Royals 2, Twins 0: The Twins Fail to Take Advantage of (Many) Opportunities.

[Eric Blonigen]

Image courtesy of © Matt Blewett-Imagn Images

Box Score
Bailey Ober: 6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
Home Runs: none, nada, zip, zilch
Bottom 3 WPA: Royce Lewis (-.346), Mickey Gasper (-.121), Kody Clemens (-.077)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

The Twins faced the division rival Kansas City Royals for the middle game of a three-game set. The Twins have been playing well of late, winning three straight and having a winning record since the deadline. They looked to extend their winning streak as Bailey Ober faced Noah Cameron. Mission (not) accomplished.

The Pitchers
Cameron has been a revelation for the Royals and entered Saturday’s game with a 2.68 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP across 87-1/3 innings. He hasn’t struck many out, but he also hasn’t given up many hits due to good command and an ability to limit hard contact. He’s got a plus changeup, a plus cutter, and can locate both. Combine that with a below-average walk rate, and he’s a pitcher that could cause some problems for the Twins for years to come.

Ober, looking better than he did prior to his IL stint, hit 93 several times in the first inning. However, he sat 90-91 for the rest of the game. He was hitting his spots, and limited damage. He went six strong innings and generally looked closer to the pitcher he has been for the past couple seasons prior to his injury. He did, however, have just three whiffs on 89 pitches, suggesting his stuff still isn’t fully back.

The Game
In the 1st inning, Austin Martin hit a leadoff single, then advanced to second on a wild pitch. Ryan Jeffers struck out, Luke Keaschall grounded out to second, and Royce Lewis struck out to end the inning. In the 2nd, McCusker hit a leadoff single down the right field line. Mickey Gasper walked with two outs, but Alan Roden grounded out to end the inning.

Third Inning - Royals up 1-0
The Royals struck first in the top of the 3rd. After Ober retired Jonathan India and Nick Loftin on four pitches, he gave up a looping single to Kyle Isbel, then immediately followed that up by giving up a 108 MPH line drive double to Maikel Garcia. The Royals took a 1-0 lead.

In the bottom of the 3rd, Martin singled to center, then Jeffers singled to right. Keaschall grounded out, the Lewis hit into a double play to end the inning. In the 4th, Kody Clemens took a leadoff walk, but McCusker flew out to left fielder Randal Grichuk, then Brooks Lee grounded out to first, and Mickey Gasper hit an ineffectual pop-out to second. In the 5th, Roden was hit by pitch to start the inning. Two batters later, Jeffers singled, but again, the Twins failed to score a solitary run.

Battle of the bullpens
The Twins handed the game to the bullpen in the 7th inning. Michael Tonkin was the first man out, and he immediately walked Randal Grichuk thanks to a little help from home plate umpire Clint Vondrak. Pinch runner Tyler Tolbert stole second, and Jeffers airmailed the throw to Brooks Lee. Yes, this was looking like the early-season travails that led us to this point. After a Jonathan India liner to Roden advanced Tolbert to third, Loftin grounded out as the Royals ran into RISP struggles of their own.

In the bottom of the 7th, the Twins again had traffic as Jeffers and Keaschall had back-to-back two-out singles. Royce Lewis, after a brief injury scare after going to a knee on an awkward swing, struck out. In this at bat, he stranded his sixth runner of the game.

Justin Topa took the 8th inning, and despite allowing a one-out single to Maikel Garcia, he escaped the inning unscathed. In the bottom of the 8th, facing Lucas Erceg, the Twins brought in Trevor Larnach as a pinch hitter. Larnach has been suffering from side soreness, missing the past few games. He hit a 15-foot grounder to Bobby Witt. Rocco probably should have let McCrusher hit for himself.

9th Inning - Royals up 2-0
In the 9th, the Twins brought in Erasmo Ramiréz. After getting Salvador Perez to line out, he allowed three straight runners to reach, with a single, walk, and single. Royals up 2-0.

In the bottom of the 9th, the Twins sent the veritable powerhouse trio of Gasper, Roden, and Martin to the plate. It went about as you might expect: Gasper struck out swinging, Roden popped out to Witt, and Martin was called out on a low heater. Game over, as the Twins were shut out for the seventh time this season.

Theme of the game: The Twins fail to hit with runners in scoring position
The Twins had some traffic on the bases all game, with eight baserunners in the first five innings, but went 0-10 with runners in scoring position. Despite the Twins playing a much different brand of baseball since the selloff at the deadline, and generally looking energetic and hungry, today’s Twins looked more like the ones from a few weeks ago - listless and unable to hit in the clutch. Flush it. Tomorrow’s a new day.

Game Notes

• Ryan Jeffers has a 12-game hitting streak going. His career high is 14. Can he keep it going?
• Matt Wallner was out of the lineup as he and his wife welcomed a baby girl this morning. Carson McCusker got his second career callup and was hitting sixth. He singled in his first at-bat. 
• Tonight’s game featured just two players from their opening day lineup
• On the broadcast, they announced an interesting tidbit about rookie Luke Keaschall. In the past 20 years, there are two players who accomplished the following in their first 10 games in the bigs: a .500 on base percentage or better, 10 or more RBIs, and five or more stolen bases — Luke Keaschall, and…Mike Trout.
• Keaschall now also has the second longest hitting streak to start a career in Twins history, behind Glenn Williams’ 13. Hopefully Keaschall’s career goes significantly better
• Austin Martin now has a .795 OPS this season (small sample) after looking thoroughly outmatched last year.

Postgame Interviews: 
Coming Soon! 

What’s Next?
The Twins and Royals will conclude their series, with the vaunted yet always enigmatic TBD (Bullpen game) facing the Royals’ Ryan Bergert, another rookie. Bergert joined the Royals in a trade from the Padres. First pitch is at 12:05 PM. 

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

 

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[Aggies7]

Not a comment on whether the trade was good or bad or should/shouldn’t have been made, but Duran another spotless save for the Phillies tonight. Cant stand the team/fans but it’s good to see him start off so strongly on a club that has a chance to make a deep run, Hope he can keep it up, they can turn on him quickly, especially as the new guy.

[Whitey333]

No clutch hitting especially from Lewis.  It's funny how Lewis has one or two good games and the tell genis a superstar.  But you don't hear much when he is playing poorly.  He is in another slump but you would never know it by the announcers.  It was tough missing Wallner and Buxton.  Buck has the unique ability to take a day to day injury and be gone for weeks.  His career is loaded with that.  Ober pitched great.  Does anyone know about Ryan Fitzgerald?  They call him up quite a while ago but never gets in the game.  If he isn't good enough to play get rid of him.  He is wasting a spot if the great Rocco refuses to.play him.  Team is playing ok since the deadline.  At least so far.  But why is Gasper on this team?  He just cannot hit major league pitching.  He has no business on the team.  Hone plate umpires was awful today.  No he was brutal. But at least he seemed incompetent for both sides.  Letsvwin Sunday and take the series.  We have a tough schedule coming up.  Go Twins.

[Parfigliano]

Why why why is Gasper getting AB?

[Dman]

I agree Gasper looks overmatched more often than not, but he is walking 10% of the time and only striking out 24% of the time. He's not completely helpless up there.  His quality of contact though is really, really bad.  He isn't barreling much of anything. Only 7 hits so far and 6 of them are singles.

Why do they keep giving him a try.  Because his AAA stats are really good all the way around and they think given time they will translate at the MLB level.  At this point I guess they don't have much to lose, but it is painful to watch some of his at bats. Personally he just doesn't seem to have a good feel for getting his bat to the ball with the stuff they are giving him.

[DocBauer]

Sorry but other than losing another close game where they blew chances, and a couple guys in the pen who probably aren't part of 2026, I have one takeaway.

Ober pitched a good game.

We're playing for pride and 2026. Ober looking good is a very nice positive to take out of the game.

Next up? Win Sunday and do better.

[Doctor Wu]

Too many men left on base and not a single extra-base hit. Heck, what happened to our "new" strategy of stolen bases and bunts? We might have been able to manufacture a single run, but we still would have lost the game.  Oh well, at least Ober looked better. But as others have noted, the whole lineup failed to provide any clutch hitting when needed. Not encouraging. 

[CRF]

8 hours ago, Parfigliano said:

Why why why is Gasper getting AB?

He has absolutely no business being in the majors. Completely worthless. 

[Peter]

Awful loss last night!!! We have chance to finish with winning record-why is gasper on team? Great story that he made big leagues but time to release him! Royce is 🤮🤡👎🗑️get rid of stupid face paint and start hitting 5 home runs only 24 RBIs???? Seriously!!! Today is must win!!! Then it’s Yankees/tigers this week! Still believe we can have winning record this year!!! Let’s go twins!!!

[bunsen82]

If Lewis doesn’t start going opposite field, pitchers are going to continue to pound him outside. 
 

Outside of Lewis and maybe super Mario, that was a pretty solid game all around. For a bullpen that I thought would implode, we haven’t seen that yet. 
 

For as good as Duran is doing in Philly, Jax start isn’t going so well for the Rays. Gave up a 3 run HR to the dump truck the other night to lose the game. I don’t think Jax has been right all year. We may have sold high on him when he requested that trade. 

[mikelink45]

I think the theme of comments is about Gaspar (and I agree).  Today he is supposed to catch.  That is a sad indictment for a team that knows Vasquez is gone after this year.

Ober did well, but still does not look like the pitcher we expect.  His velocity is not going to play against really good hitting teams.

 

[David Maro]

Why is it that Lewis thinks he its a good idea to swing for the fences on every swing. How about a base hit to a wide open right side. 

What is Gasper doing on the roster,Julien probably would have been better playing 1st and batting 9th.

This game was given away by the  manager with his lineup construction.

[Linus]

I guess I will join the chorus of having seen enough of Gasper. He’s not part of the future so let’s take a look at someone else. 

[bunsen82]

1 minute ago, Linus said:

I guess I will join the chorus of having seen enough of Gasper. He’s not part of the future so let’s take a look at someone else. 

They have given Gasper a pretty good run. I know his stats are better at AAA but I’m just not seeing it. Roden is putting good contact on the ball the last 3 or so games. I think he is going to start hitting here to end the season. 
 

As frustrated as I have been with Martin’s defense, the bat looks legit. Opposite field, pull or straight center he is hitting all over. He is extremely aggressive on the basepaths. I think you continue to work on his reads and defense. As a 4th outfielder, base runner or even pinch hitter, he looks like he could fill that role really well. 

[DJL44]

31 minutes ago, bunsen82 said:

As frustrated as I have been with Martin’s defense, the bat looks legit. Opposite field, pull or straight center he is hitting all over. He is extremely aggressive on the basepaths. I think you continue to work on his reads and defense. As a 4th outfielder, base runner or even pinch hitter, he looks like he could fill that role really well. 

Morneau talked quite a bit about the swing adjustments Martin had made. They appear to be helping. The scouts will have to create a new plan of attack, then he'll have to adjust again.

[DJL44]

33 minutes ago, bunsen82 said:

They have given Gasper a pretty good run. I know his stats are better at AAA but I’m just not seeing it.

You know how people talk about clutch not being a thing? Part of that is players who can't handle the pressure at MLB are weeded out pretty quickly. Gasper might be one of those players who can't block out the crowds and the bright lights.

2 hours ago, bunsen82 said:

If Lewis doesn’t start going opposite field, pitchers are going to continue to pound him outside. 

His spray chart is very pull-happy. I agree with this assessment.

[mike8791]

This game illustrates the biggest weakness of the team that has been apparent since opening day:  there is no one on this current roster that comes close to resembling a cleanup or #3 hitter.  Yes, Buxton and Wallner did not play, but neither of them resembles a true middle-of-the-lineup bat.  Wallner is a home run or nothing batter and Bux, the best power hitter in the lineup, is far too streaky(and far too injury prone) to be a consistent #4.  He probably slots best as a #2 hitter - not cleanup.

Today we used Keaschal and Lewis as #3/4 and the results were predictable.  Keaschal, though far from being established, has the makings of a good leadoff man with a combination of OBP and speed.  Why isn't he slotted there, Rocko?   Lewis is no longer the power threat hoped for.  He belongs in one of the #7/8/9 slots and perhaps not even there.  He is a huge disappointment!  Lee, while showing some improvement offensively, also belongs in the bottom 3 of the order, until Culpepper can be brought up..  Jeffers has come on strongly recently and based on his track record, should probably be in the #5/6 position.

Offense is still this teams achilles heel.  The trade deadline did absolutely nothing to correct this glaring weakness.  Instead, it just turned the pen into another glaring weakness.  So what's the solution here?  I can see only one: new ownership willing to spend money on at least one or two 30HR/100rbi potential 1B/ DH players,  sign a guy like Jeffers to a long term contract, and hope that guys like Jenkins, Gonzales,  Rodriguez, and/or Culpepper turn into genuine middle of the order bats.  And as part of this new ownership - get rid of Falvey for his failure to develop offensive players and Rocko for his inexplicable lineup constructions.  The alternative to this overhaul is more years of failure and very limited playoff chances.

[jmlease1]

Last night's game is a reminder that it's hard to put up runs with no extra base hits. Twins offense is impressively bad against LHP, never did any real damage. Royce had a bad game at the plate, but no one did well with runners in scoring position. If you're relying on 2-out hits to get runs, you're going to have plenty of games where you come up short.

Ober did pretty well, looked more like the guy we've seen over the past 3 seasons, which is nice against KC, because they have killed him before. 

[jmlease1]

11 hours ago, Whitey333 said:

No clutch hitting especially from Lewis.  It's funny how Lewis has one or two good games and the tell genis a superstar.  But you don't hear much when he is playing poorly.  He is in another slump but you would never know it by the announcers.  It was tough missing Wallner and Buxton.  Buck has the unique ability to take a day to day injury and be gone for weeks.  His career is loaded with that.  Ober pitched great.  Does anyone know about Ryan Fitzgerald?  They call him up quite a while ago but never gets in the game.  If he isn't good enough to play get rid of him.  He is wasting a spot if the great Rocco refuses to.play him.  Team is playing ok since the deadline.  At least so far.  But why is Gasper on this team?  He just cannot hit major league pitching.  He has no business on the team.  Hone plate umpires was awful today.  No he was brutal. But at least he seemed incompetent for both sides.  Letsvwin Sunday and take the series.  We have a tough schedule coming up.  Go Twins.

Fitzgerald is really just insurance because they don't have anyone else on the roster who can play SS. What are they going to do, throw Martin in there? I mean, I guess they could have called up Eeles, but he wasn't going to play either, because they want to see how Lee does every day at SS. But with Correa and Castro both gone, there's no other real SS on the roster and they're not going to want things to go sideways if Lee rolls an ankle in the 3rd inning. Call it a reward for Fitz for being a good organizational player.

[HarmonK03]

1 hour ago, jmlease1 said:

Fitzgerald is really just insurance because they don't have anyone else on the roster who can play SS. What are they going to do, throw Martin in there? I mean, I guess they could have called up Eeles, but he wasn't going to play either, because they want to see how Lee does every day at SS. But with Correa and Castro both gone, there's no other real SS on the roster and they're not going to want things to go sideways if Lee rolls an ankle in the 3rd inning. Call it a reward for Fitz for being a good organizational player.

I am not sure that you couldn't roll with Martin for a game or two if needed.  If Lee goes down with an injury then you call up Fitzgerald.  I would rather have 13 guys on the roster that are going to be used than 11.