Tigers 3, Twins 2: This Is Not What You Want

[Cooper Carlson]

The Tigers beat the Twins 3-2 Sunday in Detroit, giving Minnesota five straight losses. Kenta Maeda delivered another quality start, but former Twin Jonathan Schoop hit a go-ahead home run in the sixth inning to put the Tigers up for good.Box Score

Maeda: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 8 K

Home Runs: Polanco (3)

Bottom 3 WPA: Kepler -.162, Arráez -.133, Sanó -.094

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs):

Download attachment: Winchart.png

 

The Twins entered today after being swept in a double header just a day ago. They needed Kenta Maeda to provide a spark with a solid outing. He did that and it somehow was still not enough.

 

The Twins jumped out to an early lead and at the end of the third inning they were up 2-1. A wild pitch scoring Marwin Gonzalez and a solo home run from Jorge Polanco allowed the Twins to jump out early. You probably aren't surprised by this, but the Twins didn't score after the third inning!

 

Kenta Maeda had yet another solid start, going six innings and giving up three runs with eight strikeouts. He did what was needed, but it didn't matter because this offense just cannot seem to do anything right now.

 

The Twins were shut down by a collection of five pitchers and only one of them had an ERA under 4.00 so not exactly ideal. After falling out of first place a day ago the Twins look to be dropping even further.

 

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

Download attachment: Bullpen.png

 

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[USAFChief]

One horrid AB after another.

 

Cave's 1st inning 3 pitch K with 2 on should be enough to send him to St Paul.

[Aggies7]

5 game losing streak the same week you alienate a large portion of your fan base. Timing was never out strong suit

[rdehring]

Today was just plain ugly, as was yesterday and this entire week. Yes, it will help getting Pineda and the injured three position players back. But will they be here soon enough?

 

Three against the White Sox this week. Lose those and they are at a real risk of not making the playoffs. Time for somebody in the organization to start kicking some butt and getting some players and managements attention.

[denarded]

 

5 game losing streak the same week you alienate a large portion of your fan base. Timing was never out strong suit

 

What did I miss on the alienation front?

 

[NatteringNabob]

Wonder what they could get for Nelson Cruz? Ugh. Sorry, I shouldn’t say that, it’s just the frustration talking.

[ashbury]

Wonder what they could get for Nelson Cruz?

Get him a nice thank you basket - chocolates, wine, whatever little treats they happen to know he enjoys.

 

[whosafraidofluigirussolo]

5 game losing streak the same week you alienate a large portion of your fan base. Timing was never out strong suit

Come on.

[NatteringNabob]

 

ashbury

Today, 08:20 PM

 

NatteringNabob, on 30 Aug 2020 - 2:18 PM, said:

Wonder what they could get for Nelson Cruz?

Get him a nice thank you basket - chocolates, wine, whatever little treats they happen to know he enjoys.

 

Thank you for making me laugh! I needed it!

[GNess]

There are 25 games remaining. If you assume 5 man rotation, five starts each: Maeda, Hill, Berrios, Pineda, Dobnak, Are Lance Lynn or Dylan Bundy types significant upgrades worth surrendering a future asset or two to acquire?

 

It seems the Twins bigger needs are for better hitting outfielders assuming Donaldson can gain some form and make a big contribution. I see Rooker, Kiriloff and Larnach as upgrades over Cave/Wade. If Buxton comes back strong only need to replace either Cave or Wade? Are there any RH bats on the market instead of promoting from within?

 

 

[mikelink45]

The fact we have not moved anyone from the 60 with a bat other than Jeffers is really frustrating to me.  Not having a starter to remove the BP game is another frustration.  It is time to look at the manager and FO for some change.  

[ChrisKnutson]

Tonight would be a great night for a trade!!

[Otto von Ballpark]

5 game losing streak the same week you alienate a large portion of your fan base. Timing was never out strong suit

Meh. I bet our attendance will be unchanged when we return home tomorrow!

[Otto von Ballpark]

Three against the White Sox this week. Lose those and they are at a real risk of not making the playoffs.

Obviously getting swept at home and running the losing streak to 8 would be very, very bad, but to miss the playoffs it looks like we’d have to finish behind Detroit and despite the last two days results, that is still hard to imagine — they’ve still got a negative run differential and hardly seem ready to make that leap. We’re still 3.5 ahead of Detroit too so we can’t fall behind them in the next 3 days. We’re also getting Pineda and could still swing a trade, while I don’t see the Tigers getting any reinforcements.

[Primetime82]

I laughed out loud to myself when I seen where Cave was batting in the lineup today. That was comical.

 

I totally understand protecting the investments but the Twins front office sends you to the DL if you break a nail!

 

[LVTwinsfan]

I really don’t think losing a playoff spot is totally out of the question. The Twins have one reliable starter and we lost with him today, this homestand will be the key, we keep losing and it’s a very real possibility. As far as alienating fans, we’ll have to wait for fans to be allowed to go to games to see if that rings true, although I believe that is also a very real possibility.

[twinbythebay]

It just plain sucks to watch this lineup right now. That being said, let's all just take a deep breath. Go take a look at the playoff odds on Fangraphs. By their projections, even after this awful weekend of games, the Twins still have higher odds of winning the World Series (6.6%) than missing the playoffs (5.2%). Right now is a much better time for them to be slumping than a month from now.

 

Also, even if disaster struck and they lose the rest of their games and miss the playoffs, I still think it would be incredibly short-sighted to make any management changes based solely on this goofy, short season. Are there really Twins fans out there who are willing to overlook last year's 101-win season and fire someone based on a few bad weeks this season?

[h2oface]

Looks like they read on TD that they were an automatic for the playoffs after their 10-2 start, and decided that was it. But you have to play the games. 10-13 since, with 4 game and 5 game losing streaks. MOY needs to light a fire. You still have to play the games.

[Aggies7]

I really don’t think losing a playoff spot is totally out of the question. The Twins have one reliable starter and we lost with him today, this homestand will be the key, we keep losing and it’s a very real possibility. As far as alienating fans, we’ll have to wait for fans to be allowed to go to games to see if that rings true, although I believe that is also a very real possibility.

I was being tongue in cheek since there really is no good time for a 5 game losing streak. But boy it would be interesting to see the reception if fans were allowed in games after events of the past week

[VivaBomboRivera!]

Ten game win streak starts tomorrow.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

I was being tongue in cheek since there really is no good time for a 5 game losing streak. But boy it would be interesting to see the reception if fans were allowed in games after events of the past week

[bighat]

 

Looks like they read on TD that they were an automatic for the playoffs after their 10-2 start, and decided that was it. But you have to play the games. 10-13 since, with 4 game and 5 game losing streaks. MOY needs to light a fire. You still have to play the games.

Agreed.

 

Zero sense of urgency. A few reasons for this IMO: first, all the guys on the DL right now. Starting with Josh Donaldson - Twins brought him in to fill a power-hitting role in the infield (ie: hit as many HR as Schoop and Cron combined) and he's done zippo, zero, zilch, nada. Buxton...well we knew that would happen. Secondly, all of these bullpen games and throwaway games organized by Rocco. Seems like he's content to flip a coin every other game rather than going for the jugular.

 

Rocco is always playing the long game. In a short season, he might just be making a mistake. The time to rest guys and take your foot off the gas is when things are locked up - not now. Very frustrating.

 

Side note: feel bad for Nelson Cruz. Dude is just doing everything he can to carry this team and his numbers are unreal. When does he start getting frustrated?

[mikelink45]

 

Obviously getting swept at home and running the losing streak to 8 would be very, very bad, but to miss the playoffs it looks like we’d have to finish behind Detroit and despite the last two days results, that is still hard to imagine — they’ve still got a negative run differential and hardly seem ready to make that leap. We’re still 3.5 ahead of Detroit too so we can’t fall behind them in the next 3 days. We’re also getting Pineda and could still swing a trade, while I don’t see the Tigers getting any reinforcements.

I am really tired of the who cares we will be in the playoffs posts.  Getting in the playoffs and going home immediately is not something I want to see or will celebrate.

 

[Otto von Ballpark]

Side note: feel bad for Nelson Cruz. Dude is just doing everything he can to carry this team and his numbers are unreal. When does he start getting frustrated?

Cruz willingly played 4 years in Seattle. His coping mechanisms are probably even better than his bat!

[Otto von Ballpark]

I am really tired of the who cares we will be in the playoffs posts. Getting in the playoffs and going home immediately is not something I want to see or will celebrate.

I was just looking at the playoff question from a technical perspective. Yes, we should strive for better than backing into the playoffs, and absolutely we should aim for advancement.

[Otto von Ballpark]

Mod note: let’s keep this discussion to on-field baseball. There are still other threads if you feel the need to expand about off-field, non-baseball topics.

[jmlease1]

It's very strange to see a team we were so confident in their offense and unsure about the pitching and defense going into the year to see the offense struggling so hard.

 

Getting Donaldson back would certainly help; even if his his timing isn't there immediately, he's going to take good ABs and with him and Cruz together it'll cascade in the lineup.

[twinbythebay]

 

I am really tired of the who cares we will be in the playoffs posts.  Getting in the playoffs and going home immediately is not something I want to see or will celebrate.

I get what you're saying here. We all want to see the Twins win as many games as possible. The thing is, with the stupid playoff format this year, winning the division is heavily disincentivized compared to a normal season. Considering that every playoff team has to play a best-of-three series in the first round, no matter how they finish in the regular season, I would argue that their odds of advancing past the first round are only marginally higher if they win the division instead of finishing second or third and still getting into the playoffs.

 

As a Minnesota sports fan, I just felt the need to clarify that my seemingly optimistic stance about this team is really based in a longer term pessimism. Just wanna make sure I don't lose my MN sports fan cred.