Mariners 7, Twins 1: A Game of Two Bullpens

[Cory Moen]

Image courtesy of © Nick Wosika-Imagn Images

Box Score
Starting Pitcher: Joe Ryan - 6 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K (88 pitches, 62 strikes (70.5% strikes))
Home Runs: Byron Buxton (7)
Lowest WPA: Cole Sands (-0.21), Tristan Gray (-0.16), Victor Caratini (-0.13)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Coming off a win in game one of the series, the Twins turned to Joe Ryan to face off with Logan Gilbert and the Mariners. Ryan was dominant early. He got into a little trouble in the third inning, giving up two hits and having runners on first and third with one out, but then struck Cal Raleigh out before getting Julio Rodríguez to ground out to end the inning. 

In the bottom half of the inning, the Twins got singles from Royce Lewis and Byron Buxton, but were unable to push a run across. The game remained scoreless until Byron Buxton led off the bottom of the fifth inning with his seventh home run of the season—and second of the series. 

Alas, the third turned out to be a better microcosm of the night than the fifth was. The Twins were only able to get one run while Logan Gilbert was in the game, but they did force him to throw more pitches than he would have liked. Gilbert lasted five innings and threw 92 pitches. That got the Twins into the Seattle bullpen, but the bullpen turned out to be up to that lengthy task.

The Mariners got a couple of two-out hits in the top of the sixth, tying the game on a Josh Naylor single. They broke the tie after a leadoff double from Randy Arozarena in the top of the seventh, which chased Ryan from the game. Mariners second baseman Cole Young got the two-out single off Kody Funderburk that, as it turned out, opened the floodgates.

The Twins bullpen had an unfortunate eighth inning, giving up three hits and three runs.

Josh Naylor got his third hit of the night (a three-run home run off Cole Sands), giving the Mariners a four-run lead. Check out the bat flip. 

Meanwhole, the Twins offense was virtually lifeless against the Mariners bullpen, mustering one hit over four innings against four separate Mariners relievers. Eduard Bazardo, Gabe Speier, Matt Brash and Cooper Criswell all threw a scoreless frame, without the traffic and sense of danger Gilbert seemed to deal with all night.

Added to the roster before the game, righty Luis García made his Twins debut and gave up two runs in the top half of the ninth inning, on a two-out double by Rodríguez. Garrett Acton hit the injured list just minutes before the first pitch, with a shoulder strain, so García might be needed for a while. On the other hand, the team might swap him out for another fresh arm after his underwhelming team debut.

What’s Next?

The Twins will look to bounce back and win game three on Wednesday afternoon against the Mariners. Taj Bradley (3-1, 2.91 ERA) will face off against George Kirby (4-2, 2.97 ERA). 

Bradley has been a bright spot for the Twins this year and will look to get back on track after giving up six runs against the Tampa Bay Rays in his last start. Kirby will look to continue his very good start to the year, most recently giving up two runs over six innings versus the St. Louis Cardinals. First pitch is scheduled for 12:40 PM CT.
 

	FRI	SAT	SUN	MON	TUES	TOT
Morris	0	0	0	40	0	40
Orze	10	9	0	0	0	19
Topa	0	0	10	0	0	10
Rogers	0	15	0	14	0	29
Banda	7	0	9	0	0	16
Funderburk	0	0	20	0	15	35
Garcia	0	0	0	0	23	23
Sands	0	0	7	0	13	20

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[Parfigliano]

Bullpen 3 IP 6 H 5 ER.  

[D.C Twins]

This bullpen is bad... no, not bad... awful....no, not awful... horrific... no, not horrific.... an unmitigated epic disaster....YES it is settled... an Unmitigated Epic Disaster (trademark pending)

[knothole61]

How about packaging Lewis and Wallner for some decent relievers? A change of scenery could be good for both of them and the pen is a disaster. I think someone might take a chance on Lewis because there really is great potential trapped inside by, I believe, his psyche.  

[Sampson5]

Call up rojas let him take actions spot he at least has the stuff to be great . The mid vet journey man route is always boring and predictably goes terribly 

[knothole61]

I'm increasingly disappointed by Caratini. There's a pretty big hole in the lineup when he spells Jeffers. I know one can't expect too much from a back-up catcher but I'm tired on watching him flail away at the plate, of late. 

[Parfigliano]

11 minutes ago, knothole61 said:

I'm increasingly disappointed by Caratini. There's a pretty big hole in the lineup when he spells Jeffers. I know one can't expect too much from a back-up catcher but I'm tired on watching him flail away at the plate, of late. 

He's Piazza compared to last year running Vazquez out there almost half the games

[soyouresayingtheresachance]

No offense to Garcia, but I have zero interest in watching a 39yo veteran see if he has 1 more season in him. Get Rojas back up here or someone else with, hopefully, a future on the team.