MIN 14, NYM 8: Beating the Best

Box Score

Gibson: 4.2 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, 53.6% strikes

Home Runs: Garver 2 (2), Rosario (2), Schoop 2 (2), Polanco (2)

Multi-Hit Games: Garver (4-for-5, 2 HR), Polanco (3-for-5, 3B, HR), Schoop (2-for-5, 2 HR), Rosario (2-for-4, 2B, HR, BB), Buxton (2-for-5, 2 2B)

WPA of +0.1: .184 Garver, Polanco .163, Rosario .155

WPA of -0.1: -.140 Gibson

(chart via FanGraphs)

deGrom not only won the Cy Young last season, he even finished fifth in NL MVP voting. He had 26 consecutive quality starts heading into tonight’s game, which tied Bob Gibson’s record. He had a scoreless streak of 26 innings and had gone 41 starts without allowing multiple home runs coming into tonight.

All those streaks are over.

The Twins tagged deGrom for six runs, all earned, on eight hits and a walk. Mitch Garver took him deep twice and Eddie Rosario also homered off him.

https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1115808444370567168

This is Garver’s first multi-homer game, which apparently is the result of him doing some extra homework. If it looked like he was prepared for that pitch on his first home run, it’s because he was.

https://twitter.com/TheSGonsalves/status/1115764798044635142

This Twins lineup has had some hiccups early, and playing without Nelson Cruz in these National League games hasn’t helped, but tonight they proved that when they’re rolling, even the best pitcher in baseball can’t hold them down.

Listening to much of tonight’s game on the radio, I couldn’t tell if all the sounds coming through the background were the roar of airplanes taking off from LaGuardia Airport or screaming baseballs flying out of Citi Field. In addition to the three homers hit off deGrom, Jonathan Schoop hit his first two home runs with the Twins, Jorge Polanco added another and the Mets slugged four homers of their own.

Byron Buxton didn’t go deep, but he did hit a couple of laser beams for doubles. That gives him five extra-base hits in eight games played so far this season, which is more than he had in 28 games all of last year.

This game ended up a blowout, but it appeared for a moment in the middle innings that the Mets were on the verge of mounting a comeback. Kyle Gibson was laboring in the fifth inning with the Twins up 6-3. He gave up a leadoff double, retired the next two batters but then walked the bases loaded.

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli went to the pen and Trevor Hildenberger retired the only batter he would face on the night to end the threat. After Trevor May pitched a scoreless sixth inning Adalberto Mejia got the first two outs of the seventh, then Baldelli called on Blake Parker, which was interesting since we had not seen him used prior to the ninth inning yet.

Once the Twins broke open a bigger lead, Sire of Fort Myers/30-year-old rookie/Hero of Men Ryne Harper was called upon, followed by Chase De Jong. Harper has now pitched 3 ⅓ scoreless innings for the Twins. De Jong … just never mind what De Jong did tonight ...

Anyway, so it was almost as if Baldelli managed his bullpen backwards tonight, which I’d like to see more often when the Twins are holding a lead. Why save anyone for the eighth or ninth innings when you have no idea if your opponent will even be within striking distance at that point?

This was a great game in what’s been a great start to the 2019 season. This win ensured the Twins will have a winning road trip, so it’s as if they’ll be playing with house money against Noah Syndergaard tomorrow.

Bullpen Usage

Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days:

Next Three Games

Wed at NYM, 6:10 pm CT (Odorizzi-Syndergaard)

Fri vs. DET, 7:10 pm CT (TBD)

Sat vs. DET, 1:10 pm CT (TBD)

Last Game

PHI 2, MIN 1: Kepler Stays Hot, Hoskins Pops Deciding Homer

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