Tom Froemming

The Twins fell just short of mounting an impressive comeback in the first game of their doubleheader Monday, but they made sure no such effort would be required in the second game. After losing 7-6, the Twins jumped out to a huge early lead in the nightcap and cruised to a 10-2 victory. So, in reality, they won the day 16-9. Shoulda challenged Chicago to a winner-take-all situation. Where’s that Pythagoras when you need him?Game 1 Win Expectancy (via Fangraphs) Download attachment: WinEx821_1.png Top 3 Twins per WPA: Dozier .117 | Polanco .092 | Busenitz .032 Tim Melville’s Twins debut did not go well. The 27-year-old gave up two runs in the first inning, cruised through the next two frames before getting knocked around again in the fourth. Here’s how things went: walk, single, three-run homer, strikeout, walk, hit batsman. At that point Molitor had enough. Melville ended with 3.1 innings, five runs on four hits and three walks with four strikeouts. Nik Turley pitched the next 3.2 innings, giving up two runs. Melville topped out at 96.6 mph, per Brooks Baseball (though their pitch classifications were all wonky for him) and Turley’s max was 95.7 mph. So those two can bring the heat, but as we know by watching Bartolo Colon, there’s a lot more to pitching than velo. The Twins trailed 7-1 heading into the sixth inning, but battled back to make things very interesting. Jorge Polanco provided a three-run homer to bring the Twins within a run in the eighth, but the comeback effort fell short. Twins W-L Record Overall: 64-60 Last 10: 6-4 Last 20: 14-6 Last 40: 21-19 Last 80: 39-41 AL Central Standings Cleveland 69-54 Minnesota 64-60 (-5.5) Kansas City 62-61 (-7.0) AL Wild Card Standings WC1: Yankees 66-57 (+2.5) WC2: Twins 64-60, Angels 64-60* Seattle 64-62 (-1.0) Kansas City 62-61 (-1.5) *Monday game still in progress Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen621.png Looking Ahead TUE: Twins (Kyle Gibson) at White Sox (Lucas Giolito), 7:10 pm CT WED: Twins (Ervin Santana) at White Sox (James Shields), 7:10 pm CT THU: Twins (Jose Berrios) at White Sox (Derek Holland), 7:10 pm CT Question of the Day I still included Gee in the bullpen report, but he’s gotta stay in the rotation at least for another turn, right? Click here to view the article

Melville is a guy the Twins signed out of the indy leagues earlier this summer. He's a 27-year-old former fourth-round pick of the Royals. He made it onto the BP Top 100 Prospects list back in 2010. Last season he got a cup of coffee with the Reds, it didn't go well (9 IP, 11 ER, 9 BB), but he's been dynamite down in Rochester, posting a 2.70 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 8.6 K/9 over 66.2 IP. Slegers was the 26th man for the doubleheader the day he pitched, so he had to go back down to Rochester. He's scheduled to start for the Wings tomorrow.

It was all smiles and high fives in the Twins dugout as they crushed the Diamondbacks to complete the sweep Sunday afternoon. They’ve now won four in a row and 11 of their last 14 games. As a sign things have truly turned the corner for the Twins, they forced an opposing team to use a position player as a pitcher. Good to see the other guys have to revert to that tactic.Win Expectancy (via Fangraphs) Download attachment: WinEx820.png Top 3 Twins per WPA: Buxton .125 | Kepler .096 | Polanco .069 The Twins offense put up a nine spot to open the game, ensuring it would be a nice little low-stress Sunday at the ballpark. That kind of an inning obviously took a team effort, but Eddie Rosario provided the marquee moment when he absolutely crushed a grand slam. Twins W-L Record Overall: 63-59 Last 10: 7-3 Last 20: 13-7 Last 40: 21-19 Last 80: 39-41 AL Central Standings Cleveland 68-54 Minnesota 63-59 (-5.0) Kansas City 62-61 (-6.5) AL Wild Card Standings WC1: Yankees 66-57 (+2.5) WC2: Twins 63-59 Angles 64-60 (back mere percentage points) Kansas City 62-61 (-1.5) Seattle 63-62 (-1.5) Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen820.png Looking Ahead MON: Twins (TBD) at White Sox (Carson Fulmer), 4:10 pm CT MON: Twins (TBD) at White Sox (Carlos Rodon), Game 2 TUE: Twins (Kyle Gibson) at White Sox (Lucas Giolito), 7:10 pm CT WED: Twins (Ervin Santana) at White Sox (James Shields), 7:10 pm CT Question of the Day The MLB Little League Classic is tonight. Do you have any memories to share of meeting a ballplayer when you were a kid? If not, who was your favorite player growing up? Click here to view the article

That's a good one, hard to see why he's not already in the team Hall of Fame, given some of the guys who are already in there (no offense to them). I imagine they'll be doing some things to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1970 AL West champs in 2020. If Tovar's still not in by then, that could be a fun tie in to celebrate that team.

Jose Berrios was due for another phenomenal performance. He pitched seven shutout innings as the Twins beat the Diamondbacks 5-0 on the night No. 5, Michael Cuddyer, was inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame. Miguel Sano left this game with soreness in his left shin.Win Expectancy (via Fangraphs) Download attachment: WinEx819.png Top 3 Twins per WPA: Berrios .281 | Dozier .148 | Castro .084 We’ve seen several Twins break out of slumps around the same time these last couple weeks, I guess it was Berrios’ turn tonight. Jose entered the evening with a 6.18 ERA and 1.52 WHIP over six second-half starts. It’s a baseball cliche to say a player mired in a slump is due, but it certainly felt like Berrios was going to get back on track eventually. And oh boy did he ever get back on track. Berrios gave up just two hits and walked one batter. Here are his seven strikeouts: Twins W-L Record Overall: 62-59 (.512) Last 10: 7-3 (.700) Last 20: 12-8 (.600) Last 40: 21-19 (.525) Last 80: 39-41 (.488) AL Central Standings Cleveland 68-53 Minnesota 62-59 (-6.0) Kansas City 61-61 (-7.5) AL Wild Card Standings WC1: Yankees 66-56 WC2: Minnesota 62-59 Angels 63-60 (-0.002 winning percentage) Seattle 63-61 (-0.5) Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen819.png Looking Ahead SUN: Twins (Bartolo Colon) vs. Arizona (TBD), 1:10 pm CT MON: Twins (TBD) at White Sox (TBD), 4:10 pm CT MON: Twins (TBD) at White Sox (TBD), Game 2 TUE: Twins (TBD) at White Sox (TBD), 7:10 pm CT *It's not official, but it's sounding like the Twins will roll with Dillon Gee, Tim Melville and Kyle Gibson as the starters in those games at Chicago. Question of the Day Who is the player you’d most like to see enshrined next in the Twins Hall of Fame? Click here to view the article

Niko Goodrum had a monster game for the IL Wild Card-leading Red Wings, driving in six runs. Also, the Kernels managed to win 1-0 behind a Travis Blankenhorn homer, Clark Beeker won his FSL debut, Brent Rooker hit yet another homer, Lachlan Wells returned to the mound and much, much more. Find out everything that happened in the Twins minor league system on Saturday.RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 10, Louisville 5 Box Score The Red Wings actually trailed 5-0 after three innings, but the bats went on a tear to make this look like a pretty one-sided affair. Rochester had 17 hits, but nobody shined brighter than Niko Goodrum, who was 3-for 5 with six RBI. Six! Even as late as the eighth inning Rochester held just a one-run lead, but Goodrum delivered a two-run single in the eighth and would later score on a Matt Hague single. And to really drive the nail in the coffin, Niko socked a three-run homer in the ninth. That was Goodrum’s 12th home run of the season, and he also stole his 10th base of the year. It seems like Niko has been around for ages, but he’s still only 25. He was in center field tonight, but has played everywhere on the diamond other than pitcher and catcher this season. Daniel Palka also tallied three hits and Matt Hague, Kennys Vargas, Tommy Field and Leonardo Reginatto all had two hits each. Chris Heston got knocked around over his five innings (10 hits, five earned runs), but the bullpen was excellent. Alex Wimmers threw two perfect innings with three strikeouts. Buddy Boshers got the first two batters out in the eighth, but gave up a double and a walk before being lifted for Jake Reed, who managed to end the threat. Reed walked two batters in the ninth, but he also struck out three, so no worries. It was Reed’s fourth save for Rochester. The win improved the Wings record to 73-53, putting them three games up in the Wild Card race. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Tennessee 6, Chattanooga 4 Box Score Fernando Romero had a rough night, failing to even last his customary 5.0 innings for the first time in eight starts. The 22-year-old gave up six runs for the second-straight start, surrendering eight hits while walking four batters over 4.1 innings. His ERA as gone from 2.60 to 3.30 over his last two appearances. T.J. White hit his 12th homer of the season and Andy Wilkins had a pair of hits and a stolen base. Levi Michael reached base in two of his four plate appearances, and came in to the game with a .359 OBP on the season for the Lookouts. D.J. Baxendale held the Smokies scoreless over the final 3.2 innings. MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 8, Tampa 3 Box Score Clark Beeker earned a victory in his FSL debut, but he finally gave up some runs. The right-hander had four-straight scoreless starts for Cedar Rapids prior to his promotion, but he gave up three runs for the Miracle. Thanks to the bats, however, he was pitching with the lead all night, and those runs didn’t hurt the team in the least bit. Zander Wiel hit a three-run homer, his 10th of the year, and Brent Rooker added a solo shot of his own. Rooker, who also had three RBI, now has 15 home runs in 53 professional games. Jermaine Palacios had a pair of hits, lifting his FSL average up to an even .300. Brandon Lopez also had two hits and catcher Kevin Garcia had a hit, a walk and scored twice. Michael Theofanopoulos pitched two scoreless innings before Williams Ramirez finished things off with a 1-2-3 ninth inning. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 1, Beloit 0 Box Score Travis Blankenhorn hit a homer in the fourth inning and the Kernels pitching staff managed to make that one-run lead stand, as they held the Snappers to just two hits. Charlie Barnes got the start and gave up one hit and a pair of walks over 5.0 innings pitched. The Twins 2017 fourth-rounder out of Clemson struck out four batters, and lowered his Midwest League ERA to 3.18. Logan Lombana pitched the sixth and seventh, Eduardo Del Rosario had a 1-2-3 eighth before Hector Lujan picked up his league-leading 15th save thanks to a huge game-ending 5-4-3 double play completed by the combination of Jordan Gore, Blankenhorn and Lewin Diaz. The homer was Blankenhorn’s ninth of the season. Christian Cavaness was 2-for-3 with a triple and Shane Carrier had the only other hit for the Kernels, extending his hitting streak to 25 games. E-TWINS E-NOTES Elizabethton 6, Bristol 2 Box Score Down to their last out, the Bristol Pirates got a dramatic game-tying homer to send this on into extras, but the Twins prevailed thanks to a huge 12th inning. Gorge Munoz drove in Matt Albanese to score the go-ahead run, but E-Town would pile on three more runs. Ryley Widell, a seventh-round pick from this year’s draft, gave up just an unearned run over 5.0 innings. He struck out seven, and is now averaging 11.2 K/9 to go with a 2.08 ERA. Moises Gomez gave up that huge game-tying homer, but that was it over his 5.0 innings. Jose Martinez pitched the final 2.0 innings to pick up his fifth win. All the scoring prior to extra innings came from a Jose Miranda two-run homer in the sixth inning, his team-leading ninth home run of the year. Akil Baddoo had two hits, including the team’s only other extra-base knock, a double. T.J. Dixon was 2-for-6 with an RBI and two runs scored. GCL TWINS TAKES Twins 8, Red Sox 2 Box Score A trio of big names appeared on the mound for the GCL Twins: Lachlan Wells, Tyler Jay and Blayne Enlow. But it was Jean Carlos Arias who stole the show, going 4-for-5 with his fourth home run and ninth stolen base of the season. Emmanuel Morel also had a big game, going 3-for-5 while stealing is 10th and 11th bases of the year. Wells, pitching for the first time since June, struck out six batters over 4.0 innings of work. He gave up one run on a pair of hits and did not walk a batter. Jay, making just the second appearance of his rehab assignment, had four K's over 1.2 innings. He gave up a run on two hits and a walk, but it was unearned (due to his own error). Enlow finished up the game with 3.1 perfect innings to pick up his second win. He struck out four batters. So over the first 17.1 innings of his career, Enlow has a 1.04 ERA, 9.3 K/9 and a 0.58 WHIP. All together, that trio of hurlers gave up just one earned run on four hit and one walk while striking out 14 batters. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Charlie Barnes, Cedar Rapids (5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K) Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Niko Goodrum, Rochester (3-for-5, HR, 6 RBI, 2 R, SB) SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester at Louisville, 12:00 pm CT, Stephen Gonsalves (2.08 ERA, 0.77 WHIP) Chattanooga at Tennessee, 4:30 pm CT, Lewis Thorpe (making Chattanooga debut) Fort Myers at Tampa, 12:00 pm CT, Brady Anderson (4.19 ERA, 1.45 WHIP) Cedar Rapids vs. Beloit, 2:05 pm CT, Tyler Beardsley (5.48 ERA, 1.35 WHIP) Elizabethton vs. Johnson City, 5:00 pm CT, Christian Broussard (8.10 ERA, 1.80 WHIP) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Saturday's games. Click here to view the article

Byron Buxton hit an inside-the-park home run and the Twins clubbed five more homers over the fence in a late-inning barrage of offense against the Diamondbacks Friday night. Buxton ended the game a single short of hitting for the cycle. Image courtesy of Harrison Barden-USA TODAY Sports Win Expectancy (via Fangraphs) Top 5 Twins per WPA: Buxton .302 | Polanco .213 | Hildenberger .198 One of my all-time favorite baseball quotes is this one from Rogers Hornsby: “People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” I’m pretty sure for me this winter it’ll be staring into a screen watching highlights of Buxton running around the bases or tracking down fly balls in the outfield. Buxton was incredible tonight, as he hit a triple in the second inning, an inside-the-park homer in the fourth and doubled in the sixth. The D-Backs finally got him out in the seventh, albeit on a line drive he hit over 95 mph, to keep him from completing the cycle. He’ll have to settle for “just” nine total bases in his four plate appearances. You know what? I’m not even gonna wait for winter, let’s watch this kid run: https://twitter.com/TwinsHighlights/status/898735690426441728 The Twins also got home runs from Max Kepler (16), Eduardo Escobar (11), Brian Dozier (24) and two from Miguel Sano (27 & 28) but they all hit the ones where you get to trot around the bases. Lazy. Here’s Sano’s first homer … https://twitter.com/TwinsHighlights/status/898739573479673856 … but his second blast was even more impressive ... https://twitter.com/TwinsHighlights/status/898749422523228165 You wanna see the full highlight reel from this one? You’ll basically just want to watch the condensed game, because it seemed like this was just an endless stream of awesomeness from the Twins. They scored 10 runs on 17 hits, 11 of them going for extra bases. Ervin Santana had a quality start, limiting Arizona to three runs over six innings. He gave up seven hits, walked three and had six strikeouts. Those three runs all came in the first two innings. The Twins didn't take the lead until the bottom of the sixth, when Jorge Polanco drove in Buxton with a single. Nice little come-from-behind victory. Trevor Hildenberger (0.2 IP), Taylor Rogers (1.0 IP), Tyler Duffey (0.2 IP) and Nik Turley (0.2 IP) combined to throw three perfect innings out of the bullpen. Postgame With Buxton https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/898750505383469056 Twins W-L Record Overall: 61-59 (.508) Last 10: 7-3 (.700) Last 20: 12-8 (.600) Last 40: 20-20 (.500) Last 80: 39-41 (.488) AL Central Standings Cleveland 67-53 Minnesota 61-59 (-6.0) Kansas City (-6.5) AL Wild Card Standings WC 1: Yankees 65-56 WC2: Minnesota 61-59, Angels 62-60 Kansas City 61-60 (-0.5) Seattle 62-61 (-0.5) 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 (Jose Berrios) vs. Arizona (Zack Greinke), 6:10 pm CT SUN: Twins (Bartolo Colon) vs. Arizona (TBD), 1:10 pm CT MON: Twins (TBD) at White Sox (TBD), 4:10 pm CT MON: Twins (TBD) at White Sox (TBD), Game 2 Question of the Day How much do you think it’d cost to fly out to New York and get a hotel in early October? Why do I ask? Oh, I dunno, just curious ... View full article

Just a few more things to share this morning ... -Sorry for the lack of a Slegers pic to go with the article, the Game 2 photos weren't available on the service TD uses when I published this. -It sounds like Grossman is expected to miss at least three weeks, but will likely return prior to the end of the season. -There are rumblings on Twitter that Mitch Garver is being called up, but no official announcement has been made. Keep an eye out on the TD homepage for more info. And lastly, I just realized that exactly one year ago today Seth invited me to become a regular contributor here at Twins Daily. I just wanted to take a moment to thank Seth, everyone else who worked hard to make this place so great long before I showed up and all of the TD community for your support.

Aaron Slegers was excellent in his major league debut Thursday, helping the Twins take the second game of their doubleheader and put an ugly loss in the first contest behind them. Glen Perkins also made his 2017 debut, but the Twins unfortunately lost Robbie Grossman to a fractured thumb.This is like a choose your own adventure recap. If you wanna get to the good stuff, just go ahead and scroll down to Game 2. Otherwise, buckle up for a whole lotta ugliness from Game 1. GAME 1 Win Expectancy (via Fangraphs) Download attachment: WinEx817_1.png Top 3 Twins per WPA: Polanco .175, Gee .167, Buxton .088 The day didn’t get off to a good start for the Twins. Not only did they get beat handily, but they had to use five guys from the bullpen to cover five innings, thanks to another short start from Kyle Gibson. Not what you want to have happen in your first of seven games scheduled over a stretch of just five days. Gibson lasted just four innings, and it took him 97 pitches to get that far. He gave up three runs on seven hits and a walk. He also hit two batters and threw a wild pitch. Regardless, the Twins managed to stick around in this game and were trailing 3-2 heading into the eighth inning. Ryan Pressly gave up a three-run homer and a solo shot in the eighth, crushing any hopes of a Twins late-inning comeback. What that did allow, however, is a low-leverage spot for Glen Perkins to make his 2017 debut. It was a long journey back from torn labrum surgery, and Perk deserves credit just for working his way back to a big league mound, but he’ll hope for better results the next time out. He faced six batters and only got one out, surrendering two runs on a pair of singles, two hit batsmen and a walk. Below are Perkins’ velo readings from the game via Baseball Savant. He averaged 91.3 mph on his fastball. He was at 93.7 back in 2015. Download attachment: PerkinsMPH.png How about the lineup? Well, they set a team record by striking out 19 times. They got the bases loaded with no outs in the first inning and couldn’t score. And, to top it all off, they made some poor baserunning plays, too. Jorge Polanco got picked off at second base on an odd Max Kepler bunt attempt. Twins W-L Record Overall: 60-59 (.504) Last 10: 7-3 (.700) Last 20: 11-9 (.550) Last 40: 20-20 (.500) Last 80: 39-41 (.488) AL Central Standings Cleveland 66-53 Kansas City 61-59 (-5.5) Minnesota 60-59 (-6.0) AL Wild Card Standings WC1: Yankees 65-55 WC2: Angels 62-59 Kansas City 61-59 (-0.5) Minnesota 60-59 (-1.0) Seattle 61-61 (-2.0) Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen817.png Looking Ahead FRI: Twins (Ervin Santana) vs. Arizona (Zack Godley), 7:10 pm CT SAT: Twins (Jose Berrios) vs. Arizona (Zack Greinke) 6:10 pm CT SUN: Twins (Bartolo Colon) vs. Arizona (TBD), 1:10 pm CT Question of the Day With Grossman injured, would you like to see as the primary DH? Click here to view the article

There is nothing officially listed, correct, but I heard them mention Enns starting Saturday on the radio last night, and I believe Molitor reiterated it in his postgame press conference. But obviously a lot can happen between now and Saturday.

Enns is scheduled to start for the Twins on Saturday. Plans may change between then and now, but even if that is the move, there would need to be a second transaction to get a fifth starter up (unless Gee gets plugged into that spot). It'll be interesting to see what happens if tonight's game gets rained out. Since Cleveland doesn't come back here, you'd think they'd try to play a doubleheader tomorrow, but there's more rain in the forecast. Also, the Twins play a doubleheader at Chicago Monday, so that would mean they'd play seven games in five days.

The Twins got manhandled Tuesday night in an impressive display of power, both on the mound and at the plate, by Cleveland. Danny Salazar was electric on the mound and Carlos Santana hit two of the team’s five home runs. On the bright side, Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano made a couple of the greatest defensive plays of their careers.Win Expectancy (via Fangraphs) Download attachment: WWWinEx815.png Bartolo Colon limited Cleveland to three runs over 5.0 innings, but was incredibly lucky to do so. All three runs were scored on solo homers, but Colon also walked four batters and gave up seven hits. In the first inning, Cleveland got a man on second with no outs and could not score. In the second, they loaded the bases with nobody out and could not score. They had runners at the corners and one out in the third, but Bartolo induced an inning-ending double play. Their luck turned in the seventh inning. Alan Busenitz retired the first two batters of the inning, completing 1.2 frames of scoreless work, as Buddy Boshers was brought in to face lefty Jay Bruce. Buddy got up 0-2, ever so close to closing out the inning, but ended up walking Bruce. Carlos Santana hit a swinging bunt single before Austin Jackson blasted a home run to put Cleveland up 6-1. Since returning from the DL in last July, Salazar has been one of the most dominating pitchers in baseball. He struck out 10 Twins over 7.0 innings, allowing just three hits and he didn’t walk anybody. Not much anyone could’ve done to overcome that kind of a pitching performance. Eddie Rosario and Max Kepler each had a double and Buxton had an RBI single. Those were the Twins only hits of the game. They drew no walks. Not much offense. There were, however, a couple of the best defensive plays the Twins have made all season Tuesday night. Buxton made the first Torii Hunter-esque theft of his career, robbing Edwin Encarnacion of a homer. Twins W-L Record Overall: 59-58 (.504) Last 10: 7-3 (.700) Last 20: 10-10 (.500) Last 40: 19-21 (.475) Last 80: 39-41 (.488) AL Central Standings Cleveland 65-52 Kansas City 60-58 (-5.5)* Minnesota 59-58 (-6.0) AL Wild Card Standings WC1: Yankees 63-55 WC2: Kansas City 60-58*, Angels 61-59 Minnesota 59-58 (-0.5) Tampa Bay 60-61 (-1.5) Baltimore 59-60 (-1.5)* Seattle 59-61 (-2)* *Tuesday game still in progress Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen815.png Looking Ahead WED: Twins (Kyle Gibson) vs. Cleveland (Carlos Carrasco), 7:10 pm CT THU: Twins (Jose Berrios) vs. Cleveland (Mike Clevinger), 12:10 pm CT FRI: Twins (TBD) vs. Arizona (TBD), 7:10 pm CT Question of the Day Glen Perkins has joined the Twins, and it appears he’ll be activated off the DL sometime soon. Who would you remove from the bullpen to make room for Perkins? Click here to view the article

Imagine it? That's exactly what happened last night. I basically had an article all ready to rock, then it got Justin Upton'd.

Fixed, thank you. I was trying to work ahead a bit and had that typed up once he got to two strikes on Victor, moved on to something else and forgot to go back and update it.

Sunday’s win over Detroit wasn’t pretty, but after what Twins Territory had to suffer through in 2016, we’ll take anything we can get. After mustering just 59 wins last season, the 2017 Twins have now hit that mark in just 116 games.Win Expectancy (via Fangraphs) Download attachment: WinEx813.png Brian Dozier led off the game with a home run, his sixth big fly already this month. That’s now 19 of Dozier’s 23 homers this season that have been solo shots. Miguel Sano also homered, driving a two-run shot in the third inning. In contrast, 15 of Sano’s 26 homers have been with runners on. In between those two taters was a whole lotta bunting. The Twins offense has been hotter than a furnace, but they decided to give away a bunch of outs early in this one. They bunted three times in the first three innings, one of which was a successful squeeze bunt by Byron Buxton and one was an unsuccessful sacrifice by Robbie Grossman in which the lead runner was thrown out. They were feeling awfully generous on defense, too. Twins were up 4-1 in the fifth inning, but opened that frame with a Miguel Sano missed-catch error at first base. Things got really weird from there, as Chris Gimenez had an implosion behind the plate. Four balls got by Gimenez in the inning, three were scored passed balls and the other was credited as a wild pitch to Ervin Santana. To put that into perspective, Jason Castro has just four passed balls all season. Twins W-L Record Overall: 59-57 (.509) Last 10: 8-2 (.800) Last 20: 10-10 (.500) Last 40: 19-21 (.475) Last 80: 40-40 (.500) AL Central Standings Cleveland 63-52 Minnesota 59-57 (-4.5) AL Wild Card Standings WC1: Yankees 61-54 WC2: Minnesota 59-57, Angels 60-58 (tied, Sunday LAA game in progress) Seattle 59-59 (-1.0, Sunday game in progress) Kansas City 58-58 (-1.0, Sunday game in progress) Defensive Lineups Here’s a look at the starting lineups from the past seven games: Download attachment: Lineups813.png Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen813.png Looking Ahead Mon: Off Tue: Twins (Bartolo Colon) vs. Cleveland (Danny Salazar), 7:10 pm CT Wed: Twins (Kyle Gibson) vs. Cleveland (Carlos Carrasco), 7:10 pm CT Click here to view the article

The Twins fell behind 5-0 in the first inning Saturday, but stormed back to eventually build an 11-6 advantage. Then the wheels finally came falling off the bullpen. Twin relievers had been on an incredible roll, but they gave up six runs over the final three innings, including a Justin Upton walk-off homer.Win Expectancy (via Fangraphs) Download attachment: WinEx812.png Thanks in large part to a James McCann grand slam, the Tigers jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning. This game appeared to be headed toward another one of those ugly, one-sided losses we were accustomed to seeing earlier this season, but a monster third inning put the Twins right back in it. Joe Mauer cleared the bases with a double to get the Twins on the board and Eddie Rosario crushed a game-tying homer. Twins W-L Record Overall: 58-57 (.504) Last 10: 7-3 (.700) Last 20: 10-10 (.500) Last 40: 19-21 (.475) Last 80: 39-41 (.488) AL Central Standings Cleveland 62-52 Minnesota 58-57 (-4.5) Kansas City 58-58 (-5.0) Wild Card Standings WC1: Yankees 61-54 WC2: Minnesota 58-57, Angels 59-58*, Seattle 59-58* (all tied) Tampa Bay 59-59 (-0.5) Kansas City 58-58 (-0.5) *Saturday game still in progress. The Angels and Mariners are playing each other, so by the end of the night one of them will jump above the Twins. Defensive Lineups Here’s a look at the starting lineups from the past seven games: Download attachment: Lineups812.png Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen812.png Looking Ahead Sunday: Twins (Ervin Santana) at Detroit (Matthew Boyd), 12:10 pm CT Monday: OFF Tuesday: Twins (TBD) vs. Cleveland (Danny Salazar), 7:10 pm CT Click here to view the article