Twins 16, Diamondbacks 8: Twins Bat Around Twice in Bullpen-Implosion-Proof Victory!

Box Score
SP: Taj Bradley IP, 5.0 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K (91 pitches, 59 strikes (65%))
Home Runs: Byron Buxton (24)
Top 3 WPA: Brooks Lee (0.20), Bradley (0.18), Trevor Larnach (0.10)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) 

Life in the desert isn't for the weak at heart. The Twins lost their winning streak in Phoenix late on Thursday night, and as a monsoon rolled into town with 100 degrees at its back the Twins hoped to storm back into the win column. The air inside of Chase Field was a balmy 80 degrees, and their former ace Zac Gallen looked to keep the Twins offense contained between the lines. Taj Bradley took the rock for the visiting Twins, and he hoped to match the outside temperature on the radar gun early and often. Both of those things happened on Friday night, and both worked in the Twins' favor.

Breaking Containment One Single at a Time
The Twins offense wasn't the reason they lost their winning streak, and the hits kept on coming at Chase Field against a less-than-sharp Gallen. Trevor Larnach started things off as he has been, with a quality at-bat and a looping single to the outfield grass. Byron Buxton and Kody Clemens couldn't move Trevor along, but Josh Bell got his wheels spinning and then some with a booming double down the right field line. Thanks to an odd mesh wall and a once-in-a-lifetime bad hop, the first Twins run couldn't transpire because Bell's double bounded off the ground and straight up and sideways over the wall to become the ground-rule variety. Just when it looked like Thursday night's bad luck would keep on rolling across the artificial desert turf, Royce Lewis didn't chase Gallen's off speed pitches and earned a walk to load the bases. Brooks Lee unloaded them. 2-0 Twins!

Gallen then took down eight Twins batters in a row, and it looked like he was beginning to find his way. Then the top of the fourth occurred, Lewis started the inning off with a strikeout, and he ended the inning with a pop out. While Twins fans can't be excited about that aspect of the inning, anytime the same batter registers two outs in an inning it bodes pretty well for the team. Lee started off a string of five straight singles, most of them of the cue shot or seeing-eye variety. Ryan Kreidler had made his presence felt with a web gem against Corbin Carroll in the bottom of the first. This time it was Kreidler's single that pushed the lead to 3-0. Larnach's single made it 5-0, and Clemens finished things off with yet another single to post Bradley to a 6-0 lead before he could throw a pitch in the fourth.

Bradley Heats Up the Desert
After a red hot start to his season, Bradley hadn't completed five innings of work in three of his last four outings. Getting the lead early definately helped Taj navigate two walks and a bunt single in the opening frames, but he lit up the strike zone with upper-90's heaters and nasty cutters. On any other night, Bradley's dominance would have been the story of the game. 

The Hits Just Keep on Coming
And coming...and coming...and coming. If you thought batting around in the fourth inning was fun, how about batting 14 men across 29 minutes in the fifth inning? Gallen stayed on to wear it some more with the Diamondbacks having to throw an unplanned bullpen game on Thursday and having to scratch their starter for Sunday earlier in the week. He wore it and then some. Lee started things off with a triple, Victor Caratini then blasted a double to the gap in right-center to plate Lee. Luke Keaschall kept the line moving with a single to end Gallen's evening, but Kreidler greeted Yilber Diaz rudely with a single to plate Caratini. Diaz then walked Larnach to load the bases with nobody out. By the time Buxton touched home plate and got his handshakes and hugs finished, the bases were all cleaned up and the Twins were now up 12-0!

It looked like Diaz would finish off the inning at that point, getting two of the next three batters out. Lee kept his cycle alive with a ground-rule double, however, and then Caratini stole his RBI with a single that plated Bell and Lee to make it 14-0. Keaschall singled to keep the inning alive even longer, and then Kreidler showed why Derek Shelton should stop platooning him at shortstop and just give him the job already. 16-0 Twins on a Kreidler bomb triple off the center field wall.

How Does a Game This Lopsided End?
The Twins were in offensive record territory as they headed into the sixth inning, but both teams decided that enough was enough. After Bradley finally proved he was in fact a human being and surrendered a two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth, the whole-sale position changes became the name of the game. Kyler Fedko replaced Buxton in the lineup, and anyone with "All Star" next to their name in the Arizona lineup likewise took a seat. Bradley finished his five innings, but with the delay and the lack of need to extend his evening the Twins bullpen got the rest of the ballgame.

So what was left to watch? Lewis was the only Twins starter to not get a hit in the game, and he launched a lead-off double to the gap in left to start the top of the seventh. Lee needed a homer to complete the cycle, but he flew out to keep his 50 at-bat without a strikeout streak alive without a cycle highlight...yet.

Justin Lawrence is worth watching, because it takes a unique brand of courage to come into a 16-2 ballgame in the seventh inning and walk the first three men that you face. That actually happened. Certain things could not happen in the final innings of a ballgame where the Diamondbacks had all but surrendered. The first, second, and third things all are the same. Don't. Walk. People. Luckily for Lawrence, Tim Tawa was standing in the box instead of Marte with the bases loaded and nobody out and he went down swinging. Geraldo Perdomo was still in the game, however, and he took another walk to start the final DFA paperwork on Lawrence. Ildemaro Vargas probably completed that paperwork with a bases clearing double to make it 16-6 and force Shelton's hand in bringing in Eric Orze to save the day...after the inning started with a 14-run lead. Lawrence has glimpses of amazing "stuff," but glimpses simply haven't been getting three outs without surrendering game-changing amounts of runs. Tonight seemed like an unfortuneate breaking point, on what was otherwise a joyous evening for the Twins.

With the game now 16-7, and most of Twins Territory already nestled soundly in their beds with visions of a blowout still firmly entrenched in their heads, those still up and watching this bullpen disaster unfolding couldn't get their final seven outs counted fast enough. The Diamondbacks took the unwatchable nature of the bottom of the seventh, and decided to one-up the Twins by bringing Vargas in with his 38 mph eephus pitches after Philip Abner couldn't get out of the inning. Of course, Vargas walked Austin Martin so that Bell could hit into a double play. Why not. Lee came up second in the top of the ninth to get a second crack at his cycle against Vargas' overhand slowpitch. The career ERA of 3.60 that Vargas brought into the outing actually got lower, and Lee popped up to end anything worth watching tonight. Great win, rough landing, let's take the series tomorrow.

What’s Next?
The Twins look to take another road series in the desert heat on Father's Day. Both the Twins and the Diamondbacks are waiting to recover from this game before naming their starter for Sunday's tilt. First pitch, by someone, is scheduled for 2:15pm CDT.

Postgame Interviews

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet