Game Recap: Twins 8, Cleveland 7

[Thiéres Rabelo]

Luis Arráez exploded with a three-hit night, all for extra bases, to help Minnesota overcome a bullpen night and beat Cleveland to even the series at a game apiece. Griffin Jax navigated through some ups and downs and managed to earn his first big league win.

Box Score
Coulombe (starter): 1.2 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K (71.8% strikes)
Jax (primary): 4.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 2 K (65.3% strikes)
Home Runs: Kirilloff (6)
Top 3 WPA: Arráez .445, Cruz .119, Kirilloff .095

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Lefty Danny Coulombe started tonight’s bullpen game, but he was roughed up in a hurry — with the help of some bad fielding behind him. Cleveland struck first, scoring three quick runs on two hits in the top of the first inning. Amed Rosario hit a solo home run five pitches into the game to score the first run. Then, Jorge Polanco made a costly error charging for the ball, allowing old friend Eddie Rosario to reach with two outs. Bobby Bradley made Minnesota pay, hitting a 436-feet bomb to center.

Minnesota got one run back in the home half of the first inning. Luis Arráez hit a leadoff triple, with a little help from right fielder Josh Naylor, who lost the ball against the sun. Josh Donaldson scored Arráez with a sacrifice fly. Coulombe settled in nicely in the second frame, retiring the first two batters he faced on eight pitches before handing over the ball to Griffin Jax. Combined, Coulombe and Jax retired eight consecutive batters after that first inning home run.

Then the offense put together an amazing display in the home half of the third inning. Nick Gordon led off with a double but was thrown out trying to go to third base on an Andrelton Simmons fielder’s choice. With Simmons on, Arráez hit his second triple of the night, with yet another awful misplay from the Cleveland outfield, scoring Simmons. This time he went oppo and became the first Twin to have two triples in a game since Aug. 30, 2017, when Ehire Adrianza did it.

Donaldson followed up with a single to push Arráez across, earning himself his second RBI of the night and bringing the go-ahead run to the plate. Alex Kirilloff stepped into the batter’s box and… remember when he was struggling against offspeed pitches? Well, I bet Cal Quantrill was sorry to find out that that might not be a thing anymore. The Cleveland starter threw two consecutive changeups against Kirilloff only to watch the second one be obliterated. A 409-feet bomb that left Kirilloff’s bat at 104 mph, making it 5-3 Twins.

Jax pitched himself into a jam during the fourth inning. Struggling with his command, he loaded the bases with only one out, throwing only six strikes on 18 pitches. After striking out Bradley Zimmer, it seemed like he would get out of the mess unharmed, but Austin Hedges jumped on his fastball for a two-out single to tie the game. After the offense went down in order in the home fourth, Jax was having a much smoother fifth frame. However, "Rosie" (of course) hit a solo shot to right to put Cleveland back ahead by one run. He was booed.

Bats tie it up, retake the lead

When Simmons (single) and Donaldson (walk) reached to start the bottom half of the fifth, Terry Francona had enough of Quantrill and brought in the bullpen. Nelson Cruz hit a weak flare to short with two-outs, just far enough to score Simmons from second and tie the game again. Jax pitched his best inning of the game, delivering an eight-pitch scoreless sixth. He was done after that, ending the night with 4 1/3 innings, on 75 pitches (49 for strikes), allowing three runs.

Reliever Nick Wittgren needed only three pitches to get through Max Kepler and Ryan Jeffers to start the bottom of the sixth. However, he was about to get into trouble. NicknGordon singled to center for his second hit of the night and was followed by a single from Simmons, with once again some sloppy defense from Cleveland. Then, it was up to Arráez to make that inning count, and he absolutely didn’t disappoint. With his third extra-base hit of the night, he put the Twins back ahead, 8-6.

While the offense didn’t produce much for the remainder of the game, the relievers who took to the mound did an outstanding job. Alexander Colomé and Taylor Rogers took care of the seventh and eighth with a couple of 1-2-3 innings, with neither of them needing more than nine pitches. Plus, they combined for 80% strikes.

Hansel Robles allowed a solo shot to Naylor and nearly saw Zimmer reach second, but Kepler bailed him out with a perfect one-hop throw to Simmons for the tag. Robles earned his seventh save of the season, in nine opportunities, helping Jax earn his first big league win.

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	SUN	MON	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	TOT
Jax	0	0	0	0	0	75	75
Alcalá	18	20	0	0	10	0	48
Coulombe	0	0	16	0	0	32	48
Colomé	0	7	30	0	0	7	44
Shoemaker	0	32	0	0	11	0	43
Thielbar	0	19	12	0	4	0	35
Rogers	0	16	0	0	8	9	33
Duffey	21	0	11	0	0	0	32
Robles	0	0	21	0	0	10	31

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[bighat]

Twins were sloppy but Cleveland was sloppier. Kirilloff with an HR and Gordon yet again making it hard to sit him down. Arraez is the guy on this team we should be thinking about extending...

Lots of disappointing efforts. Kepler is just a shell of what he was two years ago. Sano isn't even a regular anymore. Robles, yikes. But hey, Twins win and we can all sleep well.

Thanks for this great write up Theires! 

[jimbo92107]

A lot of Twins fans mention Rod Carew when they see Arraez, but I'm going to stick with my Tony Gwynn comp. His stout body and thick forearms are made for driving balls to the gaps, and sometimes over the fence. What we saw today should be what we see for most of his career. Line drives to the gaps, driving in tons of runs.

[tony&rodney]

I really enjoyed the game tonight ... had great seats behind the Twins dugout.

When Kepler comes to the plate Ramirez plays a deep shortstop against him and then with the first strike he moves back on the grass about ten feet to the left of second base. Kepler needs to bunt until he gets the infield to move because 100+ mph at the 2B in short right field isn't a good plan. The entire left side of the infield is open. The situation doesn't matter at this point; Kepler needs to bunt.

I thought Jax battled decently.

[VivaBomboRivera!]

Luis Arraez - Super(utility)man!

[bighat]

7 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

 

I thought Jax battled decently.

 

I initially agreed and now I'm thinking: Good lord, we're so browbeaten and traumatized by Twins pitching that we say it's "decent" when a guy gives up 3 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks in just 4.1 innings.  That's like an ERA of 7.50 or something. If a Yankee pitcher did that he'd be booed off the field, yet here in Minneapolis we're giving the kid medals for throwing batting practice. We've got to raise our standards.

As for Jax, I guess it's noble of him to go out there and get crushed night after night, but at some point we should expect a bit more or give someone else a try. He's been disappointing and at this point isn't up to facing MLB talent.

[Otto von Ballpark]

Are we not scoreboard watching yet?

White Sox lost at home 9-3 to Seattle, their 6th loss in 7 games. Twins have gone 5-2 to climb from 16 games back to 12 games back in that time.

We're still tied for last place though as Detroit was rained out vs Houston.

[In My La Z boy]

51 minutes ago, bighat said:

 

I initially agreed and now I'm thinking: Good lord, we're so browbeaten and traumatized by Twins pitching that we say it's "decent" when a guy gives up 3 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks in just 4.1 innings.  That's like an ERA of 7.50 or something. If a Yankee pitcher did that he'd be booed off the field, yet here in Minneapolis we're giving the kid medals for throwing batting practice. We've got to raise our standards.

As for Jax, I guess it's noble of him to go out there and get crushed night after night, but at some point we should expect a bit more or give someone else a try. He's been disappointing and at this point isn't up to facing MLB talent.

Sad situation really. Our better arms are in Wichita and below. Looks like all we have in Minnesota are potential 4th or 5th starters at best. And Cleveland keeps churning out pitching. I've never heard of most of Cleveland's pitchers. Look at their injured list. Yet they churn out pitching. 

[Thiéres Rabelo]

10 hours ago, bighat said:

Thanks for this great write up Theires! 

Thank you for reading it, my friend!

[LA VIkes Fan]

Any roster moves today? You gotta figure that Jax is used up for the next 4 days so he should be on the shuttle back to Saint Paul to be replaced by a “fresh“ relief arm. Perhaps the same for Coloumbe. May be a chance for Ian Hamilton, Andrew Vazquez, or someone like that to come up?

[Otto von Ballpark]

10 minutes ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

Any roster moves today? You gotta figure that Jax is used up for the next 4 days so he should be on the shuttle back to Saint Paul to be replaced by a “fresh“ relief arm. Perhaps the same for Coloumbe. May be a chance for Ian Hamilton, Andrew Vazquez, or someone like that to come up?

Jax might need to make a start next week. There are still a few rested arms in the pen plus Shoemaker if they need length, so they might not need a move until after the next short start.

[tony&rodney]

About Jax ... yah ... but it is a relief from seeing Shoemaker, Happ, etc. get beat up even worse; a different face.

[LA VIkes Fan]

Interesting. I guess it depends a little bit on who starts Monday. I have this uneasy feeling that Shoemaker will wind up making the start on Monday because of the lack of anyone else. If you subtract him from the bullpen equation, we’re pretty light going into the weekend games. That’s why I was thinking that either Jax or Coloumbe would be sent back down for a fresh arm. 

[LA VIkes Fan]

I did forget about Ober, so maybe the plan is for him to start Monday in Chicago, Berrios Tuesday, and come back to Jax on Wednesday.

[terrydactyls]

3 hours ago, bighat said:

 

I initially agreed and now I'm thinking: Good lord, we're so browbeaten and traumatized by Twins pitching that we say it's "decent" when a guy gives up 3 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks in just 4.1 innings.  That's like an ERA of 7.50 or something. If a Yankee pitcher did that he'd be booed off the field, yet here in Minneapolis we're giving the kid medals for throwing batting practice. We've got to raise our standards.

As for Jax, I guess it's noble of him to go out there and get crushed night after night, but at some point we should expect a bit more or give someone else a try. He's been disappointing and at this point isn't up to facing MLB talent.

One comment about Jax.  He has pitched less than 300 innings since leaving college (fulfilling his military commitment and COVID).  He is still learning.  Don't give up on him yet.

[prouster]

Gordon has been a really pleasant surprise. He made a dumb base running mistake last night, but overall he has been impressive. It’s good to see him driving balls to the gaps and using his wheels. 

[cHawk]

3 hours ago, In My La Z boy said:

Sad situation really. Our better arms are in Wichita and below. Looks like all we have in Minnesota are potential 4th or 5th starters at best. And Cleveland keeps churning out pitching. I've never heard of most of Cleveland's pitchers. Look at their injured list. Yet they churn out pitching. 

Do Balazovic and Duran not have #1/#2 potential?

[roger]

Arraez just keeps doing his job.  Won't be long and his average will be around .325+, where it will likely be throughout his career.  Didn't watch, well couldn't, and was wondering if he slid feet first on all his slides...as the picture above showed?

Also warming to Gordon as someone that should remain with this team.  What role?

Great seeing Jax get some experience.  Still believe that he has a career ahead of him, especially if he can settle into some type of regular role.  Have always thought of Scott Baker when I see Jax on the mound...maybe?  Could be?  Will he, remains to be seen.

[Otto von Ballpark]

1 hour ago, cHawk said:

Do Balazovic and Duran not have #1/#2 potential?

Balazovic is still in Wichita and Duran is on the shelf right now, unfortunately. That may have been what the other poster was referring to.

[In My La Z boy]

1 hour ago, cHawk said:

Do Balazovic and Duran not have #1/#2 potential?

Balazovic is still in Wichita and Duran has arm trouble. 40 man is full 4/5 at best types Thorpe/Ober/Dobnak/Jax et all won't move the needle. Yes - They both have 1/2 potential. Get Winder up quick he is breaking out. We are no pitcher churning out factory like Cleveland I guess was the lament.

[bighat]

9 hours ago, Thiéres Rabelo said:

Thank you for reading it, my friend!

As a Twins fan who regularly checks in from Guatemala, it's great to see someone else in Latin America following the team. I missed out on visiting Rio a few years ago due to visa problems but I am sure I will make it down there someday!

[joefish]

Have we seen Kepler look worse than he looks right now,  and for the last two weeks weeks? If he is hurt get him off of the field. 

[Taildragger8791]

On 6/26/2021 at 11:07 AM, cHawk said:

Do Balazovic and Duran not have #1/#2 potential?

Lots of guys have #1/#2 potential if you focus on their strengths and assume they'll significantly improve their weaknesses. There are a LOT of guys in the minors that can throw hard and have a nasty pitch or two, but they can't put it together into an effective package at the major league level.

[Thiéres Rabelo]

On 6/26/2021 at 7:49 PM, bighat said:

As a Twins fan who regularly checks in from Guatemala, it's great to see someone else in Latin America following the team. I missed out on visiting Rio a few years ago due to visa problems but I am sure I will make it down there someday!

Yeap! It's always nice! If you do come, make sure to visit the "Nordeste" beaches as well, because they're even better than the ones from Rio!