Twins Game Recap (8/24): Sano 3-Run Bomba, Bullpen Boost Twins to Victory

Starters, relievers, bats, and gloves. At one point or another this season, one of those areas has carried this team. I agree with Brock that they need to give the starters a break. Thorpe and Smeltzer need to come in and soak up some innings. Maybe Stewart, too. Berrios needs time off, and so do Gibby and maybe Perez. Big Mike looks like he could plow ahead forever, and Odo still looks solid. 

A healthy Sano is a great Sano. I hope he stays healthy for a long time!

Pardon me, but how in hell do you not walk a single man and SO 8 and leave down in the 6th inning?

Don't misunderstand me, I'm a fan and believer in Gibson despite his inconsistent season. But what in the world is going on? We sweep 4 from a .500 team in intense heat in Texas and then come home to lose 2 of 3 from the Dirty Sox and lose the opener to arguably the worst team in MLB.

A win should always be celebrated. We are 78-51 and still one of the best teams overall in MLB. But lately, our best pitchers are Pineda, Perez, Duffy, May and the steady Rogers. Cave and Sano are our hottest hitters.

The good: Cave is just not as bad as he looked earlier this year and is starting to look like the guy we thought he might be. Sano is doing what he is more than capable of doing. Pineda doing what I always thought he might do, and Perez maybe finding himself again, May being what most of us thought he could be, Duffy continuing to prove he is a completely different pitcher than we saw the last 2 years.

The bad: Berrios, Odorizzi and Gibson are all 3 quality arms. But it just seems like all 3 of them need some kind of break. They just don't seem sharp right now.

I agree with Brock on rest. At some point, with the expanded roster coming up, designated starters or full days off, use some of the depth we seem to have developed and rest them for a re-set.

Not upset after a win, and watching a winning team having a great season...just...FRUSTRATED that such a good and talented and deep team can't seem to perform consistently lately.

I remember the great Oriole Teams and Earl Weaver stressing three things - "Pitching, defense and the three-run homer."   Right now we have one of those three.  We cannot go through the rest of the season relying on 3 - 4 relief pitchers per game. that would be 134 appearances late in the season with arms already stressed.  I know we will have the September call ups, but actually we have been using them all season too. 

"Nobody likes to hear it, because it's dull, but the reason you win or lose is darn near always the same: Pitching,” Weaver told the Los Angeles Times.

Asked to comment on his legacy, Weaver reflected, “On my tombstone, just write: ‘the sorest loser that ever lived.’”

Sano doesn’t get near enough credit for what he’s doing this year, IMO. You almost never hear about him, and he’s been mashing.

He has the second highest hard hit rate in the MLB (thus, the highest on the team - and ahead of Cruz in second by 3%). He average home run goes 14 ft farther than Aaron Judge and average overall batted ball distance is 24 ft farther than Judge. His average exit velocity is slightly lower than Judge, but if you look closer it’s because Judge has the edge in hard hit ground balls. Miguel has better velocity numbers on fly balls and line drives, which is clearly preferable. He has two full point in barrel per batter ball rate than Judge (21.5 to 19.5%).

There are plenty of arguments to be made for Sano being the best pure power hitter in the game right now. When you take a step back and realize he’s only 25 years old right now (two years younger than Judge), it’s pretty darn impressive.

The fact that most people had already written this guy off makes the story even better. We’re seeing one of the best hitters in Twins history play right now and many don’t even realize it (were actually seeing 2 or 3 with Cruz and Kepler).

Nice post. This is why I keep coming back, somebody has a thought and takes the time to look up some stats and put together a post that gives us all a deeper appreciation for the game. It's not just this post but others even in this short thread. Between this site and and an unnamed podcast following the Twins as the only ball fan in my house has been enriched.

Nice come-back win, but is anyone else worried that the Twins only have one reliable starter right now (Pineada)?

Odorizzi has a 2.82 ERA in August.   Sometimes you have to look beyond the numbers.    Odo's last start he gave up 4 runs (3 earned) and those runs resulted from bleeders and happenstance.    Berrios just gave up runs and those were a result of really hard hit balls and luckily avoiding other big innings.   Right now my confidence level is Odorizzi, Pineda, Gibson, Perez and Berrios.      That ranking won't be changed  by me in the next 5 days but probably will in the next 10.  At different times I have read here that Pineda, Sano, Cave, May and Duffey were AAAA or should be DFA'd and that Berrios was our only reliable starter.     Stay tuned.   Next 10 days will have a different story.    One of the story lines is Buxton.    How do you sit Cave when he has been this hot?    How do you sit Rosario or Kepler?    .  Do you lengthen Buxton's rehab assignment if they all continue to play well? 

Our home town heroes are guaranteed to win the division by going 31-2 for the rest of the season. With Buxton apparently coming back on Tuesday, that should be doable, right?

Tuesday for rehab Tuesday, not to the Twins so if we assume a 10 game rehab I think 21-2 from that point is what you would be looking at which I think would be enough and more realistic.

you can keep both Cave and Kepler in the lineup by playing Kepler at 1st.

Although as you note, keeping Cave in the lineup probably isnt a long term goal.

And for me, all of that comes second to getting a healthy Buxton back into CF. I dont lengthen Buxtons IL stint for anyone.

I hadn't thought about Kepler at 1st.   I really like it when facing right handers, then give one of the three lefties a break when facing a lefty.    Cave .825 OPS against righties.  Cron .810 against lefties.    I like platooning when it makes sense.   3 day rehab seems really short after a month off but Buxton is my favorite player so I will be happy to see him back.    Thanks for the correction though.   I read the wrong feed.