Twins 2, Rangers 1: Early Homers, Late Replay Give Twins Win in Opener

[Theo Tollefson]

The Twins opened a four-game series against the Rangers on Friday night with a .500 record (11-11) against AL West opponents this season. The Twins put themselves up early on back-to-back homers, but could they keep the lead with limited run support thereafter? 

Box Score
SP: Dylan Bundy 5.1 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K (71 pitches, 51 strikes (71.8 strike %))
Home Runs: Luis Arraez (7), Jose Miranda (13) 
Top 3 or Bottom 3 WPA: Dylan Bundy .255, Jhoan Duran .118, Luis Arraez .096

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Dylan Bundy started his night off with ease pitching against the minimum on 10 pitches. The bats picked up Bundy for a lead immediately as Luis Arraez and Jose Miranda hit back-to-back homers to put the Twins up 2-0, making it only the fourth time this season Twins hitters have done so.

 

Through the first three innings, Bundy remained in control of the strike zone only allowing a leadoff single to Adolis Garcia in the second and a two-out walk to Marcus Semien in the third. Bundy’s strike percentage remained at 71.4% hitting 25 of his 35 pitches in the strike zone. 

Bundy continued the success of his first three innings into the fourth retiring the minimum on eight pitches. 

The Twins bats remained quiet in the fourth. Jorge Polanco drew a one-out walk but could not get home as Gilberto Celestino struck out looking and Max Kepler hit into the shift to end the inning. 

Bundy remained in control in the fifth inning too. He had a streak of retiring five consecutive batters on flyouts or line drives and kept his pitch count down to 57 (41 strikes) through five. 

The concerning thing for the Twins against Martin Perez Friday night was having five of their six strikeouts against him looking. The only Twins batter to protect the plate while striking out was Byron Buxton leading off the game. 

The Twins mounted a threat against Perez in the bottom of the fifth. Both Buxton and Arraez drew walks to put runners on for Miranda with two out. Up to that at-bat, Miranda had been hitting .258/.287/.381 with two outs on the season in 102 plate appearances. The numbers would only drop as Miranda struck out swinging to end the fifth. 

Bundy’s night would be over after two batters faced to start the sixth. Baldelli had seen enough warning track fly balls throughout the game to pull him before he could face Corey Seager a third time. Caleb Thielbar came in relief to face the next two lefties. 

Going into the matchup, lefties had been hitting .167/.258/.241 with a .499 OPS on the season. Thielbar struck out Seager but was not able to retire Nate Lowe as he laced an RBI single just out of the reach of Byron Buxton in center field. Thielbar got out of the jam in the next at-bat striking out Adolis Garcia. 

Trevor Megill was on the mound for the seventh and found himself in a jam with two outs, giving up a single and a walk with runners on the corners. Megill got out of the jam with help from Buxton on a flyout to center. The score remained 2-1 Twins. 

If the Twins wanted to make an epic entrance for a reliever that is in competition with Edwin Diaz of the Mets, they have found that guy with Jhoan Duran. 

Duran came in for the eighth and lit up the radar gun, topping out at 103.1 mph and retiring the heart of the Rangers' order. 

Jorge Lopez came in for the save as the game remained at 2-1. Twins fans shifted the usual chant of hip, hip Jorge, affiliated with Polanco, to Lopez for the save. Lopez did issue back-to-back one-out walks to Jonah Heim and Leody Taveras. Helm’s pinch runner Charlie Culberson overran himself to get to third on Brad Miller’s flyout. The Rangers challenged the call but it stood and the Twins game ended with excitement for all fans. 

Even with the scoreless inning streak snapped at 31 innings for the Twins tonight. The relievers continued a consecutive scoreless streak of their own Friday tossing 3.2 scoreless innings of relief that added to four game streak of no earned runs from the bullpen. 

What’s Next? 
Saturday’s game will start at 6:10 p.m. CT against the Rangers. Chris Archer will be on the mound for the Twins while righty Glenn Otto goes for the Rangers. There will be a pregame ceremony for Ron Gardenhire’s entry into the Twins Hall of Fame. 

Postgame Interview
None due to Apple TV broadcast. 

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

 

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[MplsFan]

Fun game (I like the Apple TV broadcasts) and good write up.

 

I'm assuming one of the Durans in the bullpen grid is Megill

[Mortimerkenny21]

Oooofffdaahhh!! That was a tight one!! Good job by Bundy and the bullpen to keep the Rangers mostly shut down! Our other star players bats need to wake up.

[Theo Tollefson]

33 minutes ago, MplsFan said:

Fun game (I like the Apple TV broadcasts) and good write up.

 

I'm assuming one of the Durans in the bullpen grid is Megill

Yep, damn it. I did it again. I wish I could clone Duran for y'all based off these charts, alas, I cannot.

[Mark G]

It's a good time in our schedule to be playing teams that have pretty much packed it in.  Hopefully it will build up momentum going into the games against teams who haven't.    

[Aggies7]

How much more rope does lopez get to be closer considering the time of year? SSS but Something seems off with him considering how dominant he was for pretty much the entire year in Baltimore. Duran has not been perfect but he’s been pretty darn steady all year. I would trust him more in the closer role 

[darwin22]

Kept tabs on game tonight as I (most others) were unable to view it with game being broadcast on Apple TV.  Probably a good thing as my blood pressure wouldn't have been good seeing ANOTHER poor night from our hitters not named Arraez & Miranda.  Not to veer too far off into negativity, but I'm really getting sick of seeing Correa do NOTHING to contribute at the dish.  Another 0-4 with 2K's tonight.  I believe he's now done to hitting .216 since July 1st with a measly 11 RBI over 134 ABs.

Anyway, nice to see Bundy pitch well.  He's far surpassed the production I thought we'd get out of him when he signed before the lockout.  Saying that, I can't see ANY scenario that Falvey brings him back at $11m next year.  Wondering if he'd consider a 2-year deal in the $12-$14m range as I don't see a bunch of teams clamoring for his services next year.  At this point in his career, Bundy knows who he is as a SP.  He's a veteran guy who knows pitches to his strengths and tries to limit his mistakes.  Other than Ryan, Gray and Mahle (I hope)---is there another SP in the system RIGHT NOW that is a major upgrade over Bundy.  IMO, its not Ober or Archer.  Nobody in minors.  I guess you could claim Maeda, but no certainty there either.

Hopefully the bats wake up tomorrow night.

 

[USAFChief]

Bundy's smoke and mirrors comes through again. Hat tip.

Fortunate ending. I'll take it.

I'd like to see both Megill and Lopez attack the zone more with fastballs.

 

[blindeke]

45 minutes ago, MplsFan said:

I'm assuming one of the Durans in the bullpen grid is Megill

Actually Duran Duran is Nick Rhodes and John Taylor.

[h2oface]

Man, it sure seems like Lopez used up his good stuff and innings in Baltimore, so far, except for his first appearance for the Twins. Losts of contact and wildness. "Tonight was his 7th appearance since being traded. 5 save opportunities, 2 blown saves and a tightroper tonight. 8 hits and 4 walks in 7 innings." I hope he becomes what he was acquired for, and this is just a belch. We need what he was in Baltimore. I hope they don't know something we needed to. It made no sense at all that they traded their closer when they have/had virtually the same record the Twins do/did at the time.

4 in a row. 11 to go. 

[bighat]

Ugly. Offense remains a concern and the bullpen is still unfortunately keeping things very interesting at the back end of games. Same old Twins: score early, unable to add on even against a struggling sub .500 team. 

Hat's off to Bundy. I thought he was going to go the way of Shoemaker in early July but give credit where it's due. He's showing up every 5th day and is the only Twins starter to never skip a turn this year. 

I looked at the September schedule for the Twins today. Something tells me that we should just enjoy the rest of August. Here's hoping for another win tonight. 

[rwilfong86]

1 hour ago, bighat said:

Ugly. Offense remains a concern and the bullpen is still unfortunately keeping things very interesting at the back end of games. Same old Twins: score early, unable to add on even against a struggling sub .500 team. 

Hat's off to Bundy. I thought he was going to go the way of Shoemaker in early July but give credit where it's due. He's showing up every 5th day and is the only Twins starter to never skip a turn this year. 

I looked at the September schedule for the Twins today. Something tells me that we should just enjoy the rest of August. Here's hoping for another win tonight. 

You're right, 2 runs in the first and zilch the rest of the game. That won't work against average teams let alone good teams. 

[mikelink45]

What I don't understand is why Rocco who says he doesn't have set bullpen rules insist on bringing in Duran and then finishing with Lopez. I would prefer to see Duran go two innings and then if we're still trusting Lopez have him go the next night. Instead we burn out all of our high-end arms in the same games. Makes no sense to me just like it doesn't make sense for them not to use Sands to cover multiple innings and save the bullpen. The next game with Archer starting is a perfect time for Sands to come in. But I'll be curious to see how our manager uses his bullpen again. I'm just glad we're playing a lousy team

[Peter]

Nerves are fried!!!’ That wax to close to call!!! Buxton in 7th and Kepler saved us from defeat as well 2 hrs in 1st inning. Pitching has been great!!! 1 run in last 35 innings-granted it’s royals/rangers but who cares seems twins have righted ship. Hopefully they can sweep Texas/get back into first and stay there rest of season-September with Cleveland/Chicago will be make or break

[Karbo]

Glad to see Rocco give Megill a chance. I hope he plans on using Sands tonight [hopefully the score allows that] to save a few innings on the others. I agree that in many cases I'd rather see Duran close out games, but last night was the right move made by Rocco, bringing Duran in to face the top part of the lineup.

[terrydactyls]

Two comments:

1.  Because I am in Maine, I have to follow the game on the Bleacher Reports live feed.  In doing so, I created a drinking game for my own amusement.  I get a fresh beer every time the live feed reads "Kepler:  Ground out to shallow right field."  This limits my beer intake to just two or three each game.

2.  To contributors, please take an extra moment to read your post before submitting.  All of the auto corrections, misspellings, bad grammar, missing words, etc. make understanding your posts more difficult than it needs to be.

[Squirrel]

2 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

What I don't understand is why Rocco who says he doesn't have set bullpen rules insist on bringing in Duran and then finishing with Lopez. I would prefer to see Duran go to innings and then if we're still trusting Lopez have him go the next night. Instead we burn out all of our high-end arms in the same games. Makes no sense to me just like it doesn't make sense for them not to use sands to cover multiple innings and save the bullpen. The next game with archer starting is a perfect time for sands to come in. But I'll be curious to see how our manager uses his bullpen again. I'm just glad we're playing a lousy team

Pairing Sands with Archer is probably the plan today so why Sands didn’t pitch last night would be my guess. Given that, I think it made perfect sense to not use Sands last night.

When to use Duran and Lopez I think has more to do with who faces whom from the other team, rather than which inning and in which order. Which pitcher would you rather have face the top of the Rangers order in a close game? Then the next three? I don’t have an answer for myself, but just suggesting that there was more to the decision than using Duran and Lopez in a particular order and roles. It does seem, though, as if Rocco et al, have established set up and closer roles for Duran and Lopez, but isn’t that what most here have wanted all season? Established roles for the BP? And if Duran goes two innings, then he is for sure unavailable today.

That said, I really have no complaints about the pitching and how the pitchers were used and performed. They got the job done and held Texas to one run, which was necessary given the offensive output from our hitters. More concerned, yet again, with the offense going cold. But, fortunately we won. That’s what matters most to me. Keep winning.

[chinmusic]

11 hours ago, Theo Tollefson said:

Yep, damn it. I did it again. I wish I could clone Duran for y'all based off these charts, alas, I cannot.

Call it a Duranian (as opposed to Freudian) slip?

[USAFChief]

28 minutes ago, terrydactyls said:

Two comments:

1.  Because I am in Maine, I have to follow the game on the Bleacher Reports live feed.  In doing so, I created a drinking game for my own amusement.  I get a fresh beer every time the live feed reads "Kepler:  Ground out to shallow right field."  This limits my beer intake to just two or three each game.

2.  To contributors, please take an extra moment to read your post before submitting.  All of the auto corrections, misspellings, bad grammar, missing words, etc. make understanding your posts more difficult than it needs to be.

$20 gets you an entire season of Twins on radio. 

[Mortimerkenny21]

1 hour ago, terrydactyls said:

auto corrections, misspellings, bad grammar, missing words,

Worried about misspellings, coming from "terrydactyls"? I know just a joke, just having fun!

[Alex Schieferdecker]

Lopez might be the "closer" but there's no doubt about who gets the toughest late-inning assignments in this bullpen. If the top of the order is coming up, Duran is coming in.

In other news...

Julio Rodriguez: .266/.326/.466 — 399 AB — 106 H — 19 HR — 4.1 WAR

Adley Rutschman: .255/.364/.457 — 247 AB — 63 H — 8 HR  — 3.4 WAR

Jose Miranda: .285/.331/.480 — 277 AB — 79 H — 13 HR — 1.3 WAR

I think the RotY award is still very much JRod's to lose, and Rutschman's defensive contributions at an important position probably put him in second place, but of the three, Miranda is the best hitter, probably the hottest of the three, and ought to make the podium.

[terrydactyls]

1 hour ago, Mortimerkenny21 said:

Worried about misspellings, coming from "terrydactyls"? I know just a joke, just having fun!

That was the name I chose in 1984 for my first Rotisserie Baseball team.  I've used it ever since.

[bean5302]

13 hours ago, Theo Tollefson said:

Yep, damn it. I did it again. I wish I could clone Duran for y'all based off these charts, alas, I cannot.

If we're nitpicking... I know Bundy isn't people's favorite pitcher around here, but it's rough when you give him all the earned runs the Rangers pitching staff allowed, too. Earning 3 earned runs in a 2-1 win smacks of malice. LOL

[h2oface]

"Even with the scoreless inning streak snapped at 31 innings for the Twins tonight. The relievers continued a consecutive scoreless streak of their own Friday tossing 3.2 scoreless innings of relief that added to four game streak of no earned runs from the bullpen. "

Inherited Runners Scored. The best stat to tell the story of how good your relief is. While once again the reliever gets credited with scoreless innings, it was Thielbar that let the run in, as he tried his best but could not. Bundy had given up but a single to Thompson, and then struck out Simien, and was pulled with a 2-0 lead and only 71 pitches (51 strikes)! It was Thielbar that came in and struck out Seger, but gave up a stolen base (with Leon behind the plate) in the at bat, and with 2 outs, and the runner that was given to him on first but now on second on his watch, gave up a single to Lowe that was charged to Bundy, before he struck out Garia to end the inning. So in my reckoning, the relievers gave up the scoreless streak, not the starter. It's a team sport, and individual stats mean little compared to winning, but that's my story and I am stickin' with it.

[DJL44]

19 hours ago, USAFChief said:

I'd like to see both Megill and Lopez attack the zone more with fastballs.

Megill needs to pitch like Rich Hill - fastball at the top of the zone and curveball at the bottom. Instead he's throwing the fastball above the zone and hanging the curveball.