Twins 6, Astros 3: A Little Rain is No Pain (But a Sprain, Alas! A Sprain...)

[Matthew Trueblood]

Image courtesy of © Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

Box Score:
Starting Pitcher: Kendry Rojas: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 SO - 46 Pitches, 31 Strikes, 10 Whiffs = Average 4-Seam Velo: 96.0 MPH
Home Runs: Josh Bell 2 (5)
Top 3 WPA: Bell (0.30), Rojas (0.22), Eric Orze (0.09)
Win Probability Chart (Via BaseballSavant):

You Win Some...
The Twins got some really encouraging performances Monday night. Josh Bell hadn't homered in over a month and was doing a frighteningly good impression of a player who's completely cooked. He entered the game batting .176/.176/.235 for the month of May, with 20 strikeouts and zero walks in 51 plate appearances. Bell has always been a streaky hitter, but that level of lostness is uncharted territory. Were it not for the concurrent death spirals of the careers of Matt Wallner and Royce Lewis, Bell might have been a focus of more conversation in recent days as someone who could lose their roster spot, or at least be placed on the IL with some semi-phantom injury.

Almost any time such a thing is happening, though, there is at least some reason for it behind the scenes—and, therefore, more hope than you might guess, at a glance. In Bell's case, the mitigating circumstance is that he's been sick for much of this month, dealing with fluid loss and sapped strength. Players play through illness all the time, and it can't be used as an excuse for poor performance, so they'll rarely even admit to the issue. It does affect performance, though, just as it affects anyone else when they try to slog through a workday with a head cold or a stomach virus.

Beginning to feel like himself again, perhaps, Bell broke out of his funk in a huge way Monday night. He hit two homers that were relatively low liners, but on which there was still no doubt of the outcome off the bat, and he lashed what turned out to be an important RBI single in the bottom of the sixth. A better Bell would go a long way to getting this Twins offense into the consistent groove they've sought all year.

Meanwhile, Kendry Rojas put on an equally impressive show. His command was better than it's been in any of his other big-league outings, as he hammered away on the glove side of the plate with his four-seamer and showed the ability to drop in his changeup for strikes. He pitched just four innings, but only needed 46 pitches to do it and induced 10 whiffs by the visiting Astros. Though he'll have to find more consistency with his slider to replicate this in the future, Monday was a big step in his development as a potential starter.

... You Lose Some...
It was inevitable, and is inarguably what's best for the team, but that probably won't give Simeon Woods Richardson a great deal of solace. He's (semi-)officially out of the starting rotation now, after the team plainly planned a piggyback of Rojas and Woods Richardson Monday night. Rojas left after four frames so that Woods Richardson could make a multi-inning appearance in relief, and it was nice that he was protecting a lead when he came in—but that's the kind of thing you do to emphasize how important a guy's new role is, when both you and he know his new role is a smaller and less important one.

Woods Richardson only got one inning in, as it happened, because of the weather's disruptive influence on the game. He stayed on the plate, though he didn't have command of his curveball. Clearly pacing himself for an almost-normal outing, he didn't tap into the extra velocity the team surely hopes he might access as a reliever, but it was a first appearance in what's likely to be his new standard gig. It went fairly well, and Woods Richardson took the right attitude.

Far, far more worrisome for the Twins than Woods Richardson's loss of a job is the danger that they might have lost their best player for a little while, on about as innocuous a play as you can imagine.

After fouling off a pitch on which his bat broke, Ryan Jeffers initially stayed in the game—but two pitches later, he called for the trainer and departed. After the game, the team said Jeffers was being evaluated for a left wrist sprain. Though catchers play through dings that bad and worse, this figures to sideline Jeffers for at least a short time. If it's any more than a very mild sprain, it could (and probably should) land him on the injured list; no one's wrist ever got better by catching 120 pitches a day averaging 90 miles per hour.

The truth, though, is that losing Jeffers for any meaningful stretch would mark the end of even half-hearted hopes of the Twins competing this season. He has a team-best .949 OPS. He's garnered the respect and trust of the pitching staff, thin though that group might be. Without Jeffers, even a hot streak from Bell wouldn't make this a very robust offense, and (despite Victor Caratini's ABS wizardry) they'll probably lose a bit on the run prevention side, too. It's breath-holding time—although, come to think of it, you were probably already holding your breath while you waited to see how long Byron Buxton will be sidelined by his hip flexor problem. Ok, let it out. Catch a few deep gulps of air. Now: hold your breath again.

... And Some Days it Rains.
The game was delayed by nearly two hours right at its midpoint, with the Twins up 3-0 in the bottom of the fifth. You can make a pretty strong case that it just should have been banged, and the Twins declared the winners; it was official once they got through the top of the fifth. In some future version of the league, mid-game rain delays of more than 90 minutes will probably be banned, and we'll all be better for it. Baseball is an outdoor game, which is a wonderful thing. We're meant to live in contact and conversation with nature, and not to conquer it outright. Sometimes, it's ok to let Mother Nature win. This is a level of philosophizing that would make both Rob Manfred and whoever's running the MLB Players Association these days puke, but it's also pragmatic. Neither fans nor players benefit from long rain delays, and despite your wisecracks to the contrary, they're not moneymakers for teams, either.

What's Next
The Astros and Twins continue their three-game set Tuesday night, under clearer skies—but it's going to get chilly, with temperatures dipping into the 40s by the late innings. Lance McCullers Jr. (2-3, 6.86) gets the ball for the visitors, while Zebby Matthews (1-0, 0.00) makes his second start of the year for the Twins. First pitch is at 6:40 PM CT.

Bullpen Usage Chart

	THURS	FRI	SAT	SUN	MON	TOT
Morris	0	24	0	12	16	52
Orze	0	0	26	0	19	45
Topa	0	0	0	11	31	42
Rogers	0	23	0	8	11	42
Gómez	0	7	11	0	11	29
Banda	0	8	0	18	0	26
Garcia	0	0	0	22	0	22
Woods-Richardson	0	0	0	0	18	18
Adams	0	0	0	0	0	0

 

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[Patzky]

Can't win for winning. And the schemer in me calculates whether this improves the odds of Jeffers remainjng a Twin in the same way the Ryan injury did. 

[mikelink45]

6 minutes ago, Patzky said:

Can't win for winning. And the schemer in me calculates whether this improves the odds of Jeffers remainjng a Twin in the same way the Ryan injury did. 

No - Boras still knows the value of a catcher and the Twins probably are not going to offer a Mauer contract.

[Matthew Trueblood]

6 minutes ago, Patzky said:

Can't win for winning. And the schemer in me calculates whether this improves the odds of Jeffers remainjng a Twin in the same way the Ryan injury did. 

The big difference there is, Jeffers is a free agent this fall. If he's out for any length, it probably dings his market value, but I don't think it makes it much more likely that the Twins are the team willing to stomach the risks that come with signing a catcher to a multi-year deal when they've never proved they can bear up under a full-time workload, y'know?

[mikelink45]

Jeffers injury will give us a chance to see next years catcher tandem of Caratini and Jackson I would think.  Hope they pass the audition. 

[Major League Ready]

6 minutes ago, Patzky said:

Can't win for winning. And the schemer in me calculates whether this improves the odds of Jeffers remainjng a Twin in the same way the Ryan injury did. 

It would be very unfortunate if the Twins could not cash in a valuable trade asset of an impending free agent in a year it's obvious they are not a contender.   They don't need any special skills.  Just the ability to look to Milwaukee, Tampa, and Cleveland and recognize those team don't miss these opportunities.   This team's future could look very good if they can cash in on Ryan and Jeffers at the deadline.  

[Whitey333]

What about Buxton?  Why didn't they put him the dl instead of not being able to use his roster spot?  Jeffers im sure will not be with the Twins next year.  Maybe not even the end of this year.  

[HrbieFan]

17 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

Jeffers injury will give us a chance to see next years catcher tandem of Caratini and Jackson I would think.  Hope they pass the audition. 

That is a gross thought! Has the FO tried on Jeffers and the numbers are way off? 

And why is Topa still in the bigs? He isn't the only rag arm in the pen, but he is one that needs to be DFAd 

[Bangkok Twins Fan]

45 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

a chance to see next years catcher tandem of Caratini and Jackson

Good heavens, I hope those are not our only two catchers next season!

[Bangkok Twins Fan]

30 minutes ago, Whitey333 said:

What about Buxton?  Why didn't they put him the dl instead of not being able to use his roster spot? 

I suppose they were thinking he would only be out for a game or two, but at this point, like you, I'm wondering what is going on. 

[Patzky]

37 minutes ago, Whitey333 said:

What about Buxton?  Why didn't they put him the dl instead of not being able to use his roster spot?  Jeffers im sure will not be with the Twins next year.  Maybe not even the end of this year.  

They have to DL Jeffers if he's unavailable, you can't go into battle with one catcher and a Kody.

Of course you could keep Jeffers active and send down Lewis.. only if you're sure Buxton is ready to play. The zombie Twin is becoming a thing.