Blue Jays 3, Twins 2: Bad Replay Review Costs Twins

[Theo Tollefson]

The Twins clubhouse started the day with somber news of Alex Kirilloff being shut down for the season as they looked to complete a series victory over the Blue Jays Sunday. The Twins lost on a controversial overturn as umpires in New York cost the game for them on a bad replay call that had Rocco Baldelli more fired than ever before and Twins fans raging from coast to coast.

Box Score
SP: Chris Archer 5 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K (79 pitches, 52 strikes (65.8 strike %))
Home Runs: None
Top 3 or Bottom 3 WPA: Max Kepler -.303, Nick Gordon -.282, Gio Urshela -.243

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Chris Archer made the start for the Twins. He came into the game with three consecutive starts of three or more walks allowed, Archer was hoping to have better control of the strike zone Sunday afternoon. For his first inning of work, Archer retired the minimum on 15 pitches, 12 strikes. 

When the time came for the Twins to hit, Jorge Polanco was practically given a free pass to get on base. The Blue Jays opted for a four-man outfield against Polanco, who was hitting lefty against Kevin Gausman. With that, it opened up the entirety of the left side of the infield for Polanco to lace a half-swing single and reach base. 

Even with greater control of the strike zone, the Blue Jays still made Archer hurt in the second inning as Teoscar Hernandez led off with a single on the first pitch and Bo Bichette followed with an RBI double on the first pitch of his at-bat to make it 1-0 Blue Jays. The Jays wouldn’t score any more runs against Archer in the second but worked him to throw 30 pitches in the inning, only expediting Cole Sands appearance out of the bullpen. 

The Jays bats would strike again against Archer in the top of the third as Cavan Biggio led off with another double and scored on the next at-bat off a Lourdes Gurriel Jr. RBI single. That would be the only run allowed by Archer in the third as the Jays now led 2-0. 

As Archer settled down to retire the Blue Jays with no runs or walks allowed through his five innings of work, only Luis Arraez managed to get on base for the Twins after the Blue Jays scored their second run. Both times were on singles but the Twins failed to make contact as easily as the last time they faced Gausman on Sunday, June 5. 

Archer was done for the afternoon after five innings of work and did not allow any walks in his five innings, making it his first start since June 19 against the Diamondbacks, without allowing any walks. 

To everyone’s surprise, Sands was not the first arm out of the Twins bullpen to replace Archer on the mound. Instead it was every Twins fan “favorite” Emilio Pagan. Pagan would come out of the sixth earlier than expected due to a shoulder injury. He only allowed one hit, a single to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and worked a 2-2 count to Hernandez before being removed from the game with a right lat cramp. 

Sands came in to finish the at-bat against Hernandez, and he doubled. Bichette followed with a five-pitch at-bat that ended in a strikeout and kept the Jays lead at 2-0.

The Twins were finally able to get a run on the board in the bottom of the eighth as Polanco reached base on his second hit of the game. Two at-bats later, rookie sensation Jose Miranda drove in Polanco, marking at least one RBI in all games against the Blue Jays in this series. Miranda’s RBI made it a 2-1 score. 

Sands pitched an effective three innings of relief for the Twins and was pulled after totaling 51 pitches and allowing Alejandro Kirk on with a hit and two outs in the top of the ninth. Caleb Thielbar was called in to get the final out and achieved that, keeping it a run one game for the Twins to try and walk-off the Blue Jays for the season. 

Carlos Correa came in as a pinch hitter for Jake Cave in the bottom of the ninth. Correa reached base, getting clipped by a pitch in the shoulder. Tim Beckham came in as a pinch runner for Correa which brought up another walk-off opportunity for Byron Buxton. Buxton disappointed fans with a three-pitch strikeout, looking at a pitch that went right down the middle from Jordan Romano. 

Fortunately for Twins fans, Gary Sanchez kept the game alive after Buxton’s strikeout. Sanchez got a single that advanced Beckham to third, giving Arraez a chance to tie the game. And tie the game he did as he laced a single to right field scoring Beckham. Arraez’s game-tying hit made it his 12th three or more hit game for 2022.

Polanco followed Arraez with a fielder’s choice groundout with the force at second base. This at least advanced Sanchez to third with runners on the corners, two outs and Max Kepler at the plate. Kepler pulled the ball to the first baseman, sending the game into extras. 

As the Twins went into extras, Whit Merrifield came in as the Manfred Man on second for the Jays. He advanced to third on a flyout by Santiago Espinal but in the next at-bat, Merrifield once again tried to tag and score on a flyout to left. However, Beckham, playing left field for the second time this season, nailed Merrifield out at home as it was originally called.

The call was overturned by umpires in New York based off of Merrfield placing his slide directly into Sanchez's knee. Even as the video showed that Sanchez did allow Merrifield a lane to the plate, the Blue Jays gained a run for a 3-2 lead. 

 

This also led to Rocco Baldelli’s most fired-up ejection of his managing career as he asked why the call was overturned due to catcher interference. 

The Twins got out of the inning without surrendering more runs, but the damage was already done to them from people 1,200 miles away from Target Field. 

What’s Next? 
The Twins are off Monday and will head to the Los Angeles area for five games in six days. The first series starts Tuesday against the Dodgers at 9:10 p.m. CT with Joe Ryan scheduled to start for the Twins. Ryan will match up against one of many Dodger lefties, Julio Urias. 

Postgame Interview 

 

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

 

 

 

 

 

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[jkcarew]

No. What cost the Twins is resting your two best players in a pennant race and scoring 2 runs.

Stupid rule and stupid call…but not as stupid as going all in at the deadline and then resting Buxton for the 2nd time in 3 days, on top of Correa, against a good team in a pennant race, at home.

[MMMordabito]

Replace "Dan Marino" with "MLB Replay Officials".

 

[mnfireman]

9 minutes ago, jkcarew said:

No. What cost the Twins is resting your two best players in a pennant race and scoring 2 runs.

Stupid rule and stupid call…but not as stupid as going all in at the deadline and then resting Buxton for the 2nd time in 3 days, on top of Correa, against a good team in a pennant race, at home.

Regardless of your feelings over today's line-up and the handling of Buxton and his knee, the team was still in position to win and rightfully should have. 

MLB screwed up badly and I would not be surprised to see an apology from the league office after a review, sort of like what happens in the NFL from time to time. It won't take the sting out of today's loss, but they'll feel better about themselves for the review system that "corrected" a call that was correctly made on the field.

[BH67]

Outstanding effort by Cole Sands today to keep the Twins in the game while much of the pen got needed rest.

"Spahn and Sain" in Chavez Ravine Tuesday and Wednesday, I reckon.  Let's hope they can each go at least 7 innings.

[Monticore]

He was out by a mile. The replay umps stole this one for Toronto.

[tony&rodney]

There was zero reason, zero, to overturn the call on the field. It was clear from the live action and confirmed by video replays and photo still shots that Merrifield slid directly into Sanchez, the catcher. There was a clear lane for the runner to go to the side and Whit would not have even needed to reach for the plate. He was going to be out, easily, and made a quick decision to slide into Sanchez, which was clear when he promptly appealed to the umpire who immediately shook his head no. Baseball needs to either drop replay entirely, revamp the time taken for replays, or fire  those nameless and faceless New York umpires for egregious calls like the one made today. Any BlueJay fan who watches the play would be dishonest to claim this as a fair call because Merrifield could have chosen to slide to the side instead of directly into the catcher. I agree with Baldelli, this was one of the worst calls ever from New York. The umpires on the field clearly were embarrassed by the call, which they had made correctly.

[jkcarew]

1 minute ago, mnfireman said:

Regardless of your feelings over today's line-up and the handling of Buxton and his knee, the team was still in position to win and rightfully should have. 

MLB screwed up badly and I would not be surprised to see an apology from the league office after a review, sort of like what happens in the NFL from time to time. It won't take the sting out of today's loss, but they'll feel better about themselves for the review system that "corrected" a call that was correctly made on the field.

How do you come up with “should have” won? If the call goes the other way…they’re still playing…the game would be tied. The lads scored 2 runs…in 10 innings, even given the cheat runner on 2nd. Being scrappy, hanging in there, and battling your tail off gets you nothing. Scoring runs does.

[BH67]

21 minutes ago, jkcarew said:

No. What cost the Twins is resting your two best players in a pennant race and scoring 2 runs.

Stupid rule and stupid call…but not as stupid as going all in at the deadline and then resting Buxton for the 2nd time in 3 days, on top of Correa, against a good team in a pennant race, at home.

Both got the opportunity at the plate to start the 9th and the tying run came across.  Buxton is evidently far from 100%, and this was Correa's first off day since the All-Star break.  Robots they are not.

[jkcarew]

6 minutes ago, BH67 said:

Both got the opportunity at the plate to start the 9th and the tying run came across.  Buxton is evidently far from 100%, and this was Correa's first off day since the All-Star break.  Robots they are not.

Then you should be satisfied with the result.

Would an additional combine 6-8 PA for the pair resulted in one marginal run? Buxton doubled and walked yesterday. And they put him in CF after the PA today…could have put him anywhere else.

[roger]

After the third inning we left Champps for home.  I believed the Twins had no chance, they were toast.

Imagine my surprise that Archer settled down and not only made it thru 5, he didn’t allow any more runs.  And then Sands, who looking at his numbers should have been shelled by the Toronto lineup, pitched 3 shutout innings.  My question, will they keep Sands on the staff and use him in 2-3 inning outings like today?  And if they do, can he repeat today’s excellence?

[ashbury]

Yesterday the complaining was about complainers after a win.  Today the complaining is about complainers after a loss.  Where is the manager of this establishment?  I wish to lodge a complaint concerning this inconsistency.

[BH67]

13 minutes ago, jkcarew said:

Being scrappy, hanging in there, and battling your tail off gets you nothing.

"mic drop"

[Dantes929]

Yeah, I know he was out at home.   I also know it was a good throw right on the money.   Anyone else think Beckham wasted time with delivering it home?   That crow hop should be made as he is catching the ball rather than taking the time after the catch.    Basically saying that throw could have beat the runner by an extra 5 feet easy.   Everyone yesterday was talking about fundamentals when I was thinking they were most just physical errors.  This was more along the lines of fundamental mistake, imo.

[h2oface]

23 hours ago, BH67 said:

Both got the opportunity at the plate to start the 9th and the tying run came across.  Buxton is evidently far from 100%, and this was Correa's first off day since the All-Star break.  Robots they are not.

This really makes me laugh. Since July 17, Correa has had 5 days off for the All-Star break July 18-22, had Monday July 25, Thursday July 28, today, and tomorrow. That will be 9 of 22 days OFF!! Since the All-Star break, there were the 2 days off and today (for Correa) and tomorrow..... 4 of 17. And he will get another day off on Thursday - that will be 3 days off in 5 days! I hope a 27 year old athlete in his prime that gets to play baseball for work and gets paid $35 million a year for it can stand all the intense activity. We don't need him to be a robot, just a baseball player that wants to play and earn his $35 million,

[Sutter50]

6 minutes ago, Dantes929 said:

Yeah, I know he was out at home.   I also know it was a good throw right on the money.   Anyone else think Beckham wasted time with delivering it home?   That crow hop should be made as he is catching the ball rather than taking the time after the catch.    Basically saying that throw could have beat the runner by an extra 5 feet easy.   Everyone yesterday was talking about fundamentals when I was thinking they were most just physical errors.  This was more along the lines of fundamental mistake, imo.

You have got to be kidding.  He makes a great accurate throw also "fundamentally sound" and you think he screwed up? Just wow! Unbelievable 

[Mark G]

We all know I am not a fan of Rocco, for reasons I have mentioned here before.  But, dang, Rocco, you did what you needed to do at that moment, and I am dang proud of you!!  I have been waiting for the fire in the belly during a tight race, in a tight game, and you showed you have it.  Now, keep it!!  

Good job, Rocco!!

[h2oface]

13 minutes ago, Dantes929 said:

Yeah, I know he was out at home.   I also know it was a good throw right on the money.   Anyone else think Beckham wasted time with delivering it home?   That crow hop should be made as he is catching the ball rather than taking the time after the catch.    Basically saying that throw could have beat the runner by an extra 5 feet easy.   Everyone yesterday was talking about fundamentals when I was thinking they were most just physical errors.  This was more along the lines of fundamental mistake, imo.

Absolutely. Double clutched. The game wasn't lost on that poor call. It was lost on Kepler's boneheaded baserunning, not tagging and advancing to third, and then scoring on Gordon's deep grounder. That wouldn't have won the game, but it provided the loss. It should have tied the game.

[h2oface]

51 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Yesterday the complaining was about complainers after a win.  Today the complaining is about complainers after a loss.  Where is the manager of this establishment?  I wish to lodge a complaint concerning this inconsistency.

start at the beginning for the arguments.... definitely worth it. This goes right to Complaints.

 

[Seth Stohs]

 

[ChermesZ]

Maybe the air conditioning In the umpires changing room should quit working until an apology from New York happens.

[wabene]

Man that was a damn exciting baseball game! The drama! My paisano Mr Baldelli is not prone to histrionics, to the consternation of many, but by golly he showed his deep knowledge of the game today as well as how strong his ability is to not over react by the contrast of his actions today. I have never enjoyed dirt being kicked on home plate more! 

[wabene]

5 minutes ago, Seth Stohs said:

 

Mr Miranda is fun to watch. 

[mnfireman]

1 hour ago, jkcarew said:

How do you come up with “should have” won? 

My bad, bro. Forgot it was the 10th inning....

[USAFChief]

Absolute horsebleep call.

First of all, the rule itself is stupid. Baseball should be played, not patty cake. 

2nd, even considering the candy*** rule, it was incorrectly applied. Merrifield had a lane, and chose not to use it. Some faceless cowards in NY change the outcome of a game? 

What has happened to my favorite sport?

[BD57]

30 minutes ago, ChermesZ said:

Maybe the air conditioning In the umpires changing room should quit working until an apology from New York happens.

Field guys didn't get it wrong, no need to punish them.

Find a way to punish the suits in NYC who've forgotten what instant replay is SUPPOSEDLY about - reversing the egregiously wrong call.

The suits seem to think they have authority to overturn any judgment call they don't like.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

My opinion on Rocco: 

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Had to leave the game after the 8th,

uh-oh missed a few things

 

[ChermesZ]

6 minutes ago, BD57 said:

Field guys didn't get it wrong, no need to punish them.

Find a way to punish the suits in NYC who've forgotten what instant replay is SUPPOSEDLY about - reversing the egregiously wrong call.

The suits seem to think they have authority to overturn any judgment call they don't like.

Mark Carlson and Paul Emmel were the replay umpires. 
 

 

[Kummel]

The last couple of games the Twins have made a game of it - exciting to watch and fun to root for.   The trades for pitchers raised the quality of the staff and are really important to the psychology of the game -- the Twins batters feel the pitching staff is in this thing with them.  

Wish the call had gone their way today, but this can fire up and unite the team.  It sure fired up Rocco, and I'm sure the players felt supported by him, too.