Hans Birkeland

The Twins lineup was lifeless, and barely put up a fight against a dominant Michael Wacha as the Royals cruised to a sweep. Next week's series at Fenway Park is starting to loom, despite Boston losing to *checks notes* the White Sox today. Image courtesy of © Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images Box Score: Starting Pitcher: Simeon Woods Richardson: 4 1/3 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2 K (70 Pitches, 44 Strikes, 62.8%) Home Runs: None Bottom 3 WPA: Edouard Julien (-.223), Trevor Larnach (-.124), José Miranda (-.116) Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs): Visions of 2022 were swirling in my head as I absorbed last night's loss to the Royals. The team has been losing games and losing players at a rapid pace. We aren't quite at the "Nick Gordon hitting cleanup against a lefty" stage yet, but we have entered the "every reliever turns into the worst version of Emilio Pagán when it matters" portion. The "Byron Buxton has a great year before going down in August with a hip issue" might be the hardest pill to swallow, but nevertheless, the team is eight (or so) wins away from clinching a playoff spot, with 20 games remaining. Today's game featured underrated veteran Michael Wacha opposing the scuffling rookie, Simeon Woods Richardson. The recent lineup formula for the Twins has been to get traffic on early, squander an opportunity or two, and then go silent for the last seven or eight innings, and, well. Today began with a one-out single from Jose Miranda and then a ringing double from Trevor Larnach. It looked like Hunter Renfroe had a little trouble picking the ball up in right field, but Miranda is not fast and third-base coach Tommy Watkins had gotten desperate; Miranda was thrown out fairly easily. Matt Wallner then walked, so all was not lost, but Royce Lewis sure is, and he flailed away at a belt high fastball he crushes when he is right. Woods Richardson is a confident guy, and came out of the gates on a mission, commanding his fastball and throwing a lot of sliders and curveballs. His misses were close and he looked locked in. Through the first four innings the Royals only managed a harmless MJ Melendez double (off a change-up, naturally). The Twins' lineup averaged about 45 seconds per inning against Wacha, with the changeup artist eliciting early (and weak) contact that allowed him to cruise through five innings with just 69 pitches. When Twins hitters managed to survive to two strikes, Wacha threw dotted fastballs up in the zone, or his famous change-up down to strike them out. The game was tied through four and a half, but it felt like the Twins were facing a deficit the moment Miranda was thrown out at home in the first. That came to fruition in the fifth. Melendez drew a walk on a questionable 3-2 change-up right on the black. Freddy Fermin then singled the other way, and Maikel Garcia was sent up to bunt. Garcia failed at this, but when things are going well, you get a hit on the next pitch, which is exactly what happened. Garrett Hampson nearly hit a grand slam next, but it turned into a deep sacrifice fly, making the score 1-0. After walking Tommy Pham, Woods Richardson was done, with Cole Sands coming in to face Bobby Witt Jr. with the bases loaded. Somehow, Sands threw a cutter by Witt to strike him out, but he still had to face the Royals only other good hitter, the legendary Salvador Perez. He chased a cutter outside the zone, because Perez, for all his accomplishments, has no plate discipline. However, because these are the Twins, Perez hit a dribber up the third base line that somehow did not go foul as it rolled to a stop by Royce Lewis' feet. Sands got squeezed on a call to the next hitter, Michael Massey, resulting in a 3-1 count, but bounced back to retire him on a fly out to right field. Christian Vazquez got an excuse-me single to start the sixth, but Wacha pitched around it and got Miranda to hit into a double play to end the threat before he broke a sweat. After Sands pitched a quick bottom half, the Twins went even quicker with the middle of their lineup (Larnach, Wallner and Lewis) going down without any semblance of a fight. Wacha smelled blood and used his experience and surprisingly lively stuff to carve up Twins hitters desperate to make something happen. Reliever Kris Bubic pick ed up where Wacha left off, and set down Castro, Jeffers and Lee easily in the eighth. Vazquez again led off with a single in the ninth, but Julien struck out, Miranda grounded out and Larnach popped out. Trends: Healthy Hurt Performing Contributing Low Impact IL/Minors C Ryan Jeffers 📉 Christian Vazquez 📈 1B Carlos Santana 📈 Alex Kirilloff 📉 Jose Miranda 📈 2B Edouard Julien 📈 Kyle Farmer 📈' 3B Royce Lewis 📉 SS Carlos Correa 📉 Brooks Lee 📉 LF Matt Wallner 📈 Trevor Larnach 📈 Austin Martin 📉 CF Byron Buxton 📉 Manuel Margot 📉 DaShawn Keirsey Jr. 📈 RF Max Kepler 📉 UTIL Willi Castro 📉 Michael Helman 📈 SP Pablo Lopez 📈 Bailey Ober 📈 Joe Ryan 📉 Chris Paddack 📈 RSP David Festa 📈 Zebby Matthews 📉 Simeon Woods Richardson 📉 CR Jhoan Duran 📉 Griffin Jax 📈 SR Brock Stewart 📉 Jorge Alcala 📈 Cole Sands 📈 MR Caleb Thielbar 📈 Scott Blewett 📈 Michael Tonkin 📈 Louie Varland 📉 LR Josh Winder 📈 Ronny Henriquez 📈 Randy Dobnak 📉 Diego Castillo 📈 Stray Notes: -Brooks Lee made a great play with Witt on second following a leadoff ninth inning double. Perez grounded up the middle, Lee smothered it and threw to third to get WItt in a rundown, where he was retired without Perez advancing to second. -The bullpen was excellent, with Sands, Alcala, and Scott Blewett stifling the Royals through the later innings, allowing just three hits. What’s Next: David Festa (2-5, 4.75 ERA) goes against the Angels' Reid Detmers (3-6, 5.87 ERA) as the Twins look to get on track against one of the few teams that have looked more pathetic than themselves recently. Detmers is a decent lefty but with good raw stuff, but has struggled this year, even spending time in the minor leagues. Festa has been pretty good since his second call to the big leagues, with an ERA in the low 3.00's and elite strikeout numbers. Postgame Interviews: (Coming Soon) Bullpen Usage Chart: WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT Blewett 43 0 0 0 19 62 Varland 59 0 0 0 0 59 Sands 0 0 0 0 30 30 Durán 0 12 0 17 0 29 Henríquez 12 0 13 0 0 25 Jax 0 13 0 8 0 21 Thielbar 0 0 19 0 0 19 Tonkin 17 0 0 0 0 17 Alcalá 0 0 0 0 11 11 View full article

With Cleveland playing better ball, and Kansas City in freefall, the Twins looked to keep pace in the Central standings. They took a brief lead against Tampa Bay and starter Jeffrey Springs, but their lineup couldn't muster much of anything the rest of the way, finishing with just four hits as the Rays scraped together just enough offense against David Festa to take game two of the series. Image courtesy of © Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images Box Score: Starting Pitcher: David Festa: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB 7 K (90 Pitches, 57 Strikes, 63.3%) Home Runs: Carlos Santana (19) Bottom 3 WPA: Brooks Lee (-.229), Willi Castro (-.211) Ryan Jeffers (-.145) Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs): Following a gutty win over the Rays at the "Trop" on Labor Day, the Twins once again found themselves in second place in the AL Central, and were suddenly winners of three of their last four games (do not look up their run differential in that span). A series split with the Rays in St. Petersburg would have to be considered a minor victory, and the Twins had a chance to clinch at least that result on Tuesday. Lefty Jeffrey Springs took the mound for the Rays, in his seventh start back from Tommy John surgery. That injury was unfortunate, because before it, Springs (who had no prospect pedigree and was acquired from Boston for next to nothing in 2021) had posted a 2.26 ERA over 151 1/3 innings across 2022 and 2023. His fastball was never elite in terms of velocity, but he is averaging less than 90 MPH this year, after sitting close to 92 MPH prior to his surgery. Springs looked pretty good tonight, mixing in his slider and changeup with well-located fastballs that sat 89-93 MPH. He couldn't get a 90 MPH fastball inside enough to Carlos Santana in the second, and the Twins first baseman made him pay, demolishing that pitch 395 feet for the game's first run. David Festa opposed Springs, and looked a little wobbly with his command from the start. He did throw a scoreless first three innings, but the Rays got to him in the fourth. Junior Caminero began the inning with a single, and Josh Lowe walked. Festa got Johnny DeLuca to pop out, but Jonathan Aranda blooped a single just in front of a diving Austin Martin, who didn't appear to get a great break on the ball. Jos'e Caballero then grounded to Brooks Lee at short, and the rookie made an athletic play to cut down the speedy Lowe at home plate, who was running on contact. It was all for naught, though, as rookie catcher Logan Driscoll--making his major-league debut--rocketed a ball at Santana, and the usually sure-handed first baseman had the ball deflect off of him into right field to allow Aranda to score. Festa's best sequence may have been his last, as he struck out uber-prospect Caminero on a fastball up and in to end his evening. He began this at-bat with two sliders, two changeups, two more sliders and then the piece de resistance, a fastball with big carry that the talented Caminero had no chance on. Neither team threatened much in the middle innings, with Springs Tommy John rehab partner Drew Rasmussen taking over in the seventh and throwing fireballs at Twins hitters for two innings. Caleb Thielbar and Michael Tonkin held the Rays in check. The Twins made some noise in the ninth against Edwin Uceta. Santana led off with a single, and Edouard Julien blooped a single just over second base to put two men on for Lee. Lee looked overmatched as Uceta poured fastballs by him in different quadrants, striking him out on three pitches (with a pitch clock violation thrown in for fun). Willi Castro then struck out on a ball at his feet, and Christian Vazquez grounded out to end the game. Trends: Healthy Hurt Performing Contributing Low Impact IL/Minors C Ryan Jeffers 📈 Christian Vazquez 📈 1B Carlos Santana 📈 Alex Kirilloff 📉 Jose Miranda 📈 2B Edouard Julien 📈 Kyle Farmer 📈' 3B Royce Lewis 📈 SS Carlos Correa 📉 Brooks Lee 📈 LF Matt Wallner 📈 Trevor Larnach 📈 Austin Martin 📉 CF Byron Buxton 📈 Manuel Margot 📉 RF Max Kepler 📉 UTIL Willi Castro 📈 Michael Helman 📈 SP Pablo Lopez 📈 Bailey Ober 📈 Joe Ryan 📉 Chris Paddack 📈 Louie Varland 📈 RSP David Festa 📈 Zebby Matthews 📉 Simeon Woods Richardson 📉 CR Jhoan Duran 📉 Griffin Jax 📈 SR Brock Stewart 📉 Jorge Alcala 📉 Cole Sands 📈 MR Caleb Thielbar 📈 Scott Blewett 📈 Michale Tonkin 📈 LR Josh Winder 📈 Ronny Henriquez 📈 Randy Dobnak 📉 Diego Castillo 📈 Stray Notes: -Michael Helman collected his first major league hit, a grounder in the fifth that Caballero threw wildly to first on, but which the speedy Helman likely would have beaten out even with a good throw. -Tonkin gave the Twins some good work and allowed them to keep the game close in the middle innings, getting four outs and striking out two without allowing a hit. -The Twins and Rays have played to a one run result in every matchup thus far this year over five games. That's pretty weird. What’s Next: In game three of this key series, the Rays send Cole Sulser to the mound. It's unofficial, for the moment, but the Twins appear poised to counter with Louie Varland, who comes back from yet another stint in St. Paul still stretched out and starting. Postgame Interviews: Bullpen Usage Chart: FRI SAT SUN MON TUE TOT Tonkin 0 37 0 0 21 58 Blewett 0 54 0 0 0 54 Jax 3 0 27 18 0 48 Durán 11 0 13 14 0 38 Thielbar 0 19 0 0 19 38 Alcalá 0 0 0 32 0 32 Sands 0 0 13 17 0 30 Henríquez 0 0 0 20 0 20 Castillo 8 0 0 0 12 20 View full article

I just started doing it when I was talking to my wife, who hadn't watched any games recently at the time. She said how is so and so doing? Who's hurt? Are x and y playing better yet? So I made the chart. The injuries are speculative, but we know Castro has been dealing with a back issue, Jeffers hurt his foot, Larnach still has turf toe, Lewis was running real gingerly a few games ago, and this allows me to track those sorts of injuries even when they don't show on any injury report. I might change the wording on performance/impact level because I don't think that is saying what I want it to..

The seventh- and eighth-best teams in the American League aren't good. There is a non-zero chance that Royce Lewis, Byron Buxton, and Carlos Correa will start Game One of a playoff series. David Festa and Louie Varland can be the bullpen bridge that the team lacked in August. Buckle up. Image courtesy of © Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports The Twins have been really bad for the past few weeks. Well, just for three series, really, going 2-7 against the Padres, Cardinals and Braves. It was ugly, with three of those games lost via late bullpen implosions. Homerism is punishable by law in Minnesota--I get that--but when you look at the outlook for the rest of the season, a couple of things stand out. One: the team likely won’t face much resistance in clinching at least the sixth seed in the American League. And two: the top end of this roster is nothing to sneeze at, especially if guys like Louie Varland, Chris Paddack and David Festa are put in the best position to succeed. More on that later. The threats to the Twins holding the sixth seed in the playoffs are the Red Sox, Tigers and Mariners. Of those teams, only the Tigers are playing well, and they are five games back of the Twins, only recently climbing above .500. They also have no head-to-head games against Minnesota remaining, with the Twins holding the tiebreaker. The Mariners can’t hit, and the Red Sox can’t build upon any success they have, currently a half-game ahead of the Tigers. Another reason why that four-and-a-half-game lead over Boston is bigger than it appears, is what you saw against the Blue Jays, with Toronto showing the warts of a team playing out the string. There is plenty of talent left on their roster, but with George Springer, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Daulton Varsho available to pinch-hit in the eighth and ninth innings Sunday, none were called upon. Springer also got Friday off. It just doesn’t make sense for teams that are out of it to put their best team out there; those clubs are better off seeing what they have in their young guys. When the Twins play the Reds and Marlins in a few weeks, those teams won’t be pushing their best starter an extra inning, and guys like Elly De La Cruz and Xavier Edwards might get one of the three days off. That doesn’t mean the Twins will magically play better. It also doesn’t mean the lesser opponents they face in September are going to phone it in. But the Twins are playing for something, and those opposing managers have to be thinking of 2025 and beyond, not just winning a meaningless game in September by throwing your best reliever on a back-to-back. Additionally, while it might seem like terrible, no-good, very bad luck that Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton are currently on the IL with murky return timetables, the truth is that the team doesn’t need them to make the playoffs. They probably need them to catch Cleveland, but then again, the Guardians have been terrible since the All-Star break, so who knows? The silver lining is that the later those two stars return (and it seems almost a certainty that they will at some point), the less chance they have to get another injury prior to the postseason, which could be crucial to their availability in October. Again, I’m not saying the Twins deserve the good fortune of being able to play mediocre baseball down the stretch and still limp comfortably into the playoffs, but who cares whether they deserve it? At the rate things are going, their first-round matchup may very well be Cleveland or Kansas City, with Houston just a couple of games back of Cleveland right now for the second seed and finishing their season with a series at Progressive Field. So what happens if the Twins back into the playoffs? Surely, that means that they will be totally gassed and won’t be able to do anything of note. I would push back on that argument, based on the fact that the Twins have two really good starting pitchers in Bailey Ober and Pablo López, with each capable of dominance on any given night against any given opponent. They also will likely have Buxton and Correa back. I’m not counting on either of them being in an offensive rhythm when they return, but it does seem likely that they will return and stabilize two of the most important defensive positions on the diamond, and we have seen in recent weeks just how important that can be. The most important hitters for the Twins down the stretch will be Royce Lewis, José Miranda and Matt Wallner. If each of those guys is playing decently enough that pitchers have to stick to their approach against them, anything Buxton and Correa can provide will be gravy. The Twins will also have the clutch duo of Carlos Santana and Trevor Larnach (.822 and .949 OPS in high-leverage spots, respectively); hopefully a rested Willi Castro; and maybe a little of Austin Martin and Brooks Lee. One of Ryan Jeffers and Christian Vázquez are usually on a hot streak, as well. My point is, not everything has to go right for the lineup to be formidable in a short postseason series. If Buxton and Correa are clicking, think back to how fun June was, when the team could score six runs a game in their sleep. What about the back end of the rotation, and the bullpen? Honestly, I think this sorts itself out pretty cleanly. Simeon Woods Richardson is your third starter. He’s a gutty competitor, and when the lights are brightest, he can give you four or five innings of decent ball. He limits home runs pretty well, and keeps the team in the game almost every time out, and that is what a number three playoff starter has to do. Do I wish this was Joe Ryan, stuff and experience-wise? Sure, but temperament-wise, I like the rookie over the more mercurial, one-bloop-hit-can-really-rattle-his-cage Ryan. I also think that David Festa’s skillset plays best as a playoff relief ace--one of those guys who, when they don’t have to worry about pacing themselves, can go through a lineup once and be utterly dominant, especially against a team that hasn’t seen much of him. Imagine a scenario wherein Woods Richardson goes four innings and gives up one run, while Festa comes in and goes 2 ⅔ shutout frames to give the game to Cole Sands, Griffin Jax and Jhoan Durán. That works, at least in theory. I don’t trust Zebby Matthews as much in that spot, and he might be the best choice for fourth starter--who goes through the lineup once, if he’s needed at all. Do keep in mind that Varland has done nothing as a starter to argue against his relief résumé. His cutter and fastball jump up a couple of ticks in relief, which gives him the margin for error in his command that he just doesn’t have as a starter. He’s a relief weapon, until proven otherwise. Chris Paddack, for all his trials and tribulations, was good as a playoff reliever last year, going 3 ⅔ innings and allowing just one hit while striking out six. His return timeline is pretty similar to his timeline last year, as well. This team has a bad middle relief corps right now, but pooled together, they have enough arms to have that not be a weakness in the playoffs. As for Durán, this year just hasn’t been kind to him. He has struggled to pitch with reduced stuff, but at the end of the day, he has blown just two saves all year (one being the Edouard Julien fiasco against St. Louis) with his FIP being basically identical to last year’s 3.22. His strikeout rate is down, but so are his walk rate and his home-run rate. He’s still a good reliever, and good relievers who throw 102 with low walk rates can get hot in October in a hurry. If he ends up being a liability, which is certainly possible, then the Twins won’t go anywhere in October--simple as that. He’s a roll of the dice, but what about the other AL teams? Do Yankees fans feel great about Clay Holmes? Do Oriole fans like the idea of Craig Kimbrel or Seranthony Dominguez closing games in October? How about the Royals with, um, Lucas Erceg? Even Josh Hader of the Astros has a higher FIP than Durán, and has allowed a whopping 10 home runs this year. The Twins should be fighting for their playoff lives. But they aren’t, and have the luxury of being able to (more or less) coast to the finish line--where their top-end talent can shine its brightest. We might as well just enjoy the ride. View full article

The Twins have been leaking oil lately, but entered Sunday's rubber match with a chance to pick up a much-needed series win against the Blue Jays. Bailey Ober rebounded from his disaster against Atlanta on Monday, allowing only one hit. It seemed for a while that that hit, a home run in the first, would hold up, but Royce Lewis turned the game around. Image courtesy of © Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports Box Score: Starting Pitcher: Bailey Ober: 6 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 8 K (94 Pitches, 62 Strikes, 65.9%) Home Runs: Royce Lewis (16) Top 3 WPA: Lewis (.586), Ober (.194), Jhoan Duran (.161) Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs): The nice thing about team sports is that losing by 15 is the same as losing by one--most of the time, anyway. In stroke play golf, losing 15 strokes means you will not win the tournament. With the Guardians, Royals and Red Sox all losing Saturday, though, the Twins' playoff prospects slightly improved, despite their own shellacking. Not only that, but losing a blowout means your best relief arms were not used. Which is all to sugarcoat the fact that this team is not playing well, and if the Red Sox were operating with any sort of functionality, the sixth playoff spot would be in serious danger. Instead, the Tigers are threatening to overtake Boston in the standings as they won their three-game weekend series at Fenway Park. The Twins received some reinforcements with rosters expanding for September. Diego Castillo returns to the bullpen, and Brooks Lee returns to shortstop, while Michael Helman had his contract purchased in the wake of Manuel Margot's injury. Castillo and Helman are depth pieces, but Lee's return means the Twins will play a pure shortstop rather than Willi Castro or Kyle Farmer. The former lacks the instincts, the latter lacks the range and arm, but Lee has shown flashes of being a B+ level shortstop. He also pushes Castro to more of a utility role, which helps with pinch-hitting and defensive replacements later in games. Today's game pitted Bailey Ober against Blue Jays rookie Yariel Roodriguez. The game started auspiciously, given Ober's most recent start, and the Twins' most recent game, with Ernie Clement taking Ober deep on a first pitch fastball up in the zone. But Ober did settle in after that, with no real threats in the Jay's lineup (Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Daulton Varsho had the day off). Rodriguez turned some heads in the World Baseball Classic pitching for Cuba. There was a minor bidding war for his services after he became an international free agent, but what the Jays ended up getting was middling performance around a spinal injury and a brief demotion to Triple-A. He began Sunday's tilt by getting a favorable call on a 3-2 pitch to Willi Castro, then allowing a hit and two walks before retiring Royce Lewis on a warning track fly ball. Rodriguez was not long for the game, leaving after three innings in favor of career bulk pitcher, lefty Ryan Yarbrough. The last time the Jays removed a pitcher early at Target Field in favor of a lefty for unclear or dubious reasons, it did not go well for them. Today, Yarbrough started by hitting Austin Martin, who advanced to second on a grounder from Lewis. Max Kepler then popped up, and second baseman Leo Jimenez made a Derek Jeter-style diving catch, jumping into the stands with no concern for his well-being. Lee then popped out to end the threat and keep the game at 1-0. Ober coasted through much of the game, keeping the Jays off balance with a mix of his fastball and change-up. After an impressive ten pitch at-bat resulting in a walk from Nathan Lukes leading off the sixth, Lee misplayed a little soft liner from Clement to put runners at first and second with no one out. That brought back memories of a week and a half ago, where Jake Cronenworth's blooper set up Manny Machado's game-breaking homer off Ober. This time, with no borderline Hall of Famers to contend with, Ober struck out the side, two on fastballs, one on a beautiful change-up to right fielder Addison Barger. Ober did not allow a hit following the first inning home run. As it started to feel like one run would be too much to overcome for the Twins' lineup, Lewis began the seventh inning by drawing a walk. A stitched together husk of what used to be Max Kepler then struck out, bringing up Lee to face lefty Brendon Little. Lee grounded to the third baseman, Luis De Los Santos, who threw wildly trying to get the lead runner, with the ball ending up in right field. That put runners on the corners for Santana, who dribbled a ball up the third base line to score Lewis and tie the game. Castro then drew a walk, but Miranda struck out to end the frame. Twins Daily's winning "Make It Official!" game recaps are sponsored by Official Fried Chicken, which you can find in center field of Target Field. With a name like "Official," we know we have to be the best in the game every day, and from your first bite, you'll know that's a promise we make good on. The Jays put pressure on Griffin Jax immediately in the eighth. Lukes drew a walk on a questionable 3-2 call that went Toronto's way, and Clement then smacked a single the other way, bringing up Spencer Horowitz, one of the heroes of Saturday's disemboweling. Horowitz lined out to deep center on a 3-1 pitch, and Barger drew a walk. Jax then hit Jimenez with the first pitch of the at-bat, scoring Lukes and handing the lead back to Toronto. Joey Loperfido then hit a run scoring chopper to score Clement. Jax had not allowed an earned run the entire month of August. You may have heard that the Jays' excellent closer, Jordan Romano, has been injured and ineffective this year. He remains out, but former Yankee errand-boy Chad Green has stepped into the closer role and been excellent, with a 1.61 ERA entering the day. He allowed back-to-back hits to Jeffers and Martin and got into a lengthy battle with Lewis, who fouled off some tough pitches and missed hittable ones before getting a slider on the eighth pitch of the at-bat and launching it just over Lukes' outstretched glove for a three-run, game-changing home run, a 60% change in win-expectancy. Jhoan Duran was then called up on to protect the newfound lead. He locked up De Los Santos with three curveball but hit backup catcher Brian Serven with a 102 MPH fastball. He then got Lukes to dribble the ball back to the mound, where Duran non-chalantly gathered and threw to first, barely retiring Lukes and prompting a challenge from the Jays' bench. The call was confirmed and Duran retired Clement to seal the desperately-needed series win. Trends: Healthy Hurt High Impact Medium Impact Low Impact IL/Minors C Ryan Jeffers 📈 Christian Vazquez 📈 1B Carlos Santana 📈 Alex Kirilloff 📉 Jose Miranda 📈 2B Edouard Julien 📈 Kyle Farmer 📈' 3B Royce Lewis 📈 SS Carlos Correa 📉 Brooks Lee 📈 LF Matt Wallner 📈 Trevor Larnach 📈 Austin Martin 📉 CF Byron Buxton 📉 Manuel Margot 📉 RF Max Kepler 📉 UTIL Willi Castro 📈 Michael Helman 📈 SP Pablo Lopez 📈 Bailey Ober 📈 Joe Ryan 📉 Chris Paddack 📉 Louie Varland 📈 RSP David Festa 📈 Zebby Matthews 📉 Simeon Woods Richardson 📈 CR Jhoan Duran 📉 Griffin Jax 📈 SR Brock Stewart 📉 Jorge Alcala 📉 Cole Sands 📈 MR Caleb Thielbar 📈 Scott Blewett 📈 LR Josh Winder 📈 Ronny Henriquez 📈 Randy Dobnak 📉 Diego Castillo 📈 Stray Notes: -I thought they might do it, with Carlos Santana pinch-hitting for second baseman Edouard Julien in the fifth, and they did it, switching Santana to first for Miranda, putting Miranda at third and inserting Lewis at second. It went well, with Lewis making two putouts in the seventh inning behind Cole Sands. What’s Next: Simeon Woods Richardson (5-3, 3.85 ERA) goes against former Twin Zack Littell (5-8, 3.89 ERA) The Rays sold off everything that wasn't nailed down this past trade deadline, but remain the Rays and have hung around the .500 Mark, a hot streak away from jumping back into contention. SWR deserved better his last time out against the Braves, and is looking to finish strong as he makes his case to be the Twins' number three starter for a potential playoff run. Postgame Interviews: Bullpen Usage Chart: WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT Tonkin 25 0 0 37 0 62 Blewett 0 0 0 54 0 54 Thielbar 16 0 0 19 0 35 Jax 0 0 3 0 27 30 Durán 0 0 11 0 13 24 Henríquez 19 0 0 0 0 19 Sands 0 0 0 0 13 13 Alcalá 8 0 0 0 0 8 View full article

Even with a 90% or so chance of making the playoffs, the Twins have seemed to teeter on the brink of collapse, with the weight of their injuries testing their depth to its breaking point. They fought hard to get back to level in this game, but ultimately, the Braves lineup was too much for Jhoan Duran. Atlanta pulled away in the 10th. Image courtesy of © Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports Box Score: Starting Pitcher: Simeon Woods Richardson: 4 2/3 IP, 3 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 3 K (91 Pitches, 55 Strikes, 60.4%) Home Runs: None Bottom 3 WPA: Jhoan Duran (-.472), Royce Lewis (-.223), Austin Martin (-.202) Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs): Things have been rickety in Twinsland lately. The past three games I have personally recapped have been the Jorge Alcala implosion in Texas, the swan song of Steven Okert's Twins career in San Diego, and the Eddy Julien 9th inning error leading to a loss at home to St. Louis. Last night, Bailey Ober went from being very likely to receive Cy Young votes to a guy with an ERA over 4.00. Nine earned runs will do that. Now the Twins were tasked with facing a hot (and battle-tested) Braves team needing to win two in a row to take the series. Chris Sale looms in Wednesday's finale, so that would seem unlikely. But don't overlook Tuesday's starter, rookie Spencer Schwellenbach, who has been hot since the All-Star break and features premium raw stuff, hitting 98 MPH with his four seam fastball, and 95 MPH with his cutter (which is absurd compared to anyone except Emmanuel Clase). Simeon Woods Richardson took the ball for the Twins, coming off a start against the Padres in which he showed a lot of moxie. Staked to a huge lead, SWR started pumping fastballs and nothing else to the Padres hitters, and taking about three seconds between pitches. He was dancing and strutting off the mound, but even the old heads couldn't say he was disrespecting the game- he threw strikes and came right at every hitter- and he gave the Twins exactly what they needed after dropping the first two of that series. SWR looked good again tonight, at least stuff-wise. He located all three of his primary pitches and looked in control of what he was doing. After a quick first inning, he allowed the red-hot Matt Olson to lace an opposite field double on a decent enough slider. He fell behind Michael Harris II but rebounded to force a full count after six straight fastballs. He then threw a dotted slider, down and in on the black, and Harris dropped the bat head on it and lined it 424 feet. I bring up the Will Harris cutter to Howie Kendrick in the 2019 World Series a lot, because it is instructive that a pitcher can throw the absolute best pitch he can possibly throw, and if a hitter guesses right, it just won't matter. In tonight's game, it meant a 2-0 deficit. The Twins worked Schwellenbach hard, resulting in him throwing nearly 30 pitches in the first (he still struck out the side). They put runners on second and third in the second via a Carlos Santana single and Ryan Jeffers double, but Austin Martin struck out on a borderline pitch to end the threat. Matt Wallner doubled off the wall in the third, but Julien tapped out to end the frame. In the fourth, Max Kepler reached on a swinging bunt, and Santana doubled to the right field corner. Kepler is a notoriously unaggressive baserunner, but he also has been nursing a knee injury- either way he didn't score, although he was animated in discussing with third base coach Tommy Watkins afterward. Jeffers then hit a liner that deflected off of Schwellenbach's glove, high in the air and landed... right in Whit Merrifield's glove. Martin then struck out to make the inning a total waste. The baseball gods just hate me in particular, I guess. SWR's mettle was tested in the fifth. After Ramon Laureano singled, the lovely Gio Urshela flew out to right. Orlando Arcia had two painted pitches called for balls, and ended up drawing a walk, prompting SWR to start chirping a bit at the home plate umpire. He locked in on the next batter, Merrifield, who had five hits the night before. That was to SWR's detriment, as Laureano and Arcia executed a double steal. Merrifield did end up striking out, but Jorge Soler laid off some tough pitches and drew a walk, ending the night for the Twins rookie. Jorge Alcala has excelled in the fireman role this year (not as much when given a clean inning), but Marcell Ozuna jumped on the first pitch he saw and roped a single to left, doubling the lead. It's okay to hate Marcell Ozuna. The Twins got Schwellenbach up to 106 pitches, with two-out walks to Wallner and Julien ending his night. The slumping Royce Lewis jumped on the first pitch he saw from Dylan Lee, but was a hair out front and lined it foul. He ended up striking out on three pitches to end yet another threat. Caleb Boushley made his return to the big leagues in the sixth and although Harris hit a ball so hard (114 MPH) off the right field wall he couldn't even reach second, Boushley gutted his way through two innings, allowing three hits. 41-year-old Jesse Chavez was called up on to pitch the sixth and seventh innings. After a Willi Castro bloop single, Trevor Larnach lined a double that skipped past the mercurial Jared Kelenic's glove and scored Castro. The ever predictable Wallner got a (cookie) cutter on 3-1 and smacked it 105 MPH off the right field wall to score Larnach. That prompted the Braves to take the game seriously and brought in former Tigers punching bag Joe Jimenez to stop the bleeding. He wasn't successful, at least not at first. Julien worked the count to 2-2 before getting a slider from Jimenez to his liking and yanked it down the line past a diving Olson, scoring Wallner. The scuffling Lewis popped out, while Kepler and Santana followed by whiffing on sliders they knew were coming. The first two batters for the Twins the next inning were retired quickly, but Willi Castro squared a ball up and doubled to right-center, bringing up Trevor Larnach to face a new pitcher, the Braves elite closer, Raisel Iglesias. Iglesias is a change-up artist, which would seem to be a bad matchup for Larnach, and perhaps got Rocco Baldelli considering pinch hitting Jose Miranda. He stuck with Larnach, and he delivered, blooping a change-up off the plate outside that landed in front of a diving Kelenic to tie the game. After going quietly in the ninth, Ozuna greeted Jhoan Duran with a double to right-center that Kelenic misread (does this guy have any baseball instincts?) and only advanced to third on. Olson broke his bat and grounded to second, which Julien threw home on, not even coming close to nabbing Kelenic at the plate. It wouldn't matter, as Travis D'Arnaud rifled a ball up the middle to score pinch-runner Luke Williams from second, and Laureano doubled to score two more. The Twins at least brought the tying run to the plate in their half of the 10th, with Miranda and Castro collecting hits to give Larnach a chance. He delivered an RBI hit for the third at-bat in a row, this time against Pierce Johnson. That brought Wallner to the plate as the potential winning run, but he swung through two hittable pitches before striking out on a nasty curveball. Trends: Healthy Hurt Performing Great Fine Poor IL/Minors C Ryan Jeffers 📈 Christian Vazquez 📈 1B Carlos Santana 📈 Alex Kirilloff 📉 Jose Miranda 📉 2B Edouard Julien 📈 Kyle Farmer 📈' 3B Royce Lewis 📉 SS Carlos Correa 📈 Brooks Lee 📈 LF Matt Wallner 📈 Trevor Larnach 📈 Austin Martin 📈 CF Byron Buxton 📉 Manuel Margot 📉 RF Max Kepler 📉 UTIL Willi Castro 📉 SP Pablo Lopez 📈 Bailey Ober 📈 Joe Ryan 📉 Chris Paddack 📉 Louie Varland 📈 RSP David Festa 📈 Zebby Matthews 📈 Simeon Woods Richardson 📈 CR Jhoan Duran 📉 Griffin Jax 📈 SR Brock Stewart 📉 Jorge Alcala 📉 Cole Sands 📈 MR Caleb Thielbar 📈 Scott Blewett 📈 LR Josh Winder 📈 Ronny Henriquez 📈 Randy Dobnak 📉 Caleb Boushley 📈 Stray Notes: -Kepler is out of sorts. He is usually pretty good at not chasing, but he chased outside the zone several times today trying to cheat on fastballs. -After a six pitch shut down eighth inning, Cole Sands has a WHIP of 0.97. Imagine the Twins bullpen without him this year, sheesh. -Larnach has been a curiosity in that he has hit well enough to keep his spot, but never seemed to get truly hot. To his credit, he never really slumped, either. He entered play with an .871 OPS in August, which plays pretty well. -Santana made two incredible defensive plays. The first is below: The second was even more impactful. With Griffin Jax on to hold the score at 4-4 in the ninth, Merrifield hit a one out looper that looked ticketed for right field, the exact kind of lucky, rally-starting hit that has bitten Jax in the past. Instead, Santana got a great break on the ball and made a somersaulting catch for the second out. Extension candidate? What’s Next: David Festa (2-3, 5.20 ERA) goes against NL Cy Young front-runner Chris Sale (14-3, 2.62 ERA and I advocated for acquiring him prior to 2023 but who's counting). The Twins will need to reach into their bag of tricks from the mid 2010's, when they were somehow able to solve Sale on a consistent basis. Postgame Interviews: (Coming Soon) Bullpen Usage Chart: FRI SAT SUN MON TUES TOT Durán 0 16 25 0 19 60 Jax 0 19 12 0 10 41 Blewett 0 0 0 39 0 39 Alcalá 25 0 0 0 8 33 Henríquez 0 0 0 32 0 32 Sands 0 0 26 0 6 32 Boushley 0 0 0 0 32 32 Thielbar 18 0 0 0 8 26 View full article

With an important series win on the line, the Twins pitched well the entire game, and Royce Lewis delivered a key RBI double to put his team ahead in the eighth. However, a crucial error by Edouard Julien gave the Cardinals life in the ninth, and they capitalized, turning the game on its head and taking the series to go. Image courtesy of © Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports Box Score: Starting Pitcher: Zebby Matthews: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K (86 Pitches, 57 Strikes, 66.2%) Home Runs: Willi Castro (11) Bottom 3 WPA: Jhoan Duran (-.658), Austin Martin (-.294), Manuel Margot (-.160) Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs): I was in attendance for Friday's 6-1 loss to the Cardinals, and although it was not a particularly poorly played game by the Twins, it was about as bad a viewing experience as one could get. One thing the Rocco Baldelli-led Twins have been good at, however, is bouncing back from embarrassing or gut-punch losses, and they certainly accomplished that against Sonny Gray on Saturday. With the AL Central race tightening with Cleveland's poor play and the Royals' recent surge, winning a home series against a dysfunctional Cardinals team was imperative. Zebby Matthews gave his best effort. The rookie righthander struck out six batters through three innings, showcasing his slider as a viable out pitch against both lefties and righties. He allowed leadoff singles in the second and third, but struck out Lars Nootbar on a tight slider to end the second, and got Matt Carpenter to pop out to end the third. Opposing Matthews was Erick Fedde, who had dominated the Twins in his two starts with the White Sox and was acquired for a hefty price by the Cardinals at the trade deadline. Fedde hasn't been great since switching uniforms, with his middling strikeout rate dropping to 15.8% as a Cardinal and his ERA at nearly 5.00. He began his day by trying to sneak a cutter inside to leadoff hitter Willi Castro, and Castro yanked it 417 feet onto the pavilion in right field. The Twins quieted down after that. Edouard Julien led off the third with a base hit, but Austin Martin rapped into a double play, with second baseman Brendan Donovan making a slick play to graze the base with his foot as he fired to first. Minnesota loaded the bases in the fourth, with José Miranda being hit by a pitch, followed by two-out walks to Ryan Jeffers and Carlos Santana. Manuel Margot, starting in place of the injured Max Kepler, swung through a high fastball to end the threat. Matthews was cruising for a while. After a 1-2-3 fourth inning, he got two quick outs in the fifth, bringing up rookie center fielder Victor Scott II. Scott is fast and looks good in center, but he was hitting .219 in Triple A, and .147 in the majors. He took a hack at a Matthews's slider, which the fellow rookie left up in the zone, and demolished it--to everyone's surprise, including Scott's. It looked kind of like a golfer who had been hitting their driver in the woods all day, so they just decide to swing as hard as they can and somehow it ends up right down the middle. Meanwhile, Fedde was really settling in, and benefiting from a fairly wide strike zone. He used his sinker to induce ground balls, while Twins hitters were happy to pop up and/or get jammed on his cutter. He left a few offspeed and breaking pitches in the zone, but only when the Twins hitter was looking for the sinker or cutter. It was a really nice performance for the former first-round pick, who ended up having his first taste of success in Korea, and who began the year pitching for (perhaps) the worst team in history. He then gets traded to one of the more respected franchises in sports, only for them to immediately free-fall out of contention. The Twins were certainly happy to see him exit the game following the sixth. Andrew Kittredge, who has had closing experience with some good Rays teams of recent memory, allowed one-out singles to Margot and Julien, putting runners on the corners with one out. Martin has been swinging it well lately (.346/.414/.462 line in August), but quickly grounded into his second double play of the day. After a strong two scoreless innings from Cole Sands, the Twins turned to Griffin Jax for the eighth, who struck out two in a brief 1-2-3 inning. That's well and good, but it likely means that the Twins will be without Sands, Duran and Jax for the first game of the Atlanta series, so expect a lot of Jorge Alcalá and Caleb Thielbar. Facing an effective lefty reliever in JoJo Romero in the eighth, Castro started the frame with a walk. Royce Lewis was called upon to pinch hit for Trevor Larnach and wasted no time, crushing an 0-1 change-up 107 MPH into the left-center gap to score Castro and regain the lead. After a fly ball from Miranda that moved Lewis to third, the Twins had a golden opportunity to add some insurance. Kyle Famer was called to pinch-hit for Matt Wallner, and the Cardinals countered by bringing in a right-hander, Shawn Armstrong. This decision could be questioned, since Wallner has been hitting, and Romero had been struggling. Instead, you have a cold Farmer facing a fresh Armstrong with a key run on third. Famer ended up popping out on one pitch, and Ryan Jeffers then grounded out to end the threat. Jhoan Duran came out for the ninth, and started by striking out Carpenter on a 99-MPH fastball. Then the fun started. Nolan Arenado singled off of Julien's glove, and Donovan tapped a two-hopper to Julien in the next at-bat. Going for the force out at second, Julien threw wide. The ball sailed into left field, putting runners at second and third with just one out. Facing Tommy Pham, Duran buried two splitters to get ahead in the count, and locked Pham up with a curveball right down Broadway. It was an extraordinary recovery, in an at-bat where one could have made a fine case for just issuing a free pass. Nootbar would not be so kind. He swung at a first pitch splitter up in the zone and bounced it through the hole the other way to score both baserunners, flipping the game and giving the Cardinals the lead. Trends: Healthy Hurt Performing Great Fine Poor IL/Minors C Ryan Jeffers 📈 Christian Vazquez 📈 1B Carlos Santana 📈 Alex Kirilloff 📉 Jose Miranda 📉 2B Edouard Julien 📈 Kyle Farmer 📈' 3B Royce Lewis 📈 SS Carlos Correa 📈 Brooks Lee 📈 LF Matt Wallner 📈 Trevor Larnach 📈 Austin Martin 📈 CF Byron Buxton 📉 Manuel Margot 📉 RF Max Kepler 📉 UTIL Willi Castro 📉 SP Pablo Lopez 📈 Bailey Ober 📈 Joe Ryan 📉 Chris Paddack 📉 Louie Varland 📈 RSP David Festa 📈 Zebby Matthews 📈 Simeon Woods Richardson 📈 CR Jhoan Duran 📈 Griffin Jax 📈 SR Brock Stewart 📉 Jorge Alcala 📉 Cole Sands 📈 MR Trevor Richards 📉 Caleb Thielbar 📈 Scott Blewett 📈 LR Josh Winder 📈 Ronny Henriquez 📈 Randy Dobnak 📉 What’s Next: Bailey Ober (12-5, 3.54 ERA), looks to bounce back from a frustrating outing against San Diego, in which he was pinpoint and dominant until Manny Machado hit a two-run home run that tied the game. Ober will face Atlanta's Max Fried (7-7, 3.57 ERA), who has had a great career but has struggled with injuries in his final year before he enters free agency. and carries a 6.10 ERA for August. The Braves have been beset by an abnormal amount of injuries this year, and that has caused their performance to crater, though they remain in playoff position. Postgame Interviews: Bullpen Usage Chart: WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT Richards 0 0 44 0 0 44 Durán 0 0 0 16 25 41 Sands 15 0 0 0 26 41 Thielbar 17 0 18 0 0 35 Jax 0 0 0 19 12 31 Alcalá 0 0 25 0 0 25 Henríquez 17 0 0 0 0 17 Blewett 0 13 0 0 0 13 View full article

The Twins feasted off of former Twin Martín Pérez, but some baserunning mistakes and the soft underbelly of the Twins' middle relief corps cost them, as the Padres scored six late-inning runs to secure the series win. Image courtesy of © Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports Box Score: Starting Pitcher: Bailey Ober: 6 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 5 K (83 Pitches, 56 Strikes, 67.4%) Home Runs: Ryan Jeffers (20) Bottom 3 WPA: Steven Okert (-.721), Ober (-.160), José Miranda (-.147) Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs): In what felt like a blink of an eye, a four-game winning streak and a four-run lead in Texas Sunday became a two-game losing streak. As opposed to the dysfunctional Rangers, Tuesday's opponent was the red-hot San Diego Padres, who authored the second half of what the Twins hoped would be only a miniature backslide. On the plus side, Bailey Ober was starting for the Twins, and he has been outrageous since June, with the changeup becoming a signature pitch for the massive righty. Opposing Ober was Martín Pérez, an enigmatic relic from the Bomba Squad days. Pérez has periodically been good for a handful of teams throughout his career, and was periodically good in this game, as well. The Twins started quietly, with the first five batters being retired in order without much hard contact to speak of. Similarly, Ober started efficiently, retiring the first five hitters in 18 pitches. Wünderkind Jackson Merrill (Is it me or does his batting stance look exactly like Freddie Freeman's?), who almost singlehandedly won the game and ruined Zebby Matthews Day on Monday, managed to lace a two-out double into the gap, and scored on a grounder up the middle from veteran David Peralta. The Twins appeared to counter quickly, with Max Kepler and Austin Martin starting the third inning with singles. Manuel Margot was not told (or chose to ignore it, if he was; let's assume the former, for everyone's sake) to bunt, and that decision was certainly defensible, but he grounded into an easy double play to kill whatever rally there was. They capitalized, instead, in the fourth. Following a leadoff double from Carlos Santana, Pérez left a cutter in the middle of the plate that Ryan Jeffers demolished for his 20th home run. Meanwhile, Ober was lulling the Padres to sleep. He relied on his usual routine of coaxing soft enough contact early in counts that Padres hitters were caught in between jumping on pitches early in counts and hitting medium-deep fly balls, or working the count and risking the wrath of his wipeout change. This one, in particular, made on-base machine Jurickson Profar look like a blindfolded Chris Parmelee: The top of the fifth began the same way as the top of the third, and the results were almost as disastrous. With Kepler and Martin aboard and no outs, Margot again chose (or was told) not to bunt, but this time singled to left (and all the analytics nerds went wild). That brought up Royce Lewis to face Pérez (.386 BAA the third time through the order). Lewis delivered a sacrifice fly to score Kepler. Martin aggressively took third, and the ball got away from Manny Machado at third. Martin tried to score, but he was thrown out easily, putting a damper on another rally that was extinguished when Santana grounded out to end the frame. The bottom of the seventh saw Jake Cronenworth open the frame with a bloop double placed perfectly between Miranda and Matt Wallner, in left. That portended doom, with Machado stepping to the plate, and the six-time All-Star did not disappoint his home crowd, launching a no-doubter to left-center to tie the game at 3-3 and end Ober's night. Ober's command was sharp all night, but his 0-1 cutter to Machado was middle-middle. The Twins got right back to work in the next half-inning against the prize of the trade deadline, lefty reliever Tanner Scott. Lewis led off with a single off the glove of shortstop Tyler Wade, Santana laced a hard single to left, and Jeffers smoked a single up the middle. That brought up Miranda, who popped out after being reprimanded by home plate umpire Malachi Moore for protesting a check-swing call. No matter, as Christian Vázquez pinch-hit and stroked a single to left to score Lewis and Santana. Jeffers was thrown out at third on an incredible play by left fielder Profar, who delivered an accurate throw while running toward the left field stands at top speed. So instead of one out and runners at second and third, it was two outs and a runner at second. Willi Castro then attempted to bunt and was thrown out easily to end the inning. The two-run rejoinder should have given the Twins and their fans a lot of confidence going into the bottom of the eighth, but these Padres haven't exactly been rolling over when behind late in games. The legend Donovan Solano led off as a pinch-hitter against Steven Okert, who took over for Griffin Jax, and hit a sharp single on an 0-2 pitch. The even more legendary Luis Arráez flipped a single to left, and just like that, the segment of the lineup that had made Okert an appealing choice for Rocco Baldelli had slipped by without an out being recorded. Profar, who had struck out three times against Ober, golfed a go-ahead three-run homer faster than you could say Kody Funderburk. Okert actually produced a worse WPA in this game than Jorge Alcalá posted Sunday, at -.721. For the season, Okert sits at -1.82. The Twins went down 1-2-3 in the ninth against Robert Suarez to end it. Trends: Healthy Hurt Performing Great Fine Poor IL/Minors C Ryan Jeffers 📈 Christian Vazquez 📈 1B Carlos Santana 📈 Alex Kirilloff 📉 Jose Miranda 📈 2B Edouard Julien 📉 Kyle Farmer 📈' 3B Royce Lewis 📉 SS Carlos Correa 📈 Brooks Lee 📉 LF Matt Wallner 📉 Trevor Larnach 📈 Austin Martin 📈 CF Byron Buxton 📉 Manuel Margot 📉 RF Max Kepler 📉 UTIL Willi Castro 📉 SP Pablo Lopez 📈 Bailey Ober 📈 Joe Ryan 📉 Chris Paddack 📉 Louie Varland 📈 RSP David Festa 📈 Zebby Matthews 📈 Simeon Woods Richardson 📈 CR Jhoan Duran 📈 Griffin Jax 📈 SR Brock Stewart 📉 Jorge Alcala 📉 Cole Sands 📈 MR Trevor Richards 📈 Caleb Thielbar 📈 Steven Okert 📉 LR Josh Winder 📈 Ronny Henriquez 📈 Randy Dobnak 📉 Stray Notes: -Miranda is hitting a lot of balls on the ground, and although he managed a single in the sixth, he was picked off of first base. That was one of three key outs on the bases -Jeffers joins an exclusive club of 20-homer Twins catchers. Mitch Garver, Joe Mauer and Earl Battey are the only other members. What’s Next: Simeon Woods Richardson (4-3, 3.77 ERA), faces knuckleballer Matt Waldron (7-10, 4.29 ERA) trying to salvage the series. Waldron has been a godsend for the Padres, posting 138 solid innings for a rotation that has been decimated by injuries thus far. Waldron doesn't just throw knucklers, although that pitch does constitute 39% of his pitches. It will be interesting to see the Twins' approach against a pitch that no one else in the majors throws in a very important game. Postgame Interviews: Bullpen Usage Chart: FRI SAT SUN MON TUE TOT Richards 0 0 13 27 0 40 Jax 19 0 9 0 10 38 Henríquez 0 27 0 0 10 37 Alcalá 0 9 19 0 0 28 Sands 18 9 0 0 0 27 Thielbar 18 0 0 9 0 27 Okert 8 0 0 0 19 27 Durán 13 0 6 0 0 19 View full article

The Twins have not excelled on getaway days this year. Sadly, Sunday's tilt proved no exception, despite knocking former Twin Tyler Mahle out of the game after the third inning. Jorge Alcalá did not have it, and although Carlos Santana once again brought his team back with a late-inning home run, his misplay at first base allowed the Rangers to walk it off in the 10th. Image courtesy of © Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports Box Score: Starting Pitcher: Pablo López: 6 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 K (107 Pitches, 66.3%) Home Runs: Ryan Jeffers (19), Carlos Santana (18) Bottom 3 WPA: Jorge Alcalá (-.686), José Miranda (-.247), Matt Wallner (-.108) Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs): Following a three-game span in which the Twins insisted on kicking the defending champs while they were down, they were greeted in the fourth game of the series by old friend (or perhaps nemesis?) Tyler Mahle, making his third start of the year since returning from a UCL tear suffered while pitching for the Twins. That part went well for the Twins, at least. Mahle only made nine starts for the Twins after being acquired at the 2022 trade deadline. I normally would never blame an individual for the injuries they suffer, especially pitchers. However, with Mahle, it was reported that he didn't do the shoulder strengthening exercises prescribed to him during the 2022 stretch run, and his insistence that he was "fine" despite throwing his fastball in the mid-80s (he sat in mid-90s at his healthy best) certainly rubbed me and many Twins fans the wrong way. Despite all that, he performed pretty well for the Twins, posting a 3.64 ERA. So it was a little cathartic to see Mahle throw quite a few fastballs at 88-89 MPH, while facing the Twins in a game that could vault Minnesota to within a game of Cleveland for the division lead. Rocco Baldelli stacked right-handers against Mahle, who has reverse splits for his career, and following a strikeout by leadoff man Willi Castro, José Miranda rifled an 89-MPH fastball just over left fielder Wyatt Langford's glove for a triple. He would score on a Trevor Larnach double, before Ryan Jeffers jumped on a 90-MPH fastball at the top of the zone and deposited it in the bullpen from a 21-degree launch angle (translation: he hit a 2-iron). The balls put in play in the first inning in terms of exit velocity: 105, 110, 105, 92, and 103 MPH. How was Mahle feeling? He'll never tell. Besides his fastball, his split-changeup had very little action, and he only threw his slider six times, all taken for balls. Meanwhile, Pablo López was sweating through multiple jerseys trying to keep the under-performing but powerful Rangers lineup off the board. Marcus Semien greeted López with a soft single, and all-world shortstop Corey Seager struck out on a perfectly placed sinker. A single, fly-out and a walk loaded the bases for one of the stars of last year's playoffs, Josh Jung. But Jung flew out weakly to end the threat. López threw 31 pitches in the first inning, all told. He issued a leadoff walk to Langford in the second, but stranded him at third base, with Semien popping out to end the frame. He entered the third inning with over 50 pitches thrown, and at that point almost largely abandoned his sweeper in favor of his curveball. He started allowing more contact, but none of it was damaging, and López got through the third and fourth innings efficiently. His fastball had good life and velocity all day, sitting at 95-96 and hitting 98 MPH on occasion. Mahle allowed an RBI single to Jeffers in the third, and following an inning-ending double play from the suddenly cold Matt Wallner, Mahle's afternoon was over, as Armando Garabito took over to start the fourth. The Twins had a hard time adjusting to the live arm of Garabito, who had previously started games for the Rangers, and went scoreless in the fourth and fifth innings. López usually struggles when hitters can eliminate his sweeper from consideration, and it looked like his luck might run out in the fifth, with Semien singling to start the frame, bringing up Seager, who rarely lets a pitcher get him out three times in a row. He took some prodigious hacks on Lopez's best velocity of the day, but ultimately got jammed on an inside fastball, softly lining a ball up the middle. López initially tried to snag it, but pulled his glove down just in time, allowing Castro to field the ball on the bounce, right at second base, and relay to first for an easy double play. I was thinking that Baldelli might pull López before the sixth, but with no off day until Thursday, they tried to squeeze another inning out of him. Adolis García greeted him with a screaming liner off the wall in left. He then hit Nathaniel Lowe on an 0-2 pitch. López was allowed to face Jung, who rapped into what was initially called a double play, but was overturned on review. Langford then flew out weakly, bringing up the hot-hitting Carson Kelly. With the count 2-2, the Twins' ace threw a 97-MPH fastball by Kelly on his 107th pitch, somehow completing six scoreless innings despite oodles of traffic and a 3/3 strikeout/walk ratio. It's a good thing the Rangers were scoreless to that point, because Jorge Alcalá's afternoon started with a single to the nine-hole hitter, Leody Taveras, then a ringing double off the bat of Semien, followed by another sharp double from Seager. After retiring Josh Smith on a fly ball, Alcalá tried to sneak a 2-0 fastball up and away to García, who pummeled it 389 feet to tie the game in the blink of an eye. After striking out Lowe on a nice changeup, Alcalá again got too much of the plate, this time to the always-hacking Jung, who smashed a 1-2 fastball 420 feet to give the Rangers the lead. It didn't look good, with the Rangers having the dominant David Robertson and Kirby Yates available to close the game out. Robertson, for his part, pitched a shutdown eighth inning, but Yates, after taking the loss in Thursday's game, gave up a mammoth home run to Carlos Santana to tie the game at five. It was the first blown save of the season for Yates, and approximately the 17th time this year Santana has brought his team back from the dead in the late innings. Griffin Jax came on to pitch the ninth. For a moment, it looked like Garcia hit a walk-off home run with two outs, but he was just a hair out front on a changeup, and flew out to the warning track in left. Facing lefty Andrew Chafin in the 10th, Castro advanced the zombie runner, Edouard Julien, to third, but Miranda grounded into the drawn in infield and Julien was retired at home plate. Christian Vázquez then pinch hit for Larnach and struck out, handing the Rangers a golden opportunity to walk it off. Jhoan Durán was called upon for the fourth time in five days, and predictably, he did not have his A stuff, sitting 98-99 MPH with his fastball. He did strike out Lowe swinging for the first out, but then Jung hit a tapper to Miranda that evoked some memories of the 2004 ALCS in which Alex Rodríguez swatted away a ball that was in pitcher Bronson Arroyo's glove as he covered first. In that case, the play was called an out, but today Santana caught the ball and made a swipe tag of Jung. Unlike A-Rod, Jung did not make any sort of swatting motion, but the ball was jarred loose by his body and the ball trickled away, allowing García to score the winning run. Trends: Healthy Hurt Performing Great Fine Poor IL/Minors C Ryan Jeffers 📈 Christian Vazquez 📈 1B Carlos Santana 📈 Alex Kirilloff 📉 Jose Miranda 📈 2B Edouard Julien 📉 Kyle Farmer 📈' 3B Royce Lewis 📈 SS Carlos Correa 📈 Brooks Lee 📉 LF Matt Wallner 📉 Trevor Larnach 📈 Austin Martin 📈 CF Byron Buxton 📉 Manuel Margot 📉 RF Max Kepler 📉 UTIL Willi Castro 📈 SP Pablo Lopez 📈 Bailey Ober 📈 Joe Ryan 📉 Chris Paddack 📉 Louie Varland 📈 RSP David Festa 📈 Zebby Matthews 📈 Simeon Woods Richardson 📈 CR Jhoan Duran 📈 Griffin Jax 📈 SR Brock Stewart 📉 Jorge Alcala 📈 Cole Sands 📈 MR Trevor Richards 📈 Caleb Thielbar 📈 Steven Okert 📉 LR Josh Winder 📈 Ronny Henriquez 📈 Randy Dobnak 📉 Stray Notes: -Willi Castro has been dealing with some sort of back issue in recent weeks, and appeared to aggravate his injury beating out an infield single in the third. He was checked out by trainers in the dugout but remained in the game. -After stealing a crucial base against closer Kirby Yates in game one of the series, Wallner timed up Garabito and stole second again without a throw in the sixth. Wallner's sprint speed is decent (27.2 MPH) and I wonder if he has taken some pointers from Carlos Santana, who seems to really enjoy opportunistic base-stealing. What’s Next: Zebby Matthews (1-0, 3.60 ERA) faces Michael King (10-6, 3.19 ERA) as the Twins head to San Diego to take on the surging Padres. Those Padres have the game's best record since the All-Star break, and are putting a scare into the perennially great Dodgers in the NL West division. King is a converted reliever having a lot of success now that he has been given a chance to start, quite similar to the Royals' Seth Lugo. Matthews makes his second career start after delivering an impressive performance against the Royals last Tuesday. Postgame Interviews: (Coming soon) Bullpen Usage Chart: WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT Durán 22 18 13 0 6 59 Alcalá 0 20 0 9 19 48 Richards 33 0 0 0 13 46 Jax 0 15 19 0 9 43 Sands 0 0 18 9 0 27 Henríquez 0 0 0 27 0 27 Okert 15 0 8 0 0 23 Thielbar 0 0 18 0 0 18 View full article

With Byron Buxton hurt, and Zebby Matthews arriving, Twins fans had a right to be both hopeful and terrified going into Tuesday's tilt with Kansas City. Matthews was as-advertised, pounding the strike zone and holding the Royals to two runs in five innings, while the lineup obliterated All-Star spin doctor Seth Lugo en route to a convincing win. Image courtesy of © Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports Box Score: Starting Pitcher: Zebby Matthews: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K (77 Pitches, 49 Strikes, 63.6%) Home Runs: Christian Vazquez (7), Max Kepler (8), Kyle Farmer (1) Top 3 WPA: Jose Miranda (.185), Matt Wallner (.116), Matthews (.099) Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs): Excitement was in the air on Tuesday, as Twins fans awaited the debut of Daniel Zebulon "Zebby" Matthews. His arrival was hastened as a result of Joe Ryan's (likely) season-ending teres major strain, but Matthews has a lot of helium as a prospect. He started the year in single A but his overwhelming dominance (114/7 strikeout/walk ratio) prompted the Twins to turn to him, potentially over the more experienced Louie Varland, to fill the fifth spot in their rotation. Matthews was sharp around the zone, showcasing his elite strike-throwing ability. After a long fly out to leadoff hitter Michael Massey in the first, Matthews struck out MVP candidate Bobby Witt Jr. on three swinging strikes, going cutter-cutter-slider, a truly impressive display. While Matthews continued to paint the edges of the strike zone, he quickly got a crash course in how major league hitters can still hurt you if they know, or guess, what's coming. MJ Melendez, one of the more mediocre hitters in baseball (though with some power) guessed that Matthews was going to bust him inside and pulled his hands in, crushing a Matthews cutter 405 feet for the Royals' first run in the second. Opposing Matthews was the sort of pitcher he may become someday, Seth Lugo. Lugo throws about a hundred different pitches and commands them all well. He doesn't issue any walks and can throw his fastball as hard as 96-97 MPH. Kept in captivity by some dysfunctional Mets teams as a security blanket reliever for several years, he was finally allowed to start in 2023 with the Padres and pitched well, prompting the Royals to sign him to a multi-year deal this past off-season. He's been even better in 2024, making his first all-star team, and holding the Twins to a single run in 12 innings, but his league leading 155 2/3 innings have perhaps started to wear on him, as he hasn't been as effective lately, while skipping between start throwing sessions. It didn't take long for the Twins to take advantage. Willi Castro led off the first with a ringing double off the wall in right-center. Royce Lewis then worked a long at-bat that ended with him shortening up and lining a single up the middle to score Castro. Matt Wallner, now in the third spot in the lineup, hit a ball of the end of his bat and still drove it over the right fielder's head for a double. Jose Miranda, fighting a slump and zero for his last eleven, grounded to the third baseman Maikel Franco, who hesitated on whether he should throw home with Lewis going from third on contact. Franco decided against that, and threw wildly to first, with Miranda ending up at second and both Lewis and Wallner scoring to make the score 3-0. Facing Melendez again in the fourth inning, Matthews nibbled himself into a 3-1 count. He challenged the outfielder with a couple fastballs at 95 MPH down the middle that were fouled back. Matthews then finished off the at-bat with a backdoor slider. The at-bat was a good example of two affirmations for the rookie: A) He can beat hitters in the zone when he needs to and B) He needs to be conscious of not throwing too many strikes. Even better for the rookie, the Twins kept adding on against Lugo. Miranda doubled home Wallner in the third, and the red-hot Christian Vazquez homered to dead center field in the fourth (Should he move up in the order?). Matthews' best sequence came in the fifth, though not without some consternation. He struck out Adam Frazier on a cutter darting in on his hands, and then struck out Garcia on a 95 MPH fastball dotted at the bottom of the zone. Unfortunately, Kyle Isbel bounced a ball just out of the reach of a diving Austin Martin, and Massey lined a ball just short of Max Kepler's glove, with the ball rolling away and allowing Isbel to score. That brought up Witt Jr. for the third time, and after getting ahead with a painted first pitch slider, Matthews got Witt reaching for a fastball outside and induced a weak fly out to Kepler, a good sign in gauging the rookie's intestinal fortitude. Twins Daily's winning "Make It Official!" game recaps are sponsored by Official Fried Chicken, which you can find in center field of Target Field. With a name like "Official," we know we have to be the best in the game every day, and from your first bite, you'll know that's a promise we make good on. Matthews was done after five innings, and the lineup set out to make sure he earned a win in his debut. In the bottom of the fifth, Miranda and Wallner singled, and Carlos Santana walked to load the bases. Kepler then singled, which ended the night for Lugo. Facing Twins punching bag Chris Stratton, Manuel Margot produced an infield single of Garcia's glove and Vazquez delivered a sacrifice fly to make the score 8-2. I was unsure about the health/mental state of Kepler, who looked visibly frustrated striking out his first two times up and hasn't hit for much power lately. He must be fine though, as he delivered the aforementioned dagger to Lugo and then, facing lefty Will Smith in the sixth, golfed a three run home run to officially put the game out of reach. He later singled in the eighth to complete a three hit night. The Twins added some more runs off of Smith in the seventh, courtesy of a Kyle Farmer home run. Steven Okert, Caleb Thielbar and Josh Winder pitched the last four innings to seal the win. Trends: Healthy/Performing Healthy/Trending Up Key: Hurt/Performing Hurt/Trending Up Healthy/Slumping Healthy/Trending Down Hurt/Slumping Hurt/Trending Down Dead/IL/Minors C Ryan Jeffers Christian Vazquez 1B Carlos Santana Alex Kirilloff Jose Miranda 2B Edouard Julien Kyle Farmer 3B Royce Lewis SS Carlos Correa Brooks Lee LF Matt Wallner Trevor Larnach Austin Martin CF Byron Buxton Manuel Margot RF Max Kepler UTIL Willi Castro SP Pablo Lopez Bailey Ober Joe Ryan Chris Paddack Louie Varland RSP David Festa Zebby Matthews Simeon Woods Richardson CR Jhoan Duran Griffin Jax SR Brock Stewart Jorge Alcala Cole Sands MR Trevor Richards Caleb Thielbar Steven Okert Kody Funderburk LR Josh Winder Stray Notes: Miranda looks back, delivering a classic double to left-center and spraying the ball around with authority. He finished a home run shy of the cycle. Steven Okert returned from bereavement, and had the misfortune of facing Salvador Perez, who launched a home run to dead center in the sixth. Okert had given up a .931 to righties entering play. He may need to outpitch Trevor Richards down the stretch to keep his roster spot. Kyle Farmer hit his first home run of the year, an upper decker in the seventh to further ruin the day of Will Smith. Since last Friday's doubleheader, Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax have combined for one appearance. That could be crucial as the Twins are in the midst of playing 14 games in 13 days. Buxton's MRI showed no significant damage and he remains day-to-day. His hip has popped up as an issue several times since 2021. What’s Next: Louie Varland (0-4, 6.46) looks to build off an encouraging start in the second game of the Cleveland series (outside of that one curveball) opposing lefty Cole Ragans (9-7, 3.27 ERA). Ragans has electric stuff but has looked human against the Twins thus far, losing both games he started and allowing five runs in eleven innings. Postgame Interviews: Bullpen Usage Chart: FRI SAT SUN MON TUE TOT Thielbar 20 0 32 0 14 66 Winder 0 29 0 0 26 55 Richards 9 0 0 25 0 34 Alcalá 16 0 15 0 0 31 Sands 18 0 9 0 0 27 Jax 12 0 0 12 0 24 Okert 0 0 0 0 15 15 Durán 14 0 0 0 0 14 View full article

The Twins entered Sunday's tilt with the Guardians with a chance to cut the division deficit to 1.5 games. Instead, Tanner Bibee was nails, and the Guardians offense came alive against the middle of the Twins bullpen to win the game and split the series. Image courtesy of Jordan Johnson-USA TODAY Sports Box Score: Starting Pitcher: David Festa: 3 1/3 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K (70 Pitches, 46 Strikes, 65.7%) Home Runs: Byron Buxton 2 (16) Bottom 3 WPA: Cole Sands (-.251), Caleb Thielbar (-.157), Festa (-.090) Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs): To dramatic sorts who believe that a 3.5-game deficit is somehow insurmountable with more than a quarter of the season to go, this was a pretty big game. The Twins took the first two games of the four-game set via a doubleheader sweep before falling 2-1 on Saturday, with Gavin Williams dominating a Royce Lewis-less Minnesota lineup. The series finale featured rookie David Festa against de facto Cleveland ace Tanner Bibee. A win would put the Twins 1.5 games back with 45 games to play. Festa started the day by walking Steven Kwan, with the Cleveland left fielder laying off some close pitches. Kwan has speed, but he stayed at first, with, hold on. Will Brennan was hitting second. I simply cannot fathom an organization with a sterling reputation for being analytics-forward playing a hitter whom they had just recently called up from the minors, with a career 89 OPS+ in 754 plate appearances, in the second spot. In a lineup that thinks of itself World Series contending, no less. It's not like they don't have options: José Ramírez, Josh Naylor and David Fry all hit behind the Quadruple-A outfielder. I'm fairly certain even Ron Gardenhire wouldn't do something this foolish if he were managing today. Brennan would finish 1-5. Anyway, Brennan, Ramírez and Naylor all went down quietly. Tanner Bibee, for his part, has been an excellent starting pitcher since debuting early in 2023. With Shane Bieber and Triston McKenzie both out of the picture (though McKenzie could return shortly following his demotion), Bibee has assumed the number-one spot in Cleveland's rotation. He relies on good velocity on his four-seam fastball that plays off his above-average secondary offerings, and he locates everything quite well. Following an injury scare involving his shoulder, Bibee had a bullpen session on Friday that went well enough for him to pitch today. He looked okay, staying off of the barrels of Twins bats while painting the edges of the zone. He was sailing through the first four hitters, before he left a first-pitch fastball in the middle of the zone to Byron Buxton, who launched it 107 MPH into the left-field bleachers to score the game's first run. He somehow left an even fatter pitch to Max Kepler, who roped it 109 MPH for a single. Kyle Farmer then nearly delivered a two-run homer, which would have been his first of the year, off a high slider. Meanwhile, Festa was cruising, with a change-up heavy approach that Cleveland was aggressive against, resulting in a lot of quick outs. Festa flew a little too close to the sun against Ramírez in the fourth, though, as he left a change-up in the zone. Ramírez crushed it to tie the game. Following a Naylor single on another changeup, a massive (though seemingly innocuous) call went against Festa against David Fry. Behind 2-1, Festa threw a change right on the corner, clearly a strike. It was called a ball instead, which made the count 3-1. Fry then walked on another close pitch, putting two Cleveland runners on with nobody out. The Guardians ended up loading the bases following a groundout by Andrés Giménez and a walk to Cody Schneeman. That prompted Rocco Baldelli to pull Festa from the game in favor of Jorge Alcalá, who induced two weak flyouts to escape any further damage. I cannot help but wonder what would have happened had the fourth pitch to Fry been called correctly. The expected numbers on a 3-1 count (1.026 OPS) are just massively different than a 2-2 (.586 OPS). Of course, no runs scored, but Festa may have remained in the game a bit longer had he recorded an out in the Fry at-bat. The next eight outs went by in a flash for both teams. with Bibee and Alcalá breezing though the bottom of the fourth and top of the fifth, respectively. With two outs in the fifth, Christian Vázquez came about one inch from making the game 2-1, with his moonshot landing on top of the padding in left field and coming back to the field of play. Willi Castro then singled to right, but the ball was hit too hard, even with two outs, to score the plodding Vázquez. Brennan did throw home, resulting in Castro trying to take second on the throw. He was initially ruled out on the throw from catcher Bo Naylor, but confirmed safe after a challenge from Baldelli. It was all for naught, as Trevor Larnach struck out on a diving slider from Bibee. Of course, these are the Guardians, and David Fry launched a no-doubt home run to break the tie off of Caleb Thielbar in the next frame. Thielbar labored, after that, throwing 30 pitches and issuing two walks. He retired Bo Naylor, and was then relieved in favor of Cole Sands. In true Guardians fashion, Brayan Rocchio broke his bat and got a single, Steven Kwan rolled a dribbler (.140 xBA) by Castro at short and Brennan had slightly harder contact on his single to score Rocchio. The score was 5-1 when all was said and done, and somehow, my laptop survived being thrown out the window. It is truly astounding how this Guardians team has two functional starting pitchers and five of their lineup regulars wouldn't start on any other playoff team, yet they continue to torment the Twins. Randy Dobnak delivered three scoreless innings, while the Twins were held scoreless by the the top two setup options for manager Steven Vogt, Cade Smith and Hunter Gaddis. For some reason, Vogt elected to lift Gaddis with two outs and a man on in the eighth inning, opting for the struggling Nick Sandlin against Buxton. Buxton launched a splitter in the middle of the zone into the flower beds in left field for his second homer, making it a 5-3 game. Vogt made another questionable call in the ninth. With the first two batters aboard, Fry tried to bunt, and laid it down right in front of the plate, Vázquez picked it up and fired to third to record an out. Royce Lewis then relayed to first to get the double play, extinguishing the Cleveland rally. The Twins made some noise in the ninth against Emmanuel Clase. Kepler dumped a Cleveland-style flare single to left, and Farmer drew a walk. Vázquez then lined a sharp single to left with two strikes, making it a bases-loaded, no-out situation. He finished the day 3-4 with two doubles. After a Castro strikeout, Larnach grounded a ball sharply up the middle that Platinum Glove winner Giménez expertly turned into a game-ending double play. Trends: Key: Healthy/Performing Healthy/Trending Up Hurt/Performing Hurt/Trending Up Healthy/Slumping Healthy/Trending Down Hurt/Slumping Hurt/Trending Down Dead/IL/Minors C Ryan Jeffers Christian Vazquez 1B Carlos Santana Alex Kirilloff Jose Miranda 2B Edouard Julien Kyle Farmer 3B Royce Lewis SS Carlos Correa Brooks Lee LF Matt Wallner Trevor Larnach Austin Martin CF Byron Buxton Manuel Margot RF Max Kepler UTIL Willi Castro SP Pablo Lopez Bailey Ober Joe Ryan Simeon Woods Richardson Chris Paddack Louie Varland David Festa CR Jhoan Duran Griffin Jax SR Brock Stewart Jorge Alcala Cole Sands MR Trevor Richards Caleb Thielbar Steven Okert Kody Funderburk LR Randy Dobnak What’s Next: Pablo López (10-8, 4.74 ERA) takes on Brady Singer (8-7, 3.03 ERA) as the Twins welcome the Kansas City Royals to town for a three game set featuring the second and third wild card teams in the American League. The sinker-slider heavy Singer was a first round pick and highly touted as a prospect. He appeared to break out in 2022, with a 3.23 ERA and decent peripherals, was awful in 2023 and has rebounded to form a three headed rotation monster with Seth Lugo and Cole Ragans. López stumbled against the Cubs his last time out, but was clearly fighting his command all night. He'll look to continue his strong second half against the offensively-challenged Royals. Postgame Interviews: Bullpen Usage Chart: WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT Winder 42 0 0 29 0 71 Richards 41 0 9 0 0 50 Thielbar 25 0 20 0 32 77 Sands 26 0 18 0 9 53 Alcalá 0 0 16 0 15 31 Durán 0 0 14 0 0 14 Jax 0 0 12 0 0 12 Blewett 9 0 0 0 0 9 Dobnak 0 0 0 0 51 51 View full article

The Twins needed to take care of business against one of the worst teams in baseball history, and while the game got a little close for comfort in the late innings, they ultimately prevailed behind contributions throughout the batting order, handing the White Sox their 20th straight loss. Image courtesy of © Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports Box Score: Starting Pitcher: Simeon Woods Richardson: 4 IP 6 H, 3 ER, 3 BB 6 K (89 Pitches, 54 Strikes, 60.6%) Home Runs: Royce Lewis (13) Bottom 3 WPA: Max Kepler (.125), José Miranda (.094), Woods Richardson (.075) Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs): With the Guardians and Royals playing quite well of late, it was imperative that the Twins take advantage of a sad, hopeless, dysfunctional White Sox team. They took the first two games, despite both contests being oddly close for the first seven and a half innings. But never fear, the gods provided an offering in the form of Chris Flexen. He's a perfectly reasonable (I didn't say good) major-league pitcher most days, but not today, with his team riding a 19-game losing streak. It looked like Flexen might squeeze out of trouble in the first. Willi Castro singled, but was quickly picked off of first, and Trevor Larnach swung through a middle-middle fastball shortly after that to record the second out of the inning. Byron Buxton, who entered the game 8-11 against Flexen, walked, as did Royce Lewis behind him. Max Kepler then dribbled a grounder to the second base side, but rookie infielder Brooks Baldwin botched it and everyone was safe, including Buxton speeding home from second base. José Miranda then scorched a liner up the middle to score Lewis and make the score 2-0. Simeon Woods Richardson struggled his last time out, failing to complete four innings against a hot Mets lineup. Today, his command was an issue from the start, as he walked leadoff man Miguel Vargas. After a couple of strikeouts, he allowed a single to Andrew Vaughn and walked Lenyn Sosa to load the bases. He coaxed a groundout from Andrew Benintendi, though, to end the threat. It's hard to gauge a pitcher's performance when a lineup includes just two or three MLB-caliber hitters. For example, Woods Richardson retired Nick Senzel, Nicky Lopez, and Korey Lee in order in the second. He was having trouble locating his slider and fastball, but White Sox hitters were happy to let him get away with it, at least for a while. The Twins were not so kind to Flexen in the second. After a leadoff walk from Austin Martin, Christian Vázquez flied out to deep left center. Castro roped a double down the left-field line to score him, and then scored on a single to the gap from Trevor Larnach. Buxton was working the count, and I looked down at my laptop for a moment before hearing the loudest sound I think I have ever heard a bat make, as Buxton obliterated a fastball 113 MPH to left field. If Benintendi had had time to react, he may have been able to jump and catch it, since the ball was hit barely ten feet off the ground at any point.* *Sidenote: Does anyone look less interested in playing baseball right now than Benintendi? There were two or three plays in this series on which he could have dived to record an out, but chose not to, including Castro's single in the first that nearly landed on his foot. Then, in the fifth, he nearly homered off of Cole Sands, but instead, the ball got stuck underneath the padding in right-center, which to any moderately engaged player means an automatic triple. But he just coasted into second looking like he was in line at the bank. Royce Lewis then launched a fastball the other way for a three-run home run to make the score 7-0. Following another single from Miranda, Matt Wallner demolished a sweeper from new pitcher, lefty Sammy Peralta 407 feet off the high wall in right center for a triple to score Miranda. SWR wasn't going to find his command just because he was given a lead, and gave up three runs over the next two innings, as White Sox hitters sat on his fastball and hit line drives all over the park. He was only able to get through four innings, allowing nine baserunners in the process. If Zebby Matthews were pitching better in Triple A (he's not, don't look it up), I might suggest some sort of manufactured IL stint for SWR to give him a blow and to see what Matthews has. As it stands, the Twins will have to stick with SWR and hope the encouraging signs from David Festa are legitimate. Otherwise we may get a dose of the 2021-2022 Twins, where the front of the rotation needed to be perfect not just to win games, but to save the bullpen from their inevitable overuse in relief of the back of the rotation. Twins Daily's winning "Make It Official!" game recaps are sponsored by Official Fried Chicken, which you can find in center field of Target Field. With a name like "Official," we know we have to be the best in the game every day, and from your first bite, you'll know that's a promise we make good on. The Twins' at-bats deteriorated once Flexen left the game, chasing quite a few pitches and making outs early in counts. While they cruised along, the White Sox got three runs back against SWR and Benintendi took Jorge Alcala deep with a man on to cut the lead to three in the seventh. Fortunately, the White Sox turned to former Twins farmhand Prelander Berroa in the bottom half of the seventh. After retiring Miranda, he walked Wallner and Martin, then allowed a sharp single off of Lopez's glove to load the bases for Castro. A wild pitch from new pitcher, lefty Fraser Ellard, brought home Wallner and Castro drew a walk to reload the bags. Ryan Jeffers pinch hit and delivered a sacrifice fly to score the Twins' tenth run. The White Sox continued to make it interesting, with Robert Jr. and Vaughn (the aforementioned two major league caliber hitters the White Sox feature) hitting run scoring doubles off of Randy Dobnak, who had decent stuff, but was too often in the middle of the zone. The Twins added three more runs in the eighth on a bases-loaded walk from Vazquez and a two run single from Castro. Trends: (My general vibe about each player following today's game, based on zero inside information) Key: Healthy/Performing Healthy/Trending Up Hurt/Performing Hurt/Trending Up Healthy/Slumping Healthy/Trending Down Hurt/Slumping Hurt/Trending Down True Neutral Dead/IL/Minors C Ryan Jeffers Christian Vazquez 1B Carlos Santana Alex Kirilloff Jose Miranda 2B Edouard Julien Kyle Farmer 3B Royce Lewis SS Carlos Correa Brooks Lee LF Matt Wallner Trevor Larnach Austin Martin CF Byron Buxton Manuel Margot RF Max Kepler UTIL Willi Castro SP Pablo Lopez Bailey Ober Joe Ryan Simeon Woods Richardson Chris Paddack Louie Varland David Festa CR Jhoan Duran Griffin Jax SR Brock Stewart Jorge Alcala Cole Sands MR Trevor Richards Caleb Thielbar Steven Okert LR Randy Dobnak Notes: Buxton slammed into the high wall in right-center in the sixth, saving a run for Cole Sands and ending the inning, but was taken out of the game the next inning. He did not head into the clubhouse and remained in the dugout. After playing the first two games of the series, it's possible he may have gotten the day off had the Twins not been facing Flexen. The Twins drew a total of nine walks, including three from Wallner. What’s Next: David Festa (1-2, 6.98 ERA) starts for the Twins on Monday as they start a brief road trip against the other Chicago team, the Cubs. Kyle Hendricks (3-9, 6.86 ERA) goes for the northsiders as they play out the string on a lost season that began with some hope to contend in the NL Central. Hendricks has long been a poor man's Greg Maddux, baffling hitters with excellent command and diving offspeed pitches despite sitting in the mid 80's with his fastball velocity. However, similar to old friend Dallas Keuchel, he lost a few extra ticks off the fastball as he got into his mid-30's and just doesn't have enough to keep hitters honest, resulting in a dreadful 2024 season. Postgame Interviews: Bullpen Usage Chart: WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT Alcalá 0 0 6 0 23 29 Jax 0 0 8 14 0 22 Dobnak 28 0 0 0 25 53 Durán 17 0 0 6 0 23 Thielbar 0 0 0 0 0 0 Richards 0 0 9 0 22 31 Sands 6 0 0 0 33 39 Okert 0 0 0 0 3 3 View full article

Can't lose what I never had!

The Twins are good. Actually, they are really good, and the American League no longer is. Nobody seems to care, but that shouldn't stop the Twins front office from dangling some of their elite prospects to acquire a pitcher to put them over the top. On the business side of things, the Twins are an absolute mess. Attendance is down, revenue is down, and while the TV contract situation got some encouraging news recently, it still looks horrifying for 2025 and beyond. Ownership has been tone deaf and making self-serving moves and proclamations, with little regard for the front office, team or fans. Like most private equity firms, they focus only on the short term while neglecting consumers and those who manage day to day operations. What is important to note, however, is how good a job the baseball operations department has been doing the past few years. The farm system is the envy of baseball, the lineup has performed and the pitching has stayed remarkably healthy, even if it hasn’t reached the peaks of effectiveness like in 2023. This team is a dark horse for the pennant, and nobody seems to acknowledge it. Last year, the Twins made noise in the playoffs, and this year have flown under the radar while maintaining the fourth best record in the American League. The lineup has been a force since mid April, the starting pitching has been serviceable, if rather unlucky, and the bullpen has several pieces it could turn to for the stretch run. Just like in 2023, when perhaps no bullpen could match the firepower of Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, Brock Stewart, Louis Varland, Caleb Thielbar, Chris Paddack and Emilio Pagan. The top three remain the same, with the potential to add Varland back along with the emergence of Jorge Alcala as a sub 2.00 ERA demon from the right side. Justin Topa also exists, at least in theory. The rotation could use some top end talent, but that is truly the team’s only flaw. But considering Pablo Lopez’s recent playoff track record, it may be the most minute flaw of any contender. Let’s review: Baltimore: issues with lineup, rotation and bullpen. New York Yankees: lineup depth issues, pitching has come back to earth Seattle: Simply cannot hit Houston: Patchwork rotation, could still be a threat if Justin Verlander returns strong Cleveland: Lineup holes, no clear number two starter behind Tanner Bibee, who is not a clear number one. Kansas City: Kind of like the Yankees with two elite hitters, but Sal Perez is no Aaron Judge and the supporting cast is even worse. Also they have a bad bullpen. Milwaukee: Christian Yelich’s injury was the last thing they needed. No number two starter. Philadelphia: Late game bullpen has been a sore spot. Addressed by trading for Carlos Estevez. Atlanta: No depth. I told you. LA Dodgers: Pitching issues. Evan Phillips has struggled, Walker Bueller hasn’t looked the same, Yoshinobu Yamamoto is questionable to return this year, and Clayton Kershaw just came back. Some of these holes will be addressed at the deadline, but those acquisitions are an inexact science. Estevez looks like a perfect add for the Phillies, but the man has only pitched for the Rockies and Angels; who knows how he’ll react when presented with real pressure. The point is that the Twins are in really, truly, great shape. The American League as a whole, is definitely not. There should be a buzz around the Twins but there are two roadblocks with that. One, Twins fans and media never put the cart before the horse, and the national media has absolutely no idea why the Twins are even in playoff position. Case in point, I listened to a couple of minutes of Jomboy Media’s Talkin Baseball podcast, where they examined why all the top teams were struggling. Team by team they listed flaws similar to what I mentioned above. When they got to the Twins, Jake Storiale, who suggested last year that the Blue Jays lose on purpose to face the Twins in the playoffs, described the Twins as “ssstruggling..?” Trevor Plouffe then reminded Storiale they just took two of three from the Phillies without their three best hitters. I don’t blame Storiale, who is more informed on the Twins than most analysts. National baseball media cares about two things: cute stories and counting stats. The Twins were somewhat cute last year, with a bunch of rookies led by Royce Lewis announcing their arrival by breaking sports’ most nefarious curse. But there were no counting stats to be had, with Max Kepler leading the team with 24 home runs and 66 RBI. Lopez and Sonny Gray led the team with eleven wins each, while Jhoan Duran had 27 saves.. This year is more of the same but without the cute narrative. Ryan Jeffers and Carlos Santana lead the team in home runs with 14, tied for 66th in baseball. The RBI lead is a tie between Jeffers, Correa and Santana, at 47, tied for 70th in baseball. Correa has a high batting average, but that seems fleeting with his injury, and if he misses another week of games, he may not qualify for the batting title. On the pitching side, Duran has come back to earth, while Ober and Joe Ryan have respectable but not attention worthy ERAs in the high threes. Lopez will need a monumental second half to get his ERA below four. They do, however, lead the league in strikeout rate as a pitching staff. Counting stats are fun. We all remember Joe Mauer hitting .365 with 28 homers in 2009. We remember Brad Radke winning 20 games in 1997, and Johan Santana striking out 250 batters on an annual basis with a sub 3.00 ERA. But even if no one on the team gets to 30 homers, and no starter has an ERA under 3.00, this team could easily be elite in offense and relief pitching. In basketball and football, the currency of trades is draft picks. In baseball, its prospects. Walker Jenkins, Emmanuel Rodriguez, Brooks Lee and Zebby Matthews should all be in play to acquire either Tarik Skubal or Garrett Crochet. I’d lean towards Skubal with Crochet’s extension demands. Next year is next year, and payroll will likely drop even further. But Kepler and Kyle Farmer will drop off the books, so you should be able to lower payroll a bit and still get two shots at a title with a team that is elite in all three phases of the game. The team will probably be terrible by 2028. That’s baseball in a small market, so let's go out in a blaze of glory. View full article