Tom Froemming

TRANSACTIONS -Jake Cave promoted to Minnesota with Tyler Duffey optioned to Rochester. -LaMonte Wade promoted to Rochester. -Jordan Balazovic and Robert Molina promoted to Cedar Rapids. RED WINGS REPORT Durham 3, Rochester 1 Box Score SP: D.J. Baxendale (3.2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K) HR: None Multi-hit games: Willians Astudillo The Willians Astudillo saga continues. He made his first appearance of the season at third base tonight, was 2-for-3 with an RBI and stolen base. You wouldn’t figure a guy listed at 5-foot-9, 225 pounds who’s primarily a catcher would be a threat on the bases, but that was Astudillo’s fifth steal of the season. Unfortunately, the Red Wings could muster only one run. This ended up being a bullpen game for Rochester, and the pitching staff performed admirably, all things consideed. D.J. Baxendale gave up one run over 3 2/3 innings and struck out five batters. Maybe the biggest item of note was the fact that Trevor May only pitched 1 2/3 innings in a night that Rochester could have used some length. He gave up a run on two hits and walked three batters. Gabriel Moya pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings and John Curtiss gave up a run in two frames of work. This was the seventh-straight loss for the Red Wings, who have now fallen below .500. LaMonte Wade was 0-for-4 in his Triple-A debut. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 7, Montgomery 4 Box Score W: Omar Bencomo (8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K) HR: James Ramsey (2) Multi-hit games: Brian Navarreto, Chris Paul The Lookouts had a 2-0 lead before they even recorded an out. This game opened with back-to-back singles which were followed by a two-run triple from Edgar Corcino. Catcher Brian Navarreto had a big night, going 3-for-4 with a couple of doubles and two RBIs. He now has 11 doubles on the season, which is just two shy of his career high. Omar Bencomo held the Biscuits to one run over eight innings. He improved his Southern League record to 5-0 and he now has a 1.94 ERA for the Lookouts. Left fielder James Ramsey hit a two-run homer. Chattanooga had a 7-1 lead heading into the ninth, but Tyler Jay surrendered three runs, two of which were earned. MIRACLE MATTERS Dunedin 6, Fort Myers 4 Box Score SP: Andro Cutura (5.0 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K) HR: None Multi-hit games: Luis Arraez, Brandon Lopez, Ben Rortvedt Fort Myers fell behind 6-0 in this one thanks in part to three errors in the field. They battled back to get the go-ahead run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning, but could not complete the comeback. Ben Rortvedt went 2-for-4 and drove in a pair of runs in what was his Florida State League debut. Luis Arraez led the team with three hits. Starter Andro Cutura gave up four runs, though only two were earned, over five innings. Andrew Vasquez gave up yet another unearned run in his two innings of work. Logan Lombana gave up an earned run over the final two innings. KERNELS NUGGETS Wisconsin 4, Cedar Rapids 0 Box Score SP: Edwar Colina (5.0 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 6 K) HR: None Multi-hit games: Royce Lewis The Kernels just could not get anything going on offense, as they combined for four hits, two of which came off the bat of Royce Lewis. Edwar Colina gave up four runs over five innings, though one run was unearned due to Lewis’ 10th error of the season. The Cedar Rapids bullpen provided three no-hit innings, as Carlos Suniaga handled the sixth and seventh innings and Jared Finkel covered the ninth. Trey Cabbage was 1-for-2 with a double and a walk. It’s only been six games, but Cabbage is hitting .389/.455/.722 so far this month. STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Omar Bencomo, Chattanooga Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Brian Navarreto, Chattanooga TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Prospects performed: 1. Royce Lewis, CR: 2-for-4, 2B 2. Fernando Romero, MIN 3. Nick Gordon, ROC: 0-for-4 4. Stephen Gonsalves, ROC: Did not pitch 5. Alex Kirilloff, CR: 0-for-3, BB 6. Wander Javier: Out for the season with a shoulder injury. 7. Brent Rooker, CHAT: 1-for-5, R 8. Blayne Enlow, CR: Did not pitch. 9. Brusdar Graterol, CR: Did not pitch. 10. Akil Baddoo, CR: 0-for-4 11. Zack Littell, ROC: Did not pitch. 12. Lewis Thorpe, CHAT: Did not pitch. 13. Lewin Diaz, FM: 1-for-5, 2B 14. LaMonte Wade, ROC: 0-for-4 15. Mitch Garver, MIN 16. Ben Rortvedt, FM: 2-for-4, 2 RBI 17. Travis Blankenhorn, FM: 0-for-1 18. Yunior Severino: Expected to join E-Town this month. 19. Tyler Jay, CHAT: 1.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 0 K 20. Felix Jorge: Out with injury. SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester vs. Durham, 12:05 pm CT - Zack Littell Chattanooga at Montgomery, 5:05 pm CT - Kohl Stewart Fort Myers vs. Dunedin, 3:00 pm CT - Tyler Wells Cedar Rapids at Wisconsin, 1:05 pm CT - Melvi Acosta Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games.

Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Current record: 27-34 Kyle Gibson: 55 Game Score, 7.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 K, 2 BB, 60.2% strikes Bullpen: 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 K, 0 BB Lineup: 0-for-5 w/RISP, 6 LOB Top three per WPA: Gibson .141, Rosario .066, Adrianza .062 Gibson threw a career-high 118 pitches and only gave up two solo home runs over seven innings pitched. It’s pretty difficult to expect more from a starter in 2018. Gibson has now allowed two runs or fewer in eight of his 13 starts … and his record is 1-4. Baseball is weird. Last season, Gisbon wasn’t very good and the Twins still went 18-11 in games he started. Gibby’s been really good this year, and the team is only 6-7 when he’s on the bump. Eddie Rosario had a pair of hits (ho-hum), as did Miguel Sano. Both those guys also made some plays in the field, as Rosie nailed a runner at the plate with a nice throw and Sano made a pair of good-looking scoops at first base. The Twins had the go-ahead run on in the ninth and turned to the recently called up Jake Cave to pinch hit for Ehire Adrianza. Yes, that same Jake Cave who had nine career plate appearances coming into today. He struck out on three pitches to end the game. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: AL Central Standings CLE 33-29* DET 31-35 (-4) MIN 27-34 (-5.5) CHW 21-41 (-12) KC 22-43 (-12.5) Next Three Games Sun vs. LAA, 1:10 pm CT Mon OFF Tue at DET, 6:10 pm CT Wed at DET, 6:10 pm CT Last Three Games LAA 4, MIN 2: Bullpen, Bats Spoil Strong Start from Lynn MIN 7, CHW 2: Berrios CG, Power from the Eds Fuel Twins Victory CHW 5, MIN 2: Time is Running Out More From Twins Daily Where Are They Now? Former Twins IF Denny Hocking Minnesota Twins 2018 MLB Draft Signing Tracker Minnesota Twins 2018 MLB Draft Recap

Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Current record: 27-33 Starting Pitcher: 68 Game Score, 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 7 K, 2 BB, 61% strikes Bullpen: 3.0 IP, 3 ER, 3 K, 0 BB Lineup: 0-for-3 w/RISP, 7 LOB Top three per WPA: Lynn .265, Grossman .084, Rosario .028 Let’s start out by focusing on the positives. Lynn is looking like the guy who was an above-average MLB starter for so long with the Cardinals. This was his seventh start since the end of April, five of those have been quality starts. His ERA over that stretch is 3.05. This is as confident as I’ve been in the Twins rotation, from top to bottom, in more than a decade. That’s more of an indictment on how bad the team’s starting pitching has been, but still, a nice development. Also a positive: Prince night provided this pearl of a moment: https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1005297970550431744 On the negative side, the only good that Lynn's turnaround may do for the Twins is improve his trade value. The Twins lost to a good Angels team while Cleveland beat Detroit. The lineup managed just two runs, the first on a Sano double and the second on a go-ahead home run from Grossman. Lynn exited this game with the Twins leading 2-1, but the bullpen couldn’t hold. Ryan Pressly gave up a two-run homer in the seventh. This was his third-straight game in which he gave up two earned runs. He’s given up seven earned runs over his last four innings pitched. He should be nowhere near a high-leverage situation right now, and could probably benefit from a trip to the DL. Addison Reed gave up a home run to the first batter he faced in the eighth. He’s now given up four earned runs over his last five innings pitched. Meanwhile, Trevor Hildenberger hasn’t given up a run of any kind — earned, unearned, inherited — over his last eight appearances. Might be time to mix things up a bit. The one guy who did pitch a scoreless inning out of the bullpen, Tyler Duffey, was optioned after the game. Baseball is cruel. Eddie Rosario and Eduardo Escobar both had multi-hit games, because of course they did. Postgame With Molitor https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1005301129612165121 Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: AL Central Standings CLE 33-28 DET 30-35 (-5) MIN 27-33 (-5.5) CHW 21-40 (-17) KC 21-42 (-13) Next Three Games Sat vs. LAA, 1:10 pm CT Sun vs. LAA, 1:10 pm CT Mon OFF Tue at DET, 6:10 pm CT Last Three Games MIN 7, CHW 2: Berrios CG, Power from the Eds Fuel Twins Victory CHW 5, MIN 2: Time is Running Out MIN 4, CHW 2 & CHW 6, MIN 3: Escobar Hits Dramatic Home Run, Twins Split Doubleheader More From Twins Daily Twins Minor League Report (6/8): Lewis Cracks Fifth Homer Where Are They Now? Former Twins IF Denny Hocking Minnesota Twins 2018 MLB Draft Recap

Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Current record: 27-32 Jose Berrios: 86 Game Score, 9.0 IP, 2 ER, 10 K, 0 BB, 71.6% strikes Lineup: 3-for-6 w/RISP, 4 LOB Top three per WPA: Berrios .229, Escobar .128, Rosario .098 The Twins have been playing a ton of close ballgames. Just three of their last 25 contests ended with the score separated by more than three runs. All those tight games have put a tax on the bullpen, but a blowout also has to be a nice vibe for everybody on the roster. Berrios, wow. He went the distance, picking up the second complete game of the season. He only needed 109 pitches to do so, an impressive 78 of which were strikes. Jose racked up 10 strikeouts, reaching double-digits for the third time in 2018, and did not walk a batter. He got 15 swinging strikes on the day, but was also spotting his curveball, getting 10 called strikes on that pitch. Escobar got the scoring started with a two-run homer in the first, Ehire Adrianza hit a solo shot in the second and Rosario had a three-run blast in the fourth frame. Rosario also doubled and threw out a runner at home. I mentioned yesterday how there appears to be a fun battle for the team lead in OPS evolving. Well after today, Rosario is at .919 and Escobar at .902. Picking up a low-stress victory to salvage a series split was a great way to wrap up their series before the formidable Angels come to town. Postgame With Molitor Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: AL Central Standings CLE 32-28 DET 29-34 (-4.5) MIN 27-32 (-4.5) KC 21-41 (-12) CHW 20-40 (-12) Next Three Games Fri vs. LAA, 7:10 pm CT Sat vs. LAA, 1:10 pm CT Sun vs. LAA, 1:10 pm CT Last Three Games CHW 5, MIN 2: Time is Running Out MIN 4, CHW 2 & CHW 6, MIN 3: Escobar Hits Dramatic Home Run, Twins Split Doubleheader HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!! These game recaps are officially one year old! It was a memorable day in Twins history, for some really weird reasons. Here are the first couple sentences from that first recap back on June 7, 2017: Chris Gimenez pitched to Eduardo Escobar. That about says all you need to know about this game. Just before I started putting these together, I was having trouble keeping up with an exciting Twins team that was performing above my expectations. My daughter was just about to turn one, and it was difficult to find time to invest into a game each night. Instead, my morning routine started to include digging through a half dozen sources. I’d read Mike Berardino’s gamers, watched the highlights on MLB.com, postgame interviews on FSN’s YouTube page, check out some of the more advanced stuff at FanGraphs, pull up pitching info at Brooks Baseball and sift through the game feed info at Baseball Savant. During the games I was able to follow along with live, I found myself constantly wondering which bullpen arms were available, cycling through Baseball-Reference game logs to check appearances and pitch counts. I thought to myself “somebody should put all this stuff in one place.” DING! I just wanted to take a moment to thank Seth Stohs for this opportunity. I also want to thank all of you for reading these things and participating in the conversations that follow. I hope I’ve helped make things easier for you to keep up with the team on a day-to-day basis, or at least provided a bit of a different perspective than was previously available. The goal has always been to provide something valuable whether you watched the entire game or didn’t see a single pitch, whether you only had 15 seconds to spend at the site or had 15 minutes to dig through everything. Over the past 12 months, I’ve written something like 155 of these bad boys. It’s been a lot of fun, but I don’t expect to hit that mark over the next 12 months. I’m going to be letting a few more people contribute over the next month to see how things go. I suspect I’ll still be doing the vast majority of them for the foreseeable future, but there are some other projects I’d like to turn some more of my attention to. There are some other ideas I’ve had that just haven’t quite gotten to that “ding” moment just yet.

Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Current record: 26-32 Jake Odorizzi: 54 Game Score, 5.0 IP, 4 ER, 7 K, 1 BB, 62.6% strikes Bullpen: 4.0 IP, 2 ER, 6 K, 1BB Lineup: 2-for-7 w/RISP, 9 LOB Top three per WPA: Garver .087, Adrianza .081, Escobar .051 This was a bad loss to a bad team. Bad baserunning, bad defense, bad hitting. Mitch Garver cost the Twins a run by failing to score from second base on a double. He also helped gift Chicago a run on a Ryan Pressly wild pitch a major league catcher should be expected to keep in front of him the vast majority of the time. Speaking of Pressly, he had another bad outing, giving up two earned runs in an inning of work. After surrendering just two earned runs over his first 15 appearances, Pressly has given up nine earned in his most recent 17 games. Jake Odorizzi had only given up one run and struck out seven batters over five innings. He gave up singles to the first two batters he faced, the second of which looked like it could have been a double play ball, and exited the game having given up one run. Pressly allowed both the inherited runners to score, meaning Odorizzi was credited with three earned runs. Ehrie Adrianza hit a pair of doubles and Garver had two hits, including a two-bagger of his own. Eduardo Escobar had a double and a pair of walks. The RBIs came from Adrianza and Ryan LaMarre. With Eddie Rosario going 0-for-5 we’ve got a fun race going on for team leader in OPS. Rosie is at .894 with Esky nipping at his heels now at .887. The problem is there’s not a guy within 100 points of those two. Max Kepler is third on the team with a .765 OPS. Rosario left four men on base while Brian Dozier, Kepler and Miguel Sano all left three men on. Logan Morrison sat both games of yesterday’s double header but was at least able to come off the bench to pinch hit tonight. He’s been dealing with a bad back. Postgame With Molitor Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: AL Central Standings CLE 32-28 DET 29-34 (-4.5) MIN 26-32 (-5.0) KC 21-40 (-11.5 CHW 20-39 (-11.5) Next Three Games Thu vs. CHW, 12:10 pm CT Fri vs. LAA, 7:10 pm CT Sat vs. LAA, 1:10 pm CT Last Three Games MIN 4, CHW 2 & CHW 6, MIN 3: Escobar Hits Dramatic Home Run, Twins Split Doubleheader MIN 7, CLE 5: EDDIE! EDDIE! EDDIE! More From Twins Daily Twins Minor League Report (6/6): Rooker Starts it Off With a Bang 2018 MLB Draft Day 3 Thread Twins Daily Roundtable: Extension Candidates

Game 1 Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Fernando Romero: 54 Game Score, 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 4 K, 0 BB, 60.2% strikes Bullpen: 3.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 K, 0 BB Lineup: 2-for-6 w/RISP, 4 LOB Top three per WPA: Escobar .562, Sano .086, Rodney .081 The Twins couldn’t get anything going through the first seven innings. They entered the eighth with just one hit and trailed 2-0. It appeared they were going to go down quietly that frame as well, with the first two batters getting out, but the lineup turned over and sparked a rally. Brian Dozier singled, Eddie Rosario drew a walk, then Miguel Sano ripped a single. For a moment, it appeared the Twins would have a chance to tie it up, but Chicago left fielder Charlie Tilson made a great play to keep Rosario at third base. Maybe they should have just let him score. I suppose there’s no way we can really know if this mattered or not, but Rosie was dancing all over the place off third base, reminiscent of the run-scoring balk he drew against Milwaukee last season. Nate Jones left a fastball right in the middle of the plate and Eduardo Escobar didn’t miss it. There was a beautiful moment of suspense as that ball traveled off Escobar’s bat. He hit it hard to dead center. There was enough air under it for the center fielder to get to the wall, then just when you thought it may fall just short, suddenly … plop. The ball dropped on that little stretch of grass in front of the batter’s eye for a go-ahead three-run home run. https://twitter.com/TwinsHighlights/status/1004172302525886464 Fernando Romero held the White Sox to two runs on seven hits over six innings pitched. He had four strikeouts and did not walk a batter for the first time in his major league career. Tyler Duffey came up big, pitching two scoreless innings, and Fernando Rodney pitched a perfect ninth to earn his 13th save. Game 2 Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Zack Littell: 15 Game Score, 3.0 IP, 6 ER, 1 K, 4 BB, 54.7% strikes Bullpen: 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 7 K, 5 BB Lineup: 3-for-12 w/RISP, 8 LOB Top three per WPA: Escobar .217, Grossman .076, Rosario .056 Zack Littell’s major league debut didn’t go well. He struck out the first batter he faced though, so he’ll always be able to tell that story, but maybe he’ll leave out the parts about what happened the rest of that inning. The White Sox scored four runs on five hits, four of which went for extra bases, in that first frame. Littell got through the second inning, then he worked a scoreless third despite walking the first two batters he faced. He walked the first two batters again in the fourth and Paul Molitor had seen enough. Those two runners came around to score while Matt Magill was on the mound, meaning Littell was charged with six earned runs over three innings. He’ll have better days ahead. The bats put together a better overall performance than they did in Game 1, but they scored one fewer run. Baseball’s a funny game. Eduard Escobar was a beast once again, going 3-for-4 with two doubles and the only two RBIs credited to the Twins in this game. Eddie Rosario and Max Kepler had two hits each and Robbie Grossman, who hit leadoff, was 1-for-3 with two walks and scored a pair of runs. Magill allowed those two inherited runners to score, but he also only give up one hit over three innings without giving up an earned run. Trevor Hildenberger, Taylor Rogers and Zach Duke each pitched a scoreless inning in what was an excellent day for the bullpen. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: AL Central Standings CLE 31-28 DET 29-33 (-3.5) MIN 26-31 (-4.0) KC 21-39 (-10.5) CHW 19-39 (-11.5) Next Three Games Wed vs. CHW, 7:10 pm CT Thu vs. CHW, 12:10 pm CT Fri vs. LAA, 7:10 pm CT Last Three Games MIN 7, CLE 5: EDDIE! EDDIE! EDDIE! MIN 7, CLE 1: Twins Battle Their Way to Another Victory MIN 7, CLE 4: Escobar é o Fogo More From Twins Daily Three Potential Catcher Upgrades on the Trade Market Twins Select Trevor Larnach in the First Round of the 2018 Draft Twins Select Ryan Jeffers in the Second Round of the 2018 Draft