Tom Froemming

Snapshot (chart via Fangraphs) There was a pretty significant portion of the crowd of 34,580 that didn't even get inside the stadium before the Tigers scored their three runs. Gibson gave up a single, an RBI triple and a two-run homer before recording the game's first out. But from there, Detroit added just six more hits. Dozier opened the home half of the first by hitting a double that also provided some comic relief for his teammates. He would have likely had a triple, but Dozier tripped on his way to third and had to scramble back to second, just beating the tag. Escobar followed with a double of his own to score the team's first run. It looked like the Twins might go down quietly in the second inning, as the Tigers retired the first two batters. But Chris Gimenez drew a walk, Ehire Adrianza hit a long double, Dozier blasted a three-run home and Escobar added a round tripper of his own to put the Twins up 5-3. Ed later added an RBI single, giving him three run-scoring hits on the evening. Gibby only lasted 3.2 innings, and it took him 87 pitches to get that far. Ryan Pressly recorded the last out of the fourth inning before Jose Berrios came in to make his first relief appearance of the season. He gave up a pair of hits and struck out a batter over 1.1 innings. Tyler Duffey provided 1.2 innings of scoreless relief before Taylor Rogers (0.2 IP) and Trevor Hildenberger (0.1 IP) combined to cover the eighth and Matt Belisle closed out the game and picked up his ninth save. Postgame With Molitor https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/913981247499595776 Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Looking Ahead Sat: Twins (Aaron Slegers) vs. Detroit (Buck Farmer), 6:10 pm CT Sun: Twins (Bartolo Colon) vs. Detroit (Anibal Sanchez), 2:10 pm CT Mon: OFF Looking Back CLE 5, MIN 2: Ervin Caps Banner Year With 5 Shutout Innings CLE 4, MIN 2: Twins Lose, Clinch Postseason Berth Anyway MIN 8, CLE 6: Twins Use Team Record 10 Pitchers In Victory

Snapshot (chart via Fangraphs) How huge is it that the Twins were able to clinch early? The majority of the regulars got to take a day off. The focus for this weekend can switch from sprinting to the finish to tuning up for what’s next. Heck, Miguel Sano may even have the opportunity to test his shin in a low-stress game situation, though that still sounds like a longshot. A bunch of the young guys got in today against a team that still had something to play for and faced one of the better pitchers in baseball. Cleveland is trying to fend off the Houston Astros in the race for the best record in the American League, and their starter today, Carrasco, ranks fourth in the AL in pitcher WAR. While resting the regulars and letting the young guys gain experience was a win-win, unfortunately, the Twins couldn’t also win the ballgame. Not that it matters at this point, the Twins are locked in as the second Wild Card team no matter what happens from here on. Now it’s not like it was a complete skeleton crew for the Twins. Ervin Santana was pitching to Jason Castro. Robbie Grossman, Jorge Polanco and Max Kepler were also in the lineup, but it was pretty awesome to see a thinned out Twins roster at least hold its own against a 100-win Cleveland club. Carrasco struck out 14 Twins hitters over 8.1 shutout innings. Mitch Garver drove in both of the Twins runs when he hit a two-out triple in the ninth. Santana threw 5.0 shutout innings, limiting Cleveland to four hits. He had one strikeout and did not issue a walk. He was very efficient, throwing just 57 pitches, but there was really no reason to push him any further than five frames. Offense was up across the league this season, but apparently Ervin didn’t get that memo. He’ll finish the regular season with a 3.28 ERA over 211.1 innings. That’s the lowest ERA he’s registered since his 2013 season in Kansas City and the most innings he’s logged since way back in 2011 when he was still with the Angels. Trevor Hildenberger and Alan Busenitz both gave up two-run homers and Nik Turley gave up a solo shot. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Looking Ahead Fri: Twins (Kyle Gibson) vs. Detroit (Matthew Boyd), 7:10 pm CT Sat: Twins (TBD) vs. Detroit (Buck Farmer), 6:10 pm CT Sun: Twins (TBD) vs. Detroit (Anibal Sanchez), 2:10 pm CT Looking Back CLE 4, MIN 2: Twins Lose, Clinch Postseason Berth Anyway MIN 8, CLE 6: Twins Use Team Record 10 Pitchers In Victory MIN 10, DET 4: Deja Vu All Over Again

Snapshot (chart via Fangraphs) The Twins displayed their typical “no retreat, no surrender” mentality we’ve seen all season, but their comeback effort fell short. Entering the ninth inning, the Twins had just a pair of doubles and a walk, all of which came with two outs. It was another impressive display from the Cleveland staff, who had allowed 60 fewer earned runs than any other AL team heading into tonight. But Brian Dozier led off the ninth inning with a single and Jorge Polanco drove him in on his 13th home run of the season to make the score 4-2 Cleveland. Byron Buxton added a two-out single to keep the rally alive, but Max Kepler grounded out to end the game. UPDATE: Who cares!?!?!?!? Let's just skip right to the celebration: OK, back to Wednesday night's game. Adalberto Mejia lasted just 3.2 innings, continuing a trend of brief starts for the 24-year-old. In 21 starts, Mejia is averaging less than five-innings per outing and has only gone 6.0 innings or more in four of those starts. Still, he’s posted a respectable 4.50 ERA over his rookie season. Danny Salazar was electric tonight for Cleveland, but luckily was on a pitch count. He struck out nine batters over 4.2 one-hit innings. Unfortunately, things didn’t get any easier against the bullpen. A bright spot for the Twins tonight was the bullpen, as five relievers combined to limit Cleveland to one earned run over 4.1 innings. Another unearned run scored due to an error by Eduardo Escobar. John Curtiss pitched 1.2 no-hit innings in relief and had one strikeout and hit a batter. That’s three-straight scoreless appearances for Curtiss now. AL Wild Card Standings THE TWINS ARE IN THE PLAYOFFS!!!!! Go crazy, folks. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Looking Ahead Thu: Twins (Ervin Santana) at Cleveland (Carlos Carrasco), 11:10 am CT Fri: Twins (Jose Berrios) vs. Detroit (Matthew Boyd), 7:10 pm CT Sat: Twins (Kyle Gibson) vs. Detroit (Buck Farmer), 6:10 pm CT Looking Back MIN 8, CLE 6: Twins Use Team Record 10 Pitchers In Victory MIN 10, DET 4: Deja Vu All Over Again MIN 10, DET 4: Twins Blow Out Tigers Bullpen

Snapshot (chart via Fangraphs) Dozier led off the game with a double high off the left field wall, came around to score the first run and finished 3-for-5 with that three-run homer, his 33rd, and three runs scored. Byron Buxton successfully stole his 23rd-consecutive base, setting a new team record. He also made another insanely good catch. Bonus points for it coming in the eighth inning of a one-run game. Then he delivered an RBI single in the top of the ninth to provide a huge insurance run. https://twitter.com/statcast/status/912872001689309186 Eddie Rosario was also a handful for Cleveland pitchers, going 4-for-5 with his 27th homer. Rosario had a .660 OPS over the first month of the season, but quickly turned into as steady a contributor as you could ask for. He's had at least at .810 OPS in every month since (league average OPS is .751). There have been hot streaks from a number of other hitters that have overshadowed Rosario’s contributions to a degree, but Rosie has built a body of work over the summer that is truly impressive. Unfortunately, you still have to take the bad with the good when it comes to Rosario. He represented the go-ahead run after a leadoff double in the top of the fifth. Eduardo Escobar sent a chopper to the left side in front of Rosario, who was thrown out trying to advance to third. Conventional wisdom, for good reason, says you don't try to go to third unless the ball is hit between you and second base. Sigh. Oh that Eddie, when will he learn? The next batter hit into a double play. Bartolo Colon gave up two runs in the first inning and was removed from the game due to illness. There was a bizarre managerial moment in the third inning in which Paul Molitor was denied a request to make a pitching change. Tyler Duffey had allowed the first two batters of that inning to reach, and Neil Allen decided to go out and have a chat prior to Duffey facing lefty Jay Bruce. Duffey fell behind 2-0, which prompted Molitor to hop out of the dugout and call for Buddy Boshers … which was against the rules. I guess since Allen had already visited Duffey in that plate appearance, a change couldn't be made until it was over. Luckily that fiasco didn't matter much, as the rest of the pen provided 6.2 innings of two-run ball. Dillon Gee really got this contest back under control for the Twins, as he provided two scoreless, one-hit innings early on. AL Wild Card Standings WC1: Yankees 88-69 (+5.0) WC2: Twins 83-74 Angels 78-79 (-5.0) ***ALL OTHER TEAMS ELIMINATED*** Postgame With Dozier Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Looking Ahead Wed: Twins (Adalberto Mejia) at Cleveland (Danny Salazar), 6:10 pm CT Thu: Twins (Ervin Santana) at Cleveland (Carlos Carrasco), 11:10 am CT Fri: Twins (Jose Berrios) vs. Detroit (Matthew Boyd), 7:10 pm CT Looking Back MIN 10, DET 4: Deja Vu All Over Again MIN 10, DET 4: Twins Blow Out Tigers Bullpen MIN 7, DET 3: Gibson, Offense Keep Rolling

Snapshot (chart via Fangraphs) The Twins jumped out to a 5-0 lead by the top of the fifth inning, making for a pretty low-stress Sunday afternoon for the club. Detroit scored twice in the bottom of the fifth, but the Twins answered with a five-run sixth inning. The Twins collected 12 hits, two apiece from Brian Dozier, Joe Mauer, Polanco and Kennys Vargas. Eddie Rosario drew two walks. Alan Busenitz pitched a scoreless inning, lowering his ERA to 1.50. Ryan Pressly (0.2 IP) and Taylor Rogers (0.1 IP) combined for a scoreless inning of their own. Michael Tonkin took care of the final two innings and gave up a two-run homer to Ian Kinsler in the ninth. This was the 82nd victory of the year for Minnesota, giving the Twins a winning record and putting this year's club just a win behind the 2015 team with six games left to play. The Twins also now hold a commanding lead in the race for the second Wild Card spot. Clinching early would give the team an opportunity to provide the veterans some much-needed rest before amping up for that play-in game. AL Wild Card Standings WC1: Yankees 86-69 (+4.5) WC2: Twins 82-74 Angels 76-78 (-5.0) *Sunday game in progress when this published. Rangers 76-79 (-5.5) Royals 76-79 (-5.5) Postgame With Molitor Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Looking Ahead Mon: Off Tue: Twins (Bartolo Colon) at Cleveland (Josh Tomlinson), 6:10 pm CT Wed: Twins (Adalberto Mejia) at Cleveland (Danny Salazar), 6:10 pm CT Looking Back MIN 10, DET 4: Twins Blow Out Tigers Bullpen MIN 7, DET 3: Gibson, Offense Keep Rolling MIN 12, DET 1: Once Again, The Twins Bounce Back

Snapshot (chart via Fangraphs) Brian Dozier led this one off with a “home run” of sorts, but not the type of leadoff homer we’re used to seeing from Dozier. He bunted and circled the bases on a throwing error. https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/911719818121773056 Ervin Santana went 7.0 innings and surrendered three runs on seven hits. He had five strikeouts and didn’t issue a single walk. The Twins struggled to get going against Detroit starter Matthew Boyd, but once he was out of the game they lit up the scoreboard like a pinball machine. The only earned run Boyd gave up was on a Robbie Grossman single in the seventh inning that made it 3-2 Detroit. The eighth got off to a terrible start for the Tigers, as Joe Mauer hit a 103.8 mph line drive that broke Detroit reliever Alex Wilson’s leg. The craziest part was Wilson tried to stay in the game. The Tigers turned to lefty Daniel Stumpf, who gave up a single to Jorge Polanco. Then Eddie Rosario worked a great eight-pitch at-bat that ended with a single, scoring pinch runner Zack Granite from second base to tie the game. Eduardo Escobar continued the hit barrage with another single of his own that put the Twins in the lead. What’s that? I skipped over some stuff? OK, yes, there was more sacrifice bunting ridiculousness. But I’m at the point where I’m getting pretty tired of writing about this stuff, so I’m sure there are some of you who are tired of reading about it. I just wish it would stop. Both Rosario and Escobar showed bunt during their plate appearances. The especially crazy part was that Escobar had the count to his favor 3-1 at one point and was still bunting. He bunted the first pitch foul and strike two was on a missed bunt attempt. Once Escobar (one of the hottest hitters in the American League in the second half) was free to swing away, he delivered the go-ahead hit. Hopefully Molitor learned his lesso … Hopefully Molitor learned his lesso … Hopefully Molitor learned his lesson. Sorry for the broken record, I’ve been meaning to get that looked at. UPDATE: Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press did a great job of sorting out this mess of a game and also included some quotes from Escobar regarding the bunt if you're interested. Anyway, after Molitor had been managing so hard to gain a one-run lead, his team went ahead and absolutely blew the game wide open and ended the inning with a seven-run advantage. Grossman hit a two-run single, Jason Castro hit a run-scoring ground out and Granite hit a three-run homer, the first home run of his major league career. https://twitter.com/Twins/status/911760758475825152 Max Kepler left the game in the second inning with a left hip injury. Molitor provided reporters with an update after the game, which is available below via Fox Sports North. AL Wild Card Standings WC1: Yankees 86-68 (+5.5) WC2: Twins 81-74 Rangers 76-78 (-4.5) Angels 76-78 (-4.5) Postgame With Molitor https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/911772756630315009 Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Looking Ahead Sun: Twins (Jose Berrios) at Tigers (Buck Farmer), 11:10 am CT Mon: Off Tue: Twins (Bartolo Colon) at Cleveland (Mike Clevinger), 6:10 pm CT Looking Back MIN 7, DET 3: Gibson, Offense Keep Rolling MIN 12, DET 1: Once Again, The Twins Bounce Back NYY 11, MIN 3: Twins Crumble At Yankee Stadium (Again)

Snapshot (chart via Fangraphs) Gibson held the Tigers to three runs over 7.0 innings. He gave up five hits, two of which were homers, and walked a pair of batters while striking out six. He also induced three double-play balls. He’s been a bit of a chameleon of late, mixing up his pitch selection to lean more on his four-seam fastball and slider as opposed to the two-seamer. Here’s a breakdown of his pitch mix from his previous start (9/17): And that has been fairly consistent with how he’s pitched over the past two months. Well, here’s what he did tonight: Back to tons of two-seamers (or sinkers, depending on who you ask). He doesn’t deploy the curveball or changeup as frequently, but hitters still have five pitches they need to prepare for when they dig in against Gibson. He's also working up in the zone more frequently. Whether the goal is being a little less predictable, he's attacking his opponent's weaknesses or it’s simply that he’s leaning on a pitch he has the feel for that night, this new Gibson is rolling. In the 10 games he has started since the beginning of August, Gibson has a 3.32 ERA and the Twins are 8-2. And, of course, the Twins have had the best offense in the American League since the All-Star break. They’ve been giving Gibby plenty of support, and Friday was no exception. The lineup provided six runs while Gibson was on the bump. Byron Buxton led the way with three hits, two of which were doubles. He drove in two runs and also scored twice. Max Kepler had two hits, including his 19th home run of the season off lefty Daniel Norris. Brian Dozier hit his 32nd homer and stole his 16th base of the year. Postgame With Gibson https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/911415928713121792 AL Wild Card Standings WC1: Yankees 85-68 (+5.5) WC2: Twins 80-74 Angels 76-77 (-3.5) Rangers 76-77 (-3.5) Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Looking Ahead Sat: Twins (Ervin Santana) at Tigers (Matthew Boyd), 5:10 pm CT Sun: Twins (Jose Berrios) at Tigers (Buck Farmer), 11:10 am CT Mon: Off Looking Back MIN 12, DET 1: Once Again, The Twins Bounce Back NYY 11, MIN 3: Twins Crumble At Yankee Stadium (Again) NYY 5, MIN 2: Tough Night For Berrios, Twins

Snapshot (chart via Fangraphs) This team takes care of business. There have been about a dozen times where it seemed appropriate to count this club out over the course of the season, and while they’ve had their struggles against some of the top teams in the league, they’ve done an excellent job at avoiding extended skids. The longest losing streak the Twins have endured this season is just four games. For every devastating blowout, a bounce back has followed. For every sweep, a hot streak. The series at home against Houston when they were swept and outscored 40-16; getting swept in a four-game series at home against Cleveland; going 5-12 heading into the trade deadline and watching their closer get dealt away … none of those things killed these Twins. It looks like their sweep at the hands of the Yankees isn’t going to finish them off, either. Every time these guys get their teeth kicked in, they just say “screw it, we like applesauce anyway, let’s eat.” The Tigers are in shambles, finishing the season in a complete tailspin, but that shouldn’t take away from the fact that the Twins cleaned up against them Thursday night in Detroit. This was a big opportunity for the team to deliver a message that there will be no spoiling this season. Joe Mauer had yet another big night, going 3-for-4 with a double, a walk, a pair of RBI and two runs. There’ve been a lot of great moments this year, but seeing Joe fill up the stat sheet again of late has been particularly satisfying. He entered tonight’s contest with a .333/.413/.447 line since the All-Star break. Jorge Polaco also continued his second-half breakout, tallying three more hits and drawing a walk. Eduardo Escobar had a pair of hits, a walk and scored three times. Max Kepler had two well-struck hits and drove in a pair of runs. Byron Buxton had a big two-run single and had his 22nd-straight successful stolen base attempt. That tied a team record. The offensive outburst was impressive enough to garner the Starship treatment ... https://twitter.com/ParkerHageman/status/911070834441285632 Adalberto Mejia didn’t last very long, but the results were encouraging while he was out there. In just his second start since returning from the DL, Mejia held Detroit to one run on four hits and a walk over 4.2 innings. He had five strikeouts. Dillon Gee finished off the fifth and pitched a scoreless sixth. He was followed by Ryan Pressly, who was dominant. Over two perfect innings Pressly struck out three batters and threw 19 of his 24 pitches for strikes. Matt Belisle, who hadn’t pitched since Sept. 14, finished things out with a scoreless ninth, thanks to some help from Zack Granite. https://twitter.com/TwinsHighlights/status/911073071741640705 Good teams beat bad teams. Check. Good teams win on the road. Check. Good teams take care of business. Period. Maybe the Twins aren’t among the American League’s elite, but this is a good baseball team. AL Wild Card Standings WC1: Yankees 85-67 WC2: Twins 79-74 Angels 76-76 (-2.5) Rangers 76-76 (-2.5) Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Looking Ahead Fri: Twins (Kyle Gibson) at Tigers (Daniel Norris), 6:10 pm ET Sat: Twins (Ervin Santana) at Tigers (Matthew Boyd), 5:10 pm CT Sun: Twins (Jose Berrios) at Tigers (Buck Farmer), 11:10 am CT Looking Back NYY 11, MIN 3: Twins Crumble At Yankee Stadium (Again) NYY 5, MIN 2: Tough Night For Berrios, Twins NYY 2, MIN 1: Garcia, Yankees Bullpen Dominate Twins

Snapshot (chart via Fangraphs) Bartolo Colon struggled today and has been a mess of late. Over his last three starts, he's has given up 16 earned runs in 11 innings pitched. Today, Colon gave up six runs on seven hits, two of them home runs, over 3.1 innings pitched. What made matters worse was the bullpen couldn’t stop the bleeding. Tyler Duffey gave up three runs over 0.2 innings and Nik Turley gave up a pair while recording just a single out. That implosion was especially depressing because the Twins had jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Kennys Vargas got things going in the third inning with a one-out infield single. He then advanced from first to third on a Jason Castro single. I guess that silent “s” stands for speedy. Brian Dozier drew a walk to load the bases before Joe Mauer put together what may have been the team’s finest at-bat of the entire season. Facing Luis Severino, who has been among the best pitchers in the American League this season, Mauer fell behind 0-1 and then 1-2. He fouled off seven of the next nine pitches, taking the other two for balls. On the 13th and final pitch of the at-bat, Mauer pulled a 99 mph fastball through the infield for an RBI single. Jorge Polanco followed with a two-run single and the Twins were up 3-0. But just when it was feeling like they might get the monkey off their back, Colon gave up two homers in the bottom of the inning to tie it up. It was a bad day that ended a bad series for the Twins, but luckily they’re still in control of their own destiny. Even if the Angels win tonight (UPDATE: they didn't), they’ll still be a half game back. Plus, seven of the Twins last 10 games come against the Tigers, who have been the worst team in baseball over the past month. Coming into today, Detroit was 9-21 over their last 30 games. AL Wild Card Standings WC1: Yankees 85-67 (+7.0) WC2: Twins 78-74 Angels 76-75 (-1.5) Rangers 75-76 (-2.5) Postgame With Molitor https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/910611519473250304 Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Looking Ahead Thu: Twins (Adalberto Mejia) at Tigers (Jordan Zimmermann), 6:10 pm ET Fri: Twins (Kyle Gibson) at Tigers (Matt Boyd), 6:10 pm ET Sat: Twins (Ervin Santana) at Tigers (Buck Farmer), 5:10 pm CT Looking Back NYY 5, MIN 2: Tough Night For Berrios, Twins NYY 2, MIN 1: Garcia, Yankees Bullpen Dominate Twins MIN 13, TOR 7: Mauer Grand Slam Among 4 Twins Homers In Comeback Victory