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    Red Sox 6, Twins 1: Ryan Jeffers Homers in Sisyphean Loss

    The curse, in this case, being the fan of a team capable of such consistent mediocrity.
    Matt Braun

    By Matt Braun

    Image courtesy of © Eric Canha-Imagn Images

    Twins Video

    Box Score
    Joe Ryan: 6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K
    Home Runs: Ryan Jeffers (2)
    Bottom 3 WPA: Louis Varland (-.140), Danny Coulombe (-.124), Carlos Correa (-.106)
    Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

    chart(60).png.cfb4ca09a45091128399820cb88537ac.png

    Fresh off a standard Cleveland series—what with the multiple walk-offs and unlimited late blown leads—Rocco Baldelli looked to change things up. The repetition felt stale; something about the team needed altering if they wanted to avoid the pitfalls of 2024. That’s how we get a lineup featuring Trevor Larnach hitting leadoff with Brooks Lee in the three-hole. Would it work? Let’s see. 

    Early returns were not favorable. Not that it had anything to do with the lineup. Joe Ryan sliced up Boston’s first two hitters before an old foe in a new uniform appeared. Alex Bregman may have traded Houston’s orange for Boston’s white and red trim, but he’s still a Twin-killer at heart—and new threads didn’t change that. He saw one of Ryan’s signature high fastballs and cracked the pitch 410 feet into left-center.

    Annoying as the run was, Minnesota responded fairly quickly, finding their redemptive gumption through Ryan Jeffers’ bat, which found kinship in a hanging Brayan Bello slider, soon to become one of those classic high-rising line drive homers that appear capable of leaving Boston altogether. 

    That quieted things. Both starters settled in. Ryan shed the 1st-frame inefficiency to cut through the Red Sox lineup, collecting whiffs with his impossibly squirrely fastball; before it was all said and done, he earned 12 swings-and-misses on the pitch, and eight strikeouts overall. Not quite the bat-missing wizard, Bello decided to let his defense work for him, striking out just five while Jarren Duran performed Olympic-level gymnastics in left field. The two crossed the six-inning threshold with just their lone solo homers as blemishes. Sometimes there were threats. Often, there wasn’t. Any trouble seemed inconsequential as the starters dove deep into the game.

    As it always seems to be, drama didn’t fully arrive until the bullpen entered the game. Louis Varland took the mound rearing, ready to fire heaters, but walked off the mound puzzled after just five pitches when two singles and a bunt placed two men in scoring position. Enter Danny Coulombe. The Great Problem-Solver. Capable of wriggling out of anything. He struck out his first batter, Duran. Rafael Devers? A little trickier. He shot a grounder somewhere between routine and tricky to Edouard Julien, who couldn’t handle the opportunity, falling all over himself as two runs scored. 

    And that portended the worst of it. Things continued to slide: Jorge Alcalá entered in the 8th and found no favor in the mound; in his arm; or in his fortune in attempting to accrue outs. Three runs scored on his watch. It was nearly four, but grace blessed him in a most minor and, frankly, somewhat insulting way, as Duran was originally called safe when sliding into home, yet was called out on review. 

    Liam Hendriks ended the inevitable in the 9th, perhaps as a way to salt the wound.

    Notes:

    Joe Ryan's eight strikeouts give him 572 in his career, the 18th-most in Twins history. He's 14 away from tying Rick Aguilera.

    Ryan Jeffers hit his 61st career homer on Friday, the 4th most by a primary catcher in Twins history. He's 15 away from tying Earl Battey.

    Danny Coulombe appeared in his 302nd career MLB game.

    Byron Buxton is slashing .444/.444/.444 in two games in May. 

    Post-Game Interview:

     

    What’s Next?
    The Twins and Red Sox battle again on Saturday, with Bailey Ober set to face off against Hunter Dobbins. First pitch is at 3:10 PM.

    Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

    Screenshot2025-05-02194647.png.7126f2d0f8ea9807d33869e5ce17d7b6.png

    Matt owns a BA in History/Social studies and enjoys applying a historical perspective to Twins-related topics

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    Featured Comments

    S Bart

    S Bart 1,753

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    4 hours ago, Bodie said:

    If Clemens was half as personable as a player as he was in the Twins booth for an inning, he'd be in the Hall...

    I can only speak from experience. I have been fortunate to meet and have conversations with players ranging from Mantle to Killebrew. Harmon was my all-time favorite, but Clemens was so very kind to my son. He spent time chatting with him and signed his cast. It was memorable.

    FargoFanMan

    FargoFanMan 300

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    2 hours ago, jorgenswest said:

    Agree on McCusker.

    As for bullpen use I think there are several teams with similar or more extreme use of the pen this year. The Twins are 7th in bullpen games and 15th in bullpen innings. The Dodgers have the best record in baseball and go to their bullpen more than any other team. Other winning teams also make frequent use of their bullpen. Teams can win going to their bullpen frequently. They can’t win when they score two or fewer runs in nearly half their games. They need more offense and McCusker might be the best hope right now.

    Exactly! Having a lineup that can consistently put up more than let’s say 1 run allows the bullpen to be used in a way where they don’t have to be perfect in order to keep the team in the game. For most teams even being down by one or two runs is technically to them still in the game. This bullpen is tasked on a game by game basis with having to preserve a tied ballgame or at best a one run lead where the score is 1-0 with no chance of this team making a comeback. Alcala is a head case but he’s just the weakest link in a solid bullpen tasked with having to be perfect every night.

    laloesch

    laloesch 1,870

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    26 minutes ago, FargoFanMan said:

    Exactly! Having a lineup that can consistently put up more than let’s say 1 run allows the bullpen to be used in a way where they don’t have to be perfect in order to keep the team in the game. For most teams even being down by one or two runs is technically to them still in the game. This bullpen is tasked on a game by game basis with having to preserve a tied ballgame or at best a one run lead where the score is 1-0 with no chance of this team making a comeback. Alcala is a head case but he’s just the weakest link in a solid bullpen tasked with having to be perfect every night.

    I’m not saying you’re wrong but I wouldn’t exactly call this bullpen solid.  They’ve definitely got some very weak links.  Can they be fixed?  Possibly.  But truth is they do have to be perfect with this anemic offense and Rocco is not making it easy on them pulling starters early.  The more I see of SWR this year the more I think he needs to transition to the pen for a while.  

    bean5302

    bean5302 9,317

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    1 hour ago, Danchat said:

    I'm not, we gave up on Cano only after 10 appearances in the majors compared to Alcala having 144 and 5 years of service time. Even if Alcala reverts back to his peak performance, he's still a guy with a career FIP over 4.0 and his strikeout rate never reached his truest potential. He's a lost cause now, and sometimes to have to bite the bullet and let a guy go even if he randomly overachieves later on. Sometimes players need a change of scenery and he won't get that here.

    Alcala had a 3.24 ERA last year, dude. In his only other full season, he was also solid.

    He's got 12 appearances this year.

    While he's not getting results, it's pretty clear his "stuff" isn't the issue. Obviously struggling with location, but unlike a guy like Varland, Alcala doesn't give up a ton of hard contact and exit velocities.

    FargoFanMan

    FargoFanMan 300

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    1 minute ago, laloesch said:

    I’m not saying you’re wrong but I wouldn’t exactly call this bullpen solid.  They’ve definitely got some very weak links.  Can they be fixed?  Possibly.  But truth is they do have to be perfect with this anemic offense and Rocco is not making it easy on them pulling starters early.  The more I see of SWR this year the more I think he needs to transition to the pen for a while.  

    I would agree they are probably not top 5 like they have been projected now 2 years in a row but I think this bad lineup is bleeding into the bullpen if that makes sense? I watch quite a bit of baseball besides the Twins and on a night by night basis I watch a lot of good teams and good bullpens give up runs late. But, those teams in a lot of cases put up a fight once they go to bat and the score is hardly ever 1-0 or 1-1. The fact that the game is essentially over once the other team scores the go ahead run and the fact that the bullpen is only ever protecting a one run lead puts a lot of pressure on that bullpen to be perfect night in night out. This isn’t a twins problem. It’s a twins offense problem. Also when you can’t rely on your infield defense it puts even more pressure on the relief pitchers. Not being able to score just hampers the whole team machine that is “winning”

    Bad News TC Bears

    Bad News TC Bears 12

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    Seems like the curse right now is strong starting pitching, occasional good bullpen, then followed by gut wrenching offensive gymnastics. I.E. Lots of hits with a couple of runs... Exciting start only to throw up our themselves late in the game. I love watching some of the guys battle... But really this needs to be consistentcy throughout a game... Maybe somebody should care enough to get mad and throw a bunch of bats into the field or kick dirt on the ump like the good ole'days... Jack Morris, Dan Gladden, other old Twins wouldn't let teams dance on them........…….................

    FargoFanMan

    FargoFanMan 300

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    26 minutes ago, laloesch said:

    I’m not saying you’re wrong but I wouldn’t exactly call this bullpen solid.  They’ve definitely got some very weak links.  Can they be fixed?  Possibly.  But truth is they do have to be perfect with this anemic offense and Rocco is not making it easy on them pulling starters early.  The more I see of SWR this year the more I think he needs to transition to the pen for a while.  

    SWR is a capable, reliable, dependable 5th starter. This isn’t on the pitching at all. It’s on the offense. Plain and simple. The lineup is bleeding into the pitching. If the lineup consistently put up 4 or 5 runs the pitching would be a non issue. Also, Festa and Mathew’s are not the saviors everyone claims them to be. They’re good with lots of upside but they’re not the second coming of Johan. They’re not good enough to overcome an offense only scoring 1 run game after game. Neither was Johan.

    Danchat

    Danchat 14,179

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    4 hours ago, bean5302 said:

    Alcala had a 3.24 ERA last year, dude. In his only other full season, he was also solid.

    He's got 12 appearances this year.

    While he's not getting results, it's pretty clear his "stuff" isn't the issue. Obviously struggling with location, but unlike a guy like Varland, Alcala doesn't give up a ton of hard contact and exit velocities.

    His numbers were solid last year, but that didn't stop him from collapsing down the stretch enough to earn a demotion to AAA. So it's not just the past 12 appearances that he's been struggling.

    Parfigliano

    Parfigliano 12,696

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    6 hours ago, laloesch said:

    I’m not saying you’re wrong but I wouldn’t exactly call this bullpen solid.  They’ve definitely got some very weak links.  Can they be fixed?  Possibly.  But truth is they do have to be perfect with this anemic offense and Rocco is not making it easy on them pulling starters early.  The more I see of SWR this year the more I think he needs to transition to the pen for a while.  Aaa

    AAAA

    bean5302

    bean5302 9,317

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    4 hours ago, Danchat said:

    His numbers were solid last year, but that didn't stop him from collapsing down the stretch enough to earn a demotion to AAA. So it's not just the past 12 appearances that he's been struggling.

    Sure. Might be as many as 13 games. You're right.

     

    JD-TWINS

    JD-TWINS 6,308

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    23 hours ago, bean5302 said:

    Yeah, would have ended the inning 1-1. Tough not to find fault with that play by Julien. The long standing conventional technique would be to lean over and field the ball on the run or dive for the stop because it prevents the ball from getting past the fielder, period. Julien's technique, that I've seen him use many times, is to knee slide while fielding. It puts him in a bad position to view the ground ball and at what seems like an awkward angle to field it, but it's kind of a combo move. It provides him with a somewhat better chance of stopping the ball from going into the outfield if he mishandles it (didn't work here) than fielding the ball on the run, and it provides him with a faster throw than a full dive. Devers was out by a mile even if Julien dove. Bad instincts, bad technique, bad situational awareness in this case. Does the fault lie with Julien or the Twins' coaches for having Julien use that technique?

    PLAYER - PLAYER - PLAYER if you haven’t learned techniques and refined them by age 25 you’re just not very good! You can’t coach results. You can coach strategy - placement - & yes, technique, but the player has to put in the reps and perfect/master. Coaches don’t make plays.

    There’s a reason that many, many successful coaches (numerous sports) say “………..good players make good coaches”!

    Eddie has zero instincts and that’s tough to overcome at his age - not impossible but pretty tough.



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