Tom Froemming

Ervin Santana had another bad start, but the Twins scored more runs Tuesday evening than they did in their entire four-game series against Cleveland thanks in large part to Kennys Vargas and Miguel Sano.Twins 9, White Sox 7 Box Score Win Expectancy (via Fangraphs) Download attachment: WE620.png The big highlight from this one was an absolute moonshot from Kennys Vargas. He hit a ball into territory at Target Field seen only by Jim Thome. The Twins are calling it the third-longest homer in stadium history. Statcast is calling it the third-longest home run of 2017 (behind only Aaron Judge 495 and Keon Broxton 489). I’m simply calling it a thing of beauty. Check this out: Byron Buxton was 2-for-3 with a walk and another four-star catch. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Pen620.png Wednesday Twins (Jose Berrios, 2.74 ERA) vs. White Sox (David Holmberg, 2.63 ERA), 7:10 pm CT Holmberg, a lefty, has made just four starts to go with another eight appearances out of the bullpen this season. As you’d expect, he’s been much better out of the pen (0.87 ERA) than as a starter (3.71 ERA). Lefties are just 2-for-20 off Holmberg this season. Since Berrios was called up May 13, only 11 starting pitchers have a lower WHIP than his mark of 0.96. He’s been especially tough at home, as opponents have just a .174/.266/.203 line off Berrios at Target Field. AL Central Standings Cleveland 37-32 Twins 35-33 (-1.5) Kansas City 34-36 (-3.5) Detroit 32-37 (-5) Chicago 31-38 (-6) Make sure to also check out today’s Minor League Report. Click here to view the article

Oh, and Tyler Wells, Edgar Corcino, Andrew Vazquez, Luke Bard and a dozen other guys should be mentioned in that tie for 16th

Here goes nothin' ... 1. Gordon 2. Lewis 3. Romero 4. Gonsalves 5. Javier 6. Kiriloff 7. Jay 8. Rortvedt 9. Thorpe 10. Stewart 11. Diaz 12. Enlow 13. Garver 14. Blankenhorn 15. Rooker 16. Is a 15-way tie between the following (in no particular order): Granite, Jorge, Chargois, Wade, Melotakis, Vielma, Palka, Burdi, Palacios, Hildenberger, Leach, Graterol, L. Wells, Ynoa, Arraez

Weird time to be a Twins fan. Lots of conflicting feels. I'd like to see them win, but I wouldn't buy if that means losing something, anything, of value down the road. Aren't we kicking ourselves right now for trading away Aaron Hicks and (at least for the moment) Alex Meyer? Keep all the kids, they're more valuable to an org like this. Reload in the offseason via free agency. If you're not gonna be buyers, but don't really wanna be sellers either ... what do we have here? A team that finishes in the middle, which is basically the last thing you wanna be. Last season was brutal, but at least the result put the team in the best position to improve its talent in the draft and international signing period.

Kyle Gibson delivered a quality start, but it was the bats that let the Twins down this time. Cleveland completed the four-game weekend sweep in convincing fashion, outscoring the Twins 28-8. Through the entire series, the Twins held a lead for just one half inning.Cleveland 5, Twins 2 Box Score Win Expectancy (via Fangraphs) Download attachment: WE618.png You can’t help but wonder if this game may have ended differently if the Twins just pitched around Edwin Encarnacion. They mostly avoided challenging him this series, but apparently Gibson getting him swinging on strikes in the first inning eased their concerns. Here’s what Edwin did in his second at bat: Download attachment: EdwinHR1.png And here’s what he did in his third: Download attachment: EdwinHR2.png Images via Yahoo Sports Encarnacion kept inflicting damage from there, adding an RBI single in his fourth PA then an insurance run on a sacrifice fly in the ninth. Outside of the two homers he gave up to Encarnacion, Gibson actually pitched pretty well. He even got himself out of trouble on a couple of occasions, surrendering just the three runs over six innings. The offense was held in check until they broke through for a pair of runs in the seventh inning. Cleveland tallied double-digit hits in each game of the series, while the Twins failed to hit that mark in any of the four games. In all, Cleveland outhit the Twins 46-21 on the weekend. By the end of this one it seemed the umpiring crew was ready to just call it a weekend. Eduardo Escobar was called out on a very questionable strike three for the second out of the ninth inning (see below). The final out of the game was challenged by the Twins, and it appeared Eddie Rosario beat Andrew Miller to first base, but the call was not overturned. Download attachment: Escobar.png The called third strike is that orange dot you see over there way, way outside the strike zone. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Pen618.png Monday The Twins have an off day Monday, which couldn’t have come at a better time for the bullpen. Tuesday night they’ll open a three-game series with the White Sox at Target Field. AL Central Standings Cleveland 36-31 Twins 34-33 (-2) Kansas City 32-35 (-4) Detroit 32-36 (-4.5) Chicago 31-37 (-5.5) Make sure to check out Jeremy’s 2017 Draft Notes and Rumors article, which has been updated to include information on all the confirmed signings. Click here to view the article

I'd have made one extra move. For Game 1, I'd have called up Melotakis. I'd have optioned him back to Rochester to add Wilk for Game 2. Then I'd have DFA'd Wilk to add Busenitz for today. This allows you to start Mejia the first game and gets you an extra fresh arm for today at the expense of ... nothing. Melotakis is burning an option year just by being on the 40-man roster, so it's not like that's an issue.

The Twins held onto first place longer than anyone could have expected, but after getting swept by Cleveland in a doubleheader Saturday, they’re looking up in the division for the first time since May 9.Game 1: Cleveland 9, Twins 3 Box Score Win Expectancy (via Fangraphs) Download attachment: WE617G1.png Game 2: Cleveland 6, Twins 2 Box Score Win Expectancy (via Fangraphs) Download attachment: WE617G2.png Adam Wilk was terrible in the first game, to the surprise of basically no one. What has been surprising is how well the Twins have bounced back from adversity this year. They started the season off by winning their first four games, but quickly fell to 8-10. At the time, it seemed likely we’d never see the Twins above .500 again in 2017, but they turned things around to win 17 of their next 25 games. There have been several times since when it appeared the Twins might have faded. They haven’t. They got absolutely destroyed at home by the Astros right before a big West Coast road swing. Stick a fork in ’em? Not so fast. The Twins responded by taking three of four in Anaheim. In Seattle, they got crushed in Game 1 and lost a heartbreaker in Game 2. Write ‘em off? Nope, the Twins followed that up with a three game-winning streak. They lost their next two games in fairly embarrassing fashion, giving up 27 total runs in the process. Well clearly that led to a tailspin, right? Nope, the Twins scored 20 runs the next night. Game 1 of Saturday’s doubleheader was another one of those moments that made you feel like you were watching the beginning of the end. Wilk gave up six runs and lasted just 3.1 innings. It appeared clear as day that Cleveland was a team in a class above the Twins. They cruised to a 9-3 victory despite not having one of their main horses on the mound, either. Ryan Merritt made his 2017 debut, and lasted just four innings. Game 2 got off to a much better start for the Twins, but they lost Adalberto Mejia after 4.2 innings due to a rain delay that lasted over an hour. Maybe he should’ve started the first game. The contest resumed with Cleveland up 2-1. Tyler Duffey got the final out of the top of the fifth, Jorge Polanco led off the bottom of the inning with a nine-pitch walk and it appeared the scrappy Twins might just pull off another momentum switch. But the next batter, Jason Castro, grounded into a double play. Then Duffey gave up a three-run homer in the top of the inning. Cleveland sweeps. This is it, isn’t it? This doubleheader sweep is the knockout blow. Here’s where the Twins finally fade away, right? Well, they’ve gotten up off the mat every time they’ve been knocked down so far this season. We’ll see what happens tomorrow. Alan Busenitz made his major league debut and struck out the first batter he faced, the red-hot Jose Ramirez. Busenitz gave up a run on a Francisco Lindor solo homer over two innings pitched. He topped out at 97 mph. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days. This has been updated so that instead of having the most recent games on the left side, they're now on the right. Download attachment: Pen617.png Alex Wimmers was the 26th man, so he’ll be headed back to Rochester. The bullpen combined to throw 177 pitches Saturday. The Twins have a much-needed off day coming Monday. Sunday Twins (Kyle Gibson 6.79 ERA) vs. Cleveland (Trevor Bauer, 5.85 ERA), 1:10 pm CT Gibson has a 4.58 ERA and 1.59 WHIP in June, much more palatable numbers than his 2017 season totals. Current Cleveland hitters have teed off on Gibson to the tune of a 1.028 OPS. Bauer’s strikeout rate is at a career high 10.8 K/9, but that’s come with a 5.85 ERA and 1.49 WHIP. He has given Miguel Sano fits, striking him out 10 times over 23 plate appearances. AL Central Standings Cleveland 35-31 Twins 34-32 (-1) Detroit 32-35 (-3.5) Kansas City 32-35 (-3.5) Chicago 31-36 (-4.5) Be sure to check out today’s Minor League Report, which includes some great video of Travis Blankenhorn’s game-winning steal of home. Click here to view the article

The Twins got beat up in what was the first of a huge four-game series with Cleveland, who are hot on their heels in the AL Central. After the game a couple of bullpen moves were announced, though full details have yet to be released.Cleveland 8, Twins 1 Box Score Win Expectancy (via Fangraphs) Download attachment: WE616.png Nik Turley got rocked, giving up eight runs over 4.2 innings. Cleveland tallied nine hits and drew four walks off the lefty. The big blow was a mammoth three-run homer off the bat of Edwin Encarnacion. By taking a quick look at the charts, I wonder if maybe home plate umpire Mike Estabrook had each of these pitchers’ reputations in mind while calling balls and strikes. He certainly seemed to give Carlos Carrasco a more favorable strike zone. Here’s a breakdown of Turley’s pitches, notice all the blue inside the zone: Download attachment: TurleyZone.png And here's Carrasco’s below. Hmmm, no blue inside the zone for him. Download attachment: CarrascoZone.png I’m not trying to suggest the umpire made a seven-run difference in this game, but the information above speaks for itself. By my count, there are five clear strikes from Turley that were called balls, and it’s not like you can find any makeup calls on Carrasco’s chart. Even if Turley had pitched a gem it may not have mattered much, as the offense wasn’t able to muster much against Carrasco. Joe Mauer entered this game with some incredible numbers against Carrasco, but he had his worst day at the plate of the season, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. Alan Busenitz, who will be making his major league debut, was acquired in last year’s Hector Santiago trade. The 26-year-old right-hander had a 2.15 ERA, 0.85 WHIP and 9.8 K/9 over 29.1 innings for the Red Wings. Wimmers, who had just been sent down Tuesday, is already on the 40-man roster, but Busenitz and Adam Wilk, who is starting tomorrow afternoon, will need to be added. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Pen616New.png UPDATE: Ryan Pressly has been optioned to Rochester. Saturday Twins (Adam Wilk, 6.75 ERA), vs. Cleveland (Ryan Merritt), 1:10 pm CT Twins (Adlaberto Mejia, 5.75 ERA) vs. Cleveland (Mike Clevinger, 4.09 ERA), 7:10 pm CT AL Central Standings Twins 34-30 Cleveland 33-31 (-1) Detroit 32-34 (-3) Kansas City 31-34 (-3.5) Chicago 30-36 (-5) Be sure to also check out today’s Minor League Report, which recaps how the Chattanooga Lookouts locked up a playoff spot. Click here to view the article

The Chattanooga Lookouts put together a comeback victory that clinched a first half division title, thus solidifying their spot in the Southern League playoffs. Find out what else happened around the Twins' minor leagues on Friday. TRANSACTIONS Several moves were made in the system and we'll update them as we hear them. Twins Daily has learned that along with Adam Wilk, the Twins will promote RHPs Alex Wimmers and Alan Busenitz. As Wimmers was only optioned four days ago, he can be the 26th man, or the Twins would have to place a pitcher on the DL.Hearing at least one pitcher is moving up from Chattanooga to Rochester as well. Again, more as we can confirm.RED WINGS REPORTRochester at Pawtucket POSTPONED This was the 10th postponement of Rochester’s season. They’ll be playing a doubleheader tomorrow. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 5, Tennessee 3 Box Score The Lookouts are the first half champions of the Southern League North Divison, clinching a playoff berth, after a crazy comeback in the top of the ninth. Trailing 3-2 entering the final inning, T.J. White led off with a broken-bat single. Levi Michael followed with a walk. Dan Rohlfing dropped down a sacrifice bunt, but the Smokies first baseman decided to try to get the out at third, airmailing the ball into left field instead. White and Michael came around to score, giving the Lookouts the lead. Rohlfing would later come around to score on a passed ball. A broken bat, a walk, an error and a passed ball. The Baseball Gods were certainly on Chattanooga’s side tonight. Luke Bard pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning to seal the victory for the Lookouts. Starter Randy LeBlanc gave up two runs on five hits over 5.1 innings. He had four strikeouts and walked one batter. White was 3-for-4 with a double and scored twice. Edgar Corcino tallied a pair of hits. Nick Anderson pitched a scoreless eighth inning to keep the game within a run for the Looks, who are now 40-28 on the season. MIRACLE MATTERS OFF It’s the all-star break for the Florida State League. All-Stars from Fort Myers are Sam Clay, Dereck Rodriguez, Brian Navarreto and Chris Paul. The game is tomorrow. KERNELS NUGGETS Clinton 5, Cedar Rapids 4 Box Score The Kernels jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first inning thanks to a Christian Cavaness bases-clearing triple, but Clinton just kept chipping away, scoring single runs in the second, fourth, sixth and eighth innings to complete the comeback. Over six innings, Eduardo Del Rosario gave up four runs, walked three batters and surrendered seven hits. Ryan Mason was credited with the loss after giving up the game-winning run in the eighth inning. Colton Davis pitched a perfect ninth, lowering his ERA to 1.45. Cedar Rapids recorded just seven hits on the night, three of which came from Cavaness. Ben Rortvedt, who has been heating up of late, was 1-for-2 with a pair of walks. Tomorrow night there figures to be an excellent crowd in Cedar Rapids, as the Kernels are giving away Mike Trout bobbleheads. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Randy LeBlanc, Chattanooga (5.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 4 K) Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – T.J. White, Chattanooga (3-for-4, double, 2 runs) SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERSS Rochester at Pawtucket, 3:35 pm CT, Yohan Pino (7.82 ERA, 1.50 WHIP) Rochester at Pawtucket, Game 2, Chris Heston (4.62 ERA, 1.35 WHIP) Chattanooga at Tennessee, 6 pm CT, TBA Cedar Rapids vs. Clinton, 6:35 CT, Tyler Wells (2.02 ERA, 0.98 WHIP) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Friday's games. Click here to view the article

Well, I was wrong. Escobar is on the bench tonight. Over the past seven days he's hitting .684/.700/.1.158! I guess most of his damage has been done against lefties and he's 0-for-3 lifetime against Carrasco, a RHP. And Polanco has been better against RHP (.684) than LHP (.586). Still surprised, though.

Regarding the Wilk decision, my guess is he's the guy they feel is mostly likely going to give them five innings. This doubleheader is creating a logistical nightmare for a team that can ill afford to wear down it's bullpen. Turley is such a wild card, and as much as I like Mejia he's averaging less than five innings a start. I'd love to see one of the young guys too, but this maybe isn't the best time to throw somebody out there and see if they float. How crazy is it that the first three starters the Twins roll out there (Turley, Mejia, Wilk) have a combined 13 career starts? And none of them started a single game last season.

Thank you. These have been fun to put together, I'm happy people are enjoying them. This is gonna sound like I'm just blowing smoke up everybody's backsides, but I'm just honored to have the opportunity to contribute to such a great site and in front of such a great community. I am on cloud nine right now.

Jose Berrios completed eight innings for the first time in his career, Chris Gimenez hit two home runs for the first time in his career and the Twins coasted to a victory Thursday afternoon.Twins 6, Mariners 2 Box Score Win Expectancy (via Fangraphs) Download attachment: WE615.png This one was a bit uneventful after the first inning, not that we’re going to complain. Thanks in large part to Gimenez’s three-run homer, the Twins jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first frame. Berrios settled in and ended up throwing a career-high 108 pitches. Jose eclipsed 95 mph on seven occasions, one of those coming on his 105th pitch of the game. It didn’t seem like Berrios had his best command today, but he made up for that in aggressiveness, which is exactly what you want to see out of your starter when he’s spotted a big lead early. He walked just one batter. Here are all the pitches he threw after falling behind 1-0 in the count: Download attachment: Berrios10.png There was a bit of a scary moment when Byron Buxton flew into the center field wall attempting to catch a ball. He bounced right back up and finished the game. Postgame With Gimenez 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: Pen615.png Friday Twins (Nik Turley, 9.00 ERA) vs. Cleveland (Carlos Carrasco, 3.36 ERA), 7:10 pm CT Turley gets another shot after giving up four runs over four innings in his major league debut. Carrasco has been struggling a bit against lefties this year, giving up a .427 slugging percentage (.309 vs. RHB). Brian Dozier is only 4-for-21 off Carrasco, but three of those hits have been homers. Joe Mauer is an even .500 off him (11-for-22) with a home run and four doubles. Combined, the Twins have a .917 OPS in 101 plate appearances against Carrasco AL Central Standings Twins 34-29 Cleveland 32-31 (-2) Detroit 30-34 (-4.5) Kansas City 30-34 (-4.5) Chicago 29-36 (-6) It was announced that Adam Wilk will start one of the games of Saturday’s doubleheader. He’ll need to be added back onto the 40-man roster. Click here to view the article

If I were to tell you Byron Buxton reached safely four times and the bullpen was solid in a game that Ervin Santana started, you’d probably guess that the Twins won. Well, that’s not how it worked out Wednesday night, as Santana got roughed up and the bats couldn’t quite complete a comeback attempt.Mariners 6, Twins 4 Box Score Win Expectancy (via Fangraphs) Download attachment: WE614.png Santana continued to follow a bit of a disturbing trend, following up a spectacular start with a clunker. He gave up five runs on nine hits over five innings. What was maybe the weirdest thing was he got into an exchange with Mike Zunino after hitting him with a pitch that resulted in both benches being warned. Here are Santana’s game scores by start since the beginning of May: 70, 39, 72, 44, 87, 65, 19, 83, 28 (which was Wednesday night). The takeaway? You may wanna consider buying tickets for Ervin’s next start. Download attachment: SantanaGraph.png The Mariners jumped out to a 5-0 lead by the middle of the third, but Eduardo Escobar and Buxton gave the Twins new life by socking solo homers in the fifth. Miguel Sano slugged a two-run shot the next inning. This was the first time in Buxton’s career he reached base safely four times. He hit a double, the home run, drew a walk and singled in the ninth inning to put two runners on with just one out. He also swiped a pair of bases. Afterward, he said “this one was for Nick Nelson.” OK, that’s not true, but Nick did write an Ode To Byron Buxton that you should read. Postgame With Santana Postgame With Molitor Thursday Twins (Jose Berrios, 2.84 ERA) vs. Seattle (Ariel Miranda, 3.67 ERA), 12:10 pm CT Berrios has been an incredible stabilizing force for the Twins rotation since being called back up in mid-May. He’s gone at least five innings in all six of his starts, and he has yet to allow more than four runs in a start. The Twins are 5-1 in games he takes the hill. Miranda, a lefty, has been dynamite at home (2.14 ERA in six starts) but has struggled away from Safeco, posting a 5.68 ERA over seven starts. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Screenshot 2017-06-14 at 10.10.15 PM.png AL Central Standings Twins 33-29 Cleveland 31-31 (-2) Detroit 30-34 (-4) Kansas City 30-34 (-4) Chicago 28-35 (-5.5) Be sure to check out all the action from down on the farm on Wednesday in the Minor League Report. Click here to view the article

That was just a nice, round number I landed on. Seems like most relievers average around 16 pitches per appearance, though guys like Duffey are closer to 20. I guess the red is a bit dramatic, it's not like 20+ pitches is abuse or anything like that, but it is a higher than usual workload.

It was nice to see the Twins on the happy end of a blowout again, as they absolutely clobbered Seattle, setting a franchise record for hits in the process. Eddie Rosario had three home runs, one off a Mariners catcher. I guess other teams are doing the whole catchers pitching thing now too.Twins 20, Mariners 7 Box Score Win Expectancy (via Fangraphs) Download attachment: WX613.png Eduardo Escobar led the team’s march into the record books with a five-hit game. Kennys Vargas, Jason Castro and Rosario each had four hits. The Twins tallied seven runs in both the third and seventh innings. Run differential fixed. And Miguel Sano wasn’t even in the lineup. For Rosario, it was the first multi-homer game of his career. That alone is impressive, but what was especially peculiar about his night is he saw just nine total pitches. That’s not odd for the ultra-aggressive Rosie, but I wonder how many times a guy has hit three homers while seeing less than 10 pitches in game. Download attachment: RosarioPitches.png Kyle Gibson was bad, giving up six runs on 12 hits and a whole lot of loud contact, but in a game like this, the fact that he was able to go six innings was a big plus. Am I trying to polish a turd? Yeah, I guess. But the bullpen really needed that, seeing as the team is going to play six games over the next five days. Postgame With Rosario Postgame With Molitor Wednesday Twins (Ervin Santana, 2.20 ERA) vs. Seattle (San Gaviglio, 2.79 ERA), 7:10 pm CT Santana has really struggled against Robinson Cano over his career, having given up six home runs over 51 plate appearances to his countryman. Altogether, current Mariners have a .918 OPS in 166 plate appearances against Ervin. Gaviglio is a 27-year-old rookie right hander who is making his sixth start of the season. Among 346 pitchers who’ve thrown at least 20 innings this year, Gaviglio ranks 54th with a 52.9 percent groundball rate (top 15 percentile). Bullpen Usage Report Here's a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: bullpen613.png This is a new feature today. I figured since the bullpen has become such a story line this season I’d work something in that may provide insight into who may be available the next night. If you have any ideas for information you’d like to see in these daily recaps, I’d love to hear them. Either leave a comment on here or send me a personal message. I can’t make any promises that they’ll be implemented, time is a factor in putting these together, but I will definitely see what I can do. And, as long as we’re straying from the script, I’d just like to give a big thank you to all who have been reading these. The positive response has been overwhelming. AL Central Standings Twins 33-28 Cleveland 31-30 (-2) Detroit 30-33 (-4) Kansas City 28-34 (-5.5) *game in progress when article published Chicago 28-35 (-6) Make sure to check out the MLB Draft Day 2 review to learn about the eight players the Twins drafted on Tuesday. Click here to view the article

Oh, totally, Mejia got lit up. But there weren't many really big red flags to take away. The M's didn't barrel up any balls off him. They did have four hits of 95+ exit velocity, but the Twins managed to do that off Gallardo five times and he managed. Mejia got 12 swinging strikes on 77 pitches (15.6%), which is very good. His own error in the first inning hurt him. Two of Seattle's five hits in the second inning came off the bat at 76.4 (Cano's) and 75.4 mph (Smith's). It was a really bad game for him, but I'm inclined to give him a free pass on this one.