Twins 11, Cubs 1: Twins Power Past Cubs

Box Score
Starting Pitcher: Joe Ryan 6 IP 4 H 0 ER 1 BB 10 K (102 Pitches, 76 Strikes, 74.5%)
Home Runs: Kirilloff, 2 (2), Gallo (8), Polanco (3), Correa (6)
Top 3 WPA: Ryan (0.203), Kirilloff (0.149), Gallo (0.124) 

Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs):

Joe Ryan navigates pesky Cubs lineup
Coming off of two straight non-wins, Joe Ryan was in decent form, establishing his fastball early and showing his usual excellent command. He allowed the leadoff hitter to reach in the second, third and fourth, but pitched around trouble with some key strikeouts, most of them on the fastball. Ryan finished strong, including striking out Ian Happ, Cody Bellinger and Seiya Suzuki consecutively in his final inning. Maybe he’s really good?

Toward the middle of Ryan’s outing, Cubs’ hitters were able to get on top of his fastball on a few occasions, with Eric Hosmer demolishing a high fastball for a foul ball in the second, Bellinger just missing a home run in the third and Christopher Morel flying out to deep left in the fourth. It may have seemed that a stiff breeze at Target Field was suppressing fly balls, but a couple of Twins surely disproved that theory.

An atypical 1-2 punch
With Max Kepler hitting the injured list, and Byron Buxton taking a much-needed day off, the Twins were left with an interesting decision on who would lead off the game. Joey Gallo ended up being the choice, with the resurgent Alex Kirilloff behind him. Gallo absolutely demolished a high fastball 110 MPH to lead off the game, but hit it way too high in the air, eventually settling in right fielder Suzuki’s glove.

Kirilloff continued his run of quality at-bats while looking at his most vintage in the first inning, lacing an outside fastball to the opposite field for a 102 MPH home run to start the scoring. That would count for his first extra base hit of the year. Not to be outdone, Gallo made up for his near miss by crushing a three-run bomb in the third that apparently broke statcast, because no exit velocity was provided on Baseball Savant.

Kirilloff made sure to get the last word by depositing a Wesneski slider over the center field wall for his second home run, this one at 101 MPH. He added a fifth-inning double for good measure to raise his slugging percentage to .875. He may not be 100% with his wrist, but he sure looks like a lineup savior at this point.

Trevor Larnach makes his return
You could have blinked and missed Trevor Larnach’s demotion to Triple-A St. Paul. Returning to the lineup, Larnach resumed his struggles identifying pitches. In the first, Hayden Wesneski went sweeper, slider, cutter, cutter to strike Larnach out. In the third, he fisted a Wesneski fastball over a drawn-in shortstop for a broken bat single. In the fifth he battled a tiring Wesneski for seven pitches and ended up striking out on a well-located cutter.

Willi Castro starts rally by not being aggressive
The Twins four run third inning was almost snuffed out before it started, as Willi Castro golfed a line drive down the right field line and was smelling a triple. With Suzuki picking the ball up quickly, his throw was almost to second base as Castro was rounding it. He smartly picked up Tommy Watkins' stop sign and retreated back for a leadoff double. Ryan Jeffers (now hitting .292 after going 2-2 with a walk and hit-by-pitch) then walked before Gallo broke the game open with his three-run bomb to right-center.

What’s Next
Louie Varland (0-0, 4.32 ERA) tries to get the Twins a series win facing veteran Marcus Stroman (2-3, 2.28 ERA). Varland is coming off his best outing of the year, holding the talented Padres lineup to one run over six innings on Tuesday.

Postgame Interviews

Bullpen Usage Chart: