Tom Froemming

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 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 https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1042238658571452416 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

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 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. https://twitter.com/Twins/status/1041840905253216256 That play ended the third inning, the Twins responded with a four-run top of the fourth that included an RBI single from Cave. It was station-to-station baseball that inning. Robbie Grossman led things off with a double, which was followed by the Cave single. Logan Forsythe and Ehire Adrianza added a couple more singles, bringing Cave around to score, then Willians Astudillo hit into a run-scoring ground out. Joe Mauer capped it all off with an RBI single of his own. Rosario homered in the first inning and played the outfield for the first time since Sept. 7. It’ll probably be awhile before he’s out there again. Rosie slipped while fielding a ball and aggravated the quad injury he’s been dealing with since the end of August. It looked pretty gruesome at first, he couldn’t get back up to throw the ball back to the infield, but after gathering himself, Eddie was able to walk off the field under his own power. Postgame With Stewart https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1041874931913388032 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!!!

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 Here are all four of the Twins home runs, which came off the bats of Max Kepler, Tyler Austin, Field and Polanco: https://twitter.com/TwinsHighlights/status/1041442707539935232 Austin also made a couple of nice defensive plays, including nice grab in foul territory, spilling over the railing and into an empty suite in the process. https://twitter.com/TwinsHighlights/status/1041438979088764928 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

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 This pretty much sums it all up: https://twitter.com/BaseballByTom/status/1041157457744146433 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

Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Berrios: 63 Game Score, 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 9 K, 66.0% strikes (64 of 97 pitches) Home Runs: None Multi-Hit Games: Grossman (3-for-5, 2B), Astudillo (3-for-4, BB), Mauer (2-for-5, 2B), Petit (2-for-3, BB) WPA of 0.1 or higher: Grossman .181, Rogers .148, Berrios .138, Mauer .109, Astudillo .108 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Petit -.108, Polanco -.152, Austin -.171, Hildenberger -.787 Hildenberger retired the first man he faced in the ninth, but then a Rosell Herrera double followed by a Whit Merrifield single tied it up at 4-4. Adalberto Mondesi delivered another single, putting the game-winning run at third base with one out. That created an opportunity for Paul Molitor to try an interesting strategy. He had Hildy intentionally walk the next batter to load the bases, then substituted in Logan Forsythe for Robbie Grossman, who had been playing left field, to give the Twins a five-man infield. The Twins could’ve had a seven-man infield and 15 guys in the outfield and it wouldn’t have mattered. Perez worked a full count, then hit a walk-off grand slam to center field. Based on the early goings of this game, you certainly wouldn’t have predicted that Jose Berrios would turn in a strong outing. He walked a batter and gave up a run in the first inning before walking two more batters and gave up another run in the second. Berrios got straightened out and was outstanding for the next four frames. After the second inning, Jose did not walk another batter, only gave up three hits and struck out eight batters. This was the first time Berrios had pitched to Willians Astudillo, not sure if that had anything to do with the sluggish start, but it certainly couldn’t have helped matters. Speaking of viral video superstar Willians Astudillo, here’s another good one: https://twitter.com/Twins/status/1040788341254381568 Trevor May gave up a solo homer in the seventh to bring the Royals within a run. Kansas City came within inches of tying the game against Taylor Rogers in the eighth, but the Twins combined to make an excellent play. Robbie Grossman fielded a double off the wall, fired in to cutoff man Jorge Polanco, who quickly relayed the ball toward home. The throw was a little up the line, but Astudillo did a great job reeling in the throw, then lunging toward the runner to tag him out just in the nick of time. https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1040799990296150016 Astudillo was also 3-for-4 with a walk, the first of his Major League career. Another day, another Joe Mauer milestone. He hit a double tonight that put him above Tony Oliva for fourth on the team’s all-time extra-base hit list. Twins Communications Director Dustin Morse gave us a look ahead at the next milestone Mauer will have his sights on: https://twitter.com/morsecode/status/1040779131854708736 On the topic of getting on base, the Twins did an excellent job of doing that tonight. They combined for 13 hits and drew three walks. You’ve got to come away with more than four runs when you have that much traffic on the bases. Postgame with Molitor Next Three Games Sat at KC, 6:15 pm CT: Chase De Jong vs. Ian Kennedy Sun at KC, 1:15 pm CT: Kyle Gibson vs. Jakob Junis Mon at DET, 6:10 pm CT: TBD Last Three Games KC 6, MIN 4: Coming Down is the Hardest Thing MIN 3, NYY 1: Odorizzi Carries No-No Into 8th Inning MIN 10, NYY 5: Joe Mauer Grand Slam Highlights Big Night for Bats

Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Home Runs: Cave (11) Multi-Hit Games: Cave (2-for-4, HR) WPA of 0.1 or higher: Moya .104 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Busenitz -.437 The Twins went with the opener/primary picher strategy again today. Any time they roll that out I like to give an overview on how everything worked its way out from the top down. Gabriel Moya was the opener. He pitched well, but was pretty inefficient. He threw two scoreless, no-hit innings and had a strikeout and a walk. The main problem was it took him 38 pitches to do so. With the expanded rosters that’s no big deal, but if the Twins were to test this during any of the other five months, that kind of an outing from a reliever would not be ideal. Stephen Gonsalves followed as the primary pitcher. The good news: He pitched three no-hit innings and didn’t give up an earned run. The bad news: He walked four batters, which helped the Royals to score an unearned run thanks to a Jorge Polanco error. Gonsalves threw 69 pitches. Alan Busenitz took over in the sixth. He gave up a double, then back-to-back home runs. Ouch. He threw 16 pitches, gave up three runs and failed to record an out. Matt Magill took over, but couldn’t get through the inning either. Magill gave up a run on a pair of hits and a walk. He got two outs and threw 21 pitches. Andrew Vasquez took over and hit the first batter he faced, but the finally recorded the final out of the sixth. He threw 10 pitches. Tally all that up and you get five pitchers combining for six innings, needing 154 pitches to do so. Not good. Things settled back down from there, as John Curtiss pitched a scoreless seventh and Oliver Drake covered the eight, giving up an unearned run. An error was charged on Chris Gimenez’s throw to second base on a steal attempt, but it really should have been Polanco’s second error of the game. He whiffed on the catch, the ball just sailed right on by him. The Twins held a 2-0 lead early thanks to a Jake Cave two-run homer in the second inning. They added two more runs in the eighth on an Eddie Rosario RBI single and a sacrifice fly by Robbie Grossman. That pulled them to within a run of KC, but the Royals added that insurance run in the bottom of the eighth and took care of business in the ninth. Next Three Games Fri at KC, 7:15 pm CT: Jose Berrios vs. Jorge Lopez Sat at KC, 6:15 pm CT: Chase De Jong vs. Ian Kennedy Sun at KC, 1:15 pm CT: Kyle Gibson vs. Jakob Junis Last Three Games MIN 3, NYY 1: Odorizzi Carries No-No Into 8th Inning MIN 10, NYY 5: Joe Mauer Grand Slam Highlights Big Night for Bats NYY 7, MIN 2: It Was Close, Until It Wasn’t

Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Odorizzi: 78 Game Score, 7.1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 57.5% strikes (69 of 120 pitches) Home Runs: None Multi-Hit Games: Mauer (2-for-4), Kepler (2-for-3, 2B) WPA of 0.1 or higher: Odorizzi .377, Adrianza .151, Hildenberger .126 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Polanco -.163 This was the first time all season Odorizzi recorded an out in the eighth inning, and he set a new season high for pitches in a start with 120. The only real big difference for him tonight was he threw his four-seam fastball a bit less often than usual. He typically deploys that pitch 54.6 percent of the time, but per Baseball Savant only went to it 51 times (42.5 percent). As is typically the case in any no-hit bid, there were some great defensive plays, including one from Odorizzi himself. Logan Forsythe and Robbie Grossman also made web gems while the no-no was intact and Max Kepler made an outstanding catch in the ninth. Luis Severino was looking really good himself tonight, holding the Twins to one hit through the first five innings, but the Twins finally broke through in the sixth inning. Max Kepler hit a one-out single and came around to score on an Ehire Adrianza double. The Twins added two runs off David Robertson in the seventh thanks to a hustle double from Jake Cave, a seeing-eye RBI single from Willians Astudillo and an RBI double from Max Kepler. La Tortuga hauling Astudillo scoring all the way from first made for one of the most fun moments of the entire season. https://twitter.com/WillRagatz/status/1040064216009531392 Once Odorizzi was out, Taylor Rogers came in and struck out Gleyber Torres, then Trevor Hildenberger got Andrew McCutchen swinging to end the eighth. Hildy stayed in for the ninth and earned his sixth save. https://twitter.com/TwinsHighlights/status/1040094807908130816 In the second inning, Mitch Garver took a hard foul ball off the mask and appeared to be dazed by the blow. He was checked on by the medical staff and stayed in to finish that inning, but was replaced in the third by Astudillo. Postgame With Odorizzi https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1040075548754509824 Next Three Games Thu at KC, 7:15 pm CT: Stephen Gonsalves vs. Heath Fillmyer Fri at KC, 7:15 pm CT: Jose Berrios vs. Jorge Lopez Sat at KC, 6:15 pm CT: Chase De Jong vs. Ian Kennedy Last Three Games MIN 10, NYY 5: Joe Mauer Grand Slam Highlights Big Night for Bats NYY 7, MIN 2: It Was Close, Until It Wasn’t MIN 3, KC 1: Walk-Off Willians

(chart via FanGraphs) Let’s just get right to the granny, shall we? https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1039698861806108674 Stuff like this is exactly why we keep paying attention. For all we know, this could very well be Joe’s last season. I’d bet on him being a part of the 2019 Twins, but until we have a definitive answer on his future I’m going to make sure to soak it all up, just in case. Mauer’s grand slam, the fifth of his career, put the Twins up 10-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning. The only problem was there was so much game left to be played. The Yankees fired right back in the top of the sixth inning with a grand slam of their own coming off the bat of Didi Gregorius. Thankfully, that was all the more offense New York would deliver. The Twins used an opener tonight, going with Tyler Duffey to start, then going to Kohl Stewart as the primary pitcher. Here’s how things worked themselves out: Tyler Duffey: 2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K (29 pitches) Kohl Stewart: 3.1 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 5 BB, 0 K (63 pitches) Trevor May: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K (11 pitches) Taylor Rogers: 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K (20 pitches) Trevor Hildenberger: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K (9 pitches) Stewart just could not find the zone, throwing just 46 percent of his pitches for strikes. That’s the last thing you want to see when your team builds a 10-1 lead. Stewart loaded the bases with one out in the sixth inning, then was lifted for May, who gave up the grand slam. Forget the opener, at this point the pitching gimmick I’m most interested in seeing in 2019 is Taylor Rogers pitching a borderline irresponsible number of innings. We’re talking Mike Marshall levels. He’d probably break down before too long under those circumstances, but Rogers has been so incredible of late. He now has 21 straight scoreless appearances. Hildy has also got things back on track of late. He went through a stretch last month in which he gave up multiple runs in four straight appearances. Since then, Hildenberger has only surrendered one earned run on three hits over 10 ⅓ innings. Mauer, Jorge Polanco, Robbie Grossman and Max Kepler all reached base three times. Jake Cave had two hits and stole a base. Postgame With Mauer https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1039718402275692545 Next Three Games Wed vs. NYY, 7:10 pm CT: Jake Odorizzi vs. Luis Severino Thu at KC, 7:15 pm CT: TBD Fri at KC, 7:15 pm CT: TBD Last Three Games NYY 7, MIN 2: It Was Close, Until It Wasn’t MIN 3, KC 1: Walk-Off Willians KC 4, MIN 1: Good, Great, GRAND, WONDERFUL!

Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Gibson: 54 Game Score, 5.2 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 5 K, 53.4% strikes (63 of 118 pitches) Home Runs: None Multi-Hit Games: Polanco (2-for-4), Forsythe (2-for-4), Grossman (2-for-4, 2B) WPA of 0.1 or higher: Gibson .169 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Astudillo .103, Busenitz -.268 After holding the Yankees to one run over 5 2/3 innings, Gibson’s ERA is down to 3.67 this season. He gave up four hits, walked four and struck out five. The only run he surrendered was a solo homer by Gary Sanchez in the sixth inning. Gibby exited and the game went haywire. Alan Busenitz walked the first two batters of the seventh inning and the Yankees wound up scoring six runs on five hits and four walks just in that frame alone. It seemed to be the half inning of eternity. None of the pitching mattered a whole lot anyway because the Twins couldn’t score. New York had already built a 7-0 lead by the time the Twins finally scratched across a pair of runs in the eighth inning. The Twins have been averaging just 3.90 runs per game since the Eduardo Escobar trade. You’re not going to win many games in the American League with an offense like that. Robbie Grossman was 2-for-4 with an RBI double. Logan Forsythe and Jorge Polanco also collected a pair of hits each. Polanco committed his 11th error in just his 58th game at shortstop this season. Next Three Games Tue vs. NYY, 7:10 pm CT: TBD vs. Sonny Gray Wed vs. NYY, 7:10 pm CT: Jake Odorizzi vs. Luis Severino Thu at KC, 7:15 pm CT: TBD Last Three Games MIN 3, KC 1: Walk-Off Willians KC 4, MIN 1: Good, Great, GRAND, WONDERFUL! MIN 10, KC 6: It’s a Lot Easier to Beat Bad Teams

Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) De Jong: 59 Game Score, 4.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 4 BB, 5 K, 56.2% strikes (41 of 73 pitches) Home Runs: Astudillo Multi-Hit Games: Astudillo (2-for-4, HR) WPA of 0.1 or higher: Astudillo .324, De Jong .225, Littell .137, Rogers .126 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Rosario -.106 If you think about it, Astudillo isn't even really supposed to be here, which makes his success to this point all the more fun. The Twins catching duo was supposed to be Jason Castro and Mitch Garver, of course, but even after Castro went down Bobby Wilson came up. Even down in Rochester, the Twins were constantly cycling through other catchers. They brought in Cameron Rupp, who has 287 MLB starts behind the plate to his credit, and after Rupp departed they added Juan Graterol, who (unlike Astudillo) had some MLB time prior to this season. Astudillo's defensive flexibility has obviously made him an attractive piece, but it's still pretty remarkable the way things have turned out for him this season, and really over his career. The walk-off was Astudillo's 15th home run of the season (three with the Twins and 12 more with the Red Wings). He had 17 in 560 minor league games coming into this season. https://twitter.com/Twins/status/1038897924640579589 De Jong, who was acquired in the Zach Duke trade, threw a lot of pitches considering how brief his start was, 73 total. I guess that’s what happens when you strike out five batters and walk four over four innings. He gave up only one hit, a single that was quickly erased by a 5-4-3 double play. De Jong relied on his four-seam fastball, throwing it 57.5 percent of the time according to Baseball Savant. He averaged 89.7 mph with that pitch, topping out at 92.1. His main secondary offerings were his changeup and slider, which he threw 15 and 13 times, respectively. While there wasn’t much impressive about his stuff, De Jong did get nine swinging strikes on those 73 pitches he threw. De Jong was originally drafted in the second round by the Blue Jays, was eventually dealt to the Dodgers, then again to the Mariners. He made his major league debut last season with Seattle, pitching to a 6.35 ERA and 1.55 WHIP over 28 1/3 innings. Zack Littell piggybacked off De Jong’s start, taking over in the fifth inning. He was pumping in more impressive velo with his four seamer, topping out at 96 mph, but the Royals actually handled him a little better than De Jong. Littell gave up two hits, one being a solo home run, over his 3 1/3 innings. He only got one strikeout, but didn’t walk anybody and threw 35 of his 49 pitches for strikes (71.4 percent). He induced only three swinging strikes. After giving up seven earned runs over 3 1/3 innings in the first two appearances of his MLB career, Littell has toned that down to three earned over 7 1/3 innings in his two outings since. It was an encouraging performance from the pair of young pitchers. Obviously both of these guys are being developed to go more than three or four innings, but with expanded rosters, piggybacking seems like an effective way to help get these guys more opportunities. Taylor Rogers was next up, and he delivered his 20th consecutive scoreless outing. He struck out three of the four batters he faced, the other reached on a hit by pitch. Trevor Hildenberger retired the only two batters he faced to close out the ninth, putting him in the position to earn the win. The Twins’ lineup just couldn’t string together much offense. Robbie Grossman led off the second inning with a double and was driven home on a single by Ehire Adrianza. They eventually left runners on first and second base that inning, did the same thing in the third inning, then didn’t get a runner into scoring position again until the ninth. Max Kepler hit a two-out double in the ninth, giving Astudillo the opportunity be the hero. Willians, who was the behind the plate today, was 2-for-4 and is now hitting .297 with a .911 OPS. Postgame With Astudillo https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1038894295493664768 Next Three Games Mon vs. NYY, 7:10 pm CT: Kyle Gibson vs. TBD Tue vs. NYY, 7:10 pm CT: TBD Wed vs. NYY, 7:10 pm CT: Jake Odorizzi vs. TBD Last Three Games KC 4, MIN 1: Good, Great, GRAND, WONDERFUL! MIN 10, KC 6: It’s a Lot Easier to Beat Bad Teams HOU 9, MIN 1: The Astros Are Really Good At Baseball