Twins 6, Red Sox 0: Mick Abel Shines, Byron Buxton Mashes for Another Twins Victory

[bunsen82]

1 hour ago, Doctor Gast said:

Just to remind you, we gave up a very impactful, in high demand, the most electric closer in MLB (Duran) at the deadline, where teams like PHI are desperate to do something in the postseason. If Falvey landed Painter, then yeah, Falvey'd have done well. But he didn't. Abel was the best they offered. Abel is promising but was inconsistent. Praise to the pitching coaches for Abel becoming more consistent.  Not Falvey

On a value chart Painter would have cost Jax and Duran.  There was no way we were getting Painter for Duran.  Painter has more upside even now,  but I really like Abel and I stated it last summer on stats and performance I might actually take Abel over Painter heads up.  Alas thats not the discussion LOL.  

The case with Abel is he has always done better at his next level his second year.  He is still going to have issues with walks and control from time to time.  I think he got strikeouts on 4-5 different pitches.  4 seamer, change, slider, sweeper (aren't these the same Lol)  and curve.   He was throwing any of his pitches for strikes and if you got to 2 strikes last night you were in a difficult spot.  For someone who is 6'5"  throwing up to 97  (96.8 rounded up LOL) -  Plus 4 other legit pitches,  I think we are going to be very very happy.   

For Abel its all going to come down to control.  If the secondaries are not working then the fastball can get teed up. 

For the rest of the game,  some of our players that have struggled to start the season have gotten hot,  Buxton, Lee and Keaschall.   We have several solid hitters this year.   So far we are only sending 1 person to the box on a regular basis with no chance in Outman.   The overall depth of the team looks good.   With 3 strong SP in Ryan, Abel and Bradley, and 2 solid ones in Ober and SWR - it should set this team up to be competitive all year long.   I will still continue to pine for Varland LOL.    

[tarheeltwinsfan]

10 hours ago, Dman said:

Nice to see Buxton get his groove back. The warmer weather agrees with him.  Am I crazy or does it look like we might have three top of the rotation starters in Ryan, Bradley and Abel?  If they can continue to pitch this well I don't see why we wouldn't match up well with pretty much any team in the league.  

Not sure if they can stay this hot with the bats, but if you get Buxton and Keaschall going along with Jeffers, Bell and Martin with some other guys mixed in this lineup looks like it might be OK.  Only thing that feels a ways off is the pen.  I mean they have been fine so far but they still do appear to be the weak link.  It's a long season and a lot has to go right, but they are starting to make me believe.

Speaking of the concerns about the bullpen, I like the idea of bring up Morris to see what he can do. There are additional pitchers in AAA who can also be brought up for bullpen relief. Five Saints pitchers are on the 40 man roster. While I realize that the Twins will need some starters from the minors eventually due to injuries and/or ineffective results from the Twins current 5 starters, not all Saints starters will be needed as starters for the Twins. For example Raya and Klein and possibly Prielipp could be used at relief if this season gets into a real pennant race for the Twins. This leaves Mathews and Rojas as starters at St. Paul. Also keep an eye on Castro, Gallagher and Culpepper at Wichita. My point is that there are some pitchers (starters and relievers)  at AAA and AA in the Twins system who can throw heat and strikes. 

[Fatbat]

5 hours ago, UK Twin said:

What is going on? I thought the Twins were going to be in a basement battle with the White Sox this year? 

Fantastic from Abel, love what him and Bradley have brought to the rotation. And great to see Buck's bat heating up. 

Just going to enjoy the moment and take it one game at a time. Clearly, we're not going to keep winning at the rate we've done over the last 10 days but we're playing really good baseball so every reason to be optimistic.

I wanted to be positive about last years sell off but trading away Duran and Varland just made me mad.  I am coming around as winning cures everything.  We obviously wont keep winning 8 of 9 but they could win .583 consistently if the pitching and hitting is even just above league average. 

[tarheeltwinsfan]

4 minutes ago, bunsen82 said:

On a value chart Painter would have cost Jax and Duran.  There was no way we were getting Painter for Duran.  Painter has more upside even now,  but I really like Abel and I stated it last summer on stats and performance I might actually take Abel over Painter heads up.  Alas thats not the discussion LOL.  

The case with Abel is he has always done better at his next level his second year.  He is still going to have issues with walks and control from time to time.  I think he got strikeouts on 4-5 different pitches.  4 seamer, change, slider, sweeper (aren't these the same Lol)  and curve.   He was throwing any of his pitches for strikes and if you got to 2 strikes last night you were in a difficult spot.  For someone who is 6'5"  throwing up to 97  (96.8 rounded up LOL) -  Plus 4 other legit pitches,  I think we are going to be very very happy.   

For Abel its all going to come down to control.  If the secondaries are not working then the fastball can get teed up. 

For the rest of the game,  some of our players that have struggled to start the season have gotten hot,  Buxton, Lee and Keaschall.   We have several solid hitters this year.   So far we are only sending 1 person to the box on a regular basis with no chance in Outman.   The overall depth of the team looks good.   With 3 strong SP in Ryan, Abel and Bradley, and 2 solid ones in Ober and SWR - it should set this team up to be competitive all year long.   I will still continue to pine for Varland LOL.    

I 'm sorry to say this, but Matt Wallner leads the major leagues with 31 strikeouts in only 65 at bats. That means there has been a 48% chance Matt will strike out during his at bats. He only has 5 walks and is hitting at a .200 average. The next highest in strikeouts is Nick Kurtz, with 27 strikeouts and also batting .200, but with 16 walks. Wallner's 3 solo home runs and 6 RBI's do not make up for leading the majors in strikeouts. Something needs to change here.

[TJSweens]

15 minutes ago, laloesch said:

Barely.  He's hitting a few dingers but still swinging a lot at stuff out of the strike zone, but I suppose any improvement is better than no improvement.  

Over the last six games Lee hitting .350 with 3 HR and 8 RBI. That's significant improvement. I say that as one who has been critical of Lee. I'm glad to see it because Lee needs to hit to justify his defense in the lineup.

[CharlieDee]

I said this on opening day and I'll say it again. I don't care who owns our team or what our payroll is. Just support the players we have!   Win Twins!!

[bunsen82]

10 minutes ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

I 'm sorry to say this, but Matt Wallner leads the major leagues with 31 strikeouts in only 65 at bats. That means there has been a 48% chance Matt will strike out during his at bats. He only has 5 walks and is hitting at a .200 average. The next highest in strikeouts is Nick Kurtz, with 27 strikeouts and also batting .200, but with 16 walks. Wallner's 3 solo home runs and 6 RBI's do not make up for leading the majors in strikeouts. Something needs to change here.

LOL -  okay . . . .   yes something needs to change with Wallner - did you mean to respond to my post  haha.  

[jmlease1]

46 minutes ago, TJSweens said:

Over the last six games Lee hitting .350 with 3 HR and 8 RBI. That's significant improvement. I say that as one who has been critical of Lee. I'm glad to see it because Lee needs to hit to justify his defense in the lineup.

There's no question he's swinging the bat better. What remains concerning is not swinging; he hasn't drawn a walk during this hot streak and only has 2 for the season. But he is improving offensively. We'll see if it's enough.

[jorgenswest]

I don’t get what Wallner striking out has to do with this thread or game. He struck out once in each of the last two games. Neither impacted the game result. Abel striking out 10 and the bullpen adding a couple more impacted this game.

Back to this game…

I was impressed with Abel’s fielding from the mound. He made some players at first and a tough play on a bunt. Clemens was also very solid at 1B. Add to that he was on base twice and stole a base.

From my couch it sure looks like Caratini manages pitchers and the game well. I also love seeing the energy he has behind the plate.

The Twins have 9 position players that have an above league average wRC and OPS. 

[tony&rodney]

3 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

Just to remind you, we gave up a very impactful, in high demand, the most electric closer in MLB (Duran) at the deadline, where teams like PHI are desperate to do something in the postseason. If Falvey landed Painter, then yeah, Falvey'd have done well. But he didn't. Abel was the best they offered. Abel is promising but was inconsistent. Praise to the pitching coaches for Abel becoming more consistent.  Not Falvey

I do think people need to give massive credit to the players. Mick Abel was absolutely dominant last night. He was in command of five pitches and simply didn't give hitters much of a chance to hit the ball. Abel didn't really throw any pitches that either Bradley or Morris  can throw, but the location and consistency was top notch. This is extremely difficult for any pitcher and takes practice, development, and mental awareness. The coaches are next in line, for any credit given, due to their relationships and specific guiding. 

The Twins have a TOR pitcher in Joe Ryan with three guys capable of running through a lineup when they are on their games in Bradley, Abel, and Morris. Obviously, Morris is still learning and refining his pitches and could really benefit from a good changeup. 

The pitchers who figure it out and maintain their excellence throughout the year and over time are not common. The fight to be one of those guys is what we see Bradley and Abel working toward right now. The team that rosters these pitchers benefits. It is exciting to think and wonder if these dudes will emerge from the huge piles of pitchers wanting to complete that journey from prospect to stalwart. The entire fortunes of a team can change when a team finds four guys who can shut down opposing offenses.  It will be interesting to follow the quest.

A couple of notes from the game last night. The Twins continue to avoid mental mistakes and play hard, which I believe was an important goal for this roster.  It was a little funny that Shelton was a bit nervous about not letting Abel go out for the 8th inning. 

[JD-TWINS]

11 hours ago, Dman said:

Nice to see Buxton get his groove back. The warmer weather agrees with him.  Am I crazy or does it look like we might have three top of the rotation starters in Ryan, Bradley and Abel?  If they can continue to pitch this well I don't see why we wouldn't match up well with pretty much any team in the league.  

Not sure if they can stay this hot with the bats, but if you get Buxton and Keaschall going along with Jeffers, Bell and Martin with some other guys mixed in this lineup looks like it might be OK.  Only thing that feels a ways off is the pen.  I mean they have been fine so far but they still do appear to be the weak link.  It's a long season and a lot has to go right, but they are starting to make me believe.

LEE - I’ve ridden Brooks, and still wonder at how SOFTLY he hits the ball to 2B nearly every game, but his emergence from the right side of the plate has helped his confidence and stat line! It’s also starting to shift over to the left side of the plate. We all know he’s not Greg Gagne at SS but he’s got legit 20 HR power with 500 AB’s. An RBI in 6 straight games ………. hopefully, evolving into what Team thought they drafted. SMALL sample but very encouraging!

104 OPS+ ……. will take that from him forever.

[mikelink45]

No predictions - just enjoy it while it lasts - baseball can be humbling as well as exciting.

[JD-TWINS]

1 hour ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

I 'm sorry to say this, but Matt Wallner leads the major leagues with 31 strikeouts in only 65 at bats. That means there has been a 48% chance Matt will strike out during his at bats. He only has 5 walks and is hitting at a .200 average. The next highest in strikeouts is Nick Kurtz, with 27 strikeouts and also batting .200, but with 16 walks. Wallner's 3 solo home runs and 6 RBI's do not make up for leading the majors in strikeouts. Something needs to change here.

I appreciate you taking the baton on posting Matt’s strikeout stats today - I was tiring. I am routinely critical just because he doesn’t seem to be able to “change anything” in his approach!

Surprise ……. in his defense, the Team has decided that he’s going to be the LH bat to face LH pitching……… probably not fair to a guy who already strikes out at alarming rates in a platoon situation …….. he’s seen 10 of 18 guys from left side. Now, back to being critical, he hasn’t hit any better v. RH pitching in ‘26.

He has options - he’s somewhat fixed himself with AAA stints in the past. They won’t do this until they move Outman …….. nor until somebody at AAA is on fire. Can’t upset the “vibe”. If things go south in win/loss Matt may head East to St Paul soon after.

Reality ……. he’s tied with a HITLESS, yes hitless guy, Outman at -.500 WAR to this point. That says a lot!!

[terrydactyls]

2 hours ago, laloesch said:

Barely.  He's hitting a few dingers but still swinging a lot at stuff out of the strike zone, but I suppose any improvement is better than no improvement.  

for the last 7 games, Lee is hitting .292 with 4 HR and 8 RBI.  That ain't barely.

[chinmusic]

I noticed that the Twins have played only a single one run game so far, which is last in the majors.

Given the somewhat shaky bullpen, this is something to watch.

They won't always be protecting a late multi run lead.

Anyway, this has all been pretty amazing.

You gotta love baseball!

[terrydactyls]

1 hour ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

I 'm sorry to say this, but Matt Wallner leads the major leagues with 31 strikeouts in only 65 at bats. That means there has been a 48% chance Matt will strike out during his at bats. He only has 5 walks and is hitting at a .200 average. The next highest in strikeouts is Nick Kurtz, with 27 strikeouts and also batting .200, but with 16 walks. Wallner's 3 solo home runs and 6 RBI's do not make up for leading the majors in strikeouts. Something needs to change here.

You should be sorry.  You responded to a post that didn't mention Wallner.

[JD-TWINS]

Buxton improved his BA (and thus OBP) 63 points from .183 to .246 in two ball games.

Jeffers did a similar thing starting maybe 5-6 games ago, even with a couple days off.

Lee is in the midst of a nice run of half dozen games.

Gray has been a nice occasional shot in the arm & Martin’s filled his role extremely well!

If Keaschall can get his energy and decent contact into a few more base hits, they’ll be humming about as well as anyone could have imagined.

OFFENSE, to me, has always been the probable weakness of this Club - primary weakness. Recent BROAD results across the line-up are encouraging & it’s understood things will ebb & flow. The fact that they are hitting Skubal - Valdez - Crochet - Gray makes it feel more real going forward.

Caratini & Bell are working out as well as possible. The EVIL extension of Trevor Larnach seems to be a good move when using him in a platoon role!

[laloesch]

12 minutes ago, terrydactyls said:

for the last 7 games, Lee is hitting .292 with 4 HR and 8 RBI.  That ain't barely.

yeah but will he sustain it?  Last year he didn't.

[terrydactyls]

1 minute ago, laloesch said:

yeah but will he sustain it?  Last year he didn't.

I don't know if he will sustain this pace.  I really doubt he will.  But, I was commenting on the statement that Lee had "barely" improved lately.

[laloesch]

2 hours ago, TJSweens said:

Over the last six games Lee hitting .350 with 3 HR and 8 RBI. That's significant improvement. I say that as one who has been critical of Lee. I'm glad to see it because Lee needs to hit to justify his defense in the lineup.

No i get it and point taken.  In the last six games he's been great, but in the aggregate whole he got off to a putrid start.  It's those peaks and valleys that make a season for a player.  If he can reduce the slumps then i'm sold, but last season was not reassuring.

[laloesch]

1 minute ago, terrydactyls said:

I don't know if he will sustain this pace.  I really doubt he will.  But, I was commenting on the statement that Lee had "barely" improved lately.

That's part of improving.  You limit your slumps.  I'm looking at all the games so far not just the last six.  It's a long season.

[D.C Twins]

If Taj and Abel are for real... the TWINS competitive timeline will be moved up significantly.

Nothing changes the fortunes of a team more than the emergence of a dominant starter and we could....gulp.. have two this year?!

I remember how fun in was when Erickson and Liriano had their initial run... and what a tremendous impact it had on Twins performance overall. 

[Linus]

Couple good points here. Those two succeeding basically skips a rebuild which I didn’t think was realistically possible. We still need one of the AAA outfielders to come through as well as K Culpepper but they aren’t far off if those two are the real deal. Your choice of Liriano and Erickson is interesting because they were so good but both got hurt and really weren’t the same after so there is that. 

[jmlease1]

1 hour ago, laloesch said:

No i get it and point taken.  In the last six games he's been great, but in the aggregate whole he got off to a putrid start.  It's those peaks and valleys that make a season for a player.  If he can reduce the slumps then i'm sold, but last season was not reassuring.

To be fair to Lee...so far he's shown continuous improvement on offense each season he's been in MLB. Now, he started low enough that it wasn't exactly a high bar to clear...but you do like to see it. (OPS+ of 64 as a rookie, 80 last season, and 104 so far this year.)

If he can start adding some walks to those hits he's been generating (he does have good contact skills and has shown the ability to turn on a ball), maybe we'll have something. He's a very smart player, but I do wonder if he gets too far inside his own head at the plate at times.

[stringer bell]

Lee was disappointing last year, but had a very nice month of June, which somewhat salvaged his stats. We might be seeing similar production for a while, but when he cools off, can he have a better baseline?

The surges and ebbs of early season are demonstrated by several guys who have either catapulted or sunk in a couple days. It’s just too early to make final judgments on players.

I think there are a lot of things to like about the Twins’ offense. There are red flags on defense and the pitching mound. Enjoy the nice run while it lasts, but remember the Twins had big winning streaks in both 2024 and 2025. Baseball can be humbling. 

[cheeseheadgophfan]

1 hour ago, chinmusic said:

I noticed that the Twins have played only a single one run game so far, which is last in the majors.

Given the somewhat shaky bullpen, this is something to watch.

They won't always be protecting a late multi run lead.

Anyway, this has all been pretty amazing.

You gotta love baseball!

This.  I was going to post almost the same thing.  Crazy that I was still nervous in a 6-0 game in the 8th inning when the Sox put 2 guys on base vs. Rogers.  This bullpen is incredibly weak and the Twins won't continue to blow teams out.  There will be numerous stretches where we will blow late leads and saves because of a lack of talented arms.  

That being said, I'm enjoying the heck out of this run.  Watching the Sox (and their payroll) look utterly defeated and deflated the last 2 nights has been so much fun.  

[Danchat]

So much for the "Abel can't figure out how to pitch at the MLB Level" narrative... turns out like most players he just needed more time to figure it out. This is why you give young players a chance after they've dominated AAA. Of course it's still early and Abel could regress, but he looks the part.

The Duran and Jax trades are sure looking good now... somebody give Pete Maki a raise! And whomever is the hitting coach sure got them to turn around after a dismal start to the year, they're raking against really good pitching. Good stuff!

[mickster]

4 hours ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

I 'm sorry to say this, but Matt Wallner leads the major leagues with 31 strikeouts in only 65 at bats. That means there has been a 48% chance Matt will strike out during his at bats. He only has 5 walks and is hitting at a .200 average. The next highest in strikeouts is Nick Kurtz, with 27 strikeouts and also batting .200, but with 16 walks. Wallner's 3 solo home runs and 6 RBI's do not make up for leading the majors in strikeouts. Something needs to change here.

do I dare say that Larnach is a better option then Wallner right now?

[RpR]

1 minute ago, mickster said:

do I dare say that Larnach is a better option then Wallner right now?

Hmmm, Lurch vs  Cousin It.

[Doctor Gast]

5 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

So Abel is in the rotation and doing well, but Falvey deserves no credit for the acquisition? I suppose he doesn't deserve any credit for grabbing Joe Ryan either, because Ryan wasn't a high enough prospect in the Rays system?

This is just weird, blind hatred of Falvey.

You think I have blind hatred for Falvey because I don't blindly believe the hype that floods social media? or make Falvey MLB administrator of the year because another team  offered Able. What talent is it on Falvey's part?  What credit should Falvey get when players fall in his lap? Rest assured, I don't have hatred for any man or woman. I was a big fan of Falvine but years of observing Falvey & with him taking more & more control, the worse Twins became. My speaking out against Falvey isn't based on any hatred for Falvey but out of my love for the Twins.