Red Sox 9, Twins 5: Defensive Lapses Cost Twins Chance to Sweep Sox

[JD-TWINS]

16 hours ago, ashbury said:

Today we saw the 61-101 team I was forecasting before the start of the season.  Shaky starting pitching after Lopez and Ryan? Check.  Ludicrous fielding to add to the misery?   Check. Bullpen comes on to pour gasoline immediately?  Check.  Non-existent offense while the game was still in doubt? Check.   Low-pressure rally against a AAAA opposing pitcher to put up a respectable looking final score?  Check.

Glad the 110-win team that no one anticipated has been with us the past couple of weeks or so  Somebody go find them and bring them back - they were enjoyable.  😁

“Non-existent offense” for a portion of the game is going to happen 4-5 times per week. There’s a difference between a “shaky rotation” and 3 or 4 bad outings though 19 games. There’s a reason that playoff Teams lose 45% of their games & poor starting pitching is one of them. Hoping these 5 can stay healthy & fans have to roll with the inconsistencies.

The PEN is what it is - not special!!

The offense has a mix of disappointing guys that go on streaks 3-4 times per year…….some new guys providing a shot in the arm. Can’t maintain the recent level of power and run production.

Starting pitching………Bradley (4 starts) 1.25 ERA ……….. Abel pitched in relief & in cold & rain in first two outings………13 scoreless since ……… SWR having to throw high stress extra pitches due to ugly defense giving extra outs in last couple games, along with lack of command ……. looked decent prior. Ober is going to be along the “edge” all year.

With a couple more guys from St. Paul, similar to Morris, (Klein - Festa - Matthews - Prielipp - unknown) Team can fill deficiencies in the PEN through the year. I think they have a chance to play at or just above .500 from here on out. 85 wins seems attainable.

[JD-TWINS]

14 hours ago, Blyleven2011 said:

Mama said there would be days like these and she was right ....

Sloppy game , not all SWR 's fault , defense and offense ....

I like the Reds and Tito  but I sure hope we win the series ...

When you win 3 series in arow you start getting used to it , hope a day off the players rejuvenate themselves to play better  ...

Pitch around SAL, the Rookie 1B - he’s doing a lot of heavy lifting for their offense………was hot coming into last night & then hit 2 opposite field HR’s (3 runs each). I live in Cincinnati and watch if Twins aren’t in action………may check out the 12:40 game downtown v. Giants today.

Williamson Friday has over 5.00 ERA - Abbott on Saturday (lefty) so hope we keep the heat on from RH box - Singer is scheduled for Sunday but was hurt (showed signs) when leaving dugout in last outing.

 

[jmlease1]

While it would have been nice to sweep a mediocre Red Sox team that's not playing terribly well, at the end of the day we won the series and if you keep winning series you're going to have a good season.

Not a great performance by SWR; he simply can't be that hittable, regardless of whether Keaschall is making a hash of it behind him or not. At the end of the day, SWR gave up 6 earned runs, so it wasn't just the defense.

Too bad Morris wasn't available; Twins could have used him here and might have been able to shave a run or two off? Banda has been more of a "pour gasoline on the fire" guy rather than putting anything out lately: that's 3 outings in a row where he's bombed, and none of them have exactly been high leverage. Seems like a candidate for demotion sooner rather than later?

Appreciate the offense not quitting on the game and putting some runs up in the 9th, but it's pretty tough when you generate so few baserunners the first 7 innings. 

(Twins really can't catch a break with the LH starters, can they? 2 more coming with Cincy! Yeesh.)

[bean5302]

3 hours ago, thelanges5 said:

I’m more concerned with SWR than Keaschall at this point. 

I've been concerned about SWR for a long time.

I'm not at all concerned about Keaschall right now since players who are "defensively versatile" in Twins-speak often take a couple of years to improve their glovework at a relatively static position.

[JD-TWINS]

1 hour ago, jmlease1 said:

While it would have been nice to sweep a mediocre Red Sox team that's not playing terribly well, at the end of the day we won the series and if you keep winning series you're going to have a good season.

Not a great performance by SWR; he simply can't be that hittable, regardless of whether Keaschall is making a hash of it behind him or not. At the end of the day, SWR gave up 6 earned runs, so it wasn't just the defense.

Too bad Morris wasn't available; Twins could have used him here and might have been able to shave a run or two off? Banda has been more of a "pour gasoline on the fire" guy rather than putting anything out lately: that's 3 outings in a row where he's bombed, and none of them have exactly been high leverage. Seems like a candidate for demotion sooner rather than later?

Appreciate the offense not quitting on the game and putting some runs up in the 9th, but it's pretty tough when you generate so few baserunners the first 7 innings. 

(Twins really can't catch a break with the LH starters, can they? 2 more coming with Cincy! Yeesh.)

They seemed to be handling lefties just fine until yesterday. …….. Kriedler may take Wallner’s spot (hoping) with Gray being the LH bat in the line—up?

Keaschall REALLY needed the day off - leads the Team in PA’s and tied for most games played in A.L.

I get the reality check with SWR’s earned runs, however, being pissed off because of clown-like defense and having to throw a bunch more pitches ………..gotta think that doesn’t help focus on the mound. He’s responsible for his location of pitches, no matter the circumstances.

 

[JD-TWINS]

Wallner -.600 WAR only 19 games into ‘26 …. (.191 BA - leads baseball in K’s - poor defense - 6 RBI with 2nd most AB’s on the Team - 8 guys have more RBI - while he plays every day) He projects to have 53 RBI with 600 AB’s. Last year, 40 RBI with 41 XBH. Gotta be one of the least clutch players in the game!!!

Outman -.400 WAR (20 PA’s - 2 Walks - 10 K’s - zero hits) still has a better WAR than Wallner

Lee -.300 WAR (not fixed yet) ……..his recent RBI streak gives him some grace 

Clemens & particularly Outman should be displaced. Lewis comes back - Kriedler stays to play OF with Outman getting DFA’d?

[JD-TWINS]

20 hours ago, arby58 said:

It is hard to claim the Twins lack clutch hitting through their first 19 games - they have a higher than average runs scored when in scoring position. Taking one game and suggesting that proves the claim is, statistically speaking, lame.

Agree in general - the flip side of those RISP numbers are that, yesterday’s numbers late (4 in the 9th, down 8) are pretty meaningless and there were FOUR games early (over 20% of games played to date) that the team scored only 1 run in and they won a fifth 2-1. 6 runs over 5 games.

Stats level over time - occurrences of both extremes.

[JD-TWINS]

5 hours ago, bean5302 said:

I've been concerned about SWR for a long time.

I'm not at all concerned about Keaschall right now since players who are "defensively versatile" in Twins-speak often take a couple of years to improve their glovework at a relatively static position.

I know Keaschall’s got that Pete Rose energy (doesn’t do much for box score) but he leads the Team in PA’s and has 3 XBH. I am pretty sure I’ve seen him get 4 different “infield hits” ……….. regardless of the announcers continuing to state that he’s hitting the ball hard ……… his results at the plate are more of a concern. His OPS+ is 63 & his BA is .222.