Twins 4, White Sox 0: Twins Close Out Series Win on Sonny Gray's Gem

Started tight, ended easy.

Just like.. we needed.

Considering I anticipated TEX helping us this weekend (thanks for nothing!), today's W, imo, was very important.  

As well as the Royals are swinging the bat recently, I'm hoping they can put a dent into the recent momentum of CLE.   Living in the KC area for the last 20+ years, I've never been a Royals fan (lifelong Twins fan), but will be the next 3 games.  

With a rested bullpen need Ryan to give us a strong 5-6 IP start tomorrow night,

Keep grinding boys.

Nice game - Gray stepped up today and remains the staff Ace.  Julien showed us why he should not be PH for and Wallner has turned a real corner after realizing he needs more contact with the ball and less Ks.  Add in Lewis and hope Kiriloff gets hot and we have a wonderful foundation for the playoffs and the future. 

1 hour ago, mikelink45 said:

 Wallner has turned a real corner after realizing he needs more contact with the ball and less Ks. 

Not really. He mentioned in the post-game radio interview that he's been working on specific zones, adjusting to where they have been getting him out. Making adjustments. He didn't wake up this morning and say "I should try hitting the ball instead of missing it!"

Missed almost all of this series , out-of-town  ...

Catching up on the series  ...

Nice taking 3 of 4 from white Sox  .. 

Lopez had 1 bad inning and it looks like it cost us  , winder allowed the game to get out of reach  , Twins mounted a comeback but fell a run short  ...

Now to today , looks like Sonny  pitched a gem  , I got into town and tuned into the radio for top of ninth with pagan pitching ( oh boy I said ) , he gave up 2 base runners  and had the tying run on deck but managed  to get through the inning unscathed  and preserving the shutout  ( thank goodness ) ....

We now go to Cincinnati who are also playing for a playoff spot , get ready to see some of our traded away prospects  ...

I'm hoping for some good solid baseball games  , win or lose it should give us some good games ( kind of a playoff  type series ) to watch , we'll see which team is the most focus ...

Hopefully the Cincinatti games are not of extra importance but while they have been subject to blow-out losses they lost six of seven to Atlanta by one run each game and won one by one run, plus they took two out of three from the Dodgers.

If they take two out of three from Cin. it is a good sign.

1 hour ago, DJL44 said:

Not really. He mentioned in the post-game radio interview that he's been working on specific zones, adjusting to where they have been getting him out. Making adjustments. He didn't wake up this morning and say "I should try hitting the ball instead of missing it!"

I took this from a quote that was on TD last week.  But no matter what the quote should be he has made adjustments and I am delighted.

Any time you beat the Dirty Sox it's a good thing!

I just wish we could have swept.

GREAT start by Gray! Might be nothing, but I have this feeling that he has not only been focusing more on his approach to PUT GUYS AWAY EARLIER, which he has commented on previously. (He seems to be a bit of a perfectionist, which I get, as well as a competitor). But I think he is mentally ramping himself up for the post season. 

I'm just NOT worried about 1 bad inning from Lopez in game 3.

I'm more worried/curious about Ryan. I think he's fine both mentally and physically. I just want to see him "turn it up" a notch one game before the season ends. 

I dismiss the arguments regarding Wallner. He struggled for a couple of weeks. And I hate the Gallo comparisons, especially so early in his career. Yes, there is a comparison. But he's been much better lately. And their approach might be similar, but their swing is  different from what I've seen. Gallo is all or nothing. Wallner seems to have a swing that's adjustable. He doesn't "golf" at everything. I do hope Wallner follows a different path than Gallo. It's great to be able to work a count like Julien does. But not everyone can do that. And I don't see Wallner following Gallo from what I've seen of him. I think he's got a good evaluation of the strike zone. I think he has a more aggressive attitude to swing at a ball in the zone than Gallo has. I think he's a future .240-.250 hitter with a decent OB and still tremdous power. I've watched both of them enough to believe Wallner is going to be a better "hitter" than Gallo.

8 hours ago, DocBauer said:

Gallo is all or nothing. 

No one is worse , even sano was a bit better and he was not tendered a 2023 contract ... 

The Twins are 1-0 without Rocco. Starter got to pitch 7 innings. Wonder how many games  Rocco will miss?

Excellent series win. Taking 3 of 4 on the road against a division rival is very good baseball, even if the ChiSox stink this year.

Gray looked very good and it was nice to see him bounce back after an outing he wasn't happy with to shut things down. he's looking healthy and ready and will start either game 1 or game 2 of whatever playoff series we land in. He's done a great job keeping the ball in the park this season. After he next start, he'll have thrown more innings this year since he was 25. Twins have done a good job keeping him healthy and strong this season.

Good work by Pagan and Jax, but hopefully we'll be able to get Jax some additional days off. He's been worked pretty hard this season.

On to Cincy!

The bullpen usage chart is so fresh and clean!

1. We are going to miss Gray

2. Gray is going to get Paaaaaaaaid next season

As I watched the game, I kept wondering how the Twins will approach next season with Gray.  Gotta believe they will want him back and if he won't agree to an extension before testing free agency expect they will use the QA.  That should be a start, but I really want to see him pitching with the Twins the next three or so years.

Lopez, Gray, Ryan, Ober, and Paddack with Varland/SW-R in St. Paul ready to join the rotation when needed would look awfully nice.  And that group is under control for several years.  Could be the basis for a nice multi-year run of playoff seasons with the potential to go beyond the first round, well beyond.  

Let's remember what Tom Kelly always said, "you are only as good as your next day's starting pitcher."

1 minute ago, roger said:

As I watched the game, I kept wondering how the Twins will approach next season with Gray.  Gotta believe they will want him back and if he won't agree to an extension before testing free agency expect they will use the QA.  That should be a start, but I really want to see him pitching with the Twins the next three or so years.

Lopez, Gray, Ryan, Ober, and Paddack with Varland/SW-R in St. Paul ready to join the rotation when needed would look awfully nice.  And that group is under control for several years.  Could be the basis for a nice multi-year run of playoff seasons with the potential to go beyond the first round, well beyond.  

Let's remember what Tom Kelly always said, "you are only as good as your next day's starting pitcher."

 

I think they do want him back and would be happy to sign him to a 3-year deal...I just think he's going to get 4-5 year offers from someone, and the Twins won't want to go that long on a pitcher who's almost 34 already. Putting the QO on him makes perfect sense and will return value. I think the Twins have a better chance of retaining Maeda on a shorter term deal, and they might be interested in that to maintain rotation depth.

3 hours ago, Alex Schieferdecker said:

The bullpen usage chart is so fresh and clean!

Not sure i would have used Jax in this game. Another day rest could have been good for him. With a 4-0 lead against a team that appears to be looking forward to vacation I might have used Floro or Funderburk.