Article: MIN 6, SEA 5: Comeback Victory Capped By Trevor May Save

[AJ Condon]

The Twins were able to use a late inning push to improve to 44-21 and retake their lead as baseball's best. The Twins score three runs in the bottom of the eighth to take a one-run lead. Taylor Rogers was unavailable due to a stiff back, so it was Trevor May who was given the ninth tonight. He passed the test.Box Score

Perez: 5.0 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 7 K, 62.1% strikes (59 of 95 pitches)

Bullpen: 4.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K

 

Home Runs: Schoop (12), Castro (8)

Multi-Hit Games: Polanco (3-for-3, 2 2B)

 

WPA of +0.1: Polanco .398, Gonzalez .190, Schoop .111

WPA of -0.1: Sano -.172, Perez -.205

Download attachment: Win611.png

(chart via FanGraphs)

 

Twins Pounce on Bullpen

See Twins fans, our bullpen isn’t the only one to blow leads late in the game. In fact, entering tonight, the Twins are tied for fifth fewest blown saves with only four. The Mariners, on the other hand, picked up their 12th blown save, which is tied for third-most in the league.

 

Though the Twins don’t have that many blown saves, that doesn’t mean our bullpen isn’t bad. That was shown tonight when Trevor May almost gave Twins’ Twitter another reason to talk about how not getting Craig Kimbrel was a mistake.

 

The ninth inning opened with a pair of singles, but May managed to protect the one-run lead. Rogers was unavailable due to a sore back.

 

The Twins were able to pick up their first lead of the game in the eighth inning with the first three batters getting on, which included back-to-back doubles to bring them within one, followed by a walk.

 

Austin Adams came in, no not the Twins’ reliever, but the reliever for the Mariners, and tied the game up on a wild pitch which scored Jorge Polanco. Two batters later Marwin Gonzalez gave the Twins the lead with his first hit of the game.

 

Leake Deals

Prior to that late comeback, it was a bit of a frustrating evening for the Twins. Mike Leake was able to hold them to only three runs through seven innings. He got a lot of help from the Twins being very aggressive in the later innings, but nonetheless, had a very solid outing. He had 16 at-bats where he threw four or fewer pitches, including 10 at-bats that were two pitches or fewer.

Leake gave up back-to-back home runs in the fourth, but settled in after that. Other than his two home runs, in his seven innings Leake gave up only four hits, zero runs, and struck out six.

 

Perez Continues to Struggle

This start by Martin Perez marks his third straight giving up more than two runs. Perez had a 7-2 record with a 3.72 ERA coming into this game, but it’s been rising for the past three outings and tonight didn’t help. Over the last three games, he had posted a 7.44 ERA and 2.15 WHIP.

 

Perez’s struggles started right away with his first-pitch strikes. In the first three innings he was only able to get five first pitch strikes out of 13 batters. He was able to keep his struggles irrelevant in the first 2 2/3 innings, but with a two-out rally in the third, things went downhill.

 

Perez was limited to just five innings in tonight’s game which makes it four straight starts where he has failed to go more than five innings. He was only able to throw a first pitch strike to 11 out of 24 batters he faced tonight. His ERA has risen a full run in his last four starts to bring it to 3.97, but thanks to a late inning push, he picked up a no-decision.

 

Record-Breaking Powerhouse

Every few games it feels like the Twins are breaking a new record whether it’s their own franchise record, or a MLB record. After their first home run of the game bringing them to 126 on the season, they had already set a new club record and MLB record. They passed their previous record of home runs before the All-Star game from 1964, with 24 games until the break, and set the MLB record for most home runs in their first 65 games of the season. They finished the night with 127 home runs.

 

Postgame With Baldelli

 

Bullpen Usage

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

Download attachment: Pen611.png

Next Game

Wed vs. SEA, 7:10 pm CT (Berrios-Milone)

 

Last Game

MIN 12, DET 2: No Motown Blues for the Minnesota Twins

 

More from Twins Daily

Why Miguel Sano's Strikeouts Are Not a Problem

10 Relievers Minnesota Could Target

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[curt1965]

It’s always better to be lucky than......... actually, these guys are good, too!

Something must be wrong with Rogers, unless Rocco was trying to make some kind of point. He was willing to sacrifice the game by staying with May and no one else backing him up, and he won-this time.

[DocBauer]

Followed the tracker and radio for part of the game and joined in about the 6th inning. It was a stomach Turner, but a fun game and win. A few comments to make:

 

1] This is a very good team who believes in themselves and never give up.

 

2] I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but even though Perez has been struggling his last few starts, be struck out 7 in 5 IP tonight. The stuff appears to still be there. He's been mkre wild lately. There are ebbs and flows for batters and pitchers alike. I am not panicking at this point.

 

3] Duffey was good for his 1 IP. Harper was OK but allowed a run. EARTH SHATTERING. Magill had an impressive inning. Where was THAT on the road trip? His stuff is just too good to give up on. But he needs to do that again and again over the next few weeks or he could be replaced.

 

4] May came through! There were a couple weak shots that provided scary moments. He got a called 3rd strike that may have changed the game. Somewhat debatable as it was a nice pitch. But those calls happen for both teams in every game. But he stayed in control and got the job done. IMO, he's starting to collect himself and looking more and more like the pitcher we saw last season. And that could pay huge dividends going forward.

 

Good game and good win! Go Twins!

[Danchat]

Chief called it in the game thread in the 9th:

 

 

 

Rocco Baldelli said Taylor Rogers was not available tonight out of the bullpen because of back tightness. That enabled Trevor May to take the ninth and get his first save of the season.

 

Edited June 12, 2019 by Danchat

[MNT1996]

His stat line may not say it, but I thought Perez pitched pretty well tonight. Made a mistake on the HR to Edwin, but his strikeouts were back today. Still needs work on not giving up so many walks. Both of them came back to hurt him.

[USAFChief]

 

His stat line may not say it, but I thought Perez pitched pretty well tonight. Made a mistake on the HR to Edwin, but his strikeouts were back today. Still needs work on not giving up so many walks. Both of them came back to hurt him.

Yeah, he had really good stuff tonight, I thought. But I wouldn't say he pitched well.

 

[jkcarew]

Thought for sure I’d be reading all kinds of pleas and arguments for electronic calling of balls and strikes. Guess not. Weird.

[USAFChief]

 

Thought for sure I’d be reading all kinds of pleas and arguments for electronic calling of balls and strikes. Guess not. Weird.

Try the game thread.

[jkcarew]

Try the game thread.

I did...there was acknowledgment that the bases should have been loaded with nobody out...but not the usual outrage that we get when the call goes the other way. I’m firmly in the ‘let the umpires call the pitches, it’s not a big problem’ camp. But that was one of the worse calls on an extremely high leverage pitch that we’ll see all year.

Edited June 12, 2019 by jkcarew

[Dantes929]

"See Twins fans, our bullpen isn’t the only one to blow leads late in the game. In fact, entering tonight, the Twins are tied for fifth-fewest blown saves with only four.  Though the Twins don’t have that many blown saves, that doesn’t mean our bullpen isn’t bad.".   I think it does mean that.    I also think that you cite giving up two singles while not giving up a run as an example shows what unrealistic expectations of a bullpen fans have.    4 relievers aside from our best one pitched 4 innings of 1 run ball.   That is a really good performance and helped win the game and it was hardly the only time this season that the pen has pitched 3 or 4 innings of good relief in a close win.   Twins have 4 blown saves.     Astros have 8 blown saves, Yankees have 10 blown saves,  Red Sox have 10 blown saves.  Rangers have 9 blown saves.   Braves have 11 blown saves.  Dodgers have 10 blown saves.  Cubs have 12 blown saves.    I'm not saying they are great or couldn't use another guy but relievers give up runs.    

[Aerodeliria]

 

Yeah, he had really good stuff tonight, I thought. But I wouldn't say he pitched well.

He grooved that pitch to Edwin E. When I saw the location on MLB.com, I said to myself, "Stay in the park." Alas, it did not.

 

The other thing that was not really thrilling me was that after the Twins fought back to tie it, Perez gave back the lead immediately.

 

Loved the bottom of the eighth, though. Great to work that inning for three runs.

 

May was fortunate to get Edwin E. on strikes. Two of those pitches were outside the zone according to MLB.com's tracker--the third strike seemed completely outside of the box-0-not really even close (with about a baseball's width space between the actual pitch and the black). I was wondering if he beefed about it. If the tracker was correct, I'm sure he mumbled something. (Did anyone see footage of it or was anyone at the game? I'm more curious than anything.) CORRECTION: I finally got to see the third strike to EE in the 9th. That was a very nice job of framing by Castro. The pitch looked much better once we saw the video. (It was still a tad outside and perhaps an eyelash low, but with the superb framing by Castro, it looked much better than I had imagined.)

 

It's a win, and we're happy to take it, but as has been mentioned numerous times. If Rogers goes on the IL/IR list, the Twins will be thin on relief pitching.

[DiscGolfer]

The Twins have't blown many saves because they haven't had very many save opportunities due to the large leads that they've built.  

[Aerodeliria]

 

Thought for sure I’d be reading all kinds of pleas and arguments for electronic calling of balls and strikes. Guess not. Weird.

Maybe check in with Mariners Nation; I'm sure that a few of their faithful might have demanded robot umpires. ;-)

[beckmt]

Close pitches go both ways, just doesn't seem like the Twins way that often.  May has closer stuff, if he can harness location, that is still a big if(but he is not the only reliever with that issue). A very good win.  

Twins are doing what all good clubs do, beat the bad clubs most of the time.  That is a good sign.

[diehardtwinsfan]

 

His stat line may not say it, but I thought Perez pitched pretty well tonight. Made a mistake on the HR to Edwin, but his strikeouts were back today. Still needs work on not giving up so many walks. Both of them came back to hurt him.

 

He couldn't hit the zone to save his life. Not sure if he was getting squeezed, but he's got to get more strikes or your going to see more outing like last night.

[mikelink45]

I am constantly surprised by some of the comments about Twins players.  Perez did not pitch well - not close.  Whatever is wrong with Perez, it might be time for one of those mysterious IL vacations.  May did not pass any test - 2 hits in one inning is not a good line and I do not trust him.

 

What I do agree with is that this was a great win and the Twins are really staying focused as a team.

[Old Twins Cap]

If Cruz is up in Yankee Stadium, and the Twins had Polanco and Kepler on base in the 9th inning, and Cruz gets called out on a pitch that far off the plate, .... c'mon, that's not good for the game of baseball. Fans would be calling for blood.

 

That said, the Yankees do get those calls in New York. So, let's chalk that up to "earning it" by being such a good team.

 

But, realistically, you can't make that bad of a call on such a big pitch and not diminish the game on some level.

[Old Twins Cap]

Can you imagine being a Twins' player, waking up this morning, seeing you are 23 games above .500, 10 games up in the division, destroying HR records left and right and then realizing that Tommy Milone is pitching for the Mariners tonight?

 

That's gotta give an extra hop to your step.

[bighat]

Who are we mad at this morning? May? Sano? Perez? Harper?

 

I'm trying to be more positive today so I'll focus on the big picture: the Cruz and Gonzalez signings were brilliant. Our catchers are offensive juggernauts. This team is surely playoff bound. The window to trade for pitching help will be opening up in a couple weeks. The only question is if the Twins can secure home field throughout with the best AL record! Wow!

[Riverbrian]

 

Thought for sure I’d be reading all kinds of pleas and arguments for electronic calling of balls and strikes. Guess not. Weird.

 

 

 

If the umpire will consistently miss calls in the Twins favor, I will withdraw my request for automated balls and strikes.

 

Last night was a step in that direction. 

 

 

 

[Tibs]

 

I am constantly surprised by some of the comments about Twins players.  Perez did not pitch well - not close.  Whatever is wrong with Perez, it might be time for one of those mysterious IL vacations.  May did not pass any test - 2 hits in one inning is not a good line and I do not trust him.

 

What I do agree with is that this was a great win and the Twins are really staying focused as a team.

Looks like May threw a scoreless inning to me.

[jorgenswest]

His stat line may not say it, but I thought Perez pitched pretty well tonight. Made a mistake on the HR to Edwin, but his strikeouts were back today. Still needs work on not giving up so many walks. Both of them came back to hurt him.

Two of his three walks were to Encarnacion and close to intentional.

 

He got the following batter Vogelbach to strike out the first two at bats. It is the third at bat against Vogelbach that was bothersome. He stayed on the outside every pitch of that at bat. He needed to trust his stuff and come in hard inside. Eventually Vogelbach three his bat out there and flared one to left for an RBI.

 

I am not worried about the walks. I do wonder if he is questioning his stuff as he pitches to Encarnacion and even coming inside against Vogelbach.

[Puckett34]

 

His stat line may not say it, but I thought Perez pitched pretty well tonight. Made a mistake on the HR to Edwin, but his strikeouts were back today. Still needs work on not giving up so many walks. Both of them came back to hurt him.

 A couple of those walks were unintentional, intentional walks to Encarnacion to get to Vogelbach. Perez didn't look great, but he certainly looked better than he did in his previous 2 starts.

 

Edit: Whoops, echo chamber in here with the post above me.

[Vanimal46]

Might be time to look at starting pitchers on the market and move Perez to the bullpen...

[Riverbrian]

Who are we mad at this morning? May? Sano? Perez? Harper?

 

I'm trying to be more positive today so I'll focus on the big picture: the Cruz and Gonzalez signings were brilliant. Our catchers are offensive juggernauts. This team is surely playoff bound. The window to trade for pitching help will be opening up in a couple weeks. The only question is if the Twins can secure home field throughout with the best AL record! Wow!

About a year ago, I was a passenger in a friends car. We were driving through a parking lot, we were laughing and joking about something. Without warning, a car started to back out into his path. The backing car nosed out maybe a foot but must have saw us, because the car stopped and waited for him to go by.

 

Of course, the backing car did start to back out and this made my friend kinda apply the brakes a little and maybe slightly adjust the wheel to the left before straightening out and continuing on as normal.

 

When this happened... my friend went from mid-sentence in the middle of an uncompleted joke to screaming, cussing, out of his mind angry at the idiot driver who started to back out.

 

Twinsdaily can be that way sometimes.

[Dman]

The way Perez pitches I was shocked that with two strikes he grooved a pitch down the middle to Edwin.  I guess they were hoping Edwin would be shocked as well and not swing? Perez tip toed around the zone all night why with their best power hitter up does he decide to go down the middle?  Baffling at least to me.  I mean if he gets the homer on a tough low outside or inside pitch so be it but to put it on platter for him seems odd especially from a pitcher reluctant to throw strikes.

 

At times it felt like the offense was little too aggressive but a tip of the hat to Leeke as he was willing to pump in first pitch strikes and keep attacking.  I was impressed at how he held the Twins offense down fro the most part.

 

Sano still looks pretty ugly at the plate.  I know his OPS is still very good but if he can clean up some things he can be much better.

 

I know you shouldn't mess with a good thing but it feels like Buxton is ready for the top of the order especially since Kepler hasn't been outstanding in that role so far this year.  Also their OBP and OPS are not that different this year.

 

Hate to see a called third strike on such a borderline pitch but it felt like we took a lot of bad calls in that game as well.  I still think robo umps would be better.

Edited June 12, 2019 by Dman

[VATwinsFan]

Happiness is having Garver and Cron on the bench last night and not seeing where I'd need to have them pinch hit.

[BattleYourTailOff]

Can you imagine being a Twins' player, waking up this morning, seeing you are 23 games above .500, 10 games up in the division, destroying HR records left and right and then realizing that Tommy Milone is pitching for the Mariners tonight?

 

That's gotta give an extra hop to your step.

I’m going to the game tonight. Hopefully get a chance for a few HR balls. I know Cruz hits him well anyway.

[terrydactyls]

Yesterday was Tuesday, June 11 and it was the 65th game of the year.  The Twins are now 40%  of the way through the season.  Out of 59 years, the current team ranks 33rd on the all-time list of Twins' home runs in one season and are on a pace to hit 317 home runs this season..

[james2334]

The start from Perez wasn't great, but there is definitely hope there. He needs to attack the strike zone early in the count and pitch from ahead instead of constantly starting at bats with ball 1 and ball 2. That's fixable, I think.

 

May was OK. He got a gift strike out, but then two weak pop outs from good hitters. I seem to remember him having a good change up when he was a starter. He doesn't seem to use it much anymore. I think it would be an effective pitch for him as hitters have to gear up for his juiced up fastball.

 

Winning games 12-2 is fun, but I actually think the one run games are better for the team as it helps prepare them for the type of games they will face in the playoffs.