Tom Froemming

Some more on the pitching, including me stupidly getting mad about Tim Laudner because it feels better than stupidly getting mad about Martin Perez, for some reason.

Not nitpicking at all, that's copy editing and it's very much appreciated. I started typing that out prior to the last Garver blast and forgot to update it. Good lookin' out.

What was that? The Detroit Tigers have averaged an MLB-low 3.59 runs per game. They scored a total of three runs in their most recent series against Cleveland. A lineup that had zero hitters carrying an OPS above league average managed to beat the Twins, the greatest home run hitting team of all time, 10-7 Saturday.Box Score Perez: 2.2 IP, 9 H, 8 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 67.1% strikes (55 of 82 pitches) Bullpen: 5.1 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K Home Runs: Garver 2 (26), Kepler (36), Polanco (20), Cron (24), Cruz (34) Multi-Hit Games: Garver (2-for-3, 2 HR, 2 BB), Polanco (2-for-4, HR, BB), Cruz (2-for-5, HR), Kepler (2-for-3, HR, BB) Bottom 3 WPA: Perez -.519, Sano -.079, Rosario -.056 Martin Perez came into this start with some positive momentum. He’d pitched to a 2.12 ERA in his previous three outings, though he had also walked nine batters in 17 innings. Still, a matchup against Detroit seemed to be the perfect opportunity to keep that positive momentum rolling. It did not end up going that direction. In fact, Perez had his worst start as a Twin. He gave up eight runs (seven earned) on nine hits while recording just eight outs. Again, this is by far the worst hitting team in baseball the Twins were facing tonight. Detroit scored seven runs in the third inning, the most the Twins have surrendered in any single frame all season. Ehire Adrianza played some disgusting defense out in right field that contributed to that inning. Still … worst hitting team in baseball. Ah, but there were bombas. Those sweet, sweet bombas that allowed the Twins media staff to completely ignore the results of the game and gush about all the records that fell. The Twins hit six home runs tonight; two from Mitch Garver one each from Max Kepler, Jorge Polanco, C.J. Cron and Nelson Cruz. They set the MLB single-season home run record with 268 bombas. Polanco’s tater gave the Twins eight players with 20 or more homers, a new record. Garver’s blasts gave the Twins 39 homers from their catchers this year, also a new record. It would have been a lot more fun if all those milestones were reached in a victory. It’s been a fun journey leading up to all those accomplishments, of course, but losing to the worst team in baseball leaves a terrible aftertaste on what should have been a delicious evening. At least Cleveland lost. In celebration of the Twins breaking the home run record, Cooper shared the 10 biggest Twins home runs this season as ranked by WPA. Make sure to go check that out for some fun reminiscing on what’s been a fantastic season. Postgame With Baldelli Click here to view the article

Here's the Pitch for last night's game. I talk about why I don't want to see this battery anymore, the bullpen usage and more.

That is correct. Enlow has a better swinging strike rate than Jordan Balazovic (13.3% to 12.4%).

Yeah, I found it really strange that it was completely empty -- didn't go there against righties or lefties. It seems like this would have been the perfect opportunity for him to experiment with working at the top of the zone more, but that's just not his thing, I guess. I'm sure he's just trying to tunnel his fastball and curveball, which is a good thing, but it's too predictable. Hitters can basically eliminate the entire top half of the zone. You'd have to imagine he'd benefit from mixing things up, but a lot of pitchers are like this and like to live at the bottom of the zone. Not too many Jake Odorizzi's out there.

With Hurricane Dorian looming, the Florida State League made the decision to cancel the rest of the regular season, and even the playoffs. Trevor Larnach was named the Florida State League Player of the Year this afternoon, then hit another home run for Pensacola this evening. Come see what else happened across the system Thursday night.TRANSACTIONS Cedar Rapids activated LHP J.T. Perez from the seven-day IL. IF Jake Hirabayashi assigned to the GCL roster from Cedar Rapids. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 7, Buffalo 6 Box Score Lewis Thorpe: 3.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 6 K, 70.5% strikes (31 of 44 pitches) HR: Willians Astudillo (5), Zander Wiel (23) Multi-hit games: Alejandro De Aza (3-for-4, 3B, BB), Tomas Telis (3-for-5), Astudillo (2-for-4, HR, HBP), Ian Miller (2-for-5), Ronald Torreyes (2-for-5) The Red Wings pulled out a victory to even their season record to 68-68 in a game in which many hopeful September callups shined. Lewis Thorpe was excellent in a brief start, striking out six batters while giving up one run over three innings. Willians Astudillo hit his fourth home run in just the 13th game of his rehab assignment. Fernando Romero was perfect over the final two innings, protecting a one-run lead to earn the save. Rochester entered the top of the eighth trailing, but Zander Wiel blasted his 23rd home run of the season, a two-run shot, to put the Wings up for good. Alejandro De Aza was 3-for-4 with a triple and a walk, boosting his OPS to 1.059 since signing with the Twins. BLUE WAHOO BITES Montgomery 5, Pensacola 2 Box Score Jhoan Duran: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 6 K, 70.8% strikes (51 of 72 pitches) HR: Trevor Larnach (7) Multi-hit games: Larnach (3-for-5, HR), Alex Kirilloff (2-for-4, 2B, BB), Ryan Costello (2-for-3, 2B, BB), Travis Blankenhorn (2-for-5, 2B) How’s that for a day at the office? Trevor Larnach was named the Florida State League Player of the Year, then went 3-for-5 with his seventh home run since being promoted up to Pensacola. In just 39 games, Larnach has already posted more homers in the Southern League than he had in 84 games in the FSL. That homer put the Blue Wahoos up 2-1, but it was all Biscuits from there. Jhoan Duran turned in another encouraging start for Pensacola, striking out six batters over five innings of one-run ball. He’s managed to lower his Southern League ERA from 7.13 to 4.86 over his last two outings. Marcos Diplan surrendered the game-tying run in the sixth inning before Andrew Vasquez gave up the lead in the eighth. MIRACLE MATTERS Dunedin 3, Fort Myers 0 Box Score Blayne Enlow: 4.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 3 K, 60.5% strikes (46 of 76 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games: None Blayne Enlow was cruising along, pitching a shutout through the first four innings, but was unable to pitch around a leadoff triple in the fifth inning. That runner eventually came around to score, Enlow was lifted in that inning and two of his runners who were inherited also scored. That was it for the scoring in this one. The Miracle were only able to muster three hits in this game, a triple from Jacob Pearson and singles from Trey Cabbage and Yeltsin Encarnacion. KERNELS NUGGETS Quad Cities 3, Cedar Rapids 2 Box Score Tyler Palm: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 4 BB, 0 K, 55.3% strikes (47 of 85 pitches) HR: Gabe Snyder 2 (18) Multi-hit games: Snyder (2-for-3, 2 HR, BB) Gabe Snyder was a one-man wrecking crew, but unfortunately the rest of the Kernels struggled to provide any additional support. Snyder hit his 17th and 18th home runs of the season and also drew a walk. Tyler Palm gave up three runs over the first five innings, but the Cedar Rapids bullpen was lights out from there. Austin Schulfer struck out three batters over two shutout innings before Rickey Ramirez finished things out with a pair of clean innings of his own. The Kernels got a leadoff walk from Albee Weiss to open the eight inning, ended up loading the bases with two outs, but Wander Javier struck out swinging to end the threat. Matt Wallner then led off the ninth inning with a walk of his own, but was immediately erased by a double play. STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Jhoan Duran, Pensacola Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Gabe Snyder, Cedar Rapids TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Prospects performed: 1. Royce Lewis (PNS): 0-for-5, K, E (fielding) 2. Alex Kirilloff (PNS): 2-for-4, 2B, BB, E (throw) 4. Trevor Larnach (PNS): 3-for-5, HR, OF assist 5. Wander Javier (CR): 0-for-4, K 9. Jhoan Duran (PNS): 5.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 6 K, 70.8% strikes (51 of 72 pitches) 10. Blayne Enlow (FM): 4.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 3 K, 60.5% strikes (46 of 76 pitches) 11. Lewis Thorpe (ROC): 3.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 6 K, 70.5% strikes (31 of 44 pitches) 13. Ryan Jeffers (PNS): 0-for-5, 2 K 15. Matt Wallner (CR): 0-for-3, BB, 2 K 20. Travis Blankenhorn (PNS): 2-for-5, 2B FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester vs. Syracuse, 6:05 pm CT (Devin Smeltzer) Pensacola at Montgomery, 6:35 pm CT (Bryan Sammons) Cedar Rapids vs. Quad Cities, 6:35 pm CT (Andrew Cabezas) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games. Click here to view the article

Jose Berrios is certainly pointed back in the right direction, but there are still some red flags from today's outing. More on that here:

Some more info on the pitching performance, which includes an encouraging graph on Trevor May.

Here's the Twins Pitch from last night's game:

Great to see Perez pitch a quality start and for the Twins to take this series. Here's more on the pitching:

Some more thoughts on the pitching performance and how things line up for today's game:

The Twins trailed the Tigers 4-1 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning tonight at Target Field, but Miguel Sano smashed a go-ahead three-run homer to turn the game and the bullpen held on as Minnesota prevailed 8-5. Taylor Rogers was perfect over the final 1 2/3 innings to slam the door shut.Box Score Gibson: 5.1 IP, 10 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, 62.1% strikes (59 of 95 pitches) Bullpen: 3.2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K Home Runs: Kepler (35), Sano (26), Cave (5) Multi-Hit Games: Kepler (3-for-5, 2B, HR), Cave (2-for-3, 2B, HR, BB) Top 3 WPA: Sano .308, Cave .213, Kepler .177 All’s well that ends well, but the Twins were not having a very encouraging showing through the first handful of innings tonight. There was plenty of traffic on the bases for Detroit and the Twins made several mishaps in the field, though were only charged with one official error. Right when worries of the Twins dropping a home series to the Tigers started to creep in, everything flipped. The Twins had a five-run fifth inning capped by a mammoth Sano bomba. Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet Click here for a review of the number of pitches thrown by each member of the bullpen over the past five days. Click here to view the article

Welp, that wasn't fun. Here's some talk about the pitching. Topics include the decision to leave Berrios in, his pace, foul balls and a bullpen move that appeared wasteful after the fact.

Jhoan Duran was having a tough first taste of Double-A action, but everything seemed to click tonight. Duran carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning, Blayne Enlow picked up a win in his return from the IL, Matt Wallner hit his first homer with the Kernels and Seth Gray walked it off for E-Town. Come see what else happened Friday.TRANSACTIONS RHP Blayne Enlow was activated off the IL and started for Fort Myers. IF Jake Hirabayashi was assigned to Cedar Rapids while the Kernels placed 2B Yunior Severino on the IL with a thigh strain. Elizabethton transferred RHP Casey Legumina on the 60-day IL retroactive 8/22. The GCL Twins transferred OF Bryson Gandy to the 60-day IL. RED WINGS REPORT Syracuse 5, Rochester 1 Box Score Randy Dobnak: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 4 K, 57.6% strikes (49 of 85 pitches) HR: Ramon Flores (3) Multi-hit games: None Willians Astudillo started this game at third base and finished it in right field. He was also 1-for-4 with a strikeout. It was a quiet night for the Red Wings lineup, as Ramon Flores’ home run was their only extra-base hit. Randy Dobnak pitched well enough to give Rochester a chance, holding the Mets to two runs over five innings. Fernando Romero had a tough night in relief, walking three batters and giving up three runs in his inning of work. BLUE WAHOO BITES Pensacola 3, Jackson 2 Box Score Jhoan Duran: 8.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 11 K HR: None Multi-hit games: Royce Lewis (3-for-4, 3 2Bs), Travis Blankenhorn (2-for-4, 2B) Jhoan Duran entered this game with a 7.13 ERA over his first 24 innings with Pensacola. He did a 180, got pointed in the right direction and was an absolute beast tonight for the Blue Wahoos. Duran carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning, completed eight shutout innings and struck out 11 batters in what was an eye-opening performance. We’re getting very late in the minor league season, so it would be great to see him finish strong. Tonight was certainly a giant leap toward that direction. For most of Duran’s outing, he was protecting a one-run lead. Travis Blankenhorn hit an RBI double in the second inning and that was it through six frames. In the seventh, the rehabbing LaMonte Wade hit an RBI double and scored on a Royce Lewis double, one of three two-baggers for Royce on the evening. Those insurance runs proved to be massive, as Jackson rallied back to score two runs in the top of the ninth. MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 8, Palm Beach 3 Box Score Blayne Enlow: 5.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 4 K, 65.9% strikes (56 of 85 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games: Jose Miranda (2-for-4, 2 2Bs, BB), Yelstin Encarnacion (2-for-4, BB) Fort Myers jumped all over Palm Beach, scoring three runs in the first inning and five more in the second. That created a low-stress return to the mound for Blayne Enlow, who was making his first start since Aug. 10. Enlow picked up the victory after throwing 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball. Four different Miracle hitters reached safely three times in this game. Jose Miranda had a pair of doubles and a walk. Yelstin Encarnacion also had two hits and a walk. Gabriel Maciel had a double and drew a pair of walks while Andrew Bechtold also had a hit and walked twice. KERNELS NUGGETS Clinton 6, Cedar Rapids 3 Box Score Tyler Palm: 5.0 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 4 K, 60.3% strikes (47 of 78 pitches) HR: Matt Wallner (1) Multi-hit games: Wallner (2-for-4, 2B, HR, HBP), Wander Javier (2-for-4, BB) Matt Wallner hit his first home run with the Kernels, his seventh on the season overall. Wander Javier reached base safely three times, but the rest of the Cedar Rapids lineup struggled to get much going. This was a tight game through most of the middle innings, thanks to a couple of clean frames from Austin Schulfer, but Clinton tallied two runs in the eighth and the Kernels could not answer. E-TWINS E-NOTES Elizabethton 6, Danville 5 Box Score Owen Griffith: 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K HR: Seth Gray (10), Charles Mack (7) Multi-hit games: Gray (3-for-5, 2B, HR), Kidany Salva (2-for-4) E-Town entered the bottom of the ninth inning trailing 5-4, but Willie Jo Garry Jr. sparked a rally with a one-out single. He advanced to second base on a wild pitch before Ruben Santana walked. Seth Gray stepped to the plate with the Twins down to their final out. He delivered a walk-off two-run double. Gray, the Twins fourth-round pick in this year’s draft, also hit his 10th home run, becoming just the fourth Appy League hitter to reach double digits in dingers this season. GCL TWINS TAKES GCL Red Sox 1, GCL Twins 0 (8 innings) Box Score Jesus Toledo: 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 2 K HR: None Multi-hit games: None The GCL Twins got just two hits in this game, both singles. The rehabbing Luke Raley accounted for one of them. He also had an outfield assist. Jesus Toledo struggled with his control, walking three batters, but he managed to pitch three scoreless innings. Junior Navas followed suit with three shutout innings of his own before Niall Windeler pitched a scoreless seventh. The only run of this game was scored on a solo homer by the Red Sox in the bottom of the eighth inning. This game actually ended on a single to the next batter, as it was called early due to weather. STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Jhoan Duran, Pensacola Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Seth Gray, Elizabethton TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Prospects performed: 1. Royce Lewis (PNS): 3-for-4, 3 2Bs, RBI 2. Alex Kirilloff (PNS): 1-for-4, E (fielding) 4. Trevor Larnach (PNS): 1-for-3, BB, K 5. Wander Javier (CR): 2-for-4, BB, R 7: Keoni Cavaco (GCL): 0-for-4, 2 K 9. Jhoan Duran (PNS): 8.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 11 K 10. Blayne Enlow (FM): 5.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 4 K, 65.9% strikes (56 of 85 pitches) 13. Ryan Jeffers (PNS): 1-for-4, 2B, R, K 15. Matt Wallner (CR): 2-for-4, HR, 2B, HBP, R, 3 RBIs 18. Jorge Alcala (ROC): 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, 40% strikes (2 of 5) 20. Travis Blankenhorn (PNS): 2-for-4, 2B, RBI, K SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester at Syracuse, 6:05 pm CT (TBD) Pensacola vs. Jackson, 6:05 pm CT (Bryan Sammons) Fort Myers at Palm Beach, 4:30 pm CT (Chris Vallimont) Cedar Rapids vs. Peoria, 6:35 pm CT (Andrew Cabezas) Elizabethton vs. Danville, 5:30 pm CT (TBD) GCL Twins vs. GCL Red Sox, 9:00 am CT (TBD) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games. Click here to view the article

The shortened last name ones are pretty lame, but I gotta admit that I do like LIT for Littell. I think I'd just pick something completely random, like Pizza Goose, just because I think it would be hilarious to see on the back of a jersey

Here's a breakdown of today's pitching performance. At the end I included highlights of every pitch from Brusdar Graterol's Triple-A debut.

Your post highlights some really fun possibilities I see in this project. Putting such a microscope on the pitching and tracking things day-to-day could sprout some really fun, different ways of looking at things. I definitely agree with you that ERA isn't a very good metric to value relievers by. I think FIP/xFIP/SIERA do a much better job. Here's where Taylor Rogers ranks among relievers in all those metrics, for example: ERA 22nd | FIP 12th | xFIP 14th | SIERA 12th But, I also feel the same way as you about there being a problem with full-season stats for relief pitchers in general. I love WPA, but even that has it's blind spots. The other day I was trying to drum up a sort of game score metric that could be used for relievers, but couldn't come up with anything that was satisfying. Worth mentioning: There already is a Shutdowns and Meltdowns metric that's based on WPA. You can read about it here and see how the Twins rank here (last two columns SD & MD). Even though that's some great stuff from FanGraphs, it would be nice if those were available as percentage of outings.

I came up with a potential long-term feature to add to these things, and the only way to find out if it works was to just start doing them. Here's a pitching-focused review of tonight's game. Still very much working on both the idea and execution.

Sergio Romo is must-see TV.