Tom Froemming

Box Score Hill: 5 2/3 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K Home Runs: None Bottom 3 WPA: Romo -.394, Cruz -.230, Rosario -.202 Chicago Drama No matter what the Twins did, a White Sox loss guaranteed them the division. So when the Cubs took a 6-0 lead over the Sox in the second inning of their game this afternoon, it was starting to appear the Twins had things locked up. The Cubbies extended that lead to 10-1 by the middle of the seventh inning. The White Sox stormed back to score five in the eighth and two in the bottom of the ninth inning. The tying run came to the plate, but Cubs pitcher Andrew Chafin managed to finish the job, giving the Twins back-to-back American League Central titles. The loss coupled with a Cleveland win resulted in the White Sox finishing third in the division. Staying Atop the Mountain Rich Hill is going to have an opportunity to pitch a 17th major league season if he so chooses. He held the Reds scoreless for 5 2/3 innings today, though Matt Wisler allowed an inherited runner to score. Hill ended the regular season with a 3.03 ERA over 38 2/3 innings. Hill gave up just a pair of hits, both singles. He issued three walks, two to Joey Votto, and struck out four batters. Balk Talk How’s this for manufacturing a run? Jake Cave led off the fifth inning with a walk, advanced to second on a groundout, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a balk. https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1310319295231033345 The Reds appeared to have tried to argue that this shouldn’t have been considered a pitch because Sonny Gray stepped back off the rubber, but he had already started his delivery by then. There was some confusion, a delay and a review, but the original call was eventually upheld. Arráez Rolling After a successful return to the lineup in which he went 4-for-4 with three doubles, Luis Arráez had two of the Twins’ five hits on the day, one of them being another double. This brief but triumphant return boosted Arráez’s batting average from .288 to .321. Romo’s Ugly Outing Sergio Romo faced four batters in the top of the 10th inning and didn’t retire a single one of them. Curt Casali and Tucker Barnhart both singled before Nick Castellanos and Joey Votto both walked off Romo. Romo really struggled to find the zone, throwing just seven of his 18 pitches for strikes. The Twins used seven pitchers today. Playoff Picture Develops Here’s how things ended up working out for the playoffs below. There will be plenty more discussion and analysis regarding the Twins Wild Card matchup against the Astros here at Twins Daily. https://twitter.com/MLBONFOX/status/1310355131112751105 And the Twins are getting put in the afternoon time slot for both of their first two games. Postgame Pint Check out tonight’s episode of Twins Daily’s Postgame Pint live stream on or Facebook.Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

LAST NIGHT’S RECAP CIN 7, MIN 2: Twins Lose Game, Donaldson, Buxton SEE ALSO Records the Twins Can Set This Weekend If These Three Excel, the Twins Will Go Far This October Taking a Temperature Reading of the Twins Bats Heading Into October This Season Is a Culmination of the Front Office's Successes On Deck: Wild Cards Who Can Fold the Twins' Playoff Run Ranking the Twins Postseason Opponents and their Chances How Have Twins Handled Their Best Mound Opponents? TRANSACTIONS Luis Arraez has been activated from the injured list and Devin Smeltzer has been recalled. To make room on the roster, LaMonte Wade Jr. and Edwar Colina were optioned. TODAY Twins (35-23) vs. Reds (30-28), 6:10 pm CT Michael Pineda, RHP The Twins are undefeated in games Pineda has started this season, going 4-0. Three of those wins have come against opponents with winning records (White Sox, Cleveland and Cubs). Last time out, Pineda gave up one run on four hits over five innings. He struck out just one batter, but didn’t walk anybody. In fact, Pineda has walked just four of the 93 batters he’s faced this season. Over his last 15 starts, Pineda is 9-1 with a 2.86 ERA and 1.09 WHIP. The Twins will try to avoid losing back-to-back home games for the first time this season. Luis Castillo, RHP This guy was my preseason pick for NL Cy Young. He’s not going to win that award, but Castillo has been pitching up to that level so far in September. Castillo entered this month with a 4.10 ERA, but has delivered four straight quality starts for the Reds. He’s 4-0 with a 1.26 ERA while holding opponents to a measly .163/.234/.245 batting line (.479 OPS) over that stretch. Over his career, Castillo has dominated same-sided hitters, but he tends to give up some damage to lefties. Southpaws have a .746 OPS against him, which is 152 points higher than right-handed hitters. LINEUP https://twitter.com/dohyoungpark/status/1309952554005155840 AROUND THE AL CENTRAL Last night’s results: CLE 4, PIT 3 CHC 10, CHW 0 KCR 3, DET 2 AL Central Standings: 1. MIN 35-23 2. CLE 34-24 (-1) 2. CHW 34-24 (-1) 4. KCR 25-33 (-9) 5. DET 22-34 (-11) Today’s AL games of interest: MIA (Rogers) at NYY (Garcia), In progress SEA (Sheffield) at OAK (Minor), 3:10 pm CT SEA (Blackburn) at OAK (Dunn), Game 2 BAL (Means) at TOR (Shoemaker), 5:37 pm CT HOU (TBD) at TEX (Gibson), 6:05 pm CT PIT (Musgrove) at CLE (Civale), 6:10 pm CT CHC (Lester) at CHW (Dunning), 6:10 pm CT American League Playoff Standings 1. TBR 38-10 2. OAK 35-22 3. MIN 35-23 4. CLE 34-24 5. NYY 32-26 6. HOU 29-29 7. CHW 34-24 8. TOR 31-27

Box Score Berríos: 5 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 7 K Home Runs: None Bottom 3 WPA: Berríos -.177, Gonzalez -.160, Sanó -.126 Donaldson, Buxton Exit Josh Donaldson didn’t take the field with his teammates to start the second inning. He was removed due to what the Twins say is a right calf cramp, they’re calling him day-to-day. Donaldson popped out on a ball that was in play. It appeared he may have been so distracted by whatever he felt in his legs that he didn’t initially even make an attempt to run to first base. Nothing looked too serious there, so we’ll hope the team’s initial diagnosis holds. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1309655428226314240 This, on the other hand, looked very serious. In the eighth inning, Byron Buxton took a fastball off the helmet. He appeared to be alright, but here’s hoping Byron doesn’t have to endure concussion symptoms or further migraines resulting from this. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1309693008611364864 Berríos Finishes Flat Berríos entered tonight on a nice roll, pitching to a 2.14 ERA and 1.07 WHIP over his previous six starts. I’m sure he wanted to close out his regular season on a better note. Berríos was excellent through the first three innings, but gave up a five-pitch walk to Joey Votto to open the fourth. One batter later, Mike Moustakas hit a two-run homer. Freddy Galvis led off the fifth inning with another home run and the Reds scratched across a fourth run before Berríos struck out Votto and Eugenio Suarez to end the inning. Berríos finishes this season with an even 4.00 ERA (28 ER in 63 IP). This is obviously a short, weird season, but that’ll be his worst ERA since his rookie year. Cruz Returns, Lineup Misses Opportunities Nelson Cruz was in the lineup for the first time since last Friday. He drew a walk in the first inning, then proceeded to strike out in each of his next three at-bats. He finished off his night by drawing another walk in the ninth inning. The Twins went 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position and left 11 runners on base. Colina Debuts Earlier today, Seth did a really nice write-up on flame-throwing prospect Edwar Colina. He made his debut tonight, entering the ninth inning with the Twins down 4-2. The first pitch Colina threw was 99.7 mph. The second pitch he threw was hit 99.3 mph and traveled 355 feet for a home run. It was not the debut Colina had envisioned, he gave up three runs while only recording one out, but better days are sure to be ahead. Postgame Pint Check out tonight’s episode of Twins Daily’s Postgame Pint live stream on or Facebook.Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

Box Score Berríos: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K Home Runs: Kepler (8) Top 3 WPA: Berríos .369, Kepler .122, Donaldson .078 Twins Get to Darvish Early ... The Twins recorded three hits off Yu Darvish in the first inning, which is more than he’s given up in an entire outing in four of his prior 10 starts this year. They only came away with one run in the first inning, driven in on an Eddie Rosario single, as the bases were left loaded. The Twins added another run the second inning, becoming the first team to score in each of the first two innings against Darvish all season. He entered tonight fourth in ERA and third in fWAR among qualified starters, firmly in the conversation for NL Cy Young. Darvish returned to form and allowed just two baserunners to reach for the next four innings. … and Late Since Darvish had been on a roll, the Cubs sent him back out to start the seventh inning. Marwin Gonzalez led things off with a double to center field before Max Kepler blasted his 100th career home run to put the Twins up 4-0. Tonight marks the first time all season Darvish has given up four runs in an outing. https://twitter.com/MLB/status/1307854157836161025 This was Kepler’s first home run since Aug. 26. Since then, he’s had a .309 OPS over 43 plate appearances. Max needed that, badly. José Berríos is Rolling Berríos had a 5.92 ERA through his first five starts of the season, but has steadily been improving. Over his most recent five starts coming into tonight, Berríos posted a 2.60 ERA. It’s basically the complete opposite from what we’re used to seeing from him. Berríos outdueled Darvish, providing six shutout innings while giving up four hits and walking one batter. He struck out four batters and had nine swinging strikes on his 85 pitches. The Cubs also had nine balls hit in excess of 95 mph, so this was far from the most dominant we’ve seen Berríos, but there’s no arguing with the results. The Cubs lineup has been struggling, but this was still a tough matchup on a national stage. It was great to see Berríos deliver. Rogers Before Romo Taylor Rogers pitched the eighth inning tonight. Rogers also entered in the eighth inning his previous outing on Sept. 14, but gave up a pair of runs while recording just one out. On the one hand, there were a couple of lefties and a switch hitter who doesn’t fare nearly as well versus southpaws due up. On the other hand, Kris Bryant was the next batter in the lineup after that. Bryant is having a nightmare season, entering tonight’s game with a .591 OPS. Still, he’s a career .302/.412/.579 (.991 OPS) hitter against lefties and though it was only 30 plate appearances, he also had a .901 OPS against lefties so far in 2020. Rogers retired José Martinez, who pinch hit for lefty Jason Kipnis, before issuing a five-pitch walk to Ian Happ. He then struck out lefty Anthony Rizzo. That brought Bryant to the plate. Rogers got Bryant to line out to end the inning. So was Rocco Baldelli playing matchups? Or is Rogers no longer the closer? Let me know what your best guess is down in the comments. Sergio Romo took over in the ninth inning, inheriting a 4-0 lead. Wilson Contreras reached after a passed ball on strike three, Jason Heyward was hit by a pitch and Victor Caratini walked to bring the tying run to the plate with two outs. Romo prevailed, striking out pinch hitter Nico Hoerner to end the game. Sergio has now delivered a scoreless outing in 17 of his 21 appearances this season. Aggressive Play The Twins ran into a couple outs in their 7-1 win over the Cubs Friday night, and continued an aggressive approach tonight. Jake Cave took a gamble by stretching a leadoff double into a triple, barely beating the throw from left fielder Kyle Schwarber. He later scored on a ground out. https://twitter.com/Twins/status/1307828473864556545 Kepler took a chance in the field that didn’t pay off, but luckily Berríos managed to pitch around it. With one out, Kepler tried to nail a baserunner going first-to-third. The play was nowhere close, and the throw allowed the hitter to advance to second base, both putting two runners in scoring position and eliminating the potential for a double play. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1307841617882218498 Along with the bullpen situation, it'll be interesting to follow any other trends as the Twins ramp up for the playoffs. Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

Box Score Pineda: 4.2 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 8 K Home Runs: Gonzalez (5), Cruz (16), Jeffers (3), Donaldson (4) Top 3 WPA: Jeffers .192, Gonzalez .118, Wade Jr. .116 Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs): Mas Bombas After slugging five home runs yesterday, the Bomba Squad was back at it again today. Marwin Gonzalez, Nelson Cruz, Ryan Jeffers and Josh Donaldson all went deep, continuing a power surge for the Twins. https://twitter.com/Twins/status/1305238864068571137 Gonzalez has now homered in back-to-back games, Cruz is currently tied for the league lead with 16 home runs, Donaldson has hit three home runs in 11 games since returning from the IL and Jeffers has three bombas in his last four starts. The Twins have now slugged 18 bombas in their last six games. Big Mike’s Uneven Day On one hand, Cleveland had a ton of traffic on the bases against Michael Pineda. On the other hand, it’s not like they were squaring him up. Pineda gave up eight hits, but just one extra-base knock, a double to José Ramirez. Big Mike also struck out eight batters for the second straight start, and has 20 Ks in 17 2/3 innings so far this season. All those hits and strikeouts resulted in a lot of pitches, and Pineda lasted just 4 2/3 innings this afternoon. He threw 66 of his 98 pitches for strikes. May, Rosario Exit With Injuries Trevor May was removed from the seventh inning of today’s game with what the Twins are calling mild back cramping. Eddie Rosario collided with Byron Buxton and suffered what’s being reported as a left-elbow contusion. Both May and Rosario are listed as day-to-day. https://twitter.com/cjzer0/status/1305257703875510272 Romo Secures the Save With Taylor Rogers having pitched yesterday, Rocco Baldelli turned to Sergio Romo in the ninth inning. Cleveland had the go-ahead run at the plate in slugger Franmil Reyes with one out, but Romo eviscerated him with an 86 mph fastball. That might not seem like something a pitcher can do in 2020, with all the eye-popping velocity out there, but Romo set him up brilliantly by opening the at-bat with three mid-70s sliders. Made that fastball look like it was about 100 mph, and it completely froze Reyes for a gigantic strikeout. Division Picture Developing What once was a three-team standoff appears to have boiled down to a two-team showdown in the American League Central. Today’s loss was Cleveland’s sixth straight. The Twins will turn the page to Chicago, who has won eight of their nine games since they last played Minnesota. Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet Postgame Pint https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_8gRzEp6wU Download The Postgame Pint Podcast You can also listen to the Postgame Pint and never miss another one. Just head over to our iTunes page and subscribe. Every morning you'll have a new episode waiting for you. Or listen wherever you download your favorite podcasts.

Rooker was hit in his right forearm by an 86 mph changeup from Zach Plesac, the first batter he’s hit all season. Here’s a look: The combination of that changeup, which breaks in to a right-handed batter, getting away from Plesac and Rooker starting and checking his swing made for the perfect recipe for disaster. It’s actually pretty remarkable things like this don’t happen more often. There’s no way to spin this as anything but terrible news for Rooker, but all things considered, this will end as a positive season for him. Rooker proved he was ready for the big leagues by hitting .319/.463/.572 (1.036 OPS) over his final 41 Triple-A games last season. Still, with the 2020 Twins lineup already established, it was going to be difficult for him to find opportunities for playing time. Max Kepler’s trip to the IL opened the door, and Rooker did not disappoint. It was only seven games and 21 plate appearances, but Rooker went 6-for-19 with a pair of doubles and a home run. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1303474541230993409 Rooker posted a 14.3 barrel %, 89.1 mph exit velocity and 50% hard-hit rate, all of which are above the MLB averages. He’s one of only four Twins batters to hit a ball in excess of 112 mph this season, joining Miguel Sanó, Nelson Cruz and fellow rookie Ryan Jeffers in accomplishing that feat. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email

LAST NIGHT'S GAME RECAP: Twins 3, Cleveland 1: Buxton, Jeffers Sting Bieber; Maeda Sails Through 7 Shortly after the game ended, I recorded my thoughts on the situation. Check out the video below and let me know what you think. Sergio Romo has had an incredible career, and that intensity he brings to the mound probably has a lot to do with how he got here and why he’s lasted so long in the league. It also has to be difficult to turn off. As I stated in the video, however, I’m concerned Romo is going to take himself out of a number of games. MLB is far less tolerant of any incidents like these in 2020. Romo is such a key piece to the bullpen, I’d hate to see him get suspended. These dust ups could also result in several of his teammates getting suspended if things escalated. There’s also always the possibility opposing teams react by throwing at Twins hitters. Here’s what Rocco Baldelli had to say about the situation, via Betsy Helfand of the Pioneer Press. https://twitter.com/betsyhelfand/status/1304644036070912000 Finally, I want to end this with the entire situation as it played out on TV. No, the cameras and mics don’t catch everything, but this is the most complete, uninterrupted version of what happened available at this time. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1304622293470130176 UPDATE: Sergio Romo has been issued a one-game suspension, which I'd speculate he'll likely appeal, and both Romo and Lindor were fined. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email

Box Score Maeda: 7 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K Home Runs: Buxton (7), Jeffers (2) Top 3 WPA: Maeda .430, Buxton .131, Romo .049 Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs): Shane Bieber entered tonight having only given up three earned runs in one of his nine starts in 2020. In fact, he gave up zero runs in five of those starts. The Twins got to him early tonight. Byron Buxton blistered a two-run homer in the second inning that scored Jake Cave. An absolute laser beam, Buxton’s shot had a 111.5 mph exit velocity, the hardest hit ball Bieber had given up all season. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1304592894096027648 That was all the run support Kenta Maeda needed. He was simply brilliant once again for the Twins, holding Cleveland to just four hits over seven shutout innings. He had seven strikeouts, walked a pair of batters and threw 67% of his pitches for strikes. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1304594729934491651 The Twins are now 7-2 in games that Maeda starts. His ERA is down to 2.43 on the season, and he’s allowed just one earned run in 18 innings against Cleveland this year. Buxton wasn’t able to boast about having the hardest hit ball off Bieber for long, as Ryan Jeffers topped his mark with an upper deck bomba in the seventh inning. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1304619154054549504 As a Twins fan, it’s almost deflating to see Cleveland churn out top of the rotation starters like it’s no big deal, but imagine what their fans, who have watched some pretty unimpressive offensive teams of late, feel about the Twins' hitting factory. Sergio Romo picked up where Maeda left off and pitched a perfect eighth inning. It ended with Francisco Lindor popping out, smiling at Romo, then the two jawing at each other until the benches cleared. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1304622293470130176 Listen, I love Sergio Romo, but sooner or later stuff like this is going to get him or one of his teammates suspended. Or thrown at. MLB was clear coming into the season they weren’t going to tolerate stuff like this. I’m not sure what was said, but Lindor is known as one of the most easy-going players in the league. Romo's intensity has clearly served him well over his remarkable career, but it's starting to feel like it'd be good to reel it in a bit. To let some stuff slide every now and then. Cooler heads prevailed, Cleveland threatened in the ninth inning, but Taylor Rogers held on. José Ramirez blasted his 10th home run of the season to put Cleveland on the board, Franmil Reyes added a two-out double, but Rogers got Oscar Mercado to ground out to end the game. Rogers picked up his ninth save, but has now surrendered seven earned runs (11 total) in 16 outings this year. Last season, he gave up his seventh earned run in his 24th appearance. Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

It was officially announced in early January 2019 that the Twins signed Cruz to a one-year $14 million deal with a $12 million option for a second season. The buyout amount for that option was a measly (in baseball terms) $300K. Cruz was coming off a productive four-year stretch in Seattle, but was also entering his age 38 season. The Boomstick has not only continued to produce, he’s been better than ever. The second leg of Tuesday’s doubleheader in St. Louis marked the 162nd game Cruz has played for the Twins. Here’s a look at the numbers he’s produced over that time and where he ranks among the MLB leaders since the start of last season. Nelson Cruz won’t be blasting bombas for the Twins forever, so appreciate him while you can. Cruz is beating the odds every day he steps on the field — not many 40-year-olds do this kind of damage — but he’s also in the final year of his contract with the Twins. What’s next for Nelson? I think it’s safe to assume he’s enjoyed his time in Minnesota, and that the feeling is mutual, but he’ll have no shortage of options the way he’s playing. If the universal DH carries into 2021, that’ll be especially true. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email