Twins 6, Rangers 5: Twins Avoid Sweep in Texas, Snap Losing Streak

[Theo Tollefson]

The Twins found a way to win their last of three against the Rangers in Texas Sunday afternoon. What could have ended as a sweep and the Twins first four-game losing streak of the season turned into a win thanks to home runs, errors, and some luck. 

Box Score
SP: Dylan Bundy 5 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 4 K (77 pitches, 53 strikes (68.8 strike %)
Home Runs: Byron Buxton (23), Ryan Jeffers (7)
Top 3 or Bottom 3 WPA: Jose Miranda .197, Ryan Jeffers .111, Jorge Polanco .103

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

With Luis Arraez and Carlos Correa leading off the game for the Twins and getting out on 4 pitches combined. First-time all-star Byron Buxton came up with two outs and hit his 23rd home run of the season to put the Twins up 1-0. Max Kepler followed up Buxton with a double but Jorge Polanco could not get Kepler home to give Bundy an extra insurance run before he threw his first pitch. 

Bundy took advantage of the early lead with a scoreless first inning which included a strikeout and a hit surrendered to Corey Seager. 

In the top of the second, the Twins were able to add two more runs onto their lead thanks to lead off singles from Alex Kirilloff and Nick Gordon who were later driven in by Jose Miranda and Ryan Jeffers to make it 3-0 Twins. Rangers starter Dane Dunning then retired Arraez, Correa, and Buxton to get out of another jam. 

Bundy’s second inning of work was not as graceful as his first. He was able to get the first out with a Nate Lowe ground out, but Kole Calhoun singled to begin a rally that was followed by a Brad Miller single and Meibrys Viloria walk. All three Rangers scored after a bases-clearing double by third baseman Josh H. Smith to tie the game up 3-3.

The Twins did get a run back in the top of the third with a base-loaded hit-by-pitch to Miranda which drove in Polanco. But again the Twins fell short of adding more runs to their re-secured lead making it a 4-3 game going into the bottom of the third. 

The top of the fourth ended with a double play hit by Kepler but the Twins bench did not agree with the call, especially considering the universally declared worst umpire in baseball, Angel Hernandez, made the call at first. After review, the out calls stood and the Twins had their first scoreless inning of the game. 

Bundy recovered from a bad second inning in the third and fourth. Bundy only allowed one runner in those two innings on another Miller single. Miller ended the fourth as he was caught stealing by Ryan Jeffers who threw out his second base runner of the series. 

The scoreless streak snapped in the fifth inning for Bundy. With one out Bundy gave up a walk to Smith which was followed by a Marcus Semien double. Smith was able to score on a sacrifice fly by Seager that tied the game at 4 even. More damage was averted as Bundy struck out Adolis Garcia to end the inning but the Twins bats had to break up another tied score to start the sixth.

Only one hit would be needed to break the tie in the top of the sixth, as Ryan Jeffers drilled an opposite-field home run to right field to make it a 5-4 Twins lead. 

Bundy was finished after five innings as Caleb Thielbar was the first reliever out of the bullpen for the Twins Sunday. Thielbar had a scoreless sixth with one walk to keep the Twins 5-4 lead intact. 

Thanks to a walk to Polanco, a single by Kirilloff, and a throwing error attempting to pick off pinch-runner Gilberto Celestino by Rangers reliever Matt Bush, the Twins were able to get a blessing of an insurance run al Polanco scored on the throwing error to make it a 6-4 Twins lead in the top of the seventh.

Griffin Jax then came into the game for the bottom half of the inning and gave the Twins their second 1, 2, 3 inning of the afternoon. 

For the second time this week, an outfielder let a ball fall out of their glove at the warning track in left field and land over the fence for a home run. The first one was Lourdes Gurriel Jr. Thursday night in Seattle when the Mariners Dylan Moore hit a ball right into Gurriel Jr. 's glove that couldn’t stick in it. 

The second one came in the eighth inning of this game when Gilberto Celestino leaped to catch a Seager fly ball. With the ball about to leave the park, it hit Celestino's glove but when he hit the wall, the ball bounced over the fence making it a 6-5 game. The pitch came off of Jhoan Duran who was in for a second straight day of work. Following the home run, Duran was able to retire the next three batters and maintain a 6-5 lead after eight innings. 

The save opportunity was given to Tyler Duffey in the ninth inning. Duffey retired the first two batters with ease but Jonah Heim got a bloop single to the outfield to keep the Rangers alive for one more at-bat for the pesky Josh Smith. 

After an eight-pitch at-bat, Duffey retired Smith on a flyout to Kepler to give the Twins their first win since Wednesday and avoid the sweep by the Rangers.  

What’s Next? 
The Twins are off Monday and will begin a quick two-game series at Target Field against the Milwaukee Brewers Tuesday night. Josh Winder will be on the mound for the Twins while the Brewers will send rookie Jason Alexander to the hill with the first pitch scheduled for 6:40 p.m. CT

Postgame Interview 

 

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

 

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[rwilfong86]

Woohoo! Avoided the sweep! 

[darwin22]

Must've paced at least 1000 steps in my basement with Duffey pitching in 9th.

I'll take the win.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

A good win. Good wins make me proud to be a fan of the Twins.

[mikelink45]

It's time for a win streak. Winning one of three in this awkward manner is not that exciting. Being in first place is, but I want more

[Mortimerkenny21]

The Twins offense will have to face off against Jason Alexander (George Costanza)!! I thought he worked for the Yankees??

[JDubs]

6 hours ago, Mortimerkenny21 said:

The Twins offense will have to face off against Jason Alexander (George Costanza)!! I thought he worked for the Yankees??

He'll be so uncomfortable in his shrunken cotton uniform that he'll probably pitch really poorly

[Linus]

Nice to get the win but here it is again…….more sloppy baseball. Jeffers runs into a tag double play that kills a potential big inning.  That is something that you are coached to avoid in Legion ball. The Twins make at least one bonehead play every game. Rocco at least noted before the game that one of the goals for the day was to play a clean game. I guess he is aware of it anyway. 

[Whitey333]

I totally agree that the Twins very seldom play a clean baseball game.  They make too many physical and mental errors to be considered anything serious beyond a possible division champ.  Way too many baserunning errors as well.  Generally a pretty good team but very undisciplined.

[h2oface]

Did Celestino get an assist on Seager's homer for pushing it over the fence?