Make It Official! Twins 5, Royals 1: Byron Buxton Doubles Down for Minnesota

A quiet season debut for Buck on Thursday, two huge (and completely different) doubles today. First one was almost the most encouraging in how he turned a single into a double with his speed. Early days but he looks good. 

Shout out to Vazquez too who came through in a big way after the rally killing double play with the bases loaded in the 7th. 

Ryan very good. His splitter was particularly effective. Correa unfortunate to go hitless after a great play by Melendez in LF. But another great defensive play to be able to tag Witt out going for 2nd after the throw put him somewhat in the firing line!

Vazquez was great in the bottom of the 8th. Getting a called strike 3 on the lead off hitter topped by throwing out Witt. Then he wins it in the 9th with the bat. Wow!

Such fun watching winning baseball, however had to watch the Royals feed cause apparently Fox Sports North blew a quad. Volume down.  Good guys win!

You have a healthy buck it changes the dynamic of this team.  Disappointing on Lewis but he will heal.  Get through the next couple weeks.  See if Correa and buck can lead you.  Sweeping the Royals would be a nice start.  

41 minutes ago, jorgenswest said:

Vazquez was great in the bottom of the 8th. Getting a called strike 3 on the lead off hitter topped by throwing out Witt. Then he wins it in the 9th with the bat. Wow!

It's the 7lbs.

This new tradition of pouring it on in the  9th inning is pretty exciting! Go Twins!

Love watching Ryan pitch. Just keep keeping the fly balls in the park.

Great game by Buck obviously.  Kiriloff getting a sac fly against a lefty was huge. Correas tag on Witt was amazing. Not a good throw from Vázquez but Carlos saved it. Let’s blow them out tomorrow because Jax and Stewart won’t be available. 

14 minutes ago, Linus said:

Great game by Buck obviously.  Kiriloff getting a sac fly against a lefty was huge. Correas tag on Witt was amazing. Not a good throw from Vázquez but Carlos saved it. Let’s blow them out tomorrow because Jax and Stewart won’t be available. 

Where Vazquez threw it is the only reason they got him.

Correa knew exactly what to do.

5 minutes ago, RpR said:

Where Vazquez threw it is the only reason they got him.

Correa knew exactly what to do.

Ok. So catchers don’t aim for the bag?  The throw was six feet off target. The only reason they got him was a great play by Correa. Your love of vets is clouding your judgement. 

16 minutes ago, RpR said:

Where Vazquez threw it is the only reason they got him.

Correa knew exactly what to do.

I agree.  If that throw was at the base Witt beats it.   Not to mention it was right on Witt.   Correa just had to catch it and his glove was on him.  

2 hours ago, USAFChief said:

Can't understand pinch running for Wallner in that situation. 

Leave the better hitter in the game.

But...nice rally and win.

 

Martin’s speed plays, but I get it. I think the weirder thing was pinch hitting Margot.

Vasquez came up big today.  In other words:  Chris(tian) Slapped that Rock thrown by Will Smith without making any comments about a sequel to “G.I. Jane.”  And count me in the “impressed” group on his throw nabbing Witt Jr. 

40 minutes ago, Linus said:

Ok. So catchers don’t aim for the bag?  The throw was six feet off target. The only reason they got him was a great play by Correa. Your love of vets is clouding your judgement. 

I think the shortest distance to the runner is to the right of the bag where the SS can tag the runner on the body. The throw and the tag were both exceptional.

34 minutes ago, Paul Walerius said:

I agree.  If that throw was at the base Witt beats it.   Not to mention it was right on Witt.   Correa just had to catch it and his glove was on him.  

 

 

Correa had to fully lay out to catch the ball. No way Vasquez is aiming there.

Julien just gets things going. When he gets on, things happen. Everyone else covered the other good points.

1 hour ago, Linus said:

Ok. So catchers don’t aim for the bag?  The throw was six feet off target. The only reason they got him was a great play by Correa. Your love of vets is clouding your judgement. 

The game announcer at the MLB clip said it was a good throw,.

I' m rubber , you're glue....

Huge ABs from Julien and Kiriloff.  Great work by the bullpen.  On Desclafini...he was basically a throw in to make money work.  That trade was for Topa and the Mariners' #4(5?) prospect.

34 minutes ago, ashbury said:

I guess Correa was caught napping on that stealing attempt, because he's out of position waiting for Vazquez's perfect throw destined to arrive several feet to the side of second base after tailing a bit at the end.  Kangaroo Kourt will probably fine him.

Correa is perfectly positioned to catch any ball that is at the bag or to the right of the bag (his left).

Catchers aim to have the ball be caught just to the right of the bag so that the SS can drop the tag down right in front of the bag as the runner slides in. They don’t have perfect aim, so aiming to the right of the bag also gives them margin for error in either direction.

Correa is set up so that he can catch anything to his left.  If he set up initially towards the first base side, he wouldn’t be able to get a runner out if the ball was to his right/at the bag, because he’d have to reach back to catch it; he’d be twisted around.

I didn’t say the throw was perfect, I said it was a shorter distance from home to the body of a sliding runner than from home all the way to the bag.  And Correa made a helluva a play to catch it and apply the tag.

Yeah I don't think I would've used Stewart there. Save him for the finale.

Kirilloff quietly had himself a game. The bat looks good, stay healthy, man.

Thought Alcala looked pretty good, which was nice. If he's back and throwing well he can be a difference maker in the bullpen.

If Buxton can move like that and stay on the field, I'm going to be one happy Twins fan. He's so fun to watch when he's right, and seeing him leg out doubles that would be singles for most people is awesome.

Thought Ryan looked pretty good. A few nervy fly balls, but the revised slider looked pretty effective and the splitter was working too. Good to see the velocity on the fastball as well. 

KC made a bunch of great plays defensively at 3B and LF, had me wondering if they were going to steal it. nice to see the team rally late.

8 hours ago, Linus said:

Ok. So catchers don’t aim for the bag?  The throw was six feet off target. The only reason they got him was a great play by Correa. Your love of vets is clouding your judgement. 

It will depend on the runner and the quality of the SS. Witt is an elite runner and Correa is an elite SS so Vazquez nailed his throw. It required a brilliant tag but Correa (rightly so) backs himself to make those plays. Maybe Vazquez thew more to the right of the bag than he intended but the throw had to go to the right to get Witt. 

1 hour ago, jmlease1 said:

Thought Ryan looked pretty good. A few nervy fly balls, but the revised slider looked pretty effective and the splitter was working too. Good to see the velocity on the fastball as well. 

The tv broadcast team did an excellent job of showing his revised repertoire, with velo comparisons.  He and Lopez went to Driveline in the offseason.

4 hours ago, ashbury said:

Satire is apparently lost at this site unless it's labeled as such.

…

The ball thrown by the catcher goes at a far higher velocity than a human can run. So the distance being a few inches shorter,, thrown a few feet toward the first base side, does not make up for the speed differential of throwing to where the runner must eventually arrive in order to steal the base.  … the shortness of the throw does you no good if the runner is already past that point.

I knew you were joking with the screen grab.  But the discussion got me thinking about the fact that you see more and more out calls being made to throws to the body as opposed to the hands right at the base—including on pick-off throws to first.  I think the advent of replay has had a big impact on these calls and by extension, throw and tag placement.  Before replay, those *close* body tags rarely got an out call, even if they were, in fact out.  Very hard for an ump to see a body tag and the hands touching the base at the same time, and thus the default on those close plays was typically “safe.”

And that’s the point, really.  We are talking about REALLY close plays, essentially how to optimize nabbing a runner when he is two inches from touching second base.  The ball is obviously moving way faster than the runner, but if the ball has to travel a foot less reach him, that could provide the (replay reviewable) difference.  Not to mention the fact that the runner can avoid the tag at the bag by moving his hands, whereas it’s much harder to avoid the tag by shifting his body.