paul next week. 

Well, the depth experiment is here with Matthews and Festa on the mound every 5th day. I kind of expect them to demote Funderburk for someone that can pitch multiple innings in relief while Coloumbe shakes off the rust in AAA. Maybe Adams, McCaughan, Misiewicz, or our old friend Randy Dobnak can play that role? It's hard to see how this bullpen holds up when 2 of the 5 starters are unlikely to go beyond 5+ innings a start. That pitcher or Alcala can then be sent back or DFA'd when Coloumbe is ready to go.  I'm hopeful we can get through the Blue Jays series without a long man with Ober, Paddack and Ryan up but we'll need a long man next week for the Rangers series starting Tuesday. Those of us who wanted Matthews and Festa to get a nice long look are now getting our dream. Hope it isn't a nightmare. 

Festa  doesn't look like a MLB starting pitcher at this point, hasn't all season. Matthews, was pulled after a little over 70 pitches last night, granted wasn't missing many bats, but he looks like he will be a solid starter moving forward. Will need SWR or Festa to step it up. There could be a lot of flipping between the two until , hopefully, one takes to the opportunity and seizes the moment. Cannot afford another injury to one of the starters.... How quickly things change!

[Western SD Fan]

This game was just set up to be a bad one before the first pitch was thrown.  Festa seemed rushed out west to pitch on a getaway day game of a ten-game road trip.  As Rocco confirmed in his postgame interview, Festa was also on a pitch count since he is still coming back from arm fatigue that he suffered while in St. Paul.  Correa was out again, and I was even surprised that Buxton played today, although he was taken out early.  Now we get to see how the Twins will line up the bullpen.  Coulombe is expected to start a rehab assignment tomorrow.  It doesn't seem like they would just have two pitchers down for multiple days in the pen.  I believe Patsky said in another thread that our old friend Blewett was just DFA'd by the Braves.  Funderburk has looked better, but I assume he will be replaced by Coulombe when he's ready.  This may be the ending of the Alcala project in Minnesota.  I had hoped he would turn a corner and there's definitely room to blame on the way he's been used in the bullpen for his troubles.  In the end though, you have to have people that are capable of getting outs in a game and it doesn't look like he is it at the moment.

[Hubie29]

I can't see this team being a .500 club with this pitching staff minus Lopez. We will need Ryan and Ober to win every start or keep the team in the game for a bullpen win to be .500. Matthews. Festa and Paddack are scary options. 

[Gamblerssoftball]

I must be in the minority here, but I will take Gladden alone before Chatterbury. I like his brutal honesty at times. He likes being the hard nosed guy..

[S Bart]

Despite the horrible loss which I witnessed firsthand, being in attendance for the series in that ballpark was extremely enjoyable. The tickets next to the dugout dropped significantly on seat geek. In fact, you could get into a game for as little as $7.00. I recommend it if you seek a different mlb experience next year. The players were more accessible to the fans including the gates being open for signatures. I spent the last few innings sitting on the grass 5 feet from the bullpen. I was so close that I could hear the conversations between the bullpen relievers. I had to look up the Twins worst loss and found out it was 18-2 in 1961. I have to emphasize that Festa did not look comfortable even before the game. He also paces in the dugout between innings as you may know. Possibly, there will be fewer Canadians traveling to MSP for the Toronto series due to the Trump comments about their country. 

[Sjoski]

The Twins' longest road trip of the season is over, seems fitting it ended on a dud.

Tampa Bay Rays (May 26–28)

Seattle Mariners (May 30–June 1)

Oakland Athletics (June 3–5)

The trip spaned over 7,300 miles, making it not only the longest for the Twins this season but also one of the most extensive in recent MLB history. 

[Blyleven2011]

2 hours ago, IndianaTwin said:

Does Funderburk have options left? Because 40 pitchers from the No. 8 guy in the bullpen often leads to a transaction. (I recognize that Alcala make be more deserving of an exit, but I'm operating from the assumption that the Twins aren't yet ready to cut bait.)

Yes , funderburk has options ... 

Someone needs to work with him to improve , his first season in 2023 with the twins wasn't bad , but since he doesn't cut the mustard  ....

[chpettit19]

1 hour ago, hitterscount said:

Festa  doesn't look like a MLB starting pitcher at this point, hasn't all season. Matthews, was pulled after a little over 70 pitches last night, granted wasn't missing many bats, but he looks like he will be a solid starter moving forward. Will need SWR or Festa to step it up. There could be a lot of flipping between the two until , hopefully, one takes to the opportunity and seizes the moment. Cannot afford another injury to one of the starters.... How quickly things change!

Before this start Festa had given up 2 earned runs in 13 innings with 15 Ks and a 2.38 FIP to go with that 1.38 ERA. Not sure what else you're looking for to "look like an MLB pitcher" in that small of a sample size.

[Blyleven2011]

It was a lousy game by the twins  , neither pitching or hitting were part of the equation today ...

As bad as they were , I watched the game , because it was better than watching paint dry  ...

[stringer bell]

3 hours ago, IndianaTwin said:

Does Funderburk have options left? Because 40 pitchers from the No. 8 guy in the bullpen often leads to a transaction. (I recognize that Alcala make be more deserving of an exit, but I'm operating from the assumption that the Twins aren't yet ready to cut bait.)

Funderburk was already optioned this year, so he can be optioned again. A couple of years ago MLB also put a limit on the number of times an option could be used (5?), so that does limit the Triple A shuttle. I know Alcalá has an option year left, but has enough service time to refuse a minor league assignment. I wonder if he would consider going down to the minors to "work on stuff" if the alternative is DFA.

I think it's time to move Fundy and/or Alcalá. They have not shown to be trustworthy in any way and are a drag on an otherwise really good bullpen. Losing López does mean that having a multiple inning guy in the 'pen becomes much more necessary, although I don't think the stress has come to bear at this point. The guy with the best ERA in the Saints bullpen is Richard Lovelady (not on 40-,man) and Adams is intriguing because he has worked multiple innings out of the bullpen. 

[AceWrigley]

1 hour ago, CRF said:

Yep...I was so interested that I went outside to cut grass. 

Ditto.

[tony&rodney]

The Athletics have some really good bats. It wasn't surprising to see them break out today. It happens and as we know 3 runs is not usually enough to win. Still not too worried about the pitching. Still worried about the team defense, speed, and the bats.

[AceWrigley]

We have a rotation of Ryan, Ober, Paddack, Matthews and Festa for the resta.

[Nashvilletwin]

I’m not sure I understand the theory of flying a rookie out to the west coast to make a start by pushing Ober back.  Why not let Ober start on his normal day against a very beatable team and let the rookie stay in his normal environs and get ready to get his start at home? Festa seemed out of sorts from the start.

I guess the theory was that the A’s aren’t very good and even if Festa struggled a bit, the game should still be winnable. Then Ober would be ready for the first game of the next series against a better team. Sure hope Ober brings his A game tomorrow; otherwise, the strategy will have failed. 

Seems like Festa was a bit sacrificed today. It’s certainly likely it would have been a lot better for him - mentally and physically - to get the start at home tomorrow. 
 

[stringer bell]

6 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

The Athletics have some really good bats. It wasn't surprising to see them break out today. It happens and as we know 3 runs is not usually enough to win. Still not too worried about the pitching. Still worried about the team defense, speed, and the bats.

I think the defense is much improved with Buxton and Correa thus far playing in more than 80% of the games. Add in Bader, Lee and (surprise) France and subtract Miranda and Julien and it is a better defensive group. Yes, they don't have much team speed and the hitting has been inconsistent (as of this morning they were 16th in runs scored--right in the middle of MLB). 

[stringer bell]

4 minutes ago, Nashvilletwin said:

I’m not sure I understand the theory of flying a rookie out to the west coast to make a start by pushing Ober back.  Why not let Ober start on his normal day against a very beatable team and let the rookie stay in his normal environs and get ready to get his start at home? Festa seemed out of sorts from the start.

I guess the theory was that the A’s aren’t very good and even if Festa struggled a bit, the game should still be winnable. Then Ober would be ready for the first game of the next series against a better team. Sure hope Ober brings his A game tomorrow; otherwise, the strategy will have failed. 

Seems like Festa was a bit sacrificed today. It’s certainly likely it would have been a lot better for him - mentally and physically - to get the start at home tomorrow. 
 

Yes, they could have gone with Ober, but Festa was fully rested and this way all of the other four starters get an extra day. IMHO a judgement call that didn't work out. Incidentally, Festa gets an extra day of service time than if he were recalled tomorrow since that is supposed to be an issue. 

[h2oface]

20 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

Before this start Festa had given up 2 earned runs in 13 innings with 15 Ks and a 2.38 FIP to go with that 1.38 ERA. Not sure what else you're looking for to "look like an MLB pitcher" in that small of a sample size.

And that was against the Tigers, Mets and White Sox. 64, 76, and 84 pitches. 4.2, 4.1 and 4 innings. Only gave up 2 earned and that was to the White Sox when he walked three (and none actually scored while he was on the mound - thank you, Sands). 19, 19 and 18 batters. Baldelli Ball. He was lucky to see 2 total batters for the 3rd time, even when pitching like an MLB pitcher 😇. That was when not coming back from arm fatigue. Today 80, 3.2, and 19. He did real well those first 3 starts. I guess the Athletics were due to win a game, eh? 

[stringer bell]

Theodore Tollefson is reporting that Adams indeed is being called up in time for tomorrow's game with the Blue Jays. My guess would be that Funderburk is optioned, but an Alcalá DFA could happen.