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. 

 

[DJL44]

Bell is on a hot streak again. He has always run hot and cold.

[h2oface]

Just a single when the game is on the line. That’s what makes a best player great. 

[knothole61]

2 hours 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!!!!

I'm an ossified septuagenarian so, not surprisingly, I resist most of the new stats. I've come around on WAR and OPS, but that's about it. For the most part I believe in the old saying that there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics. And I certainly don't care how fast the ball is going as long as it goes over the fence!

[knothole61]

Any game played with Caratini instead of Jeffers is prone to offensive failure. 

[Patzky]

4 hours ago, knothole61 said:

Any game played with Caratini instead of Jeffers is prone to offensive failure. 

Better get used to it.

[Peter]

Need to win these type of games!!! Buxton must get hit with runners on 2nd and third!!! But instead goes down on weak pop foul out fly😡🤮💩😤👎 need to win today and finish off homestand with winning record!!!

[mikelink45]

Imagine if Buxton had laid down a bunt!

[TJSweens]

8 hours ago, Parfigliano said:

Sounds like BS to me.

Many advanced metrics are.

[TJSweens]

1 hour ago, Peter said:

Need to win these type of games!!! Buxton must get hit with runners on 2nd and third!!! But instead goes down on weak pop foul out fly😡🤮💩😤👎 need to win today and finish off homestand with winning record!!!

Or maybe if someone else followed one of Buxton's doubles with a hit...

[Bangkok Twins Fan]

8 hours ago, soyouresayingtheresachance said:

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

 

Great to see that he didn't walk a batter again. Vintage Zebby!

[Bangkok Twins Fan]

Arcia now leading the team in batting average! Okay, only one game, but a nice return for the vet!

[JD-TWINS]

6 hours ago, knothole61 said:

Any game played with Caratini instead of Jeffers is prone to offensive failure. 

Buckle up - Jeffers is out until August 1 & will then be “returning from injury” - that is, unless they trade him prior to deadline - it’s a sad situation.

[JD-TWINS]

43 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

Imagine if Buxton had laid down a bunt!

That’s an interesting thought - I’m sure there was plenty of space on the right side……either side as they are deep playing for the 3rd out. Obviously, trying to win the game with a base hit, scoring both runners.

Would really like to see more “moving runners” earlier in games - Kreidler - Keaschall - Martin - Outman should all be proficient bunters, and Caratini should also be able to be competent if the situation arises.

[JD-TWINS]

Zebby has a 1.38 ERA over his first two starts. Hasn’t exactly faced the ‘27 Yanks in those games but still very encouraging!

3 scoreless with no base runners from the PEN.

Losing Jeffers has created an even deeper abyss in the line-up.

Martin & Larnach are finally leveling closer to original expectations. Martin will be exposed more and more to RH pitching and that’s going to wear on his stats & effectiveness. …… I hope he can stay “selective”, he seems to be pressing with more and more swings that are out of the zone “chases”.

Who comes up when Gray goes on Paternity Leave for 3-5 days???

[Jeff K]

Jeffers and Emanual Rodriguez.  Doubly bad news.  

[karcherd]

5 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

Who comes up when Gray goes on Paternity Leave for 3-5 days???

It will have to be Mendez or Gonzalez, as I doubt they will add anyone to the 40 man roster.  But it won't matter because I doubt either one will get a chance to play.

[JD-TWINS]

2 minutes ago, karcherd said:

It will have to be Mendez or Gonzalez, as I doubt they will add anyone to the 40 man roster.  But it won't matter because I doubt either one will get a chance to play.

I’m ignorant on Mendez - does he catch the ball OK ………to me, it seems they’d give him a look at the plate as an alternative to Outman? I know they are devoted to the hierarchy, so probably slim chance.

Gonzalez v. a potential LH pitcher at 1B? Don’t know if he’s ready at 1B?

[JD-TWINS]

Bell has awakened …… 6-8 over last two games with 5 RBI of the 7 total scored.

This sucks, but real………Jeffers being traded as he recovers from surgery in July. Should be plenty of time to pump up his current slash line & thus his value, with potential suitors. My thought is that he’s possibly played his last game as a Twin.

[tony&rodney]

1 hour ago, mikelink45 said:

Imagine if Buxton had laid down a bunt!

Would have been a great play if successful as it scores the tying run. Runs scored is the objective.

[David Maro]

Nine innings to come up with 3 runs and can't do it. The start of a long summer.

[Patzky]

18 minutes ago, karcherd said:

It will have to be Mendez or Gonzalez, as I doubt they will add anyone to the 40 man roster.  But it won't matter because I doubt either one will get a chance to play.

The McCusker treatment. Of course, when he was finally in the lineup, pfffft

[Patzky]

6 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

Would have been a great play if successful as it scores the tying run. Runs scored is the objective.

I don't have much faith Larnach would have come up w anything. If Buck had bunted for a hit but the runners had to hold (most likely scenario)

[Patzky]

10 hours ago, Danchat said:

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.

People keep saying that, we're a great hitting team. Eyeball test says not so much. We could get eighteen hits and they'd even out to two singles an inning and one run. If we don't pressure with bunts and steals, we get bupkis. Clemens Buck Martin and Keaschall gotta step up, they can set the parts in play for Bell and Larnach to RBI.