Front Page: Twins Game Recap (8/31): Tigers Tally 10 Runs in Perez’s Worst Start of Season

[Tom Froemming]

What was that? The Detroit Tigers have averaged an MLB-low 3.59 runs per game. They scored a total of three runs in their most recent series against Cleveland. A lineup that had zero hitters carrying an OPS above league average managed to beat the Twins, the greatest home run hitting team of all time, 10-7 Saturday.Box Score

Perez: 2.2 IP, 9 H, 8 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 67.1% strikes (55 of 82 pitches)

Bullpen: 5.1 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K

 

Home Runs: Garver 2 (26), Kepler (36), Polanco (20), Cron (24), Cruz (34)

Multi-Hit Games: Garver (2-for-3, 2 HR, 2 BB), Polanco (2-for-4, HR, BB), Cruz (2-for-5, HR), Kepler (2-for-3, HR, BB)

 

Bottom 3 WPA: Perez -.519, Sano -.079, Rosario -.056

 

Martin Perez came into this start with some positive momentum. He’d pitched to a 2.12 ERA in his previous three outings, though he had also walked nine batters in 17 innings. Still, a matchup against Detroit seemed to be the perfect opportunity to keep that positive momentum rolling.

 

It did not end up going that direction. In fact, Perez had his worst start as a Twin. He gave up eight runs (seven earned) on nine hits while recording just eight outs. Again, this is by far the worst hitting team in baseball the Twins were facing tonight.

 

Detroit scored seven runs in the third inning, the most the Twins have surrendered in any single frame all season. Ehire Adrianza played some disgusting defense out in right field that contributed to that inning. Still … worst hitting team in baseball.

 

Ah, but there were bombas. Those sweet, sweet bombas that allowed the Twins media staff to completely ignore the results of the game and gush about all the records that fell.

 

The Twins hit six home runs tonight; two from Mitch Garver one each from Max Kepler, Jorge Polanco, C.J. Cron and Nelson Cruz. They set the MLB single-season home run record with 268 bombas. Polanco’s tater gave the Twins eight players with 20 or more homers, a new record. Garver’s blasts gave the Twins 39 homers from their catchers this year, also a new record.

 

It would have been a lot more fun if all those milestones were reached in a victory. It’s been a fun journey leading up to all those accomplishments, of course, but losing to the worst team in baseball leaves a terrible aftertaste on what should have been a delicious evening.

 

At least Cleveland lost.

 

In celebration of the Twins breaking the home run record, Cooper shared the 10 biggest Twins home runs this season as ranked by WPA. Make sure to go check that out for some fun reminiscing on what’s been a fantastic season.

 

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.

 

One More Thing ...

"Up yours Anthony." -Bert Blyleven

 

Click here to view the article

[laloesch]

I've seen enough of Perez.

[Monticore]

Why did he pinch-hit Arreaz for Schoop? Made no sense with the bases loaded down 6-10.

[VivaBomboRivera!]

How does any team jack six balls out and still (mis-)manage to lose?  Perez gets direct blame, of course, but Johnson and Baldelli are on the hook for this.

 

Stashak should have been warming on the Rodriguez homer and swapped in after Dixon doubled.  No guarantee of a comeback down 2 - 6, but no reason not to immediately stop the bleeding either, since the bullpen will be stacked with fresh arms to face a bottom-feeding team again tomorrow. There is no excuse for what happened today.

 

What good is a major league home run record when the team loses in such shameful and preventable fashion?  Let the little girl in left field keep that ball.

 

Good news?  Magic is 23, still a chance to take 3 of 4, and 100 wins is still in reach.  However, retaking the AL lead grows tougher with the Yankees now 5 games ahead.  See you at the ball park again in a few hours.

[VivaBomboRivera!]

 

I've seen enough of Perez.

 

Apparently, Rocco had not...   :-(

[Seansy]

 

Why did he pinch-hit Arreaz for Schoop? Made no sense with the bases loaded down 6-10.

They brought in a RHP from the Tiger BP. Playing the match ups.

[MNT1996]

Does any one know what the Tigers' batting average against the Twins is this season? It's gotta be at least .280. Maybe higher. And they are the worst offense in the AL. 

[VivaBomboRivera!]

 

 

Why did he pinch-hit Arreaz for Schoop? Made no sense with the bases loaded down 6-10.

 

.353 average vs RH pitching, and Garver up behind him.  I liked that call.  We didn't need a dinger, we needed our best chance of keeping the inning going.

[h2oface]

..... and they lost the game. 

 

I just don't get why Baldelli leaves these starters in to be totally embarassed when they just don't have it, and give away the game. Prudent identification (and it really isn't hard) that it is happening, and you win games like this with our offense. Eat innings? It just doesn't hold up. You end of pulling them anyway after just a coupe of innings, and still have to use the other pitchers, but instead of being down 4 or 5 to whatever.... you are down 8-9 to whatever, and didn't accomplish anything. He has done it with Odorizzi, Berrios, Perez (the others?) and in all those games the offense came back and made a game of it and scored 7 plus runs..... and it could have been wins. I just don't get it. It accomplished nothing except to shatter confidence.

[Rosterman]

I wish Baldelli would stop feeling his pitchers can get out of the inning. Now with the icnreased roster, if a pitcher "just doesn't have it" no excuse to pull and put in a fresh arm.

 

The rotation IS a mess. Again, could the Twins have gotten someone, anyone, in July. But too late to cry now.

 

I was worried when the Yankees hit four homers in their game. But the Twins answered with six of their own, in a tough ballpark to hit homers (unless the Tigers are pitching).

 

Happily, Cleveland lost (to a good team). The Twins can't let these things happen against the dregs of the division.

[yarnivek1972]

Baldelli had to leave Perez in because he used all of his high leverage relievers yesterday. And he was forced to do that because Falvine didn’t think it was worth sending Dobnak down for 5 days and replacing him with a long man.

[DocBauer]

Absolute bummer of a game.

 

Good news: The Twins set a record.

 

Bad news: They lost because Perez had a really bad game.

 

Good news: The Twins didn't lose any ground. Plus, they battled.

 

Perspective: Again, they lost no ground. Perez has looked much better lately until today. Even if a team wins 100 games, they still lose 62. Our 5th SP just had nothing today. He adds to the 62. It's one game. Disappointing, but just one game.

[AceWrigley]

Not trying to nit pick here, but doesn't that add up to 6 homeruns (writeup says 5)? Man, 6 homers and we lose. Yikes.

[rukavina]

 

Does any one know what the Tigers' batting average against the Twins is this season? It's gotta be at least .280. Maybe higher. And they are the worst offense in the AL. 

I tallied 146 hits in 14 games - I guess homers are better than singles, but they have had a great approach against our pitchers.  The just grind through AB's against us - and only us.

[Tom Froemming]

 

Not trying to nit pick here, but doesn't that add up to 6 homeruns (writeup says 5)? Man, 6 homers and we lose. Yikes.

Not nitpicking at all, that's copy editing and it's very much appreciated. I started typing that out prior to the last Garver blast and forgot to update it. Good lookin' out.

[jz7233]

 

Why did he pinch-hit Arreaz for Schoop? Made no sense with the bases loaded down 6-10.

It makes perfect sense, Arraez is a better hitter with runners in scoring position and he is a LH hitter (against a RH pitcher). It just didn't work out. Arraez the rookie should be more careful with those borderline calls. Btw, do you actually believe Schoop is going to get a hit or a walk in that situation? He hasn't done that all season.

[jz7233]

 

..... and they lost the game. 

 

I just don't get why Baldelli leaves these starters in to be totally embarassed when they just don't have it, and give away the game. Prudent identification (and it really isn't hard) that it is happening, and you win games like this with our offense. Eat innings? It just doesn't hold up. You end of pulling them anyway after just a coupe of innings, and still have to use the other pitchers, but instead of being down 4 or 5 to whatever.... you are down 8-9 to whatever, and didn't accomplish anything. He has done it with Odorizzi, Berrios, Perez (the others?) and in all those games the offense came back and made a game of it and scored 7 plus runs..... and it could have been wins. I just don't get it. It accomplished nothing except to shatter confidence.

Earlier in the season Baldelli did the opposite. He pulled starters too early and overused bullpen. Now he pulled starters too late and the games were pretty much over when the relievers came in. He doesn't seem to get it right sometimes.

[mikelink45]

Wow is this productive.  In two games we have eliminated both Perez and Gibson as post season starters - who is next?

[jz7233]

 

I tallied 146 hits in 14 games - I guess homers are better than singles, but they have had a great approach against our pitchers.  The just grind through AB's against us - and only us.

Perhaps Gardenhire and his staff are behind all these. They are certainly very familiar with some of our pitchers and most of our hitters. Good approach against our pitchers and our hitters. 17 strikeouts today against our hitters right?

[VivaBomboRivera!]

Baldelli had to leave Perez in because he used all of his high leverage relievers yesterday. And he was forced to do that because Falvine didn’t think it was worth sending Dobnak down for 5 days and replacing him with a long man.

Please have a look at the calendar and reconsider this justification.

[jz7233]

Please either move Perez to the bullpen or release him now. LET PEREZ AND GIBSON WALK NEXT SEASON. Save the money to sign Odorizzi and Pineda.

[beckmt]

 

Baldelli had to leave Perez in because he used all of his high leverage relievers yesterday. And he was forced to do that because Falvine didn’t think it was worth sending Dobnak down for 5 days and replacing him with a long man.

By the rules, I think he would have to remain down 10 days.  

[Tom Froemming]

Some more on the pitching, including me stupidly getting mad about Tim Laudner because it feels better than stupidly getting mad about Martin Perez, for some reason.

[VivaBomboRivera!]

Another issue worthy of mention:

The Tigers beat the Twins on the base paths today like rented mules. The pitching didn't give us a chance to win, but fielders could very well have themselves to blame if they don't increase their awareness and connect their throws better.

To borrow a meme, 'tighten it up' before the Astros, Indians or Yankees make you look foolish.

[jimbo92107]

Baldelli made two big mistakes: 1. He should have batted Arraez before Garver. 2. He should have yanked Perez much sooner.

 

First, batting a power hitter like Garver first is all fine and well, but wouldn't it be better if he is preceded by a high OBP guy like Arraez? Today that might have spelled a couple extra much needed runs. 

 

Second, of all the Twins starters, by far the most volatile is Perez. That is, his stuff is most likely to oscillate wildly from devastating to batting practice. When Perez implodes, it happens fast, even faster than Bad Gibson. A lot of this is because Perez's repertoire is too limited. Today he went inside far too much, especially to a lineup of all righties. Clearly Gardenhire had his guys sitting on inside pitches, and by the time Perez and Garver figured it out, it was too late. Moral: You've got to be ready to throw your pitches anywhere on or outside the periphery of the zone. Otherwise, if you fall into a pattern, mlb hitters will figure it out, and kill you. 

[Dantes929]

 

 

 

 

Good news?  Magic is 23, still a chance to take 3 of 4, and 100 wins is still in reach.  However, retaking the AL lead grows tougher with the Yankees now 5 games ahead.  See you at the ball park again in a few hours.

Tigers have a .667 winning record against the Yankees.    Only conclusion I can draw is  the Yankees have that lead only because they are lucky they don''t have to play the Tigers that often.

[jokin]

 

It makes perfect sense, Arraez is a better hitter with runners in scoring position and he is a LH hitter (against a RH pitcher). It just didn't work out. Arraez the rookie should be more careful with those borderline calls. Btw, do you actually believe Schoop is going to get a hit or a walk in that situation? He hasn't done that all season.

 

I get the L/R  percentages thing that Rocco was looking for there with his hunch.

 

But here's the deal, over the last 15 days:

 

Schoop: .435/.458/1.130/(1.589)

Arraez: .244/.300/.267/(.567)

 

Arraez has been scuffling in the dog days of August, at bat, and in the field.

And in all reality, after a blazing start, his 2nd half OPS is only .742.

 

Schoop was well-rested and has been by far their hottest hitter over the last 15 days.

And 3rd best in OPS for August behind only Cruz and Cave. (Arraez is 9th best over the same time frame.)

Schoop's 2nd half OPS is actually .881, which is 4th best on the Twins (not counting Cave), while Arraez's .742 OPS ranks next to last- 11th best- only Jason Castro is worse.

Schoop also has a season # of .840 OPS vs. RHP on the road.

 

Still, it was a close call, but Rocco's percentages and hunches went with a scuffling rookie over an established vet with the game literally on the line.

[PseudoSABR]

The "up yours" comment from Byleven needs way more love.  It's just hilarious on so many levels: he's so bitter, the Fox Sports North guy is so petty, that record will never be broken, and Bert knows it.  How fun!?

[yarnivek1972]

By the rules, I think he would have to remain down 10 days.

Or until the AAA season ends. Isn’t that Monday?

[David HK]

Well, bottom line is- when the team needs starters to take a step up, nearly all of 'em are taking a step back.