Tom Froemming

Along with the Vikings getting started tomorrow, the Gopher football team improved to 2-0 and the St. Paul Saints advanced to the American Association Championship Series tonight. At least the Twins still have a couple minor league affiliates fighting for a title. Speaking of which, check out tonight's Minor League Report for some more positive news out of Fort Myers.

The Fort Myers Miracle scored eight runs in the first inning Saturday night, the most runs they’ve scored in an inning all season, and won Game 2 of the Florida State League Championship Series in convincing fashion. Unfortunately, the Cedar Rapids Kernels dropped the first game of their Midwest League semifinal series. Keep reading for more details on what happened in these two postseason games from the Twins’ minor league system Saturday night.MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 12, Daytona 2 (Game 2 of the FSL Championship Series) Box Score W: Griffin Jax (6.2 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K) HR: Royce Lewis Multi-hit games: Travis Blankenhorn (3-for-4, 2B, BB), Alex Kirilloff (2-for-5, 2B), Jose Miranda (2-for-5, 2B), Taylor Grzelakowski (2-for-5, 2B), Ryan Costello (2-for-4, BB) The Miracle lineup took all the suspense out of this one. They hung an eight-spot on the board in the first inning, followed that up with two more runs in the second and cruised to victory in Game 2 of the Florida State League Championship Series. Fort Myers had four runs and knocked out the opposing starting pitcher before they even recorded an out. Royce Lewis led things off by reaching on an error. He would come around to score. The Miracle batted around, and in his second at-bat of the inning Lewis hit a three-run homer. Griffin Jax set the tone in the top of the first by striking out the side, but he switched over into cruise control from there. He gave the Miracle 6 2/3 innings of two-run ball, giving up six hits while issuing just one walk. He finished with six strikeouts. Kevin Marnon took over from there and shut out the Tortugas over the final 2 1/3 innings. Marnon did exactly what you’d want from a pitcher in that situation. He threw 22 of his 29 pitches for strikes (75.9 percent). Lewis had the big blow, but this blowout was a great team effort. Five Miracle hitters had multi-hit games and Travis Blankenhorn reached safely in four of his five plate appearances. Fort Myers also combined to go 6-for-14 with runners in scoring position. Fort Myers now leads the series 2-0, meaning they’re just one victory away from winning the FSL title. Brusdar Graterol gets the start for the Miracle. KERNELS NUGGETS Peoria 5, Cedar Rapids 3 (Game 1 of the MWL Semifinals) Box Score SP: Bryan Sammons (6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K) HR: None Multi-hit games: David Banuelos (3-for-4, 2 2B), Michael Helman (2-for-5) Bryan Sammons was outstanding and the Cedar Rapids lineup built an early lead, but Peoria just wouldn’t go away. Sammons held the Chiefs to two hits over six shutout innings and struck out six batters. He exited with the Kernels up 2-0. Zach Neff took over in the seventh and pitched a clean inning. He went back out for the eighth but things didn’t go so well, as Peoria scored three runs in the top of the eighth to go up 3-2. Cedar Rapids managed to tie the game up in the bottom of the inning, but the Chiefs responded with two more runs off Jose Martinez in the ninth. The Kernels had plenty of opportunities to score more runs, as they tallied 12 hits and drew five walks on the night. They left the bases loaded in both the first and third innings. The sixth ended with runners on second and third base. They got a lead-off walk from Gabriel Maciel in the eighth, but he made the first out of the inning at home plate, trying to score on a double. They left the bases loaded up again that inning. Tough way to lose a ballgame, tough way to open up a series. The Kernels now face elimination tomorrow night at Peoria. If they survive, a decisive Game 3 will be played at Peoria Monday. STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Bryan Sammons, Cedar Rapids Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Travis Blankenhorn, Fort Myers TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed 1. Royce Lewis (FM): 1-for-5, HR, 3 RBI, 2 R 2. Alex Kirilloff (FM): 2-for-5, 2B, 2 R 6. Trevor Larnach (CR): 1-for-5, K 8. Akil Baddoo (CR): 0-for-2, 3 BB 13. Travis Blankenhorn (FM): 3-for-4, 2B, BB, 2 RBI, 3 R 18. Ryan Jeffers (CR): 1-for-5, RBI, 2 K 19. Jacob Pearson (CR): 1-for-1, RBI (as a pinch hitter) SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Fort Myers at Daytona, 4:35 pm CT: Brusdar Graterol Cedar Rapids at Peoria, 4:00 pm CT: Blayne Enlow Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games. Click here to view the article

The day before the Vikings start their regular season, the Twins went out and nearly gave up a perfect game to rookie Jorge Lopez and the Kansas City LOLoyals, excuse me, Royals. It’s almost as if the Twins are trying to fade into oblivion. They might as well hang up a sign outside of Target Field that says “Nope, nothing to see here.”Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Berrios: 68 Game Score, 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 5 K, 2 BB, 62.8% strikes (59 of 94 pitches) Home Runs: I don’t wanna talk about it, OK? Multi-Hit Games: EVERYTHING IS FINE! WPA of 0.1 or higher: Berrios .197 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Mauer -.104, Duffey -.195 Download attachment: WinChart98.png Lopez, 25, had just six MLB starts heading into tonight. His longest MLB outing came just in his last start when he went seven innings. The last time he recorded an out in the eighth inning at any level was back on Aug. 25, 2016 when he was in Double A. The last time he completed eight innings was Aug. 1, 2015, again at the Double A level. In 197 career games as a professional, Lopez had never recorded an out in the ninth inning. Never ever, at any level. He still hasn’t, thank goodness. Lopez carried a perfect game into the ninth inning, but walked Max Kepler to open the final frame. That was followed by a single up the middle from Robbie Grossman to break up the no-hitter. Crisis averted, I guess. That was it for Lopez, but if tonight was any indication, we’ll be seeing quite a bit more of him over the next several years. The Royals’ defense deserves some recognition, as well. Lopez only struck out four batters, leaving a lot of outs to be made in the field. On the positive side, Jose Berrios went more than five innings for the first time in six starts. In his previous five outings, Berrios had given up 16 earned runs on 26 hits and 13 walks over 21 2/3 innings (6.65 ERA, 1.80 WHIP), so it was great to see Jose back on track Saturday evening. He gave up one run over six innings. Tyler Duffey was the first man out of the bullpen. He faced five batters and managed to give up three runs while recording two outs. Andrew Vasquez (0.2 IP), John Curtiss (0.2 IP) and Addison Reed (1.0 IP) shut out the Royals from there. The Twins even managed to score a run in the ninth inning on an Ehrie Adrianza sacrifice fly (yay!). If you’re still here, bless your heart. If you need to blow off some steam in the comments section go ahead and fire away, but remember: NO YELLING ON THE BUS!!! Next Three Games Sun vs. KC, 1:10 pm CT: TBD vs. Ian Kennedy Mon vs. NYY, 7:10 pm CT: TBD Tue vs. NYY, 7:10 pm CT: TBD Last Three Games MIN 10, KC 6: It’s a Lot Easier to Beat Bad Teams HOU 9, MIN 1: The Astros Are Really Good At Baseball HOU 5, MIN 2: Rough Opener, Strong Stewart Homecoming Click here to view the article

The competitive balance in the American League is as uneven as it’s been in quite some time, and the Twins are getting to see both ends this week. Coming off of a rough series at Houston, the Twins got to come home and face Kansas City. The difference in wiggle room you have against those two classes of teams is staggering. The Twins ended up coming back from a 6-2 deficit to win 10-6 Friday evening.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Starting Pitcher: Game Score, IP, H, ER, K, BB, % strikes Home Runs: Rosario (23) Multi-Hit Games: Adrianza (3-for-4), Polanco (2-for-5), Rosario (2-for-5, HR), Cave (2-for-5, 2B) WPA of 0.1 or higher: Cave .240, Adrianza .232, Forsythe .192, May .120 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Busenitz -.156, Gonsalves -.272 Download attachment: WinChart97.png Considering how many guys there are who have been banged up the past few days, one of the most interesting things to follow right now with the Twins is just who’s in and who’s out of the lineup. Here’s how Paul Molitor filled things out for tonight’s tilt: Eddie Rosario made his first appearance since Aug. 30 while Miguel Sano (knee) and Tyler Austin (back) remained on the shelf. With how short Stephen Gonsalves’ outings have been, it’s hard to know if the Twins are trying to use him as a traditional starter or just as an opener. He lasted just 2 1/3 innings tonight, and has failed to complete four frames in three of his four MLB starts. Gonsalves exited with the Twins trailing 3-2, but Alan Busenitz allowed two inherited runners to score plus one of his own, giving the Royals a six-run inning. Their lead did not last long. The Twins stormed back to tally four runs of their own in the bottom of the third to tie the game at 6-6. From there, the bullpen was outstanding. Trevor May pitched two scoreless innings while Gabriel Moya, Matt Magill, Taylor Rogers and Trevor Hildenberger each delivered a clean frame as the pen. The bats had one more big inning in them, as the Twins tallied three more runs in the fifth, then added an insurance run in the eighth. The lineup combined for 10 runs on 12 hits, just two of which went for extra bases (a Jake Cave double and an Eddie Rosario home run). They added seven walks, three coming from Robbie Grossman, and were an impressive 7-for-14 with runners in scoring position. Next Three Games Sat vs. KC, 6:10 pm CT: Jose Berrios vs. Jorge Lopez Sun vs. KC, 1:10 pm CT: TBD Mon vs. NYY, 7:10 pm CT: TBD Last Three Games HOU 9, MIN 1: The Astros Are Really Good At Baseball HOU 5, MIN 2: Rough Opener, Strong Stewart Homecoming HOU 4, MIN 1: Astros Take Advantage of Pivotal Polanco Error Click here to view the article

Randy Dobnak and the Cedar Rapids Kernels bounced Beloit from the postseason after Dobnak delivered seven shutout innings. The Fort Myers Miracle won Game 1 of the FSL Championship Series thanks to some impressive pitching of their own and a powerful performance from Jose Miranda. Check out what else happened in the minor league playoffs Friday night.MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 3, Daytona 1 Box Score W: Charlie Barnes (6.2 IP, 7 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K) SV: Jovani Moran (2.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K) HR: Jose Miranda Multi-hit games: Travis Blankenhorn (3-for-3), Jose Miranda (2-for-4, 2B, HR) Game 1 of the Florida State League Championship Series opened up as a pitcher’s duel. Charlie Barnes of Fort Myers and Packy Naughton of Daytona each wiggled out of early jams, Barnes being the beneficiary of some great defense. Daytona opened the third inning with consecutive singles and loaded the bases with one out. A potential sacrifice fly was hit out to Aaron Whitefield in center, but he turned it into an inning-ending double play instead, throwing out the runner trying to score. This game was tied at 0-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth. Naughton retired the first two hitters he faced, but Alex Kirilloff hit a single to extend the inning and Jose Miranda delivered a huge two-run homer. The Miracle added an insurance run in the seventh, as Caleb Hamilton hit a leadoff single, stole second base with two outs and came around to score on a Travis Blankenhorn single. Things got way too interesting in the top half of the eighth inning. With Jovani Moran pitching, the Tortugas’ leadoff batter reached safely on a strike three passed ball. Moran hit the next batter, then gave up an RBI single. The Miracle finally got the first out of the inning on a pop out, but then Moran walked the bases loaded. Luckily, he got things straightened out and struck out the next two batters swinging. Heading into the ninth up 3-1, Ryan Costello committed an error to put the leadoff man on, but Moran buckled down again and struck out the next three batters, all swinging. Game 2 of this series takes place tomorrow evening. Griffin Jax will start for the Miracle. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 4, Beloit 0 (7 innings) Box Score W: Randy Dobnak (7.0 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K) Multi-hit games: Akil Baddoo (3-for-4, 2B) There’s nothing better than a dominant outing by a starting pitcher in postseason play. Randy Dobnak surely had the Snappers feeling helpless, as he shut them out for the full seven innings of this game. Dobnak gave up just six hits and a walk and struck out eight. He was effectively aggressive, throwing 72 of his 92 pitches for strikes (78.3 percent). Akil Baddoo was rock solid for Cedar Rapids at the plate. He hit a leadoff double in the first, but was eventually stranded there. In the second, he got the Kernels on the board with a two-out RBI single. He added another single in the middle of what was a two-run fourth inning for Cedar Rapids. This game was only scheduled for seven innings because if the Kernels would have lost, a third and deciding game would have been played later in the evening on Friday. With a victory in Game 2 of their series against Beloit, the Kernels advance to the Midwest League Western Division Championship, and will host Peoria tomorrow night. Bryan Sammons will be on the mound for Cedar Rapids. STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Randy Dobnak, Cedar Rapids Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Jose Miranda, Fort Myers TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed 1. Royce Lewis (FM): 1-for-4 2. Alex Kirilloff (FM): 1-for-4, R 6. Trevor Larnach (CR): 1-for-2, BB, RBI, K 8. Akil Baddoo (CR): 3-for-4, 2B, RBI, R, K 13. Travis Blankenhorn (FM): 3-for-3, RBI 18. Ryan Jeffers (CR): 0-for-3 SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Fort Myers vs. Daytona, 6:00 pm CT: Griffin Jax (Game 2 of series, Miracle up 1-0) Cedar Rapids vs. Peoria, 6:35 pm CT: Bryan Sammons (Game 1 of series) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games. Click here to view the article

As we head into the final month of baseball’s regular season, Twins fans are stuck looking for September call-ups to get excited about as opposed to a postseason run. Still, we’re all baseball fans here, and come October I know I’m going to be watching a lot of the games despite the hometown nine being out of it. I thought it’d be a good time to run through the current standings and take a look at not only the playoff picture, but also speculate on which teams may be best suited for a World Series run.Before we get into the Fall Classic, let's take a look around at the odds teams actually make the postseason in the first place. Below are MLB.com's odds to make postseason. (All odds listed are as of the end of August.) AMERICAN LEAGUE Boston Red Sox 100% Cleveland Indians 100% Houston Astros 99.9% New York Yankees 99.9% Oakland Athletics 85.7% Seattle Mariners 14.2% NATIONAL LEAGUE Chicago Cubs 99.6% Los Angeles Dodgers 74.2% St. Louis Cardinals 67.4% Atlanta Braves 66.7% Milwaukee Brewers 64.0% Arizona Diamondbacks 51.1% Philadelphia Phillies 40.1% Colorado Rockies 30.6% As you can see, quite a bit has already been all but decided in the AL in terms of who is likely to qualify for postseason play, but out in the West the Astros lead the Athletics by just 2.5 games.Things are a lot more wide open in the NL. How is it possible that the Diamondbacks lead their division but have barely over a 50/50 chance to be in the playoffs? More on that in just a second. Let's take a look at some World Series odds next. FanGraphs Odds to Win World Series Houston Astros 26.1% Boston Red Sox 16.2% Los Angeles Dodgers 13.9% Cleveland Indians 10.4% Chicago Cubs 10.3% New York Yankees 10.1% Arizona Diamondbacks 3.0% Oakland Athletics 1.8% Atlanta Braves 1.7% Milwaukee Brewers 1.7% St. Louis Cardinals 1.5% Philadelphia Phillies 1.5% Colorado Rockies 1.1% FanGraphs has the Astros as a clear favorite to repeat as World Series champions, but another nerdy baseball site has a much different view on things ... Baseball Prospectus Odds to Win World Series Boston Red Sox 14.7% Chicago Cubs 14.4% Cleveland Indians 13.2% Atlanta Braves 12.0% Houston Astros 10.7% New York Yankees 8.1% Los Angeles Dodgers 5.9% Arizona Diamondbacks 5.1% St. Louis Cardinals 4.9% Milwaukee Brewers 4.1% Oakland Athletics 2.1% Philadelphia Phillies 2.1% Colorado Rockies 1.6% Houston is way down at fifth, but the biggest split between FanGraphs and Baseball Pro is with Atlanta. FanGraphs has them at just 1.7%, ninth overall, while B-Pro has them at 12.0%, fourth overall. And how about the sportsbooks? When browsing all the lines at various online sportsbooks, it’s clear the Red Sox are the clear favorite, followed by the Astros and then things are pretty tight between the Yankees, Cubs and Cleveland. Another fun resource in staying up to date on the playoff races is ESPN’s Hunt For October page. One of the things I find interesting is the average win percentage of remaining opponents is listed for each team. It looks like the Diamondbacks are going to have their work cut out for them. The Twins keep me plenty busy enough, so I don't have a whole lot of time to keep up with the rest of the league, but I'd have to agree with the sportsbooks and say Boston is my favorite. Really going out on a limb, I know. They've got the best record in baseball and their roster is cluttered with stars, both in the lineup and on the pitching staff. If I was to pick a dark horse, it would be Oakland (no offense to the NL). This A's team reminds me a lot of the recent Royals teams that did so well in the postseason. Their defense is tremendous and their bullpen is as deep as it is nasty. Kansas City showed that formula can really work in October. Who's your pick as the favorite and your dark horse? Click here to view the article

It's not, but that's a really interesting idea. Maybe I'll try and make that happen next season.

Bad teams fail to execute, good teams make you pay for mistakes. Jorge Polanco committed an error on what could have been a double-play ball in the second inning and the Astros capitalized, scoring a pair of runs that frame. The Twins, on the other hand, had numerous scoring chances that they failed to follow through on. They actually out-hit Houston 8-4 in this one.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Gibson: 53 Game Score, 7.0 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 5 K, 1 BB, 59.2% strikes (58 of 98 pitches) Home Runs: None Multi-Hit Games: Mauer (2-for-5) WPA of 0.1 or higher: None WPA of -0.1 or lower: Austin -.124, Polanco -.131, Gibson -.174 Download attachment: WinChart93.png At the point where Houston went up 3-0 in the second inning, I thought “I wonder if Chris Gimenez can pitch back-to-back days?” Gibson settled in, however, and pitched very well from there forward. One thing that hurt Gibby was a horribly-timed error by Jorge Polanco. With no outs in the second and a runner on first, Polanco could not handle a potential double-play ball. The Astros went on to score two runs that inning. It was Polanco’s 10th error in just his 53rd game this season. Unfortunately, the Twins’ lineup could not emulate that bounce back from Gibby. The only run came in the sixth inning, but they had plenty of other scoring chances. They managed to leave the bases loaded in both the first and ninth innings. The Twins combined to go 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position, left 11 men on base and racked up 13 strikeouts. In addition to the costly error, Polanco left six men on base. During the game it was announced that the Twins would be adding John Curtiss, Chase De Jong and Gregorio Petit to their active roster now that Rochester’s season has concluded. I typically don’t get into the broadcasts much in these recaps, mainly because I have audio muted quite a bit of the time, but I just wanted to say that I really enjoy LaTroy Hawkins as Dick Bremer’s analyst. He’s pretty sparse, leaving plenty of room for Dick to call the game, but when he chimes in it’s worth listening to. Like a lot of the former players, Hawk has some great little anecdotes from his playing days and is also good for a one-liner here and there, but at the same time he never has the “well back in my day” tone that some of the other former players have. The thing I appreciate most is LaTroy will comment on a pitcher’s arsenal, how their pitches move and will detail what’s going on in the cat and mouse game between the pitcher and the hitter from time. Bert Blyleven’s simply been at it for a long time, and he and Dick seem to have the dynamic of an old married couple at this point. Justin Moreau is good when they’ve used him as the third man with another analyst, but I don’t think he’s been strong on his own. Roy Smalley is pretty solid, but talks way too much. Torii Hunter is pretty fun, and is a really good storyteller, but I don’t think he’s as good at keeping the focus on the game as Hawkins is. On the other end, Jack Morris is a bit of a grump. If FSN puts Dick in the booth with both Hawkins and Morneau, that would equate to must-listen baseball in my mind. But again, I’ve missed a ton of the broadcasts because I tend to put them on mute, so I’m interested in any opinions from the Twins Daily community. Drumming up conversations about the broadcast … yup, it’s September of a losing season alright FYI: Now that the rosters have expanded and the Twins aren’t playing meaningful games anyway, I won’t be including the bullpen usage chart going forward. Next Three Games Tue at HOU, 7:10 pm CT: TBD vs. Justin Verlander Wed at HOU, 7:10 pm CT: Jake Odorizzi vs. Framber Valdez Thu: Off Fri vs. KC, 7:10 pm CT: TBD Last Three Games TEX 18, MIN 4: Speechless TEX 7, MIN 4: Is Jose OK? MIN 10, TEX 7: Tex-plosion! Click here to view the article

He’s back! The Twins re-acquired 2017 two-way sensation Chris Gimenez at the waiver trade deadline, and his presence on the roster immediately paid off. Gimenez pitched and hit a home run Sunday. Shohei Ohtani? Pfft, who needs 'em!?!?!? Read on for the full rundown of everything you need to know (and a bunch of stuff you’d rather forget) from the past seven days.Weekly Snapshot: Mon, 8/27 through Sun, 9/2 Record Last Week: 2-4 (63-73 overall) Run Differential Last Week: -22 (-59 overall) Standing: Second place in AL Central (-14) HIGHLIGHTS Most of the positive news coming out of Twins Territory this week had to do with the minor leagues, so you’ll want to make sure and check out the “down on the farm” section. As for the major league club, the entire starting pitching staff is struggling and the offense has had difficulties scoring runs. Pretty tough to find silver linings when that’s the case. Luckily, Jake Cave and a couple of the guys in the bullpen have continued to impress. Cave has homered in three straight games and has six homers in his last 13 games. Trevor May pitched 2 ⅔ scoreless innings and struck out six batters in the process. His ERA is down to 1.88 and he’s racked up 22 strikeouts in 14 ⅓ innings while walking just three batters. Taylor Rogers added 2 ⅔ innings to his scoreless streak, which is now at 14 ⅔ innings. He’s only given up seven hits and a walk over that span and has stranded eight of the nine runners he’s inherited in the process. Also, Joe Mauer reached another milestone this week, scoring the 1,000th run of his career, and Willians Astudillo hit his first Major League home run. Left-handed reliever Andrew Vasquez, a former 32nd-round pick who opened the year with the Fort Myers Miracle, made his Major League debut Saturday. He recorded two outs in that game, giving up an unearned run due to his own two errors. OK, so maybe that wasn’t such a hallmark moment, but debuts are always highlights in my book. LOWLIGHTS Everything else. The Twins’ established starting pitchers all appear to be fighting through some things right now. Kyle Gibson (5 ER in 5.1 IP), Jake Odorizzi (3 ER in 5.1 IP) and Jose Berrios (5 ER in 4.0 IP) combined for a 7.98 ERA this week. To make matters worse, the rookies struggled as well. Kohl Stewart (3 ER in 4.2 IP), Stephen Gonsalves (3 ER in 3.2 IP) and Zack Littell (2 ER in 4.0 IP) combined for a 5.84 ERA, and even combining to allow four unearned runs. So yeah, the defense was real bad too. Littell served as the “primary pitcher” in the Twins’ first experiment with the opener Sunday. It was was a complete disaster in what ended up being an embarrassing 18-4 loss. It’s not like the offense was firing on all cylinders, either. They averaged 4.3 runs per game this week even with a 10-run effort sprinkled in there. One of the big dates on the transaction calendar passed this week, as Aug. 31 was the deadline for waiver trades. The only move the Twins made was to send Bobby Wilson to the Cubs for Gimenez and a player to be named. Big news, I know. TRENDING STORYLINE Rosters expanded on Sept. 1, meaning the Twins had enough room to activate Matt Belisle off the DL and call up Gimenez. Yay! Vasquez, Littell, Tyler Duffey and Johnny Field, were also added to the active roster. With the minor league season ending there will likely be a few more guys who join the Twins early this week. A couple players we know will not be joining the Twins are Fernando Romero and Byron Buxton. Romero has pitched a career-high 146 ⅔ innings this season, and has been showing some signs of fatigue over his past five starts, so the team is deciding to shut him down to avoid any further stress on his arm. There was a lot of good discussion already at the site about Buxton leading up to this decision. First in Nick’s Awkward Decisions article, then in Ted’s piece titled Hardball, the Twins and Byron Buxton. I don’t feel the need to rehash everything here, since it’s already been well-covered and I’m sure will continue to be a topic of discussion. Make sure to check out this week’s episode of Gleeman and the Geek for more. The reasoning the Twins, through GM Thad Levine, have provided on that move are not exactly clear. There was some acknowledgement that service time had something to do with the move, but the club is also insisting that Buxton’s left wrist injury continues to bother him. Anyway, Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press did an excellent job of reporting on the decision. I recommend you go check out his article from Saturday evening if you’re interested in seeing how Levine addressed questions. Personally, I think it’s clear this has everything to do with manipulating his service time in order to gain an extra year of control. Absolutely 100 percent. If his wrist is still bothering him, why in the world was he even playing games for Rochester in the first place? If the Twins were in the playoff hunt right now, Buxton would be on this team. Anyway, moving on ... Now that we know who’s up and who’s definitely headed home at the conclusion of the minor league season, who’s left? The only other healthy players on the 40-man roster are John Curtiss, Chase De Jong and Lewis Thorpe. Like Romero, Thorpe has already established a new career-high in innings pitched, but (unlike Romero), he’s finishing strong. Thorpe got called up to Rochester for his final four starts and pitched to a 3.32 ERA, 1.20 WHIP and 4.33 K:BB ratio (10.8 K/9, 2.5 BB/9). DOWN ON THE FARM On the final day of their regular season, the Fort Myers Miracle clinched a playoff appearance. They entered Sunday a game back, meaning they need to win AND the team they were chasing had to lose. They pulled it off, as a 2-1 Miracle victory combined with a 5-2 loss by the Charlotte Stone Crabs sent Fort Myers to the postseason. Brusdar Graterol (4.2 IP), Jovani Moran (2.1 IP) and Colton Davis (2.0 IP) were up to the task, combining to give up just one run. Aaron Whitefield drove in a run on a single in the fourth inning, stole second base, stole third base and scored on a throwing error by the catcher. The Miracle open their series against the Palm Beach Cardinals Tuesday night. Cedar Rapids also qualified for the playoffs, and will kickoff its playoff series Wednesday evening Elizabethton has already opened up postseason play, and won its matchup in the Appalachian League Semifinals. The E-Twins are trying to defend their 2017 league title, and take their eighth Appy League Championship since the turn of the millennium. Game 1 against the Princeton Rays is Tuesday evening. The participants for the Arizona Fall League were also announced this week. The Twins are sending pitchers Griffin Jax, Hector Lujan, Alex Robinson and Devin Smeltzer. The position players who are Arizona bound include Travis Blankenhorn, Jaylin Davis, Luke Raley and Brent Rooker. Additionally, Chattanooga manager Tommy Watkins will be managing the Salt River Rafters. The AFL season opens Oct. 9. LOOKING AHEAD The Twins head to Houston to play the defending World Series champion Astros. The series opens with a Labor Day matinee. After taking Thursday off, the Twins will come home to play their second to the last series of the season at Target Field. Monday, 9/3 at Houston, 1:10 pm CT Tuesday, 9/4 at Houston, 7:10 pm CT Wednesday, 9/5 at Houston, 7:10 pm CT Thursday, 9/6 OFF Friday, 9/7 vs. Kansas City, 7:10 pm CT Saturday, 9/8 vs. Kansas City, 6:10 pm CT Sunday, 9/9 vs. Kansas City, 1:10 pm CT CATCHING UP ON TWINS DAILY GAME RECAPS Game 130 | CLE 8, MIN 1: Where Did the Runs Go? Game 131 | MIN 4, CLE 3: Astudillo Gets First Homer, Mauer Scores 1,000th Run Game 132 | CLE 5, MIN 3: Odorizzi Fades, Busenitz Blows It Game 133 | MIN 10, TEX 7: Tex-plosion! Game 134 | TEX 7, MIN 4: Is Jose OK? Game 135 | TEX 18, MIN 4: Speechless Click here to view the article

What can you even say about this game? Well, to even call it Major League Baseball is an embarrassment on multiple levels. The Twins played very poorly, there was an epic ump show and things wound down with Chris Gimenez on the mound. What do we even call this? Total system failure is already taken.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Download attachment: WinChart92.png In the sixth inning, Matt Belilse made his first appearance since being activated off the disabled list. He threw three pitches, the last of which hit Adrian Beltre. For some reason, home plate umpire Alan Porter determined it was intentional and tossed Belisle. The score was already 10-0 at that time. In the eighth inning, Addison Reed got ejected for arguing balls and strikes. The score was 13-2 at that time. I hope Mr. Porter is real proud of himself for entertaining all the people who came out to the ballpark to see him. Gimenez came in to replace Reed, because of course. At least Gimenez provided a light-hearted finish to this game by hitting a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth. The Twins experimented with the opener today, starting things off with Gabriel Moya. He gave up a two-run homer in the first. Zack Littell came in for the next four innings and gave up three runs, though only two were earned. Oh yeah, the Twins also committed three errors today. Tyler Duffey recorded only one out and gave up five runs (four earned). Alan Busenitz recorded two outs and gave up a run on a homer. Reed gave up a run before he got tossed and the Rangers scored five runs off Gimenez in the eighth. If you ask me, it’s a little bit bush league to have your guys swinging out of their shoes against Gimenez. On the other hand, I guess it’s pretty bush of the Twins to have him pitching in the first place, especially in September when there should be an abundance of arms. Jake Cave was a bright spot for the Twins, as he hit his 10th home run of the season. He’s now gone deep in three straight games and has has six homers in his last 13 games. Postgame With Molitor Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen92.png Next Three Games Mon at HOU, 1:10 pm CT: TBD Tue at HOU, 7:10 pm CT: TBD Wed at HOU, 7:10 pm CT: TBD Last Three Games TEX 7, MIN 4: Is Jose OK? MIN 10, TEX 7: Tex-plosion! CLE 5, MIN 3: Odorizzi Fades, Busenitz Blows It Click here to view the article

Should have qualified that with "relatively speaking." Basically just point to a guy in either Triple A or Double A and they'd be more intriguing than the Belisle/Gimenez/Field types on this roster right now. How about Jake Reed, Brian Navarreto and LaMonte Wade instead?

Yes, with the combination of travel and recent workload (I included his Triple-A appearances on the bullpen chart), it's certainly fair to have expected Vasquez not to be at the top of his game in his debut. I still don't mind Molly sneaking him in there for a short appearance just to get it out of the way. He's going to be a fun guy to watch, he's so different. As far as the September callup decisions, I think we know now that this front office is going to do everything it can to avoid having players accrue service time. These guys like Belisle, Gimenez and Field are around to hold back some of the other, more intriguing prospects.

Jose had that start where he was sick and came out the first couple innings down around 90. Tonight he was consistently 93-94, which is pretty typical. Yep, that's him. He uses his height to helps with deception/effective velocity and gets tons of grounders. He only gave up two homers in 178 total IP down on the farm. I don't have a good enough eye to know specifically what he's doing mechanically to make that happen, but he's just one of those guys who back in the day they'd say throws a "heavy" ball. He started this year all the way down in Fort Myers, so it's pretty wild to see him make it this far in one season.

Jose Berrios is one of very few Twins players who has actually taken a step forward so far this season. He should be the least of our concerns, but you can’t ignore what’s been a continuing downward trend of late. The Rangers hit three home runs off Berrios, as he gave up five runs and lasted just four innings in a loss at Texas Saturday night.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Berrios: 25 Game Score, 4.0 IP, 3 H, 5 ER, 6 K, 3 BB, 58.0% strikes (51 of 88 pitches) Home Runs: Cave (9) Multi-Hit Games: Forsythe (3-for-4, 2B), Mauer (2-for-4, 2B), Cave (2-for-4, 2B, HR) WPA of 0.1 or higher: Forsythe .143, Cave .115 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Sano -.108, Grossman -.128, Polanco -.200, Berrios -.297 Download attachment: WinChart91.png This is the fifth consecutive start in which Berrios has failed to record an out in the sixth inning. Over that stretch, Jose has a 6.65 ERA, 1.75 WHIP, 1.77 K:BB ratio and has given up seven home runs in just 21 2/3 innings pitched. I’m not sure if this is fatigue, though I doubt that, and there doesn't seem to be any evidence, such as a dip in velocity. Maybe he’s tipping his pitches again? Either way, having Berrios on a backslide would be a pretty rotten way to end what’s been a rotten year for Twins baseball. Here’s hoping he can turn it around from here forward. That start didn’t put the Twins in much of a position to win tonight, but it did serve as an opportunity to get Andrew Vasquez’s major league debut out of the way. He gave up a hit and a run while recording two outs. The run was unearned because Vasquez committed two errors in the inning. The 6-foot-6 lefty was as advertised on the mound, throwing his slider on 11 of his 16 pitches while topping out at 90.1 mph, per Baseball Savant. Jake Cave had another great night, going 2-for-4 with a double and a mammoth homer. He even added a nice catch in center field. Joe Mauer also collected two hits and Logan Forsythe had a three-hit night. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen91.png Next Three Games Sun at TEX, 2:05 pm CT: TBD (Zack Littell to be primary pitcher) vs. Yohander Mendez Mon at HOU, 1:10 pm CT: TBD Tue at HOU, 7:10 pm CT: TBD Last Three Games MIN 10, TEX 7: Tex-plosion! CLE 5, MIN 3: Odorizzi Fades, Busenitz Blows It MIN 4, CLE 3: Astudillo Gets First Homer, Mauer Scores 1,000th Run Click here to view the article

Elizabethton lost a wild Game 2 of the Appalachian League Semifinals, but the E-Twins can still advance to the finals if they win Sunday evening. Chris Williams was the offensive star of the night, though Luke Raley also had an excellent game, while Carlos Suniaga and Edwar Colina delivered the strongest pitching performances. Come check out what else happened around the minor league system Saturday night.TRANSACTIONS -Tyler Duffey, Johnny Field and Andrew Vasquez were all called up to the Twins. Zack Littell is also expected to get called up for Sunday’s game. -Omar Bencomo and Dietrich Enns were both promoted up from Chattanooga to Rochester. -Bryan Sammons was activated from the DL and assigned to Chattanooga. He made his Double-A debut tonight. RED WINGS REPORT Lehigh Valley 2, Rochester 1 Box Score SP: Fernando Romero (3.0 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 5 BB, 3 K) HR: None Multi-hit games: Kennys Vargas (2-for-4) Fernando Romero struggled to find the strike zone and the Red Wings’ lineup couldn’t get much going. Romero walked five batters in his three innings of work, throwing 38 of his 73 pitches for strikes in the process (52.1 percent). Rochester’s only run was scored in the first inning. Nick Gordon hit a two-out triple and scored on a Kennys Vargas single. D.J. Baxendale pitched a scoreless inning before Dietrich Enns held the IronPigs scoreless over the final five frames. Byron Buxton did not play. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Jackson 7, Chattanooga 5 Box Score SP: Bryan Sammons (4.0 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 6 K) HR: Andy Wilkins (12) Multi-hit games: Luke Raley (3-for-5, 2B, 3B), Brian Navarreto (3-for-3, 2B, HBP) This was Bryan Sammons’ Double-A debut, and he got beat around a little bit (see above), though the six strikeouts are encouraging. Luke Raley, who will be representing the Twins in the Arizona Fall League this year, was a home run shy of the cycle and Brian Navarreto had a three-hit night as well. Andy Wilkins continued to provide power for the Lookouts. He hit his 12th home run in what’s been just 130 plate appearances for Chattanooga. Brent Rooker, who will also be participating in the AFL, was 1-for-3 with a pair of walks. MIRACLE MATTERS Clearwater 5, Fort Myers 2 (10 innings) Box Score SP: Edwar Colina (6.2 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 9 K) HR: Jose Miranda (3) Multi-hit games: None The Miracle took a 2-0 lead, but the Threshers tied it up on a two-run homer in the sixth, then scored three runs in the top of the 10th inning. It was a rough night for the Fort Myers lineup, as Nos. 1 and 2 hitters Royce Lewis and Alex Kirilloff combined to go 1-for-10 with a pair of strikeouts and the team combined to go 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position. Edwar Colina had a great night, striking out nine batters over 6 2/3 innings. Ryan Mason followed with 2 1/3 innings of scoreless ball before Hector Lujan gave up the runs in the 10th. This loss dropped Fort Myers to a game behind the Charlotte Stone Crabs in the Florida State League South standings. The Miracle play their final regular season game tomorrow. Lewis joined the Twins pregame broadcast on FSN for an interview, check it out: KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 5, Beloit 2 Box Score W: Carlos Suniaga (7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K) SV: Jared Finkel (2.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K) HR: None Multi-hit games: Gabriel Maciel (2-for-5, 2B), Trevor Larnach (2-for-3, 2B, BB), Ben Rodriguez (2-for-4, 2B), Ariel Montesino (2-for-3, BB, 2 SB) The Kernels did most of their damage tonight in the third inning. Ariel Montesino led things off with a walk, stole second base and advanced to third on a ground out. Michael Helman was hit by a pitch to put runners at the corners. That Montesino-Helman combo was able to pull off a double steal, giving the Kernels their first run. Trevor Larnach hit a double that plated another run, and then scored on a Ben Rodriguez double to give Cedar Rapids a three-run inning. This was the first time Carlos Suniaga, who spent much of the early season as a reliever, pitched more than five innings. He went seven innings, remarkably needing just 83 pitches to do so, 61 of which were strikes (73.5 percent). E-TWINS E-NOTES *Appalachian League Semifinals* Kingsport 7, Elizabethton 6 (10 innings) Box Score SP: Luis Rijo (5.0 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K) HR: None Multi-hit games: Chris Williams (2-for-3, 2 2B, 2 BB), Alex Robles (2-for-3, 2 2B, BB) Elizabethton could have punched its ticket to the Appalachian League Finals, but they fell just short in a wild game. Kingsport jumped out to a 3-0 lead before the E-Twins even had the chance to bat. E-Town chipped away with runs in the second and fourth inning. The game-tying run came across thanks to a wild pitch. The catcher’s return throw attempting to get Ricky De La Torre got past the pitcher. Lean Marrero tried to score all the way from second base, but the pitcher retrieved the ball, tossed back to the catcher and caught Marrero to end the inning, leaving the game tied 3-3. And that’s how things would remain through nine innings. I was disappointed to see the new extra innings rule in which a runner starts on second base was carried forward to postseason play, and it certainly made an impact in this one. After combining to score six runs through nine innings, a total of seven runs were scored in the 10th. Kingsport tallied four runs in the top of the 10th, but the E-Twins nearly came back to tie it up again, scoring three runs before recording the first out of the inning. Elizabethton got the tying run all the way to third base, but couldn’t seal the deal. This was such an odd game. The E-Twins managed their six runs on just seven hits (Kingsport had 15), were only credited with four RBIs (the K-Mets committed four errors) and they also racked up 13 strikeouts. Chris Williams was, of course, a beast. In his five plate appearances, he had two doubles and two walks. After taking over for starter Luis Rijo, Kody Funderburk delivered four scoreless innings before running into all that trouble in the 10th. STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Carlos Suniaga, Cedar Rapids Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Chris Williams, Elizabethton TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed 1. Royce Lewis (FM): 1-for-5, K 2. Alex Kirilloff (FM): 0-for-5, K 3. Brusdar Graterol (FM): Did not pitch. 4. Nick Gordon (ROC): 1-for-4, 3B, R, 2 K 5. Stephen Gonsalves (MIN): Promoted to the Twins. 6. Trevor Larnach (CR): 2-for-3, 2B, BB, RBI, R 7. Brent Rooker (CHAT): 1-for-3, RBI, 2 BB, SB 8. Akil Baddoo (CR): Did not play. 9. Wander Javier: Out of for the season 10. Zack Littell (MIN): Promoted to Twins. 11. Blayne Enlow (CR): Did not pitch. 12. LaMonte Wade (ROC): 0-for-4, 2 K 13. Travis Blankenhorn (FM): 1-for-3, BB, K 14. Lewis Thorpe (CHAT): Did not pitch. 15. Ben Rortvedt (FM): Did not play. 16. Yunior Severino (ET): 0-for-4, BB, R, 3 K 17. Lewin Diaz (FM): Out for the season. 18. Ryan Jeffers (CR): 1-for-4, 2B, BB, RBI, 3 K 19. Jacob Pearson (CR): 0-for-4 20. Luis Arraez (CHAT): 1-for-4, R, K SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester vs. Lehigh Valley, 5:05 pm CT: Omar Bencomo Chattanooga at Jackson, 2:05 pm CT: TBD Fort Myers vs. Clearwater, 11:00 am CT: Brusdar Graterol Cedar Rapids at Beloit, 2:00 pm CT: Randy Dobnak Elizabethton vs. Kingsport, 5:00 pm CT: Andrew Cabezas Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games. Click here to view the article