Tom Froemming

It's weird, Molly seems to have a really difficult time trusting relievers, but then once he does, it's ride or die. He'll keep rolling with that guy even through a big slump. Some of that "stick to your guns" mentality can be productive over the course of a long season, but it's clear this is more than just a blip on the radar for Trevor. He's really fighting it right now. I would've liked to see Reed get a look over some of these other guys on the roster, but, it's fair to point out he's had a 4.0 BB/9 rate in the minors the past two seasons and his 2.18 K:BB ratio over that span is not very promising. Still, it'll be a shame if he moves on to another org without at least getting an audition with the Twins.

I have a confession to make: I was rooting against Joe Mauer. In my defense, it was only for a short time. I just really didn’t want him to become the Twins’ all-time leader in times on base while on the road, so I was pulling against him. But it was just one time, OK? And, you know, all the other kids were doing it … Mauer ended up tying Harmon Killebrew for that distinction in Oakland, and wasted little time breaking the record at Target Field, leading off the bottom of the first inning with a single.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Stewart: 6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 64.0% strikes (48 of 75 pitches) Home Runs: None Multi-Hit Games: Mauer (2-for-4, BB), Polanco (2-for-5, 2B), Cave (2-for-4) WPA of 0.1 or higher: Stewart .431 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Grossman -.134, May -.134, Forsythe -.182, Hildenberger -.507 Download attachment: WinChart925.png It seems Joe is going to leave us all hanging on the whole retirement thing, but the milestone hit provided a great opportunity for him to be acknowledged by the home crowd. Mauer ended the night 2-for-4 with a walk and scored both runs for the Twins. Kohl Stewart was very good tonight, and has been really good this month. In four appearances, he’s only given up three earned runs on 10 hits and nine walks over 20 1/3 innings pitched (1.32 ERA, 0.93 WHIP). While it’s not like he’s exactly been dominant over that stretch, recording 13 strikeouts, he’s also only allowed one extra-base-hit, a double. He relied heavily on his two-seamer tonight, as to be expected, and was excellent at getting strikes with that pitch. Of the 41 two-seam fastballs he threw (according to Baseball Savant), 30 were for strikes (73.2 percent). That allowed him to lean on his four other offerings more as show-me/chase pitches. He threw his changeup seven times, all of them ending up out of the strike zone. Yes, a lot of Stewart’s success has come against some of the bottom teams in the league, but seeing his 500-pound fastball be effective against major leaguers and his other four pitches keep guys off balance is a very encouraging sign. He’ll definitely face some stiffer competition than he did tonight, but there’s also so much potential for Stewart to get better. Things have to get better with Trevor Hildenberger, right? He took over for Stewart in the eighth and allowed Detroit to tie the game on a Nicholas Castellanos RBI single, which was followed by a Niko Goodrum go-ahead single. Hildy yielded to Trevor May from there, but two more runs came in on a James McCann double. All four runs were charged to Hildenberger, who has now given up 28 earned runs in his last 27 innings pitched. The fact that Hildy was pitching the eighth in a one-run game would indicate he’s been removed from the closer role. Next Three Games Wed vs. DET, 7:10 pm CT: Jake Odorizzi vs. Matthew Boyd Thu vs. DET, 7:10 pm CT: TBD vs. Francisco Liriano Fri vs. CHW, 1:10 pm CT & 7:10 pm CT: TBD Last Three Games MIN 5, OAK 1: Gibby’s Arm, Cave’s Bat and Adrianza’s Glove Lift Twins to Victory OAK 3, MIN 2: Willians Astudillo Collects Three More Hits OAK 7, MIN 6: Khrush Davis Walks Off Twins Click here to view the article

Thanks for reading everybody! The walk-off losses put a negative spin on the series, but the Twins gave Oakland everything they could handle. It's a positive sign, and nice to see some of these guys get a taste of a playoff-type atmosphere on the road. I'd take Berrios, but Gibby has been more consistent. Berrios has three more starts in which he recorded a game score of 40 or lower than Gibson this season. On the flip side, Berrios also has four more starts with a score of 65 or higher than Gibby does. I don't think Ehire hits enough to be a regular. He's hit .259/.312/.387 in 540 PAs with the Twins the past two seasons, that's an 88 OPS+. A good offensive team may be able to get away with that from its shortstop, but I think the Twins are going to need all the help they can get at the plate next season.

Jake Cave hit a two-run homer in the first inning, Kyle Gibson pitched into the eight inning and Ehire Adrianza made a trio of impressive plays at third base Sunday afternoon in Oakland to lead the Twins to victory. Another day, another Joe Mauer Minnesota milestone. With two hits, Mauer tied Harmon Killebrew for the most times on base in Twins history.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Gibson: 58 Game Score, 7.1 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 57.0% strikes (65 of 114 pitches) Home Runs: Cave (12) Multi-Hit Games: Mauer (2-for-4), Cave (2-for-4, HR), Adrianza (2-for-4, 2B) WPA of 0.1 or higher: Gibson .210, Cave .135 WPA of -0.1 or lower: None Download attachment: WinChart923.png Gibson pitched well, but with only three strikeouts he needed his defense for plenty of support. Adrianza answered the call, making a few slick plays at third base including one that resulted in a huge inning-ending double play. This was the sixth time this season Gibson has gone at least seven innings and given up no more than one run. He only accomplished that feat once in 2017 and three times in 2016. Cave’s homer gave Gibson some breathing room early. It was Cave’s 12th home run of the season with the Twins, he had six more homers during his time with Rochester. The Twins managed to string together a three-run rally in the fourth inning, making for a relatively low-stress day. Still, the fact the Twins managed to score five runs is pretty impressive considering their overall production for the day. Other than Cave’s homer, the only extra-base hit they had was an Adrianza double. They also combined for 10 strikeouts and didn’t draw a single walk. The Twins used four different pitchers in the eighth inning to face a grand total of five batters. Gibson pitched to the first two Oakland batters of that inning, then Tyler Duffey, Gabriel Moya and Trevor May each faced exactly one batter. It worked, the Twins kept the A’s off the board that inning, but it sure did slow things down. May stayed in to pitch a scoreless ninth. He retired four of the five batters he faced, two of them on strikeouts. Next Three Games Mon: Off Tue vs. DET, 7:10 pm CT: TBD vs. Spencer Turnbull Wed vs. DET, 7:10 pm CT: Jake Odorizzi vs. Matthew Boyd Thu vs. DET, 7:10 pm CT: TBD vs. Francisco Liriano Last Three Games OAK 3, MIN 2: Willians Astudillo Collects Three More Hits OAK 7, MIN 6: Khrush Davis Walks Off Twins MIN 8, DET 2: Gonsalves Stymies Tigers Click here to view the article

Sometimes you just have to cling to the happy things in life like butterflies, rainbows and Willians Astudillo. The Twins’ rookie sensation was 3-for-4 with a double, an RBI and a run scored, lifting his batting average up to .338 and his OPS to .877. From minor league free agent to your new favorite player, Astudillo has been a joy to watch. What about the rest of tonight’s game? What did you not understand about butterflies and rainbows?Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) De Jong: 42 Game Score, 4.1 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 63.8% strikes (37 of 58 pitches) Home Runs: None Multi-Hit Games: Astudillo (3-for-4, 2B) WPA of 0.1 or higher: Astudillo .268, Duffey .169, WPA of -0.1 or lower: Cave -.105, Polanco -.115, Austing -.119, Hildenberger -.362 Download attachment: WinChart922.png Chase De Jong pitched well for the Twins, only giving up a two-run homer over his 4 1/3 innings of work. Paul Molitor went to the bullpen to get through the rest of the fifth before turning things over to Zack Littell. Littell retired the first six men he faced in order before giving up a pair of hits to open the eighth. The Twins played some excellent defense in the infield tonight. They turned a pair of great double plays and Jorge Polanco and Joe Mauer combined for a web gem that helped strand the go-ahead run at third base the eighth inning. The Twins headed into the bottom of the ninth inning with the game knotted up, thanks in large part to Astudillo’s game-tying RBI single in the seventh inning and the solid work from the bullpen. Tie game, bottom of the ninth? Oakland had the Twins right where they wanted them. Polanco failed to cleanly field a ball in the ninth that could have resulted in an out at third base but instead went down as his 13th error of the season. That turned out to be a critical mistake, as the game-winning run came in to score on a two-out wild pitch by Trevor Hildenberger. This was the 15th walk-off loss for the Twins, tying a franchise record. Things ended very poorly tonight. Polanco's error and Hildenberger's wild pitch both stung, but the bottom line is it's really hard to win if you only score two runs. De Jong now has a 3.97 ERA in 11 1/3 innings with the Twins and Littell has a 4.38 mark in the 12 1/3 innings he’s pitched since his ugly MLB debut. Andrew Vasquez made his sixth appearance for the Twins, hitting the only batter he faced on the foot. He’s faced just 13 men in those six appearances. Oliver Drake faced three hitters tonight and struck out two of them while issuing a walk to the other. His ERA is down to 2.60 with the Twins and he has 17 strikeouts in 17 1/3 innings pitched. Tyler Duffey induced a huge double play and Taylor Rogers extended his scoreless appearance streak, retiring the only batter he faced. Butterflies, rainbows and Willians Astudillo. Postgame With Molitor Next Three Games Sun at OAK, 3:05 pm CT: Kyle Gibson vs. Trevor Cahill Mon: Off Tue vs. DET, 7:10 pm CT: TBD vs. Spencer Turnbull Wed vs. DET, 7:10 pm CT: Jake Odorizzi vs. Matthew Boyd Last Three Games OAK 7, MIN 6: Khrush Davis Walks Off Twins MIN 8, DET 2: Gonsalves Stymies Tigers MIN 5, DET 3: Odorizzi Turns In Another Quality Start Click here to view the article

The Twins went toe-to-toe with the postseason-bound A’s but couldn’t contain Khris Davis. Khrush put Oakland up 2-0 in the first inning thanks to his 44th home run of the season, then delivered a walk-off homer for No 45 in the bottom of the 10th inning.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Berrios: 47 Game Score, 5.2 IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, 56.7% strikes (59 of 104 pitches) Home Runs: Grossman (5) Multi-Hit Games: Cave (2-for-4, 2B), Adrianza (2-for-4, 2 2B) WPA of 0.1 or higher: Polanco .307, Adrianza 180, Rogers .165, May .105 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Mauer -.104, Petit -.144, Berrios -.159, Magill -.281, Moya .301 Download attachment: WinChart921.png The Twins fell behind 4-0 in this one but stormed back with six runs in the sixth inning. Robbie Grossman hit a two-run home run, Ehire Adrianza had an RBI double and Jorge Polanco delivered a bases-clearing double in that inning. Jose Berrios walked the leadoff man in the bottom of the sixth on four pitches. He struck out the next two batters, but with lefty Matt Joyce about to come up as a pinch hitter, Paul Molitor decided to turn the game over to lefty Gabriel Moya. The only problem was the A’s had approximately 73 other hitters on their active roster. OK, that’s just a lame September baseball joke, but Oakland did then swap out Joyce for lefty killer Mark Canha. It was a good move, as Canha blasted a game-tying two-run homer. The bullpens kept things locked up over the next three innings. Both Trevor May and Taylor Rogers pitched 1 1/3 innings of no-hit ball before Matt Magill gave up the walk-off home run. On the downside, Berrios is not ending things on a high note. Over his last eight starts, Berrios has a 5.49 ERA (24 earned runs in 39.1 IP). Also, Joe Mauer was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts tonight. On the plus side, Rogers is looking more and more like a relief ace all the time. His scoreless inning streak is up to 23 1/3 innings. Also, the Twins got a taste of what a postseason chase looks like, playing a hard-fought game in front of a rowdy Oakland crowd. Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com relayed a bunch of depressing news via Twitter pregame. Miguel Sano was sent back to Minnesota to have his knee re-evaluated, Logan Forsythe was out with a sore knee of his own and Mitch Garver won’t catch again this year due to post-concussion symptoms. On a brighter note, Eddie Rosario’s MRI came back clean and Addison Reed has left the team to be with his wife, who is expecting their second child. Next Three Games Sat at OAK, 8:05 pm CT: Chase De Jong vs. Mike Fiers Sun at OAK, 3:05 pm CT: Kyle Gibson vs. TBD Mon: Off Tue vs. DET, 7:10 pm CT: TBD Last Three Games MIN 8, DET 2: Gonsalves Stymies Tigers MIN 5, DET 3: Odorizzi Turns In Another Quality Start MIN 6, DET 1: Stewart Impresses, Rosario Exits Due to Injury Click here to view the article

Stephen Gonsalves pitched the best game of his young major league career Wednesday afternoon, holding the Tigers scoreless over six one-hit innings. It was also a strong effort from the offense today, as four Twins had multi-hit games. This gave Minnesota a four-game winning streak, just one shy of tying its season high.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Gonsalves: 6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 69.2% strikes (54 of 78 pitches) Home Runs: None Multi-Hit Games: Grossman (3-for-5), Adrianza (3-for-4, 2 2B), Austin (2-for-3, SF), Astudillo (2-for-4, 2B) WPA of 0.1 or higher: Austin .164, Gonsalves .157 WPA of -0.1 or lower: None Download attachment: chart.png The Twins used an opener again today, it worked out great, but I still think it’s curious how they’re implementing the strategy. Gabriel Moya made his fourth start of the season and Gonsalves served as the primary pitcher. I don’t really get stacking lefties in this case. Why not go with a right-hander in front of Gonsalves? Also, the only dangerous hitter in Detroit’s lineup right now is Nicholas Castellanos, who hit third today. He’s a right-handed hitter who has an .857 career OPS vs. lefties and a .753 mark against same-sided pitchers. Since that’s the guy you’re most worried about beating you, why not open with a right-hander? All’s well that ends well, I suppose. Moya pitched a scoreless first inning. He hit the No. 2 batter Christin Stewart with a pitch before giving up a single to Castellanos, but then managed to induce an inning-ending double play. The Twins tallied four runs in the top of the second, meaning Gonsalves inherited a 4-0 lead. The most impressive part of Gonsalves’ performance, especially considering how things have gone to this point, is how he went right after Detroit hitters. He walked only one batter and threw nearly 70 percent of his pitches for strikes. Gonsalves leaned a little bit more on his fastball, throwing that pitch 64 percent of the time. He averaged 89.9 mph on that pitch, but maxed out at 94. He also went with the curveball a little bit more over his slider today. That’s a fun pitch, a big looping curve that he throws at 73 mph. He got three swinging strikes on the 10 curveballs he threw, and Detroit hitters were able to put that pitch into play only once, and even that had a wimpy exit velocity of 62.8 mph. Through three and a half innings, the Twins had already built a 6-0 lead in an impressive display of offensive efficiency. They managed to score those six runs on just six hits and a walk, and even did so without the luxury of a home run. Robbie Grossman collected three more hits. He’s 10-for-23 over his last six games (.435 average). Ehire Adrianza also had three hits and living legend Willians Astudillo drove in three runs today. Tyler Austin followed a three-RBI game by driving in two more runs today. Addison Reed, pitching for just the fifth time this month, worked a scoreless eighth. The only downer from this one is that Alan Busentiz surrendered two runs in the ninth. Over his last seven appearances, Busenitz has given up 11 earned runs over just 4 1/3 innings pitched. He gave up only 11 earned runs in his 40 innings with Rochester this year. Next Three Games Thu: Off Fri at OAK, 9:05 pm CT: TBD Sat at OAK, 8:05 pm CT: TBD Sun at OAK, 3:05 pm CT: TBD Last Three Games MIN 5, DET 3: Odorizzi Turns In Another Quality Start MIN 6, DET 1: Stewart Impresses, Rosario Exits Due to Injury MIN 9, KC 6: Twins Swat Four Homers, Avoid Sweep Click here to view the article

MiLB PAs Prior to Reaching Double A 1,358 Walker 874 Palka (plus 100 in the AFL) 799 Arcia 261 Rooker Obviously, playing his college ball in the SEC helped prepare him for such a jump, but it's still impressive to me what he was able to do at Double A in his first full season. Also, I get Walker, but is comparing a guy to Palka or Arcia really that big of a dis? I don't think so. Palka has a 114 OPS+ for the White Sox this year. To put that into context, that's only a point lower than Eddie Rosario. Arcia had a 101 OPS+ during his tenure with the Twins, five points higher than Max Kepler's career mark. Here's something I find incredible: Arcia is still only 27-years-old!

That could be, and guys who barrel up the ball more often are always going to have a higher BABIP than those who don't, so it's not all luck/things don't always even out. The only thing is if Arraez's BABIP were to drop, he's going to be providing very little offensive value. He's incredibly reliant on his balls in play going for hits. I just think Wade put together good at bats on a more regular basis. His process was better and the overall results were very similar. Wade also crushed him in 2 outs, RISP situations (Wade .297/.409/.459 in 88 PAs, Arraez .258/.338/.258 in 74 PAs).

Things got very challenging for me after the top 5. There's kind of a three-tier thing going on in my eyes. You've got the top three pretty clearly above the rest, then 4-5 in a tier of their own, but then after that you've probably got about 6-8 guys all pretty close. To me, that tier of guys were all essentially 6A, 6B, 6C ... On Jeffers, was just tough for me to justify putting a short-season guy up there this time around. Rooker was a different animal last season because he went up to Fort Myers and hit for power in the FSL, which almost nobody does. Again, those were two of the several guys I started to consider all the way up at six, it was very close. The big difference to me on Arraez and Wade was what happened with their balls in play. Arraez had a .338 BABIP and Wade's was .287. Wade was much better at hitting home runs, drawing walks and even held an advantage in stolen bases.

Jake Odorizzi followed up a one-hit effort against the Yankees by holding the Tigers to one hit through six innings before Detroit tacked on a few more hits and a pair of runs in the seventh. This was the first time all season Odorizzi delivered a quality start in back-to-back outings. He’s shaved his season ERA from 4.57 to 4.35 over these past two outings.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Odorizzi: 68 Game Score, 6.1 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 66.7% strikes (56 of 84 pitches Home Runs: Gimenez (2) Multi-Hit Games: Mauer (2-for-5), Polanco (2-for-4, 2B, BB), Austin (2-for-4, 2B), Gimenez (2-for-4, HR) WPA of 0.1 or higher: Odorizzi .240, Magill .151 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Sano -.118 Download attachment: WinChart918.png Odorizzi was aggressive tonight, needing just 84 pitches to go 6 1/3 innings. He only walked one batter and struck out six. It’s nice to see him finishing strong. Matt Magill took over for Odorizzi with one out and a runner on third in the seventh. He struck out the next two batters, getting swinging strikes on six of the nine pitches he threw that inning. He followed that up with a 1-2-3 eighth inning. Tyler Austin was back in the lineup after taking a game off to give his back a break after he tumbled over a railing in Kansas City. His presence was much appreciated, as Austin had an RBI single and a two-run double. Miguel Sano also returned to the lineup, playing for the first time since injuring himself on a slide Sept. 4. During the telecast, Dick Bremer noted that Sano hadn’t attempted a slide since the injury. Huh? You’d think it’d be a good idea to have the guy take some practice slides to make sure everything feels OK before throwing him into a game. Nick wrote a piece last night that touched on some of the questionable choices made by the Twins in concern to how they’ve handled injuries. Add this one to the list. Anyway, Sano looked terrible at the plate, striking out in all four of his at-bats. Trevor Hildenberger gave up a run on two hits in the ninth. He’s having a tough go of things of late, giving up seven earned runs in his last 2 1/3 innings. Postgame With Gimenez Next Three Games Wed at DET, 12:10 pm CT: TBD vs. Spencer Turnbull Thu: Off Fri at OAK, 9:05 pm CT: TBD Sat at OAK, 8:05 pm CT: TBD Last Three Games MIN 6, DET 1: Stewart Impresses, Rosario Exits Due to Injury MIN 9, KC 6: Twins Swat Four Homers, Avoid Sweep KC 10, MIN 3: It’s a Hard Road Click here to view the article

What? If anything the problem has been the guys have pushed themselves back to the field too quickly. Did you see Rosario's injury? That was a guy out there trying to make a play. Did you see Garver's concussion? He even (stupidly) stayed in the game to finish out that inning. Buxton was ready to play if the Twins needed him after the minor league season ended. Sano, when asked on Sept.10 whether or not he'd be back on the field this season: "Yeah, a hundred percent. I want to finish strong. I've had a struggling year. I want to finish strong." These guys want to play, that's not the issue.

Kohl Stewart not only had his best outing so far with the Twins, but one of the better performances of any Twins rookie pitcher this season. Over his six innings of work, Stewart only gave up an unearned run on three hits and three walks. He recorded five strikeouts. Eddie Rosario was forced to leave this game after aggravating the quad injury he suffered in late August.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Stewart: 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 59.3% strikes (51 of 86 pitches) Home Runs: Rosario (24), Polanco (6) Multi-Hit Games: Polanco (2-for-4, HR), Grossman (2-for-4, 2B) WPA of 0.1 or higher: Stewart .230 WPA of -0.1 or lower: None Download attachment: WinChart917.png Gabriel Moya served as the opener for tonight’s game. He held the Tigers scoreless, giving up one hit while striking out a batter in the first. The last time Moya opened, he covered the first two innings, but this time it was only the first frame. That’s where Stewart took over. He could have afforded to throw more strikes, though on the other hand, he did successfully keep Tigers hitters off balance. As is the norm, he relied heavily on his sinker and did a very nice job at limiting the damage. To my eyes, he also just looked really comfortable on the mound compared to some of his other outings. The highlight of the game came from Jake Cave, who made another tremendous diving catch. Next Three Games Tue at DET, 6:10 pm CT: Jake Odorizzi vs. Daniel Norris Wed at DET, 12:10 pm CT: TBD vs. Spencer Turnbull Thu: Off Fri at OAK, 9:05 pm CT: TBD Last Three Games MIN 9, KC 6: Twins Swat Four Homers, Avoid Sweep KC 10, MIN 3: It’s a Hard Road KC 8, MIN 4: OH THE HUMANITY!!! Click here to view the article

Ha! I figured I'd throw Robbie a bone. He's been playing really well of late (.878 OPS since the start of August), but just doesn't get a lot of attention/coverage. But what really is there to say? It'll be interesting to see if Grossman returns in 2019. He's still getting on base (.355 OBP) and killing lefties (.822 OPS). He's definitely a Major League hitter, but he's so vanilla. Plus, at this point I think it's fair to say he is what he is. Unlike guys such as Cave or Austin, you can't really project Robbie to get any better from here.

Thanks for sticking around and continuing to read these things everybody. What keeps me interested is that, even though the Twins have nothing to play for, some of these players are getting what may end up being their only/biggest shot. You never know. Unfortunately, there have been quite a few guys who have not impressed. On the other hand, getting to see Astudillo on a regular basis is a treat and watching a performance like Austin's yesterday really gets you wondering about what he could become. There's so much swing and miss in Austin's game, but it's impressive when he gets a hold of one. If he can cut back on the Ks and continue to provide strong defense like he did today, you've got a very exciting player. That's a big if, of course, but he's certainly among the reasons to keep watching over these last couple weeks. Hopefully his back is OK.

The Twins managed to end their series in Kansas City on a high note, combining to score nine runs on 18 hits in a victory that avoided a four-game sweep. Both Jorge Polanco and Johnny field collected four hits and were also contributors to the Twins slugging a season-high four home runs.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Gibson: 43 Game Score, 6.2 IP, 11 H, 5 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 68.1% strikes (64 of 94 pitches) Home Runs: Kepler (19), Austin (16), Field (7), Polanco (5) Multi-Hit Games: Jorge Polanco (4-for-5, HR), Johnny Field (4-for-5, 2B, HR), Rosario (2-for-4), Forsythe (2-for-5), Gimenez (2-for-5) WPA of 0.1 or higher: Polanco .240, Rogers .136, Field .130, Rosario .117 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Gibson -.151 Download attachment: WinChart916.png Here are all four of the Twins home runs, which came off the bats of Max Kepler, Tyler Austin, Field and Polanco: Kyle Gibson tied a season high by giving up 11 hits and five earned runs. This was also just the second time all season that he didn’t walk a batter. Taylor Rogers retired all four of the batters he faced and Trevor Hildenberger gave up a run in the ninth. So why the Robbie Grossman picture? It was his 29th birthday today (I also thought it was a pretty sweet pic). To celebrate, Robbie had a single and two walks. Next Three Games Mon at DET, 6:10 pm CT: TBD vs. Jordan Zimmermann Tue at DET, 6:10 pm CT: Jake Odorizzi vs. Daniel Norris Wed at DET, 12:10 pm CT: TBD vs. Spencer Turnbull Last Three Games KC 10, MIN 3: It’s a Hard Road KC 8, MIN 4: OH THE HUMANITY!!! KC 6, MIN 4: Coming Down is the Hardest Thing Click here to view the article

The road woes continued for the Twins Saturday night as they stumbled through a sloppy game and took a beating from the Royals. The Twins are 43-31 in home games this season, but this loss dropped their road record to 24-50. They’re also now 4-10 so far in September.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) De Jong: 33 Game Score, 3.1 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 66.2% strikes (49 of 74 pitches) Home Runs: None Multi-Hit Games: Forsythe (2-for-5), Astudillo (2-for-4) WPA of 0.1 or higher: None WPA of -0.1 or lower: De Jong -.241 Download attachment: WinChart915.png This pretty much sums it all up: Both Paul Molitor and third base coach Gene Gylnn were ejected after that play. Word came through later that they were both arguing the pitch should have been called a strike, that the batter didn’t pull back the bunt attempt soon enough. I've never seen Molitor more angry. He ended the confrontation by yelling "stupid, stupid, stupid" at the umpire. I'm sure he's been called worse, but it's pretty out of character for Molly to get so upset. Maybe he's feeling the heat ... There were other embarrassing moments in this one. Jake Cave lost a ball in the lights. Willians Astudillo made a boneheaded baserunning blunder, apparently forgetting how many outs there were. Chase De Jong made his second start for the Twins. It did not go well. He only lasted 3 1/3 innings and gave up five runs (three earned) on eight hits. The bullpen was brutal, as well. Zack Littell gave up four earned runs in his 2 2/3 innings, and was removed from this game due to an apparent injury. The Twins lineup tallied 11 hits and drew a couple walks, but could only come away with three runs. A big reason behind that was the only extra-base hit they got was a Joe Mauer double. The Twins will hope to avoid the four-game sweep at Kauffman Stadium tomorrow afternoon. Next Three Games Sun at KC, 1:15 pm CT: Kyle Gibson vs. Jakob Junis Mon at DET, 6:10 pm CT: TBD Tue at DET, 6:10 pm CT: Jake Odorizzi vs. TBD Last Three Games KC 8, MIN 4: OH THE HUMANITY!!! KC 6, MIN 4: Coming Down is the Hardest Thing MIN 3, NYY 1: Odorizzi Carries No-No Into 8th Inning Click here to view the article