Tom Froemming

Nick did a nice review of his turnaround late last month. Gibby's made some adjustments, and from the sound of his postgame interview he's trying a different mental approach. I wouldn't be opposed to tendering him a contract for next year, but I also wouldn't expect him to be anything more than a fourth or fifth starter over the course of a full season. Nothing wrong with that, though. That's a much different opinion than I'd have offered up a couple months ago. Stuff like this is music to my ears, thanks for reading. A catcher's mitt is a tough tool to work with sometimes, but I'm sure even Castro would agree with that assessment. You can see that play starting a the 0:20 mark on the MLB highlight package here. I'd love to be able to just embed these highlight packages on each article, but MLB doesn't allow playback on other websites. That really bugs me, especially when using a mobile device, but I guess just even getting that link in on each of these may be more valuable than nothing at all.

The Twins have been resilient all year, but they had been making a habit of coming *this* close to mounting comebacks lately. Well, they broke through Thursday night. Entering the ninth down a run, the Twins scored three in the final frame and Matt Belisle locked it down for the save.Snapshot (chart via Fangraphs) Download attachment: Snapshot97.png Jorge Polanco … the team’s No. 3 hitter tonight … the guy who has an OPS over 1.000 since the start of August … was asked to bunt with no outs in the eighth. The Twins would end up not scoring. The very next inning, however, Polanco was given a chance to hit and delivered the go-ahead two-run single after Brian Dozier tied things up with a sac fly. All’s well that ends well. Kyle Gibson had another strong start, though it was in an unconventional way. He went 7.0 innings and held the Royals to two runs despite not striking out a single batter. Nobody in the bullpen recorded a strikeout, either. The Royals, who are still notorious for their ability to put the ball in play, hit into four double plays. It’s easy for late-season hot streaks to go unappreciated. Gibby still has a 5.19 ERA on the year, but coming into tonight he had been among the better starting pitchers in the AL since the All-Star break. It’s true. In his previous seven starts, Gibson had a 3.29 ERA, was 10th in FIP (3.11) among all pitchers and 11th in WAR (1.3) among AL pitchers (min. 40 IP). After watching Kyle throw more than 700 innings with the Twins now, I think we can safely say we know who he is, but there’s no denying the guy is on a great hot streak right now. It’s coming at a great time. Belisle has also had quite the turnaround, but he had actually given up four earned runs over his previous six innings pitched prior to tonight’s game. Even with the expanded bullpen, he’s such a pivotal guy. It was great to see him turn in a 1-2-3 ninth. Joe Mauer was on base five times tonight. He had a double, two singles and a pair of walks. Robbie Grossman hit his ninth homer of the season, Max Kepler stole his sixth base and Trevor Hildenberger picked up his third win. Standings This victory put the Twins back in the second wild card spot. They lead the Angels, who were off today, by one game. Baltimore is two back after losing to the Yankees and Texas trails by 2.5 games. Cleveland won its 15th-straight game. Wow. They’ve really run away with the division. Postgame With Gibson Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen97.png Looking Ahead Fri: Twins (Ervin Santana) at Kansas City (Ian Kennedy), 7:15 pm CT Sat: Twins (Jose Berrios) at Kansas City (Jake Junis), 6:15 pm CT Sun: Twins (Bartolo Colon) at Kansas City (Jason Vargas), 1:15 pm CT Looking Back Wed: MIN 10, TB 6: Twins Prevail Thanks to Big Error Tue: TB 2, MIN 0: Too Little, Too Late Mon: TB 11, MIN 4: Bullpen Lets Game Get Out of Hand Click here to view the article

The Twins had to take the lead on four separate occasions, as Tampa Bay just kept battling back, but outlasted the Rays Wednesday afternoon. A costly error in the top of the seventh finally served as the dagger, as the Twins tallied three runs that inning.Snapshot (chart via Fangraphs) Download attachment: IMG_20170906_155440.jpg Download attachment: chart.png Brian Dozier got things started with a leadoff home run. He now has 29 homers, which is the second-most in his career. The Rays answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the inning, but Ehire Adrianza put the Twins back on top with a three-run homer in the top of the second. Tampa caught back up with a three-run shot of their own in the bottom of the third via Lucas Duda. Eduardo Escobar broke the tie with a two-run single in the top of the fifth, but the Rays responded with another game-tying homer off the bat of Kevin Kiermaier in the bottom of the inning. The Twins finally took the lead for good in the seventh. Dozier led off the inning with a walk. Jorge Polanco attempted to bunt him over, but got a lot more than he bargained for. The ball was thrown out into right field, Dozier came all the way around to score and Polanco ended up on third. Aaron Slegers made his second-career start. It didn’t go so well. He gave up five runs, including a pair of homers, over 4.0 innings. Buddy Boshers was the first man out of the bullpen, primarily to get a lefty-lefty matchup with Kiermaier. The strategy made sense, as only seven of his 42 career homers entering today had come against left-handers, but Boshers served up a homer anyway. Then again, Kiermaier also hit a two-run single off Buddy Monday night, so maybe he just has his number. From there, the rest of the bullpen took care of business. Ryan Pressly (1.1 IP), Taylor Rogers (1.1 IP), Trevor Hildenberger (1.0 IP) and Matt Belisle (1.0 IP) made sure there would be no more Tampa Bay comebacks, as they shut out the Rays for 4.2 innings. Eduardo Escobar had a big game, going 3-for-5 with a triple, three RBI and two runs scored. Chris Gimenez also reached safely three times, tallying a pair of singles and a walk. Standings The Angels won last night to take hold of the second wild card spot, but this victory puts the Twins in a temporary deadlock with Anaheim. The Angels-A’s were already underway when this was published. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: IMG_20170906_154835.jpg Looking Ahead Thu: Twins (Kyle Gibson) at Kansas City (Sam Gaviglio), 7:15 pm CT Fri: Twins (Ervin Santana) at Kansas City (Ian Kennedy), 7:15 pm CT Sat: Twins (Jose Berrios) at Kansas City (Jake Junis), 6:15 pm CT Looking Back Tue: TB 2, MIN 0: Too Little, Too Later Mon: TB 11, MIN 4: Bullpen Lets Game Get Out Of Hand Sun: KC 5, MIN 4: What Even Is A Swing, Anyway? Click here to view the article

This is great stuff. Couple things to add ... If you take a look at Jay Jaffee's JAWS system, Mauer is the top-ranked catcher who's not currently in the HoF. He sits right between HoF Yankee legends Yogi Berra and Bill Dickey. That ranking system does include all Mauer's time at first base, but obviously the majority of his value was generated when he was a catcher. Also listed at that b-ref link I provided is WAR7, a sum of the top seven seasons per WAR for each player. The average HoF catcher earned 34.4 WAR over their best seasons. Mauer had 38.5. From 2014 (when he moved to 1B) to today, Mauer has a .326 wOBA, 103 wRC+ and 105 OPS+. No, those aren't anything close to HoF numbers, but it's not like he's done anything to damage the case he built during his catching days. I certainly don't think Joe will be a first-ballot guy, but I think he gets in.

Will do, good call. That thing's getting pretty crowded now.

Bartolo Colon turned in another strong effort and Robbie Grossman returned to provide a leadoff homer in the ninth, but the Twins fell just short of completing a comeback Tuesday night, leaving the game-tying run at third base. This was the third game out of their last four the Twins have lost.Snapshot (chart via Fangraphs) Download attachment: SnapShot95.png The Twins sure ran into Jake Odorizzi at the wrong time. Over his previous three starts, the right-hander gave up 13 runs over 12.1 innings, but the streaky starter found his groove Tuesday night. Odorizzi held the Twins hitless into the seventh inning, and finished his night having given up just the one hit (a Joe Mauer single) over 6.2 innings to go with six strikeouts. Colon turned in a quality start of his own, surrendering two runs over 6.2 innings, but lost the duel. One hitter in particular got the best of him. Lucas Duda drove in both of those runs off Bartolo, hitting a solo homer and an RBI double. The Twins only offense came in the top of the ninth, as the returning Grossman hit a leadoff homer. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen95.png Looking Ahead Wed: Twins (Aaron Slegers) at Tampa Bay(Blake Snell), 12:10 pm CT Thu: Twins (Kyle Gibson) at Kansas City (Sam Gaviglio), 7:15 pm CT Fri: Twins (Ervin Santana) at Kansas City (Ian Kennedy), 7:15 pm CT Looking Back Mon: TB 11, MIN 4: Bullpen Lets Game Get Out Of Hand Sun: KC 5, MIN 4: What Even Is A Swing, Anyway? Sat: MIN 17, KC 0: What Negative Run Differential? Click here to view the article

You win some, you lose some and sometimes you get your butt kicked. Monday night’s game would fall into the third category, though the score was 2-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning. Not a good look tonight, but regardless, the Twins still hold the second American League Wild Card spot.Snapshot (chart via Fangraphs) Download attachment: Snapshot94.png The offense could muster only five hits and Jose Berrios gave up five runs over 5.0 innings. To be fair, the score was just 3-1 when Berrios was removed from the game. Things really fell apart once the bullpen took over. It took five different relievers to get through the final three innings. Yep, must be September. It’s really funny how pitching stats work out sometimes. In the box score, Buddy Boshers gave up zero earned runs over 0.1 innings, but he came in and gave up a massive two-run single that increased Tampa’s lead to 6-1 before recording the final out of that inning. One big difference between earlier in the year and now is that when the Twins are losing big, early in the season that typically meant we’d get to see Chris Gimenez pitch. Now, it means we get to see Glen Perkins pitch. He walked the first two batters he faced before getting a groundout and maxed out at 90.9 mph tonight. Both those runners eventually came around to score after Perkins had been lifted for Tyler Duffey. There was a bit of a scary moment in this one, as Mitch Garver was involved in a collision at home plate with Steve Souza Jr., who is 6-foot-4, 225 pounds. That’s not supposed to happen anymore right? Yes, but sometimes two guys are just in the same place at the same time. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen94.png Looking Ahead Tue: Twins (Bartolo Colon) at Tampa Bay (Jake Odorizzi), 6:10 pm CT Wed: Twins (Aaron Slegers) at Tampa Bay(Blake Snell), 12:10 pm CT Thu: Twins (Kyle Gibson) at Kansas City (Sam Gaviglio), 7:15 pm CT Looking Back KC 5, MIN 4: What Even Is A Swing, Anyway? MIN 17, KC 0: What Negative Run Differential? KC 7, MIN 6: Oh, So Close Click here to view the article

I love this. Thank you for the kind words. I have a few things to add. I understand if people had written off Puckett's Pond. It seemed for a really long time the content there was inconsistent. But I gotta tell you, Benjamin Chase is The Truth. I had caught some of his minors stuff at FanSided before he joined PP, so I was really excited about him covering the Twins more in depth. He has not disappointed. Puckett's Pond is alive and in good hands. Also, Myjah deserves a lot more credit than she gets. Those inconsistency issues at PP haven't been prevalent at Twinkie Town because she's been there steering the ship. Just took a look at her SB Nation profile. Looks like she has over 1,400 articles. She also has over 32,000 comments. Holy crap. There's no denying TT leads the town in fun. There's something to be said for that. Lastly, Matt Anderson's @TwinsAlmanac on Twitter is great. Really interesting little Twins history lessons and super awesome pics old baseball cards.

I wasn't sure I should weight in on this (no pun intended), but here goes nothing ... I would assume if I reached out to the Twins they would issue me a press pass. This has nothing to do with me personally and everything to do with Twins Daily's sterling reputation. Then why don't I? Well, clearly it's because I'm a coward afraid to show my face in the clubhouse, right? Nope. It's because they won't let me wear my kimono in the press box and Target Field doesn't have a Cinnabon. Seriously though, the amount of extra time covering games in person would require would far outweigh (there I go again) the amount of value that would add to anything I write. Are there different questions I'd ask than the regular writers? Yeah, probably. Would those questions get valuable answers? Probably not very often. Yes, I've interviewed professional athletes. You can only get as much as they're willing to give you, and there are a lot of reasons why they may not want to give great answers your questions. If you're a pitcher, would you really want to explain in detail how you plan to attack hitters? Of course not. The same thing applies to some managerial decisions. Will they give you some juicy stuff off the record once you've earned some trust? That's more likely, as is evidence by Souhan's original column. Would I want to use that stuff? No. So what's the point? But more than anything I don't want to be at the stadium late every night because I have a full-time job, a wife and a one-year-old daughter. And a social life ... ok, that last one is a lie (you know us bloggers and our lies). One last thing I'd like to say is if this stuff bothers you, then just don't read Souhan. Or, you know what, just avoid the Strib altogether. Mike Berardino over at the Pioneer Press is the best beat writer anyway. He's also very good on social media and seems like a good dude (though I've never met him, since he's never been to my basement).

The Twins ended up on the short end of a back-and-forth affair Sunday at Target Field, losing the game 5-4 and their series against the Royals two games to one. A controversial check swing call on Lorenzo Cain resulted in Paul Molitor getting ejected and allowed Cain to deliver the go-ahead hit later in the at- bat.Snapshot (chart via Fangraphs) Download attachment: Snapshot93.png I took a quick look through the MLB official rule book, and guess what? There doesn’t appear to be an actual definition of a swing or check swing in there. How crazy is that? It’s basically all up to the individual umpires to determine what is an attempt to strike the ball. Does that simply mean their bat passes the front of the plate? Is it when the barrel of the bat carries past the body of the batter? All depends on who you ask, I guess. Here’s a great screenshot Ted Schwerzler shared, you be the judge. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen93.png Looking Ahead Mon: Twins (Jose Berrios) at Rays (Alex Cobb), 6:10 pm CT Tue: Twins (Bartolo Colon) at Rays (Jake Odorizzi), 6:10 pm CT Wed: Twins (Aaron Slegers) at Rays (Blake Snell), 12:10 pm CT Looking Back MIN 17, KC 0: What Negative Run Differential? KC 7, MIN 6: Oh, So Close MIN 5, CHW 4: Twins Win on Walk-Off HBP Click here to view the article

A big storyline, especially early in the season, was how the Twins had a winning record despite a negative run differential. That carried through the rest of the season, but a big August coupled with a drubbing of the Royals Saturday night has resulted in the Twins getting into the black. After a 17-0 win, they’ve scored 669 runs and allowed 668 on the season.Snapshot (chart via Fangraphs) Download attachment: Snapshot92.png I’m sure Paul Molitor and his team heard the terms “Phythagorean win-loss record” and “negative run differential” enough to where those phrases are like nails on a chalkboard now. After tonight’s blowout win, maybe those won’t be such trigger terms for the club. As you could imagine, there were plenty of notable performances. Maybe the most encouraging of which was from Kyle Gibson, who pitched six innings but surely could have gone longer. He limited Kansas City to five singles and tallied five strikeouts while not issuing a single walk. And he did all that on just 81 pitches. Gibby hasn’t allowed four or more runs in seven-straight starts, but he’s been particularly impressive over his last three outings. In that span, he’s given up just three runs over 19.2 innings (1.37 ERA) and has 20 K's against just two walks. Another great sight was Byron Buxton’s return to the starting lineup. He hit a standup triple in his first at-bat back and ended the night 3-for-5 with three runs and two RBI. Joe Mauer was 4-for-4 with a double tonight, raising his average to .303 and his OPS to .801. We haven’t seen Joe hit those benchmarks since 2013. Over the last 22 games, Mauer is hitting .438 (39-for-89). Eduardo Escobar hit a pair of homers, giving him 14 on the season, and a triple. He drove in six runs. Brian Dozier hit his 27th home run of the year. Jorge Polanco had a pair of hits, because multi-hit games are the only kind of games he has now. Another fun thing to see was Niko Goodrum making his major league debut. He entered the game in the sixth inning, played second base and was 0-for-2. Standings The Yankees also won Saturday, so the Twins are still behind a game for the top wild card spot. The Angels are two back of the Twins, but their Saturday game was still in progress when this published. But Baltimore lost, so they trail Minnesota by 2.5 games. Cleveland won its 10th-straight game, maintaining their eight-game lead in the division. 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 Looking Ahead Sun: Twins (Ervin Santana) vs. Royals (Ian Kennedy), 1:10 pm CT Mon: Twins (Jose Berrios) at Rays (Alex Cobb), 6:10 pm CT Tue: Twins (Bartolo Colon) at Rays (Jake Odorizzi), 6:10 pm CT Looking Back KC 7, MIN 6: Oh, So Close MIN 5, CHW 4: Twins Win on Walk-Off HBP MIN 11, CHW 1: Rosario Hits 2 HRs, Buxton Exits With Injury Click here to view the article

The Rochester Red Wings maintained their grip on the International League wild card thanks to big nights from Aaron Slegers and ByungHo Park. With just three games remaining in the regular season, the Wings hold a two game lead over Lehigh Valley. Find out everything that happened in the Twins minor league system on Friday.RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 6, Pawtucket 4 Box Score ByungHo Park hit a three-run homer and Aaron Slegers picked up his 15th win of the season for the Red Wings. Slegers, who I assume will get consideration to replace Dillon Gee in the Twins rotation, struck out 10 batters over 6.2 innings. He gave up three runs on six hits and a walk. Matt Hague and Leonardo Reginatto each had two hits. Dietrich Enns pitched for the first time since Aug. 15 and gave up a run over 1.2 innings, but he also struck out three batters. Alex Wimmers recorded the final out to earn his seventh save. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 3, Montgomery 2 (11 innings) Box Score LaMonte Wade drove in the game-tying run in the bottom of the eighth and Edgar Corcino hit a walk-off single in the 11th to keep Chattanooga rolling ahead toward the playoffs. Dereck Rodriguez pitched 6.0 innings and gave up two runs, though neither was earned. He surrendered just two hits, walked one batter and struck out seven. Alex Muren worked a scoreless seventh before both Cody Stashak and Gabriel Moya each provided two shutout innings. Moya’s stats are completely ridiculous. This was his sixth win of the season, he has 24 saves in 24 opportunities, a 0.77 ERA and matching 0.77 WHIP. Corcino and Nick Gordon both had three hits, while Wade and catcher Brian Navarreto each picked up a pair of hits. MIRACLE MATTERS Jupiter 1, Fort Myers 0 Box Score Anthony Marzi gave up a run in the bottom of the first and that was all the offense this game would see. The 24-year-old lefty went 6.0 innings and held Jupiter to four hits and two walks while striking out five. Sam Clay pitched the final two innings, lowering his ERA to 1.38 on the year. The Miracle could only muster six singles and drew a pair of walks. Leadoff man Sean Miller did his part, going 3-for-4, and cleanup man Zander Wiel had two hits. The big difference maker was that the Hammerheads turned three double plays KERNELS NUGGETS Burlington 5, Cedar Rapids 4 Box Score All the scoring in this one was done in the first five innings. Jimmy Kerrigan got things off to a great start, clubbing a two-run homer in the bottom of the first to put the Kernels up 2-0. The Bees tallied five unanswered runs before Kerrigan cracked yet another two-run blast to bring Cedar Rapids within a run. Unfortunately, the Burlington bullpen was on its game, as two relievers combined to strike out 10 batters over 4.0 no-hit innings. Charlie Barnes was the starter and gave up five runs (four earned) over 4.2 innings. The Kernels pen was also steller, as Max Cordy (2.1 IP) and Hector Lujan (2.0 IP) combined for 4.1 no-hit innings of their own. E-TWINS E-NOTES OFF Elizabethton’s regular season concluded Thursday. They play Greenville in the Appy League West Divison Finals beginning tonight at 5:00 pm CT. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Red Sox 5, GCL Twins 4 (Game 1, 7 innings) Box Score The Twins held a one-run lead heading into the bottom of the seventh and final inning, but Amilcar Cruz walked three batters in the inning and David Gerics threw a wild pitch that allowed the Red Sox to score the winning run. Left fielder Colton Burns was 2-for-2 with a pair of doubles and a walk. Right fielder Jared Akins hit a two-out, bases-clearing triple in the fourth inning. GCL Twins 9, GCL Red Sox (Game 2, 7 innings) Box Score The GCL Twins rebounded nicely from that disappointing loss, cruising to victory in Game 2. Third baseman Alex Robles was 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run. Burns, catcher Taylor Grzelakowski and shortstop Victor Tademo also had two RBI a piece. Taylor Clemensia was effectively wild over his 3.2 innings. Though he walked five batters, he also gave up just one hit and had seven strikeouts. The only run he gave up was unearned. Petru Balan took care of things from there, throwing 3.1 no-hit innings. He struck out four and walked one batter. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Aaron Slegers, Rochester (6.2 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 10 K) Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Jimmy Kerrigan, Cedar Rapids (2-for-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 2 R) SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester vs. Pawtuckett, 5:05 pm CT, Felix Jorge (0-1, 4.50 ERA) Chattanooga vs. Montgomery, 6:15 pm CT, D.J. Baxendale 0-0, 1.62 ERA) Fort Myers vs. Jupiter, 5:05 pm CT, Lachlan Wells (4-10, 4.24 ERA) Cedar Rapids at Beloit, 7:00 pm CT, Bryan Sammons (2-1, 4.35 ERA) Elizabethton at Greenville, 5:00 pm CT, (TBD) GCL Twins vs. GCL Red Sox (Cancelled) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Friday's games. Click here to view the article

If there was a way to measure a team’s competitiveness, it would be safe to assume the Twins would be among the top teams in baseball. They entered the bottom of the ninth down 7-4 Friday night, but battled back and got the game-tying run all the way to third base before finally falling to the Royals.Snapshot (chart via Fangraphs) Download attachment: Snapshot91.png The Twins trailed 7-4 entering the bottom of the ninth. Fireballing closer Kelvin Herrera came in for the Royals. Things did not get off to a good start for KC, as Max Kepler reached on a fielding error, but Herrera recovered to retire the next two batters. But Zack Granite drew a walk and Brian Dozier was hit by a pitch, loading the bases for Joe Mauer. To increase the drama, Byron Buxton entered the game as a pinch runner, representing the game-tying run at first base. Mauer sent a slow grounder right through the middle of the infield. That scored two runs and advanced Buxton to third. Herrera was removed from the game in the middle of an at-bat against Jorge Polanco. Lefty Scott Alexander entered and walked Polanco to load the bases again, putting the go-ahead run in scoring position. Just when it looked like the Twins were going to pull off another improbable walk-off win, Alexander got Eddie Rosario swinging to end the game. How did the Twins fall behind in the first place? Dillon Gee was roughed up for five runs and lasted just 2.2 innings. It seems pretty safe to say he’ll be removed from the rotation after two starts in which he logged a total of just 6.2 innings and gave up nine runs. Always need a long guy in the pen, though. Tyler Duffey provided 2.1 innings of relief, but gave up a two-run homer right before he was lifted. Ryan Pressly (1.2 IP), Buddy Boshers (1.1 IP) and John Curtiss (1.0 innings) shut out the Royals from there to give the Twins a chance to mount a comeback. Polanco hit his 10th homer of the year, a two-run shot in the first inning. He also reached base in three of his four plate appearances. Mauer, Dozier and Kepler all had two hits each. Mauer also (stop me if you’ve heard this before) made a pair of fine defensive plays. He laid out to reel in a throw that completed a double play in the first inning and made a nice diving stop near the line in the second inning Standings The Yankees lost, so the Twins are still just a game behind for the top wild card spot. The Angels’ game was still in progress at the time this published. They are currently one back of the Twins, with Baltimore trailing by 1.5 games. Cleveland won its ninth straight game, so they hold an eight-game lead in the AL Central. 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: Bullpen91.png Looking Ahead Sat: Twins (Kyle Gibson) vs. Royals (Onelki Garcia), 6:10 pm CT Sun: Twins (Ervin Santana) vs. Royals (Ian Kennedy), 1:10 pm CT Mon: Twins (TBD) at Rays (TBD), 6:10 pm CT Looking Back MIN 5, CHW 4: Twins Win on Walk-Off HBP MIN 11, CHW 1: Rosario Hits 2 HRs, Buxton Exits With Injury MIN 6, CHW 4: Polanco Does it All Click here to view the article

I just didn't have time. These day games during the week suck for my schedule. Added a summary of the standings and the postgame interview with Molitor.

Just when you think you’ve seen it all, the Twins go out and win a game on a walk-off hit batsman. After Eddie Rosario delivered a game-tying single in the bottom of the ninth, Max Kepler took one for the team to give the Twins their 70th victory of the season.Snapshot (chart via Fangraphs) Download attachment: IMG_20170831_155217.jpg Download attachment: chart.png On his second pitch on the ninth, Belisle gave up a crushing go-ahead homer to Alen Hanson. He also walked the next batter, but to his credit Belisle righted the ship and struck out three of the next four batters he faced to limit the damage. There was an intentional walk in the middle of those K's. You never like to see your closer (are we calling him that?) give up a go-ahead home run in the ninth, but at least he didn’t completely unravel. With David Robertson traded away, the White Sox have a lot of uncertainty in the back end of their bullpen, too. Juan Minaya, who entered the game with three career saves, coughed up the lead in the bottom of the ninth. Ehire Adrianza led off the inning with a pinch-hit single. Zack Granite popped out on a bunt attempt for the first out, but thank goodness in the end it didn’t matter. Brian Dozier walked, Rosario hit a game-tying single and Joe Mauer walked to load the bases. Jorge Polanco hit the first pitch he saw back to the pitcher for the second out. That’s when the Kepler heroics happened. Well, maybe that’s overselling it a bit. The very first pitch of the at-bat, an 88 mph slider, hit Max to give the Twins yet another August win. It looked like it got him squarely on the back shin, but Max was able to jog down to first and participate in the victory celebration. Kepler also hit a game-tying RBI double in the fifth inning. It was an odd day for Bartolo. Typically a wizard at coaxing “good” contact, Colon gave up 10 hits. Also weird: he struck out a season-high eight batters. At the end of the day, that combination resulted in a quality start (6.0 IP, 3 ER). Alan Busenitz pitched two shutout innings before Belisle gave up the run in the ninth. The Twins got some great news on Byron Buxton. His hand injury is merely considered day-to-day, a bruise of the hamate bone. Standings Cleveland was off, so the Twins are now 6.5 games back in the division. The Yankees won, but the Orioles finally lost. So the Twins remain a game back of New York for the first Wild Card and are 1.5 games up on the Angels for the second spot. Baltimore is 2.5 back. The next teams trail the Twins by four games. The crowd has started to thin out. 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: IMG_20170831_154811.jpg Looking Ahead Fri: Twins (Dillon Gee) vs. Royals (Jason Hammel), 7:10 pm CT Sat: Twins (Kyle Gibson) vs. Royals (TBD), 6:10 pm CT Sun: Twins (Ervin Santana) vs. Royals (TBD), 1:10 pm CT Looking Back MIN 11, CHW 1: Rosario Hits 2 HRs, Buxton Exits With Injury MIN 6, CHW 4: Polanco Does it All MIN 7, TOR 2: Buxton Hits 3 Homers, Twins Win Series at Toronto Click here to view the article

You are correct. Fixed. I must've had some space dust on my computer screen that only allowed me to see the earned runs column.