Game Score: Yankees 6, Twins 5

[Thiéres Rabelo]

The Twins jumped off to a five-run lead early and were able to stay in front for most of the game, despite losing their starter after only 12 pitches. But some terrible ball-strike calls helped the Yankees to rally back and walk it off in extras.

Box Score
Gant: 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K
Home Runs: Polanco (30), Sanó (27), Buxton (14)
Bottom 3 WPA: Garza Jr. -.186, Sanó -.146, Donaldson -.110
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Minnesota struck first and took a four-run lead in the first inning, facing former member of the Twins organization Luis Gil. Luis Arráez snapped an 0-for-11 slump with a leadoff single and was later pushed across the plate by a home run from Jorge Polanco. This was his 30th dinger of the season, setting a record for most single-season home runs by a switch-hitter in Twins history, breaking the tie with Chili Davis in 1991.

Gil lost Josh Donaldson on a seven-pitch walk immediately after Polanco’s home run. He managed to strike out Max Kepler next for the second out, but then another slumping Twin, Miguel Sanó, snapped his 0-for-13 funk with a high home run to center field which barely cleared the fence, making it 4-0 Minnesota.

John Gant started out this game at the mound for Minnesota, but he was forced to leave the game with an apparent injury after throwing only 12 pitches and retiring two batters. Luke Farrell got called into the game and did a fine job, providing 2 1/3 hitless innings, helping to keep the Yankees scoreless through three innings. The Twins kept making good contact off Gil and, during the third inning, they added to their lead with another home run. Leading off the top-half of the inning, Byron Buxton jumped on the first pitch he saw, smashing it to a 106 MPH exit velocity, making it 5-0 Twins.

Twins pitchers continued to dominate Yankees' hitting, keeping New York with one hit through 5 2/3 innings. Caleb Thielbar and Kyle Barraclough, who was recalled from Saint Paul earlier today (with Brent Rooker going on the paternity list), delivered two quick, scoreless innings in relief of Farrell. But in the sixth inning, Barraclough got huge help from the outfield defense behind him, as Max Kepler made some crucial plays in right field, robbing New York of at least an extra-base hit that could spark a rally. They did score a run on a sac-fly from DJ LeMahieu, scoring Tyler Wade from third.

Terrible umpiring helps the Yankees to rally back
Tyler Duffey came into the game to get the last out of the sixth immediately after Barraclough gave up a two-out hit. He opened the seventh fanning Giancarlo Stanton, but he gave up a solo home run to Joey Gallo, cutting Minnesota’s lead to three. He came back to pitch the eighth, but he got some awful calls from home plate umpire Jeff Nelson, who missed at least four calls during that inning.

Brent Gardner “drew a walk” on a ball four that was most certainly a strike (pitch #6 below). That put two men on, and Rocco Baldelli pulled Duffey off the game. Alexander Colomé came in to face Aaron Judge, who hit a three-run home run, tying the game at five. Colomé struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth, taking the game to extra innings.

All Minnesota was able to do during the 10th inning was to move up the ghost runner on a sacrifice groundout. In the bottom half, Gary Sánchez hit a line drive to left, deep enough to score Gleyber Torres from second, winning the game for New York.

Postgame Interview

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN	MON	TOT
Farrell	32	0	12	0	34	78
Minaya	0	40	0	17	0	57
Duffey	0	11	0	0	38	49
Colomé	0	12	0	0	27	39
Coulombe	15	0	23	0	0	38
Moran	0	0	0	37	0	37
Thielbar	0	0	26	0	11	37
Garza Jr.	19	0	0	11	6	36
Alcalá	0	9	0	18	0	27
Barraclough	0	0	0	0	23	23

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[Seth Stohs]

Seeing where "Pitch #6" to Gardner was according to the illustration, it doesn't look like such a horrible call... A missed call, but very borderline. 

It's also OK to then not give up the three-run homer... even though (presumably) everybody knew that's exactly what was going to hit. 

[Monticore]

That walk was the turning point. Colome', who has a true knack for horror, followed suit.

[bighat]

Embarrassed again in New York.

[Thiéres Rabelo]

12 minutes ago, Seth Stohs said:

Seeing where "Pitch #6" to Gardner was according to the illustration, it doesn't look like such a horrible call... A missed call, but very borderline. 

It's also OK to then not give up the three-run homer... even though (presumably) everybody knew that's exactly what was going to hit. 

If we're talking about that one pitch, sure, you're absolutely right. What was infuriating was that the same mistake happened at least three other times that same inning, if I recall correctly.

[Seth Stohs]

2 minutes ago, Thiéres Rabelo said:

If we're talking about that one pitch, sure, you're absolutely right. What was infuriating was that the same mistake happened at least three other times that same inning, if I recall correctly.

Sure, but look at pitches 2 and 5 on that chart. The Twins got two very borderline calls with those two too. 

[LastOnePicked]

Nice that we still got a taste of Twins playoff baseball even in a non-playoff year, That loss would fit right into the streak.

[Yawn Gardenhose]

Ball four to Gardner was not a strike. The problem here is that people treat the Bally Sports box as if it were drawn by God. From the MLB rule book: "The Strike Zone is that area over home plate the upper limit of which is a horizontal line at the midpoint between the top of the shoulders and the top of the uniform pants, and the lower level is a line at the top of the knees. The Strike Zone shall be determined from the batter's stance as the batter is prepared to swing at a pitched ball." Which means, first of all, that the strike zone is variable from batter to batter, not a static unchanging box superimposed by a cable network. And in this case, ball four landed around Gardner's shoulders, not a strike. That's a big unaddressed problem with robot umps, in my view - is the strike zone going to be static or variable by batter? Seems like a nuance that technology might make worse rather than make better.  

In Loserville USA, er - Minnesota, rather,  players and teams take these "aggregious calls" and turn them into the reasons that they lose. Not, hey, let's not give up three-run homers late in ballgames, but "the damn umps! Grr! They're out to get us!" Between Duffey's infantile tantrum, Rockhead's mealy-mouthed "why can't you be like robots!" to Morneau's constant, year-long bitching and moaning about calls that go against the Twins (and silence when "bad calls" go the Twins favor), it's just so delicious. They made the decision to lose that ballgame once Nelson called it ball four. The "righteous" anger feels better for them than winning a game in New York for the second time in 24 games or whatever the pathetic streak is at now. 

Truly classic stuff. 

[Danchat]

That's it... I might just bet on a sports game for the first time in 2022 and put money on the Yankees every single time they play the Twins. Either I will make a profit since the Twins are guaranteed to poop themselves every time they play New York, or I will break the Twins' horrible streak by losing money. A win-win, perhaps.

[mikelink45]

"But some terrible ball-strike calls helped the Yankees to rally back and walk it off in extras."  A quote that is symptomatic of losers!  We were great except for the one inning when they scored all the runs.  The umps hated us.  We were robbed.  The Yankees have beaten us for the last ten years - it is not fair. 

BLAH, Blah, blah.  Stop whining.  We lost again. 

[LA VIkes Fan]

12 minutes ago, Danchat said:

That's it... I might just bet on a sports game for the first time in 2022 and put money on the Yankees every single time they play the Twins. Either I will make a profit since the Twins are guaranteed to poop themselves every time they play New York, or I will break the Twins' horrible streak by losing money. A win-win, perhaps.

I love this idea. I may do the same. I'm already thinking of betting on Arizona Sunday in their game with the Vikings for the same reason,

[Danchat]

2 minutes ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

I love this idea. I may do the same. I'm already thinking of betting on Arizona Sunday in their game with the Vikings for the same reason,

I would caution you from doing that... from my perspective that seems like an over-reactionary bet, since it would be no surprise to me if the Vikings at least covered just because we play better by default and Arizona regresses somewhat. But this is coming from someone who has sworn off gambling, so you do you.

However, the Yankees-Twins matchups have transcended common sense. They've won something like 80% of their games against us in the past 20-25 years. Unless that is priced into the line, I'm willing to break my embargo.

[h2oface]

8 hours ago, Seth Stohs said:

Seeing where "Pitch #6" to Gardner was according to the illustration, it doesn't look like such a horrible call... A missed call, but very borderline. 

It's also OK to then not give up the three-run homer... even though (presumably) everybody knew that's exactly what was going to hit. 

Pitchers and Batters DESERVE the border line calls the most! This is what their special talents are for, to descern the small differences. Getting robbed of the close ones - the perfect take because it is just outside the zone, or the great pitch that is just barely touching the zone at some point - is the worst, if you ask me. That is why we can no longer leave it up to the best guess by a too proud person.

Donaldson (righty) got called out on a ball 3 to 4 inches outside. The ump was giving Yankee pitchers strikes on balls, and Twins pitchers balls on strikes. Nelson didn't have any problem calling pitch one a strike, as it was (pretty similar to pitch 6 to Gardner (lefty) that he called a ball- both pitches were the inside corner to the batter, with the ump looking right at it over the inside shoulder of the catcher. Gardner's was even more in the zone, but both were strikes) ......... but pitch 7 to Donaldson was clearly outside!

It is so past the time to take strikes and balls away from the guessing umpires. It is really not their fault. Humans do the best they can, I guess (- at Yankee stadium this is debatable). It is just impossible for them to do anything but guess the best they can in the split second. There is just a better way to do it now.

[h2oface]

55 minutes ago, Yawn Gardenhose said:

Ball four to Gardner was not a strike. The problem here is that people treat the Bally Sports box as if it were drawn by God. From the MLB rule book: "The Strike Zone is that area over home plate the upper limit of which is a horizontal line at the midpoint between the top of the shoulders and the top of the uniform pants, and the lower level is a line at the top of the knees. The Strike Zone shall be determined from the batter's stance as the batter is prepared to swing at a pitched ball." Which means, first of all, that the strike zone is variable from batter to batter, not a static unchanging box superimposed by a cable network.

The size of the box changes for every batter, accordingly. Arraez' box is much smaller than Judge's (as is everybody's) for example.

[h2oface]

1 hour ago, Seth Stohs said:

Sure, but look at pitches 2 and 5 on that chart. The Twins got two very borderline calls with those two too. 

Pitch five was a foul ball, so we are only talking pitch 2. They should get them right. The Twins didn't "get" them. They deserved them all. If it was the opponent, they did too. I don't like wrong calls, no matter if they go to our team, or the other. I hate all wrong calls. None of them have to be wrong. Baseball choses to continue to let people guess. You don't see them guessing at the swimming pool on who touches the wall first. There is a reason to use a better system when one is available.

It doesn't matter who is on the Twins, who is managing, or who the FO is when it comes to playing the Yankees, apparently. They all choke. They get an early lead, a bad call or two, and choke. Year after year after year after year after year. It would be comical if we weren't Twins fans. Just something for others to reinforce calling us Twinkies.

[Nashvilletwin]

That Twins’ loss today was as typical as the Vikings’ loss on Sunday.  Game in hand, a close call that should never have been needed in the first place goes against us, and the oh so predictable loss (and the as predictable bellyaching about the umps/refs) follows. Sad.  

[Aggies7]

There is not a single state in the union more pathetic with professional sports than minnesota, none, zero. Pathetic, losing franchises who expect to lose. Sure, you’ll have some anomalies and playoff appearances, but losers expect to lose. And they do so magnificently.

 

The vikings were mentioned above and I had the same thought in mind after today’s atrocity. When the Vikings were on the cusp of field goal range in OT yesterday, I said “just don’t turn it over”. And their star RB fumbles. Much in the same way everyone in the world knew one-pitch colome was going to serve one up to judge, effectively ending the game. I knew, you knew, we all knew. I’ve been watching for 30 years and one thing is finally clear: These are losing franchises and possibly always will be. Poor leadership, poor management, losing attitude. Nothing will change until that does.

[Aggies7]

18 minutes ago, Nashvilletwin said:

That Twins’ loss today was as typical as the Vikings’ loss on Sunday.  Game in hand, a close call that should never have been needed in the first place goes against us, and the oh so predictable loss (and the as predictable bellyaching about the umps/refs) follows. Sad.  

The only reason that game yesterday was close was because the bengals are a bad team with poor coaching. Their decision to go for it up by 14 points on a 4th and 1 from their own 30ish was completely foolish and was the only reason the Vikings even had a shot. Had the opponent been a merely competent team, it would have been a packers-type blowout.
 

Another year where the team was completely unprepared for a season opener. Just like this was another year of losing to the Yankees. It starts at the top and neither zimmer or baldelli are the guys to break this losing mentality.

[Aggies7]

1 hour ago, Danchat said:

I would caution you from doing that... from my perspective that seems like an over-reactionary bet, since it would be no surprise to me if the Vikings at least covered just because we play better by default and Arizona regresses somewhat. But this is coming from someone who has sworn off gambling, so you do you.

However, the Yankees-Twins matchups have transcended common sense. They've won something like 80% of their games against us in the past 20-25 years. Unless that is priced into the line, I'm willing to break my embargo.

I think I saw the line at 4.5 for Arizona. Take that all day. Vikings will get blown out.

[LastOnePicked]

55 minutes ago, h2oface said:

It is so past the time to take strikes and balls away from the guessing umpires.

In agree. Two truths are at play here:

1) pitchers should not have their livelihoods impacted by human error. Even the best umpires get 5-10% of ball/strike calls wrong. Unacceptable. Baseball is a game of inches (or less), and precision tools are needed. It makes sense that Duffey is angry.

2) for over two decades, the Twins have played with a loser's mentality. It's bigger than Rocco and the current staff. When the pressure is on, the team folds. 0-18 in the playoffs, and a .205 winning percentage in Yankee Stadium is the outcome. They're not a big-boy team, and they need to figure THIS out as they retool the rotation.

It seems like part of this is that we fans just don't demand that this change. We accept and excuse poor results, time and time again. We're midwesterners - we're often humble, understanding and we don't expect all that much. And not all that much changes.

This was one dumb game in a lost season, sure. But this one pretty much exemplified the fault line of this franchise. 

[mnfireman]

Go look at Baseball Savant, Nelson was inconsistent with close pitches, at best. There were some clearly outside the zone called strikes, and the pitches around the strike zone box were very inconsistent.

[Johnny Ringo]

Death, taxes, a Yankees loss. The route is often different but the destination is always the same.  

[darwin22]

Didn't see any of the game as I was on the golf course, but, as others have noted this franchise regardless of the score---5-0, 8-0, 12-0 against the Yankees WILL find a way to poop their pants. 

Saying that-------can we FINALLY put to rest the talk of bringing Colome back next year AND paying him $5.5 million?  

[DocBauer]

Only got to watch a couple of the middle innings, which was great as we had the lead and the pen was performing. I can't and won't comment on the umpiring as I didn't see enough. 

What disappoints the hell out of me as I had this wonderful post half composed in my head about the way the Twins can beat the Yankees is jump on a red-eye to N.Y. for a single game, arrive with little to no sleep, then throw a bullpen game to win. But, alas, it was not to be.

The strange perception I take out of this game is Colome. He BLEW IT. No question. And it sucks and hurts, and not just because I had a fun post planned. If Colome had pitched the whole season like he has since June 1st, would we have such vitriol? We might still have a blown season because ONE GUY isn't to blame for 2021. IF Colome had been what was expected, he'd still have a few bad games here and there, including today. But fan/public opinion might be very different.

Look, I wouldn't be surprised if Colome was brought back on a smaller contract based on his career, and what he's done since June. (Should be a smaller contract IF it happens). There is potential for him to be an experienced  middle guy. And I wouldn't be surprised if both parties just walked away because it just didn't work out. 

But what I find humerous/interesting is if both sides walk, there will be someone who looks at Colome's career, and his much better 2/3 of a season and think they got a smart signing.  If he has a great 2022, do we, as fans, then gripe we didn't keep him? 

Understand, I'm at BEST keeping Colome at 50/50. I just think perspective in a horrible, disappointing season is difficult to quantify. Fans deal with emotion. A FO and coaching staff see things differently. Just tossing this out for conversation sake and interest.

This game still stunk!

[AceWrigley]

How did you know we were Twin's fans?

[AceWrigley]

Ok, coach.

[Eephus]

I have always had this feeling the Yankees make the Twins throw obvious strikes because they know the umps will tend to not call the close ones when nibbling Twins like Dobber are pitching, especially at Yankee Stadium. I'm glad I wasn't watching. It would have been too painful.?

 

[Platoon]

Nothing ups the click count like a good Twins Yankees game, and some questionable calls by the plate ump. 

I hope that if they go to Robo Umps everyone will be happy, and there won’t ever again be any whining over balls and strikes. But I highly doubt that, just as I doubt that the change will improve the Twins chances against NY.  

[Whitey333]

First the long winded response to the strike zone is filled with innacuracies and flaws.  Also to the Yankees apologist, even several Yankee players said it was a strike.  We all new it was.  It passed the eye test.  Umps miss calls.  Jeff Nelson is just an average umpire.  Umps should be held accountable for blown calls.  Ball and strike calls have a huge impact on the game.  The zone floats most of the game.  It's just amazing how it seems to float in Yankees favor.  I'm sure the umpires and MLB is very happy to make sure the Yankees win.  Truth of matter is Colome' blew it and umpire Nelson had no guts to call a strike out in Yankee stadium.  Pathetic

[Mark G]

11 hours ago, LastOnePicked said:

In agree. Two truths are at play here:

1) pitchers should not have their livelihoods impacted by human error. Even the best umpires get 5-10% of ball/strike calls wrong. Unacceptable. Baseball is a game of inches (or less), and precision tools are needed. It makes sense that Duffey is angry.

2) for over two decades, the Twins have played with a loser's mentality. It's bigger than Rocco and the current staff. When the pressure is on, the team folds. 0-18 in the playoffs, and a .205 winning percentage in Yankee Stadium is the outcome. They're not a big-boy team, and they need to figure THIS out as they retool the rotation.

It seems like part of this is that we fans just don't demand that this change. We accept and excuse poor results, time and time again. We're midwesterners - we're often humble, understanding and we don't expect all that much. And not all that much changes.

This was one dumb game in a lost season, sure. But this one pretty much exemplified the fault line of this franchise. 

I fully agree on two counts.  We have the technology to call balls and strikes accurately, and we need to start using it.  Balls and strikes are too much a part of the game, and too important to have as many as we see wrong keep going.  What a pitcher would throw on 1-2 vs. 2-1 can mean everything in too many at bats.   I watch many of the games on the computer where the screen is, and the number that are clearly wrong (both ways) are far too many to continue to tolerate.  2nd, I read the NY Post a few days a week, and the difference is stark in how they cover their teams vs. how our media covers ours.   You wouldn't want to be on the Mets right now, trust me.   And the Yankees have been excoriated up and down for several weeks now and they are 16 games OVER .500.  We are 18 games UNDER .500 and all we do is look at the minor leaguers and estimate how they would do in the lineup next year.  Betsy, in the Pioneer Press, might just as well be a PR person for the Twins FO with what she writes; never even so much as a critique, much less a criticism, and the Trib isn't exactly calling for heads to roll either.  And some should, maybe, the way this team has been mismanaged.  I miss the days when sports writers were our voice, not the teams.   But I digress.  You are spot on on those two points.