Tom Froemming

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

YESTERDAY’S RECAP Twins 6, Tigers 2: Pineda Pitches 7 Innings, Twins Take 4 of 5 TODAY Twins at Cardinals Game 1 2:15 pm CT José Berríos (4.29 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 2.35 K:BB) vs. Carlos Martinez (14.73 ERA, 2.18 WHIP, 2.00 K:BB) Game 2 to follow 30 minutes later Randy Dobnak (2.72 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 2.10 K:BB) vs. Daniel Ponce de Leon (7.82 ERA, 1.90 WHIP, 1.21 K:BB) These look like a couple of very good matchups for the Twins on paper, but Martinez’s numbers are all from one start (which happened to be against the Twins) and Ponce de Leon’s career numbers (3.91 ERA in 94 1/3 innings) are much better than what he’s shown in 2020. Berríos racked up 23 strikeouts over 17 2/3 innings in his last three starts, posting a 2.04 ERA in the process. Dobnak will be pitching on short rest, but he also threw just 61 pitches in his last start. It’ll be interesting to see how long he goes today. The schedule originally called for this short series to be played over the next two days, but the Cardinals had to move some things around after they had a number of games suspended. St. Louis will have an off day tomorrow before hosting Detroit for another doubleheader Thursday. The Twins will actually have the luxury of having the next two days off. The Cardinals are 17-16 this season, which is good enough to put them fifth in the National League playoff picture. They’ve won six of their last eight games. St. Louis is 6-4 in doubleheader games so far this season while Minnesota is 3-3. Nelson Cruz last played on Saturday, as he’s been dealing with a sore hip. It’ll be interesting to see if he plays in today’s doubleheader or if the Twins take the opportunity to give him a long period of rest with the two days off coming. AROUND THE AL CENTRAL CLE 5, KCR 2 1. CHW 26-15 1. CLE 26-15 3. MIN 26-17 (-1) 4. DET 18-21 (-7) 5. KCR 14-28 (-12.5) I took a look into the remaining schedules for each of the three top AL Central teams in the video below. SEE ALSO 3 Twins Players Heading to Free Agency at the Wrong Time You are Hereby Circled: The Legacy of Bert Blyleven The September Jolt We Forgot We Needed

Box Score Hill: 5.0 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K Home Runs: Rosario (9) Bottom 3 WPA: May -.214, Smeltzer -.193, Romo -.186 Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs): Can’t Expect Perfection During the team’s five-game winning streak they carried into today, Twins relievers gave up just two earned runs over 20 innings pitched (0.90 ERA). *I’m including Matt Wisler’s “start” in Friday’s bullpen game in that total. Today, unfortunately, was a struggle. Trevor May gave up three runs on four hits while recording just a pair of outs. Tyler Duffey gave up two more runs in his inning and a third of work. Sergio Romo gave up a solo home run in the eighth inning, then Devin Smeltzer allowed two more runs to score. Eddie Being Eddie Third base coach Tony Diaz can only do so much. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1302697478085652480 This is season six of The Eddie Rosario Experience, so we know what to expect. He’s one of the most aggressive players in the game, and that means he’s going to get burned on a somewhat regular basis. This was a nice two-run double from Brent Rooker, but Rosie got greedy. His decision to try to score resulted in the first out of the inning. Rooker later scored on a Jake Cave single, so it’s safe to say Eddie’s decision to go for it cost the Twins a run. As contradictory as this sounds, the Twins were also burnt by Rosario’s lack of aggression. In the eighth inning, he didn’t finish a play in which he was expecting a ground rule double to be called. It was not. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1302720105072205829 Eddie also had a chance to rob a home run while Romo was pitching, but the ball bounced out of his glove. That would have been a great play, so can’t really fault him there, but what a strange day at the office for Rosario. Oh, and Rosario would have nailed another runner at the plate in the second inning had Willians Astudillo made a clean catch and tag, and, to cap it all off, Rosie hit his ninth home run of the year in the bottom of the eighth. Never a dull moment. Hill Wiggles Through Five Innings Rich Hill threw just 12 of his 21 pitches in the first inning for strikes. He fell behind 2-0 to three of the four batters he faced, but managed to strand Detroit’s only runner to reach base at third. The Tigers had a run expectancy of 0.99 before Miguel Cabrera and Jeimer Candelario struck out to end the inning. The Tigers managed to tally a single run in both the second and third innings, but Hill actually looked more sharp in those frames than the first. The Twins scored two runs in the bottom of the third to tie things up, giving Hill an opportunity at a fresh start. He managed to pitch around a leadoff double to keep Detroit off the board in the fourth inning. The Tigers had a run expectancy of 1.20 that inning before Hill shut them down once again, striking out Jorge Bonifacio when there was only one out and a runner at third base. It wasn’t an especially encouraging outing by Hill, but he did a great job getting outs when he had to. After struggling to find the plate in the first inning, Hill threw 41 of his 56 pitches for strikes from there forward (73.2%). He also did not issue a walk for the first time this season, though he did hit a batter. Beyond the Boxscore: Wade’s Day LaMonte Wade Jr. rejoined the Twins this weekend and recorded a pinch-hit single in the eighth inning Saturday. He had a good game today, even better than the box score indicates. Wade was maddeningly pesky at the plate, seeing 39 total pitches while fouling off 16 of them. He was so tough that the Tigers needed an assist from home plate umpire Ron Kulpa to get him out in a big spot. Wade was batting with two outs in the sixth inning and runners at first and second when this happened: https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1302708254238277632 Wade started in right field this afternoon, and made a great throw to nail a runner at third base. https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1302692999806291968 Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

YESTERDAY’S RECAP Doubleheader Recap: Twins Sweep Tigers Behind Big Day From Jorge Polanco TODAY Twins vs. Tigers, 6:10 pm CT Kenta Maeda, RHP, 2.53 ERA, 0.75 WHIP Maeda’s last start was against the Tigers in Detroit. He gave up three runs on six hits over six innings pitched while striking out eight batters. Jeimer Candelario and Jonathan Schoop took him deep as the Tigers won that game 3-2. Maeda currently leads MLB with a 0.75 WHIP and ranks fifth in the AL with a 2.53 ERA. He’s given up just one run in 14 innings pitched at Target Field. Maeda has pitched at least five innings in all seven of his starts this year and six or more innings five times. After yesterday’s doubleheader, the Twins could really use some length today. Here’s how the bullpen looks heading into tonight: Tarik Skubal, LHP, 6.75 ERA, 1.61 WHIP Skubal is also facing the same team in back-to-back starts. He held the Twins to two runs on three hits over five innings pitched as the Tigers won 4-2. That was the best outing so far for Skubal, who pitched to a 2.42 ERA and averaged 13.1 K/9 over 122 2/3 innings between High A and Double A last season. The Twins have been awful against left-handed pitching so far this season, but the returns of Byron Buxton and Josh Donaldson should help turn things around. Rocco Baldelli will be taking it easy on those two, but with Detroit expected to start right-hander Casey Mize tomorrow, this appears to be a great opportunity for Buck and The Bringer. Brent Rooker also gives the Twins another new potential weapon to combat lefties. LINEUP NEWS & NOTES — The Twins have bounced back for their six-game losing streak to win four in a row. The pitching staff has surrendered just five total runs over this winning streak. — In addition to aiming for a return to the top of the AL Central standings, the Twins have an opportunity to put more ground between themselves and the Tigers. Detroit is currently ninth in the AL standings, representing the first team that would miss the playoffs, and come into tonight's contest trailing the Twins by five games. — Here’s an interest comparison between this year’s club and last year’s Twins via The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman: https://twitter.com/AaronGleeman/status/1302247597772435456 — We only got a glimpse of Sergio Romo and Willians Astudillo in the same dugout, but it was glorious. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1302079662546391040 La Tortuga was the extra man for yesterday’s doubleheader, and will return to St. Paul today. AROUND THE AL CENTRAL MIL 7, CLE 1 CHW 7, KCR 4 1. CHW 24-15 2. CLE 23-15 (-0.5) 3. MIN 24-16 (-0.5) 4. DET 17-19 (-5.5) 5. KCR 14-25 (-10) SEE ALSO A Beacon of Light in a Dark World: Kenta Maeda Brent Rooker Makes MLB Debut The Twins' 5 Most Effective Pitches

Box Score Hill: 3.1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 2 K Home Runs: Sanó (7) Bottom 3 WPA: Rogers -.451, Clippard -.240, Polanco -.109 Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs): Top Down The first four hitters in the Twins’ lineup combined to go 0-for-16 with eight strikeouts and a pair of walks. Jorge Polanco had three strikeouts for the first time this year. Nelson Cruz also had three strikeouts. After recording just one three-strikeout game last season, Cruz has now done that twice in his last six contests. White Sox Gift Twins Runs Chicago is highly regarded in most defensive metrics, but they had a rough second inning tonight. The Twins scored three runs despite recording just two hits that inning, taking advantage of errors committed by right fielder Adam Engel and second baseman Nick Madrigal. They were unable to tack on after a third miscue by Lucas Giolito. The Madrigal misplay was especially damaging. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1300606107577090051 Twins Return Favor The Twins were too polite to accept those gifts and not give the White Sox something nice in return. The Twins’ infield nearly fell into a triple play, but botched the execution. But, the only reason the opportunity was there was because a catch was botched. So a botch that followed a botch would be a … did I just finally figure out what a Boof is? Anyway, here’s the play below. Arráez was trying to catch this ball, missed it, then the Twins infield missed the chance to take advantage of the confusion. Just one out was recorded on this play. Chicago would score two runs this inning. https://twitter.com/cjzero/status/1300606881707237376 Max Kepler also just straight up dropped a routine flyball in the top of the ninth inning that eventually resulted in the go-ahead run scoring. Max Kepler! One of the most reliable, smoothest defensive outfielders you’re ever going to find. https://twitter.com/CoopCarlson/status/1300637359189512192 What is happening here!? Tonight we definitely learned that, no, cardboard cutouts cannot boo, and there’s apparently no booing programmed into Target Field’s sound system. Concern Over Hill’s Control The bases were loaded to setup that weird missed triple play opportunity because Rich Hill walked the first four batters of that inning. In his four seasons with the Dodgers, Hill posted a 7.7 BB%. So far this year, he’s walked 14.7% of the batters he’s faced. Hill threw 41 of his 65 pitches for strikes tonight, a 63.1% strike rate. That actually was an improvement on his season average, which is now 62.5%. His strike rate over his time with the Dodgers was 67.9%. Bullpen Notes Tyler Duffey, the first man out of the bullpen, also struggled to throw strikes. After walking just two of the first 47 men he faced in 2020, Duffey issued a pair of free passes to the seven batters he faced tonight. Luckily, he got away with it. Tyler Clippard gave up back-to-back singles to open the sixth inning, but then retired the next two batters. With José Abreu at the plate, Clippard threw a wild pitch to allow both runners to advance. The count was 1-1 at that point, and the Twins decided to pitch to Abreu with first base open. Abreu entered tonight 0-for-5 with four strikeouts against Clippard over his career, but he’s having the type of season where stats like that are changing quickly. He entered tonight with a .996 OPS, which would represent a new career high. Abreu worked a full count, then delivered a game-tying two-run double. Trevor May had to bail out Clippard in the sixth inning, then came back out to handle the seventh. He’s not had much success in outings that spanned multiple frames so far this season. Tonight was the third time he’s done it, and all three times he’s given up a home run after returning from the dugout. Tonight it was Luis Robert who got him. When pitching in a single frame, May has surrendered just two earned runs over 10 2/3 innings pitched. He’s now given up five earned runs in 3 1/3 innings otherwise. Sergio Romo pitched a perfect eighth inning before Taylor Rogers had a rough ninth, no thanks to Kepler’s error. All three runs Rogers gave up were unearned, but he’s already given up half as many runs (overall runs scored, not earned runs) as he did in all of 2019. Cave Shines Jake Cave had a go-ahead single with two outs in the sixth inning and made an impressive catch in center field to prevent a run from scoring. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1300627407892885505 Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet Postgame Pint https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Wj2oglcNC0&feature=youtu.be