Astros 2, Twins 1: No Offense, No Victory for Twins

[Steven Trefz]

Image courtesy of © Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

Box Score
SP: Zebby Matthews 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K (100 pitches, 66 strikes (66%))
Home Runs: N/A
Bottom 3 WPA: Austin Martin (-0.20), Byron Buxton (-0.16), Trevor Larnach (-0.16) 
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) 

  
The Twins experienced a monumental Tuesday before the game even began. Royce Lewis got demoted to St. Paul, the Justin Topa era finally reached its overdue end, and Ryan Jeffers learned that his bat wasn't the only thing broken. Emmanuel Rodriguez discovered that surgery would keep him from rising up into the big leagues. The Astros' starter changed from Lance McCullers Jr. to Jason Alexander just a few hours before first pitch. Orlando Arcia and Alex Jackson were called up for the game, and Byron Buxton returned to the lineup as well. Would Zebby Matthews be able to keep his squad in the game with all of these distractions swirling? Or would the Astros be able to sneak away with the victory?

Rough Start for Matthews
The young starter didn't surrender a run in his first outing of the season, but two batters into tonight's contest, it was already 2-0 Astros. Jeremy Pena led off with a single with two strikes, and Isaac Paredes made Matthews pay by crushing a homer to left on a full-count, middle-middle cutter. The Astros didn't mount another threat the rest of the game, as Matthews and the Twins bullpen held serve the rest of the way. Could the Twins take advantage of the starting pitching chaos that Houston brought to the table tonight?

Buxton Tries His Best
Buxton finally got the Twins faithful on their feet again with another double in the bottom of the eighth inning. Josh Bell had a chance earlier in the game with Buxton on second base, but this time he got some help from the Astros infield as his ground ball bounced off of the second baseman into the outfield to pull the Twins to within one!

Can the Twins Walk it Off?
The Twins came into the night 0-22 this season when trailing after the eighth inning, and the Astros had yet to lose a lead after the eighth inning, at 18-0. On paper, things looked bleak. With two outs, it was up to Arcia, and he delivered with an opposite-field single. Derek Shelton pinch-hit Luke Keaschall, and Bryan Abreu came into the game to face him. Abreu then plunked him. A passed ball put runners on second and third for Buxton in a hero spot, but the Twins' superstar popped up on a full count to keep the Twins' late-inning futility and the Astros' low-grade clutchness intact.  
  
What’s Next?
The Twins look to rebound and to secure a winning homestand on Wednesday afternoon. Hard-luck ace Joe Ryan (2-3, 3.20 ERA) will look to save the day. The Astros will send out young righty Mike Burrows (2-5, 5.72 ERA) in hopes of ruining the day. First pitch is scheduled for 12:40 pm CDT. 

Postgame Interviews 

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet 

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

 

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[thelanges5]

Good job - Zebulon, Banda, Adams, Buck, Bell

Bad job - everyone else, 1-7 RISP, 9 LOB; baffled by the guy from Seinfeld

[TheLeviathan]

Zebby having a nice return to the bigs.  Good to see, I still think there is a guy there.

[mnfireman]

Buxton goes 2-5 with 2 doubles, scores the only run, but is the 2nd lowest WPA...sounds like a great stat to me!!!!

[Parfigliano]

6 minutes ago, mnfireman said:

Buxton goes 2-5 with 2 doubles, scores the only run, but is the 2nd lowest WPA...sounds like a great stat to me!!!!

Sounds like BS to me.

[Danchat]

The offense may be above average compared to other AL teams, but going forward this offense is going to be a big problem. Which is a shame because the starting pitching continues to be great even with the injuries.

[soyouresayingtheresachance]

Nice start for Zebby. 5 hits. No walks. Tough luck loss.