Monday night, Mitch Garver got the opportunity to pitch in a blowout. Tonight, he hit a three-run homer. Is 2018 baseball weird, or what? Garver’s three-run blast in the second set the tone for this game.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs)

Adalberto Mejia: 69 Game Score, 5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 3 K, 1 BB, 61.8% strikes (68 pitches, 42 strikes)

Home Runs: Mitch Garver (6)

Multi-Hit Games: Eddie Rosario (4-for-5, 2 2B), Jorge Polanco (2-for-5), Logan Forsythe (2-for-2, BB)

WPA of 0.1 or higher: Mejia .263, Garver .137

WPA of -0.1 or lower: Morrison -.109

Download attachment: WinChart87.png

This game was delayed more than two hours due to rain. It started coming down again in the second inning, but Garver didn’t seem to mind.

Adalberto Mejia gave up just one hit over five shutout innings, but was removed from this game due to a left wrist strain after just 68 pitches. Though Garver’s blast provided all the runs, the Twins’ best bat tonight was Eddie Rosario. He was 4-for-5 with two doubles and was thrown out at second trying to stretch another single into a two-bagger. This was Rosie’s third four-hit game of the season.

 

Gabriel Moya and Taylor Rogers turned in scoreless innings before Trevor Hildenberger gave up a pair of runs in the eighth. Fernando Rodney earned his 25th save of the season, giving the Twins a rare victory in a one-run game.

 

Bullpen Usage

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

Download attachment: Bullpen87.png

Next Three Games

Wed at CLE, 6:10 pm CT: Jake Odorizzi vs. Mike Clevinger

Thu at CLE, 12:10 pm CT: Jose Berrios vs. Corey Kluber

Fri at DET, 6:10 pm CT: TBD

 

Last Three Games

CLE 10, MIN 0: Who Needs Chris Gimenez?

MIN 6, KC 5: Cave Slugs Grand Slam as Twins Sweep Royals

MIN 8, KC 2: New Twins Ace Wins in Front of Old Twins Ace

 

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Magic Number Update -

 

Division: 60

Wild Card: 64

Here's hoping Mejia's wrist is OK. The guy's been effective and seems to have earned a spot in the rotation moving forward. Shutting down the Tribe on the road, tip your cap to him.

 

Garver's hit held up, nice to see him contributing.

 

Hildy's given up 11 earned runs over his past 14 innings pitched.

How can a guy who is a professional baseball manager continue to put Morrison's name on a lineup card?

Enough already.

Nice game by Mejia, this guy is doing a much better job keeping his pitch count down than the guy who pitched last year. Hope his wrist is ok.

 

Would be nice to build a bit of momentum and win a second game tonight.

 

Hildy's given up 11 earned runs over his past 14 innings pitched.

It's definitely concerning. Is it just a slump, is something wrong or has the league figured out his smoke and mirrors?

Forsythe reached all four times. Has some versatility and has shown some power. Any interest in keeping him on a one-year deal?

 

Forsythe reached all four times. Has some versatility and has shown some power. Any interest in keeping him on a one-year deal?

I'd let it play out before I'd consider it. He's been pretty bad for the last year +, so I would want to see it for more than a couple of games.

 

I also wouldn't sign him and Adrianza. They seem fairly redundant defensively.

It seems that the Twins did not need Shohei Ohtani after all.  We have Mitch Garver - he can hit, pitch AND catch!

Does this mean that Mitch will get at least as many starts as Wilson?

Without Duke and Pressly, I fear it's Hildy to pitch 5/7 days under Molitor's idea of bullpen usage.

How can a guy who is a professional baseball manager continue to put Morrison's name on a lineup card?

Enough already.

NoMo LoMo!

 

Forsythe reached all four times. Has some versatility and has shown some power. Any interest in keeping him on a one-year deal?

If Forsythe is now healthy I'm all for it. Other 2B options for next year (i.e. the struggles of Gordon in AAA) aren't that tempting, so  he could be a good, solid place holder for a year at least.

Great game by Mejia. He could make a believer out of me yet. And Garver also continues to impress with the bat. As good as he's been lately I find it hard to believe that he only has hit 6 homers all year.

 

It's definitely concerning. Is it just a slump, is something wrong or has the league figured out his smoke and mirrors?

Just because he throws sidearm, doesn't make it smoke and mirrors.  

 

It's simple... you leave a pitch up and middle in and major league hitters will promptly tear the stitching off.   I will agree though that "something" does seem off with Hildy, and I really hope that it is just a slump and not anything more serious.

 

Does this mean that Mitch will get at least as many starts as Wilson?

Since the All-Star break, Garver has 10 starts behind the plate to Wilson's eight, and has also started two other games at DH. Baby steps.

 

Something to keep in mind is the most games Garver has ever caught in one season is 67 (last year) and he's already been back there for 62 games this year.

I realize I know very little about Gabriel Moya. I noticed his fastball was clocked at around 87 in today's game. That's scarily slow. His change up (which he used a number of times) was at about 78. These pitch speeds seem mediocre at best. Can he be effective at this level (maybe he gets great movement on his pitches?)?

 

Forsythe reached all four times. Has some versatility and has shown some power. Any interest in keeping him on a one-year deal?

 

Inclined to look at the 211 PAs in LA to get a better idea of what's coming than the 20 PAs with the Twins so far.   

 

We're talking about a 31 yo who wall-scraped over an 800 OPS once in his career and then got paid for it. 

 

No problem having him place hold the rest of the season, although I'd personally rather see Adrianza out there every day. But, with Ehire being the more versatile, switch-hitting, speedy type, he does make more sense coming off the bench.

 

Glad LoFo had a good night, but leaving it at that.

 

Big believer in Garver. I hope he plays some 1B this year.......when not catching.

 

Big believer in Garver. I hope he plays some 1B this year.......when not catching.

 

In the current situation, a player who has been producing the way he has should be getting one of the longest looks.  I was surprised he still hasn't had 300 MLB PAs.

 

At least give him DH against LHP the rest of the year (of course, Austin may have a say in that come September)

 

Hildy's given up 11 earned runs over his past 14 innings pitched.

Demonstrating that he is ready to fill the shoes of Matty B!

Nice start for Mejia. I have to admit with the AAA and AA starting pitching talent waiting in the wings I kinda wrote off Mejia. However if he can have a solid season this year he’ll be a shoo-in as a part of next years rotation IMO.

 

Forsythe reached all four times. Has some versatility and has shown some power. Any interest in keeping him on a one-year deal?

Forsythe is 2 years removed from showing any power. And his only meaningful recent versatility is playing 3B. He'd have to show a pretty solid return to form for me to consider bringing him back -- a binge of singles and walks alone won't cut it. (.583 BABIP so far with the Twins!)

 

Keep in mind the market for infielders this offseason -- Forsythe doesn't look that compelling, and our projected payroll room doesn't suggest we need to go dirt-cheap on the position either.

 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/12/2018-19-mlb-free-agents.html

 

Nice game by Mejia, this guy is doing a much better job keeping his pitch count down than the guy who pitched last year. Hope his wrist is ok.

One of my big gripes with the front office is how they waited until late June to call up Mejia this year, and then they sent him back down right away after the heat stroke game in Chicago. (Technically worse: they sent Mejia down after Lynn's poor start on the following day.)

 

Not that Mejia would have been a savior or anything, but he was a solid enough option to help shake things up, either as a starter or perhaps even in long relief.

 

One of my big gripes with the front office is how they waited until late June to call up Mejia this year, and then they sent him back down right away after the heat stroke game in Chicago. (Technically worse: they sent Mejia down after Lynn's poor start on the following day.)

 

Not that Mejia would have been a savior or anything, but he was a solid enough option to help shake things up, either as a starter or perhaps even in long relief.

 

Agreed. 

I’m somewhat surprised no one has mentioned that fact tha Moya has pitched in 7 of the last 10 games so I’m mentioning it.

I’m somewhat surprised no one has mentioned that fact tha Moya has pitched in 7 of the last 10 games so I’m mentioning it.

Because MOY is who he is.

 

Also, Hildenberger has made ten appearances since July 20, a span of 18 days. One of which was an off day. So, that’s 10 appearances in 17 team games.

 

How can a guy who is a professional baseball manager continue to put Morrison's name on a lineup card?

Enough already.

My thought on it is that by giving him opportunities the team is hoping that he can do something good here in the next few weeks to get something for him in an August trade. If this continues into September, he probably sits for the majority of those games. I hope I'm right.

 

My thought on it is that by giving him opportunities the team is hoping that he can do something good here in the next few weeks to get something for him in an August trade. If this continues into September, he probably sits for the majority of those games. I hope I'm right.

 

No reason to sit, just outright him and be done with it.