White Sox 11, Twins 0: Blowout Loss Concludes Twins First Half

[Theo Tollefson]

What started out as a pitcher's duel turned into an ugly loss and series loss to the White Sox. The Twins enter the All-Star Break 50-44, still leading the AL Central by two games over Cleveland but certainly showed they need a break to rest and recuperate after Sunday’s brutal loss. 

Box Score
SP: Chris Archer (4.2 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 5 K (68 pitches, 42 strikes (61.8 strike %))
Home Runs: None
Bottom 3 WPA: Tyler Duffey -.120, Jose Miranda, -.065, Luis Arraez -.060 

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

 

Archer looked as good as ever during his first inning of work for the Twins on Sunday. Archer struck out the first two batters of the game, only giving up a hit to Andrew Vaughn and getting Jose Abreu to ground out in the next at-bat. 

The Twins bats did not get anything going in the bottom of the first even as Byron Buxton was announced as an All-Star starter in replacement of Mike Trout and his injury. Buxton himself struck out to end the inning while he remained unaware of the news. 

 

 

Archer continued to dominate through the next two innings for the Twins retiring seven straight. He totaled 38 pitches through the first three innings of the game keeping a pace to give the Twins bullpen much-needed rest. 

The Twins bats couldn’t keep up with Archer’s dominance on the mound as White Sox starter Dylan Cease no-hit the Twins through the first three innings, only allowing one base runner on a Jorge Polanco walk. 

The top of the fourth saw Archer allow just his second base runner of the game on an Abreu two-out base hit that ended up going nowhere as Archer struck out Gavin Sheets to end the inning. 

Archer ran into trouble against the White Sox in the top of the fifth with two outs on three pitches. Archer walked catcher Seby Zavala and gave up a single to Adam Engel in the next at-bat. Both runners were able to score on an error by Nick Gordon in left field recovering the ball. Zavala and Engel would go on to score in the next at-bat as Tim Anderson had a two-RBI single. 

What was looking to be the first time all season Archer could go into the sixth inning was shut down by Yoan Moncada as he hit a ground-rule double, tallying Archer’s to 68 and 16 since he recorded the second out in the fifth. Tyler Duffey was called upon from the bullpen to get the Twins out of the fifth.

Duffey gave up another RBI double in the first at-bat to Vaughn but was able to get out of the troubling inning by retiring Abreu on a 6-4 ground out. What began as a pitchers duel in the fifth ended in a clear lead for the Sox as they were now up 4-0 going to the bottom of the fifth. 

Cease continued his no-hit bid in the bottom of the fifth getting Kepler on a ground out back to him to start the inning. He then walked Polanco again and gave up the first Twins hit of the afternoon to Alex Kirilloff in the next at-bat. Neither Polanco or Kirilloff would make their way home to score as Cease struck out the final two batters of the inning to get out of the jam. 

 

Caleb Thielbar was on the mound for the Twins in the sixth and allowed only one base runner on a Josh Harrison single but kept him from advancing any further. The Twins could not get anything going again in the sixth as Cease was on a crusade to prove he should be in Los Angeles Tuesday for the All-Star Game. Even if he wouldn’t be able to pitch in the game. 

Joe Smith was next from the Twins bullpen for the 7th inning. He gave up a leadoff single to Engel and retired Anderson on a ground out. But what followed were back-to-back home runs to Moncada and Vaughn to put the Sox up 7-0. Then it was an Abreu single and a team conference on the mound with the infield for Smith. 

The mound visit with the infield seemed to have little help as Smith walked Sheets next and well, Smith wanted to quickly forget what happened next. Another home run, this time a three-run shot to Josh Harrison that traveled to left field put the White Sox up 10-0. The home run removed Smith from the game and was the third he gave up in the inning, only managing to retire one batter in the seventh. 

A bit of good did come for the Twins to start the top of the 8th. Caleb Hamilton, who was called up from St. Paul on Friday as Ryan Jeffers was put on the IL, made his MLB debut as a defensive sub for Gary Sanchez at catcher. Hamilton caught Jharel Cotton for the eighth. Cotton’s inning was a continuing example of how worn out this Twins pitching staff has been since the start of June. 

Cotton surrendered a leadoff double to Reese McGuire, who pinch hit for Tim Anderson, and walked Vaughn who reached base for the fourth time in the game. It took Cotton 32 pitches to retire three outs in the eighth. The upside for Cotton and the entire Twins pen today? They are all off until next Saturday.  

The eighth ended on a nice snagging catch from Gilberto Celestino in center, who came into the game as Buxton departed for Los Angeles to start in the All Star Game Tuesday. 

The Twins caught their first break of the day in the bottom of the eighth. Miranda drew a one-out walk from Joe Kelly and what looked to be a fielder's choice that got Miranda out at second and Gordon safe at first. Was eventually overturned to be a FC, E6 as Garcia, now at short, never touched second base.

This brought up Caleb Hamilton for his first MLB at-bat with two runners on and no one out, and Hamilton hit into another fielder's choice, but at least moved the runners into scoring position with two out for Arraez. Unfortunately, no one scored as Arraez grounded out to second to end the inning. 

The ninth was another relief appearance from Emilio Pagan who gave up one more run to the Sox. Kyle Garlick got a hit in his only at-bat of the game but did not score as White Sox reliever Jose Ruiz retired the final three batters to end the game. 

What’s Next? 
The Twins go into the All Star Break and are off until Saturday, July 23 for a quick two-game series against the Detroit Tigers. Joe Ryan is likely to get the start as the Twins turn to a four man rotation of Ryan, Gray, Bundy and Archer to finish out the month of July and start the second half. First pitch for Saturday’s game is at 5:10 p.m. CT. 

Postgame Interview

Bullpen Usage Sheet 

View full article

[Aggies7]

So many things have changed about baseball but not rule #1: you can’t win without pitching. And the twins have none. Zero. Zilch.

[wsnydes]

I mentioned this in the game thread, and hinted at it in the intro, but it's one thing to lose heading into the break.  Quite another to get bludgeoned, by a division rival no less, heading into the break.  

Not a good one to sit and stew on for nearly a week.  Hopefully that wait has a positive impact.

[USAFChief]

Open the spigot on that Pitching Pipeline(tm) that I read so much about.

[Aggies7]

26 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

Open the spigot on that Pitching Pipeline(tm) that I read so much about.

I think it’s clogged 

 

[wabene]

I need a break from the Twins. 

[wabene]

18 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

Ok

Gah, this cannot be unseen! 

[Aggies7]

5 minutes ago, wabene said:

Gah, this cannot be unseen! 

I will delete it, I simply googled giant sewer pipe ?

[SwainZag]

18 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

Open the spigot on that Pitching Pipeline(tm) that I read so much about.

Hopefully Ober is back soon, that will put 2 rookies and a 2nd year pitcher in the starting rotation.  Combine that with your two best high leverage men being in their 1st and 2nd season and that's 5 fairly important arms being 1st or 2nd year players from that pipeline....not to mention Moran, Sands and Alcala have all been on the staff at some point this season. 

[h2oface]

Atlanta was 44-45 at the break last year. They were devastated with injuries. Anything can happen, and probably will.

Unlikely trades didn't seem that great. Unlikely heroes emerged. Defending WS Champs. Go figure. 

[h2oface]

20 minutes ago, wabene said:

I need a break from the Twins. 

Cheer up! Sano is almost back! 

[Doctor Gast]

Archer pitched great until he ran out of gas. When they needed to put out the fire they poured gasoline on the situation by bringing in Duffy. From the begining of the season we needed to establish long relief, we had many arms to do that and they settled on only Winder and used him for 3 times in April and shut it down. We still need long relief, yet they sent Winder & Smeltzer down to AAA again. 

"They" want to depend heavily on short relief and we don't have the guns there to do anything, To help out short relief they over extend our rotation, then we burn out our SPs or they end up on the IL. We are exactly where I said we'd be if we didn't establish a long relief. And we'll continue on this path until they wake up. We have very good rotation but they need a lot of help from long relief, if they aren't there we are doomed.

We have some time for some of our pitchers get healthy but they need to establish long relief, get some high leverage pitching and a front-line pitcher won't be bad. Our line up didn't do their job either, but we need to keep the game close until their bats wake up.

[Unwinder]

15 minutes ago, h2oface said:

Cheer up! Sano is almost back! 

Hey, anything can happen. He is raking in St Paul. Usually when he sucks he's just as bad in the minors.

[rwilfong86]

Glad I spent the afternoon power washing my patio and porch instead of watching this mess. 

[Rosterman]

90 games into the season and now, the All-Star break.

The rotation, rather than stablizing, has fallen apart. Even with six (and soon to be seven) arms to choose from.

The bullpen seems a shambles. Walks. Home runs. No defined roles. 

And the Twins one-hit in the batting end. Line-up construction? Not watching enough video? Too hot to play today?

Yet the Twins remain in first place with a lead, and 50 wins.

We get to NOT follow box scores for the week!

[chinmusic]

So Buxton is starting in CF on Tuesday. Sheesh!

Are the outfield walls padded at Chavez Ravine?

[strumdatjag]

I was at that game today.  What a nasty thing to watch?  Hopefully, it gave the front office a kick in the pants to make a few additions and a few subtractions. 

[USAFChief]

2 hours ago, Aggies7 said:

So many things have changed about baseball but not rule #1: you can’t win without pitching. And the twins have none. Zero. Zilch.

Don't be ridiculous. 

They currently have THIRTEEN pitchers on staff. And they've had something like 30 so far this year!

 

PLENTY of pitching.

[darwin22]

1 hour ago, wabene said:

I need a break from the Twins. 

No kidding.  I'm glad I had a mid afternoon tee time so I was able to miss the carnage.  Just a train wreck in our last 4 losses to CHW---38 runs allowed.   

No reason to waste my time imploring Falvey to improve this team.  Its not going to happen.  Its just not the "Twins Way,"  I get it.  Saying that, it makes me sick to see this season slowly going down the drain when it doesn't have to go that route.

[Danchat]

You just can't field a competitive playoff team with a bad bullpen, especially when the starting pitching is not good enough / out of sorts. You can't go into the season with Joe Smith and Emilio Pagan as your primary additions and then fail to 'coach them up'. Now they're at the point where they probably should be DFA'd, but likely won't because they're simply out of options. Pulling starters out of games early hasn't worked well with the combination of having a bad bullpen, but Archer doesn't have what it takes to go past the 4th inning anymore. 

And the pitching pipeline... we've had a few breakthroughs, but still not close enough to what Cleveland's (like we expected). Outside of Winder, we don't have any prospects on the near horizon that will be able to help this year. And this front office has been subpar at developing reliever prospects - Duran and Jax are a start, but the 5 years before this it's basically been coasting off the previous regime's arms, vets on 1 year deals, and AAAA guys that they haven't been able to get the most out of. 

1 hour ago, h2oface said:

Atlanta was 44-45 at the break last year. They were devastated with injuries. Anything can happen, and probably will.

It's definitely not time to give up and sell... I just don't trust our front office to do the right thing. 

[Kendel]

They sent Winder down to activate Smith. In what world does that make any sense?

[rv78]

This team is in shambles and it's beyond belief they are still in 1st place. Any other division and they'd be in 3rd so I guess we can be thankful for that, but how does that give any of us hope going forward? The starters can't go more than 5 innings and that's only on a good day. The bullpen is imploding due to being overworked, understaffed with quality arms and no clear role given to any of them by the Manager who seems to change that role almost daily. The offense fires on about 2 cylinders out of 8 each day with no clear leader among them. Some of you seem to think there is hope for an upgrade before the deadline but where do you start and at what cost? The rotation, the bullpen, and the offense all need help, a spark, a difference maker. Don't see it happening. Instead I see the collapse continuing and them being sellers at the deadline, not buyers. Are we to really believe this team can compete if it reaches the playoffs? Not to worry, the current squad won't get there and I don't see the FO spending or trading to get what they need. It's just too much.

[Twins_Fan_For_Life]

I still think that when Ober returns to the rotation,  Winder goes to the bullpen.   Plus maybe Woods-Richardson or someone like that brought up to help in relief.  Add Alcala and Maeda in a month or so, and the pen could be good.

[h2oface]

Mediober. Ober is not an answer. He can’t even ever stay on the field. But he is a Dobnak fools gold and will turn into a liability anyway. Smeltzer. Bundy. Archer. All low price liabilities. They may have a good month or two. So did Nolasco. Amazed folks think Ober will be a savior. 

[stringer bell]

Yes, there are many things to be concerned about, but let's look at the entire picture. The Twins have a winning record at the break and a small lead in the division. This is primarily because they have a good lineup and their pitchers overperformed for the first third of the season. Three position players with less than a years experience have looked promising--Miranda, Kirilloff and Larnach (now out with injury)--and three pitchers with less than a years experience--Winder, Jax and Duran--have done well. Luis Arraez continues to show he is elite as a hitter and Jorge Polanco is giving indications that he'll have a monster second half to his season.

Now to the minus side of the ledger. The rotation, which looked suspect coming out of Spring Training looks suspect again after encouraging performances early in the year. Sonny Gray hasn't been the same since coming off the IL the second time. Joe Ryan isn't dominating although he's really held his own and everyone else in the rotation is both limited in upside and an injury risk. The bullpen has been poor and prospects for improvement from within are close to non-existent. While looking at individual performances from the position players, there aren't many, if any, disappointments, the offense hasn't sustained above-average run scoring for more than a series at a time. 

For the second half (post All-Star break), I believe the Twins will continue to score runs well above average and they will continue to be a decent defensive outfit, barring devastating injuries. If they can find enough pitching, they will be in the hunt for the playoffs and a division crown. If not, they will continue to fade.

[Whitey333]

This pitching staff and the managers handling of it has been a train wreck waiting to happen.  Yes the pitching pipeline has produced a couple of pitchers.  Just because they are on the big league club doesn't mean they are good or that the pipeline is producing.  Twins were embarrassed by the Sox on our home field.  Twins showed no life or enthusiasm at all.  We are now 3-7 in past 10 games.  In those 10 games we have given up 68 runs.  Yet only because we play in a very weak division are we in first place.  Does anyone really think this is a playoff contending team as currently constructed?  It needs some reworking if they are serious about contending this year.  It's frustrating because the opportunity is there to take the division and get to playoffs.  Will the Front Office take charge?  Or will they sit on their hands and let the season slip away?

[puckstopper1]

I was at the game as well.  Terrific seats, but hot weather and a lousy game made it hard to sit thru.  It seemed like the Twins were already (mentally) starting their all-star break.

Tip of the hat to Cease.  He was on today.  Archer looked great and came up an out short of his usually 5 solid.

At the beginning of the season if someone told me that the Twins would be in first place by 2 games at the all-star break, I would have been ecstatic.  Unfortunately they have shown over the past month that they are not likely to maintain their early season success. And even if they did, this team is not built for a long playoff run.  Thus I will enjoy them for what they are (an average team) and hope I am pleasantly surprised if they outperform expectations.

[Blyleven2011]

13 hours ago, Danchat said:

 

It's definitely not time to give up and sell... I just don't trust our front office to do the right thing. 

There in hiding and haven't been seen  since we have played less than 500 ball since a 27 and 16 start ...

THE FRONT OFFICE GOT US INTO THIS MESS , the fans have suffered enough with this bad pitching ,,,  GET IT FIXED ...

Yesterday's game reminded me of what the twins were last year .... the minnesota possums  , play dead at home and get killed on the road ...

[Alex Schieferdecker]

If they DFA'd Cotton, Duffey, Pagan, and Smith tomorrow, I'd feel extremely relieved.

[Blyleven2011]

57 minutes ago, Whitey333 said:

This pitching staff and the managers handling of it has been a train wreck waiting to happen.  

shows no life or enthusiasm at all.   

Does anyone really think this is a playoff contending team as currently constructed? 

 Will the Front Office take charge?  Or will they sit on their hands and let the season slip away?

A leader ,,, definitely not the manager  .... 

The team has played sub 500 play for a while now and yes I'd like to see a more enthusiastic team  for more exciting games ... 

The front office  thinks we will be a competitive team  , I don't think the Twins will be a contender at the end of the season ....

FO WILL SIT ON THEIR HANDS and sign mediocre below average arms because they are cheaper  ....  

GO BOLD AND HAVE SOME GUTS AND FIX THIS MESS THEY HAVE PUT US IN ,  PITCHING  ,,, even if we don't  win the division  , THE  LEADERSHIP STARTS WITH THEM , BY ADDING A BETTER EXCITING PRODUCT ON THE FIELD ,,, and that starts with quality pitching  ...