Marlins 9, Twins 5: The Twins Offense Wasn't Enough to Overcome the Bad Pitching

[Sherry Cerny]

Image courtesy of © Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

Box Score
SP: Simeon Woods-Richardson - 3 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 1 K (88 pitches, 48 strikes (49% strikes)
Home Runs: Byron Buxton (15), Kody Clemens (4)
3 WPA: Simeon Woods-Richardson (-0.47), Luke Keaschall (-0.12), Matt Wallner (-0.07)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)


We’re in Our ‘Fix the Starter’ Era
After an absolute gem from Bailey Ober on Tuesday, the Twins handed the ball to Simeon Woods-Richardson heading into the night, still searching for his first win.

Almost immediately, you could tell this would not be that night. He issued a walk to Xavier Edwards, and an error by Luke Keaschall on a ground ball by Liam Hicks doubled the trouble. Otto Lopez followed with an RBI single that should also have produced an out, and Kyle Stowers walked to load the bases. Connor Norby then hit into a double play that still brought in a run, giving Miami an early 2–0 lead. Victor Caratini threw out Jakob Marsee on an attempted steal to end the inning, but the defense had let Woods Richardson down—and he had done nothing to help himself.

Minnesota answered right away. Byron Buxton led off the bottom of the first with a first-pitch solo home run, cutting the deficit to 2-1. It was a skyscraper, a high pitch Buxton hit very hard but clipped the bottom half of, but which still easily carried into the bleachers down the left-field line.

But Miami kept applying pressure in the second inning, breaking through again with a two-run homer that stretched the lead to 4-1. Woods Richardson never really found a groove, and in fact, he hasn't found one all season.

While the pitching struggled to settle in, Buxton kept the Twins alive. He struck again in the third inning, launching another first-pitch home run, giving the Twins their second run. After being burned on a high four-seamer, Max Meyer tried a low sinker. The result was different, in that Buxton hit a screaming liner this time. It was the same, in that he circled the bases with his 15th dinger of the year. Could he hit 40 before 2026 is over? It's absolutely in play.

New Pitchers, Same Old Problems
The first four batters of the top of the fourth inning reached against Woods Richardson, with two more scoring. Derek Shelton turned to his much-rested bullpen, but not the way he'd hoped he might be able to. Travis Adams entered in relief, but could do little damage control. A single through the drawn-in infield scored two more runs. Adams closed the barn door, but the horses were long gone.

The Twins scored twice in the bottom of the fifth, on a well-placed double by Josh Bell, but Adams couldn't keep the game within slam range. Edwards tripled past the hopelessly immobile Matt Wallner in the sixth and came home on a fielder's choice, stretching the lead to 9-4 Miami. Justin Topa took over and minimized damage, though he hardly looked dominant in his first outing since having his own doors blown off a week ago.

So It Goes…
By the time the game reached the later innings, what had been a long, grinding contest finally began to settle into a quicker rhythm as both sides cycled through the bullpen. Luis García came out in the eighth inning and mopped up the mess. Tristan Gray made the second of two good catches on pop-ups behind third base; he looks more like the team's short-term regular third baseman every day.

Kody Clemens offered one last jolt of life in the bottom of the eighth with a garbage-time home run. If he and Bell can get going again at the plate, the team will have a moral victory to take away from the loss.

What’s Next?
The Twins will close out against the interleague series with a rubber match tomorrow in an afternoon game at 12:40 PM CT, before the Brewers come over to continue the nine-game homestand. The Twins are expected to promote Triple-A starter Zebby Matthews for his first outing of the year. After rookie Robbie Snelling landed on the injured list, the Marlins will also reach into their farm system, for Braxton Garrett.

Postgame Interviews 
Coming soon.

Bullpen Availability Chart

View full article

[soyouresayingtheresachance]

As good as Ober was yesterday, Sim was the opposite tonight. He seems to be getting worse, much like Royce. So many batters are struggling. 

Not a terrible night for the pen, I suppose. 

Clemens has looked better recently.  

Man is it fun to watch Buck! 

[Parfigliano]

SWR should not get another start

[GNess]

I understand it is not an advanced metric, but it matters:

Twins are 1-7 when SWR starts a game. (17-17 in other games.)

[Nshore]

The Wallner/Lewis drain circle watch.  Wallner - 4 strikeouts.  Lewis nailed to the bench.

[Hashim]

SWR should get demoted or traded. He’s been horrendous. Why stick with him when he’s lost you 7 games before you even played 50 games. 😡😡

[Aggies7]

It’s going to be really hard to put up our third straight season with a 12+ game win streak 😂 

[DocBauer]

This is kinda simple. SIMS has to have an injury. Maybe he has the proverbial "tired arm" injury.  But he needs an IL and rehab stint because this is NOT the SWR we've known before. 

[David HK]

Geez Louise, Sim, wtf? 

He does not look like the same guy who gave us a lot of gritty innings last year.  I saw the earlier post about the twins' record in his starts, yikes! What a mess!

[Bangkok Twins Fan]

Another rough loss, but it was fun to Buxton shine. But this bit was the most amazing:

Josh Bell stole his first base since Sept. 27, 2018. The 978-game gap between steals was the longest for a batter since at least 1900, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

[Blyleven2011]

How can the twins players be in rapid decline when there is no consistency from wallner ( he's strikeout prone ) , lewis ( can't seem to get his swing right ) , Outman ( cant play defense or hit ) , keaschall ( cant seem to find his MOJO from last year and occasional blunder at defense ) , bell and caratini  ( bats have mostly cooled since hot start )  and clemens ( borderline streaky )...

Buxton , Lee,  Martin , larnach  , jeffers and  gray ( trying to lead the team ) ...

We had a 3 game winning streak , now we have none , it's always a do over , nobody wants to break a winning streak but SWR is not  performing well and we are losing in games started by him  , we were all expecting Ober to be the weak link in starting rotation  ...

[Bangkok Twins Fan]

35 minutes ago, Blyleven2011 said:

we were all expecting Ober to be the weak link in starting rotation

Yeah, funny how that expectation has turned around so quickly. Very odd season thus far. 

[jorgenswest]

The Twins really need Matthews to take this opportunity and claim a spot in the rotation. It sounds like Bradley may not need more than the 15 days. At that point he has to takes Simeon’s spot.

Keaschall had another rough night at 2B. He just takes too long to load up the throw. His worry about the throw probably caused him to miss the easy ball on the possible but unlikely double play in the first. The Twins have a better defender at 2

[mikelink45]

All the comments cover as much as you need for such a poor game, so I want to pose a different question - has ABS hurt SWR?  If he is not injured, I do not understand what is going on except that ABS has shrunk the strike zone for a pitcher who works around the edges.  Last year I did not understand what happened to Ober and I am really pleased with his work this year.  He has figured out his pitches and the zone - what can be done to bring SWR back?

Other other side Lewis and Wallner certainly have not adjusted to the small zone - losing his position to Grey says all that is needed for Royce - when does someone take Wallner's position?

[jmlease1]

Rough one for SWR. He simply has not looked like the same pitcher this season and he's not getting it done. Sure, Adams couldn't shut it down when they asked him to come in and kill the rally, but he didn't put those runners on. Way too many walks issued by the Twins pitchers, but SWR just looked bad. Again. Only reason he hasn't been banished to the bullpen is Abel and Bradley getting hurt.

Buxton is still awesome and the best reason to watch this team. He's a monster.

Ball is still finding Keaschall when we need him to make a play. It'd be easier to live with if he were hitting, but he's still not really doing that either. (he's having another bad week, after finally having a good one)

Only thing saving Wallner from a demotion is the AAA injuries, but he looks as awful as Royce.

Amazing how fast the 3-game winning streak flies out the window after a pretty ugly loss. Hopefully they can flush it and take the series.

[laloesch]

SWR is just lost in his starts.  he's not the same pitcher form the last two years.  IT's a shame.  

[karcherd]

44 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

losing his position to Grey says all that is needed for Royce

I am not sure how you can say Royce has lost his position to Gray.  He sat for two games which was intentional for a reset and last night.  Other than that he has been playing every day.  Should he lose his position is a different question.  If he does it should not be to Gray.  I would prefer he lose it because Culpepper is called up.  Arcia should be the only other option, he at least has a track record in the major leagues even though it has been pretty weak over the last few years.  Gray and Kreidler should not be considered for any regular AB's, call up the prospects before that happens.

We can't keep wasting AB's and innings pitched on players who have no future with this team.

[David Maro]

SWR was a 180 from Ober and Keaschall's error in the 1st inning put SWR in a hole he couldn't get out of. He has to be taken out of the rotation now or he may never recover.

What are they waiting for with Wallner and Lewis,they are unplayable and should be demoted. Baseball is a game that needs contributes from everyone. The only thing they are doing is striking out.

[Whitey333]

They sure are showing a ton of patience with Wallner.  And Lewis too for that matter.  SWR same thing.  It's rapidly approaching time to move on from these players.

[Jeff K]

58 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

Rough one for SWR. He simply has not looked like the same pitcher this season and he's not getting it done. Sure, Adams couldn't shut it down when they asked him to come in and kill the rally, but he didn't put those runners on. Way too many walks issued by the Twins pitchers, but SWR just looked bad. Again. Only reason he hasn't been banished to the bullpen is Abel and Bradley getting hurt.

Buxton is still awesome and the best reason to watch this team. He's a monster.

Ball is still finding Keaschall when we need him to make a play. It'd be easier to live with if he were hitting, but he's still not really doing that either. (he's having another bad week, after finally having a good one)

Only thing saving Wallner from a demotion is the AAA injuries, but he looks as awful as Royce.

Amazing how fast the 3-game winning streak flies out the window after a pretty ugly loss. Hopefully they can flush it and take the series.

I think the outfield injuries with St. Paul have kept Wallner on the team.

[TJSweens]

8 hours ago, DocBauer said:

This is kinda simple. SIMS has to have an injury. Maybe he has the proverbial "tired arm" injury.  But he needs an IL and rehab stint because this is NOT the SWR we've known before. 

I submit that other than the last two months of last season this IS the SWR we have known. I was encouraged at the end of last year, but far from sold on SWR.

[Linus]

Sim was obviously not sharp. It seems like his split is not the same or the league has figured it out. I have to say the Twins defense was putrid. Keaschall is not good in the field; in fact he’s really bad. He can’t throw and he has Julien like whiffs on routine plays. I’m kind of surprised as he is athletic enough but he is just not getting it done. 

[Sjoski]

Maybe we nickname Wallner

"K-9"

 9K's in last 10 AB

At this rate, he doesn't need a batting coach; he needs a foster home.

 

 

 

[Sjoski]

53 minutes ago, David Maro said:

The only thing they are doing is striking out.

Check the stats....Wallner hit a fly ball last week in Cleveland. 

[jmlease1]

47 minutes ago, Jeff K said:

I think the outfield injuries with St. Paul have kept Wallner on the team.

I believe I said that.

Roden is injured, Rodriguez hasn't played in 2 weeks, Jenkins is on the IL, Gonzalez has struggled, Mendez just got promoted, so really the only option would be Fedko...who isn't on the 40-man. That's why we're still riding with Wallner for sure. Lewis is probably has more to do with managing the player and the psychology of it; it's easy for someone to sit at the keyboard and say "demote him! who cares what he thinks? Who care what any of the players think!" but Twins management has to actually live in the world.

SWR would likely be in the bullpen if they hadn't already lost Abel and Bradley, or if Festa wasn't slow in his recovery, but with those guys unavailable we're already trying to fill a spot with Morris/Adams/Rojas piggybacking and praying Priellipp doesn't get hurt...even if Zebby gets called up SWR probably doesn't head to the bullpen until Bradley is back on the field.

Oof.

[Linus]

10 minutes ago, Linus said:

Sim was obviously not sharp. It seems like his split is not the same or the league has figured it out. I have to say the Twins defense was putrid. Keaschall is not good in the field; in fact he’s really bad. He can’t throw and he has Julien like whiffs on routine plays. I’m kind of surprised as he is athletic enough but he is just not getting it done. 

Forgot to add that Gray made two outstanding plays catching foul pops. Snarkily I will submit they were the two best defensive plays made by a Twins third baseman this year. For a low wattage pick up he’s been pretty good. 

[stringer bell]

Just past a quarter of the way through the season, there are several players who have struggled mightily. Who is in a death spiral and who will come out of it? Here is my list and course of action for each:

SWR--Bullpen now. He's got enough to be a back of the rotation guy. He needs a reset and he's out of options.

Wallner--Send to St. Paul. The Twins have better options and Wallner looks as lost as he ever did. Fedko should be up.

Outman--It looks like he will never be able to hit acceptably, but if there is space for a pinch runner/defensive replacement, he fits the role. Keep him in that role.

Lewis--Short leash--start him two out of three games for the rest of May and hope there is some improvement. If not, a trip to St. Paul is in order.

Keaschall--Hang with him for now. The regression has been sharp and his power seems to be gone, but he's young and shown he can help the club is he hits a little bit.

Topa, Rogers, Garcia, Banda--That is half the bullpen and they've been dreadful. Maybe someone will want one of them, but get them off the roster.

Bell--A proven hitter. I expect he'll come around, but he should be gone by the trading deadline.

Caratini--Another guy with a track record of decent hitting who hasn't hit much for over a month. Reduced playing time, but he will be the primary catcher after the trading deadline.

That is one starting pitcher, four bullpen guys, and six position players who are dragging the team down, about 40% of the roster. It's hard to have a winning team with so many guys performing poorly.

[stringer bell]

14 minutes ago, Linus said:

Forgot to add that Gray made two outstanding plays catching foul pops. Snarkily I will submit they were the two best defensive plays made by a Twins third baseman this year. For a low wattage pick up he’s been pretty good. 

Lewis had a fielding slump before going on the IL, and was at -3 DRS at one point. He's at -1 now, (as is Gray as of 5/13) so I don't think defense has been the main issue with Lewis. That said, Gray has outhit Lewis considerably and on merit should be playing as much or more than Royce.

[Exiled in Illinois]

Regarding Wallner, he has lost his spot and is now the 4th outfielder.  However, he is not going to lose a spot on the ML team unless the one of the top three is injured or traded.  With Larnach and Martin solidifying their spots, there really is no spot for a prospect.  It would be a mistake to bring up a prospect and not play them everyday (ie as a 4th or 5th outfielder).  Maybe it's time to trade Larnach while he's looking good if we have a MLB prospect ready for the show (debatable).  

Can't help but wonder if we traded Larnach (or Martin or Buxton for that matter) what the reaction to that move would be around here:)

[Exiled in Illinois]

Wow, got that wrong. Finished writing comment above, went back to Twins news and saw Wallner was sent down.  Guess we have a new 4th outfielder!