Article: Twins 4, Cleveland 2: Skeleton Crew Beats Kluber, Allen

[Tom Froemming]

Miguel Sano, Max Kepler and Eddie Rosario were unavailable to start and the Twins were facing arguably the best pitcher in the American League. But thanks to a plus performance from the pitching staff, a key managerial decision, big hits in big situations and amazing defense, the Twins pulled out a hard-fought victory anyway.Win Expectancy and Top 5 Plays (via Fangraphs)

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There was a lot of great stuff to get to from this one, but nothing can beat how it ended. Check out this amazing diving catch from Byron Buxton to record the final out:

Per Statcast, the catch probability was 49 percent. Buxton was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, but he made another tough catch up agaisnt the wall in the third inning.

Paul Molitor was forced to manage a decimated roster that was already playing with a short bench. Both Sano and Rosario are dealing with an illness and Kepler was forced to sit with a bruised right foot. Chris Gimenez had to start out in left field. Facing Corey Kluber, on paper this looked to be as close to a throw-away game as you could get in the MLB.

 

Here’s how the first inning started:

-Brian Dozier hit the first pitch and reached on a throwing error.

-Joe Mauer walked.

-Robbie Grossman hit a double that scored Dozier and put Mauer on third.

-Another throwing error on a pickoff attempt allowed Mauer to score.

 

Before you could even settle into the game, the Twins were up 2-0. Kluber mowed them down from there, finishing with 13 strikeouts over seven innings.

 

Kyle Gibson held Cleveland to just one run, but with two outs in the fourth inning Molitor pulled him. Gibson was at 93 pitches, had walked back-to-back batters and was about to face Jose Ramirez, who homered the previous inning. So there were plenty of reasons to pull Gibby there, but the traditional move would be to let your starter try to get that last out. You don’t see pitchers get pulled in that situation often.

 

Molitor summoned Tyler Duffey from the pen, and he retired Ramirez on a grounder to end the inning. Duffey also pitched a perfect sixth inning.

 

In the seventh, Matt Belisle came in, which caused mass panic among Twins fans. He faced four batters, got two outs and gave up two hits. A poor defensive play that went down as a Jorge Polanco error resulted in Cleveland scoring the game-tying run.

 

Francisco Lindor hit what looked like a potential double play ball to Kennys Vargas, who threw to Polanco for the out at second. It didn’t look like they had much of a shot to get Lindor at first, but Polanco fired it back over anyway. His throw went a little wide and Belisle overcommitted himself to the base, giving him no chance to reel in the throw.

 

The game was not tied for long. Cleveland brought in it’s stellar closer Cody Allen, but Dozier led off the inning by slugging the go-ahead home run.

Gimenez added a solo homer of his own in the top of the ninth.

Taylor Rogers, who bailed out Belisle in the seventh and pitched a scoreless eighth, picked up his fourth win of the year and Brandon Kintzler earned his 20th save, with a hat tip going to Buxton for that beautiful catch. Mauer had an excellent game as the DH, going 2-for-2 with a double, a run scored and a pair of walks.

 

Postgame With Gimenez

Bullpen Usage

Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days:

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Sunday

Twins (Ervin Santana, 2.97 ERA) at Cleveland (Josh Tomlin, 6.07 ERA), 12:10 pm CT

 

Tomlin has been struggling of late, posting an 8.76 ERA over his past three starts. Opposing hitters have hit .407/.435/.746 (1.181 OPS) off him during that span. Santana has also been having a rough go of late, but in his last five starts against Cleveland he’s 3-1 with a 1.72 ERA.

 

AL Central Standings

Cleveland 39-34

Twins 38-34 (-0.5)

Kansas City 37-36 (-2)

Chicago 32-41 (-7)

Detroit 32-41 (-7)

 

Yep, after all that’s happened the road warrior Twins will have Ervin Santana on the mound tomorrow with the opportunity to not only sweep Cleveland, but also move back into first place. Man, this team.

 

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[Han Joelo]

I second that "man, this team..." sentiment.  There are alot of guys showing some resiliency, Gibson among them.  No 4 and 2/3s doesn't look all that great, but he did his job.

 

Gimenez, what can you say.  I don't care what the stats say, he's a good dude to have around.  

[Brandon]

The Twins should have Gimenez be the starting pitcher then play all the defensive positions then put him back on the mound to close out his game.

[ThejacKmp]

Add Gimenez to the bullpen matrix!

[Tom Froemming]

 

I second that "man, this team..." sentiment.  There are alot of gus showing some resiliency, Gibson among them.  No 4 and 2/3s doesn't look all that great, but he did his job.

 

Gimenez, what can you say.  I don't care what the stats say, he's a good dude to have around.  

Gibson hasn't been great, but it's worth mentioning that the team is 5-2 in his starts since returning from Rochester. He's giving them a chance. 

 

Add Gimenez to the bullpen matrix!

Every time he pitches I'm like "well, I'm sure that'll be the last time they have to do that." Sooner or later I'm going to be right.

[nater79a]

For the longest time in this game I thought the Twins were going to regret stranding Grossman at 3B with less than two outs in the first inning. With a guy like Kluber you need to squeeze every little bit of juice out of the lemon when you get the chance. Sure enough, Kluber got rolling (with Larry Vanover's help) and the next thing you know Cleveland has it tied up late in the game.  Fortunately,  Dozier and Gimenez bailed us out!

[Tommygun921]

As painful as this team can be at times it sure is refreshing to see them bounce back after a tuff series like the Houston and previous Cleveland series. A little better pitching as a whole would go a long ways.

[Don't Feed the Greed Guy]

And, here come the Royals! Yikes.

[HitInAPinch]

I don't know who the color-guy was for this game, but his laughing during the Gimenez home run made my day!!

[ashbury]

I don't know who the color-guy was for this game, but his laughing during the Gimenez home run made my day!!

Hawkins.

[jmlease1]

 

I don't know who the color-guy was for this game, but his laughing during the Gimenez home run made my day!!

 

That was LaTroy Hawkins. Who was amusing me all day by calling Dick Bremer "Richard" the entire broadcast, just like Tom Kelly always does.

 

Brutal game behind the plate by Vanover; when Bremer is hammering you, you know you're botching a lot of calls and doing them badly.

[Circus Boy]

 

The Twins should have Gimenez be the starting pitcher then play all the defensive positions then put him back on the mound to close out his game.

A Cesar Tovar moment.

[amjgt]

I don't know who the color-guy was for this game, but his laughing during the Gimenez home run made my day!!

Hey!

 

That's racist!

[Tibs]

At this point we just have to wait for Buxton's bat to come around. He cannot be sent to AAA. The Twins need him in CF

[Circus Boy]

 

As painful as this team can be at times it sure is refreshing to see them bounce back after a tuff series like the Houston and previous Cleveland series. A little better pitching as a whole would go a long ways.

And Cleveland must be in some real pain by now. "How can this bunch of hasbeens and never-wases beat the best pitcher in the AL?" Not to mention teams with arguably much more talent -- New York, Baltimore, Detroit, Boston, Texas, and even a temporarily surging KC -- doing poorly when they should be running laps around the Twins. But they aren't.

 

Somewhere, somehow a Nuke LaLoosh is lurking and will come to the rescue for that 4th or 5th starter. We may shock the world yet.

[Jerr]

First, Tom Froemming, you post the best game wraps I have ever seen, anywhere!!!! THANKS SO MUCH !!!!

And this one after this great game was really fun!!!!

This years' Twins team, is really getting that "chemistry thing" together,as can be seen from the after game video interviews  

 

[theJemmer]

This game is why I don't bet on sports.

[bluechipper]

 

And, here come the Royals! Yikes.

If they want to keep all of their free agents for one more run, that's fine with me. They'll be in a tough spot after this year either way, but I'd rather see them make one more run and not get any prospects to bolster their system.

[bluechipper]

This was a great game to win. It was half they stole it and half the Indians gave it to them in the 1st inning. Wasting an excellent start by Kluber sure is a great feeling.

[PDX Twin]

 

At this point we just have to wait for Buxton's bat to come around. He cannot be sent to AAA. The Twins need him in CF

 

I'm curious about how those more knowledgeable than I (most of you) would answer the question "At this point, what is Buxton's ceiling (with the bat)?" I've given up on Mike Trout, but can he ever be a .300 hitter? Even at .250 his defense would make him a valuable player, but do you think he can ever be an offensive asset?

[Old Twins Cap]

Once the lineups were posted, Twins win expectancy was less than 5%, Gibson vs Kluber, Gimenez in left, Grossman in right, no Sano.

 

That's why they play the games.

[USAFChief]

As I said last weekend, the Indians may indeed be a little better than the Twins, but not by as much as that series indicated.  The dire "we can't compete with this team" proclamations weren't reality.

 

The Twins everyday lineup is good enough to win.  And is likely to get better over time.

[70charger]

So he's a major league catcher, a shutdown closer, and a power hitting corner outfielder. What can't Giménez do?