Game Recap: Cleveland 4, Twins 1

[Matthew Taylor]

The Minnesota Twins got an excellent performance on the mound from José Berríos but the offense failed to do their part, giving Cleveland the win in Eddie Rosario’s return to Target Field. 

Box Score

Berríos: 6.1 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 9 K

Home Run(s): None

Bottom 3 WPA: Rogers -.232, Alcala -.178, Cruz -.169

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) 

 

Coming off of an off-day, the Minnesota Twins were hoping to get back on the right foot as they kicked off a 4-game series with Cleveland on Thursday night, leaning on their ace José Berríos to get them a much needed win.

Berríos did all that he could for the Minnesota Twins on Thursday night and he was masterful, tossing 6.1 innings and allowing just 1 run while striking out 9, tied for his second-highest strikeout total on the season. Berríos had Cleveland guessing all night, inducing 12 swings-and-misses, leaning heavily on his curveball to put Cleveland batters away.

The only damage that Berríos allowed on the night came in the second inning when Berríos allowed a walk and a single to start the inning before an RBI single from Austin Hedges. After that, Berríos allowed some spot singles, but always prevented damage and didn’t allow a single extra base hit all night.

Unfortunately for Berríos, the Minnesota Twins offense provided no support on the other side of the ball, contributing their only run of the game in the first inning when Luis Arraez scored on a wild pitch.

 

On the night, the Twins offense only mustered 5 singles and a 9th inning double from Jorge Polanco. With an offense that was finally close to full strength with Donaldson, Kepler, and Arraez all in the fold, it was an especially disheartening performance from the offense which showed no life all night.

Despite the lackluster performance from the Twins’ offense, Berríos kept the Twins in the game as the Twins entered the 8th inning tied 1-1 with Jorge Alcala on the mound for the Twins. Cleveland wasted no time getting to Alcala, though, as Cleveland smacked back-to-back singles off the right hander and 2 batters later Taylor Rogers came into the game with the bases loaded and one out. From there, Eddie Rosario broke the game open in his return to target field with a 2 RBI single followed by another RBI single from Bobby Bradley to give Cleveland a 4-1 lead that would hold through the end of the game.

The loss for the Twins brings their record to 31-43, again falling to last place in the American League Central and 13 games back of the Chicago White Sox.

Eddie’s Eventful Return

In typical Eddie Rosario fashion, his return to Target Field was not short on drama.

 

Although he knocked in the game-winning runs for Cleveland, the most memorable moment from Eddie’s return to Target Field was his unbelievable baserunning gaffe in the top of the 6th inning. Or maybe not so unbelievable if you’ve paid attention to Eddie Rosario’s career.

 

Bullpen Usage Chart

What’s Next?

Bullpen game? Bullpen game!

 

 

View full article

[singlesoverwalks]

Could anyone explain to me why Sanó wasn't used as a pinch hitter in this game? Ideally while it was still tied?

[USAFChief]

Describe tonight's loss in one word.

 

I'll go first:

 

Lackluster. 

[h2oface]

And another Berrios start wasted. "deGrom'ed" again. At least his team didn't drop the loss on him.

I don't miss Ryan Pressly at all. We have Alcala.

[h2oface]

"Eddie Rosario broke the game open in his return to target field with a 2 RBI single followed by another RBI single from Bobby Bradley to give Cleveland a 4-1 lead that would hold through the end of the game."

Not that it matters, but Bradley's was a ground out and Polanco decided to let the run score and throw it to first for the second out (Rosario was running and the double play ball was mute). Common decision, but I always hate not making the play at home (Ramirez is no speedster) and getting the runner out. Maybe he scores anyway, but it is the 8th inning and being 2 runs down is way better than 3.

[VivaBomboRivera!]

Here that hissing sound?  It's the very last of the oxygen escaping from the airlock of the 2021 Twins starship.

[SoDakTwinsFan4]

Zero offense...reoccurring theme of the 2021 Minnesota Twins 

[wsnydes]

7 hours ago, USAFChief said:

Describe tonight's loss in one word.

 

I'll go first:

 

Lackluster. 

Uninspiring.

If the entirety of offensive output is reliant on balks and wild pitches, then I don't have a lot of hope for the rest of the series.

[Jack Dupp]

Impotent? Infuriating? The entire organization has under-performed, and wholesale changes must be made.

 

[bighat]

Classic 2021 Twins, a carbon copy of what we've seen all year.

Twins have a few guys on base in the first couple innings against a bad pitcher, don't capitalize, then fail to get anything together for the next 8 unwatchable innings. This team continues to disappoint and there's no silver lining in sight.

Side note: this team could have scored a few more runs this season if they ever took an extra base. The baserunning is super conservative and it seems to cost them every time. For example, Larnach could have easily scored after Arraez came home on that wild pitch in the 1st inning. Was he not paying attention? Third base coach fell asleep?

I know 5-game win streaks can spark some interest, but let's not get fooled that this team is going to crawl back to .500 this year. It's a 90+ loss team, even if you've got rose colored glasses on.

[Whitey333]

Very poor effort by the offense.  With most of the regulars playing, minus Buxton of course, they were pathetic.  Only mustering one run against a pitcher that entered the game with an era over 6.  A major problem all year.  It's time to break it up boys.  And another strange performance by our beloved manager that continues to be out managed by the opponents.  Lackluster,boring,and no life.  Pretty sad performance.  Way too many if those this year.

[roger]

Eddie-Eddie-Eddie.

I know he makes some boneheaded plays, but for years he comes up big at the biggest moment of games.  I guess I don't miss him because I have Hulu and haven't seen more than about 20 innings of the Twins all year.  But it sure as heck seems like the Twins miss him, on the field and in the locker room.  

Good piece in today's Strib about a guy who used to watch every game but no longer has access.  Have a sad feeling that together with their play on the field the Sinclair/Bally B.S. is going to lose the Twins and baseball a lot of fans over this year and next.

[Dodecahedron]

Yes, yes.  No one here could have predicted that doing an intentional walk so that you can face Rosario would not work out well.  Nope.  No one.  Total surprise.

If only we had a scouting report on the guy.  It's not like he's on a 12-game hitting streak with a .333 average during that time.  Can anyone pull up his hitting numbers for the past few years, especially late in games where the score is close?  I can't find them.  Analytics is hard, and this guy is very mysterious.

Ah well, sometimes baseball just gets ya!  In totally shocking ways of course.  If only we had a crystal ball or some dang documentation on this hitter.  Bad luck strikes again, I totally side with Baldelli on this one because this Rosario guy just came out of nowhere.  Rosario who?  No one in Twins territory has ever heard of this guy.  I can't find anything about him at all.  We'll get 'em next time!

[Mahoning]

Countless times I have read the local experts asserting with confidence that Rosario would be easy to replace. Well, he is playing for a team with a poor offense and has 41 RBI -- more than any Twin. SO EASY to replace, and yet the Twins have not replaced him. Good for Eddie -- he went to an organization than knows how to win. 

[chinmusic]

9 hours ago, USAFChief said:

Describe tonight's loss in one word.

 

Buxtonless

[Dman]

9 hours ago, h2oface said:

And another Berrios start wasted. "deGrom'ed" again. At least his team didn't drop the loss on him.

I don't miss Ryan Pressly at all. We have Alcala.

Well you might have had nothing as the odds of the Twins signing him after his contract were low.  At least they got something and if we had someone better than Alcala I assume we would use him but no one but Farrell has seemed to make a move to grab that spot.  Pressly had his fair share of rough years until he found himself as well.

[USAFChief]

BTW, add Alcala to the "disappointing" list.

 

[bighat]

5 minutes ago, Dman said:

Well you might have had nothing as the odds of the Twins signing him after his contract were low.  At least they got something and if we had someone better than Alcala I assume we would use him but no one but Farrell has seemed to make a move to grab that spot.  Pressly had his fair share of rough years until he found himself as well.

I know we're digging hard looking for bright spots, but I am pretty skeptical Farrell is anything more than an average middle reliever on his best day.

[theBOMisthebomb]

1 hour ago, bighat said:

Side note: this team could have scored a few more runs this season if they ever took an extra base. The baserunning is super conservative and it seems to cost them every time. For example, Larnach could have easily scored after Arraez came home on that wild pitch in the 1st inning. Was he not paying attention? Third base coach fell asleep?

Yeah, it kinda felt like when they didn't push that second run across in the first inning it was not a good sign for the rest of the evening. It's similar to when the Vikings have a dominant drive in the first quarter then settle for a field goal. Arraez was wildly waving for Larnach to come home. Don't you have to trust Arraez (who is right there in the middle of the action) over the third base coach in that scenario?

[Dman]

31 minutes ago, bighat said:

I know we're digging hard looking for bright spots, but I am pretty skeptical Farrell is anything more than an average middle reliever on his best day.

Totally agree and you are correct he is just the only only that has done anything to this point.  That is how bad it has been.  They already cycled through Waddell and Law.  Stashak hasn't worked out so far this year and Colome is far worse than Alcala.  There just isn't much there. 

[Dman]

39 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

BTW, add Alcala to the "disappointing" list.

 

He has a sub 1 WHIP so not giving up lot's of hits or walks but when contact is made he is getting hit hard.  7 HR in 30 Inning's pitched, ouch!

[bighat]

11 minutes ago, theBOMisthebomb said:

Yeah, it kinda felt like when they didn't push that second run across in the first inning it was not a good sign for the rest of the evening. It's similar to when the Vikings have a dominant drive in the first quarter then settle for a field goal. Arraez was wildly waving for Larnach to come home. Don't you have to trust Arraez (who is right there in the middle of the action) over the third base coach in that scenario?

Yep. The fact that they needed the wild pitch in the first place (and that was the only way they could score) is pretty sad - the fact that they threw away an extra run there was just another facepalm moment. Even when things go right and the Twins get lucky, they still manage somehow to screw it up.

[Dodecahedron]

2 hours ago, bighat said:

Side note: this team could have scored a few more runs this season if they ever took an extra base. The baserunning is super conservative and it seems to cost them every time. For example, Larnach could have easily scored after Arraez came home on that wild pitch in the 1st inning. Was he not paying attention? Third base coach fell asleep?

^^^ Yes.

The Twins teams in the 00s were great at squeezing out extra bases.  It is hard to argue against the results.

The leaguewide caught stealing percentage this year is 24%.  Players at 2nd and beyond are much more likely to score.  Seems to me that a bunch of analytics guys would be able to string these numbers together and encourage people to run.  

Once a hitter is on base, the strategy should be to make that baserunner as annoying as possible to the other team.  Same with when the ball is hit.  Even when the Twins do not intend to take an extra base, they should make it look like they are.

[TheBoofIsLoose]

1 hour ago, Mahoning said:

Countless times I have read the local experts asserting with confidence that Rosario would be easy to replace. Well, he is playing for a team with a poor offense and has 41 RBI -- more than any Twin. SO EASY to replace, and yet the Twins have not replaced him. Good for Eddie -- he went to an organization than knows how to win. 

Well, he has a .668 OPS and an 81 OPS+ which means that Kirilloff and Larnach are hitting better than him in every category except RBI, so it's fair to say the corner outfield spots are doing well in the interim. Plus we got to see classic Eddie when he was thrown out walking back to second on an admittedly boneheaded play. Honestly who would you rather have in LF, Rosario or Larnach? The answer seems pretty straightforward. I agree that it seemed people were too eager to get rid of him and I like Eddie as a player and he seems like a good person, but this narrative that he was an irreplaceable bat and clubhouse leader just doesn't make sense.

[mnfireman]

2 hours ago, Mahoning said:

Countless times I have read the local experts asserting with confidence that Rosario would be easy to replace. Well, he is playing for a team with a poor offense and has 41 RBI -- more than any Twin. SO EASY to replace, and yet the Twins have not replaced him. Good for Eddie -- he went to an organization than knows how to win. 

I don't think keeping Eddie around for another year would have helped this team, and I am a Rosario fan. Larnach and Kirilloff are getting valuable repetitions because of his absence and this should help going forward. And plays like last nights play at second would have been all to common. 

[mnfireman]

1 hour ago, theBOMisthebomb said:

Arraez was wildly waving for Larnach to come home. Don't you have to trust Arraez (who is right there in the middle of the action) over the third base coach in that scenario?

Normally I would say no as players are usually caught up in the moment, but after watching the replay I would agree. However, Larnach needs to recognize what's going on also and anticipate a bad throw. I couldn't tell by the replay I saw if he rounded the base hard or if he pulled up thinking the play was over. It looked like he was about 1/3 of the way home and Diaz put up the stop sign. I understand it was the 1st inning, but you gotta make Cleveland make a play there. I will gladly take "hustle" outs when trying to spark a rally.

[Mike Sixel]

4 minutes ago, mnfireman said:

Normally I would say no as players are usually caught up in the moment, but after watching the replay I would agree. However, Larnach needs to recognize what's going on also and anticipate a bad throw. I couldn't tell by the replay I saw if he rounded the base hard or if he pulled up thinking the play was over. It looked like he was about 1/3 of the way home and Diaz put up the stop sign. I understand it was the 1st inning, but you gotta make Cleveland make a play there. I will gladly take "hustle" outs when trying to spark a rally.

Trying to understand....are people saying the player should have run through the stop sign the coach put up? That's what people want?

[mnfireman]

I guess it sounds that way, but no. I would like see players and coaches be more aggressive, especially early in the game. Keep the defense on their toes, make them make plays. I am not a fan of station to station baseball or coasting into a base anticipating that the play is over. Run hard, anticipate the bad throw or missed catch. I couldn't tell by the replay how hard Larnach rounded third, or if he even did until the ball deflected off of Arraez. I am just saying he needs to run hard and both he and Diaz need to anticipate the bad throw/missed catch.

[Mike Sixel]

9 minutes ago, mnfireman said:

I guess it sounds that way, but no. I would like see players and coaches be more aggressive, especially early in the game. Keep the defense on their toes, make them make plays. I am not a fan of station to station baseball or coasting into a base anticipating that the play is over. Run hard, anticipate the bad throw or missed catch. I couldn't tell by the replay how hard Larnach rounded third, or if he even did until the ball deflected off of Arraez. I am just saying he needs to run hard and both he and Diaz need to anticipate the bad throw/missed catch.

Got it. I too would like the coaches to be more aggressive.....

[cHawk]

12 hours ago, USAFChief said:

Describe tonight's loss in one word.

 

I'll go first:

 

Lackluster. 

Concur. I'll say, "Not surprising."