Article: NYY 4, MIN 1: Twins Fizzle, Bronx Drizzles

[Tom Froemming]

Sunday's Twins game at Yankee Stadium was both pushed back and called off early due to rain. In between, the Twins bats scored just one run and left eight men on base.

The Twins had an opportunity to send their fan base into a frenzy by winning this series in New York, but instead they fizzled out. After multiple wild pitches, a passed ball and a hit batter, the tarps finally came out in the bottom of the eighth inning.Box Score

Pineda: 5.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, 63.2% strikes (60 of 95 pitches)

Home Runs: None

Multi-Hit Games: Gonzalez (2-for-4)

WPA of +0.1: None

WPA of -0.1: Adrianza -.127, Pineda -200

Download attachment: Win55.png

(chart via FanGraphs)

 

The Twins rotation has been on fire lately. Well, pretty much everybody except for Michael Pineda. I’m sure Pineda would have loved to keep that momentum rolling, especially against his former team, but he wasn’t quite up to task despite having some really good stuff this afternoon.

 

Pineda struck out eight batters and got 18 swinging strikes over his five innings of work, but he also gave up four runs (three earned) on six hits and three walks. The big blow was a Mike Tauchman two-run homer that came with two outs and a full count. Pineda got ahead of Tauchman 0-2, but couldn’t finish him off. The fifth and sixth pitches of that at-bat were chase sliders that were simply way too far off the plate to get even the most anxious hitter to bite.

 

If that battle goes Pineda’s way, we may be talking about this as his most impressive outing as a Twin. Instead, it’s another subpar outing. Pineda has given up 18 earned runs over his last 19 innings pitched.

 

Domingo German, who is having a breakout season, was excellent for the Yankees. His first name translates to Sunday in Spanish, so I think the universe was just going to be on his side either way today. The only run he surrendered over 6 2/3 innings was on an RBI single by Marwin Gonzalez.

 

Marwin actually got two of the Twins’ four hits against German, and now has multiple hits in three of his last four games. He had just four multi-hit games in his first 24 contests with the Twins.

 

They rain really started coming down later in this game and in the eighth inning it became an issue. Adam Ottavino threw a wild pitch, Gary Sanchez slipped retrieving it and then the next batter, C.J. Cron, was hit by a pitch.

 

With two on and two out in the eighth, Aaron Boone brought in Aroldis Chapman to face Gonzalez. It can’t ever be comfortable to face a guy who throws 100 mph, but in the rain? No thanks. Chapman also threw a wild pitch on a slider but he eventually got Marwin swinging to end the threat.

 

The grounds crew brought out a bunch of diamond dust between innings. Fernando Romero threw a wild pitch in the bottom of the eighth. The instant it appeared as though Yankee batters may be in danger, out came the tarp.

 

Weird.

 

The start of this game was also delayed by three hours. The Yankees don’t have to travel tonight and the Twins just need to jump on a quick flight to Toronto, but I can’t imagine this delay will drag on too long. If they do get back underway, I’ll make sure to swing back and update this article. Here's how the radar looks right now:

Download attachment: Screenshot 2019-05-05 at 6.21.10 PM.png

 

UPDATE: The game was, in fact, called off early. Chapman was credited with the save, in case you were wondering.

The silver linings are that the Twins at least didn’t get swept in New York and that Cleveland also lost today. So we’ve got that going for us.

 

Bullpen Usage

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

Download attachment: Bullpen55.png

Next Three Games

Mon at TOR, 6:07 pm CT (Perez-Stroman)

Tue at TOR, 6:07 pm CT (Berrios-Sanchez)

Wed at TOR, 6:07 pm CT (Gibson-Thornton)

 

Last Game

MIN 7, NYY 3: Curse This

 

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[tarheeltwinsfan]

Ugh !

[mikelink45]

Michael Pineda has a long way to go for me to be a believer, but more than anything I look at the Yankee injuries and the replacements - yes they are primarily replacement players and I wonder why we have to see our minor leaguers come up and suffer through growing pains while the Yankees keep bringing up the "who is he" guys and still win.  I know there is no answer, but I am confused.

[Cglidds]

Pineda is rather dreadful to watch..nibble nibble boom..he may have taken too many notes duribg Gibson's first few starts...that 8th we could have walked in two runs..stay aggresive boys, and let's get it tommorow in Toronto..4-3 not a bad week!

[h2oface]

Losing 2 of three, only getting 4 hits today........ against so many subs for the Yankees....... so you think one game and the "curse" is over? Not what I am feeling..........

 

 

[USAFChief]

Disappointing weekend.

[IndianaTwin]

I'm still a believer in Pineda.

 

Even with three walks today, his BB/9 is still second-best among the starters. His K/9 matches Perez and Gibson. 

 

He started with three spiffy games, followed by a clunker.

 

G5 looks ugly in the end, but the damage came in the 5th and 6th. Through 4, he'd given up a run on three hits and two walks, striking out three.

 

G6 also looks ugly in the end, but again the damage came in the 5th and 6th. Through 4, he'd given up a run on three hits, an HBP, and a walk, with the walk coming after the inning was extended by an error.

 

And both G5 and G6 were against the Astros. 

 

Even today, he looked good at times, with seven strikeouts through three. It was a tough play, but if Polanco gets the out on the grounder in the second, he has something like four hits and two walks through four, with just two runs. Not spectacular, but keeping them in the game. 

 

To only get 60 pitches from your No. 5 (which is what he is right now) isn't sustainable, but to me he looks like the guy coming back from Tommy John that he also is. There's usually hiccups for guys coming back from TJS.

 

With an off day on Thursday, they could skip him this time through the rotation. I'd like to see them do that for the purpose of giving him a break, but I suspect they won't with the DH on Saturday. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Aggies7]

If there was ever a time to go into NY and take a series or sweep, this was it. Outside of Sanchez, voit, and possibly andujar (just back from the DL), there were few threats in the Yankees lineup. Paxton and Happ were not great either. Friday night’s game should have been a win but the defense was bad from the start. Kind of feels like the twins played down to the level of competition in this series.

 

Pineda and Gibson must be more consistent for the team to really contend for big things. Perez is still a question mark for me despite his recent success. Going to be hard to go far if the whole staff outside of two guys is a question mark.

[stringer bell]

Yes, to only get one of three vs. the wounded Yankees is disappointing. Friday was a lousy game and Sunday was disjointed.

 

Pineda got swings and misses, but couldn’t put away the #9 hitter when he was ahead 0-2. It was the fifth and he was around 80 pitches. His pitches and command weren’t as sharp. Conditioning? He’s become a five-inning pitcher?

 

I think he has to have a short leash.

[h2oface]

It seems there is no confidence in May by management. He is now seems relegated to mop up, pitch when behind, and with the lower tier of the relief rotations.

 

The Yankees were 0-5 against teams with winning records until this weekend. Leave it to our Twins to help them out, and give them a series win against a team with a winning record, and improve their record to 2-6.

 

Onward to Toronto. Gotta win all three to take the season series.

[the_brute_squad]

I think there's plenty of left in Pineda's tank. A lot o pitches that were "picking the corners' proved to be strikes on the telecast. It's actually surprising that they weren't called strikes on a getaway day with rain imminent.

Granted, his legs aren't there and it's disappointing that he's not in better condition, but he drew a lot of swinging strikes, had a good mix, and really only lost to a couple of batters.

 

[Platoon]

In order of preference, I follow a game on 1) TiVo. 2) live tv. 3) Radio. Sunday was my first extended radio listening of the year. So glad to see Dan Gladden has not lost it. From his exuberant "got him" on a 3-1 pitch, to his declaring Tauchman "overmatched" in the beginning of his home run AB, he quickly reminded me of why when I listen to the Twins on radio I take CCO's advice and "turn down the sound"

[USAFChief]

In order of preference, I follow a game on 1) TiVo. 2) live tv. 3) Radio. Sunday was my first extended radio listening of the year. So glad to see Dan Gladden has not lost it. From his exuberant "got him" on a 3-1 pitch, to his declaring Tauchman "overmatched" in the beginning of his home run AB, he quickly reminded me of why when I listen to the Twins on radio I take CCO's advice and "turn down the sound"

"Fly ball down the right field line...this one will reach the seats."

 

Fair or foul, Danny? Seems kinda important, no?

[Old Twins Cap]

The thing I hate most about playing the Yankees in the Bronx, and I've seen it for decades, is that the home plate umpires squeeze the visiting team on the strike zone.

 

Sure, some umps are worse than others, but, if you go back pitch-by-pitch, you start to realize that the bias is real and impacts the game in multiple ways.

 

No umpire wants the Yankee fans on their ass, and they subtly cave to their curses and rants, making for a built-in Yankee advantage that is nauseating to watch.

[Number3]

Getting the W on Sat. was fine for that series. Now 2 of 3 in Toronto and back to Target. Don't see the Yankees again until late July and it won't be in Yankee Stadium. Dog day time for the 2019 season.

[bird]

 

The thing I hate most about playing the Yankees in the Bronx, and I've seen it for decades, is that the home plate umpires squeeze the visiting team on the strike zone.

 

Sure, some umps are worse than others, but, if you go back pitch-by-pitch, you start to realize that the bias is real and impacts the game in multiple ways.

 

No umpire wants the Yankee fans on their ass, and they subtly cave to their curses and rants, making for a built-in Yankee advantage that is nauseating to watch.

 

 

This is an interesting notion, and I think you're probably right, but I wonder if this has data-backed validity now that this is possible to track.

 

Anyone know? It would be interesting, stadium to stadium, to know if there are higher missed strike numbers at some, maybe higher missed balls at another.

[Dantes929]

 

The thing I hate most about playing the Yankees in the Bronx, and I've seen it for decades, is that the home plate umpires squeeze the visiting team on the strike zone.

 

Sure, some umps are worse than others, but, if you go back pitch-by-pitch, you start to realize that the bias is real and impacts the game in multiple ways.

 

No umpire wants the Yankee fans on their ass, and they subtly cave to their curses and rants, making for a built-in Yankee advantage that is nauseating to watch.

#1 argument for automated strike zones.   I was at a women's college playoff basketball game many years back cheering on the home team and about halfway through I noticed something really weird.   The opposing coach never uttered a word to the refs and when one of her players showed displeasure with a call they went to the bench.   She literally just coached her players and let the refs call the game while the home team fans and coach were constantly complaining and yelling at the refs.     Of course the home team got the vast majority  of the calls and won a pretty close game but it was still the most remarkable coaching performance I ever saw.    I am a big believer in the scientific method but until shown otherwise by studies I am going to go ahead and assume that yelling and screaming at officials works.    You may not want to take out the human element in umping a game but then you just have to accept that the human element is flawed.

[Number3]

On Saturday, Jake could not have cared less about umpire bias. He attacked the strike zone with 93-94 mph fast balls and then went off speed in mid-high 80s. He dealt with the batter, not the umpire. Then, in comes Hilldenberger who nibbled around the plate with slow breaking balls and was torture to watch compared to Odorizzi. I like the way the YES network leaves a K-zone box on the screen all the time as the pitch is being delivered and shows the speed of every pitch. I thought the ump did a great job in that game. Pitchers who are afraid to attack the strike zone are too dependent on the whims of the umpire.

[gocgo]

 

This is an interesting notion, and I think you're probably right, but I wonder if this has data-backed validity now that this is possible to track.

 

Anyone know? It would be interesting, stadium to stadium, to know if there are higher missed strike numbers at some, maybe higher missed balls at another.

I think it was Schoop that didn't come close to swinging and got rung up without an appeal.  Shortly after that our catcher appealed to first on a check swing and didn't get the call.  That got me thinking - I would like to see is the percentage of successful appeals for visitors at Yankee Stadium vs. other stadiums.

 

I hate Yankee games...they are practically unbearable to watch...every count seems to go to 3-2.  I can watch about 4 innings before I get bored and fall asleep.  The games just drag on.

[Shaitan]

 

Yes, to only get one of three vs. the wounded Yankees is disappointing. Friday was a lousy game and Sunday was disjointed.

Pineda got swings and misses, but couldn’t put away the #9 hitter when he was ahead 0-2. It was the fifth and he was around 80 pitches. His pitches and command weren’t as sharp. Conditioning? He’s become a five-inning pitcher?

I think he has to have a short leash.

Isn't he on an innings limit for the year anyway, or was that just to start the season. He hasn't pitched 150 in...I'm not going to look, but over 2 years.

 

Or maybe they don't care if they push him since he's a free agent anyway.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

"Fly ball down the right field line...this one will reach the seats."

Fair or foul, Danny? Seems kinda important, no?

The best announcers lets the listeners use their imagination!

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Isn't he on an innings limit for the year anyway, or was that just to start the season. He hasn't pitched 150 in...I'm not going to look, but over 2 years.

 

Or maybe they don't care if they push him since he's a free agent anyway.

Veterans coming off surgery/absences don't seem to have season "innings limits" per se. Teams can exercise some caution around their usage, but they won't shut them down or change their role or anything unless they get hurt or really struggle, like most every pitcher.

[Doomtints]

 

I think there's plenty of left in Pineda's tank.

 

He started the year OK and he already appears to be out of gas. He's done as a starter, he might have a few more years as a bullpen arm, but the Twins would never make that type of decision until very late in the year.

[Doomtints]

 

"Fly ball down the right field line...this one will reach the seats."

Fair or foul, Danny? Seems kinda important, no?

 

Gladden doesn't hide it when he's frustrated. I can see him saying that in a game v. the Yanks, or any game that is getting out of hand.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Gladden doesn't hide it when he's frustrated. I can see him saying that in a game v. the Yanks, or any game that is getting out of hand.

I don't think it has anything to do with frustration. He just omits key details from his play-by-play at times, regardless of game state.

[Doomtints]

I have listened to Gladden enough times to know that's not true. 

[USAFChief]

 

I don't think it has anything to do with frustration. He just omits key details from his play-by-play at times all the time, regardless of game state.

ftfy

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

I have listened to Gladden enough times to know that's not true. 

I mean, I guess we all hear things a bit differently. But I distinctly recall some instances like Chief is describing without any evident frustration from Gladden (just from the listener ).

 

Or he'll describe a ball hit to the outfield, but not specify where or whether it's catchable in the air or not. You have to listen for further clues, like a description of advancing runners, to figure out what happened.

 

He's not the regular PBP guy, so it's no big deal. I'm certainly not complaining, but I reserve the right to poke fun about it!

Edited May 6, 2019 by spycake

[Doomtints]

Oh, I'm all for poking fun at Gladden. Did you see it when he pushed/took a swing at Puckett? Kirby just moved out of the way and looked around like, wtf was that about?

 

Of course they kissed and made up soon after.

Edited May 6, 2019 by Doomtints

[Shaitan]

 

Veterans coming off surgery/absences don't seem to have season "innings limits" per se. Teams can exercise some caution around their usage, but they won't shut them down or change their role or anything unless they get hurt or really struggle, like most every pitcher.

I agree in normal circumstances. But I expect caution with Pineda given his history. He's not just some pitcher coming off TJ surgery. He's a pitcher who has barely ever pitched a full season without a trip to the IL.