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

The 3 home runs the Twins hit now give them 251 for the season. That moves them into 7th place on the all-time list of most home runs by a team in a season. Next up are the 2016 Orioles who hit 253 (Jonathan Schoop had 25 that season).

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

We won this game but I truly dont think there is anything to celebrate. We lost the series to the White sox and are in grave danger of losing a series to Detroit. If we cant find a way to beat these teams how is this team going to beat the other play off teams? This team has been playing flat for awhile now and if they dont figure out a way to go on a prolonged run of playing better play offs could very well be a moot point

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. 

The Yankees are struggling too (as our the Indians and Rays).  The Yankees pitching is also an issue, as are injuries.  There is an ebb and flow to the season with peaks and valleys.  Few teams avoid them at various points in the season.  However, you want to be peaking at the end of September.  We have time if we keep our game gap over Cleveland.

God bless Rogers. Kudos to Cave for turning his season around.

You can play well sometimes and lose You can play poorly sometimes and win. The problem the Twins have is that they are generally playing poorly most of the time. It seems it's either the Bombas or nothing. The pitching is not good, but it's not easy to pitch well when there are so many questionable plays behind you. I say questionable because you can't use the word errors in MLB, as none are generally allocated. Last night had to be about the worst display of IF play, catcher included, that I have seen in MLB in quite awhile. If I watched a high school game with IF defense like that I would have been disappointed.

Twins are not playing well at home. Period.

Been like that since May.

In general, they appear to lack energy, enthusiasm and passion for the game.

Have fun guys! We in first.

Snap the tags down when you get a runner coming in. C'mon now.

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).

A healthy, disciplined Sano is a great Sano...

Fixed yer post.

;-)

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?

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.