Thiéres Rabelo

The Twins visited a last-placed Royals team, coming off a then league-worst nine consecutive losses. Even though Minnesota built an early three-run lead, J.A. Happ struggled badly, allowing six runs, and the Twins simply couldn’t bounce back. They drop four in a row and are now back at last place. Box Score Happ: 4.1 IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 4 K Home Runs: None Bottom 3 WPA: Happ -.405, Cruz -.135, Arraez -.092 Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) Unsurprisingly, J.A. Happ and Brady Singer both struggled early in the game, making this a high-scoring affair very quickly. Minnesota manufactured three runs in the top of the first: Luis Arraez and Josh Donaldson hit back-to-back doubles to open the game and Trevor Larnach scored both of them with a grounder towards the mound. Singer made an awful throw to home plate, which not only allowed Donaldson to score but also Larnach to reach second. Alex Kirilloff joined the party and pushed Larny across on a single, a couple of at-bats later. But that wouldn’t last. As a matter of fact, Happ pitched an incredibly good first inning, retiring the top of the Kansas City order on only seven pitches. For a moment, things actually looked like they were going to go smoothly for a change. But it’s the 2021 Twins we’re talking about. After the offense went down in order in the top of the second, the ballgame was tied before a single out could be recorded. Happ gave up four consecutive hits to open the home second, including a leadoff home run to Salvador Pérez and a couple of doubles. Singer wasn’t sharp either and the Twins threatened in the following inning, loading the bases for Max Kepler. He struck out to end the inning, failing to end his slump. Also in the third, the Royals took their first lead of the game. Pérez hit a one-out single and was followed by a home run by Hanser Alberto. The Royal lineup ambushed Happ once again in the fifth, with three consecutive hits to start the inning. The third one, an RBI-single by Carlos Santana, gave Kansas City a 6-3 lead. Happ was done shortly after that and he has now allowed 47 runs in his last 47 innings. Could he be the next Twins starter to be DFA’d, joining Matt Shoemaker? The offense even tried to start a rally during the sixth inning. Royals reliever Jake Brentz loaded the bases without recording an out, but all the Twins could get was one run, with Arraez grounding into a double play to score Kepler. Tyler Duffey and Alexander Colomé provided a couple of rather uneventful, scoreless innings, while Danny Coulombe pitched himself in and out of a jam in the seventh. Their effort kept the Twins within two runs, with a chance to win it. But then Taylor Rogers, out of all people, struggled with his command during the eighth. He tossed two wild pitches in the inning, allowing Nicky Lopez -- who had hit a double off him -- to advance from second to third and then score standing. Donaldson managed to reach in the ninth, but the threat never materialized. Postgame interview Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI TOT Coulombe 0 0 43 0 0 16 59 Duffey 23 0 15 0 0 13 51 Thielbar 30 0 0 16 0 0 46 Robles 0 0 0 0 34 0 34 Law 0 0 0 0 32 0 32 Colomé 0 0 0 14 0 17 31 Rogers 0 0 0 0 0 22 22 Alcala 0 0 0 0 19 0 19 Jax 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 View full article

Yeap! It's always nice! If you do come, make sure to visit the "Nordeste" beaches as well, because they're even better than the ones from Rio!

Thank you for reading it, my friend!

Luis Arráez exploded with a three-hit night, all for extra bases, to help Minnesota overcome a bullpen night and beat Cleveland to even the series at a game apiece. Griffin Jax navigated through some ups and downs and managed to earn his first big league win. Box Score Coulombe (starter): 1.2 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K (71.8% strikes) Jax (primary): 4.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 2 K (65.3% strikes) Home Runs: Kirilloff (6) Top 3 WPA: Arráez .445, Cruz .119, Kirilloff .095 Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) Lefty Danny Coulombe started tonight’s bullpen game, but he was roughed up in a hurry — with the help of some bad fielding behind him. Cleveland struck first, scoring three quick runs on two hits in the top of the first inning. Amed Rosario hit a solo home run five pitches into the game to score the first run. Then, Jorge Polanco made a costly error charging for the ball, allowing old friend Eddie Rosario to reach with two outs. Bobby Bradley made Minnesota pay, hitting a 436-feet bomb to center. Minnesota got one run back in the home half of the first inning. Luis Arráez hit a leadoff triple, with a little help from right fielder Josh Naylor, who lost the ball against the sun. Josh Donaldson scored Arráez with a sacrifice fly. Coulombe settled in nicely in the second frame, retiring the first two batters he faced on eight pitches before handing over the ball to Griffin Jax. Combined, Coulombe and Jax retired eight consecutive batters after that first inning home run. Then the offense put together an amazing display in the home half of the third inning. Nick Gordon led off with a double but was thrown out trying to go to third base on an Andrelton Simmons fielder’s choice. With Simmons on, Arráez hit his second triple of the night, with yet another awful misplay from the Cleveland outfield, scoring Simmons. This time he went oppo and became the first Twin to have two triples in a game since Aug. 30, 2017, when Ehire Adrianza did it. Donaldson followed up with a single to push Arráez across, earning himself his second RBI of the night and bringing the go-ahead run to the plate. Alex Kirilloff stepped into the batter’s box and… remember when he was struggling against offspeed pitches? Well, I bet Cal Quantrill was sorry to find out that that might not be a thing anymore. The Cleveland starter threw two consecutive changeups against Kirilloff only to watch the second one be obliterated. A 409-feet bomb that left Kirilloff’s bat at 104 mph, making it 5-3 Twins. Jax pitched himself into a jam during the fourth inning. Struggling with his command, he loaded the bases with only one out, throwing only six strikes on 18 pitches. After striking out Bradley Zimmer, it seemed like he would get out of the mess unharmed, but Austin Hedges jumped on his fastball for a two-out single to tie the game. After the offense went down in order in the home fourth, Jax was having a much smoother fifth frame. However, "Rosie" (of course) hit a solo shot to right to put Cleveland back ahead by one run. He was booed. Bats tie it up, retake the lead When Simmons (single) and Donaldson (walk) reached to start the bottom half of the fifth, Terry Francona had enough of Quantrill and brought in the bullpen. Nelson Cruz hit a weak flare to short with two-outs, just far enough to score Simmons from second and tie the game again. Jax pitched his best inning of the game, delivering an eight-pitch scoreless sixth. He was done after that, ending the night with 4 1/3 innings, on 75 pitches (49 for strikes), allowing three runs. Reliever Nick Wittgren needed only three pitches to get through Max Kepler and Ryan Jeffers to start the bottom of the sixth. However, he was about to get into trouble. NicknGordon singled to center for his second hit of the night and was followed by a single from Simmons, with once again some sloppy defense from Cleveland. Then, it was up to Arráez to make that inning count, and he absolutely didn’t disappoint. With his third extra-base hit of the night, he put the Twins back ahead, 8-6. While the offense didn’t produce much for the remainder of the game, the relievers who took to the mound did an outstanding job. Alexander Colomé and Taylor Rogers took care of the seventh and eighth with a couple of 1-2-3 innings, with neither of them needing more than nine pitches. Plus, they combined for 80% strikes. Hansel Robles allowed a solo shot to Naylor and nearly saw Zimmer reach second, but Kepler bailed him out with a perfect one-hop throw to Simmons for the tag. Robles earned his seventh save of the season, in nine opportunities, helping Jax earn his first big league win. Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI TOT Jax 0 0 0 0 0 75 75 Alcalá 18 20 0 0 10 0 48 Coulombe 0 0 16 0 0 32 48 Colomé 0 7 30 0 0 7 44 Shoemaker 0 32 0 0 11 0 43 Thielbar 0 19 12 0 4 0 35 Rogers 0 16 0 0 8 9 33 Duffey 21 0 11 0 0 0 32 Robles 0 0 21 0 0 10 31 View full article

The Twins opened a three-game series in Arlington with a nail-biter, beating the Rangers 7-5 in extra innings. José Berríos picked up a quality start and Luis Arráez hit a clutch triple in the 10th. Box Score Berríos: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K (68,9% strikes) Home runs: Larnach (4) Top 3 WPA: Robles .311, Arráez .206, Jeffers .174 Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) Berríos has a tough start, but finishes off strong The game got busy in a hurry. Minnesota loaded the bases before Texas starter Mike Foltynewicz could record an out, with Luis Arráez and Trevor Larnach drawing walks, and Jorge Polanco hitting a single in between. Nelson Cruz took advantage of that, finding the right field gap on a 0-2 sinker, and to put the first run on the board. The Texas just got sloppy and the Twins scored two more runs. Playing his first big league game in nearly three weeks, Max Kepler grounded to center and score Polanco, while the Rangers defense couldn’t turn in the double play. Then Foltynewicz had a wild throwing error which allowed Ryan Jeffers to reach safely an Larnach scored, making it 3-0 Minnesota very, very quickly. José Berríos entered the game with a nice lead, but it didn’t last long. Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a leadoff single, just before Berríos recorded two quick outs. But then he lost Joey Gallo on a four-pitch walk, and both runners scored on back-to-back singles. In the second inning, the Rangers’ batters drove Berríos’ pitch count through the roof with some quality at-bats. It took him 55 pitches to complete the first two innings of the game. As the offense started to get quiet, José started to settle in, but not before he gave up back-to-back singles to leadoff the fourth inning, allowing Jose Trevino to tie the game on a sac-fly. But that was all the instability Berríos would have for the night, as he managed to get the final out in spite of a runner on third, and cruised through the fifth on only nine pitches. Of course, he got some hel from the offense, which provided him with a little more run support. Larnach destroyed this baseball and Minnesota regained the lead, 4-3. At 92 pitches, Berríos was asked to come back to pitch the sixth, facing the bottom part of the Ranger lineup, and he managed to finish strong. Maintaining velocity and with no command issues whatsoever, José had yet another 1-2-3 inning, completing his quality start. He finished this game retiring seven batters in a row, with a total of 103 pitches (71 for strikes). Did he just increase his trade value or earned himself an even bigger paycheck to stay in Minnesota? Alcalá gives up the lead, Rogers and Robles help take the game to extras Twins’ bats struggled to get their momentum going for the better part of this game. After Larnach’s home run, nine consecutive Minnesota batters were retired. Jorge Alcalá took over in relief of Berríos, and after getting two outs on four pitches, he gave up a game-tying home run to Adolis García. Fortunately, the Twins bullpen managed to limit the damage to that one run in regulation. Taylor Rogers and Hanel Robles came up big, pitching a couple of 1-2-3 innings to keep the game tied and take it to extras. Rogers keeps adding his impressive resumé, on his way to become one of the Twins greatest relievers. Before regulation was done, in the top of the ninth, the offense threatened Texas’ star reliever Ian Kennedy. Alex Kirilloff made a mistake running the paths and got caught digging for second after Texas failed to turn in another double play. Had he been less aggressive, maybe he could’ve scored on Nick Gordon’s double that came immediately after his at-bat. Texas’ bullpen blows up in the 10th (that’s right) With Kennedy gone, Minnesota seized the opportunity and ambushed Josh Sborz. Arráez got behind in the count 0-2, but he jumped on the third pitch and ended up on third base, scoring Willians Astudillo, who started the innnig at second. Sborz couldn’t handle the pressure. He walked Polanco, who later stole second. He decided to intentionally walk Cruz and loaded the bases with one out. He managed to get the second out by striking out Kepler, but then Jeffers and Kirilloff drew walks that added two more runs, putting the Twins up 7-4. Tyler Duffey came in to close out the game and got himself in thin ice. Gallo scored the runner on second with a single and Nick Solak followed with another single, bringing the winning run to the plate with only one out. But he retired the last two batters to secure the win. Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet SUN MON TUE WED FRI TOT Alcalá 0 19 0 10 18 47 Colomé 24 0 0 20 0 44 Shoemaker 43 0 0 0 0 43 Dobnak 40 0 0 0 0 40 Thielbar 0 0 0 38 0 38 Robles 0 17 0 0 20 37 Duffey 0 10 0 0 20 30 Rogers 0 0 0 15 12 27 Farrell 0 24 0 0 0 24 View full article

Bailey Ober had his best outing in the majors and the Twins once again showed they had some fight in them late, but the now reliever Matt Shoemaker allowed Houston to regain the lead with a two-run ninth and Minnesota drops the series opener against the Astros at Target Field. Box Score Ober: 5.0 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K (71,2% strikes) Home Runs: Cruz (12), Sanó (13), Donaldson 2 (10) Bottom 3 WPA: Shoemaker -.352, Duffey -.174, Larnach -.130 Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) Some great news brought in some optimism for Twins fans earlier today. The club announced that struggling starter Matt Shoemaker would be sent to the bullpen and rookie Bailey Ober would start tonight’s game. Could this mean that Shoemaker’s stint in Minnesota is close to an end? Ober took advantage of another opportunity, making his third start of the season. It didn’t take very long for this one to become special for him. He pitched through the first two innings quickly, on only 28 pitches. After giving up a leadoff single to Martín Maldonado in the third, he struck out the next batter, then his fifth punchout of the game, already his career-high. However, he did pitch himself into a small jam during that same inning. Michael Brantley doubled on a 0-2 curveball, putting two runners in scoring position right away. No team in baseball has allowed more 0-2 hits than the Twins this season. Alex Bregman pushed a run across on a sac-fly, but Ober limited the damage to that one run. Fortunately, while Ober navigated through his ups and downs, he got some early run support to make things a bit less difficult for him. Minnesota hit a solo home run in each of the first three innings. Nelson Cruz picked up right where he left off on Thursday night, taking José Urquidy deep after a nice, seven-pitch at-bat. With that dinger, his 12th of the year, he tied Miguel Sanó for the team-lead. But Miggy wouldn’t just sit there and take that. He had something to say about that. Then, when Houston cut the Twins’ lead in half in the top of the third, Josh Donaldson brought the rain and with a solo shot of his own, he gave Ober the two-run lead back, making it 3-1 Minnesota. After pitching a quick, scoreless fourth, Ober’s pitch count was still under 60. He earned himself the chance to pitch into the fifth inning for the first time in his big league career. José Altuve homered to the corner of the left field, on a ball that ricocheted off the foul pole into the limestone. Immediately after that, Brantley singled and suddenly Ober was in a potentially tough situation. Ober didn’t shy away from the challenge, as he managed to retire both batters that followed, including a strikeout against red-hot Yordan Álvarez (Ober’s seventh in the game) to close the inning, after a tough seven-pitch at-bat with a man on. You couldn’t ask for a better learning opportunity for the rookie, who was pulled right after this, in line for his first major league win. Rocco Baldelli decided not to bring Ober back to the sixth, even though he was still at 73 pitches (52 for strikes). Jorge Alcalá took over, making his fourth appearance in the last five days. After falling behind 3-0 on the count, he was later taken deep by Yuli Gurriel, who tied the game with a leadoff home run. He retired the side on ten pitches next. In spite of the game-tying home run, Alcalá is still having a very positive month of June, in which he has as many strikeouts as innings pitched (five) and has yet to give up a walk. While the offense struggled to produce baserunners, Tyler Duffey took over to pitch the seventh. He looked off from the beginning and even got one of the trainers to check on him on the mound after he retired the leadoff man. Command started to elude him and the inning became really sloppy. He walked Altuve and hit Brantley just before Bregman grounded out to bring Altuve home, making it 4-3 Astros. Donaldson ties the game, Shoemaker chokes it After the offense went down in order in the bottom of the seventh, it was time for Shoemaker’s first appearance out of the bullpen in a Twins uniform. Very convincingly, he pitched a 12-pitch, 1-2-3 inning. Which immediately raised the question: could the Twins find value (or trade value, for that matter) for him in relief pitching? Donaldson decided he wasn’t done being on fire, so in the bottom of the eighth, he brought the rain again. That’s three home runs in less than 24 hours for him, or five at-bats, to be more precise. But the question some of us were asking ourselves about Shoemaker after the eight was quickly answered in the ninth. Looking completely lost, he gave up two runs on three hits, in what seemed to be one of his worst outings as a Twin. A leadoff single to Myles Straw, followed by an RBI-double to Maldonado, and an RBI-single to Brantley later, while recording only one out. Former Twin Ryan Pressly didn’t have an easy task, as it took him 20 pitches to close out the game, but he did manage to retire Minnesota batters in order. Postgame Interviews Bailey Ober: Rocco Baldelli: Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet SUN TUE WED THU FRI TOT Jax 0 23 51 0 0 74 Duffey 14 0 0 20 22 56 Farrell 13 19 0 23 0 55 Alcalá 10 21 0 7 15 53 Shoemaker 0 0 0 0 35 35 Colomé 0 9 25 0 0 34 Robles 15 0 0 11 0 26 Rogers 0 20 0 0 3 23 View full article

Randy Dobnak started out with four very solid innings, but then a couple of really bad ones, combined with yet another poor offensive display against a lefty, put the game out of reach for Minnesota. Box Score Dobnak: 6.0 IP, 9 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 3 K Home Runs: Garver (8) Bottom 3 WPA: Dobnak -.252, Donaldson -.165, Kirilloff -.083 Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) Making his second one of the season, Dobber cruised through the first four innings of play on only 43 pitches, 27 of which went for strikes. Even though he still allowed a ton of hard-hit balls, only two of those actually became hits. Besides, the balls that weren’t hit hard were hit for really weak contact, as he averaged 87.8 exit velocity through four. It’s not like the offense was completely unproductive against Kris Bubic during that span, as three runners reached in the first, for instance. But the lefty did stabilize and had a positive stretch in which he retired seven out of eight consecutive batters. It was only in the fourth, when Mitch Garver hit this monster, 424-feet second-decker, that the game had its first run. Royals take the lead in the fifth, blow the game wide open in the seventh With only seven pitches, Dobnak retired the first two batters he faced in the fifth inning. Everything seemed fine, but, then, disaster struck. He gave up a walk to Hunter Dozier, before allowing three consecutive hits. The Royals scored three runs on a double from Michael Taylor and back-to-back singles from Whit Merrifield and Carlos Santana. The first Royal run came after a very aggressive send from the Royals’ third base coach, Vance Wilson. Garver couldn’t hold on to that pitch to the plate. With only 68 pitches, Dobnak was brought back to pitch the sixth and did a nice job again, appearing to be right back on track. He did give up a double to Adalberto Mondesí, but it was a quick, 12-pitch inning. Dobber was on his way to a quality start and more. But that was the closest he ever got. After yet another frustrating 1-2-3 inning from the offense against Bubic in the sixth, Dobber was back at it in the top of the seventh. But not for long, as he gave up three consecutive singles right away, to load the bases with no outs, which was enough for Rocco Baldelli to pull him. Cody Stashak came in and couldn’t take care of the inherited runners, as all of them scored on a double and a sac-fly. Giving up a walk and back-to-back singles of his own, Stashak allowed Kansas City to add two more runs, making it a five-run seventh inning, 8-1 Royals. The Twins nearly started a rally when Bubic was finally gone. Tyler Zuber came in in relief and gave up three consecutive one-out walks to load the bases. He was immediately removed from the game and Kyle Zimmer took over, facing pinch-hitter Trevor Larnach. He hit a flyball over Dozier’s head to drive in a run and keep the bases loaded for Josh Donaldson. Jorge Polanco scored from third during Donaldson’s at-bat, after a Zimmer wild pitch. So, the Twins were one hit away from cutting the Royal lead to only two. But that didn’t happen and they settled for two runs. Polanco reached for the third time of the night when he hit a leadoff double in the ninth. Larnach kept the rally going by drawing a two-out walk, with Donaldson on-deck. But the third baseman's struggles continued, as he struck out, to finish the night with 0-for-5 and two punch outs. Counting tonight, Donaldson has a .337 OPS in his last seven games. Postgame Interview Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet MON TUE WED THU FRI TOT Stashak 0 0 0 0 34 34 Robles 0 13 20 0 0 33 Farrell 16 0 0 0 17 33 Rogers 0 26 0 0 0 26 Colomé 8 13 0 0 0 21 Thielbar 0 2 16 0 0 18 Duffey 0 0 15 0 0 15 Alcala 14 0 0 0 0 14 View full article

The offense took care of this game with an amazing nine-run fourth inning. But perhaps the greatest story of the night for the Twins was the incredibly solid start from Randy Dobnak, who alongside the bullpen helped Minnesota to shut out the Cleveland in the series opener. The Twins win back-to-back games for the first time since May 3. Box Score Dobnak: 6.0 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K Home Runs: Refsnyder (1) Top 3 WPA: Dobnak .170, Refsnyder .142, Kepler .071 Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) After seven unpleasant relief appearances that had him be optioned earlier this month, Randy Dobnak was called up from St. Paul this Friday to join the team in Cleveland. During his stint with the Saints, he had three starts, two of which were really solid, giving him a 3.38 ERA. From the looks of his outing tonight, the confidence he got from that Triple-A stint made all the difference. It only took Dobber 38 pitches to get through the first three innings, in which he retired nine of the eleven batters he faced. He allowed only one hit, to José Ramírez in the first, but that was it. The only other Cleveland runner to reach in that span did so with the help of a Luis Arráez fielding error. He missed bats quite nicely, causing Indian hitters to whiff four times. Also, he displayed an impressive improvement on his sinker, which touched 94mph on the radar gun. That’s nearly two miles per hour faster than the highest velocity he ever got from his two-seamer, back in 2019. At the top of the third, Rob Refsnyder hit his first home run as a Twin, to make it 1-0 Minnesota. That was home run number 60 for the Twins on the year, tying them for most in the American League with Boston. His command started to slightly fail him late in the third, as he got behind in the count twice. Cesar Hernández reached on an Arráez error and old friend Eddie Rosario had the chance to put Cleveland ahead. The former Twin got ahead on the count, 2-0, which could potentially destabilize Dobnak. But Rosie’s trademark impatience had him grounding out to end the inning. Out of a potential jam, Dobber was about to receive an incredible welcome back to the majors gift. The offense ambushes Cleveland pitching and scores nine runs in the fourth Not even in his wildest dreams could Dobnak have asked for a better return to the majors. The Twins offense ganged up on Cleveland starter Triston McKenzie, loading the bases twice in the inning before he could record a second out. A couple of walks and a single in between to open the inning allowed Trevor Larnach to push two runs across on a groundout. Startled, McKenzie couldn’t find the zone anymore, allowing Mitch Garver and Refsnyder to walk and reload them up, with only one out. McKenzie got pulled right there, but it was worthless. A single from Andrelton Simmons and a walk from Josh Donaldson and a double from Max Kepler scored four more runs against Cleveland reliever Phil Maton. Then, Alex Kirilloff joined the party. The Twins weren’t done and Miguel Sanó doubled to score Kirilloff from second, making it 10-0 Twins. Minnesota nearly batted around twice in the inning and every Twin but Arráez and Larnach reached on either a single or a walk. This was the first time in almost four years that the Twins scored nine runs in one inning. Now with substantial run support, Dobnak had the tranquility to go through the rest of his start unbothered. He wasn’t as sharp as in the first portion of the night, but he still delivered three scoreless innings, making this the third start of his career in which he pitched at least six innings without an earned run. The last time Dobber pitched at least six scoreless was on Aug. 5 of last year, against the Pirates. With the Twins rotation entering tonight’s game ranking dead last in the majors in fWAR during the month of May (-0.2), Dobnak just made his case for a permanent role in it. What do the Twins have to lose anyway? Minnesota’s bullpen had yet another good performance on the week. Entering tonight, according to FanGraphs, Twins relievers had produced 0.3 fWAR in the previous seven days, while also striking out a league’s second-best 12.5 batters per nine. Jorge Alcalá and Luke Farrell took care of business in relief of Dobnak and retired nine of the final eleven batters they faced. Postgame Interview Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet MON TUE WED THU FRI TOT Stashak 0 35 0 19 0 54 Rogers 0 27 0 22 0 49 Farrell 0 0 0 0 38 38 Alcala 18 0 7 0 10 35 Colomé 0 19 15 0 0 34 Robles 0 17 0 14 0 31 Duffey 0 5 0 25 0 30 Thielbar 0 0 10 0 0 10 View full article

Once again the Twins offense was quiet and Matt Shoemaker, who was one out away from a quality start, ended up allowing five runs on three homers. Oakland crushed Minnesota to take the series opener at Target Field and the Twins now have the worst record in baseball. Box Score Shoemaker: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 4 K Home Runs: Donaldson (4) Bottom 3 WPA: Shoemaker -.166, Donaldson -132, Polanco -.092 Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) Shoemaker can’t benefit from the good defense behind him Matt Shoemaker had another awful start. The long ball really hurt him, again, as he gave up three extra-base hits, including three home runs. This shouldn’t come as a great surprise, since opposing hitters are posting a .518 SLG against him this year, a career-worst. He gave up a double during the first inning, but he went on to retire the next seven batters. Then Ramon Laureano hit a solo shot off of him in the third, to score the game’s first run. After going through the first two innings rather quietly, the offense immediately threatened, with Ben Rortvedt and Luis Arráez hitting back-to-back singles to open the bottom of the third. However, Minnesota was unable to capitalize. A’s starter Frankie Montas managed to dominate the Twins’ bats, limiting them to three hits in the first five innings. If the offense couldn’t help Shoemaker much, the defense behind him surely did all they could: But it wasn’t enough. Shoemaker gave up a leadoff walk in the fifth inning, which was followed by a two-run home run by catcher Sean Murphy. He then retired the next five batters, getting one out away from recording a quality start. But he walked Matt Champman in the sixth, before giving up a soul-crushing two-run, two-out home run, making it 5-0 Oakland. Shoemaker now accounts for ten of Minnesota’s league-worst 55 home runs allowed. Seventh inning rally falls short, A’s homer again Donaldson put the Twins on the board with a solo shot to lead off the bottom of the sixth, before Montas retired the side. Then, in the seventh, Willians Astudillo and Max Kepler renewed the hopes of Twins fans, when both of them reached to open the inning. Minnesota was one sing away from getting back in the game, but, again, they couldn’t capitalize. At this point, the Twins were 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position. Entering this game, Minnesota’s offense was posting a .652 OPS with men in scoring, one of their greatest struggles this season. Making his fourth appearance of the season for the Twins, Derek Law took over in the seventh and pitched a clean, 1-2-3 inning, in which he threw only sliders. 13 of them. But Mark Canha ended his scoreless streak by hitting a leadoff home run to open the eighth, making it 6-1 Oakland. He took care of the remaining batters, only giving up a walk to Chapman. After his two innings pitched tonight, Law has the second-best ERA (3.60) among active Twins relievers. Caleb Thielbar pitched a clean ninth, but the offense was quiet again in the bottom of the inning and that was the game. Postgame Interview Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet MON TUE WED THU FRI TOT Thielbar 0 41 0 0 29 70 Law 0 19 13 0 35 67 Anderson 0 0 54 0 0 54 Alcala 0 12 0 16 0 28 Rogers 0 0 0 20 0 20 Duffey 0 0 16 0 0 16 Colomé 0 0 15 0 0 15 Robles 0 0 0 12 0 12 View full article

Minnesota opened a three-game road series in Detroit, in a game with not one, but two rain delays. Struggling bats shook off their slumps and provided a late surge that helped the Twins snap a three-game losing streak. Shoemaker also delivered solid five scoreless innings and earned his second win as a Twin. Box Score Shoemaker: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K Home Runs: Garlick (1), Polanco (2), Kepler (2) Top 3 WPA: Shoemaker .291, Polanco .238, Kepler .149 Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs? Twins jump ahead with two quick solo homers The Twins offense put a couple of runs on the board really early. For the second consecutive time, Minnesota’s leadoff hitter smashed a homer to open the game. Kyle Garlick took Tigers’ starter Tarik Skubal deep on the fifth pitch he saw, to make it 1-0. Skubal bounced back and struck out the next three batters, but the damage had already been done. In spite of the much-needed early production, the overall struggle of some key pieces of the lineup continued. Garlick doubled in his second time up, but other than his two hits and that of Polanco’s, every other Twins hitter was retired during the first three innings of the game. The third Twin to record a hit in the night was Josh Donaldson and he did it unintentionally, trying to pull back mid-swing. Shoemaker tosses five shutout innings Fortunately, Shoemaker did his job very well. After an awful start in Kansas City last Saturday, Matt got back on track, keeping Detroit scoreless through four, before the game was interrupted by the rain in the middle of the fifth. His outing was in no way uneventful, though. Up until that moment, he had given up four hits and a total of five hard-hit balls. He pitched himself into a jam in the second when he gave up back-to-back singles to open the inning, but he managed to induce an inning-ending double play. That happened again later on, in the fourth, when he gave up a leadoff walk to Jeimer Candelario, followed by a Miguel Cabrera single that had nearly 106 mph exit velocity, sending Candelario to third. He managed to retire the next three batters to end the threat. After a 35-minute rain delay, Shoemaker came back anyway to pitch the fifth and get in line for his second win as a Twin. After retiring the first two batters quickly, he gave up a two-out walk to old friend Robbie Grossman but went on to strike out another former Twin in Jonathan Schoop to conclude his best start with Minnesota. Polanco, Sanó, Kepler show encouraging signs. The bullpen doesn’t Skubal didn’t come back for the sixth and the Twins immediately took advantage of that, facing righty Bryan Garcia and adding a couple more insurance runs. Polanco and Miguel Sanó drew back-to-back one-out walks, just to have Max Kepler single to center and bring Polanco home. Andrelton Simmons followed up with a groundout to score Sanó and just like that, the Twins were up 4-0. Before hitting that RBI-single, Kepler was riding a 1-for-13 funk in the last four games. Also, Sanó’s BB% for the season went up to 21.4% after that walk, by far the best season of his career on that front. If his bat was still cold, at least he had walks to show for. But things just can’t be easy for the 2021 Twins. Coming in for Shoemaker, Cody Stashak had four consecutive scoreless outings, possibly indicating that he could be trusted. After giving up a leadoff single to Candelario and a four-pitch walk to Cabrera, Stashak hung a changeup in the middle of the zone and Willi Castro crushed it, to put Detroit right back in the game with a three-run homer. All three hits that Stashak gave up in the sixth had at least 98.5 mph exit velocity, with Candelario’s nearly reaching 108 mph. The bottom of the lineup comes up big after a second rain delay The tarp came out again before the start of the seventh and this time the rain delay lasted over an hour. When play was resumed, Minnesota managed to manufacture a huge insurance run. Donaldson hit a one-out double, just before Mitch Garver drew his second walk of the night, to put two men on for Polanco. Jorge didn’t hesitate and jumped at the second pitch of the at-bat and doubled in the Twins’ fifth run of the night. This was Polanco’s second to-hit game of the week. Alexander Colomé pitched a scoreless, 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the seventh and completed three consecutive outings without allowing a run. This had not happened so far this season. Then, to lead off the eighth, Kepler hit a clutch 422-feet bomb, to provide the Twins with more run support. And, hey, it was against a lefty! Hansel Robles came in to pitch a dominant eighth inning. But it didn’t look good at first, as he got ahead of Cabrera with a 0-2 count, but then lost him with four consecutive balls. But he pitched around that walk throwing ten strikes in the next 13 pitches, retiring the following three batters. His fastball averaged nearly 96 mph and he almost touched 98 mph at some point. Then it was Sanós turn. Donaldson reached for the third time in the game, now drawing a walk to open the top of the ninth. Tigers’ reliever Daniel Norris also gave up a walk to Polanco, before facing Sanó with two men on. Miguel had no mercy and hit an RBI-single that put the final numbers on the score. To guarantee the win, Caleb Thielbar pitched a quick, 1-2-3 ninth inning on 12 pitches. Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet Click here to see the bullpen usage over the past five days (link opens a Google Sheet). View full article

Big Mike and the bullpen had a solid night, while Alex Kirilloff had the first huge game of his young career, homering twice and batting in four runs, to help the Twins win back-to-back games for the first time in over three weeks.Box Score Pineda: 5.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K Home Runs: Kirilloff 2 (2) Top 3 WPA: Pineda .185, Kirilloff .157, Arraez .058 Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs): Download attachment: chart.png Reaching base has been one of the greatest struggles for the Twins this season. Before the game, only seven AL teams had a lower team on-base percentage than Minnesota (.304). Also, the team’s walk rate (7.5%) ranked sixth-worst in the majors. However, the lineup looked like a completely different one during the first couple of innings. Six different Twins reached safely in the first two innings, including three walks. They were threatening early, as Byron Buxton and Nelson Cruz got two-out single and walk, respectively. Alex Kirilloff then, in a preview of what was coming, scorched the first pitch he saw, for a 106 mph exit velocity and .970 xBA inning-ending flyout. Royals starter Brady Singer still struggled in the second and he soon loaded the bases after facing four batters. Ben Rortvedt, making his major league debut, worked a nice eight-pitch at-bat to draw a walk and juice them up for Luis Arráez. He got hit by a pitch on the shoulder, putting the Twins on the board. Then, this happened: Singer didn’t come back for the third and then things got interesting. Buxton and Cruz both drew walks against Royals reliever Tyler Zuber to open the third inning. Then Kirilloff destroyed a baseball, to go yard for the first time in his career! Michael Pineda couldn’t be happier. While the Twins lineup kept burning through the Royals pitching staff (including old friend Ervin Santana), Big Mike was putting together a nice start. He nearly had a perfect first time through the order, allowing only a bunt single to Andrew Benintendi after three innings, on 32 pitches. Things got a bit less smooth for him. It took Pineda more pitches (39) to pitch through the fourth and fifth innings than the previous three. Carlos Santana homered off of him in the fourth to put Kansas City on the board. Then, he got hit by a comebacker off Michael Taylor’s bat, which got him in the pitching arm. After a mound visit, he decided to continue pitching, and, in spite of giving up a walk, he managed to get the last out of the fifth. Fortunately, Pineda had some great defense behind him tonight. In that previous play, Jorge Polanco and Kirilloff played it out beautifully to retire Taylor. But one at-bat earlier, Buxton made this spectacular play, with only 35% catch probability: But that comebacker was probably the reason why Rocco Baldelli decided to pull Pineda off the game after five innings. It was, nonetheless, a solid start for him, finishing with only 71 pitches (42 strikes), while striking out five batters and walking just two. Also, Big Mike’s 28 sliders tonight produced a ridiculous 67% whiff. Before he was officially pulled, Kirilloff wanted to make sure he had enough run support to sustain the win. He took Santana deep in the bottom of the inning, for his second home run of the night, making it 5-1 Minnesota. This time, there was nothing Taylor could do to avoid it. In need of some good outings, the Twins bullpen didn’t disappoint at all tonight. Tyler Duffey, Hansel Robles, and Jorge Alcalá combined for three hitless innings allowing only one walk. Meanwhile, the offense managed to add four more runs during the eighth inning, against struggling Wade Davis. Aldrelton Simmons doubled to bring in Max Kepler and later scored himself when Rortvedt got his first career hit. Davis then loaded the bases before recording an out and two more runs came in. Rortvedt scored easily from third on a wild pitch and then Cruz hit a sac-fly to score Arráez, making it 9-1 Twins. Alcalá came back for the ninth and finished it up in seven pitches, pitching around a leadoff single and securing the win. Postgame Interview Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet Click here to see the bullpen usage over the past five days (link opens a Google Sheet). Click here to view the article

J.A. Happ carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning Friday night and both Willians Astudillo and Jake Cave hit home runs. Who saw that coming!? Continue reading for more on tonight’s 2-0 Twins victory over Pittsburgh.Box Score Happ: 7.1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K Home Runs: Astudillo (1), Cave (1) Top 3 WPA: Happ .406, Duffey .140, Astudillo .104 Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs): Download attachment: chart.png Happ takes a no-hitter into the eighth We were all wondering how J.A. Happ’s outing would turn out to be, after ten days since his last start. I don’t think anyone imagined it would be this brilliant, as he took a no-hit bid into the eighth inning, on a little over 90 pitches, providing the Twins with his best start of the year. The lefty took care of the Pirate lineup with ease, as it took him only 75 pitches to pitch through the sixth. Even though he allowed six hard-hit balls throughout his start, the only time he came close to losing the no-no before the eighth was when Wilmer Difo actually reached first on a ground ball in the fifth but was then called out for batter interference. Minnesota caught a huge break there. The no-hit bid came to a conclusion in the eighth. Todd Frazier grounded out after jumping on the first pitch, Happ’s 88th of the game. Then, he did get ahead of Jacob Stallings next, 1-2, but three pitches later the catcher smacked a 106 mph double to corner left, ending Happs amazing start. Happ’s ERA is now down to 1.69 after three starts, which would be good for the ninth-best in the majors if he qualified. Bats pick up where they left off. Then slow down After the offense had an excruciatingly bad performance against the A’s on Tuesday’s doubleheader, failing to score and hitting a combined seven hits in the two games, they exploded for 12 runs scored on 18 hits during game three of the series. Tonight, they kept the ball rolling a bit, going for five hits in the first five innings. Two of these went yard. First, La Tortuga hit his first of the year in the third, chasing a fastball way outside the zone, in his best Eddie Rosario impression: The Twins threatened again in the fourth when Nelson Cruz hit a 116 mph rocket and was followed by an infield single by Byron Buxton. However, they stranded both runners. Then, in the fifth, it was time for Jake Cave to go oppo for his first of the year, making it 2-0 Twins: Donaldson had his first hitless game of the season, but even without a hit, his performance at the plate looked really good: As a matter of fact, after Cave’s home run in the fifth, Minnesota never got another hit, having its final 11 batters retired. Duffey, Rogers secure the W Fortunately, the lack of run support wasn’t a problem. Things didn’t start well when Tyler Duffey took over for Happ in the eighth, as he got ahead of Difo with 0-2 in the count, but then lost him after four consecutive balls. With two men on, we’ve all started having Oakland flashbacks. However, that was all the scare we had to experience. He was perfect after the walk, retiring the next two batters on five pitches and really showing his excitement after an inning-ending strikeout. He also struck out Phillip Evans to open the ninth, before Taylor Rogers took over. He took care of the last two batters with no problems, in spite of some hard-fought at bats. Postgame Interview Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet Click here to see the bullpen usage over the past five days (link opens a Google Sheet). Click here to view the article

Thanks in large part to an epic Justin Upton grand slam, the Angels put together a six-run seventh inning to put tonight’s game out of reach. How out of reach? Willians Astudillo pitched.Box Score Thorpe: 4.0 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K Home Runs: None Bottom 3 WPA: Dobnak -.394, Cave -.178, Garlick -.149 Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs): Download attachment: chart.png Thorpe starts off great, but can’t pitch past the fourth After an exciting Spring Training, Aussie Lewis Thorpe got called up to step in and take the mound in the series opener. His first impression couldn’t have been much better, as he cruised through the first on only ten pitches, nine of which were strikes. He struck out Mike Trout on three pitches to close out the inning, including a couple of nasty whiffs with his slider. Something Twins fans were looking forward to seeing in Thorpe’s repertoire was his new, improved four-seam fastball. During his impressive Spring Training, he showcased a much-improved velocity, topping out at 93 mph, after averaging 89.7 mph in 2020. However, that wasn’t the case tonight. Thorpe’s four-seamer averaged only 89.5 mph throughout this outing, topping at 91.5 mph. To make up for it, Thorpe relied on the next best thing on his arsenal, the slider. Half of his sixty pitches were sliders, a percentage nearly twice as big as his career average. They produced a total of 20 swings, eight of which were whiffs. He managed to pitch three very solid, scoreless innings, allowing only one hit. Then, disaster struck. After quickly retiring the first two batters in the fourth, Thorpe walked Trout after evening the count 2-2, and the Angels followed up with back to back hits and put the first two runs of the game on the board, Thorpe did get the last out of the inning, but he was done for the night, after having thrown nearly 72% strikes. After being dominated by Heaney, the Twins offense rallies against an old friend... Lefty Andrew Heaney had no trouble overpowering the Twins lineup like most lefties have been doing since the start of last season. With Byron Buxton (1.538 OPS against lefties this season) still unavailable due to hamstring mild strain, the Angels starter cruised through the first five innings, allowing only a hit and a couple of walks. He also induced three double plays. But then Jorge Polanco and Max Kepler both reached to open the sixth, causing Joe Maddon to pull Heaney. To relieve him, the Angels turned to Twins old friend Aaron Slegers, who was having a very solid start of the season. Mitch Garver didn’t care about that, though. And neither did Josh Donaldson. ...but then the bullpen gives the lead away, and more Randy Dobnak took over for Thorpe in the fifth and quickly pitched a 1-2-3 inning. Similar to tonight’s starter, Dobnak also had an amazing spring, but so far had failed to replicate that. But that fifth inning was the closest he got to anything resembling a good outing tonight. Facing the top of the Angels’ order, Dobber gave up back-to-back-to-back hits to open the sixth. The lead was gone after Trout singled to left, bringing home both runners. He retired the next three batters, which caused him to be brought back to the seventh. Nothing worked once again and, after giving up three more hits, including an RBI-single to David Fletcher, Rocco Baldelli decided he was done. Caleb Thielbar came in and was absolutely burnt by Angels bats. After striking out Shohei Ohtani, he decided to intentionally walk Trout and load the bases, to face Justin Upton with two outs. Bad call. Upton, who has a career .909 OPS against the Twins, mercilessly destroyed Thielbar’s 69 mph meatball, to hit a grand slam. Jared Walsh followed up with another homer, making it 10-3 Angels, after a six-run seventh inning. At least La Tortuga made some of us smile during this blowout. What’s next? Tomorrow night, at 8:07 pm C.T., Matt Shoemaker takes on the mound for game two, trying to get the 6-8 Twins back on track. However, the struggling offense will have to face another lefty in José Quintana. Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet Click here to see the bullpen usage over the past five days (link opens a Google Sheet). Click here to view the article