AJ Condon

Nelson Cruz and the Minnesota Twins continued their hitting hot-streak and jumped on Lucas Giolito and the White Sox. Jose Berrios finally got some run support and picked up his first win since June 6. Poppen put up two shutout innings as the Twins' bullpen gets another break.Box Score Berrios: 7 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, 75.5% strikes (80 of 106 pitches) Bullpen (Poppen): 2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K Home Runs: Cruz 3 (25), Kepler (26), Sano (17) Multi-Hit Games: Cruz (3-5, 3 HR), Sano (2-4, HR), Buxton (2-4, 2 2B) Top 3 WPA: Berrios .111, Kepler .140, Cruz .377 Bottom 3 WPA: Buxton -.048, Garver -.040, Polanco -.034 Offense Continues to Thrive Nelson Cruz has now homered in the last four games, and has seven home runs in the last six games. He came into tonight’s game with 382 home runs in his career, but did something for the first time in his career tonight. It came against the ace of the Sox as he faced him three times and hit three home runs. Giolito came into this game giving up only 10 home runs, but surrendered five to the league’s best home run hitting team. His first home run was a solo shot and went 473 feet that set a record for the longest home run in Guaranteed Rate Stadium in the Statcast era. His second and third home runs traveled 433 and 430 feet, respectively, and came with a runner on. His home run distance added up to 1,336 total feet and all three balls went to three different spots on the field. Max Kepler and Miguel Sano each got in on the home run fun by hitting two-run home runs of their own. Byron Buxton brought his energy back to the lineup by extending a single into a double and hitting a stand-up double in the eighth. Berrios’ Quality Start After seeing some of the worst pitching of the season throughout the last series, Jose Berrios came in and showed why he is the ace of this ball club. Though this long start was a night late, it still came at a good time as most of the bullpen was able to have another night off. Though Berrios has been pitching outstanding this year, he hasn’t picked up a win since June 6 solely because of the lack of run support in those games. He had an ERA of 2.65 through seven starts in 44 2/3 innings. Tonight was no different from Berrios, but completely different from the offense. Berrios was locked in tonight as he gave up only two earned runs, one unearned, through seven innings. He managed to strikeout eight batters, getting five on his four-seam fastball, two with his changeup, and only one on his dirty slider. He also was able to get 17 swinging strikes. Poppen Continues AAA Success During a series that no Twins’ pitcher cares to remember, there were three standouts, and all of them were in AAA before the series started. With the bullpen getting worked so much recently, another move happened before today’s game that brought up Sean Poppen for the second time this year. After the three call-ups from last series gave up just two runs in 9 2/3 innings, Poppen continued their recent success tonight. In his first inning of work, Jose Abreu helped him out by not retouching second base on his way back to first after a fly ball and Rosario tossed it to Schoop to double him up. He then struck out James McCann to end the eighth. He worked through an easy 1-2-3 ninth inning to finish the game and his second appearance of the year. He got a weak ground ball and struck out the final two batters with his slider. Poppen’s stuff looked really good, but struggled with his control a little. His fastball has good movement on it and sits around 94-95 MPH and he really likes to use his sinker and sliders. They both have great movement and some White Sox hitters swung at some pitches in the other box. Postgame With Baldelli Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet Click here for a review of the number of pitches thrown by each member of the bullpen over the past five days. Click here to view the article

The Twins and Yankees picked right back up where they left off last night, as the bats were hot, again, in the rubber match tonight. The Yankees jumped on Odorizzi early and were playing from behind almost the whole game. The Yankees couldn’t figure out Devin Smeltzer, but the Twins’ offense couldn’t complete the comeback, as the Indians continue to gain ground on the Twins as their lead is only two games now.Box Score Odorizzi: 4 IP, 10 H, 9 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 61.7% strikes (63 of 102 pitches) Bulllpen (Smeltzer): 5 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K Home Runs: Rosario (22), Cruz (22), Gonzalez (12) Multi-Hit Games: Cruz (2-for-4, HR), Rosario (2-for-4, HR), Arraez (2-for-3, BB), Schoop (2-for-3) Top 3 WPA: Cruz .100, Smeltzer .105, Rosario .172 Bottom 3 WPA: Garver -.081, Polanco -.136, Odorizzi -.576 Yankees Rake Odorizzi The Twins could’ve really used a seven inning performance from their All-Star pitcher tonight in hopes of giving their bullpen a night off before their series against Chicago. The Yankees offense had a different idea as they pounced on Odorizzi for seven extra base hits and a season-high, nine runs in just four innings. In his last seven starts, Odorizzi has given up at least three runs in six of those. Didi Gregorious and Aaron Hicks continued to destroy the Twins’ this series and they both made their presence felt early. After Gregorious demolished the Twins for five hits and seven RBIs last night, he ripped an RBI double and 2-RBI triple in the first half of the game. Hicks, who put the Yankees ahead in the ninth, and ended the game in the 10th, picked up two more RBIs in the first half off a home run and single. Though Odorizzi was able to strike out seven through four innings, his control was the biggest issue tonight. He wasn’t hitting his spots on any of his pitches, as he was only able to get a first pitch strike on 50% of the 24 batters he faced. Smeltzer Deals There have really only been three good pitchers for the Minnesota Twins this series, and coincidentally, they were all on the AAA roster before the series started. Lewis Thorpe gave the Twins a solid 2.2 innings on Monday, Cody Stashak gave them two shutout innings last night, and tonight Devin Smeltzer gave the Twins’ bullpen a much needed rest throwing five innings. He finished the game with five very solid innings and was the only pitcher out of the bullpen. After Odorizzi was only able to go four innings, Smeltzer came in and gave four shutout innings before surrendering a home run in the ninth. He gave up only three hits in those first four innings, and even struck out the side in the seventh. Smeltzer was called up today because the Twins were in dire need of some arms. He out-performed what was expected of him tonight, and really gave the Twins a good chance at coming back. He had command with all of his pitches and was able to pick up a first pitch strike on 16 out of the 19 batters he faced! Twins Offense Comes Up Short This whole series, both teams have needed their offense to match what the opponents did before them. Tonight was no different as the Bomba Squad tried to match the Bronx Bombers. It was an action-filled first half of the game, but the bullpens came in and shut down these hot offenses. The Twins got the action going when Rosario hit a 2-run homer in the bottom of the first, but saw their only lead vanish quickly. After Odorizzi gave up nine runs, that was matched by only one from the Twins, Marwin Gonzalez finally got them back on track with another 2-run homer. A Garver sac-fly and a solo shot later, the Twins saw their deficit down to only two. After the Twins scored their last run on a Nelson Cruz home run, the Yankee bullpen got the next 15 outs while facing only 18 batters. They had some threats throughout those 15 outs, but hit into two double plays, and stranded two guys on in the seventh. Postgame With Baldelli Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet Click here for a review of the number of pitches thrown by each member of the bullpen over the past five days. Click here to view the article

Eddie Rosario redeems himself after yesterday’s error with a go-ahead pinch-hit three-run homer in the seventh and Mitch Carver and C.J. Cron add big insurance runs. Gibson helps Twins pick up their second win against Mike Fiers and Taylor Rogers saves the comeback. The Twins continue to be sloppy and it needs to be fixed.Box Score Gibson: 7 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, 68.9% strikes (73 of 106 pitches) Bullpen: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K Home Runs: Rosario (21), Garver (16), Cron (18) Multi-Hit Games: None WPA of +0.1: Rogers .160, Sano .210, Rosario .465 WPA of -0.1: Garver -.108 Rosario Redeems and Garver, Cron Solidify A night after Eddie Rosario dropped what would have been an inning-ending fly ball to keep the game within reach, he blasts the first pitch he sees tonight to give the Twins a 4-3 lead. Rosario was most likely not in the lineup tonight as punishment for yesterday’s mishap, but made his presence felt tonight. That was just the second pinch-hit home run for the Twins this season, and of course Rosario was the culprit of the first one as well. In 12 at-bats as a pinch-hitter, Rosario has three hits for three home runs. Mitch Garver and C.J. gave the final punches in tonight’s game by each hitting a solo shot in the eighth for huge insurance runs to give them a three-run lead going into the ninth. The Athletic’s bullpen gave up three hits in tonight’s game, but they were the three biggest hits for the Twins. Pitcher’s Rematch Just over two weeks ago, Kyle Gibson and Mike Fiers faced up against each other, but unlike tonight, neither pitcher picked up a decision in that 12-inning contest. Tonight Gibson got rewarded for his solid outing, and the Twins picked up just their second win against Fiers in 13 games against him. Gibson had another great outing against the Athletics, but this time was actually able to pick up the win. He pitched his deepest into a game and picked up his most strikeouts since June 25th. It was very impressive to see Gibson work around a few errors, not give up any walks, and pick up the win. He struck out three batters with his two-seam, and two batters with each of his changeup and slider. Rogers' Save Taylor Rogers started warming up immediately following Rosario’s go-ahead home run for a six-out save. Rogers has been the Twins’ best reliever, and continued his great season tonight. He gave up two singles in the eighth, but that was nothing to worry about as he retired the next five batters to complete the save and end the Twins’ longest losing streak of the season. Sloppy Play The Twins sloppy play has been pretty apparent since the All-Star break, and it continued tonight. Coming into tonight’s game they had six errors in five games and added two more in the first two innings. A couple of base-running errors also ended Twins’ threat in two different innings. The base-running errors were the ones that hurt the most tonight. The first one came with a man on third base and one out. Max Kepler ripped a line drive to first base, which Olson made a nice grab on, and doubled up Cave who was halfway to home plate. The next one came after a leadoff walk and single, when Arraez thought Cave had been hit by a pitch and was making his way to third only to realize the ball was still in play and proceeded to get thrown out on his way back to second. Though the errors didn’t lead to anything tonight, it still is something that you want to clean up because they usually come back to hurt. Arraez and Sano were responsible for the fielding errors tonight with Arraez picking up a two-base error in the first after misfiring a throw to first, and Sano misfielding a hard hit ball that landed 10 feet in front of him. Postgame With Baldelli Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet Click here for a review of the number of pitches thrown by each member of the bullpen over the past five days. Click here to view the article

The Minnesota Twins’ offense got off to a great start in their final series before the All-Star break by exploding for 13 extra base hits and 15 runs. Martin Perez shined in his first six innings, but struggled finishing out his start, and Polanco and Schoop made some highlight plays in the field amidst an offensive explosion.Box Score Starter: 6 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 62.8% strikes (59 of 94 pitches) Bullpen: 3 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 0 K Home Runs: Arraez (2), Polanco (12), Schoop (14), Garver (13) Multi-Hit Games: Kepler (2-4, BB), Polanco (2-5, HR), Garver (2-4, 2B, HR, BB), Gonzalez (3-4, 2 2B, HR), C.J. Cron (2-5, 2 2B), Arraez (2-5, HR), Schoop (3-5, 2B, HR), Buxton (2-5, 2 2B) Top 3 WPA: Perez .125, Arraez .091, Buxton .081 Twins’ Offense Erupts After a quick first inning by Adrian Sampson that included two strikeouts, the Twins batted around in the second with eight hits, six of them being extra-base hits to score six runs. Five of those runs were scored with two outs in the inning. In the second inning there clearly wasn’t enough damage to Sampson, as the Rangers left him out there for the third and fourth. After getting five straight outs, Sampson gave up three straight hits, and another run to end his night after giving up seven runs on 11 hits over 3 1/3 innings. Schoop extended the Twins lead to nine on a two-run shot in the fifth to really put this game out of reach. After a little comeback by the Rangers in the seventh, the offense felt the game getting a little too close for comfort and put up a three spot in response. Garver hit a solo shot for the team’s 166th home run of the season, extending their MLB-record of most home runs hit before the All-Star Break. Schoop's third extra-base hit of the night grabbed two more RBIs to get the lead back to seven. The Twins’ offense combined for a season-high 20 hits, 15 runs, club-tying 13 extra base hits, four home runs, and every batter had at least one hit! Perez Battles Old Team Martin Perez got his first start tonight against his old team after spending his first seven seasons with the Rangers. This was definitely a game Perez wanted to start, seeing some familiar faces and trying to gain bragging rights against some of his old buddies. Perez had all the fun in his first six innings but ran into trouble before exiting the game in the seventh. Perez gave up just four hits in those first six innings with the first three of them being weak singles with exit velocities of 69.8, 84.1, and 76.7, respectively. The seventh inning is where Perez ran into trouble, and it started with a walk. A leadoff walk was exactly what got things started in his last start when he gave up two runs in the second inning to the Tampa Bay Rays. Tonight, the leadoff walk was a little more detrimental, though the offense gave Perez room to work. Following the walk, Perez gave up three straight hits for two runs which ended his night. He was responsible for two more runs as Harper wasn’t able to get out of a second and third no-out jam. Middle Infielders Shine When talking about this team’s highlight-reel defense, it usually has to do with Buxton and making some ridiculous catch look easy. Tonight, it was the middle infielders who rose above the rest. The first highlight-reel play was courtesy of Polanco, Schoop, and Cron’s first double play of the night. Choo grounded a ball towards the middle but Polanco grabbed it out of the air with his glove, didn’t even bother using his other hand, flipped it to Schoop who gunned it to Cron to end the inning. Schoop tried to top Polanco’s acrobatic play the next inning when he made a running backhand stop and delivered a bullet to Cron for the third out. Just when the Rangers thought they had a threat, Polanco and Schoop combined with Cron again for an inning-ending double play. Postgame With Baldelli Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet Click here for a review of the number of pitches thrown by each member of the bullpen over the past five days. Click here to view the article

The Minnesota Twins escape, again, from losing three games in a row this season. This was the Twins’ eighth time on the brink of a three-game losing streak, but they continue to show success. A late-inning push and a solid performance from the bullpen was the formula for tonight’s win.Box Score Starter: 6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 5 K, 55.9% strikes (57 of 102 pitches) Bullpen: 6 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 8 K Home Runs: Jorge Polanco (11) Multi-Hit Games: Garver (2-6), Arraez (3-5) WPA of +0.1: Harper .104, Duffey .135, Polanco .137, Schoop .181, Rogers .195, Garver .265, Parker .269, Arraez .295 WPA of -0.1: Gibson -.110, Buxton -.117, Cron -.175,Sano -.311, Adrianza -.391 Twins’ Late Comeback After not getting a baserunner until there were two outs in the fifth inning, the Twins were able to put together a little comeback to tie the game late and ultimately win the game. The comeback started by getting three singles off Fiers in the sixth to grab their first run of the game. The two outs that followed were balls that almost drove in another run, but a nice play by Laureano and a blooper by Cron ended the threat. The Twins got into the Athletic’s bullpen in the seventh, and were able to score a run right away thanks to an error by Barretto on the throw to first base. Polanco was able to tie the game on a two-out solo shot in the eighth. The Twins were able to take advantage of a pair of one-out walks in the twelfth and took the lead with a go-ahead single by Mitch Garver on a full-count. He delivered a single into left field, and the speedy Byron Buxton was able to hustle around third and score. They failed to extend their lead with the bases loaded and one out on a nice place by Chapman at third to get a double play to end the inning. Lights Out Bullpen The bullpen came into the game with a 3-2 deficit and made it possible for the Twins to fight back. They have been very solid in the games of late, and continued their success tonight. They threw a combined six shutout innings while only allowing four hits. Blake Parker dug himself into the biggest hole for the bullpen in the tenth with two lead-off walks, but thanks to Sano’s defense, no runs were scored. He worked around those walks and had a relatively easy 11th inning. Taylor Rogers made this game interesting in the 12th, though it wasn’t completely on him. The inning started on an error by Schoop and was very close to becoming a problem. But, Profar tried to extend his single into a double on the throw to third, and the Twins were able to get him out after a challenge and were left with a runner on third with two outs. Rogers was able to close the game out with a strikeout and he picked up his 11th save of the year. Gibson’s Mistake Gibson had a relatively good start tonight, but his one mistake will be the talking point of his start. This mistake came in the second inning after an error by Cron and a walk to lead off the inning. What followed was an at-bat that almost decided the game, and was the first hit by the Athletics, a three-run home run by Laureano. His struggles came with not being able to find the strike zone early in the count. Out of the 26 batters he faced, he got a first-pitch strike on only 13 of the batters. He had to work behind in the count and was chasing batters throughout the night, which led to the four walks he gave up. After the second inning, Gibson settled in for the most part. He didn’t have any 1-2-3 innings after the first, but was able to keep the score the same as he left it after the second. Even after having a rough couple of innings, Gibson was able to finish six innings. Gibson also had two double plays turned behind him. Gibson was able to pick up the no-decision with some mid-late inning runs that were capped by a Jorge Polanco solo shot in eighth. Fiers Brings Trouble Mike Fiers came into tonight’s game allowing no more than two runs in five of his last six starts. Tonight, he had a perfect game going into the fifth, and didn’t give up a baserunner until Sano hit a double with two outs in the fifth that ultimately led to nothing. He managed to throw 68 percent of his pitches as strikes as well as getting ahead of 14 out of the 23 batters he faced with a first-pitch strike. The Twins were able to scare Fiers out of the game after they got three hits in the sixth, which led to their first run, and a single to lead off the seventh. He finished with only five hits and one earned run while striking out four and giving no free bases. He set the Athletics for a chance to win the series, but the Twins’ offense had different plans. Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet Click here for a review of the number of pitches thrown by each member of the bullpen over the past fiv Click here to view the article

For the second time in nine days, the Twins were playing into the 17th inning. The bullpen kept giving the offense opportunities to take this game, Martin Perez had a stellar comeback after a rough second inning, and the Twins offense was lifeless after the first.Box Score Perez: 7 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 65.7% strikes (67 of 102 pitches) Bullpen: 11 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 5 BB, 11 K Home Runs: None Multi-Hit Games: Polanco (2-for-6, 2B, BB), Arraez (3-for-7) WPA of +0.1: Duffey .111, Rogers .144, Parker .144, Littell .144, May .144, Gibson .144, Perez .261, Morin .288, Magill .288 WPA of -0.1: Cave -.139, Kepler -.276, Sano -.288, Garver -.306, Cron -.308, Schoop -.364, Harper -.455 Bullpen Hangs Tough The bullpen had a lot of work to do in today’s game, and they were up for the test. After Martin Perez had sent down 16 straight going into the eighth inning, it was time for the bullpen to take over. Tyler Duffey and Taylor Rogers were given the following two innings and made it 22 straight sent down going into the 10th. Blake Parker was given the tenth inning, and broke the streak of 22 straight batters sent down. He found himself in a pickle with bases loaded and no outs, and it was Parker’s time to settle in. He got an infield fly, strikeout, and a game-saving stop by Sano for the final out to keep the game tied. Zack Littell worked himself into a jam as well with two two-out walks, but got a flyout to end the threat in the 11th. Mike Morin, Trevor May, and Matt Magill gave five more shutout innings that included only one walk while striking out five. And then things got even weirder as Kyle Gibson came into the game in the 17th inning to pitch. He was only asked to give one inning as Ryne Harper came in for the 18th. Harper had pitched the previous two games which is probably why they waited so long to put him in. Harper found himself in a similar position as Parker was in, in the 10th, as he found himself with the bases loaded and no outs. It didn’t end the same way as Harper gave up three hits and three runs in the 18th. Offense Goes Quiet The Twins’ offense got going right away in today’s game as they were able to get two runs on three hits in the first inning. They were able to jump out in front of the Rays in all three games this series. However, after the first inning, they went completely quiet. They combined for only 11 base runners off six hits and five walks through the next 17 innings, went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position, and struck out 21 times. They also haven’t hit a home run in 28 straight innings going back to Tuesday’s game when Garver hit a home run in the eighth. The bullpen set the offense up inning after inning to finish this game, and inning after inning, the offense put up a goose egg. They hit into three double plays today, two of them coming in extra innings and ending a threat. Perez Settles Martin Perez came into this game on a very bad slump. Over his last six starts, he is only 0-2, but has an ERA of 6.83 and his ERA has risen from a season-best 2.83, to 4.15 after today’s start. The biggest issue it seemed with Perez was giving up walks. Over those six starts, 28 runs have been scored, 22 earned, on 35 hits and 15 walks! Today, his first, and only, walk came in the second inning after he was ahead in the count 0-2. That walk came back to hurt Perez after two two-out hits tied the game at two. After that second inning, it was looking like Perez was again going to have a rough outing, and maybe time for him to take a break. That inning was enough for Perez as he settled in and sent down 16 straight Rays’ batters to complete seven innings and finish his day. Perez looked very locked in today and was able to see that his fastball wasn’t working and incorporated his cutter and change-up a lot more to get the job done. All-Star Game Because of the rain delay and 18 inning game, Jorge Polanco figured out mid-game that he would be the starting shortstop for AL in this year's All-Star Game. Bullpen Usage Click here for a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days. Click here to view the article

For the first time this season the Twins win on a walk-off hit from (who else?) Max Kepler. It was the longest game of the season for both teams tonight and both bullpens were lights out, but one had to blow it. Kepler also hit a game-tying single in the eighth inning and a game-tying homer in the 13th.Box Score Pineda: 6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 73.8% strikes (59 of 80 pitches) Bullpen: 11 IP, 12 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 12 K Home Runs: Max Kepler (18) Multi-Hit Games: Cron (2-5), Kepler (3-5 HR), Rosario (4-8, 3 2B), Schoop (2-7) WPA of +0.1: Kepler .847, Littell .288, Magill .288, Duffey .288, Rosario .263, Pineda .235, Rogers .144, Parker .144 WPA of -0.1: Harper -.129, Schoop -.161, Cave -.165, Cron -.228, Garver -.240, Morin -.289, Polanco -.294, Sano -.433 Download attachment: Win619.png (chart via FanGraphs) Clutch Kepler After not being in the starting lineup, Kepler pitch-hit for Gonzalez in the sixth inning. He drew a walk in his first plate appearance, then came up clutch in the eighth with a two-out single to tie the game at 2-2. In the 13th inning, with the game on the line, Kepler led off the inning with a solo shot, again to tie the game. Who better to get the first walk-off hit for the Twins than the guy who tied the game twice earlier. With one out in the 17th inning, and bases loaded, Kepler delivered for the Twins to keep the streak going without losing three games in a row. Bullpens Dominate Both bullpens did an excellent job following the starters’ strong starts. David Price gave the Sox five innings and Michael Pineda gave the Twins six innings, and each allowed just one run. The bullpens came into work after that were very good through 12 innings. Ultimately, one of them was going to blow this game though. The Twins’ bullpen was the first one to surrender a run, and it came off a leadoff home run in the seventh. Trevor May, Taylor Rogers, Tyler Duffey, and Blake Parker were able to keep the game going into the 12th with six shutout innings giving up only four hits with seven strikeouts. The Sox bullpen had a little more work to do, but had the same results. They gave up the tying run in the eighth inning with a pair of walks and a two-out hit. They combined for seven innings giving up only five hits and striking out 11, but gave up four walks. Both bullpens surrendered a run in the 13th inning which kept the game going. Both runs came from a lead-off home run. For the Sox it was Mookie Betts, and for the Twins, it was Kepler. After the 14th inning, it was back to the stalemate. In the bottom of the 15th, Velazquez gave up a lead-off double, but C.J. Cron hit a hard line drive straight to first that ended in a double play when Eddie Rosario was caught drifting too far from second base. In the top of the 17th, Littell got out of a big jam with zero outs and a runner on third. Familiar Foe Pineda has faced the Red Sox 12 other times in his career and had a great outing tonight. In 12 games against the Sox, he is 5-5 and has a career 4.23 ERA and 1.2 WHIP in 66 innings. Pineda was with the Yankees for 11 of those starts and with Seattle for the other. Coming off probably his best start of the season, Pineda followed up Berrios’ gem last night with a solid outing of his own, and arguably his best outing of the season. He faced 22 batters and got 15 first-pitch strikes. He faced the minimum number of batters in the first three innings thanks to a double play in the first. He had two double plays turned behind him tonight. Unfortunately, the offenses failed to give these starters much aid and neither was able to pick up the win. Here’s a great article on how Pineda has been a huge upgrade as the Twins’ fifth starter. Postgame With Baldelli Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Pen619.png Click here to view the article

A pitchers duel in tonight’s game kept the two best power hitting teams in the league quiet ... until the bullpens came in. Byron Buxton tied it to cap a late push and send the game into extra innings, but errors were too much for the Twins to overcome.Box Score Berrios: 6.2 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 66.4% strikes (71 of 107 pitches) Bullpen: 3.1 IP, 6 H, 8 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 4 K Home Runs: Gonzalez (8), Kepler (16), Buxton (9) Multi-Hit Games: Garver (2-for-4), Gonzalez (2-for-4, HR), Sano (2-for-4, 2B) WPA of +0.1: Buxton .351, Gonzalez .296, Berrios .208 WPA of -0.1: Polanco -.104, Rosario -.132, Kepler -.138, Cron -.152, Parker -.239, May -.241, Duffey -.455 Download attachment: Win612.png (chart via FanGraphs) Errors Open the Game The Minnesota Twins were charged with five errors in tonight’s game, and all of them came in the final three innings. Four out of the five errors actually resulted in runs being scored. C.J. Cron was responsible for the first error in the eighth inning when he misjudged a ground ball that slipped by him into right field. One run was scored on that play, but it was followed by a three-run home run to put the Mariners up by five. The Twins’ late rally was overlooked after three more errors by the Twins’ defense in the 10th inning. The first one hurt the most as the Twins played the situation perfectly with runners on second and third and one out. Tyler Duffey was able to get Mallex Smith to ground right to Cron at first, but Mitch Garver tried to apply the tag at home before he had caught the ball allowing the go-ahead run to score. The next one was probably a worse play by Sano, as he couldn’t field a ground ball to his left and came up blindly firing over to first and put the ball into the stands. Two more runs came around and just like that, the Twins were down three runs. Late Inning Push One of the best offenses in the league was held quiet through six innings. Not to worry Twins’ fans, the “Run Bunch” always comes alive at some point of the game, sometimes you just have to wait. It all started in the seventh inning when Marwin Gonzalez went deep to tie the game and save Jose Berrios from potentially picking up a loss. That was followed by another home run and a couple of hits against former Twins pitcher Tommy Milone in the eighth inning to keep it close. Miguel Sano got the ninth started with a single and Byron Buxton demolished a ball to tie the game and send it to extra innings. Pitcher Duel Berrios had a shaky start to tonight’s game as a Mariner runner reached third base in the first four innings. Berrios was able to work out of the jam in each of those innings to keep the runner from crossing the plate. He was able to strand six runners, with five of them being in scoring position. The Mariners were able to get only one run on Berrios with a solo shot by Vogelbach in the sixth on a hanging changeup. Berrios closed out tonight’s game barely over an ERA of three, sitting at 3.01, but unfortunately, picked up a no-decision with the Twins’ lineup nowhere to be seen in the first six innings. Berrios was also one pitch away from an immaculate inning in the fifth. Tommy Milone, former Twins pitcher from 2014-16, was able to keep the Twins’ offense quiet through six innings. He struggled late in his outing and ended up giving up three runs, and a start to the Twins’ push. His success came from getting ahead early and his changeup that Twins’ batters just couldn’t figure out. He struck out six batters using his changeup for the final strike in all of them. He also faced 22 batters and got 17 first pitch strikes. Postgame With Baldelli Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen612.png Next Game Thu vs. SEA, 12:10 pm CT (Pineda-Kikuchi) Last Game MIN 6, SEA 5: Comeback Victory Capped By Trevor May Save More from Twins Daily Do the Twins Have the Best Bottom of the Order Ever? Baseball and the Slow Death of Chewing Tobacco Why Miguel Sano's Strikeouts Are Not a Problem Click here to view the article

The Twins were able to use a late inning push to improve to 44-21 and retake their lead as baseball's best. The Twins score three runs in the bottom of the eighth to take a one-run lead. Taylor Rogers was unavailable due to a stiff back, so it was Trevor May who was given the ninth tonight. He passed the test.Box Score Perez: 5.0 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 7 K, 62.1% strikes (59 of 95 pitches) Bullpen: 4.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K Home Runs: Schoop (12), Castro (8) Multi-Hit Games: Polanco (3-for-3, 2 2B) WPA of +0.1: Polanco .398, Gonzalez .190, Schoop .111 WPA of -0.1: Sano -.172, Perez -.205 Download attachment: Win611.png (chart via FanGraphs) Twins Pounce on Bullpen See Twins fans, our bullpen isn’t the only one to blow leads late in the game. In fact, entering tonight, the Twins are tied for fifth fewest blown saves with only four. The Mariners, on the other hand, picked up their 12th blown save, which is tied for third-most in the league. Though the Twins don’t have that many blown saves, that doesn’t mean our bullpen isn’t bad. That was shown tonight when Trevor May almost gave Twins’ Twitter another reason to talk about how not getting Craig Kimbrel was a mistake. The ninth inning opened with a pair of singles, but May managed to protect the one-run lead. Rogers was unavailable due to a sore back. The Twins were able to pick up their first lead of the game in the eighth inning with the first three batters getting on, which included back-to-back doubles to bring them within one, followed by a walk. Austin Adams came in, no not the Twins’ reliever, but the reliever for the Mariners, and tied the game up on a wild pitch which scored Jorge Polanco. Two batters later Marwin Gonzalez gave the Twins the lead with his first hit of the game. Leake Deals Prior to that late comeback, it was a bit of a frustrating evening for the Twins. Mike Leake was able to hold them to only three runs through seven innings. He got a lot of help from the Twins being very aggressive in the later innings, but nonetheless, had a very solid outing. He had 16 at-bats where he threw four or fewer pitches, including 10 at-bats that were two pitches or fewer. Leake gave up back-to-back home runs in the fourth, but settled in after that. Other than his two home runs, in his seven innings Leake gave up only four hits, zero runs, and struck out six. Perez Continues to Struggle This start by Martin Perez marks his third straight giving up more than two runs. Perez had a 7-2 record with a 3.72 ERA coming into this game, but it’s been rising for the past three outings and tonight didn’t help. Over the last three games, he had posted a 7.44 ERA and 2.15 WHIP. Perez’s struggles started right away with his first-pitch strikes. In the first three innings he was only able to get five first pitch strikes out of 13 batters. He was able to keep his struggles irrelevant in the first 2 2/3 innings, but with a two-out rally in the third, things went downhill. Perez was limited to just five innings in tonight’s game which makes it four straight starts where he has failed to go more than five innings. He was only able to throw a first pitch strike to 11 out of 24 batters he faced tonight. His ERA has risen a full run in his last four starts to bring it to 3.97, but thanks to a late inning push, he picked up a no-decision. Record-Breaking Powerhouse Every few games it feels like the Twins are breaking a new record whether it’s their own franchise record, or a MLB record. After their first home run of the game bringing them to 126 on the season, they had already set a new club record and MLB record. They passed their previous record of home runs before the All-Star game from 1964, with 24 games until the break, and set the MLB record for most home runs in their first 65 games of the season. They finished the night with 127 home runs. Postgame With Baldelli Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Pen611.png Next Game Wed vs. SEA, 7:10 pm CT (Berrios-Milone) Last Game MIN 12, DET 2: No Motown Blues for the Minnesota Twins More from Twins Daily Why Miguel Sano's Strikeouts Are Not a Problem 10 Relievers Minnesota Could Target Giving Opponents Ls in Fort Myers Click here to view the article

Rookie Luis Arraez broke the ice Tuesday night against the Angels. The Twins were being no-hit through four innings, but Arraez hit a leadoff single in the fifth. The Twins broke through for three runs in the sixth then four more in the seventh. Arraez also hit his first major league home run and made an excellent defensive play to end this game.Box Score Pineda: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 63.0% strikes (51 of 81 pitches) Home Runs: Gonzalez (5), Arraez (1) Multi-Hit Games: Kepler (2-for-4, 2B, BB), Polanco (2-for-4, BB), Gonzalez (2-for-5, 2B, HR), Rosario (2-for-5), Arraez (2-for-4, HR) WPA of +0.1: Gonzalez .305, Polanco .285 WPA of -0.1: Schoop -.100 Download attachment: Win521.png (chart via FanGraphs) The matchup for tonight’s game was Michael Pineda against Trevor Cahill as the Twins looked for their second straight win and to continue their hot road trip. Pineda Settles Michael Pineda had a rough start to the game, giving up a solo shot to Mike Trout in the first and a two out rally in the second as the Angels got off to a 3-0 lead. After a shaky start that included three hits, one walk and a wild pitch, he was able to send down 13 out of 14 batters to close out his night. It was very impressive to see Pineda be able to pitch six innings tonight after his first two innings. He recovered well and finished with 6 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 Ks and was able to pick up a win thanks to some late game hitting. He improved to 4-3 but his ERA is still pretty high, sitting at 5.43. He’s been looking better of late and keep in mind, he’s coming off Tommy John surgery. Offense Comes Alive Late After being no-hit for the first four innings of the game, Arraez continued his hit-streak to start his career. He hit his first major league home run in the eighth inning and is now 7-for-12 in the major leagues. Through five innings, the Twins had only three baserunners, two walks and one hit, but none of them had made it past first base.Then, the Twins exploded in the second half of the game to win their second straight and improve to 5-1 on this road trip. In the sixth inning they had three straight extra base hits on three straight pitches. It started with a double from Kepler that was very close to being a home run which ended Cahill’s night, exactly what the Twins needed. Polanco followed with a double of his own down the first base line to score the first run for the Twins. Marwin Gonzalez was able to tie the game on a home run to right field to extend his hit streak to 11 games and tying the game at 3-3. The hitting continued into the seventh to put the Twins up for the first time tonight. A hit-by-pitch and a pair of singles, including another RBI for Polanco on a two-out single. Gonzalez extended the lead with a ground rule double for his third RBI of the night. Eddie Rosario kept it going with a weird play between the shift which scored two more runs in the seventh. Bullpen’s Work Matt Magill came in for the seventh and made quick work, striking out his first two batters, and after allowing a single, got La Stella to ground out to end the inning. Trevor May got the call for the eighth and after giving up a lead off walk, he got a fielder’s choice and a strikeout before handing the ball to Baldelli. Rogers came in, after pitching for the first time in six days last night, and retired his only batter on the first pitch to end the eighth. Mike Morin was given the ninth inning and gave up a couple of singles. There was no need to worry with the defense he had behind him. Buxton made one catch crashing into the wall, and another sprinting in for the first two outs, and Arraez made a diving stop at third to finish off the game The Twins won 8-3 and secured a series win in Anaheim. They improve to 32-16 with a 6.5 game lead in the American League Central. Postgame With Arraez Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Pen521.png Next Game Wed at LAA, 8:07 pm CT (Perez-Harvey) Last Game MIN 3, LAA 1: Pitching Great, Sano Homers Late More from Twins Daily The Artist Currently Known as Taylor Rogers Twins' Offense Having a Barrel of Fun Twins Minor League Report (5/21): Gonsalves Returns Click here to view the article

Jake Odorizzi had a scoreless outing for the fourth time in his last five starts, Miguel Sano hit a go-ahead home run in the top of the eighth inning and the Twins won the first game of their series against the Angles. Come check out what else happened Monday evening.Box Score Odorizzi: 5.0 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 63.3% strikes (57 of 90 pitches) Home Runs: Sano (2) Multi-Hit Games: Arraez (3-for-4), Kepler (2-for-4, BB) WPA of +0.1: Odorizzi .297, Sano .295 WPA of -0.1: None Download attachment: Win520.png (chart via FanGraphs) It was a pitchers duel tonight in Anaheim as the Minnesota Twins faced off against the Los Angeles Angels for the second time in a week. However, only one team sent out a starting pitch in the first inning. The Angels did something we saw from them in game two of last series, and something that was started by the Tampa Bay Rays last season. It’s the same thing as what a closer does, but they actually open up the game with it. Instead of having a conventional starter, you put in a pitcher hoping for 1-2 innings to start the game and Taylor Cole was put into that role today. Cole pitched one inning before Felix Pena came in to finish up the starter's job. He went for five innings and they finished a combined six innings giving up six hits, one run, one walk, and three strikeouts. Another Solid Start Jake Odorizzi was the starter for the series opener, and came into the game looking for his seventh straight win. His pitching set him up for that, however the bats didn’t help. Odorizzi pitched five shutout innings, giving up three hits, two walks, while striking out six. After three straight starts of going at least six innings, his last two have failed to go over 5 1/3 innings. His pitch count was at 90 at the end of the fifth, but he would have been facing the heart of the Angels lineup in a one-run game. A big part of his pitch count came in an at-bat in the fourth against Lucroy who fouled off seven pitches in a 12-pitch at-bat before lining out to end the inning. Odorizzi has got his ERA down to 2.38 but was unable to continue his win streak. Even though he had a shorter start and didn’t pick up the win, he still had a great outing and set the Twins up for success. Quiet Offense It was another slow day for the Twins offensively as they have now had 17 hits in the past two games, with 16 of them being singles. Last night the Twins had seven hits and seven singles and tonight they had ten hits and nine were singles. Luis Arraez has been great in his first three games of his career, getting a hit in each game. He continued his early success, adding three more hits and another run tonight. This isn’t unlikely of him either, the 22-year-old is a two-time minor league batting champion. Max Kepler added two hits of his own from the leadoff spot, but the Twins couldn’t really get much going after the second inning until the eighth. Miguel Sano came up with a huge two-run homer in the top of the eighth for his second of the season to put the Twins back in front 3-1 late in the game. Bullpen's Work Ryne Harper came in right after Odorizzi exited the game and had a solid 1 1/3 innings in relief with two strikeouts. He made quick work in his first inning, but gave up a hit after he retired his first batter of the seventh. He was charged with a run as Goodwin came around to score later in that inning. Taylor Rogers came in to try and finish up the seventh, but saw Albert Pujols, who he walked, as a pinch hitter. Rogers was a little off tonight as his last appearance was six days ago against the Angels. He gave up a two-out, 0-2 count, hit to La Stella to allow the Angels to tie the game in the seventh. He was able to strike out the next batter, Mike Trout, looking, to end the inning. Rogers was able to come back out and have a great eighth inning, though two Angels were injured during the inning. The first happened on a strike three when Shohei Ohtani checked his swing but ended up getting hit on the hand leading to a strike. The next injury happened to the next batter, Andrelton Simmons, on a bang-bang play at first as Simmons tried to extend his stride to reach first base. Blake Parker came in to close out the ninth and try to pick up his eighth save of the year against his former team. He faced four batters but it was never a worry as he got two ground outs to close out the game. The Twins improve to 31-16 on the season and continue to stay hot following a loss moving to 16-3 after a loss. Postgame With Arraez Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Pen520.png Next Game Tue at LAA, 9:07 pm CT (Pineda-Cahill) Last Game SEA 7, MIN 4: Sweepless in Seattle More from Twins Daily Let’s Talk About Byron Buxton’s Swing New Baseballs Impacting Triple-A Numbers Twins Minor League Report (5/22): Kernels Cruise Click here to view the article

I think, as of now, Polanco is the face of this team. He has been the most consistent hitter on the team, when he's on the field (just like you said). It is hard to give it to just one guy when you have a lineup full of contributing players and without a good amount of them, we wouldn't be where we are right now. I think it would be a good idea to reevaluate this later in the season when we can see who is still performing well and leading this team into a deep postseason run

The bats stayed hot and the pitching continued to dominate as the Minnesota Twins rolled through Trent Thornton, the bullpen, and the Toronto Blue Jays in the series finale. The offense got going and Kyle Gibson was dealing as the Twins picked up the series sweep.Box Score Gibson: 6.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 11 K, 70.5% strikes (62 of 88 pitches) Home Runs: Polanco (7), Cron (7), Schoop (6), Rosario (13) Multi-Hit Games: Polanco (5-for-5, 2B, HR), Cron (4-for-5, HR), Kepler (2-for-5, BB), Rosario (2-for-4, HR), Schoop (2-for-5, HR) WPA of +0.1: Polanco .274, Gibson .131, Cron .117 WPA of -0.1: None Download attachment: Win58.png (chart via FanGraphs) The Twins have now scored in the first inning in three straight games against the Blue Jays to give their starting pitchers an early cushion. They were able to run Thornton out of the game after just two innings when he gave up seven hits and five runs. After losing a home series to the Blue Jays earlier in the year, the team came together and combined for a totally opposite result. Offense Runs Away The bats got going right away in the first and continued into the third as seven different Twins’ batters combined for 11 hits, three home runs, and seven runs. Jorge Polanco and C.J. Cron led with three hits each in the first three innings including two of the Twins first three home runs. Polanco has been the most consistent hitter for the Twins this season, and was able to add to his success tonight. He finished with five hits, which is the second time in his career doing this, and got his average up to .344. Polanco exited the game, a triple short of a cycle, after his fifth hit of the game when Ehire Adrianza pinch ran for him. Cron was also able to have a night at the plate with a four-hit performance of his own, which was the sixth time of his career, to hopefully get him out of his hitting slump. Eddie Rosario was able to extend his American League lead in home runs with a two-run, sixth inning smack. The Twins continued their impressively powerful season as they combined for 18 hits and four home runs tonight. They now have 64 home runs this season, which is the number they were at on June 7th of last season. Pitching Dominates Twins starting pitchers have been very hot of late, and that didn’t stop this series. Kyle Gibson got the start in tonight’s game and was feeling it. Through the first four innings, he had eight strikeouts and had thrown a first pitch strike to 11 out of his first 12 batters. By the fifth inning, Gibson had already tied his career high in strikeouts with 10. Gibson was able to set a new record for himself, which wasn’t a surprise with how he was pitching tonight. He picked up his career high in strikeouts with 11, thanks to nine whiffs on his changeup and slider, as well as his third win of the season to improve to 3-1 with a 4.19 ERA. Gibson showed a bit of his former self from the second half of last season tonight, and what Twins fans were looking for. Obviously asking this from Gibson every night is a little out of the question, but it is what is needed if the Twins want to make a deep run in the playoffs. They already have a solid top three pitchers in Berrios, Perez, and Odorizzi, but adding Gibson to this list will help separate the Twins from first and second round exit teams. The bullpen came in after the sixth, with a huge cushion, to complete the series sweep and win 9-1. Ryne Harper made easy work in the seventh, Mike Morin came in for the eighth and Blake Parker was given the ninth. Here's the bullpen's combined line: 3 IP, 0 H, 1 BB, 0 R, and 3 Ks. The Twins picked up an easy sweep against the Blue Jays to extend their record to 23-12 as well as getting back into the top spot in the MLB standings. They finally go back to division play when they face the Detroit Tigers starting on Friday, after an offday on Thursday. Postgame With Baldelli Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen58.png Next Three Games Thu OFF Fri vs. DET, 7:10 pm CT (Odorizzi-Ross) Sat vs. DET, 1:10 pm CT (TBD) Sat vs. DET, 7:10 pm CT (TBD-Turnbull) Last Game MIN 3, TOR 0: Berrios Hurls Gem, Twins Get Second Straight Shutout Click here to view the article