Why Twins Should Have Laid Down a Bunt in 10th Inning Sunday

[joefish]

6 hours ago, SD happy said:

Not to be a downer, but, FWIW, Jeffers struck out in the next at bat for the second out.

A terribly non- productive out 

 Chased. Chased. Chased.

[jorgenswest]

1 hour ago, DJL44 said:

If you think Vazquez only has a 15% chance of getting the bunt down, then it's probably the right move. I'm betting he gets a hit less than 15% of the time against Hader.

Hader has 0 sacrifice hits against and 0 bunts for hit against in the last two seasons.

Vazquez doesn’t need to get a hit. He needs to put the ball in play. His strike out rate is 16.5%. His infield fly ball rate is 7.5%. Those are guaranteed unhelpful. They are also among the lower rates on the team.

Baldelli could have pinch hit Bride to bunt. He hasn’t had a successful sacrifice bunt since 2023. Is he any better than Vazquez bunting, I also imagine that there is a chance either bunts it straight back to the pitcher and we have an out at 3rd and a slow runner on first. Clemens has a bunt hit this year and a sacrifice bunt but those were against right handed pitching. Hader is going to be much more difficult. 

[Blyleven2011]

3 hours ago, S Bart said:

I find that the saddest part of this whole thing is that the Twins do nothing to improve their status. Many teams are making productive trades at the moment which is not something that is the Twins' modus operandi. This ho hum approach to the game plan is discouraging and will hit their ticket sales. Until the owners sell the team and the management as well as the focus changes, I sincerely question if the direction will change. If a team performs well and the tickets sales are strong, it improves the value price for selling purposes in my view. Rocco is one of the longest tenured managers in the AL but some of his current path decisions could lead to his demise.  

Let's hope he goes and falvey and his professionals goes to ...

It will make my day when this happens  , I miss the way baseball should be played ...

[S Bart]

3 hours ago, JD-TWINS said:

“Many teams are making productive trades at the moment……” ……other than Devers to Giants????? It’s June 16th. I can’t think of any other trades in ‘25 season that have happened, of note?

You are right...I thought that I viewed a few more...it is early. My main point centers on the fact that it is HIGHLY doubtful that that they would do anything to help the team. Am I wrong on this point?

[S Bart]

31 minutes ago, Blyleven2011 said:

Let's hope he goes and falvey and his professionals goes to ...

It will make my day when this happens  , I miss the way baseball should be played ...

"IF" they sell the team, there will most certainly be changes. 

[USAFChief]

1 hour ago, jorgenswest said:

Hader has 0 sacrifice hits against and 0 bunts for hit against in the last two seasons.

Vazquez doesn’t need to get a hit. He needs to put the ball in play. His strike out rate is 16.5%. His infield fly ball rate is 7.5%. Those are guaranteed unhelpful. They are also among the lower rates on the team.

Baldelli could have pinch hit Bride to bunt. He hasn’t had a successful sacrifice bunt since 2023. Is he any better than Vazquez bunting, I also imagine that there is a chance either bunts it straight back to the pitcher and we have an out at 3rd and a slow runner on first. Clemens has a bunt hit this year and a sacrifice bunt but those were against right handed pitching. Hader is going to be much more difficult. 

An unsuccessful bunt is clearly part of the consideration,but getting a bunt down is orders of magnitude easier than hitting a ground ball to the right side.

 

[jorgenswest]

53 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

An unsuccessful bunt is clearly part of the consideration,but getting a bunt down is orders of magnitude easier than hitting a ground ball to the right side.

 

It might be easier but over the last two seasons Hader has began a 10th or 11th inning 16 times and there have up no infield sacrifices in that time. He is so good I have to at least wonder why it has never happened. He has give up just two infield sacrifices over the last 7 seasons. I don’t know how often unsuccessful attempts led to being down in the count 0-2 or how many unsuccessful attempts led to an out at third or a double play pop bunt. Hader does give up stolen bases and stealing third might have been in play but Lee and the remaining bench offered little hope of a successful steal.

The options for the Twins in that at bat were dismal. The bats they need to count on at the top of the order performed dismally. Hader outperformed Duran and it cost the game.

It is fair to criticize Baldelli in that decision but it needs to be criticism in the context of how difficult it has been to successfully bunt against Hader. I am just trying to add that context since I didn’t see it in the original post. 
 

edit: need to fix the 49. It wasn’t what I meant to type and now need to recount. Fixed to 16.

[Althebum82]

Sigh.  I looked at the premise of your question and rolled my eyes.  Vasquez can't bunt.  Hmmm, let's check that out.  Oooops!  He led the team with 5 sacrifices last year (although has yet to register his first one this year).  Okay, maybe it's not such a terrible suggestion after all,,,,,,,and the pinch-hitting options don't move me to criticize the choice to send him up to the plate.

All in all, a fair question to ask I guess.  But, that does mean that somebody coming up after him would have to finish the task of getting the runner in.  As it turned out, it really did not matter to bunt or not bunt......

[Jacksson]

12 hours ago, Old Crow said:

Right on and this was not the first time a bunt was called for this week end.  Saturday late in a close game with runners on first and second and no outs a bunt changes the whole dynamics of the game.  

EXACTLY !!

[Bad News TC Bears]

I personally like bunting in situations where there are no outs. You don't have to do it every time... Even faking a bunt and not committing can throw off the pitcher or put the defense on it's toes. When I watch Twins games I find myself yelling at the TV for it in vain... Perhaps old fundamental baseball is not sexy anymore? 

[JADBP]

14 hours ago, twinstalker said:

Bunting (sacrificing) is almost always bad.  But it's especially bad in the top half of an extra inning.  If the reasoning's not laid in the article or comments, shame on everybody.

This is the perfect example of hindsight.  It's so clear when you know what the outcome of the alternative is.

What an stupid statement.  Come on...bunting has been around for decades.  It is a fine tool used when you need to push across a single run.  Like in extra innings.  There are plenty of good times to lay down a  bunt.  It takes imagination, intelligence and a quick understanding of the situation to surprise the opponents with a bunt.  I can guarantee you, if Vasquez turns around and bunts on the first pitch, all his old teammates are going to say "WOAH!"  No one expects that because the moron in charge decides that one of the worst hitters in the AL should swing away, every time.

The most frustrating problem that I have with Rocco is that HE DOES NOT LEARN FROM HIS MISTAKES.  He just keeps repeating them.  GRRRRRRR!!!!!!  Insanity!

[old nurse]

So advocate for a bunt when there the next two batters went out quietly. Yes a bunt would put the runner o third for a sac fly. They might as well have 2 tries for a hit as opposed to one try for a fly 

[tarheeltwinsfan]

23 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

Reality screams repeatedly - the Twins as an organization do not bunt, they do not run the bases well, and they don't play defense. The chosen position players were carefully put together by design as a collective group that the front office feels is the best for earning a playoff spot. The Twins are the slowest team in baseball and remain committed to smashball. That is the reality.

So, do we think the Twins should use a bunt, especially in certain specific situations? Sure, many do, but our thoughts are irrelevant to the organizational plan.

We watch the Twins because we are lifelong fans (since 1961, Game 1 for me), not because of how they play the game. At least that is true for me. If you want to watch good baseball, I highly recommend watching the Tampa Bay Rays among some other teams. I love catching the Rays games. However, I'm still a loyal Twins fan even though they are pretty boring. It is what it is.

Great post.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

We Twins fans who write TD articles and who post regularly here on TD didn't just fall off the turnip truck on the way to town this morning. Bunt the damn ball!

[mluebker]

22 hours ago, Parfigliano said:

Who do they have that is a star?  Buxton and Correa?  That's funny and sad.

Sorry, should have added my usual caveat: “…when they’re healthy and in the lineup.”

[mluebker]

23 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

Again, no defense of how ownership operates but one must know or be open to knowledge that tells us a couple of things. TheTwins have outspent every AL Central opponent since Falvey was hired and the philosophy, roster, and type of play within the organization is strictly a front office and manager collaboration. Ownership pays the bills but has zero input into style of play or roster compilation.

Then too much of that money has gone into guys who aren’t able to stay healthy or don’t deliver on their promise. Because we’re sure not seeing the results on the field.

[AceBee]

Agreed. They should have also tried it in second game of Seattle series (probably the start of their downward spiral) in the extras with Clemens at the plate and also on Saturday in a tied game after Buxton got HBP followed by a walk with Castro at the plate (I am pretty sure there are other instances but this two come at the top of my mind). As a fan, this has been my frustration over last few years - for some reason or the other, Twins are not inclined or willing to try and manufacture runs. Its annoying when we get beat in a close game against teams (Guardians would be the prime example here which made our commentator wonder aloud how the Twins regularly lose in 8th and 9th inning in Cleveland) who walks, steals base, gets advanced to third, and come home on a sac fly. I would put 'not bunting', 'not advancing the runners via a productive at bat', and 'reluctance to steal' all in one big bucket of frustration. It is anecdotal that the Seattle game earlier this month I mentioned above was preceded by the thrilling extra innings win a day before where the Twins seemed to follow the philosophy of being aggressive and try to score runs only to be followed by same passive approach waiting for streaky lineup to piece consecutive hits together or hit a HR. 'Do not want to give the opposition a free out' seems to be the common reasoning behind unwillingness to bunt but that logic fails when most of our home runs seem to be of solo variety (need to confirm stats on this) and/or our free runners wait on the bases only to watch batters strike out, pop up, or GIDP. It is not at all surprising that Twins set record of 10+ extra inning losses a few years back and in general seem to be fish out of the water in extra innings games with ghost runners. 

[Coach Wheels]

On 6/16/2025 at 1:41 PM, JD-TWINS said:

The offense scored 2 runs and 1 run respectively in last two losses. On Friday, if someone told you the TWINS were going to score 1 & 2 runs over the weekend games, would you have bet any money on the Team winning either game?

Every loss can’t be on the Manager.

Wallner’s average has dropped 50 points in 10 days………he has 5 HR in 31 games & 102 AB’s. Royce Lewis has been terrible & is hurt a second time. Correa has been better but nothing special. Miranda & Julien have contributed zero.

Duran can’t get a hold & loses a tie game Saturday & enters Sunday’s game and walks the lead-off hitter on 4 pitches with a one run lead.

Players have to play well or the Team will lose!!

Nothing in my comment said "fire Rocco." But his lack of originality is a weakness in his managerial skills.