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    Twins 6, Astros 2: Pablo Lopez Provides Ace-Level Performance, October Correa Leads Offense and Defense

    Steven Trefz

    By Steven Trefz

    Pablo Lopez broke "The Streak" last week. Tonight, he was tasked with breaking the serve of the defending champions on their home turf. It was just another Pablo Day in paradise, as the Twins delivered the runs early and often. Here's how the series-evening victory went down.

    Image courtesy of Erik Williams, USA Today

    Twins Video

    Box Score:
    Starting Pitcher: Pablo Lopez - 7 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K (105 Pitches, 69 Strikes, 66%)
    Home Runs: Kyle Farmer (1)
    Top WPA: Lopez (.261), Carlos Correa (.192), Kyle Farmer (.118)
    Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs):
    image.png.7ad94c303882f3fd8dd41e1bc111f194.png

    The Twins came into Sunday evening's matchup with the defending World Series Champion Astros looking to end the next steak: a nine-game road playoff losing skid dating back to 2004 at Yankee Stadium. The right man for the job was on the mound in streak-breaker Pablo Lopez. The Twins' resurgent offensive attack against left-handed pitching was locked and loaded, with Carlos Correa feasting on lefties in his post-season career (.937 OPS career) Kyle Farmer (1.240 OPS against lefties over the past 20 games) in particular licking their chops with Framber Valdez on the mound for the Astros

    Cashing In Early...and Often!
    The crowd at Minute Maid Park was looking to get rocking yet again Sunday night, but due to an MLB decision the roof was open and there would be no resonating echoes this evening. If that didn't dampen the crowd's excitement, the Twins offense soon did. Valdez was all over the zone to start the top of the first inning, and Donovan Solano and Royce Lewis couldn't make solid contact. Luckily Jorge Polanco let Valdez's wildness garner him a walk, and Carlos Correa sat on a curveball to give the Twins their first lead of the series at 1-0.

    In Game 1, Jose Altuve and Yordan Alvarez controlled the game offensively. Tonight, Pablo Lopez took the early lead and endured a first inning that featured a lead-off bunt single by Jose Altuve and a "I thought it was gone!" fly out to right field by Yordan Alvarez. After one inning it was still 1-0 Twins.

    In the top of the second inning, Willi Castro ripped a single up the middle under the legs of Valdez. With the speedy Castro at first, Valdez should have paid more attention to the batter in the box, Kyle Farmer. Farmer took a first pitch sinker that didn't sink, and launched it up where fielders don't exist for a 2-run shot! 3-0 Twins!

    Things Settle Down, and Quiet Down
    Both starting pitchers won their battles in the third and fourth innings. Brilliant defense from Jeremy Pena snuffed out a potential Polanco hit, and a slick double play by Farmer and the Twins helped to keep the respective offenses at bay in the third. The Astros drew a walk and got a two-out single from Michael Brantley in the fourth to get runners at the corners and Chas McCormick up as the tying run. After getting squeezed on the strike zone throughout the inning. Lopez decided that a swinging strike three would be indisputable.

    Time to Blow This Game Wide Open
    The top of the fifth inning started with Valdez pitching to Michael A. Taylor. After he blooped his way to first base, Solano went opposite field for another single. Polanco dropped a bunt to advance the ducks on the pond, and Royce Lewis walked to load the bases with one out. Correa came to the plate with a chance to exorcise a season's worth of bases-loaded demons. And he delivered!

    That two-run single chased Valdez from the game, and the Astros brought in right-hander Phil Maton. On Maton's first pitch, Ryan Jeffers attempted a safety squeeze bunt. The curveball caused Jeffers to pull the bunt, Lewis was caught off third base in no man's land, and Twins Territory freaked out with every twist and turn that he took as he attempted to elude the pickle of his own making. Lewis got tagged out at home, appeared to stave off more injury to insult, and the Twins failed to score again as Farmer missed that same curveball for a swinging strike out on a full count with the bases loaded. Hopefully cashing in a few runs, but not all of the runs, wouldn't come back to bite the Twins.

    The Astros Have a Good Shortstop Too, but it's Pablo Day
    The reason the Astros allowed Correa to walk into free agency last season has a name and it's World Series MVP Jeremy Pena. Pena led off the bottom of the fifth inning with a rocket off of the top of the wall in left-center for a double. Lopez found great joy in the fact that Martin Maldonado was up next, and he retired him without allowing Pena to advance. Altuve popped up weakly to Polanco at second, and Alex Bregman swung and missed to send a pumped Pablo and the Twins into the late innings. In fact, Lopez took his shutout through seven full innings, silencing the most potent offense since the All-Star break and setting up the Twins for victory.

    Lewis Flies, Correa Rakes, and the Twins Add Runs
    No lead feels safe in Houston, and the Twins didn't let off the gas or the pinch-hitting pressure in the late innings. Correa continued to clobber the ball, driving another shot off of the wall to move Lewis to third with a double in the top of the seventh inning. After Jeffers took one for the team, Castro struck out looking at what he and most of the Twins dugout considered to be a ball. With two outs, Edouard Julien pinch hit for Farmer, and the rookie delivered with a single to right which plated Lewis, but got Correa caught out at home on a laser throw from Kyle Tucker. 6-0 Twins.

    Time to Bring this Series Home
    The Twins players and coaching staff stated over and over how much the Target Field environment helped lead them to victory in the Wild Card round. Heading home tied 1-1 in the ALDS was the goal, and it was up to Brock Stewart to take care of business in the eighth. Unfortunately for Stewart, Alvarez is a beast, and he delivered a two-run opposite-field home run to tighten the score to 6-2. This forced Rocco Baldelli's hand in the ninth, and he put in Jhoan Duran to leave no doubt that the Twins would leave Houston victorious. 1, 2, 3, ballgame.

    Twins Win! They head back to Target Field with a chance to win the series at home, and *Twins Territory plans to do their best to make it so.

    What's Next
    Game 3 pits Twins RHP Sonny Gray (1-0, 0.00 ERA) against Astros RHP Cristian Javier (0-0, 0.00; 10-5, 4.56 ERA in regular season). First pitch is scheduled for 3:07pm CDT for the next greatest sporting event in Twins history.

    Postgame:

     

     

    Bullpen Usage Chart:

      WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT
    Maeda 0 0 0 43 0 43
    Stewart 13 0 0 0 22 35
    Thielbar 4 0 0 18 0 22
    Durán 13 0 0 0 7 20
    Paddack 0 0 0 19 0 19
    Varland 17 0 0 0 0 17
    Jax 15 0 0 0 0 15
    Pagán 0 0 0 14 0 14
    Funderburk 0 0 0 0 0 0
     

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    Featured Comments

    mnfireman

    mnfireman 4,070

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    Very good arguments and astute insights into personal opinions of the obstruction rule. However, I still feel had Rocco challenged, or even went out to just talk to the umpire about the Lewis call, that it may have led to the umpire crew being more aware (much like Maldonado complaining about his pitchers not getting high strikes) and perhaps led to a call for Correa. Perhaps not. The team still won, but sometimes just putting a bug in the umps ear, or making them aware you are willing to challenge, can do big things. We will see going forward. 

    dxpavelka

    dxpavelka 2,936

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    5 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

    Sorry, I was using the usual call and not the rule. i have not read the rule recently but the umpire has a decision to make. It is a judgment call and contact is not required and even contact is not an automatic obstruction call. The usual call on that play would be obstruction if the runner comes into contact with a fielder without the ball or the umpire feels the runner change their course because a fielder was in the way. Like many rules, the umpire gets to make the call. It is a call, when made, that often brings about a vigorous exchange of verbal thoughts.

    Weird part was that NOBODY questioned it.

     

    Dantes929

    Dantes929 4,640

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    8 hours ago, USAFChief said:

    *obstruction 

     

    Interference would be called on Lewis for interfering with a fielder

     

    6 hours ago, jkcarew said:

    It was a rundown play…the catcher has a right to be in the base path (as does the 3rd baseman)…and the catcher was where he was because he was expecting a return throw. The umpire is never going to call obstruction there unless the catcher goes out of his was to initiate some contact…which isn’t what happened.

    "Obstruction describes an act by a fielder, who is not in possession of the ball or in the process of fielding it, that impedes the baserunner's progress."   That was the definition of obstruction from MLB.  USAChief was right that the call is obstruction rather than interference but the catcher was neither in possession of the ball nor was he in the process of fielding it since the third baseman ran down Lewis.    Essentially he was in the base path when he had no right to be  and would have impeded Lewis if Lewis ran directly toward home plate.   Go to the 50 second mark in link.  

     

    ashbury

    ashbury 60,774

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    Really interesting play there, after about 27 viewings of the action. The fake throw by Bregman is the X factor.  Lewis has reason to think the catcher now has the ball. So he tries to go far enough around to avoid a sweep tag.  Did he go too far out?  In any case, this gives Bregman time to catch up - when the tag is applied, Lewis is on a crossing pattern back toward the plate while Bregman is going ever so slightly on more of a straight line.

    The video of the rules explanation, above, states that intent is not a factor.  The catcher certainly had nowhere else to be - he was expecting the toss from Bregman as much as Lewis was.  Fake throws happen during rundowns all the time. Nevertheless, he's standing in the runner's path without the ball, not showing any inclination to get out of the way, and the runner tries to go around him needlessly.

    Not an easy call to make. Shades of gray here IMO.

    A better bunt makes this all moot though.

    Nine of twelve

    Nine of twelve 9,469

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    The still from the video shown above shows the ball left the thrower's hand before contact would have occurred between Lewis and the catcher. A fielder has the right to field the ball and since the throw was on its way to the catcher I doubt obstruction would have been called either on the field or upon review. Had Lewis initiated contact he might have been called for interference. So I think we simply accept the play as it was made by all involved, including the umpires.



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