Off Day Assessment, June 3rd, 2019

This was supposed to come out yesterday, but I hit "Save Draft" instead of "Publish," so here it is now.

The Twins have only had four games since their last off day. However, they have been perhaps the biggest games of this season so far. Facing Tampa Bay's pitching staff was a true test and the results are proof that the Twins are a top team this season.

The Good

Taking three out of four games from a very good Tampa Bay Rays team. This series included a lot of bright spots for the twins including standout performances from some important pieces. José Berríos had a strong outing going 6.2 innings while the Twins would win 5-3 on a 2-run RBI single by Eddie Rosario in the 9th of game two of the series. Taylor Rodgers would get the win in that game by relieving Berríos and going 2.1 innings. In game three, the Twins scored 6 as a team, and only allowed 2 runs. In the final game of the series the team once again put up a big number, 9 runs, but needed almost all of it as their bullpen gave up 7 runs 6 of those being earned. Some of those wins didn't come easy, but they came against a very strong ball club on the road. They also came in-a-row and setup the team nicely to roll into Cleveland for a three game series against the Indians.

The Bad

Game one of the series featured the Twins worst loss since April 30, when they were shutout by the Astros 11-0. Starter Martín Pérez opened strong with a clean first and second inning, but had trouble with his control in the third where he gave up 2 walks, 3 singles, 2 doubles, and 6 runs before being replaced by Zack Littell. Littell would protect the rest of the bullpen by going 4.1 innings, but gave up 8 runs, all earned, in the process. Littell also was optioned to triple-A to make room for the returning Mitch Garver. Another bad from this series is Max Kepler going 0-13. Kepler will look to rebound in Cleveland, a place that he has hit well in historically.

The Ugly

I almost put game one of this series under ugly, but I think the true ugly in this series was Tropicana Field. Miguel Sanó once again had a home run stolen by the unusual overhead obstacles, this time by a speaker. Two exciting young teams at the top of the MLB, the home team only a few games back from the Yankees, and only 51,448 fans attended over 4 games. That's 12,862 per game. Tropicana Field's max capacity is 42,735. It's a weird, echoey monstrosity that has unfortunately been the home of one of the best products in baseball over the last decade. It is criminal how poor that stadium is and I hope for the fans sake that they can relocate into Tampa Bay proper instead of St. Petersburg, but it might be more likely that they find a whole new home city soon.