Marlins 2, Twins 0: Twins Bats Have No Answers for Marlins’ Edward Cabrera

[Steven Trefz]

Image courtesy of (C) Troy Taormina - Imagn Images

Box Score
SP: Joe Ryan 7 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K (88 pitches, 57 strikes (65%))
Home Runs: N/A
Bottom 3 WPA: Brooks Lee (-.118), Byron Buxton (-.116), Trevor Larnach (-.114)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) 

The Twins continued their last road trip before the All-Star Break by taking their talents to South Beach. Still dizzy from Tarik Skubal and a series loss to the Tigers, the Twins hoped to get healthy again both on the roster (Royce Lewis returned) and in the standings (the Marlins were 17-24 at home heading into Tuesday, but winners of seven in a row overall). Joe Ryan pitched six scoreless in a victory against Seattle in his last outing, but he faced another righty in Miami's Edward Cabrera—who did his best Skubal impression. Could the Twins support their potential All-Star pitcher in this must-win road contest? Or would the Twins offense make Cabrera look like a Cy Young candidate?

Marlins Strike First, Royce Looks Good
The Twins managed nothing off of Cabrera to start the game, and Ryan looked to be cruising right along as well. Ryan seemingly hit Kyle Stowers with an 0-2 fastball, but it was overturned and ruled a foul ball. Then, the Twins immediately wished they had kept their mouths shut. Stowers took a 1-2 splitter that didn't split deep to right, to stake Cabrera and the Marlins to an early 1-0 lead.

The Twins thought that they were about to break even in the top of the third inning, when the newly reactivated Royce Lewis doubled off of the glove of third baseman Connor Norby with one out. The issues that plagued the Twins throughout June continued right on into July, however, and Lewis was left stranded at second after strike outs of Christian Vazquez and Byron Buxton.

Pitching Dominance
After Lewis's double in the top of the third, no Twins or Marlins batter reached base until Xavier Edwards singled with one out in the bottom of the sixth inning. Ryan and Cabrera were dominant throughout the game, The previously red-hot Brooks Lee had a chance to drive in Willi Castro with two out in the seventh after Castro stole second to get into scoring position, but he struck out swinging and earned the team-low WPA for his efforts because of it. Cabrera fanned six, surrendering only two hits, and Ryan fanned four and surrendered four small hits and one big one, as both starters completed seven innings, sending the game into the eighth inning with the Marlins hanging onto their 1-0 lead.

Anthony Bender replaced Cabrera in the top of the eighth, and with one out Lewis came up to the plate in hopes of tying the game. What he got was two straight hanging off-speed pitches. A comfortable Lewis has sent pitches as poor as those flying into the seats for hero shots in the past, but tonight, he popped them straight up and back two rows deep behind home plate. Baseball is a game of inches, but its also a game of confidence and momentum. The Twins have neither right now, and it shows.

Buxton is an All-Star Center Fielder, but the Twins Offense is Minor League
Louis Varland took over in the bottom of the eighth, and after turning a nifty double play on Edwards to get the first two outs of the inning Varland surrendered a moon shot to deep left center. Buxton drifted back, and back, and back, and couldn't jump high enought to catch the ball, but he did managed to "bring it back" into the field of play, turning a potential homerun into a triple. After an intentional walk to Otto Lopez, Varland took on the defensive replacement catcher Nick Fortes. Fortes took that slight, and punched an RBI single in front of Matt Wallner in right to make it 2-0 after all.

In wicked irony, the Twins' last hope was against former "not good enough to be a Twin" Ronny Henriquez, who is sporting a 1.25 WHIP and 2.93 ERA across 40 innings for the Marlins this season. Henriquez struck out Buxton looking, Trevor Larnach on a foul tip strike out, and Castro on a fly ball to slam the door on the second shut-out loss in a row for the reeling Twins.

What’s Next?
The Twins look to rebound in Miami Wednesday night. Minnesota will send righty Simeon Woods Richardson (3-4, 4.63 ERA) out in search of win number four, while the Marlins will send righty Janson Junk (Yes, that's his name, and he's 2-0, with a 3.73 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 5:40 pm CDT.

Postgame Interviews

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	FRI	SAT	SUN	MON	TUE	TOT
Wentz	0	48	0	0	0	48
Varland	15	0	0	0	19	34
Topa	0	0	30	0	0	30
Jax	23	0	0	0	0	23
Stewart	0	0	14	0	0	14
Sands	0	12	0	0	0	12
Durán	9	0	0	0	0	9
Coulombe	6	0	1	0	0	7

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[Patzky]

Insert comment here.

[Western SD Fan]

Adams start alert for St. Paul:  2 2/3 IP, 3H, 2ER, 1BB, 2K in 49 pitches.  He's already out so that doesn't bode well for a future Adams appearance.

[LastOnePicked]

Sell, sell, sell. There's not nearly enough here. Let's get this long overdue rebuild going. 

I wish ownership even cared enough to simply push the overhaul button.

[thelanges5]

Good pitching no scoring

Bad pitching no scoring 

Theme since Aug 2024

[Vanimal46]

All we need to know. This is a bad team that needs a complete overhaul top to bottom. 

[Mike Sixel]

Nothing will change until Lewis and CC either hit or are gone. This could take years.....

[Road trip]

So the brain trust decided the shell of Michael Tonkin was more worthy of a 40 man spot this winter than Ronny Henriquez... 😬   I know we are always gonna have some guys who go on to do well elsewhere, but that one now looks hard to defend.

[thelanges5]

9 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

All we need to know. This is a bad team that needs a complete overhaul top to bottom. 

Stats don’t lie

[Aggies7]

Pitching wasn’t the problem tonight but it’s now the second time in like a week that a former twin closed out a game on us. 

[jkcarew]

My takeaway: Tarik Skubal is nothing special.

[Western SD Fan]

8 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

Pitching wasn’t the problem tonight but it’s now the second time in like a week that a former twin closed out a game on us. 

Good news for us.  The Red Sox come calling to Minnesota at the end of the month.  We will have an opportunity for Alcala to close us out as well.

[Tlaker]

22 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Nothing will change until Lewis and CC either hit or are gone. This could take years.....

Nothing will change for next year either…. because of the extension for Rocco 

[darwin22]

29th game (of 85 played) that this abysmal offense has scored 2 runs or less.  No shock that 27 losses of resulted from that ineptitude choreographed by Falvey,

On pace for another 26 games of futility,  

Will be fortunate to finish in 4th place.

Sickening.

 

 

 

[Parfigliano]

1 hour ago, Patzky said:

Insert comment here.

Box score says TC "hitters" are putrid.  Glad I went out to eat shortly after the Lewis DB.

[Parfigliano]

1 hour ago, LastOnePicked said:

Sell, sell, sell. There's not nearly enough here. Let's get this long overdue rebuild going. 

I wish ownership even cared enough to simply push the overhaul button.

I wish they cared enough to have not extended Baldelli.

[tony&rodney]

"Miami scores first, Royce looks good"

Did anyone think Lewis looked good?. He still looks injured to me. Ground ball off the third baseman's glove was a legit hit because Norby was well off the bag. Royce whiffed on ball hit to him at 78 MPH and looks very nervous about his throws. Miami didn't challenge the routine grounder he took a while to throw. Lastly, I was really concerned with how he ran.

I want Lewis to do well but my eyes tell me his legs are out of whack. The swing has his feet moving and he can't run. I guess the Twins hope that Lewis works his way back to 2023 as a savior but they might have  luck trying that with Julien as long as they are into magic.

I'm not down on Lewis but maybe I'm looking for the wrong player if others feel he looks good.

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, Road trip said:

So the brain trust decided the shell of Michael Tonkin was more worthy of a 40 man spot this winter than Ronny Henriquez... 😬   I know we are always gonna have some guys who go on to do well elsewhere, but that one now looks hard to defend.

And Eiberson Castellano. And Matt Canterino.

[tony&rodney]

Were there any questions or answers of why Joe Ryan was lifted after the 7th inning. I really like Varland and don't have an issue with it really, but Ryan has thrown 90+ to 100+ pitches before. He was at 88 pitches and another 12-15 pitches seemed reasonable. Again, not a big deal, just a fan of pitchers going 100 plus pitches when they are cruising. 

Although Ryan, Ober, Lopez, and Paddack to some extent have thrown 90 or more pitches numerous times, there seems to be a trend to back away from extending a guy if they are in the upper 80s pitch count at the close of an inning. When someone is throwing loose and easy 110 pitches is not more strenuous once the arm is already working. Perhaps injury concerns which seems reasonable.

[Tlaker]

2 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

Were there any questions or answers of why Joe Ryan was lifted after the 7th inning. I really like Varland and don't have an issue with it really, but Ryan has thrown 90+ to 100+ pitches before. He was at 88 pitches and another 12-15 pitches seemed reasonable. Again, not a big deal, just a fan of pitchers going 100 plus pitches when they are cruising. 

Although Ryan, Ober, Lopez, and Paddack to some extent have thrown 90 or more pitches numerous times, there seems to be a trend to back away from extending a guy if they are in the upper 80s pitch count at the close of an inning. When someone is throwing loose and easy 110 pitches is not more strenuous once the arm is already working. Perhaps injury concerns which seems reasonable.

Preaching to my choir….. Rocco’s not so much. Been enough years of Rocco to understand that his management style is not a winning style 

[Patzky]

9 hours ago, Road trip said:

So the brain trust decided the shell of Michael Tonkin was more worthy of a 40 man spot this winter than Ronny Henriquez... 😬   I know we are always gonna have some guys who go on to do well elsewhere, but that one now looks hard to defend.

The hiittng is the much bigger problem than Michael Tonkin.

[Danchat]

Heck of a start from Ryan... he deserves an All-Star nod. Too bad the hitters couldn't support him.

[Mike Sixel]

24 minutes ago, Tlaker said:

Preaching to my choir….. Rocco’s not so much. Been enough years of Rocco to understand that his management style is not a winning style 

They've won more than fifty percent of the games he's managed. It's the players. Now we're complaining about a guy going seven innings?

[Blyleven2011]

Front office personal sit in their chairs after the skubal gem , we can't get any worse than this ...

Twins go to Miami and proves they can be worse then the Detroit series ...

Ryan pitched a good game for not  , lewis doubles for not , willi steals second base for not ...

The hitting is unacceptable , two shutouts in arow is unacceptable ...

Some people say it's not the managers fault , he has to accept some accountability for the failures of this team ( players and coaches all have to follow FO and Rocco's lead ) ...

If the news is true that Rocco has been retained for 2026 is unacceptable  ...

[knothole61]

3 hours ago, Patzky said:

Insert comment here.

*Comment: I love Ryan, sign him to a big contract as soon as possible, if possible. And...how can an offense staffed by highly-paid professionals be so bad?

[TwinsChupacabra]

If you look at Rocco's record, you'll find that "over fifty percent" win percentage is uneven.  If you take out the first year (everyone homers every at bat and any manager could have won), he'd be exactly .500. One playoff year since Covid.  One season above 3rd place since 2020, in one of baseball's easiest divisions.  Trend line not looking good.

Paul Molitor got fired after two consecutive second place finishes. 
 

[knothole61]

3 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

All we need to know. This is a bad team that needs a complete overhaul top to bottom. 

Gleeman is unequalled in his ability to get to the point, both powerfully and painfully!

[knothole61]

2 hours ago, darwin22 said:

29th game (of 85 played) that this abysmal offense has scored 2 runs or less.  No shock that 27 losses of resulted from that ineptitude choreographed by Falvey,

On pace for another 26 games of futility,  

Will be fortunate to finish in 4th place.

Sickening.

 

 

 

Did I do the math right? The 2025 Twins have scored 2 runs or less almost 35% of of the time? Horrific!

[knothole61]

This just in: the Twins on Tuesday night became just the second team in American League history to lose 10,000 games--the Browns-Orioles franchise being the first. This was accomplished, of course, by including the often poor records of the Washington team. Years ago they used to say: What is Washington? A: First in war, first in peace, and last in the American League. Ah, but that 1924 Series was a dandy, eh?

[Doctor Wu]

5 hours ago, knothole61 said:

Did I do the math right? The 2025 Twins have scored 2 runs or less almost 35% of of the time? Horrific!

Well, obviously all the other teams are using their Cy Young candidates to dominate us in these games. But at some point the bats have to come to life ... right? right? maybe?