Article: Twins Game Recap (7/26): Pineda Fuels Twins Easy Win In Chicago

[Thiéres Rabelo]

Behind another great performance from Michael Pineda, who continues an amazing stretch since the All-Star break, the Twins got another easy win against the White Sox in Chicago, 6-2. The bats weren’t as productive as they were last night, but they came up big early on, providing plenty of run support for Pineda.Box Score

Pineda: 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 64.5% strikes (62 of 96 pitches)

Bullpen (Thorpe): 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

 

Home Runs: Kepler (27), Cruz (26)

Multi-Hit Games: Cruz (3-for-4, HR, BB, 2 RBI), Sanó (2-for-4)

 

Top 3 WPA: Pineda .192, Kepler .188, Cruz .122

 

A record-breaking 200th home run

The best offense in baseball continues to destroy records. Max Kepler hit a three-run home run in the second inning, the 200th for the Twins in the season, which makes them the fastest team to reach that many dingers (103 games). The previous record belonged to the 2005 Texas Rangers, who hit their bicentennial homer in their 122nd game. Minnesota is now on pace to hit 316 homers in the year. Kepler also extended his home run leadership among German born players, now with 83 career bombas, five more than former Mariners infielder Mike Blowers.

 

That homer was part of yet another relentless effort by Minnesota bats, who were able to score five runs in one inning. Young White Sox starter Dylan Cease gave up six hits in the second, including an RBI-single to Nelson Cruz, as well as a sac fly to Byron Buxton with the bases loaded. Curiously enough, such productive offense has the second worst batting average in the majors with the bases loaded, now with .193, and is one out of five teams in the league with one or no grand slams this season.

 

 

Pineda continues to rise

Twins starter Michael Pineda once again had an outstanding outing, delivering the third quality start in his last four starts. For the first time since June 28, the Twins had two back-to-back seven inning outings from their starters. Overall it was an uneventful start for him, who only had issues during the third inning, in which he gave up a walk and three hits, one of which was a two-run homer to Adam Engel.

 

In his last eight starts, Pineda’s now posted a 2.87 ERA, 9.0 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9. He’s come up big for the Twins when they needed the most and is making a strong case to lock his rotation spot in an eventual post-season run, even if the club trade for rotation help.

 

The bullpen also thanked Pineda for his outing, as the Twins were able to use only one reliever for the third straight game. Lewis Thorpe had yet another very good outing, pitching two scoreless innings. In that three-game span, the Twins relievers gave up only one earned run.

 

Nelson Cruz still hot

Nelson Cruz refuses to cool down. In the seventh inning he hit his 26th home run of the year, his tenth since the All-Star break. This was also the fifth consecutive game in which he homered, making him the first 39-year-old to do so since Barry Bonds, in 2004. The Boomstick is now on pace to hit over 40 home runs in the season.

 

 

The Twins are now 63-40 and maintain a two-game lead over Cleveland in the AL Central. The Indians beat the Royals. Minnesota goes for its first series win in two weeks tomorrow, as Martín Pérez faces Ivan Nova.

 

Postgame With Baldelli

 

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

Click here for a review of the number of pitches thrown by each member of the bullpen over the past five days.

 

Click here to view the article

[FlauerPauer]

Nice win for the boys!

[Brock Beauchamp]

The Twins have "struggled" since the beginning of June.

 

Their high water mark of being over .500 was 25 games.

 

That came on July 13th.

 

They're now 23 games over .500.

 

Wow, this team is falling to pieces.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Also,  I'm a Thorpe bobo but he didn't look good tonight.

 

He got a bunch of bad hitters out and lucked out against the good hitters he faced. He was missing the mitt all over the place and threw wayyyyy too many pitches out of the zone.

 

Disappointing, for sure. 

[Monticore]

Pineda has been surprisingly solid.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

Pineda has been surprisingly solid.

I don't find it surprising at all. He had over a year off baseball and scuffled a bit. After a couple of months of scuffling, he's good again.

 

He's not a guy I want around forever but for a one year deal, he's a great addition.

[beckmt]

I don't find it surprising at all. He had over a year off baseball and scuffled a bit. After a couple of months of scuffling, he's good again.

 

He's not a guy I want around forever but for a one year deal, he's a great addition.

Disagree, depending on price would like to see a two to three year extension

[David HK]

Good, solid win today.

 

Jeepers, I didn't notice, though, we have 10 games left with the Tribe! 10!

 

Fortunately, 7 of 'em at our park, but that's a lot of time to tell which team is going to finish on top.

 

On another note, I don't get the crying about how Cleve. has a 'soft' schedule these days- all teams play the same sched, and the month of August will be as soft on us as it will be tough for them- so, July and Aug are going to be a wash. Let's see if the boys can make some hay next month when it's our turn through the Chi-KC-Detroit portion, while Cleveland deals with the Yanks, Red Sox, and Rays.

[FormerMinnasotan]

Also, I'm a Thorpe bobo but he didn't look good tonight.

 

He got a bunch of bad hitters out and lucked out against the good hitters he faced. He was missing the mitt all over the place and threw wayyyyy too many pitches out of the zone.

 

Disappointing, for sure.

I guess that’s why I’m happy Thorpe is in the bullpen right now. I’m sure he’ll make some mistakes, but in my mind nothing is better than facing live MLB hitters. Sure tonight Thorpe lucked out, but I’m sure even with 2 scoreless innings pitched Thorpe will have gained some more confidence and probably will have somethings the coaching staff will further work on with him.

[Pdxtwins]

I really appreciate these summaries but please be accurate in the reporting. Pineda has not pitched 8 times since the all star break. #factsmatter

[MNT1996]

Pineda has been very underrated in regards to his importance to this team. He's an almost guaranteed quality start every time he pitches recently. If the playoffs were tomorrow, I'd have him as the Twins #3 starter in an ALDS. 

[terrydactyls]

Yesterday was Friday, July 26, it was the 103rd game of the year and the Twins hit 2 home runs giving them a total of 201 home runs for the season. The Twins are now 64% of the way through the season. Out of 59 years, the current team ranks 4th on the all-time list of Twins' home runs in one season and are on a pace to hit 316 home runs this season. They are now 66 home runs behind the single season MLB record. The next Twins team to pass is the 2017 team that hit 206 home runs.

 

[Tom Froemming]

 

I really appreciate these summaries but please be accurate in the reporting. Pineda has not pitched 8 times since the all star break. #factsmatter

Fixed.

[Riverbrian]

 

Also,  I'm a Thorpe bobo but he didn't look good tonight.

 

He got a bunch of bad hitters out and lucked out against the good hitters he faced. He was missing the mitt all over the place and threw wayyyyy too many pitches out of the zone.

 

Disappointing, for sure. 

 

The skill of getting away with not having it, is very valuable. 

[jokin]

 

Yesterday was Friday, July 26, it was the 103rd game of the year and the Twins hit 2 home runs giving them a total of 201 home runs for the season. The Twins are now 64% of the way through the season. Out of 59 years, the current team ranks 4th on the all-time list of Twins' home runs in one season and are on a pace to hit 316 home runs this season. They are now 66 home runs behind the single season MLB record. The next Twins team to pass is the 2017 team that hit 206 home runs.

 

Making the case for raising the mound back up to pre-1969 levels....

nightly.

[Old Twins Cap]

Having Buxton back really helps this team.

 

Time to run off six, seven, eight in a row.

 

Rip the beating heart out of Cleveland's chest and stomp it into dust as a parade of players round the bases, bomba upon bomba.

 

[jmlease1]

The White Sox sure are the cure for what ails ya, huh?

 

Kepler is having an excellent season, just excellent. I was ok with the contract extension because Kepler's ability to play CF gave him significant value even if his hitting never really broke out. Maybe its the baseball, maybe he's just unlocked his power stroke, but regardless of what it is he's slugging it like you expect from a guy playing RF. Now that deal looks like a steal.

 

 

[Tom Froemming]

Here are some highlights. It was nice to see some good defensive plays by the infield and some aggressive baserunning. 

[Riverbrian]

 

Good, solid win today.

 

Jeepers, I didn't notice, though, we have 10 games left with the Tribe! 10!

 

Fortunately, 7 of 'em at our park, but that's a lot of time to tell which team is going to finish on top.

 

On another note, I don't get the crying about how Cleve. has a 'soft' schedule these days- all teams play the same sched, and the month of August will be as soft on us as it will be tough for them- so, July and Aug are going to be a wash. Let's see if the boys can make some hay next month when it's our turn through the Chi-KC-Detroit portion, while Cleveland deals with the Yanks, Red Sox, and Rays.

 

I think we tend to spend too much time discussing hard or soft schedule. 

 

The hardness or softness of schedule is a moving target. 

 

Play the Tigers while you are playing like crap... They will sweep you. 

 

Play the Giants while they are winning everything and they will sweep you. 

 

The Padre fans were probably pretty excited to see the Giants on the schedule around the first of July. In hindsight... not so much. That was about the time the Giants got on a month long roll.  

 

I'll leave assessing the schedule strength to others and look at them skeptically each time they try.

 

What the Indians, Giants and Cardinals are doing right now is pretty damn impressive. Let's see who looks pretty damn impressive in August. I don't know who it will be but it will probably be three different teams. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

I guess that’s why I’m happy Thorpe is in the bullpen right now. I’m sure he’ll make some mistakes, but in my mind nothing is better than facing live MLB hitters. Sure tonight Thorpe lucked out, but I’m sure even with 2 scoreless innings pitched Thorpe will have gained some more confidence and probably will have somethings the coaching staff will further work on with him.

True. Expecting him to be dominant out of the gate is probably unfair, it’s just that the bullpen doesn’t have a lot of margin for error right now.

[MMMordabito]

What the Indians, Giants and Cardinals are doing right now is pretty damn impressive. Let's see who looks pretty damn impressive in August. I don't know who it will be but it will probably be three different teams.

Hopefully, one of those three will be the Twins.

[rdehring]

Does anyone have any information on the status of La Tortuga?  You see him on the bench for every game, seemingly having a good time supporting his mates.  Sure doesn't look all that injured.

 

Could the plan be to keep him on the bench until August 11?  Then send him out for a 20-day rehab so he is back on September 1 when rosters expand.  Meanwhile, he could be available at any time should a need arise for a second catcher.

[Dantes929]

Pineda now has 10 quality starts out of 20 which is about league average for all starters and exactly equal to Noah Syndergaard.     I prefer to cherry pick and say that since May 11th he has 9 quality starts out of 13 which is way better than average and top of the rotation territory.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Does anyone have any information on the status of La Tortuga? You see him on the bench for every game, seemingly having a good time supporting his mates. Sure doesn't look all that injured.

 

Could the plan be to keep him on the bench until August 11? Then send him out for a 20-day rehab so he is back on September 1 when rosters expand. Meanwhile, he could be available at any time should a need arise for a second catcher.

I thought I heard he had resumed baseball activities but could be confusing that with someone else, as I heard it during the Yankees series and I was pretty drunk for that entire set of games.

[Dantes929]

 

I think we tend to spend too much time discussing hard or soft schedule. 

 

The hardness or softness of schedule is a moving target. 

 

Play the Tigers while you are playing like crap... They will sweep you. 

 

Play the Giants while they are winning everything and they will sweep you. 

 

The Padre fans were probably pretty excited to see the Giants on the schedule around the first of July. In hindsight... not so much. That was about the time the Giants got on a month long roll.  

 

I'll leave assessing the schedule strength to others and look at them skeptically each time they try.

 

What the Indians, Giants and Cardinals are doing right now is pretty damn impressive. Let's see who looks pretty damn impressive in August. I don't know who it will be but it will probably be three different teams. 

I agree completely with many of your points.   Pretty much every season has top teams losing or getting swept by bottom teams.   When the Twins couldn't buy a victory against any East team last decade the last place Royals seemed to do pretty well against some of them.      You absolutely have to take care of business when playing bad teams and you can't assume Cleveland will lose against the good teams.   My all time favorite example of this was in 2006 when we were tied with the Tigers and 3 to go.  We were playing a pretty good White Sox team and Tigers were playing the 100 loss Royals.    Everyone was saying we absolutely had to sweep the White Sox to have a chance at the division title.   We ended up winning 1 game but the Tigers, with everything to gain, got swept by the Royals.... At home!      However, over time schedule does matter.    Yes, give credit to the Indians for their winning streak but it has been against the bad teams.   Twins giving up ground while playing the Yankees, A;s, etc, was predictable.     Twins are winning 70% of their games against losing record teams.   Over time those stats matter.  Throw them away for short term.  Twins should do better in August but whether they do and whether it is enough remains to be seen.   They do play the Indians 10 more games.    

[puckstopper1]

Its amazing how good the bullpen looks when the starting pitcher goes 7 strong... 

 

Keep it up boys!

[rdehring]

 

I thought I heard he had resumed baseball activities but could be confusing that with someone else, as I heard it during the Yankees series and I was pretty drunk for that entire set of games.

When he is available, expect he will be the odd man out.  Expect either a rehab assignment or just optioned to Rochester until September 1.

[Nine of twelve]

 

Pineda has been surprisingly solid.

 

 

I don't find it surprising at all. He had over a year off baseball and scuffled a bit. After a couple of months of scuffling, he's good again.

 

This is very similar to Sano's situation. He was injured for the last 2-3 months of 2017, had major surgery which rendered him unable to work out during that off-season, was therefore out of shape at the beginning of 2018 and never got things together. It was somewhat better for him during the most recent off-season but then there was the fluky heel injury and he had essentially no spring training. When he finally was activated the rust was painfully apparent, especially compared to everyone else who was in mid-season form. Now that he has had a chance to get his timing and conditioning up to speed we have been seeing a marked improvement in his performance. There's good reason to think not only that he won't regress but that he can continue to progress even further both at the plate and in the field.

It is beyond me that so many people seem to think that the issues he had with his health were insignificant and feel that he should be traded or even, as many have advocated, DFA'd. He has 50-HR-per-season talent and a cannon for an arm. He's not a perfect fielder but he has the ability to be the best third baseman in baseball.

Edited July 27, 2019 by Nine of twelve

[Vanimal46]

Pineda now has 10 quality starts out of 20 which is about league average for all starters and exactly equal to Noah Syndergaard. I prefer to cherry pick and say that since May 11th he has 9 quality starts out of 13 which is way better than average and top of the rotation territory.

Out of the 3 pending free agents he's #1 on my priority list to sign this off-season as it stands today.

 

Big Mike

Odorizzi

 

Gibson