Red Sox 6, Twins 5: Down Five Runs, Twins Fight Back but Rally Falls Short

Two long-standing themes of this season converged tonight: resilience under adversity, and a huge opportunity to win wasted with the top of the order up.  Well, it's never boring...

The kids giveth, the kids taketh away. Miranda should have stepped back to get the out, the runner wasn't scoring. And Gordon standing there admiring his hit and getting thrown out at third for the third out, not acceptable. Hopefully there were constructive conversations with each player after their respective misplays. 

On a bright note, the Twins took 2 of 3 as it looks like Boston's bats are coming to life. And Cleveland also lost.

I doubt anyone will agree with me, but I would've liked to have seen Arreaz bunt the runners over in the 9th. 

2 hours ago, Monticore said:

I doubt anyone will agree with me, but I would've liked to have seen Arreaz bunt the runners over in the 9th. 

I couldn't agree with you more.  Arraez arguably has the best bat control on the team, and setting up your 2 and 3 hitters only makes sense, especially since the stats Rocco has in front of him show how often (2nd on the team) Correa does exactly what he did, hit into double plays.  We talk about the blunder by Miranda on defense and the blunder by Gordon on offense; how about this blunder by the manager in the dugout?  Just might have been the biggest one of all.  

3 hours ago, mnfireman said:

The kids giveth, the kids taketh away. Miranda should have stepped back to get the out, the runner wasn't scoring. And Gordon standing there admiring his hit and getting thrown out at third for the third out, not acceptable. Hopefully there were constructive conversations with each player after their respective misplays. 

On a bright note, the Twins took 2 of 3 as it looks like Boston's bats are coming to life. And Cleveland also lost.

Great line and exactly true. I missed the play with Miranda, but they wouldn't have been in the game without Gordon's contributions. They also may have won the game without his mental errors. 

Baldelli says he didn't talk to Nick about his base running, but it was clear Correa talked to him about blocking Leon's throw and I'll bet he heard it about the erstwhile triple. Maybe Baldelli didn't need to mention it and wasn't going to pile on in public (managing 101). For reasons I don't understand, many will just blame Baldelli for any perceived slight without a shed of evidence, hence the moniker pitchfork crowd.

As @SwainZag said, Ryan looked great outside of the 3rd (and he looked great in that inning too after the homers). What was noticeable to me was he was humping it up there at 95 to start the game and the velo held up well for 100 pitches. He seems to have incrementally regained strength since the COVID bout. He has a smooth delivery and as Perk said, doesn't rely on max effort. I'm too shell shocked from all the injuries to mention this without fear of a jinx, but he looks like he could be around for quite some time. 

7 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

September is tomorrow. Have we seen a “put the team on my back” moment from Correa this season? We sure could have used a star moment from him tonight. 

I got bad news for ya: if he hasn't done it by now, it ain't happening. 

Bad loss. Twins are now in the unfortunate position of now needing to come out of the next 7 games with a 4-3 record. A sweep in Chicago is almost a must. 

If they play like they have been playing against decent competition, Twins could go 1-6 over the next week and that'll be the end of the season. 

We took advantage of a two-for-one special for seats in the fifth row near third base. Let me see lots up close up, but also without the full perspective of the field you get by viewing from higher up.

(One odd thing to me was how chatty the 3rd base umpire was with the players and coaches. I mean, really chatty.)

It seemed that a host of little things cost us the game. Miranda’s throw home potentially cost us a run or two. Bogaert’s grand slam looked to top the left field wall by a mere whisker.
 

Couldn’t tell what happened with the throw by Leon that ended up in center field. Didn’t notice Gordon admiring his hit (I was watching the ball) but he sure was motoring once he reached second base. It was also obvious that Verdugo was going to throw him out from right field when Nick rounded second.

It was good to see the boys fight back. Our pitching actually looked good most of the time. Had a sinking feeling that the game would end just like it did.

3 hours ago, Mark G said:

I couldn't agree with you more.  Arraez arguably has the best bat control on the team, and setting up your 2 and 3 hitters only makes sense, especially since the stats Rocco has in front of him show how often (2nd on the team) Correa does exactly what he did, hit into double plays.  We talk about the blunder by Miranda on defense and the blunder by Gordon on offense; how about this blunder by the manager in the dugout?  Just might have been the biggest one of all.  

Arraez is hitting .318 on the season and a hit to the OF ties the game. You're really going to take the bat out of his hands and ask him to sacrifice? Barnes is a RHP and Arraez is hitting .341 for the season against RHP. Calling it a "blunder" by not asking Arraez to sacrifice is just wrong. I mean, come on.

A shame that Ryan was homer-happy last night and gave one up with the bases jacked. Solo shots aren't fun but don't hurt that much; when there are ducks on the pond, he's got to keep the ball in the park. Still a fan of him as a pitcher, though.

Moran did well. I'm a fan of his: that changeup is a real weapon. He's going to have some struggles with wildness, but he's still a pitcher I want in the bullpen.

Miranda definitely made a mistake in not stepping on the bag before going home with the ball; he had the time. Showed his relative inexperience at the position. He's still having a heck of a year.

One of the things that bothers me lately with MLB in general is how many players don't hustle when running the bases.  You only get to bat three or four times a game.  If you can't hustle from the batters box and go all out you shouldn't be playing.  Fun game last night.  Good comeback but too many mistakes in the field and the managers chair.  Correa has had one great series this year .  That was against the Giants.  He decided not to show up against the Red Sox.  You don't get much effort and production for 35 million anymore I guess

While Arraez is clearly the best contact hitter on the team and I like what he does with the bat, the situational baseball for the team in general isn't there at all.  Hit behind the run, move a runner over, bunt the ball to do as such is lacking from Mgmt down to the players.  While Arraez hitting a gapper to score 2 is possible in the ninth, the fact that we didn't attempt once to move the guys up a base is the wrong call.  Force the Red Sox to defend the bunt and you never know what could happen. As soon as he made the out, 1st thought was here comes the double play ball.  

Moran ate innings and pitched well minus giving up the one run, sure gave the bullpen desired rest they needed.  Sweep the Sox in Chicago is mandatory to stay in the race.  The boys need to set the tone for September and apply more pressure the Indians.

9 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

September is tomorrow. Have we seen a “put the team on my back” moment from Correa this season? We sure could have used a star moment from him tonight. 

No, but we've seen plenty of them from Nick Gordon.

1 hour ago, jmlease1 said:

Arraez is hitting .318 on the season and a hit to the OF ties the game. You're really going to take the bat out of his hands and ask him to sacrifice? Barnes is a RHP and Arraez is hitting .341 for the season against RHP. Calling it a "blunder" by not asking Arraez to sacrifice is just wrong. I mean, come on.

 

In that situation? 100%. It is the last inning and you'd have had runners on 2nd and 3rd for the 2 and 3 hitters. This is playoff baseball at this point. All we have to do is ground the ball out to the right side or hit a pop fly and we tie the game. And a hit wins it in walkoff fashion. Sorry, but this is why I will never trust Rocco to win us games. 

Almost every manager in the game puts the bunt on there, in that exact situation. 

The lack of an experienced major league 1st baseman continues to hurt this team. They need to get this fixed for 2023.

I have no qualms with Arraez not bunting in the 9th. He is league's best hitter and unfortunately just didn't have a productive AB there and then the subsequent double-play grounder ended it. There were plenty of other opportunities earlier in the game.

39 minutes ago, Battle ur tail off said:

In that situation? 100%. It is the last inning and you'd have had runners on 2nd and 3rd for the 2 and 3 hitters. This is playoff baseball at this point. All we have to do is ground the ball out to the right side or hit a pop fly and we tie the game. And a hit wins it in walkoff fashion. Sorry, but this is why I will never trust Rocco to win us games. 

Almost every manager in the game puts the bunt on there, in that exact situation. 

I don't think so. There might be some out there who would, but most managers today would let one of their best hitters hit. Most managers today would prefer to not give up the out, especially with one of the best hitters in baseball at the plate with a superior knowledge of the strike zone.

We're not even having this conversation if Arraez gets a hit or a walk there, which he had an excellent chance of doing.

1 hour ago, jmlease1 said:

Arraez is hitting .318 on the season and a hit to the OF ties the game. You're really going to take the bat out of his hands and ask him to sacrifice? Barnes is a RHP and Arraez is hitting .341 for the season against RHP. Calling it a "blunder" by not asking Arraez to sacrifice is just wrong. I mean, come on.

A shame that Ryan was homer-happy last night and gave one up with the bases jacked. Solo shots aren't fun but don't hurt that much; when there are ducks on the pond, he's got to keep the ball in the park. Still a fan of him as a pitcher, though.

Moran did well. I'm a fan of his: that changeup is a real weapon. He's going to have some struggles with wildness, but he's still a pitcher I want in the bullpen.

Miranda definitely made a mistake in not stepping on the bag before going home with the ball; he had the time. Showed his relative inexperience at the position. He's still having a heck of a year.

Normally I would agree with you; Arraez is our best hitter overall.  But right now, he is DOWN to .318.  He has been in somewhat of a slump lately, and while he still makes contact, he doesn't strike out much, he is just off enough to make weaker contact than usual.  Correa, on the other hand, has actually been half decent lately and I would have loved to see how the defense would have handled it.  The same stats that show Arraez hitting .341 against righties, is the same set of stats that shows Correa's penchant for double plays.  Can't have one without the other.  

Truth be told, he should have had Sanchez bunting with Arraez up next and Correa to follow.  Sanchez is hitting 100 points lower than Arraez and I would take my chances with the top of the order.  My point was once it got to 1st AND 2nd, you put the tying run at 3rd, where he can score in several ways, and the winning run at 2nd, with no force.  You force the defense to decide do you walk Correa to set up the force at every base, or pitch to both him and Kepler with no force and the infield in during Correa's at bat.  Make the defense decide what to do; don't decide for them.  Just waiting for the hit(s) to score the run(s) is what we do far too often, and far too often it has ended just this way.  As the old saying goes:  "you do what you've always done, you're gonna get what you've always got."

I said 3 weeks ago that if on 9/1 the Twinks were within 4 games, they have a chance and makes the final 5 weeks relevant.

1.5 GB - will stay engaged & hopeful.

10 hours ago, mnfireman said:

The kids giveth, the kids taketh away. Miranda should have stepped back to get the out, the runner wasn't scoring. And Gordon standing there admiring his hit and getting thrown out at third for the third out, not acceptable. Hopefully there were constructive conversations with each player after their respective misplays. 

On a bright note, the Twins took 2 of 3 as it looks like Boston's bats are coming to life. And Cleveland also lost.

I agree completely. Miranda, rookie mistake? Gordon, not so much.

Arraez needed to get the bunt down!! How many inning do we need to see 2 on no outs and come up empty. As for him being the best hitter,since the Allstar game he is well below his average. Why would Correa talk to Gordon,thats who he learned standing in the box from. This team is not playing baseball,its all about look at me I hit a homerun. Next week it will be all over for this year and better luck next year.

The difference between winning and losing can come down to fundamentals on a surprisingly large number of occasions. The Twins value base hits and especially home runs which leaves strategies such as bunting, stealing bases, taking an extra base, moving a runner along by giving yourself up, and stuff like a hit and run by the wayside. The Twins want to have solid defensive players but it is just not extremely important to them. The pitchers do not hold the runners as one example. So it is what we expect from the Twins when players we really like do things such as miss the out at first base such as Miranda did, Watch the ball all the way to the wall like Gordon, and try to bust a long one like Arraez. I think the Twins are on the verge of having a really good team but fundamentals are lacking and that piece needs to be in place to compete at the highest level. Hopefully, they sweep Chicago this weekend.

This is not the first or second time this year Gordon has made an out at 3B on a base running mistake. Rocco better be lying if he said he did not talk to Gordon. Any manager who is any good at his job would have some sort of conversation with the player. That is the big thing lacking with this team...baseball IQ. We are not good at situational baseball and that is the manager's responsibility. Yes he is a good company man (follows the front office) and lets his players do their thing but that won't win games in October and the only division it might win would be the AL Central.