Yankees 6, Twins 2: Bronx Bombers Spoil Byron Buxton's Return to Minnesota Lineup

[Nate Palmer]

Image courtesy of © Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Box Score
SP: Zebby Matthews 5.2 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 9 K (99 pitches, 68 strikes (68.7%)
Home Runs: Byron Buxton (24), Trevor Larnach (16) 
Bottom 3 WPA: Brooks Kriske (-0.157), Zebby Matthews (-0.112), Ryan Jeffers (-0.059)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) 

The Minnesota Twins arrived at Yankee Stadium flying high after Sunday’s walkoff win, fueled by a Luke Keaschall opposite-field home run. Keaschall’s big hit capped an excellent week by the Twins rookie, which earned him Player of the Week honors for the American League. The Twins also regained the services of leader Byron Buxton, and looked to see what viability the combination of those two might offer to their otherwise limp lineup.

The Twins are a long way out, but can certainly play spoiler as the Yankees hold onto the final Wild Card spot going into this week's series. Considering all the trouble the Yankee franchise has given the Twins fanbase, nothing may feel better (outside of a miraculous surge back into contention) than messing up plans for the Bronx Bombers. Alas, that wasn't on the cards in the opener.

Warren Whiffs
In his first full season of major-league play, Will Warren hasn’t put together the type of season that strikes absolute fear into a lineup, but he looked like he should be feared after his performance Monday evening. The righty came into Monday with a respectable 4.44 ERA and a 92 ERA+, but the Twins struggled to get much of anything going offensively against the Yankee righty most of the evening.

Warren caused the Twins offense to make weak contact for most of the evening, resulting in a lot of frustration. When Warren exited the game after 6 ⅔ innings, he had collected seven strikeouts and 11 swings and misses. In fact, he completely quieted the visitors' bats until the sixth inning.

Buck Truck Returns
The one place the Twins were able to get anything going against Warren was with Byron Buxton at the plate in the sixth. After striking out in his first two plate appearances, Buxton got enough of Warren's sweeper to pull it over the left-field fence. It was a much-needed breakthrough, though a small thing.

In the seventh inning, Trevor Larnach followed in Buxton’s footsteps and hit his own home run. The exit velocity wasn’t much different than Buxton’s, but in New York, when a home run sails to right field, it almost always looks impressive. Larnach's 16th looked downright majestic.

 

Zebby Impressive (Mostly)
Zebby Matthews put together a very impressive start, outside of three big swings—each taken with two outs in the inning. Those three solo homers propelled the Yankees to an early 3-0 lead. Cody Bellinger, Giancarlo Stanton, and Ben Rice each took their turns finding the sweet spot against Matthews, for whom the home run remains a major bugaboo as he fights for a foothold in the major leagues.

Outside of those mistakes, Matthews put together one of his more impressive starts. He generated 18 swings and misses, on his way to striking out nine Yankee batters. Eventually, there have to be fewer 'but's involved, but his ability to both miss bats and fill up the strike zone sets a high ceiling if he can learn to limit damage on contact.

Bullpen Couldn't Hold Up
Matthews departed trailing just 3-2, but as we've seen several times this month, a bullpen full of journeymen and auditioning hopefuls tends to mean that small deficits grow. The Yankees were able to break the game open a bit with Brooks Kriske on the mound, as they tagged him for two runs and he got just one out. Erasmo Ramirez also got in the game, and the Yankees added a sixth run via a Jazz Chisholm Jr. homer against him. 

There were exciting moments, but as it seems to do, Yankee Stadium delivered depression to Twins fans. Unlike other years, though, it didn't feel like the pinstriped mystique was the primary problem Monday night.

---

What’s Next?
Tuesday night, the Twins will try to get some hits rolling against Carlos Rodón. The Yankee left-hander carries a 3.35 ERA into his start and will look to keep the Yankees in their Wild Card position. As of publishing, the Twins starter was listed as TBD. A bullpen game is a distinct possibility.

Postgame Interviews

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN	MON	TOT
Tonkin	0	0	18	38	0	56
Kriske	0	17	0	17	19	53
Ramírez	0	0	21	0	23	44
Adams	0	43	0	0	0	43
Ohl	0	0	0	36	0	36
Topa	0	0	15	20	0	35
Sands	0	9	0	9	0	18
Funderburk	0	0	0	9	0	9
Hatch	0	0	0	0	0	0

 

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[thelanges5]

Death, taxes, and the Twins losing to the Yankees. 

[Aggies7]

The twins would have easily beaten the Yankees if we didn’t trade away so much. This was the year for sure 😂

Zebby actually did well, unfortunately his mistakes were costly home runs. And instead of being allowed to complete 6 and figure out how to work around the walk to jazz when his tank was on E, he was taken out for a guy with a career ERA well over 8. Wouldn’t have mattered or affected the outcome but I ask why if the last month and half is supposed to be for learning and growing?

[Maybebaby]

Some things just never change, we always spit the bit against the pin stripes. It's only 3 games so maybe a little time to hit the fishing hole for the next couple of days and or check on the Vikings.🤷‍♂️

[Doctor Gast]

Why do the Twins admire the Yankees so much? Where they want to copy them & fear them & freeze up against their pitchers. Why did they put Julien at 1B when they rarely did so at AAA, or why is he still up here? Much less given so many regular ABs? It's time for the Twins to stop rolling over & play dead. We need a different mindset from the top down. Stop seeing ourselves as grasshoppers & more like the conquerors, even with this remnant. Nothing would give me greater pleasure. Baldelli show some fire! Prepare the team mentally. Why is the team so flat against NYY? Down with the Yanks! Let's be a spoiler & kick the Yanks out of the Playoffs. If not we could be one that sparks NYY comeback. Yuck.

[Doctor Wu]

8 hours ago, Aggies7 said:

Zebby actually did well, unfortunately his mistakes were costly home runs. And instead of being allowed to complete 6 and figure out how to work around the walk to jazz when his tank was on E, he was taken out for a guy with a career ERA well over 8. Wouldn’t have mattered or affected the outcome but I ask why if the last month and half is supposed to be for learning and growing?

Good point, but I'm guessing that because he was already at 99 pitches, Rocco decided that was enough for one day. But yeah, Zebby had an impressive outing overall except for those 2-out homers. He's starting to look more comfortable in the majors, but it's still early days for him. 

[Bodie]

Player of the Week in the AL?

We knew who it really earned it, and now it is official. 

Congratulations Luke Keaschall!!!

[CRF]

Some things never change. 

[William K Johnson]

While other teams are battling for playoff spots, we are holding tryouts.

[Doctor Gast]

Buxton is a MVP. But it'd be hard to dethrone Raleigh

[DJL44]

9 hours ago, Aggies7 said:

Zebby actually did well, unfortunately his mistakes were costly home runs. And instead of being allowed to complete 6 and figure out how to work around the walk to jazz when his tank was on E, he was taken out for a guy with a career ERA well over 8. Wouldn’t have mattered or affected the outcome but I ask why if the last month and half is supposed to be for learning and growing?

They weren’t winning and pitchers get hurt when they’re pitching tired.

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, Bodie said:

Player of the Week in the AL?

We knew who it really earned it, and now it is official. 

Congratulations Luke Keaschall!!!

0 for 3 last night and didn’t make a single play on defense. Time for a reset in AAA?

 

Not serious, poking fun at other posts I’ve seen on this page.

[Doctor Wu]

33 minutes ago, William K Johnson said:

While other teams are battling for playoff spots, we are holding tryouts.

Well, we NEED to holding tryouts at this point. Better now than in March. 

[jmlease1]

48 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

0 for 3 last night and didn’t make a single play on defense. Time for a reset in AAA?

 

Not serious, poking fun at other posts I’ve seen on this page.

I mean, he struck out looking. Better trade him. :rolls eyes:

I hate the Yankees. Sick of losing to them all the damn time. They're not even playing that well, and they smoked us last night. Ugh!

Zebby...did a lot of good things, but 3 dingers, even if they're solo shots is not great. One of the things I'm looking at with the young starters is what they're doing when they get to a 2-strike count on a hitter and what they're doing to finish them off. My frustration is when it's 0-2 or 1-2, a pitcher's count, and our guy throws an uncompetitive pitch. Saw that a few times from Zebby where he had them on the ropes and let them off the hook and gave them a chance to reset and grind the AB by throwing a breaking ball that was nowhere near the plate. Feel like that has to be the next step to correct?

Offense was pretty somnolent. Warren looked like he was going to rack up a bazillion K's early and it set the tone.

[Whitey333]

I believe the Twins are 7-25 in their last 32 games with Yankees.  Can't help but think if we would have kept one or two of those bullpen arms we traded we may have won 3 or 4 of those games since the deadline.  But it doesn't really matter I guess.

[Patzky]

1 hour ago, CRF said:

Some things never change. 

It's good to know we can still play like a big league club!

[Patzky]

17 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

I mean, he struck out looking. Better trade him. :rolls eyes:

I hate the Yankees. Sick of losing to them all the damn time. They're not even playing that well, and they smoked us last night. Ugh!

Zebby...did a lot of good things, but 3 dingers, even if they're solo shots is not great. One of the things I'm looking at with the young starters is what they're doing when they get to a 2-strike count on a hitter and what they're doing to finish them off. My frustration is when it's 0-2 or 1-2, a pitcher's count, and our guy throws an uncompetitive pitch. Saw that a few times from Zebby where he had them on the ropes and let them off the hook and gave them a chance to reset and grind the AB by throwing a breaking ball that was nowhere near the plate. Feel like that has to be the next step to correct?

Offense was pretty somnolent. Warren looked like he was going to rack up a bazillion K's early and it set the tone.

Funny you mention that about the two strike pitch, I was reading a bit about last night's Yankee starter and that was the lament, he could get to two strikes but couldn't seal the deal. 

Guess we helped out with that bugaboo.

 

[JBK]

I hate the pitch count.  99 pitches and still effective?  Leave him in.  Dang Rocco!

[mnfireman]

58 minutes ago, Whitey333 said:

I believe the Twins are 7-25 in their last 32 games with Yankees.  Can't help but think if we would have kept one or two of those bullpen arms we traded we may have won 3 or 4 of those games since the deadline.  But it doesn't really matter I guess.

The Twins are 5-5 since the deadline, you think they could/should be 8-2 or 9-1??

[Vanimal46]

Doesn’t matter how bad the Yankees are playing. As soon as they play the Twins, they’re back to winning 80% of the games. 

[PDX Twin]

Buxton's return: Meaningless solo homerun and a loss. Just like before.

He's having a great year in the stats, but it seems like most of his homeruns are like this one: single run in a losing cause.

[USAFChief]

28 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Doesn’t matter how bad the Yankees are playing. As soon as they play the Twins, they’re back to winning 80% of the games. 

IIncluding post season:

If my math is correct the Twins are 44-124 against the Yankees since 2002. .261 winning percentage 

9-27 in the Baldelli era. .250 winning percentage. Still 5 Yankee games to go this season too!!

 

[Mike Sixel]

1 hour ago, JBK said:

I hate the pitch count.  99 pitches and still effective?  Leave him in.  Dang Rocco!

No manager leaves him in there. He tried to get him thru the inning..... But this isn't a Rocco thing. 

[Mike Sixel]

35 minutes ago, Bigfork Twins Guy said:

I sure would like to see them bring up some of these young starters to man the BP instead of seeing these old vets with high ERA's lose winnable games.  Let's start building next year's pen now rather than use these guys who frankly will not be around next season.

But then you have to decide who's not a starter...... There are two out three I'd nominate, but I'm not sure theiyr ready to make that decision. Plus, they may be trading a starter or two in the off-season. 

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, PDX Twin said:

Buxton's return: Meaningless solo homerun and a loss. Just like before.

He's having a great year in the stats, but it seems like most of his homeruns are like this one: single run in a losing cause.

He's been hitting leadoff a lot. The Twins 8/9 batters have been very bad. Not sure how that is Buxton's fault.

[AKTwinsFan]

I think Zebby just tries to be a little too perfect after 2 outs. Ends up leaving too much over the plate. He's gotta try to live more on the edges after 2 outs.

[DJL44]

56 minutes ago, Bigfork Twins Guy said:

I sure would like to see them bring up some of these young starters to man the BP instead of seeing these old vets with high ERA's lose winnable games.  Let's start building next year's pen now rather than use these guys who frankly will not be around next season.

That's what Pierson Ohl and Travis Adams are doing. The other starters are working on things in AAA and getting a lot more innings there than they would in MLB.

[Aggies7]

1 hour ago, Mike Sixel said:

No manager leaves him in there. He tried to get him thru the inning..... But this isn't a Rocco thing. 

There’s not one manger in the game who opts to stay with his young starter to get one more out in a lost season instead of going to a below average journeyman with an 8+ ERA and no future with this club? I guess the game has passed me by. 

[Aggies7]

47 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

That's what Pierson Ohl and Travis Adams are doing. The other starters are working on things in AAA and getting a lot more innings there than they would in MLB.

What are they working on and why can’t they work on it with the twins? I think as a fan, I’d like to see as few pitches as possible from people like brooks kiske and Erasmo. Every. Single. Time. They aren’t good and they have no future with the team. Who’s starting tonight? It’s still TBD

[Mike Sixel]

13 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

There’s not one manger in the game who opts to stay with his young starter to get one more out in a lost season instead of going to a below average journeyman with an 8+ ERA and no future with this club? I guess the game has passed me by. 

I suppose there could be one, but no, this isn't a Rocco thing. He tried to get him thru the inning.....but he walked a guy, right? Who came in next was irrelevant to what you do with Matthews.