Article: MIN 6, TEX 5: Belisle Earns First Post-Kintzler Save

[Tom Froemming]

The Twins were down 5-0 before they even came to bat, but home runs by Max Kepler, Brian Dozier and Eddie Rosario got them back in the game. Jose Berrios got off to a rough start, but got back on track, and Matt Belisle earned the team’s first save since Brandon Kintzler was traded away to Washington.Win Expectancy (via Fangraphs)

Download attachment: WinEx86.png

This game got off to a terrible start for the Twins, as Berrios gave up a three-run homer to Adrian Beltre and a two-run shot to Joey Gallo in the first inning. But the Twins answered with a pair of second inning homers of their own, as Kepler and Dozier each hit two-run blasts. Rosario provided a solo shot in the third to tie it up.

The only run scored in the game that wasn’t on a homer was on a bang-bang play. With two outs in the fifth inning, Robbie Grossman hit a ball off the right field wall. Shin-Soo Choo played in beautifully, and nailed Grossman at second base. Luckily Eduardo Escobar touched home just before Robbie was tagged out to end the inning. But it doesn’t get much closer than that.

This outing won’t look so good in Berrios’ game log, but he did a great job at collecting himself after a really ugly first frame. After a clean second inning for Jose, he had to sit through a 32-minute rain delay. He stayed in the game and retired the Rangers in order in both the third and fourth innings before facing five batters in a scoreless fifth inning.

 

That effort, along with a great performance by the pen, allowed Berrios to pick up his 10th victory. Hildenberger pitched two scoreless innings and Taylor Rogers pitched a perfect eighth for his first shutout inning in seven tries.

 

Belise needed just 13 pitches to record his first save since 2012, and just the sixth save of his 14-year career. He got Carlos Gomez to fly out, induced a ground out from Drew Robinson before striking out Choo to end the game.

 

Miguel Sano, whose hand is still recovering from a hit by pitch from Friday, was out again. Dozier was forced to leave this game in the sixth inning due to an illness.

 

Postgame With Molitor

Twins W-L Record

Overall: 53-56 (.486)

Last 10: 4-6 (.400)

Last 20: 8-12 (.400)

Last 40: 17-23 (.425)

Last 80: 38-42 (.475)

 

Defensive Lineups

Here’s a look at the starting lineups from the past seven games:

Download attachment: Lineups86.png

Bullpen Usage

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

Download attachment: Pen86.png

Looking Ahead

Monday: Twins (Ervin Santana) vs. Milwaukee (Brent Suter)

Tuesday: Twins (Adalberto Mejia) vs. Milwaukee (Matt Garza)

 

Next Series: Twins head to Milwaukee for two games.

 

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[AlwaysinModeration]

Nice comeback. Something to build on? Would be good to get a winning streak started....

[CampQ]

NB that every record breakdown in the W-L ledger is lower than the Twins's overall record

[Circus Boy]

Got home in time from work to see Belisle's excellent punch-out to Choo's back foot. Love big comeback wins where every inning is a highwire act. A winning streak would be nice right about now.

[youngtwinsfan]

I really do not understand why the twins are carrying an 8 man bullpen. Especially when Molitor only uses 3-4 of them in tight situations.

[Tom Froemming]

I have a few more things to add this morning.

 

-There are some people out there still pointing to the fact that the Twins are only 3.5 games back of the wild card. That's true, but there are also four other teams closer to KC for that second wild card spot (the Rays, Mariners, Orioles and Angels). 

 

-At the same time, both KC and Cleveland have cooled of late. The Royals have dropped five of their last seven games and the Cleveland club has lost five of their last six. Just something to keep an eye on.

 

-The Twins bullpen has not been a strength, but on the year the unit ranks fifth in BB/9 (3.06) and eighth in ground ball rate (46.2%). They've also been overworked all year. The Twins have the fourth-worst quality start rate (37%) and fifth-lowest IP/start (5.4). 

 

-The Twins rank 24th in wRC+ vs. LHP (85), and have the fifth-worst slugging percentage vs. lefties at .379. Southpaw Brent Suter, who is starting for the Brewers tonight, has held same-sided hitters to a .573 OPS this year.

 

For more on Suter, check out this great profile at Beyond the Box Score. He throws really slow and works really fast. Suter is a Harvard product, but was not a teammate of current Twins prospect Sean Poppen. Suter was with the Crimson from '09-'12 while Poppen pitched for them from '13-'16.

[drjim]

I know this has been rehashed ad nauseum, but I think it was a mistake to make the selling decision right after the Dodgers sweep. The Twins were still on the fringe, the schedule was going to open up a little for the Twins and the Royals/Indians weren't going to win every game. But alas.

[Mike Sixel]

Belisle continues to be good since his bad start.