Twins 9, Astros 6: Twins Top Astros Thanks to 3-Run Homers

I think Ryan could have gone out for the 7th. But, honestly, feel like Rocco sending Ryan out for the 6th was a bit of a milestone moment. I feel like that probably doesn’t happen last year. The number of pitches thrown was fine/low…but it was the 6th inning of a tie game and Ryan was up against Alverez (3rd time, already had beaten him, etc) and the meat of their order.

Nice to see Rocco showing the confidence…even nicer, getting rewarded….fly ball, K, K.

Jovani Moran’s rough start to the year makes me wish even more that we hadn’t let Danny Coulombe go for nothing (especially considering Moran still has options). We could use another sole LHP in the bullpen right about now. 

Great job Hans on you insight of the game. Farmer & Solano were suppose to help us against LHPs but they have stepped up to help us against RHPs as well. Another RH hitter Vasquez, came across with two clutch hits. Buxton created an opportunity for Moran to come in to get some pitches in which Duran could come in to get the save.

We had out hit HOU this time by over 3X at one time but HOU knows how to make their hits count. We are blessed to be facing HOU at this time. Lets go for a sweep, Go Twins!

27 minutes ago, GKuehl said:

Jovani Moran’s rough start to the year makes me wish even more that we hadn’t let Danny Coulombe go for nothing (especially considering Moran still has options). We could use another sole LHP in the bullpen right about now. 

Agree with your assessment 100%!  Saying that I've been a fan of Moran since I saw him pitch for the Wind Surge in Wichita a couple of years ago.  He has a fantastic changeup, but has struggled with his consistency.  That was evidenced today as he got Alvarez to fly out in the 9th and then whiffed Tucker after Abreu's infield single.  Really disappointed he failed miserably in the match up with Pena, who had been struggling to make contact all day.  Just wondering at this point how many more outings Moran will get should his struggles continue.  IMO we absolutely need another LH in the pen beyond Thielbar.

Should Moran get demoted soon is Megill his replacement?  Cant say I'm excited by that.

One thing I didn’t anticipate…maybe I hadn’t thought it through…is how little we’ve seen of Jeffers…and apparently, how little we’re going to see of him. He’s looked good swinging it (1 K in 10 PA). But with Vasquez solid on both sides, and only 2 guys that can catch on active roster, Jeffers will see a lot of pine for now…can’t even PH, it looks like. I do expect him tomorrow, though.

13 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Another game tomorrow. Jax, JLópez and Duran have all pitched two straight days. If it’s close and late, do others get the ball? 

Hope that is not the case, but with ANOTHER day game on Monday, I doubt Baldelli uses Duran as threw 19 pitches Friday and then had to reload in the pen as Moran was unraveling in the 9th. 

Assuming Mahle can go 5+ (hopefully more) tomorrow, I can envision Baldelli going to Alcala first followed by Thielbar.  If that can get us into the 8th, then a combo of Jax (25 pitches) and Lopez (22 pitches last two games, but only 8 today) to finish what is hopefully another W.

10 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

I think the Twins good start and the obvious stuff that Moran has give him a pretty long leash. That said, I doubt we’ll see him in a late-and-close situation for a while. 

I hope your correct as Moran has "the stuff" to be a key component in our pen.  His issue (as with most younger pitchers) is command and consistency.  None of the potential bullpen arms in SP right now---Dobnak, Winder (hurt), DeLeon, Rodriguez or Headrick (only LH)---are that appealing.

1 hour ago, ashbury said:

Key play: Vazquez's base hit in the 8th.  Not so much for the insurance run it brought in, but because without it the chance of Buxton coming up to put the game out of reach* was about zero.

* barely, as we found out

Well…without that sequence, Duran starts the 9th, so…😀

But, YES, it was clutch…and runs are always, er, almost always, a good thing.

Nice to see the bats bust out! Would love to see the Twins sweep the series, but any series win is a good series.

Ryan fought through it, which is good to see. Alvarez is going to do for a lot of pitchers this season, so no shame in that, but it was too bad Ryan's control juiced up the bases ahead of him. That's always going to be the key for Ryan: making sure he doesn't put too many ducks on the pond when he gives up a dinger. Normally, you're going to feel very good about a start where he gives up only 3 hits and a walk over 6.

Nice job by the offense today. Plenty of hits, plenty of walks, and the power showed out. 

Moran is really the only pitcher that's looking particularly wobbly so far. I'm still a big believer in his talent and his changeup, but I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up spending a little time back in AAA to get things sorted.

I would have liked to have seen Alcala instead of Moran there in the ninth, but that is a seemingly minuscule critique of an otherwise outstanding performance all around!

1 hour ago, jkcarew said:

One thing I didn’t anticipate…maybe I hadn’t thought it through…is how little we’ve seen of Jeffers…and apparently, how little we’re going to see of him. He’s looked good swinging it (1 K in 10 PA). But with Vasquez solid on both sides, and only 2 guys that can catch on active roster, Jeffers will see a lot of pine for now…can’t even PH, it looks like. I do expect him tomorrow, though.

Jeffers is definitely the guy losing out most from Buxton being DH only for the start of the season. I think he would have started at DH at least twice by now if Buxton were playing the field.

Understandable, but tough for Jeffers who had a good spring and has looked good when he's managed to get into the lineup.

HOU sure strikes out a lot.

Moran and some others are questionable contributors at this time, but if they keep getting "quality starts" the bullpen sorts itself out and you can use relievers in their best roles.

It's short starts and blowouts that throw it all off-cycle.

12 minutes ago, Shaitan said:

HOU sure strikes out a lot

Quite remarkable!

I just checked. The Twins pitching staff ranks 4th out of all 30 teams in strikeouts (not including today's game). So add on, what was it, another 17. 

I mean, Sonny Gray's line yesterday reminded me of Randy Johnson. Amazing.

Confident that Mahle will keep the ball rolling, and bats whiffing, tomorrow.

Well, Moran is being put in a position to throw strikes. 

Ryan still has to deal with getting his routine busted up when he gets runners on base. He works well with his own rhythm. I am hoping the pitch clock is one thing that will work well with his style of throwing. You are going to give up home runs. You are going to put batters on base. 

4 hours ago, jkcarew said:

I think Ryan could have gone out for the 7th. But, honestly, feel like Rocco sending Ryan out for the 6th was a bit of a milestone moment. I feel like that probably doesn’t happen last year. The number of pitches thrown was fine/low…but it was the 6th inning of a tie game and Ryan was up against Alverez (3rd time, already had beaten him, etc) and the meat of their order.

Nice to see Rocco showing the confidence…even nicer, getting rewarded….fly ball, K, K.

It happened multiple times last year. He faced the number 3 hitter a third time in most starts and some he gave up more than 4 runs.

There was a Yankee game he only made it 19 batters but he had thrown 90 pitches. His first start of the season after the shortened spring was 19 batters and lower pitch count. The same for his first start following his absence for COVID. there was an Angel game in his second to last start where he threw only 69 pitches in 4 innings of three run ball. That might be your best example but at this point the Twins were out of contention and had a bigger pen.

This persistent narrative about Baldelli and third time through isn’t supported by his use of Ryan last year. It isn’t supported by Gray either when you look at his shorts starts clustered around his three IL trips and the start of the season. You could argue that he should have had more confidence in Smeltzer, Archer and Bundy.

4 hours ago, stringer bell said:

Another game tomorrow. Jax, JLópez and Duran have all pitched two straight days. If it’s close and late, do others get the ball? 

Mahle for 7 with Thielbar and Alcala to close it out would be ideal. Thielbar gets the Alvarez/Tucker inning. Even though Duran only threw 3 pitches, he had to warm up twice to do it and teams track that (along with him pitching on Friday).  If you don't get 7 from Mahle, you're looking at.....................Pagan.

5 hours ago, Squirrel said:

And discovering that mlb.tv now shows the game recap stuff! Yay! No more cut off after the last out

Yes, but this is not available in the archive videos.