Rangers 6, Twins 5: Good Defense, Good Hitting, One Bad Inning

[Thiéres Rabelo]

The Twins had a promising start to the series opener against the Rangers, especially on defense, but a Sonny Gray meltdown in the fifth inning was enough for Texas to secure a come-from-behind win.

Box Score
Starting Pitcher: Sonny Gray, 4 2/3 IP, 4H, 5R, 5ER, 2BB, 0K (82 pitches, 47 strikes, 57.3%)
Home Runs: Carlos Correa (10), Ryan Jeffers (6)
Bottom 3 WPA: Caleb Thielbar (-.320), Sonny Gray (-.192), Gio Urshela (-.139)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Texas’ defensive miscues help Minnesota’s offense
Some early offensive productivity led to two quick runs for Minnesota – but also to a few stranded runners. Luis Arráez reached on a fielding error to lead off the game, and exactly three pitches into Carlos Correa’s at-bat, he hit a two-run home run to give the Twins the lead. They also had a promising start to the second inning, with Nick Gordon hitting a leadoff double and Arráez drawing a two-out walk, but Correa couldn’t come through this time.

As Sonny Gray faced the minimum through two thanks to some sharp defense behind him, the Twins took advantage of some more poor fielding from Texas to add on. Byron Buxton led off the third inning by reaching on a fielding error by Corey Seager, who couldn’t glove a routine ground ball. Then, catcher Jonah Heim made a throwing mistake trying to pick off Buxton, who ended up reaching third.

Buxton dove head first into third and apparently had his hand spiked by third baseman  Josh Smith, but he remained in the game. Max Kepler then hit a slow ground ball that found the gap, allowing Buxton to score easily from third. The Rangers weren’t done making errors, as Kepler advanced to second on a Jon Gray wild pitch, but the Rangers starter managed to retire the net three batters to end the inning.

Twins defense put on a highlight reel topped by a Buxton gem
The Rangers couldn’t figure things out on defense, allowing the Twins to build an important early lead. The Twins, on the other hand, played some superb defense in support of Sonny Gray. Jorge Polanco and Correa, with his cannon of an arm, turned in a vital double play to put on the breaks to a potential Ranger rally.

Polanco made an outstanding off-balance throw to Arráez to avoid a leadoff single by Kole Calhoun in the third, helping keep Sonny Gray’s pitch count as low as 33 after three. But no play (maybe in history) was more impressive than Buxton’s diving catch against the center-field track, behind a leaping Gordon, stealing a sure extra-base hit from Marcus Semien. That might’ve been the most impressive defensive play of his career so far.

Sonny Gray struggles badly in the 5th; Rangers score six runs
Sonny Gray was incredibly solid for the first four innings of the game. He completed said innings on 50 pitches, throwing 72.0% strikes, and allowing only a hit and a walk. But things completely fell apart during the fifth inning, and the Rangers exploded for six total runs.

Failing to throw strikes, Sonny Gray loaded the bases with no outs with back-to-back singles and a walk. Then, he hit former Twin Mitch Garver, putting Texas on the board. Texas would score two more runs on a Leody Taveras sacrifice fly and a Josh Smith, tying the game. Sonny Gray got the second out before he departed the game, leaving two runners on for Caleb Thielbar.

Thielbar couldn’t prevent the Rangers from scoring: Corey Seager hit a three-run home run, giving the Rangers their first lead of the night, 6-3. Sonny Gray finished the night with five runs, all earned. He threw 32 pitches in the fifth with an awful 34.4% strikes. What might have happened with him?

 

Garver will have surgery, but wanted to play against the Twins 

During the game, Evan Grant from the Dallas Morning Star posted on Twitter that he had confirmed that Mitch Garver will have season-ending surgery on his right flexor tendon. 

 

 

Mid-game, the Rangers broadcasters talked about Garver and said that the team had given him the option of going on the IL or playing this series against his old team, and Garver wanted to play. Garver DHd and batted eighth for the Rangers. He went 0-for-2, walked, and was hit by a pitch to drive in a run. 

Garver was certainly a professional with the Twins, and earned his stripes from "Senior Sign" to "Silver Slugger" all while treating Twins Daily and the fans tremendously. Obviously, we at Twins Daily wish Garver well with the surgery and look forward to the Sauce returning healthy in 2023. 

 

 

Twins get within one on a Jeffers home run, but it's not enough
If Minnesota had hopes to rally back they probably should strike back soon – and that’s precisely what they did. Gordon led off the sixth inning with his second double of the night and after Gio Urshela quickly flew out, Ryan Jeffers crushed a 412-feet bomb to the bullpen area, a home run that left his bat at 102.8 MPH.

The offense produced some more baserunners in the following two innings, but couldn’t capitalize. The Twins bullpen kept Minnesota’s chances alive, but the rally fell short in the ninth. Things could’ve been different if a Buxton fair ball down the third-base line hadn’t been called a foul ball by Angel Hernandez.

What’s Next?
Game two of the series is scheduled for tomorrow at 3:05 pm CDT, and it’s likely to be a low-scoring one: the Twins bring Devin Smeltzer (3.04 ERA) to the mound, who’s coming off three consecutive quality starts, while Texas will have old friend Martín Pérez (2.34 ERA) start the game for them, having the best season of his career so far.

Postgame interview

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	MON	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	TOT
Cotton	0	21	0	0	42	63
Pagán	18	0	23	0	10	51
Jax	26	0	17	0	0	43
Thielbar	0	11	8	0	13	32
Duffey	13	18	0	0	0	31
Duran	20	0	9	0	0	29
Megill	0	2	22	0	0	24
Moran	0	0	8	0	0	8

 

View full article

[SanoMustGo]

2-13 with RISP was the game.  Our best starting pitchers are starting to struggle.  With the deep bullpen we have, this is going to be a problem going forward. 20-23 last 43.

[Aggies7]

I want to believe that this is the team that could break the playoff losing streak but I’m not seeing it. We’re down to zero SP’s I have confidence in. 4 of Gray’s last 5 starts have been 5 IP or less. The bullpen, we know how that is. Tonight was a microcosm of what the last month or two has been. No way this should have been a loss. 11 hits and 3 opponent errors combined with spectacular defense on our end, the alleged best starter on the mound. But terrible hitting with RISP and - a one inning inconceivable meltdown from the SP followed by a gopher ball from one of our recent bright spots in the pen.
 

This should easily be a 10-12 game lead but the division is just god awful so we’ll probably win it in the end. 

[SanoMustGo]

4 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

I want to believe that this is the team that could break the playoff losing streak but I’m not seeing it. We’re down to zero SP’s I have confidence in. 4 of Gray’s last 5 starts have been 5 IP or less. The bullpen, we know how that is. Tonight was a microcosm of what the last month or two has been. No way this should have been a loss. 11 hits and 3 opponent errors combined with spectacular defense on our end, the alleged best starter on the mound. But terrible hitting with RISP and - a one inning inconceivable meltdown from the SP followed by a gopher ball from one of our recent bright spots in the pen.
 

This should easily be a 10-12 game lead but the division is just god awful so we’ll probably win it in the end. 

Twins will win the division with 84-85 wins, maybe less...which means .500 ball the remainder of the season.

[Aggies7]

2 minutes ago, SanoMustGo said:

Twins will win the division with 84-85 wins, maybe less...which means .500 ball the remainder of the season.

Then they’ll have to play better than they have been. Under .500 since their hot start high water mark like you said. Haven’t exactly been playing the best teams in the league too. Ugh I can’t take 3 more playoff losses 

[SanoMustGo]

Maybe the White Sox will figure it out and save us all from the streak going to 21 playoff losses.

[h2oface]

It is sad that so many great offensive and defensive performances keep getting buried by the sorry bullpen.

[Danchat]

It's easy to get disheartened by this squad - the starting pitching is usually effective but can't go 6+ innings, the bullpen is a complete disaster, and the hitting is usually good but very erratic. I think they'll play better as we get further into the summer, but it's hard to have any confidence that this team will break the 18 game playoff losing streak, or even if they do, win a single series in the playoffs. 

I just don't know about this front office and coaching staff - where is the pitching pipeline that was supposed to match Cleveland's? We've got a few young and talented arms at the major league level, but it's been total feast or famine for the prospects. We've tried to scrounge around for waiver wire arms and fix up AAAA guys for the bullpen and it's not working. Falvey and Levine know how to build a lineup, that's for sure, but they won't spend on pitching and their development of it has not been anything to write home about. 

Yeah, I know this is an overreaction, but I'm thinking back to that article we had about a potential Falvey/Levine extension and I thinking we've got to see this team actually accomplish something this year or I'd honestly rather start fresh then sign up for several more years of this.

[USAFChief]

Runs batted in.

 

They're important. 

 

 

[umterp23]

So wonder how many guys get a rest day Saturday or Sunday which will drive me nuts in trying to win games/series.  Garver going under the knife to close out his season.  So his body has started to fail him, trading him away not a bad deal after all.  Reason has been relegated to DH and 3rd on depth chart

[wabene]

9 hours ago, SanoMustGo said:

2-13 with RISP was the game.  Our best starting pitchers are starting to struggle.  With the deep bullpen we have, this is going to be a problem going forward. 20-23 last 43

Edit: ?

[wabene]

9 hours ago, SanoMustGo said:

Maybe the White Sox will figure it out and save us all from the streak going to 21 playoff losses.

?

[rwilfong86]

9 hours ago, Aggies7 said:

This should easily be a 10-12 game lead but the division is just god awful so we’ll probably win it in the end. 

 

Without the bullpen meltdowns the last 2 weeks this is a double digit lead easily. 

[Aggies7]

Over the last 3 weeks, the twins have lost 7 games they had no business losing. 7. It’s hard not to be “negative” after a run like that.

[IndyTwinsFan]

11 hours ago, SanoMustGo said:

2-13 with RISP was the game.  Our best starting pitchers are starting to struggle.  With the deep bullpen we have, this is going to be a problem going forward. 20-23 last 43.

Situational hitting has been a team-wide problem for more than a few seasons now.  We can clearly score runs knocking the ball out of the yard, but driving in runners in some other manner is highly problematic and their usual inability to do so is highly frustrating for us fans.

While pitching in general, and the bullpen specifically, is IMHO still the team's biggest concern, I believe that somehow addressing that weakness needs to be done.  However, how to accomplish that is up for debate and is something I don't have a good feeling for right now.

[jmlease1]

10 hours ago, USAFChief said:

Runs batted in.

 

They're important. 

 

 

Runs are important. RBIs aren't all that interesting or informative as a stat.

[Rosterman]

It's furstrating. But it IS the game of baseball.

Players have streaks at bat. Starters do their job of have a meltdown (although experienced ones usually "gut" their way thru innings).

I was hoping the rotation would be pitching deeper than they are, and pushing or surpassing that 100-pitch mark (forget about third or fourth time thru the order).

Considering we will have 7 rotation arms when Ober returns, and only room for five!

We have a closer, finally, in Duran...if the manager will trust him, and if the team actually gives him opportunities to close.

But there are at least four arms in the pen that are...dare I say...worthless. I don't picture a return of Coulombe and Smith as refreshing. Alcala has been gone waaaay to long.

Do I trust Cano to come up after a stay back in AAA? Is Ian Hamilton for real? Are Sisk and Schulfer hungry enough to shine, knowing it is pitch or bust?

 

Thank goodness for a weak division, although the Twins are/were in the top three in the league for wins...remember that when talking about a division weaker than any other.

[LewFordLives]

4 hours ago, Aggies7 said:

Over the last 3 weeks, the twins have lost 7 games they had no business losing. 7. It’s hard not to be “negative” after a run like that.

That's what's so frustrating. Things happen.... that's just baseball. There will always be those soul crushing inexplicable losses, but with this team it just seems to happen every other day. This team could have so easily had a ten game lead in the division.

[mnfireman]

With Gray's recent struggles, and the All-Star break coming up, I wouldn't be surprised to see a trip to the IL for him, citing some minor, nagging injury.

[Doctor Gast]

I was hoping that Gray could go 7 inning and not suffer the consquences the next couple of starts. But it looks like Gray's innings should also be limited.

[SanoMustGo]

10 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

I was hoping that Gray could go 7 inning and not suffer the consquences the next couple of starts. But it looks like Gray's innings should also be limited.

Someone has to give this team innings

[bean5302]

RBI's. 

Not at all valuable for an individual stat. 

Very important for a team stat.

[prouster]

15 hours ago, SanoMustGo said:

20-23 last 43.

This is the good stuff. It’s kind of like a Twins Daily doomsday clock. 

[mikelink45]

3 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

Runs are important. RBIs aren't all that interesting or informative as a stat.

Someone has to drive in the runs and our stats for RISP say that the men who get a hit when it counts are extremely important.

[mikelink45]

I just got in to Ketchikan and finally found wifi - I was hoping for better news that this.  I love being in first place, but we have not shown the killer instinct against bad teams and I am not seeing us in competition with the Yankees, Dodgers, Astros, Rays, Jays, or Red Sox when the season ends.  Please FO do something to change this perspective.

I loved seeing Byron back in the field, but twice worried he was injured again and his bat is still HR or nothing.  Gordon and Arraez continue to do what we need from them.  Jeffers is over .200!!!  But SP has now joined RP as a big concern. 

[h2oface]

6 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

Runs are important. RBIs aren't all that interesting or informative as a stat.

Maybe not to you. I they mean a ton to the players and the team. And it tells me a lot about the player, especially the player that has a lot of RBIs. It means somebody stepped up to the plate with runners on, more pressure, and shined in the clutch when the opportunities presented and got them accross the plate to score the run. I guess assists in basketball and hockey are uninteresting to you, too? And the long throw from the outfield. It means nothing? It is just the assist. The put out is the end product, and the only thing important?