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    Make it Official! Twins 6, White Sox 5: Minnesota Resolve Walks it Off


    Ted Schwerzler

    After an ugly start to the game, and a troubling start by ace Pablo López, the Minnesota Twins continued to battle and came through last with a walkoff victory. Trevor Larnach, Byron Buxton, and Alex Kirilloff showed that the fight is definitely in them.

    Image courtesy of © Matt Blewett-USA TODAY Sports

    Twins Video

    Box Score
    SP: Pablo Lopez 4.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K (76 pitches, 45 strikes, 5 whiffs)
    Home Runs: Trevor Larnach (2), Byron Buxton (1)
    Top 3 WPA: Byron Buxton (.506), Alex Kirilloff (.243), Ryan Jeffers (.209)

    Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

    chart(1).png.2b2134785c11e2993151b801fe4e5db3.png

    Welcome Back Kep
    Pablo Lopez toyed with walking Nicky Lopez to lead off the game but ultimately battled back from 3-0 and got him to ground out for the first out of the game. Stretching the strike zone against Eloy Jimenez, the Twins ace had his first strikeout. Still yet to give up a walk in the first inning, Lopez has walked just four this season.

    After Alex Kirilloff fanned on some Erick Fedde splitters, and Edouard Julien watched the strike zone stretch against him, the recently returned Trevor Larnach grabbed his second double of the season. In scoring position with two outs for Max Kepler, the right fielder picked up where he left off last night. His single to center made it a 1-0 game. Byron Buxton doubled to give Minnesota runners on 2nd and 3rd, but Willi Castro couldn’t cash them in.

    Pablo Hits a Wall
    Fedde continued to keep Twins hitters off balance, and while Minnesota was up 1-0, he had racked up six strikeouts in just three innings while walking none. Danny Mendick started the fourth inning with a single before giving him a pair of bases on an overthrown pickoff attempt. Walking Gavin Sheets put runners on the corners before Ely Jimenez stepped in. A hanging breaking pitch that sat close to middle-middle got deposited into the left field seats and Chicago had a 3-1 lead.

    While the temperature dropped following a pregame rain, it may have been the culprit for Lopez struggling to find his typical stuff. After working at 94-95 mph during the first three innings, he had dropped to 92-93 mph in the 4th inning. Walking Andrew Vaughn following the home, the Twins starter had added a quick pair of walks to his otherwise slim season total.

    With pitches mounting and a serious lack of effectiveness in his stuff, Rocco Baldelli got Kody Funderburk up with sights on bailing out Lopez. Getting a gift of a strike-three call against Dominic Fletcher, Lopez ended up striking out the side, but he was now at 76 pitches and looking anything but his dominant self.

    Fedde Flusters Twins
    After being non-tendered by the Washington Nationals in 2022, the former top-100 prospect took his talents to Korea. Posting a 2.00 ERA in more than 180 innings, he seemed to find something that worked. Pitching for the White Sox this season, he came in with a 3.10 ERA despite a 5.98 FIP.

    Through four innings Tuesday against the Twins, Fedde looked every bit the dominant starter Washington once hoped he would be. Allowing three hits in the first inning, he then shut it down from there and racked up eight strikeouts while walking none. Minnesota got out to an early lead but then seemed to lose their way against the Chicago starter.

    Meanwhile, Lopez saw his night come to a close after just four innings and 76 pitches. His 38-pitch 4th inning did him in, but throwing a 91.9 mph fastball for his last pitch is something to monitor. That’s well below his 95.2 mph average this season and was the slowest pitch he has thrown in a Minnesota uniform.

    Still on in the 6th inning, Fedde continued to stymie the Minnesota lineup. With 11 strikeouts, he had set a new career high, and getting the Twins to consistently go down in order seemed like something of a breeze. On top of whiffing like crazy, the Twins had drawn no walks despite Fedde coming in with nine free passes across 20 1/3 innings this year.

    Santana Comes Through
    Despite looking like an absolute corpse in the batter’s box all season, and being fooled mightily for the second strike of his 7th-inning at-bat, Carlos Santana brought the Twins back within one. After a Buxton bloop single and a 90-foot advancement on a wild pitch, the Minnesota first baseman lined a ball to the left-center gap. Buxton raced home and Santana pulled into second with his second double of the season. Kyle Farmer stranded him there, but Minnesota was in the White Sox bullpen and had shown some signs of life.

    Unfortunately, Chicago immediately wiped away Minnesota's resurgence in the top of the 8th inning. With Steven Okert starting another inning, Danny Mendick recorded his first double of the season to open the frame. Baldelli countered with Jay Jackson, who got Robbie Grossman on a flyout before pitching around Jimenez to set up the double play. Striking out Andrew Vaughn, he was one out from escaping danger, Andrew Benintendi came through with a two-out single to bring home both Mendick and Jimenez making it a 5-2 game.

    Larnach Launches
    With Michael Kopech coming on in relief for the White Sox, Minnesota was forced to face velocity out of the bullpen to claw back. Christian Vazquez greeted him with a single to start the inning, and it was Larnach who launched a big fly to again make it a one-run game. Getting an opportunity with Matt Wallner struggling, Larnach is looking to make this the season he can harness his power and stick at the major league level. While the book against him has been about struggling with breaking pitches, Larnach handles velocity just fine. He turned around a 99 mph fastball and sent it into the outfield seats.

    Facing Steven Wilson in the 9th inning, it took Buxton just two pitches to tie the game up. Swinging on the second pitch of his at-bat, he ripped a 110.5 mph laser down the line that left in a hurry. Hitting the netting on the foul pole, Buxton's first home run of the season came at a necessary time for Minnesota.

    After a Santana walk, Ryan Jeffers pinch hit for Farmer and blooped an excuse me swing into left field in front of Benintendi. The White Sox outfielder wasn't able to get there and the Twins had runners on second and third. Austin Martin took over at third base for Santana, and Christian Vazquez stepped in with one out and an opportunity to walk it off. Wilson got him swing and it was on the shoulders of Alex Kirilloff to send Minnesota home happy. Working a 3-1 count, he sent a base hit through the right side and allowed Martin to scamper home walking it off for the victory.

    On a night where little went right early, Minnesota made their luck and came through late.

    Notes
    Jhoan Duran was officially assigned to the St. Paul Saints on Tuesday to begin a rehab stint. The hope would be that he could throw a few days this week and join the major league team for the first time this season by sometime next week. Justin Topa, who was the key big-league piece in the Jorge Polanco trade, progressed to throwing against live hitters today and should be nearing a rehab assignment soon.

    What’s Next? 
    The Twins continue with their series against the Chicago White Sox and play a third-night game on Wednesday. With Joe Ryan taking the ball for Minnesota, he will be opposed by strikeout machine Garrett Crochet.

    Postgame Interviews

    Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

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    Marek Houston

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    The 22-year-old went 2-for-5 on Friday night, his fourth straight multi-hit game. Heading into the week, he was hitting .246/.328/.404 (.732). Four games later, he is hitting .303/.361/.447 (.808).

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    Featured Comments

    3 hours ago, Bigfork Twins Guy said:

    You're right, SSS.  It seems each year he adjusts, has success, and then they adjust back and he has issues and is sent down.  Hopefully this year is different.

    He either fails to adjust, or lacks the concentration required at a pro level and falls into old habits. I hope it's the latter, as that's fixable. Heck, it happened to me. My first job was too easy...until it wasn't, and I'd developed bad habits.

    8 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

    Yep you gotta play them all and the ball is still going to do random things at random times and when you play them... is going to be a consideration because hot streaks and cold streaks stop and start on a dime. 3 and 20 doesn't necessarily mean that they won't go 10 and 6 over the next 16.  

    I don't expect the White Sox to play at .130 clip all year that would be incredible. The worst record of all time is around a .300 clip. A great team still loses 4 out of 10 and most teams are going to crowd around the middle with a .500 winning percentage. The margins are thin. The White Sox will beat a 100 win team at some point this season. The National just took a series from the Dodgers at Dodger stadium. 

    With the margins that thin over a 162 game schedule. It really doesn't make much sense to look at the weak sisters expect an easy pushover.

    Gotta strap it on every day and compete. 

     

    Sure, small samples, more noise, yada yada. Over an entire season though, this Sox team is easily going to lose 100 games and they may legitimately challenge that 2003 Detroit club for the title of worst team of the modern era. They're that bad. 

    When you dig a hole like the Twins did, you need those weak sisters to fall over, hence my aversion to putting any sort of stock into beating up on a borderline AAAA team. Playing in the ALC is a gift. MN has made a living beating up on the weak sisters for the last 2 decades. The 2024 Sox are an added bonus. They're a life preserver for a club that can't tread water. 

    59 minutes ago, KirbyDome89 said:

    Sure, small samples, more noise, yada yada. Over an entire season though, this Sox team is easily going to lose 100 games and they may legitimately challenge that 2003 Detroit club for the title of worst team of the modern era. They're that bad. 

    When you dig a hole like the Twins did, you need those weak sisters to fall over, hence my aversion to putting any sort of stock into beating up on a borderline AAAA team. Playing in the ALC is a gift. MN has made a living beating up on the weak sisters for the last 2 decades. The 2024 Sox are an added bonus. They're a life preserver for a club that can't tread water. 

    That 2003 tigers... the worst team of the modern era. Still won around 3 out of every 10 games.

    The real bad bad teams win 1 and lose 2 every 3 games on average.

    Just your normal run of the mill bad team wins 4 out of 10. 

    The really good teams win 6 out of 10... They lose 4 out of 10. 

    The Oakland A's were a real real bad team last year. They won 50 games. How can you dismiss any team that wins 50 games a year? How can you diminish any victory against a team that wins 1 out of 3.

    How can you paint any team as unbeatable that loses 60 games a year.

    The Rockies were 41 games behind the Dodgers... That's a lot for sure... but now do the math on 41 games back over a 162 games to get a glimpse of the margins. 

    The Twins were 29-23 last year against the weak sisters of the AL Central. They were 20-12 against the AL West. They were 10-16 against the AL East despite a 4-3 winning record against the Yankees. They were 25-21 against the National League. The Twins were 5-2 against the World Series champions and 5-8 against the Tigers. They were 4-2 against the Astros that knocked us out of the playoff which wasn't as good as the Royals who beat the Astros 5 games to 1 last year. 

    I don't care who they are playing... they better strap it on. A win is always an accomplishment. 

     

     

    23 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

    That 2003 tigers... the worst team of the modern era. Still won around 3 out of every 10 games.

    The real bad bad teams win 1 and lose 2 every 3 games on average.

    Just your normal run of the mill bad team wins 4 out of 10. 

    The really good teams win 6 out of 10... They lose 4 out of 10. 

    The Oakland A's were a real real bad team last year. They won 50 games. How can you dismiss any team that wins 50 games a year? How can you diminish any victory against a team that wins 1 out of 3.

    How can you paint any team as unbeatable that loses 60 games a year.

    The Rockies were 41 games behind the Dodgers... That's a lot for sure... but now do the math on 41 games back over a 162 games to get a glimpse of the margins. 

    The Twins were 29-23 last year against the weak sisters of the AL Central. They were 20-12 against the AL West. They were 10-16 against the AL East despite a 4-3 winning record against the Yankees. They were 25-21 against the National League. The Twins were 5-2 against the World Series champions and 5-8 against the Tigers. They were 4-2 against the Astros that knocked us out of the playoff which wasn't as good as the Royals who beat the Astros 5 games to 1 last year. 

    I don't care who they are playing... they better strap it on. A win is always an accomplishment. 

     

     

    The Sox are averaging less than one win per week. Highly unlikely that pace lasts all year, but that's who they are right now, ****ing terrible not just run of the mill bad, and that matters too. May 1st is one week from today, and they've won 3 games. That's enough to diminish any sort of excitement for me personally. Luckily for the Twins, all wins count the same.

    Ok, now double the number of games against Texas, and Houston, and Seattle. Each of those divisions had at minimum three teams fighting for playoff spots. Every team in the ALC folded by the trade deadline. Hell, Cleveland led the division at the All Star break and couldn't be bothered to even stand pat. You mentioned margin for error earlier, no division last year provided a wider margin than the ALC. The Twins would've been all but buried in either the East of West if they played like they did for the first 2/3 of last season. They weren't catching the easiest schedule in baseball to save their asses post deadline. 

    We do agree on one thing; the Twins need to show up every game. 

    9 hours ago, KirbyDome89 said:

    The Sox are averaging less than one win per week. Highly unlikely that pace lasts all year, but that's who they are right now, ****ing terrible not just run of the mill bad, and that matters too. May 1st is one week from today, and they've won 3 games. That's enough to diminish any sort of excitement for me personally. Luckily for the Twins, all wins count the same.

    Ok, now double the number of games against Texas, and Houston, and Seattle. Each of those divisions had at minimum three teams fighting for playoff spots. Every team in the ALC folded by the trade deadline. Hell, Cleveland led the division at the All Star break and couldn't be bothered to even stand pat. You mentioned margin for error earlier, no division last year provided a wider margin than the ALC. The Twins would've been all but buried in either the East of West if they played like they did for the first 2/3 of last season. They weren't catching the easiest schedule in baseball to save their asses post deadline. 

    We do agree on one thing; the Twins need to show up every game. 

    We agree it's highly unlikely that this incredibly bad pace continues. And I agree the White Sox have been ****ing terrible. 

    So when do they start winning so they can climb from this .125 winning percentage to the 2003 Tigers worst team in the modern era .265 percentage? 

    The 2003 Tigers started the year 3-25. Then they won 6 out of the next 9. Game 28 was the end of a real bad stretch. Game 29 was the start of a good stretch. I can't predict these things so I don't care if they are ****ing terrible right now... just looking at the MLB records indicates a real rough stretch of baseball for the pale hose. 

    I'm not sure why you want me to double the games against Houston, Texas and Seattle. If it's because you are pointing out that they play twice as many games against the AL Central. I've already listed that the Twins were 29-23 against the AL Central and 20-12 Against the AL West last year. 52 games against 4 teams compared to 32 games against 5 opponents in the AL West is roughly double. I have acknowledged that by listing the records against divisions. 

    Here's the deal I don't have the power to stop anyone from dismissing and diminishing.

    I think we all understand that winning 4 out of 10 is classified as a bad baseball team and I think we all understand that winning 6 out of 10 is classified as a good baseball team. 

    I simply deny anybody's implication that 6 out of 10 is OMG how are we going to beat the best team in baseball and 4 out of 10 doesn't mean losing to them is a crime beyond the pale. 

    This type of implication is rampant. 

     

    7 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

    We agree it's highly unlikely that this incredibly bad pace continues. And I agree the White Sox have been ****ing terrible. 

    So when do they start winning so they can climb from this .125 winning percentage to the 2003 Tigers worst team in the modern era .265 percentage? 

    The 2003 Tigers started the year 3-25. Then they won 6 out of the next 9. Game 28 was the end of a real bad stretch. Game 29 was the start of a good stretch. I can't predict these things so I don't care if they are ****ing terrible right now... just looking at the MLB records indicates a real rough stretch of baseball for the pale hose. 

    I'm not sure why you want me to double the games against Houston, Texas and Seattle. If it's because you are pointing out that they play twice as many games against the AL Central. I've already listed that the Twins were 29-23 against the AL Central and 20-12 Against the AL West last year. 52 games against 4 teams compared to 32 games against 5 opponents in the AL West is roughly double. I have acknowledged that by listing the records against divisions. 

    Here's the deal I don't have the power to stop anyone from dismissing and diminishing.

    I think we all understand that winning 4 out of 10 is classified as a bad baseball team and I think we all understand that winning 6 out of 10 is classified as a good baseball team. 

    I simply deny anybody's implication that 6 out of 10 is OMG how are we going to beat the best team in baseball and 4 out of 10 doesn't mean losing to them is a crime beyond the pale. 

    This type of implication is rampant. 

     

    I think the better question is how, not when. 

    I mean call me when they get there, but it obviously isn't happening right now. They'll be lucky to finish April with 5 wins. They're playing at a sub replacement level. The Sox are a major league team in name only, so yeah, I'm going to dismiss any sort of meaning others want to attach to these wins, and no, I don't expect you to convince me otherwise. Like I said, luckily for the Twins every W carries the same weight.  

    Neither implication was intended if that's what you took from my response.

    7 minutes ago, KirbyDome89 said:

    I think the better question is how, not when. 

    I mean call me when they get there, but it obviously isn't happening right now. They'll be lucky to finish April with 5 wins. They're playing at a sub replacement level. The Sox are a major league team in name only, so yeah, I'm going to dismiss any sort of meaning others want to attach to these wins, and no, I don't expect you to convince me otherwise. Like I said, luckily for the Twins every W carries the same weight.  

    Neither implication was intended if that's what you took from my response.

    All good. 

    I just like W's with due respect. 

    On 4/24/2024 at 9:26 AM, bean5302 said:

    Honestly? Probably SSS. Larnach got a few big hits against breaking stuff last year early on before it all went sideways again. His biggest weakness is the changeup. I, too, am happy to watch Larnach succeed, but the track record on him is pretty long at this point. Maybe he altered his swing which is helping him. Too early to tell.

    Larnach eliminated the leg kick, which has steadied his head in his swing.  The before and after videos show this clearly.  And there was a short article yesterday on the Twins MLB page that discussed this change.  Now, what I'd like to know is whether he talked to Buxton or Jeffers or Popkins, or just figured this out himself.  But, if Larnach can keep this pace up and deal with changes and breaking stuff down and in, he'll become a great asset.




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