Article: MIN 10, NYY 5: Joe Mauer Grand Slam Highlights Big Night for Bats

[Tom Froemming]

Oh, we’re gonna do another one of these game recaps? Really? Aren’t the Twins, like, waaaay out of it and playing terribly anyway? Alright, here we go I guess. Well, let’s see, what happened tonight …

 

OMG JOE MAUER HIT A GRAND SLAM AND THE TWINS CRUSHED THE YANKEES!!!!! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!Download attachment: WinChart911.png

(chart via FanGraphs)

 

Let’s just get right to the granny, shall we?

Stuff like this is exactly why we keep paying attention. For all we know, this could very well be Joe’s last season. I’d bet on him being a part of the 2019 Twins, but until we have a definitive answer on his future I’m going to make sure to soak it all up, just in case.

 

Mauer’s grand slam, the fifth of his career, put the Twins up 10-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning. The only problem was there was so much game left to be played.

 

The Yankees fired right back in the top of the sixth inning with a grand slam of their own coming off the bat of Didi Gregorius. Thankfully, that was all the more offense New York would deliver.

 

The Twins used an opener tonight, going with Tyler Duffey to start, then going to Kohl Stewart as the primary pitcher. Here’s how things worked themselves out:

 

Tyler Duffey: 2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K (29 pitches)

Kohl Stewart: 3.1 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 5 BB, 0 K (63 pitches)

Trevor May: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K (11 pitches)

Taylor Rogers: 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K (20 pitches)

Trevor Hildenberger: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K (9 pitches)

 

Stewart just could not find the zone, throwing just 46 percent of his pitches for strikes. That’s the last thing you want to see when your team builds a 10-1 lead. Stewart loaded the bases with one out in the sixth inning, then was lifted for May, who gave up the grand slam.

 

Forget the opener, at this point the pitching gimmick I’m most interested in seeing in 2019 is Taylor Rogers pitching a borderline irresponsible number of innings. We’re talking Mike Marshall levels. He’d probably break down before too long under those circumstances, but Rogers has been so incredible of late. He now has 21 straight scoreless appearances.

 

Hildy has also got things back on track of late. He went through a stretch last month in which he gave up multiple runs in four straight appearances. Since then, Hildenberger has only surrendered one earned run on three hits over 10 ⅓ innings.

 

Mauer, Jorge Polanco, Robbie Grossman and Max Kepler all reached base three times. Jake Cave had two hits and stole a base.

 

Postgame With Mauer

Next Three Games

Wed vs. NYY, 7:10 pm CT: Jake Odorizzi vs. Luis Severino

Thu at KC, 7:15 pm CT: TBD

Fri at KC, 7:15 pm CT: TBD

 

Last Three Games

NYY 7, MIN 2: It Was Close, Until It Wasn’t

MIN 3, KC 1: Walk-Off Willians

KC 4, MIN 1: Good, Great, GRAND, WONDERFUL!

 

Click here to view the article

[SwainZag]

Ah the rare Joe genuine smile at around :45 in.  Love it.  

[Einheri]

It's nice to see the Twins beat up on the Yankees for a change.

[h2oface]

Can anyone direct me to a site that I can easily pull inherited runs scored and variations..... individual and team. These bullpen pitchers have been brutal to their teammates this year. I am curious to see just how bad it is, and compare to other teams and players.

 

May's line doesn't look too bad, if you don't consider he let 4 runs cross the plate.

[Otto von Ballpark]

Can anyone direct me to a site that I can easily pull inherited runs scored and variations..... individual and team.

Here you go! See the columns IR, IS, and IS%:

 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/2018-reliever-pitching.shtml

[bighat]

Every one of our "openers" has put the Twins in an early hole. Hint: the strategy doesn't work if your bullpen is terrible.

 

Great to see Joe crank one out against the Yanks no less. Very nice moment. Hey, let's take 2-of-3 and win one tonight!

[Blake]

 

Every one of our "openers" has put the Twins in an early hole. Hint: the strategy doesn't work if your bullpen is terrible.

 

Great to see Joe crank one out against the Yanks no less. Very nice moment. Hey, let's take 2-of-3 and win one tonight!

If you think of them as "audition for next year" rather than "opener" it makes more sense.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

I hate the Yankees.

[Old Twins Cap]

Salt in the wound for me.

 

We needed this last October, and before that, in .... 2006/09/?, God, how many years did we lose to the Yanks in the playoffs?

[SF Twins Fan]

How the f do you post an image in here?!?!

[wabene]

Ah the rare Joe genuine smile at around :45 in.  Love it.

If you watch Joe at first he's quite personable.

[Dantes929]

 

Every one of our "openers" has put the Twins in an early hole. Hint: the strategy doesn't work if your bullpen is terrible.

 

Great to see Joe crank one out against the Yanks no less. Very nice moment. Hey, let's take 2-of-3 and win one tonight!

Pitchers give up runs.  1 run in two innings to the Yankees is below average especially, according to advanced stats, in the first two innings.   Also, to be fair to Duffey, Cave misplayed that ball in the 2nd inning turning a double into a triple and thus a run vs a runner stranded on 3rd.   Not advocating the Opener but I thought Duffey pitched pretty well.

[blindeke]

Please don't ruin Taylor Rodgers.

[AceWrigley]

I wish Joe would swing like that more often. You could see he put a little more jolt into that swing. Makes me wonder if he could get his left-centerfield power alley thing going again like he did at the Metrodome. Nice one Joe.

[jmlease1]

The walks will kill you. Tough night for Kohl Stewart, who really needs to be able to pound the zone to have success. Bad timing for May to give up the dinger, but that's a tough spot to come into.

[davidc3915]

It's always nice to beat the Yankees, since it seems to happen about as often as we get to see a total eclipse......

For all the angst Mauer has given people, I was truly happy for him yesterday.  It was a cool moment.......

[Doomtints]

It's interesting that, because the Twins hit a grand slam, the Yankees had to hit one too. Of course.

 

I'm looking forward to the Twins doing a 25-0 beatdown of the Yankees someday.

Edited September 12, 2018 by Doomtints

[Number3]

I fully expected to see Mauer's 4 run homer sneak over the left field wall. Instead it was a 406+ ft blast to slightly right center. So now the question remains why was that only home run # 6 for the season? The answer has to be that his main goal is maintaining that .300 life time batting average, not helping the Twins win baseball games. Therefore, simply make contact and hit to the opposite field. Bryce Harper did the same thing recently when his average was heading towards the Mendoza line. I honestly believe that Mauer will do anything to keep that .300 average including retiring.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

How the f do you post an image in here?!?!

I download the image, then in "More Reply Options" on the desktop site, you can attach (upload) it, then "Add to Post". Seems to be the most reliable method for me.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Forget the opener, at this point the pitching gimmick I’m most interested in seeing in 2019 is Taylor Rogers pitching a borderline irresponsible number of innings.

 

 

Paul Molitor's reaction:

 

[Squirrel]

 

How the f do you post an image in here?!?!

 

 

I download the image, then in "More Reply Options" on the desktop site, you can attach (upload) it, then "Add to Post". Seems to be the most reliable method for me.

 

 

Or ... if you have a link from the internet of the image or gif you want to use and are using the full editor on your desktop, click on the 'image of a tree' icon and follow the prompts.

 

Or, as spycake noted above, click on 'More reply options' and follow those directions. Those instructions work for downloaded images and photos.

[jimmer]

I fully expected to see Mauer's 4 run homer sneak over the left field wall. Instead it was a 406+ ft blast to slightly right center. So now the question remains why was that only home run # 6 for the season? The answer has to be that his main goal is maintaining that .300 life time batting average, not helping the Twins win baseball games. Therefore, simply make contact and hit to the opposite field. Bryce Harper did the same thing recently when his average was heading towards the Mendoza line. I honestly believe that Mauer will do anything to keep that .300 average including retiring.

so Mauer hits a grand slam and you still have to rag on the guy, attacking his character by saying all he cares about is his average? Incredible. For some on here, it doesn't matter what the guy does, they just have to take shots. Edited September 12, 2018 by jimmer

[h2oface]

 

The walks will kill you. Tough night for Kohl Stewart, who really needs to be able to pound the zone to have success. Bad timing for May to give up the dinger, but that's a tough spot to come into.

 

May threw it right down the middle. 95 no movement. It was served up to be clobbered. Missed the low outside corner target completely.

[Dantes929]

 

I fully expected to see Mauer's 4 run homer sneak over the left field wall. Instead it was a 406+ ft blast to slightly right center. So now the question remains why was that only home run # 6 for the season? The answer has to be that his main goal is maintaining that .300 life time batting average, not helping the Twins win baseball games. Therefore, simply make contact and hit to the opposite field. Bryce Harper did the same thing recently when his average was heading towards the Mendoza line. I honestly believe that Mauer will do anything to keep that .300 average including retiring.

 

I wish Joe would swing like that more often. You could see he put a little more jolt into that swing. Makes me wonder if he could get his left-centerfield power alley thing going again like he did at the Metrodome. Nice one Joe.

Over the years I have seen Joe swing hard plenty of times where he fouls the ball straight back.    It seems like when he tries to hit for power his swing goes on a different plane and he just doesn't square it up.      In this case when he says he was just trying to hit a fly ball to score the run I believe him.   In this case it was 97 mph that he hit on the screws.    Carew used to say he could hit 20 homers a year but he would bat .270 instead of .330.    I have always appreciated Joe for who he is rather than get down on him for who he is not.

[jkcarew]

Looking at the BB's it might seem like Stewart and Gonsalves have the same issues.  But I'm not sure they do.  When I look at Steward, I see a guy who has stuff, but can't get it over the plate despite trying (and doesn't get totally annihilated when he does throw it over the plate)

 

When I watch Gonsalves, I see a guy without much stuff, who tries hard not to throw it over the plate.

 

Maybe, it's just me, but I remain more optimistic on Stewart.  (Which probably means Gonsalves has a long and successful major-league career ahead of him.)

[Fritzderkat]

Joe's earned his place here, I'd say. When you add them all up years from now and ask who were the great ones, he'll be among the Twins top five. How much more do you want out of a guy?

[jorgenswest]

Every one of our "openers" has put the Twins in an early hole. Hint: the strategy doesn't work if your bullpen is terrible.

 

Great to see Joe crank one out against the Yanks no less. Very nice moment. Hey, let's take 2-of-3 and win one tonight!

Duffey did well in the role and allowed Stewart to begin with the 8 and 9 hitters. I think it worked the way it is supposed to last night.

[MABB1959]

 

I hate the Yankees.

What's to hate about the Yankees?  An owner that puts a competitive team on the field year after year?  Stanton, Judge, Hicks, Gregorios? 

[snepp]

 

What's to hate about the Yankees?  An owner that puts a competitive team on the field year after year?  Stanton, Judge, Hicks, Gregorios? 

 

You make a very good point.

 

 

But they're still the Yankees.

[wabene]

Please don't ruin Taylor Rodgers.

This is what I've been thinking about today after reading on this site about the great run he's been on. I think both Rogers and Hildenberger have proven to be reliable and useful bullpen pieces. Let's hope Molly can practice some restraint with them the rest of the way.