Twins 7, Padres 4: Lively Bats & Cortes Ejection Lead to Victory

[Matt Braun]

Image courtesy of © Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

Box Score
Zebby Matthews: 6 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
Home Runs: Royce Lewis (9)
Top 3 WPA: Kody Clemena (.211), Trevor Larnach (.177), Royce Lewis (.118)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

 

Oh, we’re still here. 162 means 162, huh? Every team? Even with football starting soon? Ok, the Ship of Theseus Twins roll on, this time hosting the Padres in a battle between an energetic playoff contender and the rotting husk of what used to be a competitive collection of men. 

Zebby Matthews and his powerful jawline toed the rubber for the Twins, as Nestor Cortes and his association of tricks that one may call “crafty” took the mound for the Padres.

Initial results favored no one. San Diego tried and failed to score in the game’s opening frames. Minnesota, as well, placed men on base, but an invisible barrier cursed second base, causing Ryan Jeffers to attempt in vain to turn a single into a double in the first, and forcing Austin Martin to remain stationary after he doubled with two outs in the second. Stronger attempts will be needed to score.

The third brought runs. A sacrifice fly from Luis Arraez. who was returning to Target Field in a non-Twins uniform for the first time. Then a matching RBI groundout by Byron Buxton. Then a second run for the Padres. Soon, chaos.

Cortes was thrown out of the game. Unceremoniously. He disagreed with the home plate umpire calling ball four on a close pitch in a 3-2 count and voiced his opinion. The umpire disagreed with his disagreement. Unfortunately for the lefty, umpires hold the ultimate executive ability to do something about it. A simple finger point clarified Cortes’ position remaining in the game. Mike Shildt came to support his player and mime the motions of an upset manager otherwise privy to the uselessness of his objections. A new pitcher trudged in from the bullpen. 

His ejection came with runners on first and second. Royce Lewis singled to load the bases. Kody Clemens grounded into a gentleman’s “fielder’s choice,” which is the perfectly vague term scorers use to avoid bruised egos from defenders. An accurate description is that Jake Cronenworth mangled a potential double play, causing two runs to score as runners nestled in at second and third. 

 

Trevor Larnach chopped a single up the gut to plate two more—and while Minnesota threatened for more in the inning—they settled for a four-piece giving them a 5-2 lead.

Sorry, Lewis just homered. 6-2 lead. Sorry, Buxton just drove in a run on a single. 7-2 lead. 

San Diego plated two more runs to push the situation into "save" territory. Evidently, the man for the job was Kody Funderburk : the lefty emerged from the pen, likely as confused as any that he was the one serving as the closer. Nonetheless, he did it, holding the Padres scoreless to secure the win for the Twins.

Notes:

With his first steal of the game, Byron Buxton recorded the first 20-20 season of his career.

Buxton played in his 873rd game as a Twin, the 24th-most in team history. He's three away from tying Denny Hocking.

Kody Funderburk earned the second save of his MLB career.

Austin Martin is slashing .538/.647/.769 in 17 plate appearances against the San Diego Padres. 

Post-Game Interview:

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

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[Doctor Gast]

Always a pleasure to see Arraez hit yet still win the game. Great offense driven by getting on base & clutch singles.

[BrokenCompass]

Nice win. Good to see Lewis really get a hold of one. This last month could do wonders for his confidence going into the offseason if he can put some swings together. 

[Old Crow]

one of the more entertaining games plyed by this collection of players this month.

[Bodie]

1 minute ago, Old Crow said:

one of the more entertaining games plyed by this collection of players this month.

Heck, back to back exciting games.  Even if they first didn't go as hoped.  

Might just have to change my "Julien in the lineup means no game today" rule!

[jmlease1]

Nice to see Zebby go 6 and put up a good start. And good effort from the bottom part of the lineup too.

SD is a good team, so beating them is nice.

I still don't think Larnach has much of a future here, mostly because the Twins are cheap and next season he won't be any longer, but if he hits like this down the stretch the decision will get tougher. Would really like to see Royce pile up a bunch of games like this and build confidence for next season.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Matt...The Ship of Theseus ? I had to look it up.  Wow. What a great analogy for what the Twins have done the past month. You always provide an opportunity for me to learn something new in your fantastic writing. Thank you. 

[Richie the Rally Goat]

5 minutes ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

Matt...The Ship of Theseus ? I had to look it up.  Wow. What a great analogy for what the Twins have done the past month. You always provide an opportunity for me to learn something new in your fantastic writing. Thank you. 

Concur! @Matt Braun is one of my favorite writers here because of those nuggets, and just the right amount of snark.

let the trudge to the finish line continue!

[thelanges5]

This is what Zebulon can do!
Play well, maybe win some games, guys that will be here (probably) in 2026 putting up some counting stats. Thats what I hope for the next 28 games. 
Go Twins!

[DJL44]

Most of the relievers the Twins have dealt away have performed worse for their new team. The Twins have somehow been able to finish out games with their remaining players and flotsam acquired for free. It's getting harder to claim that Rocco "doesn't know how to manage a bullpen".

[terrydactyls]

Great battle for the draft picks 2-7.

Team	W	L	PCT	GB
Chicago White Sox	48	87	0.356	-
Pittsburgh Pirates	60	76	0.441	11.5
Baltimore Orioles	60	75	0.444	12.0
Atlanta Braves	61	74	0.452	13.0
Minnesota Twins	61	73	0.455	13.5
Los Angeles Angels	62	72	0.463	14.5
Whatever Athletics	63	73	0.463	14.5
Miami Marlins	63	72	0.467	15.0
Tampa Bay Rays	65	69	0.485	17.5
Arizona Diamondbacks	67	69	0.493	18.5
St. Louis Cardinals	67	69	0.493	18.5
San Francisco Giants	67	68	0.496	19.0
Cleveland Guardians	67	66	0.504	20.0
Texas Rangers	69	67	0.507	20.5

.

 

[stringer bell]

Since the selloff, I can just celebrate the rare victories without saying "but whatabout this (or that)". The Twins won a game and saddled the lefty starter with a loss. That hasn't happened much.

The last month will serve as audition time for a lot of players. Martin, Larnach and Clemens had good games which will help their stock in the offseason. I do think September is an opportunity for Lewis to put a better spin on what has been a really disappointing season, especially if he finishes healthy.

When Funderburk, Sands, Topa and Tonkin are your top bullpen arms, it shouldn't come as a surprise if the Twins lose some leads late in games. Each of those guys has stepped up at some point since the bullpen was decimated. 

[chinmusic]

Kind of cool that Buxton finally stole 3rd, and at the same time got his 20/20!

I wonder if anyone has ever done that without a caught stealing. 

And 30/20 is likely, with an outside chance at 30/30

In such a season, I think it's legit for him to focus on that.

It'll certainly hold my interest.

[JD-TWINS]

2 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

Nice to see Zebby go 6 and put up a good start. And good effort from the bottom part of the lineup too.

SD is a good team, so beating them is nice.

I still don't think Larnach has much of a future here, mostly because the Twins are cheap and next season he won't be any longer, but if he hits like this down the stretch the decision will get tougher. Would really like to see Royce pile up a bunch of games like this and build confidence for next season.

Larnach next year ……$3.5M absolute max ……my assumption, haven’t paid too much attention. Career .765 OPS v. RH pitching…… I think I saw that here? Maybe just over a couple seasons? He’s a much better last guy than some of the other options and that amount of money is awfully affordable!

[JD-TWINS]

1 hour ago, DJL44 said:

Most of the relievers the Twins have dealt away have performed worse for their new team. The Twins have somehow been able to finish out games with their remaining players and flotsam acquired for free. It's getting harder to claim that Rocco "doesn't know how to manage a bullpen".

CORRECT!

How about the Batting Instructor, David Popkins? For 2 seasons no I stuck up for the coaches and out the ineffectiveness back on the multi-million $$ players. Popkins is in his first year in Toronto and as of Thursday they had 3 guys hitting over .300 & Kirk was at .299………..,Popkins sucks though and the Toronto hitters are just lucky!!!!

[Richie the Rally Goat]

3 hours ago, terrydactyls said:

Great battle for the draft picks 2-7.

Team	W	L	PCT	GB
Chicago White Sox	48	87	0.356	-
Pittsburgh Pirates	60	76	0.441	11.5
Baltimore Orioles	60	75	0.444	12.0
Atlanta Braves	61	74	0.452	13.0
Minnesota Twins	61	73	0.455	13.5
Los Angeles Angels	62	72	0.463	14.5
Whatever Athletics	63	73	0.463	14.5
Miami Marlins	63	72	0.467	15.0
Tampa Bay Rays	65	69	0.485	17.5
Arizona Diamondbacks	67	69	0.493	18.5
St. Louis Cardinals	67	69	0.493	18.5
San Francisco Giants	67	68	0.496	19.0
Cleveland Guardians	67	66	0.504	20.0
Texas Rangers	69	67	0.507	20.5

.

 

It’s a draft lottery now like NBA and there’s anti-tanking rules, that the Pale Hose and Rockies have both tanked multiple years, pick 1 is still in the cards

[Derojo]

Quote: Ok, the Ship of Theseus Twins roll on, this time hosting the Padres in a battle between an energetic playoff contender and the rotting husk of what used to be a competitive collection of men. :Unquote.

This drivel about the current team gets old. The only time the former team showed the competitiveness to possibly make the playoffs was the thirteen game win streak. The before and after the streak was not impressive. Unfortunately, that streak was the highlight of competitiveness. Correa was the fourth or fifth best batter, and he was supposed to be up there with Buxton. If it weren't for Buxton this team would have disastrously underperformed. These young players play hard, and they'll learn. We have more young players in the wing. The only possibility of a World Series is to have five, probably six players that are home grown. Such as Puckett, Gaetti, Hrbek, and Brunansky were. We need five more players to step up to that level with Buxton. The remaining three cannot be fillers. Oh, and the team needs to be sold.

[The Great Hambino]

7 hours ago, chinmusic said:

Kind of cool that Buxton finally stole 3rd, and at the same time got his 20/20!

I wonder if anyone has ever done that without a caught stealing. 

And 30/20 is likely, with an outside chance at 30/30

In such a season, I think it's legit for him to focus on that.

It'll certainly hold my interest.

I found 4 other seasons of 20/20 with no caught stealing  - including Trevor Story this year.

30/30 with no CS would be unprecedented.

This might not be fully accurate as I'm not sure how far back full caught stealing info goes on Baseball Reference

[chinmusic]

1 hour ago, The Great Hambino said:

I found 4 other seasons of 20/20 with no caught stealing  - including Trevor Story this year.

30/30 with no CS would be unprecedented.

This might not be fully accurate as I'm not sure how far back full caught stealing info goes on Baseball Reference

Wow! As I type, Buxton just cracked #28.

Thanks for the info.

(and what a bounce back year for Trevor Story)