Jump to content
Twins Daily
  • Create Account

Blue Jays 11, Twins 4: Yuck. Twins Bullpen Surrenders Eight in the Eighth to Lose Yet Again

Steven Trefz
 Share

Recommended Posts

Steven Trefz FCL Twins

Steven Trefz

Twins Daily Contributor
Posted
Posted
Image courtesy of © Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

Box Score
SP: Connor Prielipp 5 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K (91 pitches, 59 strikes (65%))
Home Runs: Byron Buxton (10)
Bottom 3 WPA (via FanGraphs): Luis Garcia (-0.58), Anthony Banda (-0.17), Ryan Jeffers (-0.09)

Win Probability Chart (via BaseballSavant) 
image.png

 

The Twins took one in the chin Friday evening against the visiting Blue Jays, but Saturday afternoon was a beautiful day for baseball and for some revenge. Minnesota sent their young southpaw Connor Prielipp out to silence the Toronto bats, while Toronto relied on the "familiar to Target Field" mustache of Dylan Cease. Neither pitcher had allowed a homerun in 2026, but with the sun out and the launch pad open for summer business, finally, a pitchers' duel was not going to happen.

Buck Truck First to Launch
After Prielipp took care of the Blue Jays in order in the top of the first, Cease tried to sneak a 1-2 fastball up and over Byron Buxton's leadoff bat. Buxton instead sent the ball up and over the right field limestone for his 10th home run of the season!

 

 

Rough Second for Prielipp...and Guerrero Jr.
Prielipp found himself with an early advantage, but that wouldn't last long. Connor surrendered the first home run of his career on a changeup to Lenyn Sosa to knot the game at one apiece. Just a few batters later, Miles Straw launched a 3-2 fastball even higher and deeper to left to put the Blue Jays out in front by a run.

Kody Clemens laced a single to right to lead off the bottom of the second inning, and he advanced to second on a walk to Luke Keaschall. With two on and nobody out, Matt Wallner stepped up to the plate for the first time since Wednesday in hopes of at a minimum advancing the runners. Wallner indeed accomplished the minimum, with a dribbling grounder to the right side of the diamond. Now with runners at second and third and one out, Brooks Lee found himself looking down the barrel of a 1-2 count. Contact of any kind would probably score a run, and Lee managed to make the minimal contact needed yet again with a slow grounder to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at first base. Guerrero couldn't catch Clemens at home, so he instead tried to feed Cease at first to nab Lee. Instead, the ball scooted by everyone and into foul territory far enough to allow Keaschall to score and to put the Twins back on top at 3-2!

 

 

Prielipp took care of business through five innings, as he continues to navigate his restricted pitch count in his rookie season. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Tristan Gray led things off with a single. After advancing to second, Trevor Larnach stayed hot and singled in some insurance to make it 4-2.

No Lead is Safe for the Twinkies
In previous seasons, an insurance run might have helped. With four innings of bullpen work ahead of them, Twins fans knew it wouldn't be enough. Boy were they correct.

Today's implosion began immediately when the unstoppable force that is Kazuma Okamoto took Justin Topa deep, pulling within one. Kody Funderburk came in, and despite the inexcusable walk to a 0-28 Davis Schneider, he managed to get the Twins into the eighth inning still nursing a 4-3 lead.

Luis Garcia got the call for the top of the eighth, and he didn't retire a batter. A walk and three singles later and Garcia and the lead were both gone. Anthony Banda came in next, and with runners on first and second, Banda misplayed a bad hop through his wickets for a single up the middle. With the bases loaded, a rattled Banda walked Straw on four pitches to make it 6-4. Schneider came up with the bases still loaded, and Banda did what pitchers haven't been able to do for weeks...get Schneider a hit. Schneider's double scored two more, and then Brandon Valenzuela took the first pitch he saw deep into the bullpen to make it 11-4 with still no outs in the eighth inning. What else can you say? This is the 2026 Minnesota Twins.  

The blown lead allowed John Klein to come in and throw a perfect ninth inning in his major league debut, leaving 30,000 of his hometown fans wondering why he didn't pitch the eighth. Congrats to Klein, and may he be a part of the solution before it's too late.

What’s Next?
The Twins look to salvage a series split and a season one-up over Toronto on Sunday. Twins righty Joe Ryan (2-3, 3.76 ERA) aims to keep the Twins bullpen off of the field as long as possible in hopes of securing a victory. The Blue Jays will counter with young righty Trey Yesavage (1-0, 0.00 ERA) who will be making his fifth career start. George Springer had to leave Saturday's ballgame early when a Prielipp slider hit him directly on his previously broken left big toe, so he is likely to miss the finale. First pitch is scheduled for a somewhat odd home morning start at 11:45am CDT.

Postgame Interviews

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

  TUES WED THUR FRI SAT TOT
Orze 0 28 0 33 0 61
Banda 0 22 14 0 18 54
Garcia 23 0 0 9 18 50
Funderburk 15 0 0 0 14 29
Topa 0 0 12 0 10 22
Rogers 0 13 0 8 0 21
Morris 0 0 19 0 0 19
Klein 0 0 0 0 12 12

View full article

Dave Borton First Round Pick

Dave Borton

Verified Member
Posted
Posted
Quote

The Twins controlled the ballgame until the eighth inning, and then their biggest area of management malpractice reared its ugly head yet again. 

Man, this said it all.

Garcia needs to join me on social security and quit pretending that there is gas in that old tank.

Get someone on the green line/lifeline from St Paul. Here's the schedule:

https://moovitapp.com/index/en/public_transit-line-metro_green_line-MinneapolisSt_Paul_MN-1143-10736-26977896-0

Dman Wichita Wind Surge

Dman

Verified Member
Posted
Posted

I was surprised they called Klein up given his penchant for giving up home runs, but a great debut for him with a scoring line of 0 0 0 0 0 0.  What does it take to believe you will make the majors after going undrafted? I think the odds are less than 1% to make it if you go undrafted.  Has to be an amazing day for that young man to pitch for the team you grew up cheering for and in the stadium you watched your favorite Twins players play.  He looks a lot like Varland.  Can the Twins catch lightening in a bottle like that again?

shimrod Draft Eligible

shimrod

Verified Member
Posted
Posted
34 minutes ago, Dave Borton said:

Garcia needs to join me on social security and quit pretending that there is gas in that old tank.

It's not his fault. If the Twins are willing to pay him to pitch why would he say no? Blame the FO that signed him and the manager who plays him. 

 

ashbury GOAT

ashbury

Verified Member
Posted
Posted
22 minutes ago, shimrod said:

It's not his fault. If the Twins are willing to pay him to pitch why would he say no? Blame the FO that signed him and the manager who plays him. 

 

"Yeah, you're the one that messed up.  You trusted me."

mikelink45 Minnesota Twins

mikelink45

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted

The Twins do lead the league in one area - players ready for a DFA - Start with Garcia, why did we even think about him?  Banda and Outman - both can remember when they had a season for the Dodgers - unfortunately they are not having a season to  remember in MN. 

Then we are close to Wallner who is vying for the lowest BA on the team, when we consider a dribbler as a highlight there is a problem.

And Lewis is being replaced by a utility player - where is the future star hiding. 

And maybe not DFA, but has SWR forgotten something?  Like how to pitch. 

There are some others who are not notable successes, but we have to have someone on the roster.

Nshore Draft Eligible

Nshore

Verified Member
Posted
Posted
28 minutes ago, shimrod said:

It's not his fault. If the Twins are willing to pay him to pitch why would he say no? Blame the FO that signed him and the manager who plays him. 

 

I don't blame Shelton.  He has to play the walking dead he's been given on the bullpen roster.  Who else has he got.  On the other hand, Shelton knew exactly what he was signing up for.

Doctor Gast Wichita Wind Surge

Doctor Gast

Verified Member
Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, thelanges5 said:

The good: Prielipp and Buck

The bad: the fielding

The ugly: BP is now 28th in era and WPA

We knew that the INF defense was bad & the BP was ugly at the beginning of the offseason & very little was done to change our situation. I'm not asking to spend big money in FA, Trades & bringing up from within the ranks could have made us into a competitor. Bringing in rejects & sticking with them well too long has cost us. Like was said, it's malpractice.

Dave Borton First Round Pick

Dave Borton

Verified Member
Posted
Posted
29 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

The Twins do lead the league in one area - players ready for a DFA - Start with Garcia, why did we even think about him?  Banda

I have to go scrum the stats Banda had at LA. I listen to the Dodgers when I go to bed. Banda was impressive when I saw him in ST and listened to games.

We must have found him on a trip to the west coast: 

LA.jpg

soyouresayingtheresachance College Ball

soyouresayingtheresachance

Verified Member
Posted
Posted

I am really liking what Connor is doing. Quality pitches and outings. 

Buck with 10 HRs and 14 RBI on the season. Doing great but would really love to see more clutch time hits with runners on base. 

Garcia and Banda gotta go. I thought maybe Banda was turning it around with his recent velocity increase, but I guess not. Absolutely terrible performance. 

jkcarew Ft Myers Mighty Mussels

jkcarew

Verified Member
Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, soyouresayingtheresachance said:

Buck with 10 HRs and 14 RBI on the season. Doing great but would really love to see more clutch time hits with runners on base. 

But how many RBI would he have if he was batting behind Martin (484 OBP) and Larnach (424) instead in front of them? The bottom of the order has been a complete black hole, except for the recent surge/improvement from Lee. I’m not one to gripe about a lack of RBI, unless the guy is passive with RiSP. That’s not Buxton.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
The Twins Daily Caretaker Fund
The Twins Daily Caretaker Fund

You all care about this site. The next step is caring for it. We’re asking you to caretake this site so it can remain the premier Twins community on the internet.

Become a Caretaker

  • Member Statistics

    20,451
    Total Members
    48,845
    Most Online
    o town twin fan
    Newest Member
    o town twin fan
    Joined
×
×
  • Create New...