Make It Official! Twins 4, Rays 3: Early Power, Dominant Pitching Help Twins Split Series in Tampa

Box Score
SP: Pablo Lopez - 6 2/3 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 9 K (91 pitches, 62 strikes (68.1% strikes))
Home Runs: Edouard Julien (8), Matt Wallner (11).
Top 3 WPA: Griffin Jax (.209), Jhoan Duran (.187), Edouard Julien (.160)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Pregame Transactions  
The Twins announced that Max Kepler was heading to the 10-Day Injured List with his knee injury. He hasn’t played for several days and isn’t experiencing any improvement. In addition, along with his ejection in his rehab game on Wednesday night, Byron Buxton also had a setback in his return from the hip injury. 

That combination meant that the Twins selected the contract of, and called up, outfielder DaShawn Keirsey, Jr. Keirsey has been tremendous at the plate and in the field for the Saints this year and is very deserving of the opportunity. 

To make room on the 40-man roster for Keirsey, LHP Kody Funderburk was transferred to the 60-Day injured list. 

While technically a minor-league transaction, RHP Josh Winder was placed on the 7-Day IL by the Saints. 

Pregame Notes
Since 2019, the Twins have gone 77-60 in September since Rocco Baldelli became manager. Skippers with more wins in September during that stretch include the Dodgers Dave Roberts (91), Atlanta’s Brian Snitker (81), Brewers/Cubs Craig Counsell (81), and Tampa Bay’s Kevin Cash (78). 

Early Power from Offense 
Over the Twins’ previous nine games, 18 of their 29 runs had come in the seventh inning or later. While the Twins went scoreless in the first inning, they were able to put a crooked number on the scoreboard in the second inning. 

Jose Miranda led off with a single to left field. Carlos Santana followed with a line drive single to right field. That marked the seventh time he had reached base in his past 10 plate appearances. 

That brought Edouard Julien to the plate. On the first pitch, he saw a splitter that sat right in the middle of the plate at 91.5 mph. With his keen eyesight, Julien was able to see the rotation of the ball and the words “Hit Me Harder” written on the sweet spot. Julien took those words to heart, swung, and watched the ball travel 392 feet, well over the right field fence, at 105.3 mph and a 28 degree launch angle. The Twins led 3-0. 

With one out in the top of the third inning, Matt Wallner came to the plate. He saw a fastball at 96.2 mph for a ball. Taj Bradley tried to keep him off balance with a slow curveball at just 80.0 mph. On 2-0, Bradley likely hoped that showing the slow curve might make his fastball look a bit faster. He threw another fastball, this one at 97.2 mph. Wallner hit it at 105.3 mph with a bat speed of 80.7 mph and a 41 degree launch angle. It landed 357 feet from home plate, just into the bleachers and just beyond the reach of a leaping Jonny DeLuca.  That gave the Twins a 4-0 lead. 

On a side note, that was the 30th overall home run of the season for Wallner. It was his 11th with the Twins, but he also had 19 in his time with the St. Paul Saints. 

A Happy Pablo Day
Pablo Lopez made his 29th start of the season. He came into the game with a stretch of 20 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings. He started Thursday’s game with two scoreless innings. However, with two outs in the bottom of the third, Junior Caminero drilled a line-drive single to right field with the bases loaded to drive in two runs. 

Lopez’s streak ended at 23 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings. The last time that number was achieved was in 2019, when Tyler Duffey went 24 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings out of the Twins bullpen between July 28 and September 25. 

Lopez followed the two-run third inning with a scoreless, 10-pitch inning in the fourth, and a scoreless, 14-pitch inning in the fifth in which he struck out three batters. He had a nine-pitch sixth inning. He was also throwing really hard. He had three pitches that registered over 98.0 mph. 

On the season, Lopez has averaged 94.9 mph on his four-seamer. On Thursday afternoon, he threw 38 four-seam fastballs. The slowest came in at 95.0 mph. The max velocity was 98.6 mph, and his average was 96.8 mph, just shy of two mph above his season average. 

Bats go Cold Through Middle Innings
Rays starter Taj Bradley made some adjustments and figured things out with his catcher Logan Driscoll. 

The Twins went scoreless in the fourth through seventh innings. In the fourth, he got three easy ground outs. In the fifth inning, Austin Martin walked and went to second on a wild pitch, but a ground out and a strikeout ended that threat. It was two strikeouts and a groundout for the Twins in the top of the sixth inning. Then in the seventh, Ryan Jeffers singled to right but was erased on a tailor-made double play off the bat of Willi Castro. That was followed with another strikeout. 

He gave up the four runs early, but overall, Bradley went seven innings and gave up six hits. He had just one walk, and he struck out 10 batters.

Wallner and the Wall  
With two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, Yandy Diaz lined a ball down the right field line to drive in DeLuca and cut the lead to 4-3. In an effort to hold Diaz to a single, Matt Wallner went full speed, fielded the ball, took a couple of steps and then toppled over the side wall in foul territory. 

On the field, it was called a ground rule double, but Rays manager Kevin Cash questioned whether Diaz should get an extra base and get third base. There was a replay, and it took a long time, but this is such a unique play that it’s going to take longer. The delay was 10 minutes and the umpire informed the crowd that the call was made correctly on the field. Diaz gets second base. 

Ultimately, a very confusing play with many potential interpretations was reviewed and it was called correctly. 

Unfortunately, the long delay meant that Pablo Lopez’s day was done with 91 pitches. Rocco Baldelli went to the mound and had a pretty extensive (one-way) conversation with Lopez before pointing to the bullpen and summoning Griffin Jax. Lopez looked disappointed but understanding with the decision. 

Going to the Big Guys in the Bullpen!
In his previous start, Baldelli sprinted out to the mound to talk to Lopez when he was at a 100 pitches in a key spot in the game. In that case, he let him stay in. In this case, he went to the bullpen ace. Either option is a good option for the Twins. 

Jax came in, threw one pitch, and got an inning-ending ground out. He also struck out two batters in a scoreless eighth inning. Jax needed 13 pitches to get four outs. Jhoan Duran slammed the door with a 12-pitch bottom of the ninth for the save. 

How important were those last seven outs? Check out the Top 3 Twins players by Win Probability Added in this game. 

Other Notes
The Twins scored the four early runs, but that is about it. They had just two hits after the third inning. In fact, they were just 1-for-4 with runners in scoring position and left just four on base.

These two teams played seven times this season. The Rays won four of those games. Six of the seven games were decided by just one run!  

More to Come.

What’s Next?
The Twins head to Kansas City for a huge, late-season series against the Royals. On Friday night (on Apple TV+), Zebby Matthews (1-2, 7.41 ERA) will try to bounce back from his first rough outing. He will face left Cole Ragans (10-9, 3.46 ERA). The game begins at 7:10. 

On Saturday at 6:15 pm, Bailey Ober (12-6, 3.95 ERA) will try to overcome the issues that he has had with the Royals the last couple of seasons. He will face right-hander Alec Marsh (7-8, 4.70 ERA). 

On Sunday, Simeon Woods Richardson (5-3, 3.95 ERA) will hope to provide some innings. He faces veteran Michael Wacha (11-7, 3.50 ERA) in a 1:10 start. 

Postgame Interview  

Bullpen Availability Chart