Twins Video
Box Score:
Starting Pitcher: Bailey Ober: 5 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 7 K (89 Pitches, 58 Strikes, 65.1%)
Home Runs: None
Bottom 3 WPA: Ober (-.217), Kyle Farmer (-.110), Ryan Jeffers (-.083)
Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs):
If the Twins' season was a single game, they fell behind early but bounced back and carried an eight-run lead into the fifth. They allowed two runs in that inning, two more in the sixth, two more in the seventh, and two more in the eighth. Another run scored in the ninth, and they now faced a deficit for the first time since May. Fortunately, they had Bailey Ober pitching on "Bark at the Park" night. Unfortunately, the Miami Marlins have been a trap team their entire existence.
Miami started Ryan Weathers, the former San Diego top prospect and son of former Reds closer, David Weathers. He throws hard from the left side and has had some success this year. The Twins rolled out a 100% righty lineup with their season on the line and threatened in the first. Carlos Correa hit a screaming double over the center fielder and Byron Buxton was hit by a pitch. Carlos Santana then popped out and Royce Lewis was retired on a sharp line drive (107 MPH) right to right fielder Jesus Sanchez.
Ober was ready to cruise against one of the worst lineups in baseball, but what Miami lacks in star power they make up for in post-hype prospects that really aren't that bad, Weathers included. The second began with a homer from Jonah Bride off a fastball at the top of the zone that Miami's DH got on top of, something you rarely see with Ober's fastball when located well. Oh well, solo home runs won't kill you. Except Ober then hit Derek Hill with a pitch with two outs, allowed a bloop hit to Otto Lopez and then left a pitch up in the zone to light-hitting catcher Nick Fortes, who smacked a single the other way to score the game's second run. Ober was clearly frustrated and threw another mistake to Xavier Edwards, who doubled to left-center to score two more runs. In the blink of an eye, the score was 4-0.
Ober's velocity was down a bit, sitting at 90 MPH and dipping into the 80s at points. He also left a few cutters hanging in the middle of the zone (see above), and not all of them were hit, or even swung at. In short, it could have been worse.
The Twins put traffic on in most innings, and with one out in the third, Lewis rifled a base hit through the left side to score Buxton, who had reached on an infield hit and advanced on a Santana walk. The trouble was that Kyle Farmer hit into an inning ending double play. It's funny, but Farmer is kind of who you wanted to see in that situation, with his recent hot-hitting and career-long ability to punish left-handed pitching. As the Twins and their fans have learned, when your season is circling the toilet, you can't un-flush.
Correa delivered his second hit in the fifth with one out, and Buxton doubled to the corner to put runners on second and third with Santana up facing a lefty. The Twins first baseman was retired on a foul pop up and Lewis tapped to third to waste another opportunity.
Ober gutted his way through five innings, but walked Derek Hill to start the sixth and was removed for the Twins new best pitcher, Scott Blewett, who quickly got a double play ball and got through the inning unscathed.
Matt Wallner was called upon to pinch hit in the sixth and struck out while being frozen on a breaking ball, He then grabbed his side and was removed from the game. That is one injury this team cannot afford; Wallner has been their only effective and healthy hitter for a while now.
Willi Castro led off the seventh with a 3-2 single, but Brooks Lee tapped out, Correa struck out, and Buxton flied out to end whatever threat there was.
A last flicker of hope was extinguished in the eighth. Santana led of with a walk against tough righty Anthony Bender. Trevor Larnach, hitting for Wallner, laced a single to center following a lineout from Lewis. Jeffers then popped out for the twelfth time in his last eleven at-bats, and the inning was left to the forgotten Edouard Julien, who hadn't taken a plate appearance in a week. One thing I've noticed about Julien is that his opposite-field fly balls are just about ten feet shorter than last year and right on queue, he flew out short of the warning track to end the inning.
Cole Irvin pitched a scoreless inning despite himself (two walks, one wild pitch).
Trends:
| Healthy | Hurt | |||
| Performing | ||||
| Contributing | ||||
| Low Impact | ||||
| IL/Minors | ||||
| C | Ryan Jeffers 📉 | Christian Vazquez 📉 | ||
| 1B | Carlos Santana 📉 | Alex Kirilloff 📉 | Jose Miranda 📉 | |
| 2B | Edouard Julien 📉 | Kyle Farmer 📈' | ||
| 3B | Royce Lewis 📈 | |||
| SS | Carlos Correa 📈 | Brooks Lee 📉 | ||
| LF | Matt Wallner 📉 | Trevor Larnach 📈 | Austin Martin 📉 | |
| CF | Byron Buxton 📈 | Manuel Margot 📉 | DaShawn Keirsey Jr. 📈 | |
| RF | Max Kepler 📈 | |||
| UTIL | Willi Castro 📈 | Michael Helman 📈 | ||
| SP | Pablo Lopez 📉 | Bailey Ober | Joe Ryan 📉 | Chris Paddack 📈 |
| RSP | David Festa 📈 | Zebby Matthews 📈 | Simeon Woods Richardson 📉 | |
| CR | Jhoan Duran 📉 | Griffin Jax 📉 | ||
| SR | Brock Stewart 📉 | Cole Irvin 📉 | Cole Sands 📈 | |
| MR | Caleb Thielbar 📈 | Scott Blewett 📈 | Michael Tonkin 📈 | Louie Varland 📈 |
| LR | Josh Winder 📉 | Ronny Henriquez 📈 | Brent Headrick 📉 | Diego Castillo 📈 |
What’s Next: Simeon Woods Richardson (5-5, 4.00 ERA) opposes Edward Cabrera (4-8, 5.12 ERA) as the Twins play out the string. Cabrera has great stuff and an incredible change-up, and was the subject of Twitter-based trade speculation last off-season, In reality, he has struggled with injuries and command in his brief career, but also scouts should throw out positive results against the Twins in the past month.
Postgame Interviews:
(Coming soon)
Bullpen Usage Chart:
| FRI | SAT | SUN | MON | TUE | TOT | |
| Tonkin | 14 | 0 | 37 | 0 | 25 | 76 |
| Headrick | 0 | 0 | 60 | 0 | 0 | 60 |
| Irvin | 0 | 0 | 25 | 0 | 19 | 44 |
| Blewett | 12 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 20 | 39 |
| Sands | 16 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 36 |
| Thielbar | 10 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 3 | 30 |
| Durán | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| Varland | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| Jax | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
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- Strombomb, nclahammer and mikelink45
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