Twins 16, Diamondbacks 8: Twins Bat Around Twice in Bullpen-Implosion-Proof Victory!

[Steven Trefz]

Image courtesy of Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images

Box Score
SP: Taj Bradley IP, 5.0 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K (91 pitches, 59 strikes (65%))
Home Runs: Byron Buxton (24)
Top 3 WPA: Brooks Lee (0.20), Bradley (0.18), Trevor Larnach (0.10)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) 

Life in the desert isn't for the weak at heart. The Twins lost their winning streak in Phoenix late on Thursday night, and as a monsoon rolled into town with 100 degrees at its back the Twins hoped to storm back into the win column. The air inside of Chase Field was a balmy 80 degrees, and their former ace Zac Gallen looked to keep the Twins offense contained between the lines. Taj Bradley took the rock for the visiting Twins, and he hoped to match the outside temperature on the radar gun early and often. Both of those things happened on Friday night, and both worked in the Twins' favor.

Breaking Containment One Single at a Time
The Twins offense wasn't the reason they lost their winning streak, and the hits kept on coming at Chase Field against a less-than-sharp Gallen. Trevor Larnach started things off as he has been, with a quality at-bat and a looping single to the outfield grass. Byron Buxton and Kody Clemens couldn't move Trevor along, but Josh Bell got his wheels spinning and then some with a booming double down the right field line. Thanks to an odd mesh wall and a once-in-a-lifetime bad hop, the first Twins run couldn't transpire because Bell's double bounded off the ground and straight up and sideways over the wall to become the ground-rule variety. Just when it looked like Thursday night's bad luck would keep on rolling across the artificial desert turf, Royce Lewis didn't chase Gallen's off speed pitches and earned a walk to load the bases. Brooks Lee unloaded them. 2-0 Twins!

Gallen then took down eight Twins batters in a row, and it looked like he was beginning to find his way. Then the top of the fourth occurred, Lewis started the inning off with a strikeout, and he ended the inning with a pop out. While Twins fans can't be excited about that aspect of the inning, anytime the same batter registers two outs in an inning it bodes pretty well for the team. Lee started off a string of five straight singles, most of them of the cue shot or seeing-eye variety. Ryan Kreidler had made his presence felt with a web gem against Corbin Carroll in the bottom of the first. This time it was Kreidler's single that pushed the lead to 3-0. Larnach's single made it 5-0, and Clemens finished things off with yet another single to post Bradley to a 6-0 lead before he could throw a pitch in the fourth.

Bradley Heats Up the Desert
After a red hot start to his season, Bradley hadn't completed five innings of work in three of his last four outings. Getting the lead early definately helped Taj navigate two walks and a bunt single in the opening frames, but he lit up the strike zone with upper-90's heaters and nasty cutters. On any other night, Bradley's dominance would have been the story of the game. 

The Hits Just Keep on Coming
And coming...and coming...and coming. If you thought batting around in the fourth inning was fun, how about batting 14 men across 29 minutes in the fifth inning? Gallen stayed on to wear it some more with the Diamondbacks having to throw an unplanned bullpen game on Thursday and having to scratch their starter for Sunday earlier in the week. He wore it and then some. Lee started things off with a triple, Victor Caratini then blasted a double to the gap in right-center to plate Lee. Luke Keaschall kept the line moving with a single to end Gallen's evening, but Kreidler greeted Yilber Diaz rudely with a single to plate Caratini. Diaz then walked Larnach to load the bases with nobody out. By the time Buxton touched home plate and got his handshakes and hugs finished, the bases were all cleaned up and the Twins were now up 12-0!

It looked like Diaz would finish off the inning at that point, getting two of the next three batters out. Lee kept his cycle alive with a ground-rule double, however, and then Caratini stole his RBI with a single that plated Bell and Lee to make it 14-0. Keaschall singled to keep the inning alive even longer, and then Kreidler showed why Derek Shelton should stop platooning him at shortstop and just give him the job already. 16-0 Twins on a Kreidler bomb triple off the center field wall.

How Does a Game This Lopsided End?
The Twins were in offensive record territory as they headed into the sixth inning, but both teams decided that enough was enough. After Bradley finally proved he was in fact a human being and surrendered a two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth, the whole-sale position changes became the name of the game. Kyler Fedko replaced Buxton in the lineup, and anyone with "All Star" next to their name in the Arizona lineup likewise took a seat. Bradley finished his five innings, but with the delay and the lack of need to extend his evening the Twins bullpen got the rest of the ballgame.

So what was left to watch? Lewis was the only Twins starter to not get a hit in the game, and he launched a lead-off double to the gap in left to start the top of the seventh. Lee needed a homer to complete the cycle, but he flew out to keep his 50 at-bat without a strikeout streak alive without a cycle highlight...yet.

Justin Lawrence is worth watching, because it takes a unique brand of courage to come into a 16-2 ballgame in the seventh inning and walk the first three men that you face. That actually happened. Certain things could not happen in the final innings of a ballgame where the Diamondbacks had all but surrendered. The first, second, and third things all are the same. Don't. Walk. People. Luckily for Lawrence, Tim Tawa was standing in the box instead of Marte with the bases loaded and nobody out and he went down swinging. Geraldo Perdomo was still in the game, however, and he took another walk. It was apparent that it was Lawrence's turn to wear it, Ildemaro Vargas then crushed a bases clearing double to make it 16-6 and force Shelton's hand in bringing in Eric Orze to save the day...after the inning started with a 14-run lead. Lawrence has glimpses of amazing "stuff," but glimpses simply haven't been getting three outs without surrendering game-changing amounts of runs. Tonight seemed like an unfortuneate breaking point, on what was otherwise a joyous evening for the Twins.

With the game now 16-7, and most of Twins Territory already nestled soundly in their beds with visions of a blowout still firmly entrenched in their heads, those still up and watching this bullpen disaster unfolding couldn't get their final seven outs counted fast enough. The Diamondbacks took the unwatchable nature of the bottom of the seventh, and decided to one-up the Twins by bringing Vargas in with his 38 mph eephus pitches after Philip Abner couldn't get out of the inning. Of course, Vargas walked Austin Martin so that Bell could hit into a double play. Why not. Lee came up second in the top of the ninth to get a second crack at his cycle against Vargas' overhand slowpitch. The career ERA of 3.60 that Vargas brought into the outing actually got lower, and Lee popped up to end anything worth watching tonight. Great win, rough landing, let's take the series tomorrow.

What’s Next?
The Twins look to take another road series in the desert heat on Father's Day. Both the Twins and the Diamondbacks are waiting to recover from this game before naming their starter for Sunday's tilt. First pitch, by someone, is scheduled for 2:15pm CDT.

Postgame Interviews

 

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	MON	TUE	THU	FRI	SAT	TOT
Lawrence	0	0	18	0	40	58
Adams	0	13	0	42	0	55
Orze	15	0	12	0	24	51
Laweryson	0	20	17	5	0	42
Gómez	15	0	0	0	7	22
Rogers	6	0	15	0	0	21
Morris	9	0	8	0	0	17
Banda	0	0	0	0	12	12
Paredes	0	0	0	0	0	0

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[thelanges5]

Lawrence has allowed 12 runs in 6 IP for the Twins. Bullpen was out pitched by Vargas. This club can make a game they win by 8 runs feel icky. 

[jaimedude]

Would rather watch paint being peeled than see Justin Lawrence make one more pitch for the Twins. He Lawrence is historically erratic and unreliable. 

[Peter]

Great win!!! Let take series today!!

[Patzky]

I should sleep in and check the scores after more often! Excited for the team, hope it's not a 1-0 loss tomorrow 😉

Bye Mitchell, hello.. well not Abel. I'd even take Funderburk at this point.

[Bangkok Twins Fan]

Justin Lawrence is worth watching, because it takes a unique brand of courage to come into a 16-2 ballgame in the seventh inning and walk the first three men that you face. 

Courage or sheer ineptitude?

[mikelink45]

Don't tease us - where is the Lawrence DFA?  Please.  Otherwise great win and Lee is doing terrific after so many wanted him gone in May.

[AlwaysinModeration]

Did they DFA Lawrence?  Please?

[CRF]

Ditto on Lawrence...he's gotta hit the bricks! Score 16 runs...and still sweat out the win. Ugh. 

[FlyingFinn]

57 minutes ago, Patzky said:

Bye Mitchell, hello.. well not Abel. I'd even take Funderburk at this point.

Rojas.

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

The Twins offense is nipping at the Yankees heels for most runs scored in the American League! Impressive. Now about Mr. Lawrence...

[RpR]

[RpR]

Gee guy just think if the Twins had Arizona's Diaz with an era of 94.50.

[JD-TWINS]

Rojas was in Arizona last night …….. didn’t make the flight to watch the guys get a bunch of runs Saturday night.

Tom Pohlad buys Lawrence a one way plane ticket to anywhere and Rojas is activated……… gotta be at least 50;1 that this will occur or already has!

Assuming it’s Paredes as long as he holds it together this afternoon with Rojas right behind him………. hopefully they can get through a respectable 6 innings between them.

I echo another’s sentiments here, hope they don’t score just one run today!

[DJL44]

Rojas was bad on Thursday pitching for the Saints but he didn’t walk four batters in a row.

[JD-TWINS]

Here’s a headline:

”Bell & Caratini on fire for the TWINS!”

Both near .200BA & .580 OPS 3-4 weeks ago ………. .703 & .700 OPS now …….. both at .241 + BA ……… Bell leading the Team in RBI & Caratini earning walks and hitting balls into the gaps ……… couple of Big FA signings😉.

2 switch hitters that can really tilt the scales for the Twin’s offense when just playing to their capabilities.

Keaschall, when he doesn’t come up to the plate like he’s on amphetamines, has shown he can take pitches and “walk” once in a while. His average is up 30 points over last 5 weeks and his OBP is up to .340 - that’s a big step forward!!

[AceWrigley]

Can we just end the Justin Lawrence Experience already?

[Hubie29]

Would have even been better if Shelton wouldn't have thrown in the towel on Friday night leaving Prielipp in too long and then using Adams in a 1 run game in the 8th. He has no clue on managing pitching changes. 

[Hubie29]

1 hour ago, RpR said:

Gee guy just think if the Twins had Arizona's Diaz with an era of 94.50.

I'm sure he will be our next acquisition. 

[Andy MacPhail]

Many clamor, "we need more offense"; I've always said we have enough offense, we only need more clutch hitting & priority of course is BP. It's amazing, we are doing so well with this BP. To be seriously competitive, FO needs desperately to get high-leverage RPs, & keep our better RPs in low-medium leverage, except Gomez (IMO, we wasted him in a meanless game, last night).

[jorgenswest]

Sixteen runs. The Twins 6-9 hitters with 11 runs scored and 9 RBIs. The main takeaway in the comments seems to be Lawrence. I don’t get it.

That first inning was great Twins baseball entertainment. A big two out hit by Brooks scoring runners from second and third followed by Kreidler’s amazing play to get Carroll at first in the bottom half. Wow!

[Linus]

In all my too many years of watching ball I don’t ever remember a team batting around on consecutive innings. I’m sure it’s happened but it has to be rare. 
Gleeman just tweeted that In the last 40 games Keaschall is hitting 302 with a 400 OBP. And more walks than strikeouts. 

[Linus]

Just now, Linus said:

In all my too many years of watching ball I don’t ever remember a team batting around on consecutive innings. I’m sure it’s happened but it has to be rare. 
Gleeman just tweeted that In the last 40 games Keaschall is hitting 302 with a 400 OBP. And more walks than strikeouts. 

And Kreidlers play was “worth” more than one out. That inning had the look of those innings that blow up on Taj and Kreidler basically snuffed it out 

[tony&rodney]

Play good defense and the team will be ok. There will be some shifting that happens in the next two months.

The big innings were a joy to watch. Baseball is tough. Gallen made his pitches and the ball found holes and then the Twins started to square up pitches after that. Rough stretch recently for the veteran Gallen.

[jorgenswest]

1 hour ago, DJL44 said:

Rojas was bad on Thursday pitching for the Saints but he didn’t walk four batters in a row.

I just went and rewatched the 5 hits he gave up. 

An infield single to Gabriel Gonzalez that should have been an out. A towering pop up that either the SS of the CF should have caught. It landed between them. Two weakly hit loopers at least one was a broken bat.  A throwing error following a bloop hit advancing runners. A double over Wallner’s head off the wall. Some right fielders get to that ball. He did enough to get 6 outs. If he gets 6 outs over two innings and no runs scored did he still pitch bad?

In 10 batters he gave up on well hit ball and a walk with a strike out. Everything else was weak contact.

 

[thelanges5]

Bobby N:

Justin Lawrence was designated for assignment. Kendry Rojas, as expected, was activated before Sunday’s game in Arizona. https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-twins-injury-updates-mick-abel-kendry-rojas-bailey-ober-mlb/601859742

[Linus]

I love the multitude of runs but we have to be honest. I’ve never seen so many 6 hoppers make it through the infield. We will take the batted ball luck. 

[karcherd]

7 minutes ago, thelanges5 said:

Bobby N:

Justin Lawrence was designated for assignment. Kendry Rojas, as expected, was activated before Sunday’s game in Arizona. https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-twins-injury-updates-mick-abel-kendry-rojas-bailey-ober-mlb/601859742

Now we need to find someone to replace Lawrence's arm slot.  At some point Pohlad has to look at Zoll and say do you have any clue.  He is jumping the line to get guys like this and they are not just bad but horrific.  If you are just going to throw stuff at the wall, anyone can do that.  Figure out a real plan to build the bullpen.  How many games have they cost us.

[Parfigliano]

1 hour ago, JD-TWINS said:

Here’s a headline:

”Bell & Caratini on fire for the TWINS!”

Both near .200BA & .580 OPS 3-4 weeks ago ………. .703 & .700 OPS now …….. both at .241 + BA ……… Bell leading the Team in RBI & Caratini earning walks and hitting balls into the gaps ……… couple of Big FA signings😉.

2 switch hitters that can really tilt the scales for the Twin’s offense when just playing to their capabilities.

Keaschall, when he doesn’t come up to the plate like he’s on amphetamines, has shown he can take pitches and “walk” once in a while. His average is up 30 points over last 5 weeks and his OBP is up to .340 - that’s a big step forward!!

The step is tentative, like checking the ice, until he shows he can keep his OBP at .340+ all year.

[jmlease1]

1 minute ago, thelanges5 said:

Bobby N:

Justin Lawrence was designated for assignment. Kendry Rojas, as expected, was activated before Sunday’s game in Arizona. https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-twins-injury-updates-mick-abel-kendry-rojas-bailey-ober-mlb/601859742

Excellent. Some of these experiments aren't going to work, and he was one of them. Can't hold on to them and hope, need to move on. He showed last night that he simply has no idea where the ball is going. Worth a look because of the stuff, but they weren't able to get him on track quickly like they did with Gomez. Will not miss Lawrence.

Excellent night for the offense though! Ripping hits all over the place. Always fun seeing a couple of triples, and the Buck Bomb was a no doubter. Bradley did the job, hopefully he's starting to find his form again. The stuff looks great, just need to drop those uncompetitive pitches out of the mix and get a feel for his split more consistently and he should be good. That fastball-cutter  combo will get a lot of outs.

Lee is heating up and that's nice to see. He's been finding his power stroke without piling up tons of Ks. Keaschall looking much more like the hitter we saw last season; still not as much pop in the bat, but what we've seen over the last 6 weeks will do nicely.

Go win the series! Arizona is a solid team and the NL is much better than the AL this season.