Twins 12, Rangers 2: Twins Ambush the Rangers With 17 Hits in a Much-Needed Laugher

[Steven Trefz]

Image courtesy of © Jim Cowsert-Imagn Images

Box Score
SP: Zebby Matthews - 7.0 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K (93 pitches, 68 strikes (73%))
Home Runs: Trevor Larnach (4), Kody Clemens (11)
Top 3 WPA: Matthews (0.14), Larnach (0.12), Byron Buxton and Clemens (0.11)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) 

The Twins came into Tuesday night's contest in Arlington, Texas with a couple of unique scenarios in play. First, they were aiming to win their third game in a row for the first time since mid-May's trip to Fenway Park. Second, both teams have an off day looming mid-series,setup with the World Cup coming to Arlington on Wednesday. With a sporadically tough young righty in Kumar Rocker on the hill for the Rangers, Zebby Matthews had an opportunity to vault Twins Territory into a happy off-day with a solid performance. All of the suspense and setup of this paragraph were happily erased by the fourth inning, though. Here's how a much neemuch-neededded laugher unfolded in Minnesota's favor for once.

Twins Cash in Early and Often
When Derek Shelton moved Byron Buxton into the second spot of the order last week, his goal was to get more runners on base for the slugging center fielder. Trevor Larnach torpedoed his manager's plan to start the game, but this time fa,ns still had something to cheer about. 1-0 Twins on the second pitch.

Buxton didn't let Larnach's insubordination deter him, as he quickly reached first on an infield single. The next two batters got out, but managed to advance Buxton to third. Josh Bell then kept his RBI streak rolling with a single to deliver a 2-0 lead.

Things moved along with little fanfare until the top of the third inning, when Rocker again faced a leadoff Larnach, who singled this time. Buxton walked to set the stage for tonight's right fielder, Kody Clemens. Clemens broke the game open with one Texas-sized swing.

The Twins stacked a Brooks Lee double and a Luke Keaschall walk after that in the third, but they wouldn't strike again until the top of the fourth. This time i,,t was Alex Jackson in the nine spot who got the leadoff knock with a ringing double to left. Larnach couldn't keep the cycle train moving, but Buxton got a two-base gift from Brandon Nimmo and the Twins found themselves back in scoring position. That play ended Rocker's night, as Cal Quantrill got the call to put out the fire. Clemens got intentionally walked with one out, so that Royce Lewis got a bases lobases-loadedaded opportunity. The Rangers had heard that Lewis was prone to trying to yank outside off-speed pitches into double play grounders. They forgot that Lewis learned the power of station-to-station hitting on Sunday afternoon, and he laced an outside cutter into center for a casual, ho-hum, two-run single. 7-0, and the rout was on!

What happens when the former number one pick keeps the line moving for his teammates? Bell just keeps raking, that's what. Bell sent a double into the right-field corner, and Nimmo struck again with a throw that bounced into the infield allo,wing Lewis to score as well to make it 9-0. A Keaschall single eventually plated Bell, and Matthews had a 10-0 lead before he ever got the rock for the bottom of the fourth.

The Zebby Show Rolls Through the Seventh
While the announcers went to B-roll material to try to maintain a level of interest in the blowout, Matthews kept on cruising through the Texas lineup. He surrendered single runs in the fourth and fifth innings, but he escaped damage and completed seven solid frames for the fourth time in seven starts this season. The defense came to play, Matthews didn't walk anyone, and the business that needed to get taken care of when you get spotted such a large early lead got taken care of. No tense bullpen moments tonight. In fact, the Twins tacked on two more runs in the top of the ninth just to be sure. Indeed, a fully rested and newly inspired team will take the field on Thursday in search of their first four-game winning streak since mid-April. 

What’s Next?
The Twins will cheer for soccer and such on Wednesday, and then attempt to sweep their way out of Texas. Twins righty Joe Ryan (4-3, 3.17 ERA) looks to provide the knock-out start, while former number two overall pick Jack Leiter (3-6, 4.86 ERA) looks to salvage the finale for the home team. First pitch is scheduled for 1:351:35 pmpm CDT on Thursday.

Postgame Interviews

 

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN	MON	TOT
Laweryson	32	0	0	0	20	52
Adams	0	0	37	0	13	50
Morris	0	9	0	17	0	26
Gómez	0	15	0	10	0	25
Lawrence	0	0	24	0	0	24
Rogers	0	22	0	0	0	22
Banda	0	9	0	11	0	20
Orze	0	16	0	0	0	16
Paredes	0	0	0	0	0	0

 

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[Parfigliano]

Good Zebby is fun to watch.

[Blyleven2011]

Pitching , defense and hitting , the twins did it all in a double digit win tonight ...

Matthew's,  you give your pitcher some runs early and most times a pitcher can relax some and that's what looks like happened with zebby tonight  , seven innings from starter and 2 from bullpen  ...

Good team effort tonight , 5 games back of 500 , keep playing ball like tonight and we just might get to 500 , but I've been sucked in before ...

[Permanent Twins Fan]

Great win. Zebby pitched really well. Great offensive game. Josh Bell and Kody Clemens have both been hot lately. The Twins offense has been surprisingly good this year. They are 7th in baseball in runs scored. Twins are just two games back of the wild card, 5 back in the division. World Series, here we come!!!

[knothole61]

"Happy days are here again

The skies above are clear again

Let us sing a song of cheer again

Happy days are here again"

Sorry...I just finished a documentary on FDR!

[UK Twin]

Still don't know what to make of this year's Twins! I think we'd have all taken 35-40 when the season started but we could easily be over .500 as well. Really happy to see the reset Lewis had at AAA seems to have done the trick. Could be a huge player in the 2nd half of the season.

I noticed that the series finale is Thursday and not Wednesday - presumably due to England playing Croatia in Dallas on Wedneday afternoon?

[Peter]

Big time explosion and win!!! Only 5 games under .500 and 2 back of wild card!!!

[DJL44]

Are the expensive seats right behind home plate some sort of all-you-can eat deal? I feel like I’m watching people at a Golden Corral buffet.

[DJL44]

I am enjoying watching Audra Martin get interrupted by home runs. She is a sure fire rally starter.

[CRF]

If we can get more of the good Zebby...we might actually have something. Last night was fun to watch. 

[jmlease1]

The bats were cooking for sure, and Zebby did a good job chewing up the innings with the big lead. A nice win.

Boy Trevor Plouffe really did not like the Rangers surrender mode last night and tossing out a pitcher who couldn't even register on the speed gun. That guy wasn't even throwing BP speed, more like an Eephus.

[Saxophone Joe]

Kody Clutch Clemens is meriting some serious All-Star consideration. 

Just five nights ago, this team was on the brink of falling to 31-40 after another bullpen implosion. Great turnaround! 

[DJL44]

27 minutes ago, Saxophone Joe said:

Kody Clutch Clemens is meriting some serious All-Star consideration. 

No. He’s a competent player, and Twins fans aren’t used to seeing that so I’ll forgive you, but he’s no All-Star.

[Saxophone Joe]

15 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

No. He’s a competent player, and Twins fans aren’t used to seeing that so I’ll forgive you, but he’s no All-Star.

Perhaps, but let's see how the next couple weeks ago. Dude is raking it right now. 

[karcherd]

2 minutes ago, Saxophone Joe said:

Perhaps, but let's see how the next couple weeks ago. Dude is raking it right now. 

And for the month of April he was a candidate to be DFA'd again.  I am enjoying his run that he is currently on, but let's see if he can sustain it and for how long.

[Saxophone Joe]

4 minutes ago, karcherd said:

And for the month of April he was a candidate to be DFA'd again.  I am enjoying his run that he is currently on, but let's see if he can sustain it and for how long.

I don't recall any DFA discussions around him in April, but I'll take your word for it. He has 30 home runs in just over a year now with the Twins. And that's not even getting to how important he's been in the field. 

[shimrod]

Nice to see a game where the Twins outshine their opponent on defense. In a similar vein I can't recall the last time the Twins had a baserunning gaffe. The last couple years we seemed to run ourselves into an out every other game. 

Almost have to credit Shelton for the improvement on the bases. I think Shelton is probably about average on strategic decisions but the improvement in fundamentals tells me firing Rocco was the right move. 

[Linus]

Zebby got a little lucky the first couple of innings. He threw a bunch of center cut pitches that didn’t get punished. Then he settled down and started locating better and looked good. Glad to see Royce get the single to knock in a couple. His first couple at bats were brutal as he struck out and the pitcher never threw him a strike. Lots of good hitting all the way around. 

[karcherd]

14 minutes ago, shimrod said:

Almost have to credit Shelton for the improvement on the bases. I think Shelton is probably about average on strategic decisions but the improvement in fundamentals tells me firing Rocco was the right move.

I think some of the coaches he has brought has really helped with this.  I am glad we got some coaches with major league experience.  The drills that Sizemore has put Larnach thru has made into at least passable on defense.