Twins 4, Diamondbacks 2: Offense Wakes Up Just in Time, Bullpen Locks It Down, Twins Take Series

[Hans Birkeland]

Image courtesy of © Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Box Score:
Starting Pitcher: Mike Paredes: 5 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 1 K (75 Pitches, 47 Strikes, 62.6%)
Home Runs: None
Top 3 WPA: Alex Jackson (0.42), Yoendrys Gómez (0.14), Josh Bell (0.12)
Win Probability Chart (Via BaseballSavant):
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The Twins are cooking offensively, and as a result, they have a 7-3 record in their past 10 games. Their 384 runs scored are second to the Yankees in the American League, and they are 1.5 games out of a Wild Card spot. Royce Lewis posting a .900 OPS since his return from a demotion has certainly helped, but Brooks Lee, Trevor Larnach, Luke Keaschall and Kody Clemens have also played out of their minds to support a pitching staff that has been neither healthy nor effective.

On that note, Mike Paredes made his third career start today, against the Diamondbacks, and was in trouble from the jump, pitching behind in counts and unable to control his sweeper. He emerged from the first inning unscathed after walking Corbin Carroll and allowing a single to Geraldo Perdomo, but wasn't so lucky in the second. He walked Nolan Arenado to start the frame, then walked Ildemaro Vargas. After a sacrifice bunt (a charitable gesture from Arizona manager Torey Luvullo), Paredes struck out rookie Tommy Troy on a backup sweeper. One out away from escaping yet again, however, the unheralded rookie made one mistake too many. Ketel Marte struck a hanging sweeper pure out to the right-center field gap to score the game's first two runs.

Meanwhile, the Twins were having all sorts of issues with Jose Cabrera, a right-handed starter making his major-league debut. He stayed in the zone and commanded a nice changeup and sweeper, spiced with a plethora of different fastball shapes. The first six Twins hitters went down easily, and it didn't get much better from there. A hit-by-pitch to Alex Jackson and a bloop double from Larnach put two on for Byron Buxton, but he flailed away at sweepers to keep the Twins scoreless.

Paredes scuttled along, taking advantage of a weak back half to the Diamondbacks order. Facing Marte for the third time in the fifth, he allowed a laser single to lead off the inning. Perdomo then grounded sharply to Lewis at first, and Lewis made a great relay to second to start a key double play—especially key because Carroll and Gabriel Moreno both singled thereafter. Fortunately, Pavin Smith lined out to left field to end the threat. Somehow, Paredes ended up just giving up the two runs while completing five innings, something all of us would have signed up for.

Cabrera was done after allowing a leadoff bunt single by Twins catcher Alex Jackson in the sixth. Facing lefty Brandyn Garcia, Larnach also attempted a bunt, a curious decision but one he almost beat out. After Buxton grounded out on the first pitch, Clemens struck out, and the Twins had nine outs to figure out something against the D-Backs bullpen, the strength of their team.

These Twins aren't super talented, but they are gritty. Facing 100 MPH heat from reliever Juan Morillo, the Twins followed a Lewis single with two quick outs, with Lee striking out on a fastball at his eyes. Ryan Kreidler singled, though. Then Josh Bell pinch-hit for Kyler Fedko and singled to the gap, scoring Lewis. Jackson reached base for the third straight plate appearance, singling through the right side to score Kreidler. Bell tried for third base for some reason, and the throw from Carroll hit Bell's hand, kicking the ball out of play and allowing Bell to score the go-ahead run.

Andrew Morris got the seventh against the top of the Arizona lineup. He allowed a rocket off the bat of Marte that Clemens made a leaping catch on in center, then walked Perdomo. But Perdomo was caught stealing on a great throw from Jackson, and Carroll struck out to end the inning.

The Twins got Buxton and Lewis in scoring position in the eighth, but Keaschall was unable to capitalize with two outs, grounding out weakly to keep the lead at one run. This was, of course, no issue for Yoendrys Gómez, who pitched around a leadoff walk to retire the middle of the D-Backs order. He's beginning to look like a revelation.

Kreidler led off the ninth with a single, followed by a failed Austin Martin pinch-hit bunt attempt in which Kreidler was cut down at second. No matter, as with two outs, Larnach roped a hanging slider into the right-center field gap to score Martin for a much-needed insurance run.

Anthony Banda was given the save chance, sat 96-97 MPH, and threw strikes for the most part. He's looked a lot better since early May.

Stuff I'm Tracking:

• Larnach made such a good diving play to end the second inning, I wanted to mention that his defense isn't great but is serviceable, and he isn't a total butcher out there. Then he misplayed a liner in the sixth that almost led to a crucial third run. In any case, his OBP is .377, and his move to the leadoff spot has paid dividends.
• Jackson is hitting .317 and contributed the biggest hit of the game. He also caught Perdomo stealing in the eighth, which may have been an even bigger play. Maybe he was worth the half-lavish contract he got, because he's turning out to be more than the emergency backup warm body that contract seemed to buy.
• Keaschall made a number of diving stops at second base and converted most of them into outs. Hard to say whether he gets better as he gets more reps, or if he will lose range as he gets older. He has posted an OBP-heavy .790 OPS in both May and June, though, and that plays.
• Kreidler had three more hits, lifting his OPS back above .900. You kinda have to start him every game at this point.
• If Paredes' game plan was to not touch the zone with anything, he succeeded, and the Diamondbacks had no counter-punch. The only ball that really said "hit me" was the sweeper to Marte. Maybe Paredes has some guile to his game; he'll need it.

What’s Next: The Twins welcome the World Series champion Dodgers to Target Field, as Zebby Matthews (3-4, 4.78 ERA) faces lefty Eric Lauer (2-5, 5.37 ERA). Lauer has been pretty good since being acquired by L.A. in May, after burning bridges on his way out of Toronto. Matthews has had some encouraging starts and some clunkers, typical of his career thus far, and he will have his work cut out for him facing the Dodgers, who have scored the second-most runs in all of baseball (The Nationals are first??).

Postgame Interviews: Coming Soon

Bullpen Usage Chart:

	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN	TOT
Paredes	0	0	0	0	75	75
Lawrence	0	18	0	40	0	58
Laweryson	20	17	5	0	14	56
Adams	13	0	42	0	0	55
Orze	0	12	0	24	0	36
Gómez	0	0	0	7	20	27
Morris	0	8	0	0	17	25
Banda	0	0	0	12	10	22
Rogers	0	15	0	0	0	15

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[Saxophone Joe]

I’m glad you mentioned Jackson’s contributions. By and large, he and Vic have filled in admirably - to say the least - in Jeffers’ absence on both sides. 

Another great team win. Oh, and Kreidler is crushing it!

Starting to come together, Pepper. Happy flight home, fellas✌

[Peter]

What a road trip!!! 5-1!!!! 💪💪💪💪Game back of wild card and 3 back in division!!! Huge comeback win!!!💪💪💪

[stringer bell]

Is Jackson doing too much? When Jeffers returns, will they be forced to keep Jackson and go with three catchers? He's a 30-year old guy with some intriguing skills and I'd certainly like to see the Twins keep him not so much for as long as they have Jeffers, but for next year if there is a season.

[Wedman13]

Another cool win.  It may end, but it's worth enjoying a beautiful summer day and Twins win! 

[stringer bell]

Banda did a real nice job in the ninth. Part of that (IMHO) is the top-heaviness of the Snakes order, but he's been much better since a really terrible start. 

I'm not ready to give up on Keaschall as a defensive second baseman. His offense has been so-s0, but better than his defense, but he's got enough speed to have decent range and while he doesn't have a strong arm, if his release is quick enough and he's accurate, arm strength isn't going to matter much.

[weitz41]

Mike Paredes wasn't even on the who? radar. Let's give the guy some credit. Outside of K/9 he's been solid to pretty dang good. He is preforming better than some those we've been talking about for a while.

Props to Mike!

The Offence looks (wasn't able to watch the game) like it took off against the Dbacks better BP guys. 

5 walks and 4 K's for the game...Who's hiding Nick Punto?

Nice win. Go Twins

[Glorybound]

The grittiness of Shelton’s team is quite evident. I would give Buck some of the credit for positive leadership also. Things that have been lacking the last couple of seasons. The Abel injury sounds serious.

[Wedman13]

6 hours ago, JBK said:

Father time is undefeated

 

[Wedman13]

3 minutes ago, Glorybound said:

The grittiness of Shelton’s team is quite evident. I would give Buck some of the credit for positive leadership also. Things that have been lacking the last couple of seasons. The Abel injury sounds serious.

💯 on Buck

[LA Vikes Fan]

28 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Is Jackson doing too much? When Jeffers returns, will they be forced to keep Jackson and go with three catchers? He's a 30-year old guy with some intriguing skills and I'd certainly like to see the Twins keep him not so much for as long as they have Jeffers, but for next year if there is a season.

I think we have to keep Jackson. I expect them to trade Jeffers before the deadline for Pitching, including hopefully at least one MLB ready reliever, Caratini and Jackson are the tandem for the rest of the year barring injury. Also, keep in mind we can't send Jackson down because he's out of options and he will be claimed if waived, so I don't think we have any choice but to keep him on the big club. 

[RpR]

[GopherMike]

12 minutes ago, LA Vikes Fan said:

I think we have to keep Jackson. I expect them to trade Jeffers before the deadline for Pitching, including hopefully at least one MLB ready reliever, Caratini and Jackson are the tandem for the rest of the year barring injury. Also, keep in mind we can't send Jackson down because he's out of options and he will be claimed if waived, so I don't think we have any choice but to keep him on the big club. 

I think Jackson's contributions have been great, but I wouldn't jump to the assumption that he would be claimed, given his 0 options. He was already DFA'd once and nobody claimed him.

Granted, he's had a nice run since then, but I don't think that 100% changes the equation. Every team is only going to carry two catchers.

That said--if they know they are going to trade Jeffers (and I'd bet they are) then holding Jackson for a few weeks is worth it. 

But longterm they cannot carry three catchers. 

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

Heck of a win. Heck of a road trip, boys. They're in the mix. Time for Tom P. to make good on his promises. Give them a fighting chance.

[mrguy]

22 minutes ago, weitz41 said:

Mike Paredes wasn't even on the who? radar. Let's give the guy some credit. Outside of K/9 he's been solid to pretty dang good. He is preforming better than some those we've been talking about for a while.

I definitely think he has room to adjust, seems like they're tweaking some mechanics and it's led to some varied results while they try to hone in on a happy medium between some of improved mechanics and what worked in the past for him. Interestingly enough, despite not having many strikeouts, his whiff rate on his non-sweeper pitches have actually improved across the board compared to his AAA results, however his overall average has dropped because his sweeper, which was his put away pitch, hasn't generated nearly the same amount he got in St. Paul. Have to figure out what adjustments they're going to have to make to try and bring it back up.

[krink]

I’m so happy that we have Kreidler on the team right now - he’s been such an asset during this stretch of road games. Hope he’s proved that the platooning isn’t worth it at this point - if he’s playing like this, you need to put him in the lineup!

This month has been a total flip of my expectations, and made all the more exciting for that fact! Is going to make the loss against the Rockies that must be about to happen after we sweep the Dodgers all the more painful…

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Cabrera had an impressive major league debut.  24 years old.  Jackson and Caratini have been above average lately, but the Twins will win more games if Jeffers is available soon.  But I do see the wisdom in trading Jeffers at the trade deadline, unless the Twins are above .500 and definitely in the wildcard race or leading the AL Central at the trade deadline.  I will miss Jeffers. He has been a  joy to watch mature and improve and develop as a catcher, a hitter and a leader.  I would like the Twins to try to extend him now. 

[stringer bell]

4 minutes ago, krink said:

I’m so happy that we have Kreidler on the team right now - he’s been such an asset during this stretch of road games. Hope he’s proved that the platooning isn’t worth it at this point - if he’s playing like this, you need to put him in the lineup!

This month has been a total flip of my expectations, and made all the more exciting for that fact! Is going to make the loss against the Rockies that must be about to happen after we sweep the Dodgers all the more painful…

Platooning has its place, but isn't optimum for the middle infield, where the shortstop and second basemen really have to work together for the infield defense to be at its best. Asking Gray to become the primary shortstop when he was always regarded as an infielder who could play short was a stretch.

[krink]

3 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Platooning has its place, but isn't optimum for the middle infield, where the shortstop and second basemen really have to work together for the infield defense to be at its best. Asking Gray to become the primary shortstop when he was always regarded as an infielder who could play short was a stretch.

Especially seeing how well Kreidler works with Keasch - of all the short stops we’ve seen play with Keaschall this year, I think they have the best synergy. He makes Luke a better 2nd baseman.

[Patzky]

I see Allen Roden was pulled from the Saints game late tonight. Please, not another.. 🤕