Game Recap: Orioles 7, Twins 4

Box Score

Pineda: 3 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 1 K  

Home Runs: Garlick (4), Astudillo (4)

Bottom 3 WPA: Pineda -.339, Polanco -.097, Sano -.068, 

Win Probability Chart (via Fangraphs)

Four pitches into the game Cedric Mullins was already standing comfortably at third base. Conversely, Mitch Garver was in a crumpled heap on the floor after taking a groin shot foul ball from Trey Mancini. The Twins immutable injury crisis continued to mount Tuesday. After being helped slowly from the field, the only available bench players for the Twins were Trevor Larnach (in a walking boot yesterday), Rob Refsnyder (LITERALLY a white outline of him painted on the Camden Yards outfield fence), and Nick Gordon (hasn’t played in a week). The Twins are a mess, don’t let the opposition fool you.

Astudillo, pressed into outfield service, provided perhaps the most scarring experience for Twins fans on the 2nd pitch of the game. Cedric Mullins ripped a line drive to right field, La Tortuga was all over the place. Indeed, the route Astudillo took to the ball was more reminiscent of a play one would expect to see in Williamsport than Camden Yards.

After a long Kyle Garlick home run tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the 3rd, Michael Pineda began to unravel. Pineda was giving up significant hard contact Tuesday night, with 7 batted ball events over 100mph through 3 innings. By the end of 3, the Orioles had a 5-1 lead, and an 84% chance to win the game.

The Twins 4th inning response was best summed up by Jake Depue.

Pineda was replaced by Luke Farrell in the bottom of the 4th inning. If you’re thinking tonight's waxing was unusual for Pineda, you’re right.

Pedro Severino added a long home run to left field off a hanging Farrell breaking ball to make the lead 6-1 in the bottom of the 4th, and put the game beyond reach.

The Twins showed flashes offensively throughout the rest of the game. They had runners on the corners in the top of the 5th before the incredibly disappointing Josh Donaldson struck out to end the threat. Nelson Cruz doubled to lead off the 6th. Kirilloff followed up with an RBI double of his own to narrow the lead to 6-2. Miguel Sanó and Willians Astudillo could not keep the inning going.

The Twins can still win tomorrow and win the series with Baltimore. A victory would give them 8 victories in their last 11 contests. In spite of this, the Twins haven’t been convincing. This feels like a team walking up a downward facing escalator being pushed inexorably to the bottom. Entering play tonight, the Twins RDIFF was -21, the White Sox was +80. That tells you more about the cavernous gulf in class between the teams than the 10.5 game gap in the standings ever could.

Juan Minaya entered in the 6th and gave up a home run to Maikel Franco on his first pitch. And so it went for the Twins pitching staff in this game, each pitcher entered, each pitcher promptly gave up ground to the Orioles. Any sniff of a comeback was immediately extinguished by Baltimore, leaving the Twins bench looking tired, exasperated, and frustrated.

The Twins again threatened in the 7th, a Garlick walk and a Donaldson hit by pitch putting men on 1st and 2nd with one out. Dillon Tate walked Cruz to load the bases with one out. Trevor Larnach pinch hit for Rortvedt and struck out swinging. Kirilloff came through with a single to trim the lead to 7-3 with the bases still loaded. Polanco grounded out to short to end the inning.

In the 8th, Astudillo cut the lead with a solo home run to left field, his 4th.

Andrelton Simmons followed up with a single to center, the Twins again threatening. Simmons second guessed taking second base after the ball was thrown away by the pitcher, getting caught in a run down and providing the second little league caliber play of the night from the Twins.

In their final half inning, the Twins again threatened. Trevor Larnach doubled Nelson Cruz over to 3rd. Alex Kirilloff struck out swinging, leaving Jorge Polanco as the Twins last hope. 

Bleacher Tweets

On my recap days, I’m going to throw in a crowd sourced statistic, joke, story, or complaint to get more voices into the recap. This week, Cody Pirkl brings you more Twins gems.

Bullpen Usage Chart 

What’s Next?

On Wednesday, the Twins will send Randy Dobnak to the hill against Matt Harvey. First pitch is at 6:05 CT.