Week in Review: Big Moves, Little Momentum

[Nick Nelson]

Image courtesy of Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

The Weekly Nutshell:
The Twins swung a big trade on Monday, capping an active deadline stretch that saw three newcomers join the pitching staff. Unfortunately, Minnesota's play on the field was far less inspired. They were six outs away from getting swept in Kansas City before rallying to take a late lead in the finale. They followed a series-opening win in Milwaukee with back-to-back one-run losses, falling back to three games under .500 and losing ground in the postseason race. 

Since very briefly holding a winning record at the end of July, the Twins have stumbled badly, dropping six of their last eight. The offense is sputtering and the biggest stars are MIA. With 43 games remaining, the pressure is on for this club to get on track and reverse its downward trend. They are hoping the promotion of one of their top prospects can provide a helpful jolt.

Weekly Snapshot: Mon, 8/3 through Sun, 8/9
***
Record Last Week: 2-4 (Overall: 58-61)
Run Differential Last Week: -6 (Overall: -35)
Standing: T-3rd Place in AL Central (3.5 GB); 1.5 games out of WC

Latest Game Results

Game 114 | KC 8, MIN 2: Royals Take Control From Start to Finish, Ryan Struggles

• Ryan: 5.1 IP, 5 R (4 ER), 7 H, 2 BB, 3 K

Game 115 | KC 2, MIN 1: Offense Smothered by Cameron Again in 4th Straight Loss

• Twins offense: 2-29, 0 XBH, 1 BB, 10 K

Game 116 | MIN 4, KC 3: Another Late-Game Comeback Steers Twins Clear of Sweep

• Twins bullpen: 3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 BB, 4 K

Game 117 | MIN 8, MIL 6: Twins Rally Back from Early Deficit, Bullpen Hangs On

• Bell: 4-5, HR, 3 RBI

Game 118 | MIL 4, MIN 3: Early Lead Disappears in Middle Innings, Hoffman Takes Loss 

• Lewis: 2-4, 2 RBI

Game 119 | MIL 4, MIN 3 (10): Brewers Take Game, Series Behind Key Defensive Plays

• Clemens: 1-4, HR, 2 RBI

NEWS & NOTES

The Twins made only one move on deadline day but it was a significant one, sending a three-prospect package headlined by Dasan Hill to the Blue Jays in exchange for veteran reliever Jeff Hoffman. The righty Hoffman joins A.J. Minter and Dean Kremer as outside reinforcements for a pitching staff that Jeremy Zoll and the front office bolstered semi-aggressively, as the Twins look to make a run from within this unspectacular American League field. Kendry Rojas was optioned and Cody Laweryson designated for assignment to make room for Hoffman, who immediately becomes the team's best reliever.

The added rotation depth provided by Kremer's acquisition came in handy quickly when Joe Ryan landed on the injured list following another sub-par start in Kansas City on Tuesday. Openly exasperated with his physical limitations, Ryan was sent home for an exam and diagnosed with a mild glute strain, helping explain why his performance has taken a sharp downward turn of late. Zebby Matthews, optioned the previous week to make room for Kremer, returned to the Twins rotation before even making a start at Triple-A.

The Twins didn't make any offensive additions at the deadline, but they sought a boost internally by promoting one of their top prospects in Kaelen Culpepper. The infielder was called up from Triple-A ahead of Friday's series opener in Milwaukee, with Tristan Gray optioned to the minors to make room. Culpepper started at shortstop and batted seventh in his debut.

 

HIGHLIGHTS

Culpepper started his MLB career with a bang, launching a solo home run in his second at-bat on Friday night to draw the Twins within one run in an eventual victory. On an 0-2 pitch, Culpepper took Brewers starter Shane Drohan deep to left-center for a 390-feet blast. Welcome to the big leagues, kid. I'm eager to see a lot more.

 

Royce Lewis kicked things off in Kansas City with a four-hit night, then went on to add a homer and two doubles over the remainder of the week, extending his hitting streak to 13 games before an 0-fer snapped it on Sunday. Lewis has notched six extra-base hits and driven in seven runs across eight games this month, providing a rare spark for a lineup that's otherwise struggling to find big hits.

Josh Bell enjoyed a four-hit game of his own, on Friday night in Milwaukee, and homered twice during the week to break out of a prolonged power slump. Bell had gone a full month in between home runs before taking Royals reliever Steven Cruz deep on Tuesday. Hopefully he's about to get locked into another hot streak, because the team could really use it.

 

The freshly reinforced bullpen continued to look like the strength of the roster, allowing six earned runs in 20 innings for a 2.70 ERA. Slim margins for error meant that Hoffman and Yoendrys Gómez were tagged with losses on Saturday and Sunday by allowing one run apiece, but they mostly looked good, as did the rest of the relief corps. Kody Funderburk threw 4 ⅔ scoreless innings with eight strikeouts and one walk; he's given up one run in his past 15 appearances. Tommy Nance made three shutout appearances and has a 1.74 ERA since being acquired. Andrew Morris didn't allow a run in his 2 ⅔ innings of work, lowering his ERA to 3.09 for the season.

It makes sense that the Twins focused mainly on relief upgrades at the deadline, given their overall talent level there, but the bullpen has strongly outpaced the rotation and lineup over the past month-plus and that continued to be the case last week. The Twins are staying in a lot of close games thanks to this unit, which has consistently shown that if handed leads it can hold them. 

LOWLIGHTS

Leads are tough to come by. The offense is struggling to get anything going, especially against opposing starters. Thursday's finale against the Royals marked the ninth consecutive time an opposing team held the Twins to two or fewer runs through the first six innings. They managed to score three in the eighth of that one to come back and avoid a sweep, but have become far too dependent on those types of dramatic late-game rallies to ever win a game. 

Kody Clemens has authored a few of those big game-changing knocks, and added another on Sunday with his game-tying two-run homer, but prior to that he was 2-for-22 on the week and his OBP has sunk to .287. Brooks Lee also homered on Sunday but was 1-for-14 coming into the game and his OPS is sagging back toward the 600s. Victor Caratini was 2-for-11 and hasn't homered since June. Alan Roden went 1-for-7 and is running a .527 OPS in his latest stint with the Twins. 

Minnesota's best hitters are either injured (Byron Buxton) or mildly slumping — Ryan Jeffers was 3-for-19 last week and Trevor Larnach 1-for-11. Save for the modest hot streaks from Lewis and Bell, no one's picking up the slack in a lineup that constantly shortcircuits. The timely-hitting magic that elevated the offense's results in the first half has predictably dried up, as demonstrated over the weekend (2-for-18  with RISP on Saturday and Sunday). 

It was profoundly frustrating to watch the Twins lineup get shut down by Randy Dobnak and Noah Cameron at Kauffman Stadium five days after they did the same at Target Field. These are not exceptional pitchers and you'd like to think Minnesota's hitters and coaches would come up with some sort of plan seeing them both in such short succession. Alas, the Twins had no answers, scoring just two runs in 13 innings against the Royals starters in a pair of losses to clinch the season series for KC. 

Four of six games in the past week were decided by one run, and six of the past eight. On the one hand, with margins being this tight, one could reasonably surmise the Twins were just a few missed swings or lucky breaks away from going 6-3 on this road trip instead of 3-6. On the other hand, they've been getting generally outplayed, and clutch late-game heroics have bailed them out several times. The Twins could have easily gone 0-6 against the Royals over the past two weeks on merit. That's tough stuff against a team pacing for 95 losses.

Upgrades to the bullpen aren't going to be meaningful if the offense can't find some life and start building some leads here and there. 

TRENDING STORYLINE

The Twins are a fringe playoff contender, tied with Cleveland for the eighth-best record in the AL. They are one of six teams within four games of a Wild Card spot. They've now fallen behind the Tigers in the Central standings. In order to have a shot at making the dance, they're going to win significantly more than they lose the rest of the way. Can they hang in there with their two best players sidelined indefinitely?

Buxton received an injection in his ailing hip and there's no clear timeline in place for his return. Ryan's glute injury was deemed relatively minor but it was enough to land him on the IL so he'll miss a couple weeks at least, and who knows what kind of effectiveness level can be expected when he's back on the mound. The Twins are in a tough place, compelled to show patience and get both Buxton and Ryan as healthy as possible while also recognizing that the team's hopes for this season hang in the balance. 

Every game matters and the absence of Minnesota's two All-Stars is deeply felt. Culpepper's arrival will hopefully help awaken the Buxton-less lineup, but if the Twins really want to push their chips in, they need to find a way to get Walker Jenkins to the big leagues. Jenkins homered twice for the Saints on Thursday and is batting .357 this month. He's ready, and he's talented enough to make a real impact on Minnesota's fortunes. 

 

LOOKING AHEAD

With their latest nine-game road trip in the books, the Twins return home with two three-game series slated for the coming week, although one of the "home games" (on Thursday) will actually take place in Iowa for the Field of Dreams Game. The Orioles should present a pretty even match-up for the Twins, with nearly identical records and run differentials. The difficulty level only goes up from there, with the Phillies (63-56) followed on the schedule by the Braves (71-47) and Padres (61-57). 

Can the Twins survive this gauntlet through some of the National League's finest teams? We'll find out. But first they need to take care of business against Baltimore. 

MONDAY, AUGUST 10: ORIOLES @ TWINS — LHP Trevor Rogers v. RHP Dean Kremer
TUESDAY, AUGUST 11: ORIOLES @ TWINS — RHP Brandon Young v. RHP Bailey Ober
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12: ORIOLES @ TWINS — RHP Shane Baz v. RHP Zebby Matthews
THURSDAY, AUGUST 13: PHILLIES @ TWINS  — RHP Aaron Nola v. RHP Taj Bradley
SATURDAY, AUGUST 15: PHILLIES @ TWINS  — LHP Jesus Luzardo v. LHP Connor Prielipp
SUNDAY, AUGUST 16: PHILLIES @ TWINS  — RHP Andrew Painter v. RHP Dean Kremer

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[thelanges5]

Pretty sad but right now I am just hoping they go 3-3 this week. Team needs a run to stay in this but I fear they are too inconsistent for that. 

[LyleCole]

So, why did the Twins call up Kaelen Culpepper and then sit him two games into his stint with the big league club?   Is he injured again?

[wesnewy]

Some fun games overall, but the margin for error for these guys is getting smaller and smaller by the series

[Maybebaby]

The next 4 series will determine the season "make 'em or brake 'em good luck men!

[Peter]

Time to make a statement!!! Every game is must win and time for twins to get back on winning streak and take back central division championship!!!?

[TwinsAce]

1 hour ago, LyleCole said:

So, why did the Twins call up Kaelen Culpepper and then sit him two games into his stint with the big league club?   Is he injured again?

It was planned from the beginning due to his recent quad (I believe?) injury he came back from. Dan Hayes wrote a brief note about it on the Athletic and that they had planned this rest day since he played 5 straight games.

The blister on Matthews' foot also sounds concerning. I think there is a decent chance for Rojas coming up if Matthews goes on the IL.