Twins 2, Guardians 5: Nauseating Ninth Repeats Another Late Loss to Cleveland

Box Score
Taj Bradley: 6 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 4 BB, 6 K
Home Runs: None
Bottom 3 WPA: Yoendrys Gómez (-.470), A.J. Minter (-.290), Luke Keaschall (-.140)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Dead, but still living. Walking, though without a clear direction. At some point, the reality of postseason odds will reach through the nether and snatch these Twins, relegating them to a forgotten footnote, cursed to gather dust in the annals of baseball teams deemed too good to laugh at, yet not good enough to care about. A common outcome. One that was seemingly avoidable a month ago. One that grew slowly and slowly and now stands readily apparent. 

Mark Buehrle isn’t retired; rather, he lives through Parker Messick, the newest vessel containing the fast-paced, crafty lefty gene. And he can move ass. MLB officially calls him 6’0” and 225 pounds. The eye says a few more pounds. Undeniably svelte, he dances on the mound with the grace of a gymnast half his weight. His command-oriented game has fueled a massive rookie breakout season, in which he made the All-Star game, and carries an ERA of 2.53 in 167 innings. 

And the lefty was on his game. Twins batters stood befuddled by his heaters. Babbled at his control. Three of his five strikeouts were of the staring variety; in which Minnesota never even attempted to swing at the ball.

They broke from daze for a moment and struck for a run in the second, with Royce Lewis doubling in Kody Clemens.

The run was needed, as Taj Bradley looked off. Well, he was off: the righty started each of his first three frames with a free pass, and had offered four of them before he could net nine outs. It was only with grit—and luck—that he shook loose from the malaise to hold Cleveland at bay, finding the strike zone just enough to nab outs and avoid the looming run spectre that constantly threatened him. And then he found himself. A Travis Bazzana singled in the fourth was later erased with a double play. Then he sat six down in order to breeze through the fifth and sixth, concluding his day with an emphatic 99.7 MPH fastball to strike out Jo Adell.

Bradley gave way to A.J. Minter whose appearance sparked inspiration in a wilting Guardians lineup; Bazzana singled and Angel Martínez launched a devastating two-run blast, detailed with admiration and confident gait. 

We have a game. What would this be if the Twins and Guardians weren’t engaged, close, late?

An Austin Martin hit by pitch, Walker Jenkins bunt, and a subsequent bizarre obstruction at second placed Martin at… second. Brayan Rocchio’s only punishment for committing the infraction was to be seen and judged, apparently. Never mind: Kaelen Culpepper singled in Martin anyways.

An eighth. Nothing. A ninth. The deciding factor. Once more. As it always is with these two. Yoendrys Gómez fired wildly. The Guardians accepted their walks. A wild pitch. The few hittable pitches were knocked around for doubles. Three runs crossed the plate as the Twins closer failed to escape the frame, and Cade Smith entered in the bottom of the inning to silence any effort at a rally. 

Notes:

Post-Game Interview:

What’s Next?
The Twins and Guardians meet again on Saturday, with first pitch coming at 3:10 PM. Connor Prielipp is set to pitch against the cool and collected TBD. 

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