Game Recap: Twins 8, Orioles 3

[Nate Palmer]

Mother nature almost disturbed the Twins path to a win. It was a trip through the lineup in the 8th that helped the home team weather the storm for a series opening win. 

Box Score
Starter: Matt Shoemaker 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
Home Runs: Trevor Larnach (2), Kyle Garlick (3)
Top 3 WPA: Garver (.279), Garlick (.278), Shoemaker (.247)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

It wasn't the cleanest game ever, but the Twins with the help of some good performances and a strong 8th inning were able to get themselves another win. Shoemaker put together one of his better starts of the season. He made it to 96 pitches and 6 innings before Baldelli looked toward his bullpen to finish out the final 3 innings of the game. 

Shoemaker did allow the Orioles to get on the board in the 1st inning. After issuing a leadoff walk to Cedric Mullins, the outfielder made his way around to score. He made his way to second by way of his 6th steal on the season and placing himself in scoring position to score off of an Anthony Santander double. 

The Twins right-hander didn’t necessarily “cruise” from there on as there were some moments that were cause for one to hold his or her breath. The results were there though as Shoemaker did put together a very good start and put the Twins in a good position to try and win the game. 

Larnach Monster Shot

Larnach tied up the game 1-1 with a monster first-pitch home run in the Twins half of the 3rd. It was the sort of swing and result that everyone has been waiting to see come to full fruition from a top-hitting prospect like Larnach. 

It was not just big in Monday’s night game, but the home run also goes down as the longest home run of the Twins season at 461 feet. And by landing in the Delta Sky360 Club in straight away center field he joins a limited group. 

Garlick also made sure to get in on the action with his own home run.

Rain Delay Kills the Mood

The Twins were likely already going to have a tough time closing out the final 3 innings Monday night with a taxed bullpen. Farrell was able to put up a scoreless frame thanks to a great relay play from Garlick-Gordon-Garver.

Alcala came in and was one out away from hopefully stranding an Orioles runner on first. That was until the rain poured from the heavens. As the game resumed, maybe somewhat surprisingly Alcala returned to the mound. He was promptly met by DJ Stewart who put the Orioles up 3-2. 

Big Offensive 8th Inning

Just as we may have uttered “here we go again,” the Twins exploded in the bottom of the 8th for 6 runs. It started with a Donaldson sac fly to bring in Simmons and tie the game at 3. Then with both Donaldson and Kirilloff on base, Garver would double in two runs to put the Twins ahead for good. 

Just about every Twin hitter got in on the fun in the 8th as the team batted around before finally former Twin minor leaguer Tyler Wells got Garlick to strike out swinging.  For more on Wells go here. 

The Twins have a long way to go and a lot of luck may be needed to get back into any vicinity of sniffing the playoffs again. This sort of win is a positive sign for a club that couldn't find any runs in the late innings earlier in the season.

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN	MON	TOT
Robles	14	0	27	24	0	65
Farrell	0	38	0	0	16	54
Duffey	25	0	13	15	0	53
Rogers	22	0	9	14	0	45
Alcala	0	10	17	0	14	41
Stashak	19	0	0	0	0	19
Thielbar	0	0	0	18	0	18
Colomé	0	0	2	0	8	10

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[jimbo92107]

Larnach's monster shot was a revelation. Not many men can hit a baseball that far. Those that can tend to be well-known names in the baseball world...or those that soon will be.

[Vanimal46]

I like wins. 

[Monticore]

A winning streak!

[twinbythebay]

1 hour ago, jimbo92107 said:

Larnach's monster shot was a revelation. Not many men can hit a baseball that far. Those that can tend to be well-known names in the baseball world...or those that soon will be.

...and Byung-ho Park. Let's hope his career tends more towards those other well-known baseball men.

[jimbo92107]

14 minutes ago, twinbythebay said:

...and Byung-ho Park. Let's hope his career tends more towards those other well-known baseball men.

Two encouraging signs. First, Larnach's approach clearly reveals a mature plan at the plate, where Park had little idea how to cope with mlb pitchers. Second, Larnach's swing is classically beautiful, short to the ball, long through it, minimal wasted motion.

Park's swing was an extreme example of what I think of as the 'Cuban style.' Bat speed created by a 360 degree helicopter of the bat, starting from over the head with the bat literally pointed at the pitcher. As Park found out, this kind of swing puts a lot of stress on the wrists, especially if your timing is not right on the mark. The result was in fact a painful, ongoing problem with Park's wrists, which of course slowed down his swing, exacerbating his inability to adjust to mlb pitchers, until he was gone after one disastrous season. 

Fortunately, Larnach's swing does not appear to put undo stress on his body. It was simple, quick, on balance, and his finish was relaxed. Looked like he could repeat that swing a hundred times without getting tired. Too soon to conclude much, but I see nothing standing between Larnach and a long career bashing balls over fences and playing decent outfield. 

[SoDakTwinsFan4]

45 minutes ago, jimbo92107 said:

Two encouraging signs. First, Larnach's approach clearly reveals a mature plan at the plate, where Park had little idea how to cope with mlb pitchers. Second, Larnach's swing is classically beautiful, short to the ball, long through it, minimal wasted motion.

Park's swing was an extreme example of what I think of as the 'Cuban style.' Bat speed created by a 360 degree helicopter of the bat, starting from over the head with the bat literally pointed at the pitcher. As Park found out, this kind of swing puts a lot of stress on the wrists, especially if your timing is not right on the mark. The result was in fact a painful, ongoing problem with Park's wrists, which of course slowed down his swing, exacerbating his inability to adjust to mlb pitchers, until he was gone after one disastrous season. 

Fortunately, Larnach's swing does not appear to put undo stress on his body. It was simple, quick, on balance, and his finish was relaxed. Looked like he could repeat that swing a hundred times without getting tired. Too soon to conclude much, but I see nothing standing between Larnach and a long career bashing balls over fences and playing decent outfield. 

Larnach reminds me just a bit of Wally Joyner, great fluid swing. Still needs to not try and pull outside pitches and go the other way.

I was mostly impressed with Garver's AB. pitch was a few inches off and he stayed down and through with a perfect swing. Thanks Mitch.

[bighat]

That 8th inning home run by Stewart was right out of central casting. It was so defeating. A shame for Shoemaker. Glad the Twins said "f this" for a change and got the run back and then some. The bottom of the 8th inning was really something to watch.

Need to make hay this week, good way to start. Here's hoping the guys in the Twins locker room are starting to feel like they can win ballgames.

We've got a real star in Kiriloff and Larnach's been showing some potential. Fun.

I fear the Twins are still too much boom-or-bust offensively. Would love to see a game where they are consistently scoring in many innings, rather than just 1 or 2.

 

 

[umterp23]

Larnach HR was impressive but I still see a bit of Sano in him.  If he makes contact it is hard, but many of K's hiding in there as well.  When you look at St. Paul he was what 3 for 11 with 3 hr's but his other outs were K's.  Right now he has 15 games and 15 K's so he has slowed the K route a tad in the bigs.  K's are part of the game (see Sano and Garver) so hopefully the Bomba mentality does't take over for Larnach.  I will always preach plate discipline over a wow HR.

[Brock Beauchamp]

6 hours ago, SoDakTwinsFan4 said:

Larnach reminds me just a bit of Wally Joyner, great fluid swing. Still needs to not try and pull outside pitches and go the other way.

I haven’t thought about Wally Joyner in roughly 3.5 decades. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

34 minutes ago, umterp23 said:

Larnach HR was impressive but I still see a bit of Sano in him.  If he makes contact it is hard, but many of K's hiding in there as well.  When you look at St. Paul he was what 3 for 11 with 3 hr's but his other outs were K's.  Right now he has 15 games and 15 K's so he has slowed the K route a tad in the bigs.  K's are part of the game (see Sano and Garver) so hopefully the Bomba mentality does't take over for Larnach.  I will always preach plate discipline over a wow HR.

Sano has loads of discipline, probably the most on the team (only other real contender is Donaldson).

Sano just has a lousy contact rate. 

[AceWrigley]

Nice relay throw from Gordon.

[Brock Beauchamp]

7 minutes ago, AceWrigley said:

Nice relay throw from Gordon.

Not a ton of gas on it, which is probably a big part of the reason why he's not really shortstop material, but it was perfectly accurate.

I think they said it was an 82mph throw on the broadcast.

[stringer bell]

7 minutes ago, AceWrigley said:

Nice relay throw from Gordon.

The 3-G (Garlick-Gordon-Garver) was well done for sure. 

[joefish]

Great relay. Big blast. Atta bats.

Shoemaker labors and wears ME out watching him. Even his 1,2,3 innings seem labor intensive. I'm  happy with any win. 

[Taildragger8791]

3 hours ago, umterp23 said:

Larnach HR was impressive but I still see a bit of Sano in him.  If he makes contact it is hard, but many of K's hiding in there as well.  When you look at St. Paul he was what 3 for 11 with 3 hr's but his other outs were K's.  Right now he has 15 games and 15 K's so he has slowed the K route a tad in the bigs.  K's are part of the game (see Sano and Garver) so hopefully the Bomba mentality does't take over for Larnach.  I will always preach plate discipline over a wow HR.

K's are a part of the game but a lineup with too many guys like that will be murderous to watch. More solo HRs and runners left on base. More high variance offense where they score 3 or fewer runs, or pile up 8+ runs. Win-loss record isn't fooled by feasting on bad pitchers to pad stats, while famishing against good pitchers that pick apart those hole-filled swings.

</rant>

[Dodecahedron]

12 hours ago, Nate Palmer said:

As the game resumed, maybe somewhat surprisingly Alcala returned to the mound. He was promptly met by DJ Stewart who put the Orioles up 3-2. 

Hm.  Another bad managerial decision that no one else would have made.  Oh well, the players took care of it this time.

[bighat]

2 hours ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

Not a ton of gas on it, which is probably a big part of the reason why he's not really shortstop material, but it was perfectly accurate.

I think they said it was an 82mph throw on the broadcast.

Hmm, 82 MPH from the middle man on a relay throw seems pretty fast. Back to the plate, catch, spin and throw...that's totally different than an outfielder who's getting a running start under a ball.

[adorduan]

2 hours ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

Not a ton of gas on it, which is probably a big part of the reason why he's not really shortstop material, but it was perfectly accurate.

I think they said it was an 82mph throw on the broadcast.

I rarely get to see a game because of the Bally Sports North BS, but they are really measuring the speed of a freaking relay throw? Ridiculous... I couldn't care less the speed of a throw.  Did it get the job done or not, that's all I care about.  I guess i'm the old man "get off my lawn" guy at this point....

[Brock Beauchamp]

Just now, adorduan said:

I rarely get to see a game because of the Bally Sports North BS, but they are really measuring the speed of a freaking relay throw? Ridiculous... I couldn't care less the speed of a throw.  Did it get the job done or not, that's all I care about.  I guess i'm the old man "get off my lawn" guy at this point....

It's all automated by the tracking equipment fitted into every MLB stadium. It's how MLB operates the Baseball Savant website with all its crazy cool data. Without that equipment, we wouldn't have exit velocities, reaction times, sprint speeds, launch angles, the list goes on...

[insagt1]

last nights game was  a 'yay-boo' game for me since my 2 favorite teams are the O's and Twins. I have zero interest in the NL ever since Montreal got the boot and I barely even glance at the standings.

Thus went the yo-yo last night. I really like Means...he is the ONLY pitcher on the O's even close to being able to get outs and he's good at that. Most all his non decisions this year have been games he has led late only to have the pen blow it (like last night) Or the O's getting him no run support.

When Larnach hit that monster..well yay. When Means settled in after that...yay. Until Garlick homered...well, sort of boo. When the O's got the tying run thrown out at the plate...yay for Twins 'd' , but boo that the game didn't get tied. When the rains came, boo because that meant Means would not return. But then yay when Stewart hit the bomb to give Means a shot at a 'w'.

When Scott opened up the bottom of the 8th with a walk to a weak hitter...boo. Why did Hyde put in a pitcher who hasn't been able to throw strikes all season? When Cruz fanned...boo. I like him and want him to succeed every AB. When Donaldson hit the game tying sac fly...boo. But at that point since Means couldn't win, it was yay when Garver stepped out of Twins character and hit a two out two run double. Then all the other hits followed. Yay. Was this really the Twins, scoring runs WITHOUT a homerun?

Good to see Twins offense actually doing something other than striking out with the game on the line. However the O's bullpen is a pathetic mess. I cringe whenever Valdez comes out to 'close'.He is the O's version of Colome. I have zero confidence in him.

I listened to the O's broadcast team...with Jim Palmer. They felt the O's undoing was the leadoff walk in the 8th to a hitter that rarely walks. And then the wild pitch to Cruz. Walks kill. Twins finally took advantage. Palmer was also discussing the high 'k' rates. Apparently at one time they did an experiment with  a notorious pitcher who used some foreign substance, either on hands, glove or uni. They measured the spin on the pitches. then threw with no added substances. The results were dramatic to the point where it could be said there is no way today's ptichers can get the kind of spin on the ball they are getting without doctoring the baseball. Period.

The umpires strike zone was as big as Montana last night. If the ball was high and outside, you better be swinging. It was brutal, but at least consistent with both teams.

When Buxton comes back, I wonder who may go down? They are getting great results from Larnach, Garlick, Kirilloff and now Refsnyder. (who knew?) Have to think Cave is definitely all done. Might be a nice problem to have if they can fix their pitching. This may also be hastening the departure of Cruz?

Donaldson's batting slump is getting serious.

So--bring on game two!!!

 

[adorduan]

4 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

It's all automated by the tracking equipment fitted into every MLB stadium. It's how MLB operates the Baseball Savant website with all its crazy cool data. Without that equipment, we wouldn't have exit velocities, reaction times, sprint speeds, launch angles, the list goes on...

So in other words, a bunch of stuff i don't really care too much about.....thanks for the info though. I mean, i can see if a ball is hit hard or not with my own eyes.  whether it was at 100 mph or 102 mph makes no difference to me....

[Brock Beauchamp]

On 5/25/2021 at 12:40 PM, adorduan said:

So in other words, a bunch of stuff i don't really care too much about.....thanks for the info though. I mean, i can see if a ball is hit hard or not with my own eyes.  whether it was at 100 mph or 102 mph makes no difference to me....

That's fine if you don't use them but those are incredibly useful tools that are excellent predictors of future performance, far better than any human eye, which tries to trick us or write its own narrative on a regular basis.

And nobody really cares about 100 vs 102... but 95 vs 105 is significant and often hard to discern based on different camera angles.

Never mind that without that tech, truly useful stats like "barrels" don't exist.

[adorduan]

7 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

That's fine if you don't us them but those are incredibly useful tools that are excellent predictors of future performance, far better than any human eye, which tries to trick us or write its own narrative on a regular basis.

And nobody really cares about 100 vs 102... but 95 vs 105 is significant and often hard to discern based on different camera angles.

Never mind that without that tech, truly useful stats like "barrels" don't exist.

I'm glad you find this stuff interesting.  

[stringer bell]

1 hour ago, insagt1 said:

 

When Buxton comes back, I wonder who may go down? They are getting great results from Larnach, Garlick, Kirilloff and now Refsnyder. (who knew?) Have to think Cave is definitely all done. Might be a nice problem to have if they can fix their pitching. This may also be hastening the departure of Cruz?

 

 

I suspect that someone with a lingering injury would go on the Injured List. Kepler and Arraez are candidates, along with Garlick. If that is not the course the Twins take, I guess Larnach would be a candidate to go back to St. Paul. He seems very vulnerable to pitches away. Currently, because there are only four starting pitchers on the active roster, the Twins have an extra position player. When Pineda is activated (tomorrow). they'll have to subtract a player and that could be Gordon depending on the health of Arraez and Polanco. 

[theBOMisthebomb]

6 hours ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

I haven’t thought about Wally Joyner in roughly 3.5 decades. 

Wally Absorbine Joyner.

[SoDakTwinsFan4]

On 5/25/2021 at 8:17 AM, Brock Beauchamp said:

I haven’t thought about Wally Joyner in roughly 3.5 decades. 

Really? I think about him at least twice a day