Article: MIL 5, MIN 4: Jake Cave Homers in MLB Debut

[Tom Froemming]

With every new injury comes an opportunity for another player to emerge. Joe Mauer was placed on the DL, opening the door for outfielder Jake Cave to make his major league debut Saturday night. He hit a two-run home run, and fellow fill-in Bobby Wilson had a big two-run double, but the Twins fell to Milwaukee 5-4.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs)

Download attachment: Snapshot519.png Download attachment: WinEx519.png

The Twins acquired Cave this offseason from the Yankees, where he figured to have very little opportunity to break in at the major league level. Well, taking a look at the Twins’ depth chart and considering the fact he’s a lefty, it didn’t appear there was going to be much of an avenue for him to contribute here, either.

 

Good thing for him baseball happens.

 

Mauer will take some time off to recover from a neck strain, meaning Logan Morrison will be manning first base and Robbie Grossman will get some work as the DH. That opened the door for another outfielder to enter the fold, and Zack Granite just recently returned from an injury of his own, creating the perfect storm for Cave to enter the picture.

 

Cave took advantage of his first opportunity, destroying a pitch for a round tripper. According to Matt Kelly of MLB.com/Statcast, Cave’s exit velocity of 111.4 mph is the second-highest of any Twins homer this year, trailing only Miguel Sano. Heck of a way to make an impression on your first hit.

Maybe this means people will know his name. FanGraphs had him listed as “A Cave” in their box score. Not sure if they thought the Twins were just going to literally put a cave in centerfield tonight, or what.

Download attachment: ACave.png

Anyway, as I noted earlier Bobby Wilson drove in the other two runs, meaning all the damage tonight came from a couple of guys who aren’t even really supposed to be here. That had to have felt good, considering Milwaukee’s first run of the game scored after Wilson committed a throwing error in the first inning.

 

Wilson spent all last year in Triple A and even considered retiring at the end of spring training. With Jason Castro out for the year, it sure is a good thing the Twins talked him into going to Rochester.

 

The Twins picked up only three more hits outside of those contributions from Cave and Wilson, one of which was a leadoff double from Morrison. Bad news: He ended up being picked off at second base.

 

The best way I could describe Minnesota’s performance tonight would be flat. The Brewers, on the other hand, played with energy and passion. Unfortunately, both teams’ fan bases also matched the energy of the teams they were rooting for. I’m sure there were more Twins fans in the crowd at Target Field, but it sure didn’t sound like it.

 

Fernando Romero had his worst start, plummeting his ERA to 1.66. Oh wait, that’s actually still really good. Romero gave up four runs, three earned, on three hits and two walks over five innings. He only managed to strike out two batters.

 

The bullpen basically had to be perfect. They were not, as Addison Reed gave up a go-ahead homer to Christian Yelich in the eighth inning.

 

Hindsight’s always 20/20, of course, but Ryan Pressly had only thrown eight pitches while recording the final two outs of the seventh. Can’t help but wonder what might have happened if he stayed out there, though you can’t fault Paul Molitor for going to Reed.

 

The Brewers’ bullpen basically had to be perfect … and they pretty much were. Dan Jennings (1.2 IP) Jeremy Jeffress (1.0 IP) and Josh Hader (2.1 IP) held the Twins scoreless for six innings and racked up nine strikeouts while only giving up a pair of hits.

 

Postgame With Molitor

Bullpen Usage

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

Download attachment: Bullpen519.png

Next Three Games

Sun vs. MIL, 1:10 pm CT

Mon vs. DET, 7:10 pm CT

Tue vs. DET, 7:10 pm CT

 

Last Three Games

MIL 8, MIN 3: Gibson Falters, Mauer Exits Due to Neck Injury

MIN 4, STL 1: Berrios is Back

STL 7, MIN 5: Lynn with a Dud Again

 

More From Twins Daily

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2018 MLB Draft Top 50 Prospect: 31-40

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The Evolution of Jose Berrios

 

Click here to view the article

[bluechipper]

All 4 runs produced by Jake Cave and Bobby Wilson. That is just sad. I hate this offense so much right now.

 

And when was the last time you saw someone actually get picked off at 2nd base?

[rghrbek]

LoMo hitting slightly better and taking walks but continues not to do the little things, which is a big deal.

 

This is a bad lineup as currently constructed.  Winnable game yet again we are on the wrong end

[bighat]

 

LoMo hitting slightly better and taking walks but continues not to do the little things, which is a big deal.

 

This is a bad lineup as currently constructed.  Winnable game yet again we are on the wrong end

 

Agreed. Not sure where or when this "Lomo is fine now" mantra started being pounded out on keyboards in Twins-land. He's not playing well at all, he's maybe playing slightly below average and all of a sudden we're supposed to be happy about it. Heckuva start for Cave.

 

Bad offense. Interesting that Cave replaces Buxton and in his first MLB game he hits the ball. Maybe Buxton needs this "oh crap" moment to spurn some productivity. At this point Escobar and Rosario have to continue to do the heavy lifting or the Twins will lose. Simple as that, really.

 

Life goes on. Still, life is better starting mornings with Twins chatter after a victory.

[mikelink45]

With Mauer out Dozier is back in lead off and the veteran leader on the club.  Do we have to wait until the second half for his good bat to appear again?  Morrison and Grossman continue to play okay ball which means they are fine on a bad team, but not good for a good team.  Adrianza continues to prove he is a bench player while some guy named Gordon languishes in the minors. Hurray for Escobar, Kepler, Rosario.  And now Cave is our new LaMarre.  

 

If Buxton was hitting, if Sano was slugging, and Polanco was back it would change the dynamics, but all teams lose players and find a way.  Will our FO start finding a way?

[Old Twins Cap]

We have been hanging on the Buxton "will he ever hit?" meme for years, and sadly, there may never be an answer to that.

 

Without Cleveland's mediocrity, the Twins awfulness would be so much clearer.

 

They have some pieces, to be sure, but they are scattered like a broken urn and not even Humpty Dumpty can put them together at this point.

 

 

[mikelink45]

More Twins news from yesterday:

Anyone catch the Aaron Hicks inside the park HR, his second of the year?   Or Daniel Palka's triple? Or J. T. Chargois' 4th Hold?  Finally some Twins to cheer for.  

[Doctor Wu]

 

More Twins news from yesterday:

Anyone catch the Aaron Hicks inside the park HR, his second of the year?   Or Daniel Palka's triple? Or J. T. Chargois' 4th Hold?  Finally some Twins to cheer for.  

I saw the video of the Palka triple, but I missed the other ones. And did you see Pedro Florimon's home run for the Phillies? Two in one week for him!

[Doctor Wu]

Was there a reason that Buxton didn't start yesterday, other than the fact that he can't buy a hit this month?

[Tommygun921]

Makes almost no sense that they called up Cave. He's another left handed hitting outfielder and Lamarre has done nothing but hit since he became part of the Twins organization. Buxton has done nothing but play defense and Lamarre has done both. The past about it all is based off of that Buxton SHOULD be doing this... And Lamarre SHOULDN'T be doing this. But they both are or aren't.

[TwinsCD]

I'm not the biggest fan of Pressly but if it takes him 8 pitches to get 2 outs and out of an inning, why not trot him back out for the beginning of the next one?  You know what kind of effectiveness he has, you don't know what someone new may or may not have.  Add that to the fact that the fastest runner is on 1st as the tying run with 0 out and NOTHING is done to attempt an advance (steal, bunt), I wonder just what goes through Molitor's head in clutch situations.  

 

This franchise is cursed by mediocrity over the last 6-7 years and it continues to appear that last year was just an aberration.  40+ games in and I can't imagine boat anchors like Lynn, Reed, and Duke turning their ships 180 degrees to the positive.  

[USAFChief]

Agreed. Not sure where or when this "Lomo is fine now" mantra started being pounded out on keyboards in Twins-land. He's not playing well at all, he's maybe playing slightly below average and all of a sudden we're supposed to be happy about it. Heckuva start for Cave.

 

Bad offense. Interesting that Cave replaces Buxton and in his first MLB game he hits the ball. Maybe Buxton needs this "oh crap" moment to spurn some productivity. At this point Escobar and Rosario have to continue to do the heavy lifting or the Twins will lose. Simple as that, really.

 

Life goes on. Still, life is better starting mornings with Twins chatter after a victory.

Over the last 28 days, Morrison has hit .282/.385/.513. An .897 OPS.

 

It’s higher over the last 14 days, and even higher over the last 7.

 

Logan Morrison is not a problem. He got off to a terrible start. And the pickoff last night was bad. But he is not one of the problems with this team.

[Otto von Ballpark]

Makes almost no sense that they called up Cave. He's another left handed hitting outfielder and Lamarre has done nothing but hit since he became part of the Twins organization. Buxton has done nothing but play defense and Lamarre has done both. The past about it all is based off of that Buxton SHOULD be doing this... And Lamarre SHOULDN'T be doing this. But they both are or aren't.

Cave's bat has been heating up at AAA too. And he's 4 years younger than LaMarre, and has all of his option years remaining. I think they want to get a closer look at him before any roster crunches arise.

[Riverbrian]

 

Was there a reason that Buxton didn't start yesterday, other than the fact that he can't buy a hit this month?

 

I think that was the reason. 

[Seth Stohs]

 

I get that it was a mistake for Morrison to get picked off, but that happens. It happens from time to time. Also, "we" knew what we were getting with Morrison. His value is based on offense. Not defense. Not running. Hitting. 

 

I think it's fair to say that he's been pretty good the last 20 games with the bat. 

[Seth Stohs]

 

Was there a reason that Buxton didn't start yesterday, other than the fact that he can't buy a hit this month?

 

I think that's a pretty solid reason alone... but I also think it makes sense to get the new guy in right away rather than have him sit, especially with how well Cave had been hitting in Rochester.

[Riverbrian]

 

 

I get that it was a mistake for Morrison to get picked off, but that happens. It happens from time to time. Also, "we" knew what we were getting with Morrison. His value is based on offense. Not defense. Not running. Hitting. 

 

I think it's fair to say that he's been pretty good the last 20 games with the bat. 

 

He's been alright... He's been better. 

 

I'm hoping the next club added to his bag is better situational hitting. 

[Shaitan]

 

I'm not the biggest fan of Pressly but if it takes him 8 pitches to get 2 outs and out of an inning, why not trot him back out for the beginning of the next one?  You know what kind of effectiveness he has, you don't know what someone new may or may not have.  Add that to the fact that the fastest runner is on 1st as the tying run with 0 out and NOTHING is done to attempt an advance (steal, bunt), I wonder just what goes through Molitor's head in clutch situations.  

 

I'm usually baffled by Molitor's bullpen use, but in my non-scientific observation, Pressly is far more effective as a one-and-done pitcher. When he pitches multiple innings it seems like he falls apart.

[Shaitan]

7 RBI for Wilson seems pretty solid, considering he hits 90th and has like 50 AB. He's not a good hitter, but does this mean he's doing okay with RISP?

[Eris]

 

I saw the video of the Palka triple, but I missed the other ones. And did you see Pedro Florimon's home run for the Phillies? Two in one week for him!

 

More Twins news from yesterday:

Anyone catch the Aaron Hicks inside the park HR, his second of the year?   Or Daniel Palka's triple? Or J. T. Chargois' 4th Hold?  Finally some Twins to cheer for.  

 

 

If we are going to mention our favorites we should be more complete in our assessments.

Ave/OPS 

Hicks 0.240/0.757

 

Palka 0.271/0.837  Palka is one of the worst defensive outfielders in MLB.   He would be mostly a DH

 

JR Murphy 0.250/0.794  He had a HR yesterday.  While the Twins could use him now.  His stats are similar to Mitch Garver (Garver is better defensively) while JR Murphy provides worse defense than Kurt Suzuki.  Murphy's ISO is 0.268 so he is developing some power.

[DocBauer]

Call me crazy, but if Grossman is going to be in the lineup, and his strength is seeing a number of pitches and getting walks, why doesn't he bat leadoff with Mauer out? Dozier can keep hitting second, or wherever, and the lineup becomes a bit deeper.

[rdehring]

Its been a long time since I was a Brewer's fan, over 30 years.  And I haven't followed them at all for year's, but they look like a real good team.  And that back end of the bullpen is just plain nasty!

 

Is it possible that we have seen Joe Mauer play for the last time?  If this lingers too long, he may just retire.  Or will he wait until October?

 

Remember going to a spring training game a long time ago and saw Kirby play, well, like Kirby.  The next day he was scratched and his career was over.  You never know when it ends for some of these stars we have followed for so long. 

[Mill1634]

So much wrong with this team right now that we shouldn't really be surprised by the results.

 

- We have our starting catcher, 1B, SS, 3B out of the lineup, a CF that missed 2+ weeks and didn't rehab, and are missing the SP that started the WC game for us. It shouldn't really come to a surprise that our offense has been this bad. Batters 6-9 are almost a guaranteed out every time up there. You can't win with that. If it weren't for a 10 game hot stretch between the ED's we'd be much worse right now.

 

However, were also dealing with things that weren't expected.

 

- Lance Lynn will not throw the ball over the plate. 

- Jose Berrios struggled for 4 or 5 continuous outings

- Logan Morrison forgot how to hit the first 20 games or so

- Robbie Grossman also forgot how to hit

- Taylor Rogers has been ineffective against lefties.

 

With that said, there are also some positives:

-Jake Odorizzi has been as good or better than advertised. 

- Ryan Pressly is NSFW

-Max Kepler is mashing lefties right now

-The Ed's

-Fernando Romero

 

The good news is 12 of our next 22 games are against the Royals, White Sox, or Tigers. This is a good chance to get back on track.

 

[USAFChief]

 

I get that it was a mistake for Morrison to get picked off, but that happens. It happens from time to time. Also, "we" knew what we were getting with Morrison. His value is based on offense. Not defense. Not running. Hitting. 

 

I think it's fair to say that he's been pretty good the last 20 games with the bat.

 

Outside of one throw, his defense has been perfectly acceptable too. And as you say...errors happen.

[youngpadawan]

I don't get Morrison playing on defense. Put Kepler at first until Mauer is back and Cave or LaMarre in right. This way we still have quality defense. I like Grossman. I like his approach but he should not be in the outfield and Morrison should be the main DH. I think Grossman has to go. I don't feel good about it, but we have too many constraints with him and Morrison.

 

Molitor/Falvine need to stop compromising the lineup to fit the right vs left left vs right strategy. That's fine when your players are more balanced, but with so many players out, we need to field the best players we can. We are missing some good bats. We should be filling in with better defense.

[Doctor Wu]

 

Its been a long time since I was a Brewer's fan, over 30 years.  And I haven't followed them at all for year's, but they look like a real good team.  And that back end of the bullpen is just plain nasty!

 

Is it possible that we have seen Joe Mauer play for the last time?  If this lingers too long, he may just retire.  Or will he wait until October?

 

Remember going to a spring training game a long time ago and saw Kirby play, well, like Kirby.  The next day he was scratched and his career was over.  You never know when it ends for some of these stars we have followed for so long. 

Yeah, that Brewers bullpen is "nasty" indeed. Lots of press about Hader this season (and he struck out 6 Twins batters in 2.1 innings yesterday) but Jeffress has also been formidable; another scoreless inning yesterday with 2 KO's of his own, and an ERA now sitting at 0.36 !!!

[Halsey Hall]

Adrianza is toast.  3 rbi for the whole season, how many has he left on base? 

[Riverbrian]

 

So much wrong with this team right now that we shouldn't really be surprised by the results.

 

- We have our starting catcher, 1B, SS, 3B out of the lineup, a CF that missed 2+ weeks and didn't rehab, and are missing the SP that started the WC game for us. 

 

I want through the DL list of every major league team. What the Twins are going through isn't excessive. 

 

Some teams are worse off than we are and some teams are indeed healthier than we are but it's about mid-pack. 

 

I also went through the disabled lists from years past and it turns out that nearly every team has a rash of injuries at some point so it is reasonable to expect those teams that are currently healthier than we are... won't be later on.

 

It happens often enough... like all the time... it should be a consideration when it comes to roster building. 

 

If this amount of injuries/suspensions has got us upside down. We never had a chance because having this amount should have been planned for.

 

Since it happens like... I don't know... all the time. 

 

 

[puckstopper1]

 

Adrianza is toast.  3 rbi for the whole season, how many has he left on base? 

This whole team is playing / coaching stupid baseball right now.  Runners at first and third with one out.  Adrianza has a 3-0 count on a rookie pitcher who has been wild AND HE IS SWINGING AWAY!!!  Of course he strikes out.  

 

Then in the 9th, Buxton on first with no one out.  So we pinch hit for Cave who would likely be able to bunt him to second and then let Adrianza hit and of course he strikes out.  

 

 

Stupid baseball....

[Mike Sixel]

Adrianza is toast. 3 rbi for the whole season, how many has he left on base?

Toast is insulted by this comparison.