Twins 9, Giants 0: Offense Shows Some Life, Twins Crush the Giants

[Thiéres Rabelo]

Finally! The Twins demolished the Giants with eight early runs and snapped a six-game losing streak. Joe Ryan tossed six shutout innings, allowing only two hits, making up for a perfect Friday night at Target Field.

Box Score
Starting Pitcher: Joe Ryan, 6 IP, 2H, 0R, 0ER, 3BB, 8K (106 pitches, 68 strikes, 64.2%)
Home Runs: Carlos Correa (15), Gary Sánchez (12), Kyle Garlick (9)
Top 3 WPA: Carlos Correa (.207), Joe Ryan (.156), Kyle Garlick (.095)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Twins get an early lead, nearly lose it
The Twins entered tonight’s trying to prevent their losing streak from reaching seven games, which would represent their longest one since April 26, 2018. This current six-game losing streak is the longest one since the shortened 2020 season when they lost six in a row in the final week of August. Furthermore, tonight’s game marked the one-week anniversary since their last win, a week in which they were outscored 29-12. Could tonight finally be the one they would put an end to all of those narratives?

Not only had it been a whole week since the last time the Twins won a game, but it had also been a week since they had a two-run lead in a game (seriously, how did we make it through this week without losing our minds?). That changed right from the get-go tonight. After a long but scoreless top of the first by Joe Ryan, the offense decided to show up early: leadoff man Kyle Garlick got hit by Giants’ starter Alex Wood, and, immediately after that, Carlos Correa hit a two-run bomb to deep left field. That was Correa’s first dinger since August 13.

Seeing some runs on the board early on might’ve been a relief, but it felt like it would all melt away soon. After a 20-pitch first, Ryan struggled once again to put away batters quickly in the second. Despite facing the bottom half of the San Francisco lineup, he allowed Brandon Crawford (walk) and Austin Slater (double) to reach, and suddenly, the Giants had two men in scoring position with one out. Ryan managed to induce a pop out and a fly out to end the threat, but not before his pitch count had been driven to 45 pitches.

Minnesota scores six runs on five hits in the third
Ryan settled in nicely in the top of the third, finishing off the top of the Giants’ order on 15 pitches. In retribution, the offense decided to put the game away. They loaded the bases with no outs on three consecutive singles (Sandy León, Garlick, and Correa) for José Miranda. The rookie couldn’t make it four in a row, but he hit a line drive long enough to bring León home from third.

When Wood struck out Gio Urshela for the second out, it felt like he would limit the damage to a minimum, but Minnesota’s bats had other plans. Jorge Polanco was hit on the foot, and once again, the bases were juiced. Gilberto Celestino stepped up to the plate and was a few feet away from hitting a grand slam, but he settled for a bases-clearing double off the center field wall to make it 6-0 Twins.

And they weren’t done! As former Twin Zack Littell was warming up to replace Wood, Gary Sánchez also went yard for a two-run laser to right, his 12th home run of the season and the first one since August 10. This eight-run lead was the largest one the Twins had built since August 16, when they crushed the Royals at Target Field for a 9-0 win.

Such a comfortable lead helped Ryan. He faced the minimum with only 24 pitches in the fourth and fifth innings; to start the sixth, he lost the first two batters he faced by giving up a leadoff walk to Tommy La Stella and hitting Wilmer Flores on the elbow. But after a mound visit, he retired the next three batters, including a couple of punch outs, for a total of eight in the game. Ryan completed six without allowing a run, making this the first time he’s tossed at least six shutout innings in a game since April 27. Also, for only the fifth time this season, he surpassed the 100-pitch mark with 106, his second-lengthiest start of the season.

Bullpen is spotless, offense adds on
Emilio Pagán took over for Ryan in the seventh, and he delivered two scoreless frames, allowing only one hit. This was his third multi-inning appearance in his last four outings, possibly confirming his new role as a long middle man. After his eighth inning, the offense added another run to this blowout: Garlick jumped on the first pitch of his at-bat for a solo home run. Michael Fulmer came in to pitch the ninth, and he sealed the deal on 12 pitches.

Postgame interview

What’s Next?
Both teams take the field again tomorrow for game two, with the first pitch scheduled for 6:15 pm CDT. Sonny Gray (3.10 ERA) will toe the rubber for Minnesota, while Alex Cobb (3.99 ERA) will try to avoid a series loss for the Giants.

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	MON	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	TOT
Fulmer	12	0	23	0	12	47
Pagán	0	14	0	0	28	42
Megill	0	8	0	23	0	31
Smeltzer	0	0	27	0	0	27
Duran	0	0	0	20	0	20
Jax	14	0	0	6	0	20
López	0	0	0	18	0	18
Thielbar	12	0	0	0	0	12

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[JimPohlad1]

Let’s start a hot streak! We need to regain first!

[Nashvilletwin]

Best all around game in a long time, maybe all year. Played like pros tonight in all facets of the game. Could also have been Correa’s best game as well.

Love to see more of that going forward. 

[bean5302]

At the game tonight. Here's what I remember. I ate all the things. I looked up and saw Joe Ryan at 100 pitches at 5.1 innings. He made it to 107 on the night. Ryan came into the game averaging 87 pitches a game (by far the highest of the Twins starters). Ryan wasn't working super efficiently early on, but settled into things a little bit better after the first couple innings and really turned it into a nice start overall. 

Garlick looked really good out there. No rust to be seen while playing solid defense and making a lot of great contact, and the Twins hitters really fed off one another and there were a number of near hits as well.

I'm going to try to stay positive on this post and leave out the negatives. Twins win!

[h2oface]

About time that Baldelli left the starter in in the 6th to finish a great start. And with a high pitch count. At least a couple of these guys can do it if Baldelli doesn't yank them. Most of the time they are only at 70 or 80something pitches, too. But he yanks them. Sure, many times it is in a close game, and that puts more pressure on the starter. But I am so sick of watching this weak pen come in and torch the game that the starter probably could have saved and finished the inning. I hope Baldelli learned something watching Ryan strikeout those last two batters after a couple guys got on base. I hope Baldelli doesn't forget that.

[rv78]

Finally! Rocco gets a game he knows how to manage. 

Finally! Rocco uses his pitchers effectively. Only took 120+ games and an 8 run lead for him to do so.

Finally! Kepler played the game from where he belongs and the Twins get some offensive production from right-field.

[Jeff D.]

An unusual game for the Twins. Garlick leading off! Wow....watch out Arraez. Sanchez hitting a bomb. Celestino coming in clutch. A Twins pitcher completed the 6th and went over 100 pitches. A WIN! What next 2 wins in a row?

GO TWINS...

Twins Geezer.....Out.

 

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[rwilfong86]

Not the outcome I expected but we will definitely take it

[mikelink45]

Nice game all around - thank you Giants - you took our role tonight and let the home team enjoy playing baseball again.  The real take away is that Garlick is now in the running for team MVP - if his return makes that much difference I am sorry for all the doubt I expressed in the past. 

[HokieRif]

 

im not sure which is more shocking: the Twins scoring 9 runs, or Pagan pitching not one but two scoreless innings. 

[MABB1959]

Keep Garlick in RF.   Make them earn playing time!  The Twins really don’t have a DH do they?

[Whitey333]

Nice to see an ala around very good win.  Nice to see everything click in all facets of the game.  Now the key is to build on that and build a little win streak.  Great job Twins.  Keep it up.

[Mortimerkenny21]

the bases were juiced.

I love it when the bases are juiced, and love it even more when the Twins capitalize on said juicy bases! Way to go Celestino on smashing a super clutch double!

[Doctor Gast]

While Garlic was gone they threw a lot of LHPs at us. Garlic was sorely missed, happy to see him back in the line up against LHPs. 

Celestino hitting that clutch double was the high point of the game for me.

It looks like the team has broken out, just the spark we needed, to bolster the confidence of this team.  Hopefully it'll take this team a long ways. So they'll be able to pitch & hit in clutch situations even when they face tough teams in close games which they are capable to do. Also what's interesting is we broke out w/o Arraez & Buxton

[tarheeltwinsfan]

In baseball there is a reason the score is kept.

[ashbury]

1 hour ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

In baseball there is a reason the score is kept.

[RpR]

4 hours ago, MABB1959 said:

Keep Garlick in RF.   Make them earn playing time!  The Twins really don’t have a DH do they?

Miranda

[Boswell]

For those of us who appreciate the German language, good to have Knoblauch at the top of the batting order once again.  I’ll take whatever good fortune is available 31 years later…