Guardians 6, Twins 2: López Exits With Arm Injury in Another Sad Loss

[Matt Braun]

Image courtesy of Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

Box Score
Pablo López: 4 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
Home Runs: None
Bottom 3 WPA: Cole Sands (-.385), Brooks Lee (-.153), Byron Buxton (-.101)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

I find Springsteen’s “Nebraska” album to be strangely attractive. It’s certainly dower in tone, but the Boss has always excelled at bringing to life tales of the downtrodden and troubled; sometimes the aesthetics of such songs begat a darker, brooding spirit. Shoot, the first half of “Born in the U.S.A.” is arguably just as dark in lyrical content. He just dresses it up with high-powered synths and an upbeat backing band. Yet, the tales of the unsuccessful are critical. Not every narrative should be about triumph. Sometimes, we need to sit in and wallow with the deeply flawed to learn more about ourselves. That was Bruce’s unique talent: he spoke about the average—and, frankly, below average—American in uncompromising terms. 

These are the intros you get for a team 20 games below .500.

Friday continued the extended procession for our Ship of Theseus Twins. Their recent tangle with the Yankees resulted in exactly what you would expect, though Simeon Woods Richardson’s dominant start proved a nice respite from the same-old same-old. Today, they greet Cleveland, a team red-hot and nearing a playoff spot. Could Minnesota play spoiler to their old foe?

Pablo López took the mound. Though not for long. The righty pounced on a grounder that ricocheted off his person and tossed the ball to first to net the out. It was a hell of a play. It also forced him out of the game two innings later with right forearm tightness. So it goes.

Parker Messick commanded the ball for the Guardians. Yet another in the long line of Cleveland’s factory-assembled pitching competence, the anxious lefty baffled the Twins. He commanded a five-pitch mix like he had pitched since birth. He threw breakers when Minnesota expected the heat, and stole strikes with fastballs when Twins’ hitters were convinced something looping was coming. The end result was nine strikeouts—a total made more impressive considering the southpaw only went 5 ⅓ frames.

Well, that seems like a low total for a start that the author painted as dominant. It is. Messick looked unbeatable until the sixth, when Austin Martin shot a grounder back at him, which portended a horrific overthrow of the first baseman as Martin strode into second. Luke Keaschall then dumped a double into right as Martin advanced to third. He then scored off a wild pitch.

 

 

Messick netted one more out before being replaced by Matt Festa, who believed a chest-high fastball was an acceptable out pitch against Royce Lewis. He was wrong.

 

 

The excitement of a tied game died off as Cody Laweryson gave way to the other Kody, Funderburk, who gave way to Cole Sands. Sands’ troubles remained… troubling. The righty surrendered a pair of runs in the eighth, even as Funderburk gifted him the first out of the inning. Perhaps sensing his teammate needed company, Michael Tonkin then matched the appearance by allowing two more runs to push Cleveland’s advantage to four. 

Such a lead doesn't require a Cade Smith ninth-inning appearance, but the righty was warm anyway, so Stephen Vogt decided he shall appear. The half-inning took about three minutes, and the Twins dropped yet another game. 

Notes:

Royce Lewis stole his ninth base of the month, the most in MLB. 

Luke Keaschall holds the fifth-highest batting average for a rookie in Twins history. The record is .334 set by Luis Arraez in 2019. 

Byron Buxton is near a career-high in plate appearances; his current total of 508 is three behind his 2017 mark of 511.

Post-Game Interview:

What’s Next?
The Twins and Guardians play a doubleheader on Saturday, with Game One set to start at 12:10 PM, and Game Two slated for a 5:10 PM first pitch. Joe Ryan will start first, as Bailey Ober takes the night game.  

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

 

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[Parfigliano]

Has anybody else noticed that TC sucks at all aspects of baseball?

[ashbury]

3 minutes ago, Parfigliano said:

Has anybody else noticed that TC sucks at all aspects of baseball?

Any teams that still employ major league scouts probably have.

[bjorks]

Forearm strain…doesn’t that typically lead to TJ? If so, Lopez is no longer an asset to trade 

[High heat]

Funderburk had another good outing out of the Pen, along with Laweryson and Sands continues to look terrible along with Tonkin.  Tonkin is getting DFAed after the season Sand and his 5+ ERA might not be far behind.  
 

Outman also made some nice catches out in RF that saved Pablo who looked bad.   Hoping it’s not a major injury for Lopez.

[D.C Twins]

[USAFChief]

Not having watched the game, how the heck does Martin only gain third base, from second, on a double??

 

[knothole61]

31 minutes ago, High heat said:

Funderburk had another good outing out of the Pen, along with Laweryson and Sands continues to look terrible along with Tonkin.  Tonkin is getting DFAed after the season Sand and his 5+ ERA might not be far behind.  
 

Outman also made some nice catches out in RF that saved Pablo who looked bad.   Hoping it’s not a major injury for Lopez.

So many bad relief pitchers that late game collapses are nearly guaranteed, but don't get rid of Funder just yet.

[Blyleven2011]

Twins had No fight tonight to play spoiler against Cleveland  now just 2 1/2 games behind Detroit for the division  ...

Twins played the Yankees tough and gave us some excitement by scoring runs ...

Tonight we reverted back to our dull way of baseball  ...

Why can't Rocco motivate his players to play consistent baseball , we were in this game until the eighth inning and our bullpen gave up 2 runs in each of the last 2 innings to sink us ...

[knothole61]

7 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

Not having watched the game, how the heck does Martin only gain third base, from second, on a double??

 

The ball didn't hit too far from the right fielder and Martin was hanging very close to second until the ball actually hit, I think he was determined to make third on a tag. I believe he should have been able to tell that it was going to drop in time to make it home, but that didn't happen.  

[Blyleven2011]

6 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

Not having watched the game, how the heck does Martin only gain third base, from second, on a double??

 

Martin didn't read the flight of the ball and the right fielder decoyed him into thinking it was going to be caught ....

Just another Baserunning blunder , but he did come into score eventually ...

[Wedman13]

1 hour ago, Parfigliano said:

Has anybody else noticed that TC sucks at all aspects of baseball?

I feel bad for this site.  Great writers (especially Seth) but no one cares any  more.'

[JADBP]

1 hour ago, Wedman13 said:

I feel bad for this site.  Great writers (especially Seth) but no one cares any  more.'

You’re absolutely right!  As long as the bozos are running this show, I won’t watch a game.  I DON’T care!

[Rigby]

4 hours ago, USAFChief said:

Not having watched the game, how the heck does Martin only gain third base, from second, on a double??

 

Much like this team's path back to legitimacy....baby steps.

[terrydactyls]

The list grows shorter every day.

P	Team	W	L	PCT	GB
1	Chicago White Sox	58	96	0.377	-
2	Pittsburgh Pirates	65	89	0.422	7.0
3	Minnesota Twins	66	87	0.431	8.5
4	Los Angeles Angels	69	85	0.448	11.0
5	Atlanta Braves	71	83	0.461	13.0
6	Whatever Athletics	73	81	0.474	15.0
7	Baltimore Orioles	73	81	0.474	15.0
8	Miami Marlins	74	80	0.481	16.0

[Whitey333]

Who cares about out the draft watch?  Twins will screw that up too.

[Doctor Gast]

6 hours ago, knothole61 said:

The ball didn't hit too far from the right fielder and Martin was hanging very close to second until the ball actually hit, I think he was determined to make third on a tag. I believe he should have been able to tell that it was going to drop in time to make it home, but that didn't happen.  

That FB that Keaschal hit was very catchable (I thought it should have been an out), did they give Keaschal a double on that? Martin was wise to stick at 2B until it hit the ground. 

[Doctor Gast]

Maybe some were dogging it, but Martin surely wasn't. Martin's bold run at home for a score should have got the troops fired up. Lewis also had a good game.

Hope Lopez is OK.

[mikelink45]

I commented yesterday about Sands - he has taken the Ober track for the year - without those two back next year everything is even more bleak.  Has Cole been a mirage or is this year just a down one?  Lawyerson seems to have staked a place for 2026.  Too bad we did not let other pitchers try out instead of Hatch, Tonkin and Cabrera

[Doctor Gast]

2 hours ago, terrydactyls said:

The list grows shorter every day.

P	Team	W	L	PCT	GB
1	Chicago White Sox	58	96	0.377	-
2	Pittsburgh Pirates	65	89	0.422	7.0
3	Minnesota Twins	66	87	0.431	8.5
4	Los Angeles Angels	69	85	0.448	11.0
5	Atlanta Braves	71	83	0.461	13.0
6	Whatever Athletics	73	81	0.474	15.0
7	Baltimore Orioles	73	81	0.474	15.0
8	Miami Marlins	74	80	0.481	16.0

Looks like we got the 3rd spot all wrapped up. IMO, PIT is determined to keep the 2nd place.

[thelanges5]

Depressing stats - Gleeman:

With three more head-to-head matchups remaining, the Twins have lost the season series vs. the Guardians for the fourth consecutive year.

They are 18-37 (.327) against Cleveland during that time, equivalent to a 53-109 record in a full season.

[JD-TWINS]

9 hours ago, bjorks said:

Forearm strain…doesn’t that typically lead to TJ? If so, Lopez is no longer an asset to trade 

Hurt fielding a ground ball - not a typical path to Tommy John.

[Jack207]

Rocco should sit in the Cleveland dugout for a year to learn how to manage.

[Vanimal46]

The cherry on top of this horrendous 2nd half of the season is losing Lopez to another arm injury. A valuable trade chip potentially gone this winter. 

[JD-TWINS]

8 hours ago, Blyleven2011 said:

Twins had No fight tonight to play spoiler against Cleveland  now just 2 1/2 games behind Detroit for the division  ...

Twins played the Yankees tough and gave us some excitement by scoring runs ...

Tonight we reverted back to our dull way of baseball  ...

Why can't Rocco motivate his players to play consistent baseball , we were in this game until the eighth inning and our bullpen gave up 2 runs in each of the last 2 innings to sink us ...

Opponent’s starting pitching & MLB best bullpen for last month had nothing to do with the lack of run production? It was all the Manager not being able to motivate the guys - for sure!

[thelanges5]

We’ll play spoilers this weekend, but it won’t be due to winning. Sorry Detroit Tigers, I’d rather see you guys in the playoffs than the Guardos. 

[Jeff K]

1 hour ago, Jack207 said:

Rocco should sit in the Cleveland dugout for a year to learn how to manage.

Preferably as one of their employees.

[FlyingFinn]

9 hours ago, knothole61 said:

9 hours ago, USAFChief said:

Not having watched the game, how the heck does Martin only gain third base, from second, on a double??

 

The ball didn't hit too far from the right fielder and Martin was hanging very close to second until the ball actually hit, I think he was determined to make third on a tag. I believe he should have been able to tell that it was going to drop in time to make it home, but that didn't happen.  

Nobody out at the time as well. Certainly don't want to get doubled off of 2nd. If he makes a small error, he made the right one. 

[gman]

1 hour ago, Vanimal46 said:

The cherry on top of this horrendous 2nd half of the season is losing Lopez to another arm injury. A valuable trade chip potentially gone this winter. 

I hope so.

[Riverbrian]

12 hours ago, Matt Braun said:

I find Springsteen’s “Nebraska” album to be strangely attractive. It’s certainly dower in tone, but the Boss has always excelled at bringing to life tales of the downtrodden and troubled; sometimes the aesthetics of such songs begat a darker, brooding spirit. Shoot, the first half of “Born in the U.S.A.” is arguably just as dark in lyrical content. He just dresses it up with high-powered synths and an upbeat backing band. Yet, the tales of the unsuccessful are critical. Not every narrative should be about triumph. Sometimes, we need to sit in and wallow with the deeply flawed to learn more about ourselves. That was Bruce’s unique talent: he spoke about the average—and, frankly, below average—American in uncompromising terms. 

Springsteen writes about the Twins a lot. 

From the album Nebraska

"Well now... Everything dies baby that's a fact... but maybe everything that dies someday comes back".

And this one from the album "The River" is all Twins. I think he wrote the line after the Rod Carew trade. 

"Like a river that don't know where it's flowin... I took a wrong turn and I just kept goin".