Tom Froemming

There are also issues with service time, no? The sooner you start a guy's "clock" the sooner they're going to get expensive through arbitration and the sooner they'll have the opportunity to leave via free agency. And there's always the risk anytime you put a young pitcher on the 25-man roster that he's going to get hurt, then soak up valuable service time while on the DL. It's not likely to happen, and worrying about stuff like this borders on paranoia, but the Twins would look pretty foolish if they called Jorge back up, he blew out his elbow and accrued a year of MLB service time while rehabbing. Again, that's being incredibly risk-averse, but I'm sure MLB teams take stuff like that into account.

I was hoping to embed the b-ref standings, but you're right, they don't update super quick all the time. Hmmm. Forget elevate and celebrate, I'm trying to automate and celebrate over here!

Thanks, I'm trying to figure out how to paste some code into each recap article that will automatically update the standings. Haven't had much luck, but I'll try taking another look into it today.

ERA through May vs. ERA since June Gibson: 7.85 vs. 3.98 (down 3.87) Mejia: 4.64 vs. 4.14 (down 0.50) Berrios: 2.70 vs. 3.96 (up 1.26) Ervin: 1.75 vs. 6.03 (up 4.28) Santiago: 4.76 vs. 12.38 (up 7.62) Small sample sizes, ERA doesn't tell you everything, blah, blah, blah ... I just thought this was interesting and figured I'd share.

Byron Buxton, the great patriot that he is, was just saving all his hits for the Fourth of July. He had three hits, including a homer, in support of Kyle Gibson, who had a quality start. Things got a little rocky in the ninth inning, but Brandon Kintzler managed to pick up his 22nd save.Win Expectancy & Top 5 Plays (via Fangraphs) Download attachment: WinEx74.png Download attachment: TopPlays74.png Big days at the plate from Buxton have been few and far between, but he provided some Independance Day fireworks. He started things off by making a patented Buxton outstanding catch on the very first play of the game. In the fifth inning, he singled, stole second (his 15th steal) and came around to score on a Robbie Grossman double. He clubbed his fifth homer of the season in his next at bat and added another single in the eighth inning. Gibson has suddenly become, dare I say it, reliable. Gibby now has a 3.91 ERA over his last eight starts. In his longest start of the season, Gibson held the Angels to two runs on five hits over 6.2 innings. He struck out four batters and walked Ben Revere, one of the most difficult hitters to walk in baseball, twice. Kintzler got the save, but things got a little too interesting in the ninth inning. The inning started with a single and a walk. Kintzler induced a groundball, but Ehire Adrianza threw the ball away on the double play attempt. Luckily Kintzler coaxed another grounder out of the next batter and Miguel Sano, Eduardo Escobar and Joe Mauer combined to complete a game-ending twin killing. Here's Buxton's game-opening catch: And here’s his homer: Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Pen74.png Wednesday Twins (Ervin Santana, 3.07 ERA) vs. Angels (Parker Bridwell, 3.95 ERA), 7:10 pm CT Bridwell, a right-hander, will be making his fifth start of the season for Anaheim. His ERA looks solid, but his FIP is 6.44. He’s averaging 10.9 H/9 while only getting 4.6 K/9. The 25-year-old is coming off a start in which he gave up five runs over six innings against Seattle. Santana has looked like anything but an All-Star of late, as he registered a 6.03 ERA in June. His usage of his changeup dropped significantly that month. He deployed that pitch 13.5 percent of the time in April, 15.9 percent of the time in May and just 8.7 percent last month. AL Central Standings Cleveland 44-38 Twins 43-40 (-1.5) Kansas City 43-40 (-1.5) Chicago 37-45 (-7) Detroit 37-46 (-7.5) Click here to view the article

My hope on Duffey is he just needs a reset, which the All-Star break will provide him. As we saw with Trevor May, pitching out of the bullpen puts a different kind of stress on a pitcher's body. Has to be a big difference mentally, too. Yes, he was a reliever in college, but that was a long time ago now. Speaking of Duffey and May, here's a quick look at how their bullpen numbers compare: May in relief: 4.36 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 3.67 K:BB ratio Duffey in relief: 4.61 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 4.10 K:BB ratio I wonder if Vargas is trying to make something happen when he gets opportunities. His approach has been so different in the majors compared to the minors. With the Twins this year, he has a 28.3 K% and 4.8 BB%. Over 153 games with Rochester, he's at 23.8 K% and 16.7 BB%. MLB pitching is, of course, much better than AAA, but it doesn't seem like there should be an almost 12 percent difference in his walk rate between levels, does it?

I think everybody’s fear heading into this one was that Alex Meyer would make the Twins look silly. Thankfully, that didn’t happen. Adalberto Mejia had one of his best starts, Joe Mauer hit a two-run homer and Max Kepler went 4-for-4 with a homer of his own to lift the Twins to victory.Win Expectancy & Top 5 Plays (via Fangraphs) Download attachment: WinEx73.png Download attachment: TopPlays73.png Mauer and Kepler have been a bit under the radar on a game-by-game basis, but they both had big performances Monday night. Mauer, who hit leadoff with Brian Dozier sitting out, hit a big two-run homer early. Kepler was 4-for-4 with his 10th homer of the season, a double, a walk and three RBIs. As the score would indicate, it was a pretty great game all around for the hitters, as Miguel Sano also contributed three hits and a walk and Escobar had a pair of base knocks. But maybe the most encouraging performance came from Adalberto Mejia. Mejia completed seven innings for just the second time this season. He gave up three runs on nine hits and one walk while striking out five. Mejia has been a bit inconsistent, but overall excellent in his last four starts, surrendering just five earned runs over 21.2 innings (2.08 ERA). It’s difficult to remember Mejia just turned 24 late last month, meaning he’s only about six months older than Felix Jorge, who was a surprise call up from Double A. Adalberto has been really solid, and though he may not have front line starter upside, we’re seeing him figure some things out. And it’s very exciting. The only reason this one stayed so close was because Tyler Duffey gave up a couple of runs in his inning of work. That marks the third-straight appearance for the Duff Man in which he’s given up a run. He’s been alarmingly bad of late, giving up 15 earned runs over his last 15.1 innings pitched. As for Meyer, he gave up five runs over five innings. He walked six. The first run he gave up came on a balk. Maybe most shocking was the fact that he managed to walk Eddie Rosario on four pitches. That’s hard to do. Here's the Mauer homer: Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Pen73.png Tuesday Twins (Kyle Gibson, 6.11 ERA) vs. Angels (J.C, Ramriez, 4.60 ERA), 1:10 pm CT Ramirez, a 28-year-old righty, has a 5.81 ERA over his last five starts. He’s been getting crushed by lefties so far this season, surrendering a .287/.348/.610 (.958 OPS) line to southpaws. He’s given up 17 home runs, 13 to lefties. I think we all know who Kyle Gibson is at this point, but it’s worth pointing out that he has a respectable 4.12 ERA over his last seven starts. The peripherals haven’t been great, but he’s keeping the Twins in games. The team is 4-2 over his last six starts. AL Central Standings Cleveland 44-37 Twins 42-40 (-2.5) Kansas City 42-40 (-2.5) Chicago 37-45 (-7.5) Detroit 36-45 (-8) Make sure to also check out today’s Minor League Report. Click here to view the article

Yeah, I get what you're saying there and I agree. But the information in that bullpen usage report isn't intended to say what is good and what is bad usage, it's just showing what happened. The last thing I want is for that to be deceptive or misleading. It's not saying that if a guys throws 40+ pitches that's a bad thing. My intention with including that data is to provide a snapshot of how the bullpen has been used to give some insight into who may or may not be available for the next game.

I get your point after this, but I'm not sure what you mean by saying the numbers are deceptive. Is it the color coding that is misleading? I chose those thresholds because I don't think you're going to see a guy throw 21+ pitches and be available the next night too often.

Yeah, the only compliments I can muster for him are of the backhanded variety at least for now.

The Twins got their 11-game road trip off to such a great start, sweeping Cleveland to take back first place in the AL Central. After that, it appears the road magic may have been all used up. They dropped three of four at Boston, and after a loss Sunday, three of four at Kansas City to put them in a tie for second place in the division.Royals 6, Twins 2 Box Score Hector Santiago struggled, lasting just 3.1 innings while giving up four runs on four hits and a walk. Phil Hughes, who is likely still acclimating himself to coming out of the bullpen again, looked pretty bad too. He gave up two runs on six hits over 1.2 innings. Those performances didn’t give the Twins much of a chance to win, but it’s not like the bats had a great day, either. The team had eight hits, two each from Miguel Sano and Eduardo Escobar, but all of them were singles. They were 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. Santiago pitched in relief in the Twins 15-inning loss to Tampa Bay on May 28 and hasn’t been the same since. In his ten games prior to that appearance, Santiago had a 4.07 ERA and five quality starts. Since then, he’s given up 19 earned runs over 15 innings pitched (11.40 ERA). Santiago was never a guy who overpowered hitters with his velocity, but losing a couple ticks off a fastball isn’t going to help any pitcher. His readings have been steadily declining all season. Download attachment: SantiagoGraph.jpeg Hector didn’t even bother with his four-seam fastball Sunday, instead sticking primarily with his sinker. As a result, he failed to hit even 90 mph on the day. Download attachment: SantiagoVelo.png Looking from the outside in, trying to read between the lines, it looks to me like Santiago should go back on the DL until he gets right. At the very least, he probably could’ve benefitted from a longer rehab stint than one appearance. Trevor Hildenberger was a bright spot. He pitched two scoreless innings and struck out three batters. The 26-year-old has started his major league career with five scoreless innings. After their terrible 7-16 April, the Royals have gone 34-24 to put them a game above .500. 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: Pen72.png Monday Twins (Adalberto Mejia) vs. Angels (Alex Meyer), 7:10 pm CT Welp, Alex Meyer has been pretty darn good for the Angels. In 11 starts he’s got a 3.74 ERA and is averaging 10.1 K/9. On the downside, however, his WHIP is 1.41 and he’s issuing 6.0 BB/9. In five starts away from The Big A, Meyer has a 6.75 ERA. Mejia is coming off back-to-back scoreless starts on the road. That’s given the 24-year-old lefty some odd home-road splits. He now has a 2.31 ERA on the road and 6.11 mark at Target Field. Also curious: he’s got reverse platoon splits (.864 OPS vs. LHB, .795 OPS vs. RHB). AL Central Standings Cleveland 44-37 Twins 41-40 (-3) Kansas City 41-40 (-3) Detroit 36-45 (-8) Chicago 35-45 (-8.5) Click here to view the article

Jose Berrios had his worst start of the season, but Felix Jorge picked up a win in his major league debut as the Twins split a doubleheader in Kansas City. Miguel Sano, who has been a thorn in the side of the Royals, hit a mammoth homer in each game. Eddie Rosario was 5-for-5 in Game 2.Game 1 Win Expectancy & Top 5 Plays (via Fangraphs) Download attachment: WinEx71G1.png Download attachment: TopPlays71G1.png The Twins blew a lead, made some poor plays in the field and were the victims of some poor umpiring. These things seem to be common themes of late. With the Twins leading 5-4 in the top of the fifth inning, the first two batters of the inning (Byron Buxton and Brian Dozier) were called out on strikes. Here are the locations of those pitches, per Baseball Savant: Download attachment: CalledStrikes.png The Royals tied it up with a homer in the bottom of the fifth and added three runs in the sixth to put the score at 8-6. In the seventh inning, Jorge Polanco made a throwing error on a potential double play and the next batter, Alex Gordon, blasted a three-run homer to put the game out of reach. Jose Berrios gave up five runs for the first time this season, Tyler Duffey surrendered three in his inning of work and Ryan Pressly gave up three (two earned) over two innings. Miguel Sano hit another majestic home run. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Pen71.png Sunday Twins (Hector Santiago, 5.37 ERA) at Kansas City (Travis Wood, 6.28 ERA), 1:15 pm CT Wood will be making his first start of the season. The lefty has been hit very hard in his first season in the AL, seeing his ERA spike from 2.95 with the Cubs last year to 6.28 in 2017. His longest appearance of the year was three innings and the most pitches he’s thrown is 49, so expect to see a lot of the Royals’ bullpen. You could say the same thing for the Twins. Santiago did not have the opportunity to get any more stretched out in his last start thanks to a rain delay. He threw 57 pitches for Rochester on June 21 and just 49 on Tuesday, so it’s likely he’ll be on a limited pitch count. AL Central Standings Cleveland 43-37 Twins 41-39 (-2) Kansas City 40-40 (-3) Detroit 36-44 (-7) Chicago 35-45 (-8) Click here to view the article

While Felix Jorge was impressing in his major league debut, rain was wreaking havoc on the minor league system’s schedule. There was a delay, a suspended game and a postponement. But there were also big games from Akil Baddoo, Brent Rooker, Royce Lewis and the Rochester pitching staff.Find out everything that happened in the Twins minor league system on Saturday. TRANSACTIONS Sean Poppen was promoted to Fort Myers. The 23-year-old Harvard product had a 2.90 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 4.76 K:BB ratio over 14 starts. Griffin Jax, a 2016 third-round pick from Air Force, was called up from Elizabethton to take Poppen’s spot. AWARDS Zack Granite was named the International League Player of the Month for June. Granite hit .470 with a 1.193 OPS and reached base safely in all 29 games he played in the month. He had 20 multi-hit games in June. Granite was also named the Twins Daily Hitter of the Month. RED WINGS REPORT Game 1: Lehigh Valley 2, Rochester 1 (7 innings) Box Score Zack Granite’s on-base streak ended. In fact, the Red Wings mustered just one hit. ByungHo Park doubled in the second inning off rehabbing big leaguer Vince Velasquez. Niko Goodrum drew the team’s only walk of the game that inning, as well. The lone run came on a Leonardo Reginatto sac fly. Tim Melville will get credit for a six inning complete game. Both runs he gave up were earned, he also surrendered five hits, walked four batters and tallied two strikeouts. Game 2: Rochester 9, Lehigh Valley 0 Box Score The Wings went from an extinguished offense to an offensive explosion in the second game, scoring eight runs in the sixth inning. The majority of the damage came with two outs. Engelb Vielma hit a two-out, two-run single that was followed by a Granite triple. Mitch Garver and Ehire Adrianza walked. Matt Hauge it a two-run double followed by a Niko Goodrum single that also plated a pair of runs. Tommy Field, who singled earlier in the inning, finally recorded the third out on a fly ball. This was a bullpen game for Rochester, as D.J. Baxendale (3 IP), Michael Tonkin (1.1 IP), Jake Reed (1.2 IP) and Mason Melotakis (1 IP) combined for the shutout. With the Red Wings up 1-0 in the bottom of the fifth, Reed came in with runners at second and third with one out and pitched his way out of the jam. Garver also collected two hits on the night, extending his hitting streak to 15 games. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 0, Mississippi 0 (Suspended after 2.5 innings) Maybe it’s not such a bad thing this one stopped, as the Lookouts had no hits and already struck out five times in three innings. The weather will unfortunately spoil a start from Fernando Romero, who had three strikeouts through two innings. He’d also given up a hit and walked a pair of batters. This game will be completed tomorrow as a nine-inning contest before these two teams play their regularly-scheduled Sunday game, now set for seven innings. MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers vs. St. Lucie (Postponed) These teams will play a doubleheader Sunday. KERNELS NUGGETS Clinton 2, Cedar Rapids 1 (11 innings) Box Score Offense was tough to come by in this one. Hank Morrison led off the second inning by slugging his third homer of the year. That was it for Cedar Rapids. Aaron Whitefield hit a leadoff double in the fifth, but he was caught trying to steal third base with no outs. The Kernels would later get a runner to third that inning, but failed to cash in. Clinton had an excellent scoring chance in the eighth, getting a runner to third base with one out, but the Cedar Rapids pen was able to pitch out of trouble. Alex Robinson, who made a throwing error on a pickoff attempt in the inning, had two big strikeouts before Max Cordy came in to get the third out on a grounder. Robinson (1.2 IP) and Cordy (2.1 IP) combined for four scoreless innings. This one finally ended in the bottom of the 11th when Yojhan Quevedo won it for the LumberKings with a home run off Patrick McGuff. Clark Beeker started for the Kernels, and gave up one run over six innings. He gave up six hits, did not walk a batter and struck out five. E-TWINS E-NOTES Elizabethton 7, Danville 4 Box Score Brent Rooker clubbed his third home run in just his seventh game for Elizabethton. E-Town starter Melvi Acosta went six innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on eight hits. He had no walks and struck out six batters. Center fielder Mark Contreras was 3-for-4 with a double, a run and an RBI. Second baseman Carson Crites was 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, two runs and an RBI. Calvin Faucher pitched the final three innings, striking out six batters while giving up one hit for the save. The right-hander out of UC-Irvine was the Twins’ 10th-round pick in this year’s draft. GCL TWINS TAKES Twins 8, Red Sox 4 Box Score It was a big day for the GCL Twins’ bats. Akil Baddoo had a huge game, going 4-for-5 with a triple, three RBIs, three runs and a stolen base. First baseman Alex Robles tallied three hits. Royce Lewis was 2-for-4 with a double, a walk and scored three runs. Jean Carlos Arias was also 2-for-4, had a walk, a double and stole a base. Nick Tepesch, who was making a rehab start, had to exit early after being struck by a comebacker. He was able to exit the field without assistance, but it was a scary moment. Here’s the video: TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Clark Beeker, Cedar Rapids (6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K) Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Akil Baddoo, GCL Twins (4-for-5, triple, 3 RBIs, 3 R, SB) SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester at Lehigh Valley, 5:35 pm CT, David Hurlbut (3.48 ERA, 1.43 WHIP) Chattanooga at Mississippi, 3:00 pm CT, TBD Chattanooga at Mississippi, Game 2, TBD Fort Myers vs. St. Lucie, 1 pm CT, Brady Anderson (4.07 ERA, 1.52 WHIP) Fort Myers vs. St. Lucie, Game 2, Anthony McIver (2.66 ERA, 1.43 WHIP) Cedar Rapids at Clifton, 2:00 pm CT, Griffin Jax (first MWL start) Elizabethton at Danville, 3:00 pm CT, Charlie Barnes Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Saturday's games. Click here to view the article

Grounders back to the pitcher are supposed to be easy outs. That’s not how things have worked out for the Twins the past two games. Ervin Santana threw a potential double play ball into centerfield and Kansas City capitalized with a five-run inning. The suddenly unstoppable Jason Vargas gave the Twins no chance to mount a comeback as the Royals picked up a big win heading into Saturday’s doubleheader.Win Expectancy & Top 5 Plays (via Fangraphs) Download attachment: WinEx630.png Download attachment: TopPlays630.png The Twins entered the bottom of the fourth inning up 1-0 thanks to a Miguel Sano RBI single. In the bottom of the inning, Santana gave up a leadoff single before committing the error on the potential double play. Next pitch: home run. Eric Hosmer put KC up 3-1 and Ervin gave up four more hits in the inning. Maybe the biggest reason why the Twins have been playing as well as they have so far in 2017 has been due to a huge defensive turnaround. The gloves have slumped of late, as the team has given up nine unearned runs over the past four games. There was some controversy over both Hosmer’s homer and a foul call on a ball Brian Dozier thought stayed fair. Both plays were reviewed, but the Twins were apparently still not satisfied with either call. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Pen630.png *Busenitz was optioned. Ryan Pressly, who threw 19 pitches Monday and 21 Thursday was called up. Saturday Twins (Jose Berrios, 2.98 ERA) at Royals (Luke Farrell), 1:15 pm CT Twins (Felix Jorge) at Royals (Jason Hammel, 4.75 ERA), 7:35 pm CT There will be two Major League debuts tomorrow: Luke Farrell for the Royals in Game 1 and Felix Jorge for the Twins in Game 2. Farrell, a right-hander, had a 3.83 ERA, 1.19 WHIP and 8.4 K/9 in Triple A. Jorge, 23, has been developing a feel for getting the third strike of late. Through his first nine starts he averaged 5.2 K/9 for Chattanooga, but over his last five starts that’s kicked up to 8.2 K/9. He’s also induced 20 swinging strikes in two of his past four starts. Jose Berrios’ ERA on the road is nearly a run higher than at Target Field (2.51 vs. 3.41). Jason Hammel has been on a roll, registering a 2.51 ERA and 1.02 WHIP over his past five starts. AL Central Standings Cleveland 42-36 Twins 40-38 (-2) Kansas City 39-39 (-3) Detroit 35-43 (-7) Chicago 34-44 (-8) Click here to view the article

Kyle Gibson was rolling right along until, as it seems so often with him, things derailed. It was a strange series of events that led to Boston rallying from behind, much of which was outside of Gibson’s control, to be fair.Win Expectancy & Top 5 Plays (via Fangraphs) Download attachment: WinEx629.png Download attachment: TopPlays629.png The Twins jumped out to a 3-0 lead thanks to a brain fart by David Price, who failed to cover on a ground ball to the first baseman, and a Jorge Polanco two-run double. Despite the struggles from the bullpen this season, the Twins entered this game with a 29-2 when holding a lead entering the fifth inning, so things were looking good. Unfortunately, Boston took the lead in an odd fifth inning for Gibson and the Twins. Gibby lost Hanley Ramirez after getting ahead 1-2, issuing a leadoff walk. Jackie Bradley Jr. hit an RBI double that, per Baseball Savant, only had a hit probability of 13 percent. In most parks it’s a lazy flyout, but instead it hit off the ladder on the Green Monster. Things continued to go south, as Polanco made a fielding error. Anticipating a bunt from the next batter, the Twins had both Eduardo Escobar (who was playing third) and Joe Mauer crashing toward home plate. The batter hit a grounder back to Gibson, but with the wheel play on (Polanco was hustling over to cover third) and Brian Dozier heading over to first in case he had to cover, there was no opportunity for a double play. The inning continued with another fluky hit from Mookie Betts, a single that had a hit probability of just 12 percent. This one was a chopper back up the middle that barely made it through the shifted infield. Twins hitters also had a strange inning in the eighth. Joe Kelly managed to record a 1-2-3 inning, but it took him 27 pitches -- 12 to retire Robbie Grossman alone. You don’t often see a team work a reliever that hard and have absolutely nothing to show for it. Phil Hughes made his first appearance back from the DL. He pitched well, going the final 1.2 innings, giving up just one hit while striking out two batters. We did see a slight uptick in velocity for Hughes. He had been averaging 90 mph on his fastball earlier this season, but he eclipsed 92 mph five times tonight. Nothing crazy, but beats the alternative. Download attachment: Hughes.png Some exciting news broke as the game was unfolding. Right-handed starting pitcher Felix Jorge will be promoted for Saturday’s doubleheader. The 23-year-old has a 3.26 ERA, 1.30 WHIP and 6.4 K/9 for Chattanooga this season. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Pen629.png Friday Twins (Ervin Santana, 2.80 ERA) at Kansas City (Jason Vargas, 2.29 ERA) 7:10 pm CT What in the world has gotten into Jason Vargas? After making a combined 12 starts over the previous two seasons, the 34-year-old lefty looks like the favorite to start the All-Star Game. He has a league-best 2.29 ERA and 11 wins. Santana has pitched well at Kauffman Stadium over his career, holding a career 3.51 ERA and 1.26 WHIP over 29 starts at The K. Eric Hosmer has given Ervin some trouble, hitting .308/.438/.731 (1.168 OPS) with three homers. There will be a day-night doubleheader Saturday, so it’s imperative that Santana pitch deep into this game. AL Central Standings Cleveland 42-36 Twins 40-37 (-1.5) Kansas City 38-39 (-3.5) Detroit 35-43 (-7) Chicago 33-44 (-8.5) Click here to view the article

Jose Berrios pitched much better than the box score suggests, as he went blow-for-blow with Chris Sale before the Twins bullpen allowed a couple of inherited runners to score. A few questionable managerial decisions did not aid the Twins in their comeback attempt.Win Expectancy & Top 5 Plays (via Fangraphs) Download attachment: WinEx626.png Download attachment: TopPlays626.png In the early goings it looked like we might be seeing Berrios’ first clunker this season. In the first inning, he gave up two runs on four hits, one of them a homer, and a walk. It could have been much worse, but a double play in the middle of it all softened the damage. Berrios recovered, retiring 13 of the next 14 batters he faced. Chris Gimenez slugged a solo homer in the third inning, tying his career high with five on the season. He cleared the Green Monster, check it out: Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Pen626.png *Dillion Gee was optioned to Rochester after the game to make room for Hector Santiago, who will be activated from the DL to start tomorrow. Tuesday Twins (Hector Santiago, 5.36 ERA) at Boston (Drew Pomeranz, 4.07 ERA), 6:10 pm CT Pomeranz has some eyebrow-raising reverse platoon splits this season. Left-handed batters have a .997 OPS off him while he’s held righties to a .687 OPS. He also hasn’t been as good at home, registering a 4.89 ERA and 1.37 WHIP at Fenway Park. Santiago’s last start was June 6, though he threw three no-hit innings Wednesday in a rehab start. He’ll likely be on a conservative pitch count. Hector has been very good over his last five starts against Boston, posting a 1.88 ERA. AL Central Standings Cleveland 40-35 Twins 39-35 (-0.5) Kansas City 37-37 (-2) Detroit 33-42 (-6.5) Chicago 32-42 (-7) Just a heads up so nobody worries about me, I'll be off the grid for the next couple days and won't be able to provide recaps for Tuesday or Wednesday night's games. As always, thanks for reading! Click here to view the article