Game Score: Rays 10, Twins 4

[Thiéres Rabelo]

It was an emotional night at Target Field, with Nelson Cruz’s return to town. Nelly homered and helped the Rays shorten Michael Pineda’s night to less than three innings, with Tampa Bay cruising to an easy win.

Box Score
Pineda: 2.2 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 3 K (82.9% strikes)
Home Runs: Rooker (5)
Bottom 3 WPA: Pineda -.237, Gant -.138, Larnach -.133
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Friday night was an emotional affair for the Twins at Target Field even before the first pitch. For starters, the organization kicked off the “1991 Reunion Weekend” celebrations, with fans being able to take pictures with some World Series champions. Then, Gophers football head coach P.J. Fleck threw the ceremonial first pitch. But none of that seemed to be as big as the return of an old friend.

Nelson Cruz played his first game as an opponent of the Twins since May 27, 2018, and the first one at Target Field since May 14 from that same year. Batting third for the Rays, he received a standing ovation from Twins fans, to whom he tipped his helmet. He also got shown some love from his old teammates, like Miguel Sanó, who crashed Nelly’s Zoom call with the media, asking “Papá Cruz” to go easy on the Twins.

Cruz may have done what his friend and mentee asked him to do in his first at-bat – he struck out on three pitches. But his new teammates sure weren’t going to do the same. Brandon Lowe had hit a leadoff single to open the game before Cruz’s at-bat. Then, after it, Randy Arozarena hit a long double off the wall at center field, driving in Lowe. During the second inning, the Rays scored a couple more runs. Yandy Diaz hit a leadoff home run, and Mike Zunino scored after Pineda gave up back-to-back singles, followed by a wild pitch.

Something seemed off with “Big Mike.” He faced Cruz for the second time in the game to open the third inning, and, this time, Nelson didn’t go easy. He crushed a hanging changeup to the left corner for a line-drive home run that left his bat at nearly 111 MPH. The Rays took an early 4-0 lead. After that, Pineda induced a couple of ground ball outs, but before he could finish the inning, he departed the game with an apparent injury. Pineda didn’t have a lot of problems throwing strikes (39 out of 47 pitches), but his velocity was slightly below his season average, perhaps making it easy for Tampa Bay hitting to get six hits off him.

Twins try to rally multiple times, Rays always respond
Making his Twins debut, veteran Nick Vincent came in relief of Pineda to get the last out of the third. Then, he gave up a solo home run to Zunino in the fourth, making it 5-0 Rays. But other than that, the 35-year old managed to limit the damage to the one run for the remainder of his outing. During the bottom of the fourth, the Twins offense finally posed its first threat to Rays’ starter, Shane McClanahan, putting two men on. Sanó singled to the gap to score Brent Rooker from third, putting the Twins on the board, before stranding both runners left.

Minnesota kept hitting the ball hard, trying to spark a rally. After Vincent pitched a scoreless fifth, Ryan Jeffers led off the home half of the inning with a single. Then, Rooker, with his third hit of the night, pushed him across. Josh Donaldson had the chance to cut the Rays’ lead to only one run, but he ended up striking out, ending the threat. In the following inning, Tampa Bay responded right back, with an inside-the-park home run by Kevin Kiermaier, making it 6-2. He hit a flyball to deep right, which looked like a triple, but Jorge Polanco juggled the ball before being able to get Kiermaier at home plate.

Mitch Garver and Rob Refsnyder opened the bottom half of the sixth with back-to-back singles, and Sanó made it three consecutive hits with an RBI single to score Garver. Suddenly, the Twins had two men on with no outs, down by only three runs. That was Miggy’s second RBI of the night. But once again, Tampa’s pitching frustrated Minnesota’s offense and spoiled their rally, ending the inning with a ground ball double play.

Rays explode for a four-run seventh
John Gant gave up that inside-the-park home run in the sixth, but he settled in and retired the following three batters. With the bullpen needing to eat up innings, he was brought back to pitch the seventh, and that’s where things went sour. Tampa produced four runs on three hits and a sac-fly off him, putting this game well out of reach, 10-3.

Even with such a large deficit, Minnesota didn’t give up. Rooker got his fourth hit of the night with a two-out solo home run in the home half, cutting Tampa’s lead to six. Donaldson and Garver hit back-to-back singles after him, and once again, the Twins were one swing away from getting right back in the game. But they couldn’t capitalize again.

Making his second appearance as a Twin, Edgar García pitched a couple of scoreless frames to close up the game, providing yet another very effective outing. The offense fell in order in the bottom of the ninth, and Tampa ran away with the win.

Postgame Interview

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	MON	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	TOT
Barnes	68	0	0	0	0	68
García	32	0	0	0	27	59
Gant	0	11	0	0	41	52
Vincent	0	0	0	0	37	37
Colomé	0	10	14	0	0	24
Thielbar	0	0	20	0	0	20
Duffey	0	15	0	0	0	15
Minaya	0	0	15	0	0	15
Coulombe	0	0	0	0	0	0

 

View full article

[ashbury]

Didn't watch live, but a bit of a clown show tonight on defense, from what I'm piecing together.

[Mike Sixel]

To be clear, Larnach turned a double into an inside the park HR, and he'd have been out if Polanco doesn't double clutch. 

Then, just bad D....so Ryan was not good, but not as bad as the boxscore would show.

[VivaBomboRivera!]

19 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Didn't watch live, but a bit of a clown show tonight on defense, from what I'm piecing together.

Which is another explanation for this lost season.  The individual efforts are usually very good, but communication and coordination between the position players has been very poor.  This Twins defense never "knit." They have both missed many outs and allowed many more opposing opportunities than they should have.

[bean5302]

Yeah, the video is available over at MLB.com. Unless Larnach has a 6 foot vertical, he wasn't catching that ball which literally bounced off the right field wall about 12 feet off the ground. By the time Larnach got to the warning track, it should have been obvious it wasn't a ball he was going to catch, but I don't think Larnach has hardly any time in RF. Polanco should have been charged with an error on that play.

On a single to RF with runners at 1st and 2nd, Larnach hit Sano as a cutoff to home... and Sano promptly threw to 3rd when there was a runner who was standing half way between 3rd and the plate allowing another run to score. It was guaranteed to be at least 1 out if Sano throws home there. 

Honestly, tough to blame Gant for really any of the scoring, lol.

[bighat]

Just watched the MLB.com video of the Kiermaier HR - yeesh, yeah that's not good defense. Heck, some outfielders would turn that into a single if the batter doesn't have wheels.

 

[mikelink45]

Well what can be said - Tampa Bay looks really good.  When I look at the Tampa Bay lineup it does not look as good as ours, but when the game starts they know what to do, defense, pitching and timely hitting.  The Twins lineup looks good, but the defense which the FO was fixing this year does not and Vincent and Gant are not the answers.  Is Garcia real?  I still want to see the younger BP arms called up. 

[ashbury]

Even with all the tomfoolery in RF and the cutoff, I thought the ball reached the plate in time and reasonably on-target. Was the positioning not up to snuff, or was Jeffers somehow a little slow with his lunge? Any catcher technique expert with an analysis?

[Aerodeliria]

We need to sign Cruz again next year as a DH or even as a counselor or maybe as a sleep consultant for the napping room. Otherwise, he'll continue to terrorize the Twins.

[bean5302]

3 hours ago, ashbury said:

Even with all the tomfoolery in RF and the cutoff, I thought the ball reached the plate in time and reasonably on-target. Was the positioning not up to snuff, or was Jeffers somehow a little slow with his lunge? Any catcher technique expert with an analysis?

It was so very close at the plate. I don't think Jeffers could have played it better. Polanco's throw was weak and one hopped/rolled to home from short right field to the 1st base side, pulling Jeffers away from the optimal tagging position on teh 3rd base side. If Jeffers blocks the plate, that's an automatic safe. Jeffers left foot was basically touching home, he was positioned perfectly in front of the plate and when the ball reached his glove, I'd say Kiermaier was about 6 feet from touching and already beginning his drop to slide. That's about 24 ft/sec at the end, 6 feet equals a 1/4 of a second for Jeffers to spin, pick up Kiermier, and apply the tag. Kiermaier kept his body behind home and touched with his hand which was already past Jeffers at the spin, giving Jeffers no good target for the tag.

[insagt1]

most the fans last night probably were there to see Cruz!. Whether Twins win or lose now seems to be mostly irrelevant. If a player has a good night, thats about as good as it gets going forward.

Gotta get Simmons to the bench. gotta get Buxton back in the lineup and playing everyday No sense in babying him. They have to know what they have...if they are to be serious in extension negotiations. Or off season trade  prospects. The pitching is lousy and so far a couple of the new starters are doing OK....most of the new pen guys are not so hot.

[ashbury]

1 hour ago, bean5302 said:

It was so very close at the plate. I don't think Jeffers could have played it better. Polanco's throw was weak and one hopped/rolled to home from short right field to the 1st base side, pulling Jeffers away from the optimal tagging position on teh 3rd base side. If Jeffers blocks the plate, that's an automatic safe. Jeffers left foot was basically touching home, he was positioned perfectly in front of the plate and when the ball reached his glove, I'd say Kiermaier was about 6 feet from touching and already beginning his drop to slide. That's about 24 ft/sec at the end, 6 feet equals a 1/4 of a second for Jeffers to spin, pick up Kiermier, and apply the tag. Kiermaier kept his body behind home and touched with his hand which was already past Jeffers at the spin, giving Jeffers no good target for the tag.

Concur about not testing the line where it comes to blocking the plate, and also that Kiermaier made a major league slide. And the runner being fast, plus the cutoff man's arm being slow, also means my eyeball test of the ball being there just in the nick of time could be off. I just don't know the fine points* of catching mechanics on this play.

*Or, to save everyone the trouble: probably the basics either

[Mike Sixel]

Just now, ashbury said:

Concur about not testing the line where it comes to blocking the plate, and also that Kiermaier made a major league slide. And the runner being fast also means my eyeball test of the ball being there just in the nick of time could be off. I just don't know the fine points of catching mechanics on this play.

Of all the players to question on that play? Larnach turned a double into that. Polanco double clutched and made a terrible throw..  and Ryan threw a cookie up there....

[ashbury]

18 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Of all the players to question on that play? Larnach turned a double into that. Polanco double clutched and made a terrible throw..  and Ryan threw a cookie up there....

Of course I don't hold Jeffers to the same level of blame. It's just as I watched the video, it felt like there were 3 legitimate opportunities to limit or end the damage, and none panned out.

[Otto von Ballpark]

1 hour ago, Mike Sixel said:

Of all the players to question on that play? Larnach turned a double into that. Polanco double clutched and made a terrible throw..  and Ryan threw a cookie up there....

Who's Ryan? You mean John Gant?

After all the "who is John Gant" jokes...

[bean5302]

1 hour ago, Otto von Ballpark said:

Who's Ryan? You mean John Gant?

After all the "who is John Gant" jokes...

I was kinda wondering the same thing. Saw "Ryan" used a couple times and was thinking... does he mean "John Gant"? or was he thinking "Gant Ryan" confusing Joe Ryan with Gant? I didn't think he meant Ryan Jeffers, haha

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Too bad Kiermaier wasn't thrown out on that. It might have went down in the scorebook as a ground out to the second baseman.

Oh well. A home run hit to an infielder is interesting too. 

[mikelink45]

14 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

Well what can be said - Tampa Bay looks really good.  When I look at the Tampa Bay lineup it does not look as good as ours, but when the game starts they know what to do, defense, pitching and timely hitting.  The Twins lineup looks good, but the defense which the FO was fixing this year does not and Vincent and Gant are not the answers.  Is Garcia real?  I still want to see the younger BP arms called up. 

After tonight's game I have to reassess this statement.

[Mike Sixel]

5 hours ago, Otto von Ballpark said:

Who's Ryan? You mean John Gant?

After all the "who is John Gant" jokes...

Sorry. Gant. Yes.