Matt Braun

Looks like Sisk has been at AAA all year. That'll happen when you walk 37 guys in just under 50 innings.

Plus, come see how the Mighty Mussels scored nine off just four hits. Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge (Image is of Willie Joe Garry Jr.) TRANSACTIONS RHP Jordan Balazovic optioned to AAA St. Paul Saints Sentinel St. Paul 3, Omaha 7 Box Score Randy Dobnak: 6 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 5 K HR: Hernán Pérez (8) Multi-hit games: Andrew Stevenson (2-for-4, R, BB), Austin Martin (2-for-4, R), Brooks Lee (2-for-3, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 BB) The Saints dug themselves into an early hole and never recovered. Fortune can change quickly. St. Paul whiffed on scoring with the bases loaded in the first, after excellent patience placed runners on every base—and their missed opportunity immediately bit them, as Randy Dobnak coughed up three runs. They did finally strike, though, when Brooks Lee cleared two runners off the bases with a double in the 5th. The 22-year-old has struggled since earning a promotion, but Saturday may have been his finest day since joining the Saints; he reached base four times. That was about the height of the game. Dobnak surrendered more runs in the 6th, and the two relievers following him—Alex Scherff and Jordan Balazovic—allowed a run each to put the game too far out of reach. St. Paul made full usage of the bases on Saturday, swiping four bases against the Storm Chasers; Austin Martin stole a pair, with DaShawn Kiersey Jr. and Andrew Stevenson adding steals of their own to the total. Technically old friend Evan Sisk allowed a run over two innings of relief. 2nd baseman Nick Loftin is Kansas City’s 5th-best prospect; he homered and collected three RBIs on Saturday. Wind Surge Wisdom Wichita 2, Arkansas 0 Box Score Pierson Ohl: 5 ⅔ IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K HR: Willie Joe Garry Jr. (2) Multi-hit games: None The Wind Surge won a pitching battle on Saturday. It may have been Pierson Ohl's best start of his professional career; the righty whiffed eight batters, allowing no runs as he came just one out away from earning the elusive quality start. He'll settle for a win. Ohl's AA ERA is now down to 3.06, as—following some early bruises after his promotion—Ohl owns a 1.99 ERA since June 29th. Wichita did just enough to support his effort offensively. Their bats were about as deadened as Arkansas, leading to four hits, two of them for extra bases. Fortunately, one of those hits was this massive tater crushed by Willie Joe Garry Jr. That's certainly not the swing of a batter looking to get cheated! Seth Gray owned the other extra base hit—a 9th inning double. Aaron Rozek and Miguel Rodriguez delivered the game to its end with masterful relief pitching. Rozek obliterated the Travelers with five punchouts, while Rodriguez closed the door with a scoreless 9th. Seattle's typically strong farm system is especially young these days, leaving Jonatan Clase, their 8th-ranked prospect, as the Travelers premier player. He went hitless. Kernels Nuggets Cedar Rapids 14, South Bend 5 Box Score Zebby Matthews: 6 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K HR: Andrew Cossetti (8), Ben Ross (18) Multi-hit games: Kala’i Rosario (3-for-6, 3 R, 3 RBI), Ben Ross (3-for-5, HR, 2B, 4 R, 3 RBI, BB), Misael Urbina (2-for-5, RBI, BB), Jeferson Morales (3-for-5, 2B, 2 RBI, BB) The Kernels blasted their opponents on Sunday. The bloodbath started early. Cedar Rapids had 12 runs after just three innings. They had 11 hits, too. Singles, walks, homers, the team had it all—Noah Miller had hit for the third time before the 2nd ended, and he nearly hit for the fourth time in the 3rd. Andrew Cossetti had the big smash, with a three-run homer that gave him eight on the year with the Kernels, but, really, it was a group effort to put so many runs up as quickly as they did. The team took 24 at-bats with runners in scoring position. Zebby Matthews was acceptable. The righty handed a trio of runs back in a disastrous first inning, but he recovered quickly, allowing a smattering of baserunners, but no further damage. John Stankiewicz followed him with a pair of scoreless frames. Gabriel Yanez oversaw a few unaffecting runs before ending the game. Cossetti is slashing .296/.435/.552 in 2023. MLB’s 76th overall prospect, Kevin Alcantara, singled and struck out in five at-bats. Mussel Matters Ft. Myers 9, Daytona 4 Box Score Jose Olivares: 5 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 4 K HR: None Multi-hit games: Luke Keaschall (2-for-4, 2 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB) The Mighty Mussels exploded late, erasing a 3-0 deficit to handily win Saturday’s game. You aren’t going to see nine runs score on only four hits too often. Fort Myers could find no BABIP fortune—the baseball gods saw to that—but they could walk, and they did so often on Saturday, taking a free base 11 times. Every batter in the lineup walked at least once. Ricardo Olivar was also hit twice. But you still need someone to knock in those runs, though, and Luke Keaschall and Danny De Andrade were the ones who met the challenge. Their doubles, plus a single from Maddux Houghton, proved to be the only run-scoring knocks the team could find; every other run scored on a groundout, a sacrifice fly, or an error. The sudden offensive explosion was a relief, as the pitchers, while not poor, did not dominate the game. Starter Jose Olivares struggled with command. So did 2023 draftee Ty Langenberg. But Matt Gabbert and Samuel Perez had their stuff, steadying the staff while leading the team to a victory with critical scoreless frames. Keaschall is slashing .294/.427/.485 in 19 games with the Mighty Mussels. He already has eight doubles. Cincinnati’s 19th ranked prospect—Victor Acosta—doubled and walked while hitting out of the leadoff spot. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Pierson Ohl Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Ben Ross PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #1 - Brooks Lee (St. Paul) - 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 BB, K #3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Cedar Rapids) - 1-6, R, BB, 4 K #5 - Matt Wallner (Minnesota) - 0-3, 2 K #8 - Austin Martin (St. Paul) - 2-4, R, K, 2 SB #12 - Luke Keaschall (Ft. Myers) - 2-4, 2 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB, K #15 - Jordan Balazovic (St. Paul) - 1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 K #16 - Kala’i Rosario (Cedar Rapids) - 3-6, 3 R, 3 RBI, 2 K #17 - Yunior Severino (St. Paul) - 0-5, 2 K SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul @ Omaha (2:05 PM) - LHP Michael Boyle Wichita @ Arkansas (1:35 PM) - RHP Travis Adams Cedar Rapids @ South Bend (1:05 PM) - RHP Kyle Jones Daytona @ Fort Myers (11:00 AM) - RHP Juan Mercedes View full article

Two Twins got ejected, the dugouts cleared, and the events weren't even related! Image courtesy of © Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports Box Score Sonny Gray: 7 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K Home Runs: Carlos Correa (16), Edouard Julien (11), Max Kepler (21) Top 3 WPA: Sonny Gray (.245), Matt Wallner (.200), Ryan Jeffers (.068) Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) Dane Dunning had nothing. He may have had less than nothing. The righty couldn’t find the strike zone if a maitre'd was there to guide him. He walked four in the inning, nearly escaping his mess by coaxing a double play from Carlos Correa, but he couldn’t quite fool Matt Wallner around; the rookie lashed a triple into the right field corner, unloading the bases with one fiery smash. Ryan Jeffers knocked in Wallner with a single. Mitch Garver shaved off a run with a solo shot in the following frame—he will return a crucial player in our plot tonight—but Gray suffered no other damage, holding the lead intact after two. The Twins hopped on Dunning once again. They loaded the bases once again, putting themselves in a prime position to crack the game in half. They didn’t do it. Joey Gallo went down looking after seeing a controversial (read: bad) strike call place him down 0-2. Gallo then offered a few selections from George Carlin’s famous 7 Words, and umpire Carlos Torres promptly sent him home for the night. The strike zone had been nebulous. Torres bailed out Dunning’s shakiness with some optimistic strike calls, pushing quite a few Twins fans to openly lament the unnecessary gifts. Rocco Baldelli soon also retired for the night when his discussion with Torres didn’t stop rising in intensity. The ejection was Baldelli’s 16th in his career. The emotions of the night were far from lowering, though. When Gray faced Garver again in the 3rd, the plate appearance lasted one pitch: a fastball directly off the wallet. Jeffers had been smoked earlier in the game, perhaps as a response to his pimped go-ahead homer on Thursday, and it seemed that Gray’s choice to plunk Texas’ catcher—and a former Twin—was a response to the Jeffers beaning. The benches cleared. Not much came of it. And that was the peak of action for a while. Dunning found some semblance of control, enough to carry him through four sloppy frames with no further runs. Gray, on the other hand, was stellar. He didn’t miss as many bats as usual; instead, the veteran opted for subtle, quiet contact as his fielders worked harder than he did. The Rangers did place runners on against him—Gray wasn’t perfectly sharp—but they all walked back to the dugout with frowning demeanors. Gray threw 81 pitches. Oh, but the Twins weren’t done scoring runs. It seemed like they were. Their bats served up five empty innings, appearing to slip into a lethargic state perfectly ok with their first inning work. The 7th turned, though, as Correa cracked a homer to kick off the scoring, eventually leading to RBI knocks from Jeffers (he may need armor tomorrow), and Donovan Solano. Edouard Julien launched a three-run homer. And so on. The Rangers put in a position player in the 8th. And so on. Cole Sands relieved Gray—that’s how safe Jayce Tingler felt with his nine-run lead—and all the Rangers could muster was an unearned run to soften the loss ever so slightly. Notes: Rocco Baldelli's 16th ejection moved him into a tie for 111th all-time. Max Kepler's 21 home runs is the second-most he's hit in a season, 15 behind his 2019 year. Saturday was the 4th time Sonny Gray pitched seven frames in a game in 2023. Carlos Correa's on-base streak extended to 16 games. Post-Game Interview: What’s Next? The Twins and Rangers will play the third game of their series on Saturday. Joe Ryan will come off the IL to make his first start since August 2nd. Max Scherzer will take Target Field’s mound for the first time since September 15th, 2014, when the future Hall-of-Famer was a Tiger. First pitch is at 6:15 PM. Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet View full article

When a schedule is even, the nuances of rivalry are lost. Image courtesy of David Richard-USA TODAY Sports I was watching Gavin Williams dominate the Rays on the 12th when it dawned on me that I had yet to see him pitch against the Twins. Maybe that isn’t unusual. He only has 11 career starts, after all. But, I think it’s emblematic of a bigger change amongst MLB: the new schedule. There are certainly perks to having every team in MLB play every other team. Estranged fans in an opposite league’s city no longer have to wait eons to see their favorite team play. Teams in poor divisions—no comment—will find it harder to hide behind their weak foes; outside exposure will reveal just how behind the MLB meta they are. And it’s just plain cool to see Spencer Strider and Mitch Keller pitch against my favorite team, even if Minnesota loses. These are all good things, changes that improve MLB’s ecosystem. But, perhaps, the trade-off—with rivalry games taking a smaller piece of the scheduling pie—creates an adverse effect. Familiarity is important. I instantly remember Ryan Raburn, Brandon Inge, Brennan Boesch, Jeremy Bonderman, Phil Coke—always Phil Coke—Gerald Laird, and a whole bunch of other nondescript members of the 2000s–2010s Tigers. They weren’t the best players. Most never made an All-Star game. Lord knows I saw them plenty, though, so they’ve stuck with me, still pestering and badgering my mind when I should be thinking of other things. I think that matters. Seeing the same names, looking at the same faces, perhaps a little older, more wrinkly and lethargic than they once were, establishes a connection. It makes their achievements more visceral. I really didn’t care too much when Andrew McCutchen blasted a three-run homer the other day, but when Miguel Cabrera went yard, well, There Goes That Bastard Harassing My Favorite Team Once Again. I’ll pop champagne and dance in the street when he retires. As much as it stinks, that feeling—the painful, personal shared experience you feel seeing an old nemesis kill your team once again—draws us to the game. It coaxes Joe Mauer out of the shadows of retirement to congratulate a man who spent his career terrorizing his team. And, Gavin Williams. Just as important as celebrating known enemies is welcoming new ones. Baseball is special in this way. We know Williams not to be just another face, and arm, and shoulder, and torso: he’s the Next Big Thing in a long line of very impressive Cleveland pitchers. He’s the new Cabrera. How can I hate the new Cabrera when I’ve never seen him? Maybe it’s small potatoes only meant to bug the more sentimental amongst us. Maybe I need to stop being weepy and nostalgic about a bunch of people who don’t know I exist. I think it does mean something, though. If this is to be a sport of men with conflicting interests, then the highest drama—the emotions stoked not by an amorphic player—but, rather, someone who has done it over and over, or will soon do it over and over, is the game’s heart and soul. It draws us to love and hate. It draws Tim Anderson and José Ramírez to throw hands. The Twins and Guardians will play two more series against each other before the season ends. Maybe Williams will pitch one or two times, and his dominance will force me to re-think this premise. Or, maybe, the Twins will smoke him, causing me to mock him and Cleveland’s “so-called pitching factory,” and, well, I guess the emotions are already there. They’ll always be there, certainly. But we shall see if they remain sparked when the familiarity is weakened. View full article

I stand corrected

I suppose I’d just like to know what bolstering this very obviously flawed team would accomplish. It’s clear Correa isn’t going to hit this year, and the odds of Byron playing center are impossibly low. Throw in a catastrophic strikeout problem, and no one or two players were going to make *that* much of a difference. Maybe they could have gotten an extra reliever, but I’m not going to lose sleep over it.

Max Kepler has stung the ball since the All-Star break, and it’s apparent that an altered approach is the key. Image courtesy of Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports Kepler has always been an enigmatic player. He walks a lot, doesn’t strike out much, hits the ball hard… and consistently finishes with a wRC+ somewhere in the 90s. Outside of the Happy Rabbit Fun-Time ball of 2019, there isn’t much offensive success for Kepler to hang his hat on. I’ve argued that his defensive value still makes him a useful player on the Twins, but I get why people would be frustrated with him; a guy that athletic with his batting peripherals should not be so average. That’s why his 2023 looks fascinating. He sucked to start the year. He would probably admit that. But he made an adjustment to his profile this season, and it’s starting to pay off in a big way. Since the All-Star break, Kepler is slashing .299/.346/.581 for a 153 wRC+. That’s a very un-Keplerian batting line. His old approach—wait around, stare at some pitches, spit a few times in the dirt before tepidly hitting a ball somewhere—was swapped with a new, aggressive mindset. He’s swinging like mad—over 50%, to be specific. That halfway mark is usually saved for the Bo Bichettes and Eddie Rosarios of the world, players with tremendous bat-to-ball skills who can hit any pitch thrown anywhere near the plate. Again, that hasn’t been Kepler’s game. He’s never been above 50% in a full season since he started his MLB career. But, it’s working. The dividends are especially apparent on the first pitch. While the league has hit for a .399 xwOBA on the first pitch since the All-Star break, Kepler is at an astonishing .898 xwOBA, meaning he’s taking full advantage of unsuspecting pitchers perhaps getting a little lazy with their opening offering. Dating back to 2016, Kepler only owns a .354 xwOBA when the count is 0-0. Here’s him punishing Luis Castillo for placing a changeup higher than he would have liked: Admittedly, much of his production is buoyed by four homers—three of them alone from the Diamondbacks series. He’s not going to carry a .898 xwOBA on the first pitch the full season—no one can—but he’s at a .632 xwOBA overall in that count in 2023, perhaps revealing that this is a legitimate adjustment only now seeing its full riches come to fruition. Six of his 20 homers are off the first pitch. He’ll probably cool off a little once pitchers realize just laying it in there to start the at-bat is only going to cause them trouble. I think this trade-off, though, is a valuable addition for Kepler overall, given that his excellent discipline can help swing the count back in his favor if he starts waving at bad first pitches too often. The gaping hole in his profile used to be what happens to him when he gets a strike or two on the board against him. It’s not all his fault; most hitters stink when behind in the count. Making sure you never reach that count in the first place helps eliminate those 0-1 or 1-2 outs made while trying to protect the plate. Overall, I find this a fascinating example of how to interpret good hitting; I think the analytic dogma of favoring deep counts and walks swayed a bit too far for some hitters as it ignored the downsides of such an approach. Not everyone can be Juan Soto, after all. More pitches usually means more strikes. More strikes means swinging defensively, not aggressively. It’s the same sickness that plagues Daniel Vogelbach, who always seems to hit a little worse than the collective baseball community expects. Ultimately, the end goal of each at-bat is to get a good pitch and hit it. If that pitch is the first one you see, so be it. It may not result in aesthetically great baseball all the time, but that’s the deal a batter makes when having to handle the toughest pitching man can create. And, anyways, it sure seems to be working for Kepler right now. View full article

And a gold star to Laz Diaz for solidifying the inevitability of an electronic strike zone. Woof, that was bad.

Or: why the Twins have recently felt like a chore. Image courtesy of Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports My favorite recent Twins team is the 2017 squad. They weren’t all that special. No one outside of Minnesota remembers them much. But, to me, they represented something whimsical and blithe. Heading into 2017, the Twins were on an extended streak of missing the playoffs, with their brief foray into October baseball in 2010 standing as their most recent trip to the postseason. They were swept by the Yankees that year. So it goes. This year (2017) didn’t look like it was going to go any better; the previous team lost over 100 games. Terry Ryan was relieved of his duties in July. But, somehow, the 2017 Twins played steady, winning baseball, and appeared to be a classic Wild Card team. There was the bizarre one-start stint of Jaime García—and Brandon Kintzler found himself a National before the year was over—but the team gritted through the movements, turning in a monstrous 20-10 August to help carry them to a playoff spot. I don’t have to talk about the playoff game. And I don’t want to talk about the playoff game. I think it’s best left at that. What made that team memorable wasn’t how great they were—the 2019 team absolutely blew them out of the water, and they were only four games above .500, after all—but, rather, their innocence was touching in an enlightened way. They shouldn’t have been there. The team was awful the previous year. They sold at the deadline. And yet, somehow, they relied on each other and rallied, churning out winning baseball through themselves. They won with Bartolo Colon and Alan Busenitz. With Buddy Boshers and Dillon Gee. They were plucky. The Twins made the playoffs again in 2019 and 2020. Those teams were good enough to claim division titles—which is where the problems start. Because no one expected the 2017 team to be much of anything, there was an authentic appreciation for their efforts, an understanding that this David may have a shot against the Goliaths they faced on their journey. Losses were understandable; they happen to even the best teams. But wins were magic, or as close as you can get. It was visceral and palpable when Eddie Rosario and Byron Buxton blasted walk off homers on back-to-back nights. Once the team established themselves as good, things changed. Wins are expected; losses are shamed. Winning was simply what was supposed to happen, what the team needed to accomplish. And—when the wins dried up—toxicity boiled over. The last three years have been a drag. I suppose that could relate to more than just baseball, but it’s especially true for Minnesota. Since the Twins have failed to reach those division heights years ago, those unmet expectations soured and stunk, often reaching a terminal nuclear state when the most unacceptable events happen (the team sometimes doesn’t win). Losses to the Tigers require sacrifice. A sweep at the hands of the Royals requires blood. The team did nothing at the deadline, and people were ready to storm Target Field as if they were the mob looking for Frankenstein. It all changes the lens people look at the team through, and it probably won’t change soon. Correa and Buxton are locked up long term; with so much money attached to those two players, the team will do everything in their power—all their might can handle—to ensure the Twins play competitive, winning baseball. None of it will be very fun, unfortunately. Unless a repetition of 2019 comes, normal, cromulent baseball will stand as sin and the team won’t be able to show the common traits of a good, not great, ballclub without inciting a riot. The 2023 Twins are probably about as good as the 2017 Twins, but the two elicit much different emotions. While those old Twins—so young and pure—may coax wonderful memories, the Twins of this year are yelled at and beaten, treated like an obedient pet under a cruel owner. The quality isn’t much different, but the expectations are—and that’s where the trouble begins. View full article

One of his teammates took Hitter of the Day honors, though. Image courtesy of Rob Thompson (Image is Anthony Prato) TRANSACTIONS None Saints Sentinel St. Paul 4, Indianapolis 5 Box Score Simeon Woods Richardson: 5 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K HR: Yunior Severino (2) Multi-hit games: Yunior Severino (2-for-4, HR, 2 R, RBI), Gilberto Celestino (3-for-3, R, BB), DaShawn Keirsey Jr. (2-for-4, R) The Saints made it close on Saturday. Simeon Woods Richardson continued to pitch effectively on Saturday; the 22-year-old held an ERA of 2.96 in July, and now he’s at a 2.79 mark in August. It took a while for the bats to get going, but when they did, they did so with gusto. Yunior Severino blasted a 461 foot moonshot to center, apparently clearing the batter's eye for the first time since St. Paul became an affiliate of the Twins. More runs soon followed for the Saints—they plated a trio in the 8th—but Indianapolis struck for three before they could, leaving St. Paul with a one run disadvantage. All three runs scored off a Hernán Pérez double. The heart of St. Paul’s lineup came up in the 9th, but they went down 1-2-3. Brooks Lee’s sharp lineup was the only non-strikeout. Indianapolis possesses a few notable players. The first, Quinn Priester, started for the first time since his brief, ineffective stint with the Pirates. He pitched four shutout innings. The other—Canaan Smith-Njigba—is brothers with Jaxon Smith-Njigba, whom the Seahawks just selected in the 1st round of the NFL Draft in May. Wind Surge Wisdom Wichita 2, Springfield 11 Box Score Curtis Taylor: ⅓ IP, 2 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 3 K HR: None Multi-hit games: Alex Isola (3-for-4, 2B, R), David Bañuelos (3-for-4, 2B, RBI) The Wind Surge were thoroughly blown out on Saturday. It’s never great when your starter can’t finish the first inning; it’s even worse when he can only find one out. The Cardinals lineup struck him for four earned runs, turning a leadoff double into a nightmare frame. The more astute amongst us may notice that Taylor earned three strikeouts but only one out. That means that—yes—twice a man reached first on a wild pitch strikeout. Sometimes, it may have been better to avoid the ballpark altogether. Wichita’s bats weren’t up to the herculean task of matching their opponents, but two batters—Alex Isola, and David Bañuelos—collected three hits in the game. For Isola, the game was simply a continuation of an outstanding August; he’s now slashing .295/.396/.659 in the month. Will Holland swiped his 24th base of the season. Cardinals leadoff man Victor Scott II is St. Louis’ 4th-best prospect; he went 3-for-5, with a walk, a stolen base, and a caught stealing. Kernels Nuggets Cedar Rapids 6, Wisconsin 5 Box Score C.J. Culpepper: 5 ⅔ IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K HR: Ben Ross (17), Kyler Fedko (4) Multi-hit games: Ben Ross (2-for-5, HR, 3B, R, 3 RBI), Jorel Ortega (2-for-4, 3B, RBI), Kyler Fedko (2-for-3, HR, 2 R, RBI, BB) The Kernels won on a walk-off on Saturday. Cedar Rapids blew a lead late, coming close to sending their fans home disappointed, before they struck with a run in the 9th, overcoming the Timber Rattlers for an exciting win. Starter C.J. Culpepper was strong as usual, reaching the sixth inning while only allowing one run along the way. He struck out four and walked two. His bullpen couldn’t hold the lead, however, as Alejandro Hidaglo and Malik Barrington allowed runs to eventually knot the game at five. It stung for a Cedar Rapids offense that had been explosive up to that point. They collected a perfectly normal nine hits, but fully loaded them with extra-base hits, giving them two doubles, two triples, and two homers respectively in the game. With Emmanuel Rodriguez on first, Jorel Ortega blasted one out to left field, greeting the yellow home run line in left with a startling crack. The shot didn’t clear the fence, but it was enough to plate Rodriguez, who ran like lightning to score off the hit. Big leaguer Jesse Winker played 1st base for the Timber Rattlers, singling once in three at bats. Milwaukee’s 1st-round pick in 2023—3rd baseman Brock Wilken—singled twice in four trips to the plate. Mussel Matters Ft. Myers 4, Palm Beach 0 Box Score John Klein: 6 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K HR: None Multi-hit games: Jay Harry (2-for-3, R, BB) Mighty Mussels pitching and defense allowed just one hit on Saturday. John Klein was dominant. The Brooklyn Park native diced up Palm Beach’s lineup, tossing six scoreless innings with eight punchouts and two baserunners allowed. The 21-year-old has been fairly nondescript outside of an incredible debut start for the FCL Twins on June 10th, but starts like this will certainly put him on the prospect map. The Fort Myers offense wasn’t overwhelming, but that did everything they needed to do to support their excellent pitching. Maddux Houghton scored on an error. Luke Keaschall—the man on base because of the mistake—scored on a single. Later efforts pushed Fort Myers’ scoring to four runs. That was enough. The Mighty Mussels swiped three bases on Saturday—one each from Maddux Houghton, Luke Keaschall, and Rubel Cespedes. The Cardinals’ 21st overall pick in 2023—and outfielder named Chase Davis—walked once in three plate appearances. Complex Chronicles Game One: FCL Twins 1, FCL Red Sox 2 (7 Innings) Box Score Spencer Bengard: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K HR: None Multi-hit games: None The FCL Twins lost the first game of their doubleheader against the FCL Red Sox on Saturday. The bats were cool all game; the Twins collected just two hits—singles from Brayan Acuna and Walker Jenkins. They did take three walks, though. It was a bullpen day on the mound with Devin Kirby pitching the bulk of the game’s innings. His relation to Seattle’s George and Nintendo’s pink blob is unclear. His pitching was excellent, though, as he punched out six over just three frames of work. The team committed four errors, three of which came from 3rd baseman Issac Pena. Game Two: FCL Twins 5, FCL Red Sox 0 (7 Innings) Box Score Nolan Santos: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K HR: Jose Rodriguez (6), Jankel Ortiz (2) Multi-hit games: Walker Jenkins (2-for-4, 2B, R, RBI), Brandon Winokur (2-for-4, 2B, R, RBI), Jose Rodriguez (3-for-4, HR, R, 2 RBI) The FCL Twins took game two, though. The bats were much more potent in their second look at FCL Red Sox pitching. It started early, as Brandon Winokur knocked in a pair in the 1st inning, setting the expectations for the game. Later extra-base hits by Jose Rodriguez, Walker Jenkins, and Jankel Ortiz brought the team to five runs. 2023 draftee Nolan Santos started the game for the Twins. The 7th-round selection out of Bethune-Cookman University—the alma mater of a handful of former big leaguers—pitched one scoreless inning, striking out a batter in the process. Kyle Bischoff inhaled the plurality of innings, though, as he whiffed six over four scoreless frames. FCL Twins pitchers struck out 21 batters in the doubleheader. Dominican Dailies DSL Twins 3, DSL Phillies White 5 Box Score De Jesus: 4 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 4 BB, 6 K HR: Junior Del Valle (1) Multi-hit games: None The DSL Twins reached halfway to Satan on Saturday. That is, each number in their “R,” “H,” and “E” column was 3. As you could probably predict, that didn’t go well for them; DSL Twins pitchers actually never allowed an earned run, as, instead, all five runs were unearned. DSL Twins hitters had a tough time at the plate, striking out 11 times while earning just three hits. Junior Del Valle’s homer served as the long extra-base knock. Big-name international signing, Hendry Chivilli, continued his abysmal start to affiliated ball, striking out three times while committing his 12th error of the season. The 17-year-old has plenty of time to turn it around, but his Twins introduction has not gone well so far. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – John Klein Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Ben Ross PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #1 - Brooks Lee (St. Paul) - 1-4, 2B, BB #2 - Walker Jenkins (FCL Twins) - 3-6, 2B, R, RBI, BB #3 - Emmanuel Rodriguez (Cedar Rapids) - 1-4, 3B, R, RBI, BB, K #8 - Austin Martin (St. Paul) - 1-5, 2 K #10 - Tanner Schobel (Wichita) - 1-4, R, 2 K #12 - Luke Keaschall (Ft. Myers) - 2-4, R, K #13 - Brandon Winokur (FCL Twins) - 2-7, 2B, R, RBI, 2 K #14 - Simeon Woods Richardson (St. Paul) - 5 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K #15 - Jordan Balazovic (Minnesota) - 1 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 0 K #17 - Yunior Severino (St. Paul) - 2-4, HR, 2 R, RBI, 2 K #18 - Jose Salas (Cedar Rapids) - 0-4, 2 K #20 - Jose Rodriguez (FCL Twins) - 3-7, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, K SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Indianapolis @ St. Paul (2:07 PM) - RHP Randy Dobnak Springfield @ Wichita (1:05 PM) - RHP Pierson Ohl Wisconsin @ Cedar Rapids (1:00 PM) - RHP Zebby Matthews Fort Myers @ Palm Beach (10:00 AM) - RHP Jose Olivares View full article

The 78 Yankees had Munson, Chambliss, Reggie, Guidry, Catfish, and Gossage. The 23 Tigers… do not have that.

And prepare for some fights. Image courtesy of Dick Raphael-USA TODAY Sports Everybody who's never worked for George (Steinbrenner) liked him. It's the people who work for him that can't stand him. Thirty-four years after his death, the life of Billy Martin remains fascinating. In a sea of baseball men—the kind of tactical red-asses who could only live in baseball circles—Martin stands above everyone. He was tough, fought his players, but ultimately won. Martin won with the Twins, the Tigers, the Rangers, the Yankees, and A's. He never managed a team more than five seasons in a row (technically speaking), but it didn't matter; he won. He was also an *******, the likes of which will go down in legend. Number 1, written in 1980 with the help of author Peter Golenbock, reveals plenty of stories about Martin and his time in baseball. He describes his youth, how his mother raised him not to take crap from anyone, all the way up until he accepted the Oakland managerial position. Along the way, he details his physical and verbal fights with everyone he felt disrespected him. The book is 366 pages long. The juiciest parts for the common fan come when Martin describes his battles with George Steinbrenner and Reggie Jackson. "I never should have agreed to manage the Yankees when I did in 1975," he starts the book with. Unlike his other battles, these were matches of temper and temperament, with the meddling Steinbrenner and the dramatic Jackson distracting Martin from his lone goal: winning. There's not much new here—Steinbrenner criticized every minute detail of the team; Jackson marched to his own unique rhythm—but the conflicts are fascinating, and reading Martin's side helps illuminate why they occurred so often. The part Twins fans will be most interested in starts in chapter 6. Martin's playing career had ended following the 1961 season, but owner Calvin Griffith liked Martin enough to bring him back as a scout. Martin accepted, beginning an eight-year stint in the organization. His scouting career didn't amount to much—he doesn't even spend a page talking about it—as his desire for Griffith to sign a Scottsdale phenom named Jim Palmer was the only story worth mentioning to him. Griffith balked, and Palmer signed with the Orioles—the team that would vex the Twins in years to come. 1965 is when his career took off. It was perfect timing; Martin was promoted to 3rd base coach, and the Twins won the pennant thanks in part to, in Martin's view, more aggressive baserunning. Here we see one of his baseball pillars: the bases. Martin was obsessed with baserunning. During spring training, he got his players "thrown out at home deliberately just so they'd be more aggressive," it appeared to pay off as the team doubled their stolen base total from the previous year from 46 to 92 with only eleven extra outs. That year was the team's zenith, though, and, following three years of missing the playoffs, Griffith selected a new man to manage his ballclub: Billy Martin. The team won 97 games, played the Orioles in the newly-formed ALCS, and Martin was fired immediately following the season. Typically, this would be shocking - but not in the life of Martin. A fight with pitcher Dave Boswell—which Martin defends as him staving off a "bigger guy"—resulted in the pitcher earning a bloody face. It was a he-said, she-said situation only Martin, Boswell, and maybe Bob Allison know the truth about, but the fight stained Martin's reputation and likely helped lead to his firing. If you asked Martin, the man behind his ousting was Howard Fox. Fox was the team's traveling secretary and one of Griffith's right-hand men. Following an entanglement in which Fox threw Martin's hotel key at his face, the two exchanged fists and walked away with a mutual disdain for each other*. One of his overarching character traits is that Martin believes everyone is out to get him; this is one of the running themes of the book. It's never his fault. Someone else started something, or someone is conspiring against him, and not once does Martin ask himself why his higher-ups often don't like him very much. A few times—like in Texas when an ownership change upset the balance of power—Martin's gripes are legitimate and fair. Still, everywhere else, he seems eager to stomp on the political process involved in his power structures, only to find the pushback dumbfounding. You'd think he would self-reflect, but that wasn't Martin's way. His beef continues with personnel decisions. Every player not acquired by his front offices was the difference between life and death; "We would have won the pennant," he said about missing out on Deron Johnson in 1973, who had a good—not great—season with the Oakland A's. "Jim Merritt should have started the third game" of the 1965 World Series, which cost them the championship. There are numerous examples of Martin's tumultuous relationships, and the reader must accept that Martin's world is simple, with villains and heroes, where right and wrong are crystal clear to him. He was a brilliant baseball mind, but his claims speak to supernatural baseball clairvoyance. He knew that Jim Palmer would be something when he scouted him for the Twins, and he knew that Jim Sundberg and Mike Hargrove would become phenomenal players before either hit the majors. There is an endless citation of players Martin knew would be good. Seldom does he mention being wrong. Admittedly a standard characteristic of an autobiography, but Martin's specific recollections appear extra self-serving, considering his exit from the Yankees and the constant need to rehabilitate his public image. Number 1 is a revealing peek behind the curtains into a character-full era of baseball. Reggie Jackson and George Steinbrenner are the primary targets, but Martin ensures that almost everyone he comes across earns a shot. At times, his strategic insights harken back to a nostalgic period where grit could make a good ballplayer, and hitters took pride in their bunting. Still, Martin's inability to accept blame for his actions becomes eye-rolling and dull. There could be a universe where Billy Martin becomes the next Casey Stengel or guides the Twins through their wandering, mediocre '70s seasons. He had the ability. But that would have required compromise. Martin would have needed to play the game and navigate the political waters of ownership and front officeship. That was not Martin's style. Maybe he missed out on glory, but he did things his way, unflinchingly his practice—and that's why we still remember him. *Fox and Martin also battled on a flight earlier in the day. The story is too long to add to this review, but Sam Gazdziak covers it a few paragraphs into his biography of Fox here. View full article

Jax escaping that inning without any extra earned runs was some of the finest relief pitching I've ever seen.

Well, not everything can be perfect. Image courtesy of Matt Blewett-USA TODAY Sports Box Score Pablo López: 6 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K Home Run: Michael A. Taylor (16) Top 3 WPA: Pablo López (.331), Griffin Jax (.267), Michael A. Taylor (.251) Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) It was a great day to kick off a glorious weekend. The bonus off-days allowed the Twins to re-shuffle their starting rotation, moving Dallas Keuchel to Sunday, as Friday’s start went to Pablo López. López had been excellent in his last two starts, holding both Detroit and Philadelphia scoreless over 13 innings of work. Friday was more of the same. But it wasn’t easy. Pittsburgh was in no mood to go down easy. They jumped on López often, placing runners on base in every inning he pitched, but that One Big Hit never came; López slipped out of trouble every time. It was far from efficient, but the most important numbers—six innings; no earned runs—were all manager Rocco Baldelli was looking for. The start extended López’s scoreless innings streak to 19. Orel Hershiser will remain at peace, but the streak has been impressive, and for a starter who may have gotten unlucky earlier in the year, a new ERA of 3.51 is closer to his true talent. The Twins had trouble with Pittsburgh starter Andre Jackson. He wasn’t fully stretched out, but that didn’t appear to matter much to him. The Twins could gain baserunners, but they evidently suffered under a similar hex as their black and gold opponents, as they failed to knock in their brethren, forcing them to trudge through much of the game unable to support their starter. “Much of the game,” isn’t all of the game, however, as Minnesota did strike against Jackson eventually. Christian Vázquez softly served a changeup into center field. Perhaps believing in his cambio’s ability to earn weak contact, Jackson threw it again to Michael A. Taylor. He was wrong. Taylor took a mighty hack at a changeup low, but not low enough, and the ball finally landed 410 feet later as Taylor slowed down his effort to a celebratory jog. The Twins scored again in the 6th, when—following a Matt Wallner double—Donovan Solano cracked a single into center. Baseball has a sense of humor, though. López’s ability to escape danger did not translate to Caleb Thielbar. The lefty was shocked to learn that these Pittsburgh batters meant business, and they quickly plated their first run of the ballgame. Griffin Jax entered. Despite him imploding in catastrophic fashion on Wednesday, turning a potential win into a close loss against a team they really should have beat, Baldelli believed Jax to be the best bet to get out of the jam. It made sense, really. And he was perfect. Ke’Bryan Hayes popped out, Jack Suwinski struck out staring at a sweeper, and Henry Davis at least made it look pretty by swinging for his strikeout. Somehow, no runners scored. Such is the life of a reliever. The Twins scored a critical insurance run when Jorge Polanco tricked the Pirates into staring at his pop fly, bringing home the fourth run of the game. Kyle Farmer did basically the same thing the following at-bat, but he one-upped his teammate by taking second. The trade-off for such fortune was cruel: Wallner took a fastball off his hands and couldn’t even attempt to talk his way into staying into the game. The team later announced he suffered a right hand contusion. Not much happened after that. Well, Pirates pitcher Yohan Ramirez plunked a few batters, causing Baldelli to consternate and scour, but nothing came of it. Jhoan Duran entered to get back on the horse, and he struck out the side. That's quite the horse to get back on. Notes: Carlos Correa's hitting streak ended at nine. He walked twice and struck out twice. Michael A. Taylor's 16 homers on the year are three off his career-high of 19 set in 2017. Pablo López's seven strikeouts pushed his season total to 187, tying him with Toronto's Kevin Gausman for the second-highest total in MLB. Spencer Strider leads everyone with 227 strikeouts. Post-Game Interview: What’s Next? The Twins and Pirates will play the second game of their series on Saturday. Sonny Gray will start for Minnesota. First pitch is at 6:10 PM. Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet View full article

John Shipley has far more information than I could find here: https://www.twincities.com/2023/08/11/john-shipley-darryl-strawberrys-st-paul-stay-was-short-but-it-definitely-left-a-mark/

Someone mentioned doing it maybe a year ago and I thought it was a wonderful idea. Thank whoever had that idea!

Coming back to win two against one of the hottest teams in baseball after getting sufficiently blasted in game one—that’s an impressive feat!