Angels 2, Twins 1: Angels Steal a Victory, Spoil Santana’s CG

Win Expectancy & Top 5 Plays Per WPA (via Fangraphs)

Santana was brilliant, but the most pivotal throw of the game came from Castro. With runners at the corners and two outs in the sixth inning, Calhoun took off for second base. Castro threw down to second, but when Brian Dozier saw Cameron Maybin break toward the plate, he came in to cut the ball off. Unfortunately, his return throw back to the plate was too late.

Castro’s throw would have easily beat Calhoun, but he had put on the brakes and was going to try to get into a run-down in order to buy Maybin time. It was a quick calculation Dozier had to make, but basically as soon as that ball left Castro’s hand the Angels were going to have the lead one way or another. The decision to throw down to second base at all in that situation was inexcusable.

https://twitter.com/FoxSportsWest/status/882777421199548416

Paul Molitor didn’t make a single managerial move in this game. The bottom of the ninth inning started with Castro and his .316 OBP and Byron Buxton, who’s even worse at .279 OBP. Sure is a good thing the Twins have nine relief pitchers on the roster right now (not an exaggeration). It’s not like they could use a pinch hitter off the bench, especially given that Joe Mauer was unavailable due to a bad back.

To be fair to Buxton, he had an encouraging night. He was 2-for-4 and did not strike out. In the bottom of the second, he hit an infield single, stole second base and scored on a Brian Dozier double. Another plus offensively was Eddie Rosario, who had another two hits tonight.

Also, Max Kepler made a fine diving catch.

Parker Bridwell pitched way too good for a guy who nobody had ever heard of. He threw six scoreless innings, holding the Twins to four hits while walking three. Bridwell also somehow managed to strike out Miguel Sano three times.

The Angels were small balling all night. They attempted a suicide squeeze in the top of the second. There were two outs, so do you even call that a suicide squeeze, or is that just a plain suicide? It didn’t work, but it sure was close.

Santana gave up seven hits, walked two batters and tallied five strikeouts. He threw a season-high 117 pitches, 80 of which were strikes. The 2016 Twins limited opponents to two or fewer runs on 28 occasions. They’ve now accomplished that feat 27 times already this season.

Postgame With Molitor

https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/882805883050147840

Bullpen Usage

Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days:

Thursday

Twins (Jose Berrios, 3.44 ERA) vs. Baltimore (Dylan Bundy, 4.02 ERA), 7:10 pm CT

Bundy, the No. 4 pick of the 2011 draft, got off to a great start this season but has faded of late. In six starts since the start of June, he has a 6.61 ERA and opposing hitters have tagged him to the tune of a .950 OPS. Baltimore was 15-27 on the road entering today’s games.

Berrios has had some hiccups in his past two starts, giving up nine runs over 11.1 innings. In a May 24 start at Baltimore, Berrios gave up homers to J.J. Hardy (who’s currently on the DL), Chris Davis (also on the DL) and Jonathan Schoop.

Jose has basically split his time between catchers, but his numbers are dramatically better with Jason Castro. In 34.1 innings with Castro, Berrios has a 2.36 ERA, .463 OPS and hasn’t give up a homer. In 31 innings with Chris Gimenez, his ERA is up to 4.65, opponents are boasting an .809 OPS and he’s surrendered eight home runs.