With the Twins falling behind 6-0 Friday night against the Rangers, it seemed like an incredibly tall task for their slumping offense to mount a comeback.

 

It took them one inning.

 

An offensive explosion in the fifth inning resulted in eight runs for the Twins. The Bullpen backed that up with a masterful performance to protect the lead.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs)

Gonsalves: 18 Game Score, 3.2 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 3 ER, 0 K, 4 BB, 60.0% strikes (54 of 90 pitches)

Home Runs: Austin (15), Cave (8)

Multi-Hit Games: Garver (3-for-5, 2 2B), Mauer (2-for-5, 2B), Kepler (2-for-5)

WPA of 0.1 or higher: Garver .343, Cave .260

WPA of -0.1 or lower: Gonsalves -.234

Download attachment: WinChart831.png

That big fifth inning all started with a Tyler Austin home run, was highlighted by a Mitch Garver bases-clearing double and was capped off by a Jake Cave homer.

Cave had been struggling badly against same-sided pitching coming into this game. In 39 plate appearances, he had struck out 20 times with a line of .167/.231/.361 against lefties. In the fifth inning tonight, Cave blasted a go-ahead two-run homer off lefty Matt Moore in what was an eight-pitch at-bat.

Stephen Gonsalves had a tough night, again. He issued too many free passes — four in just 3 ⅔ innings. He didn’t get any strikeouts and got just four swinging strikes on his 90 pitches. The shot that knocked him out of this game was a three-run homer on an 88.8 mph 1-0 fastball to Nomar Mazara.

 

From there, the Twins’ bullpen did a great job. Matt Magill threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings, followed by a clean frame from Gabriel Moya. Then Trevor May impressed by striking out four of the five batters he faced. Taylor Rogers struck out both of the batters he faced before Trevor Hildenberger finally gave up a run in the ninth.

 

Final combined line for the bullpen: 5 1/3 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 9 K. Very impressive.

 

After the game, the Twins announced their first wave of September callups:

Some familiar names on that list, but Andrew Vasquez comes as a bit of a surprise. Unlike some of the other relief options, he's not currently on the 40-man roster, and also has no previous MLB time. Vasquez is one of the front runners for Twins Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Year, as he's pitched to a 2.34 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and 14.0 K/9 over 69 13 innings between three levels this season.

 

Bullpen Usage

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

Download attachment: Bullpen831.png

Next Three Games

Sat at TEX, 7:05 pm CT: Jose Berrios vs. Yovani Gallardo

Sun at TEX, 2:05 pm CT: TBD vs. Bartolo Colon

Mon at HOU, 1:10 pm CT: TBD

 

Last Three Games

CLE 5, MIN 3: Odorizzi Fades, Busenitz Blows It

MIN 4, CLE 3: Astudillo Gets First Homer, Mauer Scores 1,000th Run

CLE 8, MIN 1: Where Did the Runs Go?

 

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For September call-ups:

 

 

 

 

Belisle will be activated from the DL (*ugh*) and Curtiss is expected to be called up as well.

Not surprising the first call ups are relief pitchers.

I think with Gonsalves struggling yet again it only makes sense to recall Fernando Romero. Romero could piggy back Gonsalves (or vice versa). I would include Lewis Thorpe as a potential call up, but given he’s pitched over 40 more innings than his previous career high (83 IP last year, 129 2/3 this year) I doubt the Twins want to extend Thorpe any more thus year. However Romero really needs some more innings so even pitching out of the pen for the Twins should do that (or starting in place of Gonsalves).

Edited September 1, 20188 yr by FormerMinnasotan

Belisle. Why, just why?

Belisle. Why, just why?

Hopefully Giminez is only up to pitch when the game gets out of hand.

 

And then Belisle would only be back to pitch when the game gets *really* out of hand.

What is this love affair with mediocre and below - Giminez, Belisle - are they going to help us meet our potential?  

 

I really think Romero deserves to be up.  Are we really so short on hitting prospects that only Field got the call this round?

 

The FO did not get any points for these moves.

 

I do hope Vasquez does well, I am really disappointed in the relief pitchers we have called up.  Is this Duffey's last chance?

 

Final thought - tonight Gonsalves got really frustrated by the umpire squeezing him on some very good pitches.  Its time to use the electronic system.  No more squeezing the rookies and expanding for the vets. 

Gonsalves (as well as every other pitcher) did get squeezed in this one, but he still wasn't very good otherwise. I'm not impressed with his stuff at all. Depending on the health status of Mejia and Pineda next season, I wouldn't put Gonsalves any higher than 7th or 8th in the rotation pecking order. I certainly wouldn't consider his opportunity as a reason to not sign a free agent starter in the off-season.

I don’t get how the Twins didn’t call up Romero. Perhaps he gets added later, but even if he is tiring he’s still 100% better than Matt Belisle. Just putting that out there. And anyways the Twins need 2 starters to pair with Stewart and Gonsalves since both starters are only pitching around 4 innings per start. If Littell is called up that’s one starter, but Romero is technically better than Littell so he should be the other starter who piggy backs either Stewart or Gonsalves.

Edited September 1, 20188 yr by FormerMinnasotan

well, for those asking what more Gonsalves needed to do to make it out of AAA, we're seeing it here: he's got to cut down on the walks. Hopefully he's learning from this, but right now he looks like a guy who has a ways to go before he's ready to compete for a roster spot. I'm fine with continuing to run him out there this year, see how he responds to the adversity, see if he can start to make some adjustments...but this is pretty much what I expected to happen considering how many walks he was still giving up in AAA.

 

I hope Kepler finishes strong this year, but this season feels like a disappointment to me. The defense continues to be good, but he hasn't taken the step forward on his hitting that I think everyone was hoping to see. That low BA is really holding him back.

I don’t get how the Twins didn’t call up Romero. Perhaps he gets added later, but even if he is tiring he’s still 100% better than Matt Belisle. Just putting that out there. And anyways the Twins need 2 starters to pair with Stewart and Gonsalves since both starters are only pitching around 4 innings per start. If Littell is called up that’s one starter, but Romero is technically better than Littell so he should be the other starter who piggy backs either Stewart or Gonsalves.

Romero is starting for Rochester today. He'll be added to the Twins soon.

I think with Gonsalves struggling yet again it only makes sense to recall Fernando Romero. Romero could piggy back Gonsalves (or vice versa). I would include Lewis Thorpe as a potential call up, but given he’s pitched over 40 more innings than his previous career high (83 IP last year, 129 2/3 this year) I doubt the Twins want to extend Thorpe any more thus year. However Romero really needs some more innings so even pitching out of the pen for the Twins should do that (or starting in place of Gonsalves).

 

I was hoping to see Thorpe as well. Certainly another call for Romero would have been great considering that Gonsalves has really stunk.

Yeah, the Rangers were pounding Gonsalves. Like, here comes the pitch, batter gets huge eyes, commence high leg kick, swing as hard as humanly possible, crush the ball somewhere.

 

Congrats to Gonsalves for earning the chance to pitch in the bigs, though. Romero and Stewart look to have much better future prospects in MLB

Gonsalves (as well as every other pitcher) did get squeezed in this one, but he still wasn't very good otherwise. I'm not impressed with his stuff at all. Depending on the health status of Mejia and Pineda next season, I wouldn't put Gonsalves any higher than 7th or 8th in the rotation pecking order. I certainly wouldn't consider his opportunity as a reason to not sign a free agent starter in the off-season.

 

My thoughts as well. I've not been impressed with his stuff either and he doesn't seem to have the pin point control. On a positive note Garver has made good strives this season, one of the few bright spots. I really hope the Twins give him more games to catch in the future.

The opportunity for Gonsalves is more about his learning and getting his feet wet than the Twins learning about him. I am certain their view of his future is no different today than it was a couple of weeks ago. Ours shouldn’t be either.

The opportunity for Gonsalves is more about his learning and getting his feet wet than the Twins learning about him. I am certain their view of his future is no different today than it was a couple of weeks ago. Ours shouldn’t be either.

My opinion of Gonsalves has changed a little. However some of that is due to the reemergence of Lewis Thorpe. I had always seen Gonsalves and Thorpe to be similar pitchers. However...Thorpe has a faster fastball, and Thorpe has far better control and command. Gonsalves will find it hard to succeed with an 88-92 mph fastball with okay secondary stuff and no control/command of his pitches.

 

Gonsalves (as well as every other pitcher) did get squeezed in this one, but he still wasn't very good otherwise. I'm not impressed with his stuff at all. Depending on the health status of Mejia and Pineda next season, I wouldn't put Gonsalves any higher than 7th or 8th in the rotation pecking order. I certainly wouldn't consider his opportunity as a reason to not sign a free agent starter in the off-season.

 

People seem to forget Berrios struggles when brought up to MLB.  They lasted over the parts of two seasons.  Gonsalvez is not a high, high end prospect maybe, but he is certainly a projected back of the rotation guy that we need to pan out.  The Twins desperately need some of these upper level guys to work out.

 

He has dominated at every level, so we will need to give him a shot, as many starts as possible.  Stewart on the other hand has really not done anything to deserve his shot, but I am fine with them seeing what they got in both kids.  Way to early to make snap judgments IMO.

My opinion of Gonsalves has definitely changed - I hadn't actually seen him pitch before. He's not going to succeed in the majors. He's 24 and has no stuff or command. I guess minor leaguers can't hit his change-up but it's clearly not an issue for MLB hitters. Berrios had command issues but the stuff was obvious.

 

I'd take Stewart over Gonsalves without hesitation, and I'm not particularly high on Stewart.

I still want to see May closing out games for a couple of weeks.

 

People seem to forget Berrios struggles when brought up to MLB.  They lasted over the parts of two seasons.  Gonsalvez is not a high, high end prospect maybe, but he is certainly a projected back of the rotation guy that we need to pan out.  The Twins desperately need some of these upper level guys to work out.

 

He has dominated at every level, so we will need to give him a shot, as many starts as possible.  Stewart on the other hand has really not done anything to deserve his shot, but I am fine with them seeing what they got in both kids.  Way to early to make snap judgments IMO.

Oh, I certainly haven't forgotten that. The problem for me is that Berrios had the stuff and Gonsalves doesn't seem to. I believe that Stephen will figure out his command problems because outside of 2018, he hasn't struggled with that. However, I'm not sure if his fastball is going to be good enough. I had him pegged as a #4 starter in the majors and I wondering if he's more of a fiver now...

 

 

I'd take Stewart over Gonsalves without hesitation, and I'm not particularly high on Stewart.

I don't quite agree, I think Gonsalves will be a better starter. Methinks Stewart could be a decent bullpen arm, but I just can't see him as a starter. He has the 95 fastball and nothing else.

 

Oh, I certainly haven't forgotten that. The problem for me is that Berrios had the stuff and Gonsalves doesn't seem to. I believe that Stephen will figure out his command problems because outside of 2018, he hasn't struggled with that. However, I'm not sure if his fastball is going to be good enough. I had him pegged as a #4 starter in the majors and I wondering if he's more of a fiver now...

 

I don't quite agree, I think Gonsalves will be a better starter. Methinks Stewart could be a decent bullpen arm, but I just can't see him as a starter. He has the 95 fastball and nothing else.

 

Gonsalves doesn't even profile as a reliever for me. He'll do OK in AAA next year and then get dropped from the 40-man, and float around as a AAAA guy for several years until he retires. MLB is hard.

Gonsalves doesn't even profile as a reliever for me. He'll do OK in AAA next year and then get dropped from the 40-man, and float around as a AAAA guy for several years until he retires. MLB is hard.

Probably. Or he’ll develop into a good, low velocity lefty like many have. He would need to improve his command by leaps and bounds for that to happen, as well as sharpen up at least one secondary pitch.

 

But what’s pretty clear is that right now, he’s not going to succeed in MLB with what he’s shown.

Enjoyed this game immensely. At least, what little I saw of it. I got home to turn on the game just as the Texas guy jacked the 3-run HR, and my first thought was, "6-zip. Not impossible to come back." Changed channels, came back, it was 6-1. Switched channels again, came back it was 6-3. Getting interesting. Switched again, came back just as Garver cleared the bases to tie it up. Didn't want to jinx things by watching what transpired, so switched channels yet again, and returned as Cave was rounding the bases.

 

So I saw less than 5 minutes of baseball, but it was all wild, wild stuff. 

The opportunity for Gonsalves is more about his learning and getting his feet wet than the Twins learning about him. I am certain their view of his future is no different today than it was a couple of weeks ago. Ours shouldn’t be either.

Concur. He still has a chance to remake his game, trade something in terms of movement for better command, perhaps disguise his pitches better, and still have a career as a major league starter. He is young enough.