Tom Froemming

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

Darn it, you're right. Trash that whole thing. Updating this now. Sorry, my brain is absolutely fried from a busy weekend. Hosted my daughter's first B-Day party Saturday and then spent hours yesterday tearing my house, garage and wife's car apart trying to find lost keys that ended up being in her robe pocket.

Correct! Good catch, thank you. I have updated this on my spreadsheet so it's correct in tomorrow's recap.

Last Sunday, it seemed obvious the Twins just couldn’t hang with Cleveland. After a four-game sweep in which the Twins relinquished the division lead, it appeared the team was destined that to be looking up at Cleveland for the rest of the season. Well, that feeling lasted all of a week. Minnesota’s pitching shined, especially the bullpen, as the Twins swept Cleveland to take back the top spot in the AL Central.Win Expectancy & Top 5 Plays (via Fangraphs) Download attachment: WinEx625.png Download attachment: TopPlays625.png Eddie Rosario had a monster game, going 3-for-4 with a homer and three runs scored. He made an excellent base running read on a Jason Castro double that allowed him to score and made a nice play in the field. Eddie has about as many games that make you go “man, this guy can play” as he does that make you go “man, can this guy just go away?” What better poster boy could you find for a first-place team that has a -38 run differential? It’s pretty crazy how big of a home/road split Rosario has this season, but I think it’s just a fun stat rather than something you can actually draw any concrete conclusions from. He was playing very poorly away from Target Field prior to this series. Here’s Rosario’s home vs. road OPS broken up by season entering today: Download attachment: RosarioGraph.png Here was Rosie’s home run, which was his 10th of the season: Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Pen625.png Monday Twins (Jose Berrios, 2.67 ERA) at Boston (Chris Sale, 2.85 ERA), 6:10 pm CT Is this a pitching matchup, or what? Among American League pitchers with at least 50 innings, these two rank fourth and fifth in ERA and Sale is second in WHIP (0.90) with Berrios just behind in third (0.91). The Twins have always been a thorn in Sale’s side. He has a 4.37 ERA against Minnesota over 113.1 innings in his career. That’s his worst ERA against any team he’s faced more than twice. Berrios was very efficient in his last two starts, completing eight innings in both of them. AL Central Standings Twins 39-34 Cleveland 39-35 (-0.5) Kansas City 37-37 (-2.5) Chicago 33-41 (-7) Detroit 32-42 (-7.5) Click here to view the article

That is correct, thank you. I've been scrounging around for additional details on how that went down. Looks like it was a double steal (T.J. Dixon took second) with two outs and Wander Javier at the plate. Pretty daring move, they must've caught the Braves napping.

Yep, sorry I just took what was off MiLB.com. Checked a recent release from the team and it looks like it'll be Dereck Rodriguez in Game 1 and Fernando Romero in Game 2. Thanks for catching that.

Saturday night we had a walk-off single, a walk-off double and a walk-off hit batsman. Wait, what? Brent Rooker also hit his first professional home run in what was a big day for the bats in Elizabethton. Find out what else happened around the Twins' minor leagues on Saturday.RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 5, Lehigh Valley 4 Box Score Leonardo Reginatto delivered a walk-off single that scored Tommy Field to put a positive end on a long night. This game started about an hour late due to rain and lasted nearly three and a half hours. Maybe Pat Venditte was up past his bedtime. The IronPigs’ ambidextrous pitcher gave up a single to Matt Hague, walked Field, walked Niko Goodrum and walked in the tying run with a free pass to John Ryan Murphy. Lehigh Valley brought in a fifth infielder, but Reginatto sent a line drive to center to end it. Zack Granite did not have a multi-hit game. You know you're rolling when that’s newsworthy. He did, however, go 1-for-4 and drew a walk. Reginatto had three hits and drove in two runs. Matt Hague was 2-for-3 and drew a pair of walks. Mitch Garver was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk. Field and Goodrum also had two hits. Rochester could’ve made this easier on themselves, but they left 15 men on base. All’s well that ends well, I suppose. Chris Heston got the start and struggled, giving up four runs on nine hits and three walks over 4.1 innings. The bullpen trio of D.J. Baxendale (1.2 IP), Phil Hughes (1 IP) and Ryan Pressly (2 IP) combined for 4.2 shutout innings. Pressly had three strikeouts. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 3, Pensacola 2 Box Score There are a lot of ways you can win a baseball game, but a walk-off hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded has to be one of the weirder ones. Chattanooga was held in check all game, entering the ninth trailing 2-0, but a big rally capped off by a Levi Michael HBP gave them the W. Edgar Corcino led off the ninth with a walk, followed by singles from LaMonte Wade, Jonathan Rodriguez and Andy Wilkins. T.J. White was intentionally walked and Michael took one for the team to win it. Felix Jorge went 7.2 innings and struck out seven batters while walking zero. He gave up a season-high 11 hits, but just the two runs. Randy Rosario threw 1.1 scoreless innings. MIRACLE MATTERS Florida 4, Fort Myers 3 Box Score The Miracle pulled within a run of the Fire Frogs on three separate occasions, but their comeback attempt was stymied by a bullpen that combined to throw four shutout innings of two-hit ball, striking out six batters with no walks. Brady Anderson gave up four runs over 5.2 innings. He walked four and gave up six hits, three of them home runs. Michael Theofanopoulos pitched the final 2.1 innings, holding the Fire Frogs scoreless white tallying four strikeouts. The Miracle had only four hits, with Jermaine Palacios going 2-for-4 with a stolen base and a run scored. Max Murphy and Kevin Garcia had the only other hits, and all four were singles. KERNELS NUGGETS Quad Cities 3, Cedar Rapids 2 Box Score The Kernels got out to a 2-0 lead thanks to Amaurys Minier. Playing in just his second game with Cedar Rapids, the Dominican hit a solo homer in the second inning and an RBI double in the fourth. Domenick Carlini got off to a good start, but gave up a two-run homer in the fourth inning and a solo shot in the fifth. That was all the offense the River Bandits needed. Carlini gave up three runs on five hits over five innings and he had five strikeouts. Ryan Mason struck out three batters over two scoreless innings and Alex Robinson had two K's in his inning of work. Lewin Diaz, who was DHing with Minier playing first, hit his 22nd double of the season. E-TWINS E-NOTES Elizabethton 8, Danville 7 Box Score What a day Matt Albanese had. Hitting a two-run double to give his team the walk-off win is impressive enough, but the Twins’ seventh-round pick from 2016 was 3-for-3 with two walks and swiped home on a double steal in the eighth inning. Perhaps you heard during the draft coverage that Brent Rooker can hit a little. Well, the Twins’ 35th overall pick, Rooker was 4-for-5 with his first professional home run, a double, a couple RBI and a walk. He played left field. Trey Cabbage hit a homer and scored three runs. All the offense was needed, as Moises Gomez was shelled. He gave up six runs (five earned) over 1.2 innings. Out of the bullpen, Carlos Suniaga (3.1 shutout innings, four K's) Blair Lasko (one run over three innings) and Calvin Faucher (struck out the side in the ninth) were able to keep the Twins in position to come back. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Felix Jorge, ‘Nooga (7.2 IP, 2 ER, 7 K) Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Matt Albanese, E-Town (walk-off hit, 3-for-3, 2 doubles, 2 BB, 2 RBI, 2 R, SB) SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester vs. Lehigh Valley, 12:35 pm CT (Tim Melville, 2.79 ERA) Chattanooga vs. Pensacola, 3:15 pm CT (Dereck Rodriguez, 18.00 ERA) Chattanooga vs. Pesnacola, Game 2 (Fernando Romero, 3.27 ERA) Fort Myers at Florida, 4:05 pm CT (Anthony McIver, 2.27 ERA) Cedar Rapids at Quad Cities, 5:15 pm CT (Clark Beeker, 2.99 ERA) Elizabethton vs. Pulaski, 5:00 pm CT (Melvi Acosta) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Saturday's games. Click here to view the article

Gibson hasn't been great, but it's worth mentioning that the team is 5-2 in his starts since returning from Rochester. He's giving them a chance. Every time he pitches I'm like "well, I'm sure that'll be the last time they have to do that." Sooner or later I'm going to be right.

Miguel Sano, Max Kepler and Eddie Rosario were unavailable to start and the Twins were facing arguably the best pitcher in the American League. But thanks to a plus performance from the pitching staff, a key managerial decision, big hits in big situations and amazing defense, the Twins pulled out a hard-fought victory anyway.Win Expectancy and Top 5 Plays (via Fangraphs) Download attachment: WinEx624.png Download attachment: TopPlays624.png There was a lot of great stuff to get to from this one, but nothing can beat how it ended. Check out this amazing diving catch from Byron Buxton to record the final out: Per Statcast, the catch probability was 49 percent. Buxton was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, but he made another tough catch up agaisnt the wall in the third inning. Taylor Rogers, who bailed out Belisle in the seventh and pitched a scoreless eighth, picked up his fourth win of the year and Brandon Kintzler earned his 20th save, with a hat tip going to Buxton for that beautiful catch. Mauer had an excellent game as the DH, going 2-for-2 with a double, a run scored and a pair of walks. Postgame With Gimenez Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Pen624.png Sunday Twins (Ervin Santana, 2.97 ERA) at Cleveland (Josh Tomlin, 6.07 ERA), 12:10 pm CT Tomlin has been struggling of late, posting an 8.76 ERA over his past three starts. Opposing hitters have hit .407/.435/.746 (1.181 OPS) off him during that span. Santana has also been having a rough go of late, but in his last five starts against Cleveland he’s 3-1 with a 1.72 ERA. AL Central Standings Cleveland 39-34 Twins 38-34 (-0.5) Kansas City 37-36 (-2) Chicago 32-41 (-7) Detroit 32-41 (-7) Yep, after all that’s happened the road warrior Twins will have Ervin Santana on the mound tomorrow with the opportunity to not only sweep Cleveland, but also move back into first place. Man, this team. Click here to view the article

Maybe the Twins should just play all the rest of their games on the road. Just a few days after completing a nightmare series against Cleveland at home, the Twins headed to their place and took Game 1 in convincing fashion. Adalberto Mejia threw five scoreless, Jorge Polanco hit a big home run and Trevor Hildenberger made his major league debut.Twins 5, Cleveland 0 Box Score Win Expectancy & Top 5 Plays (via Fangraphs) Download attachment: WinEx623.png Download attachment: WPA623.png Mejia’s struggles to give the Twins any kind of length continued. He labored through this start, but he delivered in the moments that mattered. Mejia pitched five scoreless innings, giving up just two hits, but he also walked five batters. In the bottom of the second and with Mejia having already issued two free passes in the inning, Jason Kipnis worked a draining eight-pitch walk to load the bases. Ball four looked awfully good. Download attachment: KipnisAB.png Neil Allen went out to chat with Mejia, meanwhile Jason Castro had a lengthy conversation with home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez. Once everyone took up the game again, Mejia struck out Erik Gonzalez to end the inning. It was a huge crossroads of the game. Mejia loaded the bases again in the fourth inning, but wiggled out of that jam as well. The Twins managed to score four runs in the top of the second inning, so for Mejia to give any of those runs back would have been deflating. The big blow came from Polanco, who smashed a two-run homer. Brian Dozier also had a big day at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a double and two RBI. Tyler Duffey pitched perfect sixth and seventh innings, striking out three batters, and Taylor Rogers threw a scoreless eighth. Hildenberger, the Twins Daily Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Year the past two seasons, made his major league debut in the ninth. He struck out the first batter he faced and managed to throw a scoreless inning. Mejia broke 100 pitches for the first time as a big leaguer. Here’s a look at his pitches per start in 2017: Download attachment: MejiaChart.png Postgame With Hildenberger (via Mike Berardino) Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Pen623.png Saturday Twins (Kyle Gibson, 6.56 ERA) at Cleveland (Corey Kluber, 3.58 ERA), 3:10 pm CT The Twins have been fortunate enough to miss Kluber in their previous meetings with Cleveland. The Klubot is rolling right now, posting a 1.61 ERA and 0.71 WHIP over his last four starts. His K:BB ratio over that stretch is 9.75. In five career starts at Cleveland, Gibson has a 4.91 ERA and 1.48 WHIP. Edwin Encarnacion has a 1.516 OPS against Gibson over 18 plate appearances. AL Central Standings Cleveland 39-33 Twins 37-34 (-1.5) Kansas City 35-36 (-.3.5) Chicago 32-39 (-6.5) Detroit 32-40 (-7) Make sure to check out Cody’s Get To Know Trevor Hildenberger article from earlier today. Click here to view the article

Something exciting I missed: Buddy Boshers got 10 swinging strikes in his two innings of work. That's a ton! His whiff rate is now a team-high 13.8 percent. Unfortunately, he also gave up a pair of runs, but his ERA is still only at 2.81 over 16 innings pitched.

That's fair, I just think it would be valuable to this team to have a guy who could eat four innings in these blowouts. Is it too late to get Gimenez stretched out?

I put him in the very first one I did and thought "nah, nobody's ever gonna wonder if Gimenez is fresh" and took him out. But the way things have gone it's a legit concern when he's potentially not available. Justin Haley was probably only going to mop up innings and was likely to have some ugly numbers, but I think his absence has really hurt this bullpen.