Tom Froemming

Well, I believe started these when they were out in Seattle. They had a 29-24 record at that point. So, looks like they're 22-31 since ... sorry

The Twins managed just three hits and Joey Gallo blasted a three-run homer for Texas. That about says it all. Adalberto Mejia lasted just four innings, but that was in part due to the fact that his teammates made a couple of crucial misplays.Win Expectancy (via Fangraphs) Download attachment: WinEx83.png Brian Dozier and Max Kepler, the top two batters in tonight’s order, have both really been struggling of late. Dozier was 0 for 4 tonight, and is now 5 for 37 (.135) since the start of that West Coast road trip with 13 strikeouts and no walks. Kepler, 0 for 3 tonight, is now 11 for 66 (.167) since the All-Star break. It was a weird night for Mejia. He walked the first batter of the game, then gave up back-to-back singles, putting Texas up 1-0 before the Twins even recorded an out. But then just like that, Adalberto struck out the next five batters he faced. After a 30-pitch first frame, Mejia faced the minimum in both the second and third innings. Things got messy in the fourth, however, as his defense misplayed a couple of balls. After retiring the leadoff man, Mejia gave up a “double” to Mike Napoli that bounced out of a sliding Eddie Rosario’s glove. Baseball Savant had the hit probability on that ball at just three percent. Twins Record Overall: 51-55 (.481) Last 10: 2-8 (.200) Last 20: 6-14 (.300) Last 40: 17-23 (.425) Last 80: 37-43 (.463) A couple of big stories to follow over these final two months will be who is playing shortstop and how young players like Zack Granite are being used. Things will get even more interesting once rosters expand. With that in mind, these game recaps will also include some info on recent starting lineups. Enjoy. Defensive Lineups Here's a look at the starting lineups from the past seven games: Download attachment: Lineups83.png Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Pen83.png Looking Ahead Friday: Twins (Bartolo Colon) vs. Texas (Martin Perez), 7:10 pm CT In four second-half starts, Perez has a 7.03 ERA and 1.52 WHIP. But the southpaw has great numbers against current Twins hitters, holding them to a .189/.267/.208 line over 61 PAs. As a team, the Twins have a .697 OPS vs. LHP. League average is .744. Colon is coming off his best start as a Twin, having held the A's to three runs over 6.1 IP. Adrian Beltre, who recently recorded his 3,000th hit, has an .844 OPS and six homers off Colon over his career. Saturday: Twins (Kyle Gibson) vs. Texas (Cole Hamels) Sunday: Twins (TBD) vs. Texas (Nick Martinez) Next Series: Twins host the Brewers in a two-game series before heading to Milwaukee for two games. Click here to view the article

I'm going to see how long this can last. My prediction for tomorrow: Don't Need a Closer When You Hit 5 HRs

Ervin Santana pitched his fifth complete game of the season and set a new season high with nine strikeouts. He also delivered at the dish, driving in a pair of runs. Word is he’s also going to prepare a five course meal for the entire team, fly the jet back to Minneapolis and serve as a one-man grounds crew to prepare Target Field for tomorrow’s game. Ok, those last three things weren’t true, but it seems like the guy can do it all.Win Expectancy (via Fangraphs) Download attachment: WinEx82.png What a performance. Santana gave up two runs on four hits and a walk. He lived in the strike zone all game, throwing 82 of his 110 pitches on the day for strikes. But that wasn’t all. Santana also did something that has been seemingly impossible for the regular lineup to do. He got a hit with two outs and the bases loaded. With the game scoreless in the top of the second inning, Ervin chopped a two-run single past the first baseman. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Pen82.png Looking Ahead Thursday: Twins (Adalberto Mejia) vs. Texas (A.J. Griffin), 7:10 pm CT Griffin will be making his first start off the DL. His last outing was May 27. He’s been recovering from an intercostal strain. The right-hander has only made eight starts in 2017, posting a 5.77 ERA. He’s served up an eye-popping 12 home runs over just 39.0 innings (2.8 HR/9). You’d usually expect a 24-year-old rookie to be inconsistent, but Mejia hasn’t given up more than four runs in eight straight starts. In five starts during July, Big Bert had a 3.49 ERA and 2.75 K:BB ratio. He still hasn’t found that Ervin-like knack for pitching deep into games (to be fair, who has?), but if that’s our biggest concern, that’s a pretty great situation to be in. Friday: Twins (Bartolo Colon) vs. Texas (Martin Perez) Saturday: Twins (TBD) vs. Texas (Cole Hamels) Sunday: Twins (TBD) vs. Texas (Nick Martinez) Next Series: Twins host the Brewers in a two-game series before heading to Milwaukee for two games. Click here to view the article

Jose Berrios was outstanding, carrying a no-hitter into the sixth inning, but the Twins offense got shut out for just the second time all season. The bats could muster only three hits, all of them singles, to go along with a pair of walks. The bright side: At least one of the base knocks came from Byron Buxton, who was playing his first game back off the DL.Win Expectancy (via Fangraphs) Download attachment: WinEx81.png This was an encouraging night for Berrios and Buxton, which in the big picture is really what’s important for the remainder of this season. Berrios gave up just one run over 7.0 two-hit innings. He walked two and struck out four, throwing just 75 pitches, 46 for strikes. If this was an AL game, there’s little doubt Jose would have gone out for the eighth inning, but he was pinch hit for as the leadoff man in the eighth inning. Paul Molitor has been an easy target of late, but I think that’s a move that had to be made in a 1-0 game at the time. Along with going 1-for-3, Buxton also stole his 17th base of the season. Eduardo Escobar was a bright spot as well, going 1-for-2 with a pair of walks. Zack Granite had a rough night at the plate, hitting into two double plays, but he also made a nice catch at the wall in left field. Joe Mauer made the play of the game with this sweet over the shoulder basket catch. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Pen81.png Wednesday Twins (Ervin Santana) at San Diego (Luis Perdomo), 2:40 pm CT Over his last five starts, Perdomo has given up 21 runs in 25.1 innings, though only 15 of those were earned (5.33 ERA). The right-hander has yielded an .895 OPS and has a 15:9 K:BB ratio over that same stretch. Lefties have hit .331/.407/.494 (.901 OPS) off him this season. Santana followed a terrible June with a more respectable, yet still uninspiring July. In four starts he had a 4.68 ERA and 1.40 WHIP. Through his first 11 starts, Erv had a 1.75 ERA. In his 10 starts since, his ERA is 5.46. Click here to view the article

Great, great stuff. Awesome, super valuable information. Thank you, thank you, thank you. There will be a lot of tough decisions, but the front office has had a great grasp on the market so far, successfully slipping Park and Melotakis through waivers. I'd love to see some of the guys on the fringe who are in their mid- to late-20s get a look in the bigs before the end of this season.

My only disappointment is there wasn't a stronger market out there for Kintzler. The front office clearly played hardball to try and get the absolute max for him, waiting until the very final minutes, but there was no desperate mystery team that ever emerged. What can you do?

Another really poor baseball decision I forgot to mention originally was when Max Kepler ran into an out at third base. With the score tied and one out in the top of the ninth, Kepler was on second base when Miguel Sano sent a chopper to third. Kepler broke to third and was easily tagged out. I don't know if maybe Kepler thought he could beat the third baseman to the bag or if he thought there were two outs already (he entered the game as a pinch runner) or what, but that was a terrible play on his part in a huge situation. Just a lot of bad baseball all around for the Twins of late.

For the second-straight night, the Twins blew a lead and were thwarted by Oakland thanks to a walk-off homer. Yonder Alonso played the hero this time, blasting a homer off Tyler Duffey to win it in the 12th inning. This was the Twins last opportunity to make a positive impression on the front office prior to the trade deadline.Win Expectancy (via Fangraphs) Download attachment: WinEx630.png The Twins built up a 5-0 lead early but, once again, they failed to tack on. Taylor Rogers, who gave up the walk-off homer last night, came in to pitch the eighth today. He got the first two batters he faced out before issuing a four-pitch walk. Oakland pinch hit Rajai Davis, who just so happened to be the guy who hit that walk-off homer off Rogers Saturday night, and he delivered a clutch single. Rogers was lifted for Ryan Pressly, who gave up a game-tying double to Matt Chapman. In a situation that clearly called for a no-doubles defense (game-tying run at first base with two outs), left fielder Eddie Rosario was inexplicably playing in. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Pen730.png Monday Off The Twins get to spend another day off in California tomorrow. Not a bad deal. Tuesday evening they’ll open a quick two-game series at San Diego. Jose Berrios is scheduled to start against Jhoulys Chacin. The big news, of course, is the upcoming trade deadline, which is Monday at 3 pm CT. Be sure to be refreshing Twins Daily often, as we’ll keep you updated on any rumors or trade news between now and then. Click here to view the article

Brandon Kintzler was unavailable, so it was up to Taylor Rogers to protect a one-run lead. It would have been his first professional save on any level … would have been. Rogers walked the leadoff man, then gave up a walk-off homer to the next batter, Rajai Davis. Cleveland extended its winning streak to nine games, though the Royals’ winning streak was snapped. The Twins are seven games back in the division and four back in the wild card race.Win Expectancy (via Fangraphs) Download attachment: WinEx729.png Oakland struck first in this one, but the Twins built a 4-1 lead by the top of the fifth inning. The A’s climbed back into it by scoring a run on a two-out single in the fifth and a two-out solo homer in the eighth. Rogers came in to bail out Buddy Boshers, who gave up that homer, and recorded the final out of the eighth inning. He opened the ninth by getting up 0-2 on Adam Rosales, but eventually walked him. Then Davis blasted a 1-0 pitch into the night to finish off the Twins. This was Rogers’ fourth-straight appearance allowing a run. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Pen729.png Sunday Twins (Bartolo Colon) at Oakland (Jharel Cotton), 3:05 pm CT Sonny Gray was originally scheduled to start this game. He’s the hottest name on the trade market right now, so it’s no surprise to see the A’s opt not to roll him out there right before the deadline. Instead, the Twins will face Cotton in his first start since July 7 (blister). Cotton has struggled in 14 starts this year, posting a 5.17 ERA Colon has given up seven runs on 16 hits in his 9.0 innings pitched for the Twins over two starts. Bartolo spent the 2012 & 2013 seasons with the A’s, and has outstanding numbers at the Coliseum. In 224.1 innings, Colon has a 2.93 ERA and 1.10 WHIP in Oakland. Click here to view the article

Byron Buxton, whose walk-up song is Mark Morrison’s 1996 hit “Return of the Mack,” made a triumphant return to Rochester. He opened his rehab assignment by slugging a lead-off homer, then helped spark a game-winning rally in extra innings. Also tonight, Royce Lewis picked up two more hits, Fernando Romero dazzled, Gabriel Moya impressed in his Twins org debut, Tim Melville struck out 11 batters and Joe Cronin had a big game.Find out everything that happened in the Twins minor league system on Friday. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 5, Toledo 1 (10 innings) Box Score Buxton popped the leadoff homer and Red Wings starter Tim Melville had a no-hitter through 4.2 innings, but Rochester couldn’t muster any more offense. Melville eventually gave up a run in the seventh, and the game went into extras. Buxton led off the 10th with a single, and after Mitch Garver struck out, Matt Hague singled to advance Byron to second. Niko Goodrum struck out, but ByungHo Park delivered the go-ahead hit, a two-run double. The Wings added two more runs, as Daniel Palka tripled and Tommy Field hit a single. Melville was marvelous, striking out 11 batters over 7.0 innings in this one. He lowered his ERA to 2.44 over his 48 innings with the Red Wings. He was pitching with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League earlier this year. Mason Melotakis pitched two perfect innings to pick up the W. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 7, Birmingham 2 Box Score Jonathan Rodriguez, who has a strong case to be the Southern League MVP this season, had yet another great night. The 27-year-old hit his 15th homer and 24th double of the season on a three-hit night in which he also scored three runs. Rodriguez entered the evening as the league leader in OPS by 21 points. The Twins signed Rodriguez as a minor league free agent over the winter. Fernando Romero went five innings yet again tonight, but it may not have been due to any kind of limits this time. There was a rain delay in the middle of the fifth, so it was a logical point to call it a night for the 22-year-old Dominican sensation. As we’ve come to expect at this point, Romero was outstanding. He struck out nine batters and surrendered one run on just three hits while issuing one walk. Gabriel Moya, acquired from Arizona for Joh Ryan Murphy, made his Twins organization debut. He struck out the side in the eighth inning and walked a batter. Nick Anderson pitched a perfect ninth, striking out two. Nick Gordon hit a double, drew a walk and scored a run. He also made a throwing error, his 21st error of the season. (UPDATE The official scorer has changed that play to a hit, so Gordon is still at 20 errors.) Fun fact: the Southern League record for errors in a season by a shortstop is 56. The player? Former Twins center fielder Otis Nixon in 1981. Andy Wilkins, Ryan Walker and Levi Michael all had two-hit games. T.J White hit a bases-clearing triple. Catcher Brian Navarreto hit his first career homer at the Double A level. MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 2, Lakeland 0 Box Score Brady Anderson turned in a terrific start, the Fort Myers bullpen dominated and the offense manufactured a pair of runs. Anderson gave up five hits and a walk over 5.2 innings while striking out three batters. Andrew Vasquez, who has dominated like very few other pitchers in all of minor league baseball this season, struck out four batters over 2.1 innings of one-hit ball. He’s now pitched 23.2 scoreless innings for the Miracle, and has 38 Ks against just four walks. Sam Clay finished things off in the ninth, striking out the side for his eighth save. Tanner English had a great game out of the leadoff spot. He drew three walks, stole second base twice and scored a run. The Miracle scored their runs on an error on a pickoff throw and a sacrifice fly. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 6, Peoria 3 Box Score Shortstop Joe Cronin hit a three-run homer and ended the night 3-for-4 with a double and two runs scored. That led a big offensive night for the Kernels, as Trey Cabbage also had three hits and Caleb Hamilton, Christian Cavaness and Gorge Munoz each had two hits. Domenick Carlini gave up three runs, one earned, over 5.0 innings. Ryan Madson was the first man out of the bullpen, and threw 3.0 scoreless innings, giving up a couple of hits while tallying three strikeouts. Hector Lujan earned his 10th save with a scoreless ninth inning. E-TWINS E-NOTES Elizabethton 5, Princeton 1 (Game 1, 7 innings) Box Score Bryan Sammons, the Twins eighth-round pick in this year’s draft, pitched 5.0 shutout innings. He gave up three hits, struck out six and didn’t walk anyone. Sammons, a lefty out of Western Carolina, has now pitched 24.2 innings and has only surrendered four earned runs (1.46 ERA). Colton Waltner, a 21st rounder in this year’s class, hit his first professional home run and stole a base. Shane Carrier had a pair of hits, boosting his average to .339, and Andrew Bechtold hit a double, drew a walk and scored twice. Elizabethton 3, Princeton 0 (Game 2, Suspended after 2 innings) Box Score The Twins were off to an excellent start in this one, but more rain came through and forced this game to be suspended. Jose Miranda and Carrier both hit homers and Bechtold had a triple. Edwar Colina had thrown two shutout innings with four strikeouts. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Red Sox 12, GCL Twins 7 Box Score The Twins built a 7-4 lead in this one, but typically rock solid bullpen arms Vadim Balan and Zach Featherstone combined to give up eight runs (five earned) over just 1.2 innings. Alex Robles had the big blast in this one, clubbing a three-run homer. The 22-year-old right fielder had a monster game, going 3-for-5 with four RBI. Royce Lewis had yet another big game, going 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI and a run. This was his 25th professional game, he’s gotten multiple hits in 12 of them. Petru Balan started for the Twins and gave up three runs on four hits over 3.0 innings. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Tim Melville, Rochester (7 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 11 K) Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Jonathan Rodriguez, Chattanooga (3-for-5, HR, 2B, 3 R, 1 RBI) SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester at Toledo, 6:05 pm CT, Hector Santiago (6.75 ERA, 1.75 WHIP) Chattanooga vs. Birmingham, 6:15 pm CT, Felix Jorge (4.01 ERA, 1.43 WHIP) Fort Myers at Clearwater, 5:15 pm CT, Lewis Thorpe (3.06 ERA, 1.26 WHIP) Cedar Rapids vs Clinton, 6:35 pm CT, Clark Beeker (2.51 ERA, 1.00 WHIP) Elizabethton at Princeton, 6:00 pm CT, TBD GCL Twins at GCL Red Sox, 9:00 am CT, TBD Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Saturday's games. Click here to view the article

Seems as good a time as ever to revisit an article I wrote last Sept. about recent 100-loss teams. There have been 24 of them since the strike, and those teams averaged a 67-95 record the next season. Just two of them had winning records the next season, and the best was the 85-win '09 Mariners. With the Twins coming out the gate unexpectedly competent, the Royals scuffling and Cleveland failing to find its footing it kinda felt like we were playing with house money up until this week. No matter the circumstances, nobody expected the Twins to be in the hunt as long as they have. Now, after a poor week from the Twins and hot streaks from KC and Cleveland things appear to have separated. But as quickly as the Twins have fallen behind, they can get back in the mix with a good run coupled with a slump from one of the other contenders. There are still 62 games left and the Twins are only four back of the Wild Card. HOWEVER I think we would all agree the roster as it's currently constructed is unlikely to get the job done. Am I saying go be buyers? Not necessarily. The org has seemed to shy away from bringing up minor league talent, possibly because they feel the veterans are more dependable and likely to help keep this team afloat. Makes sense, you never quite know what you're going to get from a rookie. But, given that we're still really playing with house money (at least in my eyes), what's there to lose? I'd much rather see the team fade and miss the postseason because somebody like Stephen Gonsalves (or insert a dozen other names) faltered than miss the postseason because we were relying on Bartolo Colon. Call up the kids! That's a real controversial statement to make at Twins Daily ... on a Seth Stohs article, I know

Yup, great analysis. Going with an eight-man bullpen can make sense during certain parts of your schedule, but the Twins were just off last Thursday, are off today and off yet again this coming Monday. Plenty of opportunities for guys to rest. Plus, if you're carrying the extra arm, use him for crying out loud. Why ask your closer to get five outs?

The Twins held a 5-0 lead after three and a half innings, and were still up three runs heading into the bottom of the seventh, but the Dodgers stormed back to win on a Justin Turner walkoff single. Ouch. This loss puts the Twins a staggering 5.5 games back of first place in the AL Central. That happened fast. While the Twins have lost nine of their last 13 games, Cleveland has won six striaght and Kansas City has won eight in a row.Win Expectancy (via Fangraphs) Download attachment: WinEx726.png Ervin Santana pitched into the seventh inning, but there he gave up a huge two-out, two-run double to Chase Utley that put the Dodgers within a run. In the eighth, Zack Granite made a bizarre play on which LA scored the game-tying run. WIth runners on the corners and one out, Granite came in to catch a fly ball and instead of trying to throw out the man tagging from third base, he fired it back into first base to attempt to double off the runner. Well, nobody there. Joe Mauer was in position as the cutoff man on a potential throw to the plate, exactly where you’d expect him to be. Maybe that throw was symbolic of the Minnesota Twins 2017 season. With the game tied up in the top of the ninth and Kenley Jansen on the hill for the Dodgers, Max Kepler led off with a double. Ehire Adrianza (career .232 hitter, .626 OPS) grounded out, but Kepler advanced to third. Jensen then struck out Jason Castro (career .232 hitter, .697 OPS) and Jorge Polanco (career .247 hitter, .666 OPS) to end the threat. Brandon Kintzler, who pitched to three batters in the eighth, retired the leadoff man in the bottom of the ninth. After back-to-back singles, he got Corey Seager to ground out to second base for out No. 2. Kintzler got ahead of Justin Turner 0-2, but just when it looked like this thing was headed into extras, Turner battled back, worked the count full and delivered the game-winning hit. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Pen726.png Thursday Off The Twins get to spend an off day in California Thursday while Oakland will be playing an afternoon game in Toronto before heading home. Jaime Garcia is set to make his Twins debut Friday. Click here to view the article

A lot of folks in the game thread would agree with you, but I thought he was out. Also, I think if he had slid directly to home plate he would've been safe. I don't always love that wrap-around slide. My biggest issue with this decision is the innings factor. Bartolo is not going to go past five innings often, if ever. Gibson had pitched six or more in six of his last nine starts. When you have a very shallow bullpen, that's stuff is extra important. Actually, since the start of June Gibby has thrown more innings than anybody on the Twins and the 21st-most in all of baseball.

The development of Taylor Rogers into one of the most effective setup men in baseball has been one of the biggest stories of the 2017 season for the Twins. Cody Bellinger’s incredible rookie season has been one of the biggest stories in all of baseball. Push came to shove, and it was the Dodgers rookie who won their battle, as Bellinger blasted a go-ahead three-run homer off Rogers in the eighth inning.Win Expectancy (via Fangraphs) Download attachment: WinEx724.png Sometimes it just seems like we can’t have nice things, doesn’t it? Rogers, who leads all of baseball in holds, has now put together back-to-back poor outings. Saturday against Detroit he gave up a two-run homer to Justin Upton and Monday night the left-handed hitting Bellinger got him for a three-run homer. This was an especially tough loss to swallow after seeing the offense battle back. Bartolo Colon pitched well, but he clearly ran out of gas in the fifth inning. This is a 44-year-old pitcher we’re talking about here, so nobody should be surprised by that. The Twins built a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning, but Colon gave up back-to-back homers followed by a triple in the fifth. The Dodgers took a 3-2 lead by the time that frame, and Bartolo’s night, was over. His final line: 5.0 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 2 K. Eddie Rosario homered in the sixth to tie it up, then delivered an RBI double in the seventh to give the Twins a 4-3 advantage. Rosie was 3-for-4 with three RBI and a pair of runs scored. After this one ended, it was announced that Kyle Gibson was being optioned out to Rochester to make room for the recently acquired Jaime Garcia. The plan is for Colon to start again Sunday against Oakland. Postgame With Colon Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Pen724.png Tuesday Twins (Jose Berrios) at Dodgers (Kenta Maeda), 9:10 pm CT Maeda, a right-hander, has been inconsistent this season, and has only pitched more than five innings just three times in 15 games started. His ERA is 4.23, but his 1.19 WHIP and 3.64 K:BB ratio suggest he’s pitched much better this season. He’s been very tough at Dodger Stadium, posting a 3.18 ERA over 133 career innings at Chavez Ravine. Berrios held the Yankees to one run over 6.2 innings his last time out. Even with that performance, July has still been by far his worst month this season (5.12 ERA, 1.71 WHIP, .895 OPS against). He’s given up 17 runs in 19.1 innings this month, though six of those were unearned. Berrios has struggled with the long ball on the road, giving up eight homers in seven starts away from Target Field (and just one homer in six home starts). Click here to view the article

Dug up some new numbers I figured I'd pass along. Since the All-Star break, the Twins have 20 PAs with the bases loaded, which is the most in all of baseball. They're 3 for 17 (.177) with a couple sac flys, a walk and five strikeouts. With RISP since the break, they have a 25.2 K% and .595 OPS. Ouch. I guess the good news is they're getting a lot of guys on base.