Article: Twins 2, Red Sox 9: Rain, Defense Put Damper On Soggy Night

[Seth Stohs]

When it rains, it pours. That seems to be a theme for the Twins this season. The Twins have been good in one-run games, but when one gets out of hand, the Twins typically haven't found a way to stop the bleeding. Well, until Chris Gimenez comes in. At least on Tuesday night in Boston, that didn't need to happen.

 

The Twins fell to 39-36 and remain a half game behind Cleveland in the AL Central.Rain put a damper on the night in Boston. Twice. The game was initially delayed by about 50 minutes. Then after the second inning, another big wave of rain came over Fenway Park and caused another delay, this one over an hour.

 

Red Sox starter Drew Pomeranz remained in the game after the delay. Twins starter, Hector Santiago, did not. He was making his return to the Twins rotation after missing about three weeks. After going on the DL, he told 1500ESPN's Phil Mackey and Judd Zulgad that he just wasn't able to reach back and get any velocity. So if you're looking for an encouraging sign, it just might be that Santiago was able to find some extra velocity in his two innings.

 

According to Brooks Baseball, and Pitch f/x, Santiago averaged 92.0 mph on his fastball. He peaked at 94.2 mph.

 

 

Santiago gave up a second-inning home run to catcher Christian Vasquez. Of course, it came after a walk to Sam Travis. That has been another theme for Twins pitchers this year. Walks Will Haunt, right?

 

And really, after the home run, the Twins were unable to mount enough of a comeback to give themselves a chance to win.

 

(from FanGraphs)

 

Defensive Downer

 

The Twins defense has been a huge factor in their return to relevancy this year. However, on Tuesday night, the Twins defense committed three errors. Five of the Red Sox nine runs scored came after a Twins error. As Molitor said post game, there was "not a lot of damage control."

 

In the third inning, Byron Buxton came charging in on a line drive single. The runner was held at third, but Buxton's throw sailed to the backstop, allowing the run to score.

In the fifth inning, Brian Dozier booted a potential double play ball. One run scored.

 

In the sixth inning, Eduardo Escobar was unable to handle a ground ball that would have been the third out with a short throw to second base for a force out. Instead, Matt Belisle, who got the first two outs quickly, had to get a fourth out in the inning. Chris Young demolished a pitch well over the Green Monster for a three- run homer.

 

 

 

Bullpen Usage

 

 

 

AL Central Standings

 

Cleveland 40-36 .526

Minnesota 39-36 .520

Kansas City 37-38 .493

Detroit 34-42 .447

Chicago 33-43 .434

 

 

Wednesday's Game

 

At 6:10 central time, the 39-36 Twins will take on the 43-34 Red Sox in Game 3 of this series. Lefty Adalberto Mejia (2-3, 4.93 ERA) will take on reigning AL Cy Young Award winner RHP Rick Porcello (4-9, 5.00 ERA).

 

The key for Mejia's success in his most recent start was finding a way to keep runs from scoring. That's always the goal of any starter, right? Of course. But Mejia gave up a lot of base runners, but somehow he survived five shutout innings. He'll have to find a way to limit damage against this very good Red Sox offense.

 

Porcello has had a disappointing season, to be sure. One thing he has done is work innings. He has completed six innings in 15 of his 16 starts this year. He's completed seven innings just twice. However, he has given up five or more earned runs in three of his last four starts.

 

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This was my first attempt at posting the Game Recap. A big shout out to Tom Froemming for doing these every day until today. He's off the grid the next couple of days, so I'll only try to make it half-way decent... and then Tom can come back and make these reports great again!

 

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[bighat]

Great to see Santiago back.  We can expect more 100-pitch, 4+ inning outings watching his ERA continue to balloon.  This guy is awful. As I've said before, I'd run Gibson out there in a heartbeat before giving the ball to Hector.  He had a few nice early outings but those are long gone.  Even his DL stint was simply just to let the guy sit on the bench for a couple weeks.  I think he's firmly solidified his place as the Worst Starter on the Twins. 

 

If anyone sees something good in Santiago, I'm all ears.  I'd also wonder what you were smoking, but I'd still listen!

[wsnydes]

Thanks for filling in Seth.  These have become a must read every morning for me, so I appreciate the effort of Tom and yourself!

[wsnydes]

 

Great to see Santiago back.  We can expect more 100-pitch, 4+ inning outings watching his ERA continue to balloon.  This guy is awful. As I've said before, I'd run Gibson out there in a heartbeat before giving the ball to Hector.  He had a few nice early outings but those are long gone.  Even his DL stint was simply just to let the guy sit on the bench for a couple weeks.  I think he's firmly solidified his place as the Worst Starter on the Twins. 

 

If anyone sees something good in Santiago, I'm all ears.  I'd also wonder what you were smoking, but I'd still listen!

While I'm far from sold on him, a rain shortened outing fresh off of the DL is hardly a sample large enough to draw any conclusions.  

[jimbo92107]

Good recap, Seth. I can't get my morning started without a little Twins Daily, a cup of coffee, an aspirin, an Advil, a little puff of reefer, and a tab of acid. Then I can face the day with a smile! Oh, and a slice of banana. And some milk from that spider thing that lives in my refrigerator...sneaky bastard...

 

Trevor Hildenberger was the best thing about last night's game. Late in a blowout was the best time to see the rookie's full repertoire. Even with the diminished crowd he was working on getting his heart rate down, and this was exactly what he needed. Especially when he whipped that change-up fading down to the arm side. The arm action was fooling 'em. Boston's boys were either whiffing on it or so late they practically screwed themselves into the ground pulling it into the stands just past third base. I can see Hildenberger driving batters batty with combinations of his fastball and change. He even threw a surprise overhand fastball at 94! 

[bluechipper]

Rain, walks, errors. Just a sloppy game.

 

I agree with Jimbo on Hildenberger. He looks to be here to stay.

[Dantes929]

PTI acted like the Central is a two team race but KC is right there.    What is the biggest run deficit for a division champion and what is it for a WS champion?    87 team scored 20 fewer than they gave up.     Lopsided losses don't bother me so much but the lack of competitive starts from the bottom of the rotation does.    Puts a lot of pressure on Berrios, Santana and Gibson.    Would not be shocked to get swept in Boston.   I would have preferred Berrios not going against Sale.    Would be ok with splitting the next two.

[Taildragger8791]

 

Great to see Santiago back.  We can expect more 100-pitch, 4+ inning outings watching his ERA continue to balloon.  This guy is awful. As I've said before, I'd run Gibson out there in a heartbeat before giving the ball to Hector.  He had a few nice early outings but those are long gone.  Even his DL stint was simply just to let the guy sit on the bench for a couple weeks.  I think he's firmly solidified his place as the Worst Starter on the Twins. 

 

If anyone sees something good in Santiago, I'm all ears.  I'd also wonder what you were smoking, but I'd still listen!

 

He still has an ERA almost a full run lower than Gibson and a WHIP that's 0.4 lower, which is an incredible difference. Gibson has gotten by on some good fortune, like well-timed double plays and hard hit line drive outs, while giving up piles of baserunners. I don't have much faith he'll straighten himself out, at least not in a Twins uniform.

 

I'm not a big believer in Santiago, but up until the game where he pitched in relief he had an ERA of 4.07 and WHIP of 1.32. Perfectly serviceable for back-end rotation filler. Then he pitched on 2 days rest and struggled, and left the next game with an injury in the 3rd inning after getting knocked around. Then returned last night to a weather-shortened game where he didn't get a chance to bounce back from the 2-run homerun he gave up. I'm willing to see if he can get back on track. At least he's shown he's capable of something more than Gibson's tired old routine.