Red Sox 6, Twins 5: Down Five Runs, Twins Fight Back but Rally Falls Short

[Thiéres Rabelo]

An early grand slam helped put the Red Sox ahead by five runs. The Twins never gave up, though, and they managed to make this a one-run game and to put the winning run at first base, but they couldn’t capitalize. The winning streak ends at five.

Box Score
Starting Pitcher: Joe Ryan, 5 IP, 8H, 5R, 5ER, 1BB, 8K (100 pitches, 69 strikes, 69.0%)
Home Runs: Luis Arraez (8)
Bottom 3 WPA: Carlos Correa (-.335), Joe Ryan (-.263), Luis Arráez (-.137)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Boston burns Ryan early
Things didn’t click for Joe Ryan on Wednesday night, and his start was stained pretty early in the game. After a couple of scoreless innings, including a 1-2-3 second, the Twins’ starter was ambushed in the top of the third. Despite getting ahead on the count against all of them, Ryan failed to retire the first four batters he faced, and Boston took advantage of that.

Kevin Plawecki and Tommy Pham got back-to-back singles to start the inning, the latter with a tough eight-pitch at-bat. When Alex Verdugo hit a grounder towards first, Jose Miranda decided to throw home to prevent Plawecki from scoring, allowing Verdugo to reach and load the bases with no outs. Xander Bogaerts wasted no time and destroyed a low-hanging slider down the middle for a grand slam.

A flyout following the grand slam didn’t help much: despite getting ahead J.D. Martinez 0-2, Boston’s designated hitter took him deep for a second time in the evening, making it 5-0 Red Sox. With Michael Wacha having tossed two perfect innings to start the game, it was hard to imagine Minnesota would have the energy for a comeback. Their only chance would be to do some damage quickly.

Twins get two runs back, can’t complete a rally
By retiring Nick Gordon and Gilberto Celestino to open the bottom of the third, Wacha made it eight consecutive batters retired to start the game. Sandy Leon broke the streak with a bloop single to center and salvaged the inning, with Luis Arráez stepping up to the plate. He fought hard to turn a 1-2 count into a full count before hitting a liner to right for a two-run shot to put the Twins back in contention.

Ryan remained in the game and pitched for two more innings. He got into a jam to begin the fourth, when he gave up a leadoff single and hit a batter, but pitched around those to end the inning. The offense started putting together another potential rally in the bottom of the inning when Kyle Garlick reached on a fielding error from second, and Gio Urshela singled, but Gordon struck out, ending the inning. Ryan also tossed a scoreless fifth to conclude his outing at exactly 100 pitches, his highest-scoring start in over three weeks.

Moran has another good outing, maintains great season numbers
Making his first big league appearance since August 2, Jovani Moran seemed to have picked up right where he left off when he last appeared in the majors. He couldn’t prevent Boston from scoring, with Plawecki hitting a leadoff double in the sixth and scoring later on a Bogaerts two-out double to right.

Outside of those two extra-base hits allowed, Moran’s outing was brilliant. He struck out five batters through the sixth and seventh innings, then induced three groundball outs in a 1-2-3 eighth to complete three innings of one-run ball without any walks. He now has a 2.05 ERA through 21 appearances this season, making up for a fantastic second season in the majors.

Too bad the offense couldn’t capitalize on several opportunities they’ve created. They had two men on in the sixth after a Correa walk and a Max Kepler double but came out empty-handed. Then, in the seventh, the Twins had men on the corners with one out after a Gordon leadoff double and a Gary Sanchez one-out walk. However, all they could get was a single run that came on an Arráez sac-fly.

Gordon comes through again, but it’s not enough
Gordon’s epic display last night was an indicator that this kid is ready for stardom, and he continued to swing the bat brilliantly tonight. His second hit of the night was a huge one in the eighth inning that made things very interesting. Kepler and Urshela both reached with a single each, making Gordon the tying run when he stepped up to the batter’s box.

Gordon jumped on the first pitch for a long double that hit the right field wall, deep enough to push both runners across and make this a one-run game. Unfortunately, Gordon was caught at third trying to stretch a double into a triple, and the inning was over.

Despite Gordon’s baserunning blunder, his two runs batted in in the eighth proved vital for Minnesota’s chances. After Trevor Megill delivered a scoreless top of the ninth (throwing 12 strikes in 14 pitches), Celestino led off the bottom of the inning with a chopper that Bogaerts couldn’t glove in time. Then, Sánchez drew a five-pitch walk, his second of the night, to put two men on with no outs for Arráez. Sadly, for Minnesota, Arráez flied out, and Correa grounded into a double play next, ending the game. The offense finished the night going 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position after Correa's double play.

What’s Next?
On Thursday, the Twins have a day off that they’ll use to travel to South Side Chicago, where they’ll begin a three-game set against the White Sox. Game one of the series is scheduled for Friday, with first pitch at 7:10 pm CDT. Sonny Gray (3.04 ERA) takes the mound for the Twins, with Davis Martin (4.62 ERA) starting for Chicago.

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	SAT	SUN	MON	TUE	WED	TOT
Megill	35	0	0	23	14	72
Moran	0	0	0	0	52	52
Thielbar	22	0	15	13	0	50
Pagán	0	22	0	21	0	43
Jax	8	0	17	8	0	33
Fulmer	0	15	0	13	0	28
Duran	13	0	14	0	0	27
López	0	0	9	0	0	9

 

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[Vanimal46]

September is tomorrow. Have we seen a “put the team on my back” moment from Correa this season? We sure could have used a star moment from him tonight. 

[BH67]

Two long-standing themes of this season converged tonight: resilience under adversity, and a huge opportunity to win wasted with the top of the order up.  Well, it's never boring...

[h2oface]

It never ceases to amaze me that MLB players don't bust it out of the box EVERY DAMN TIME!! WHAT ELSE DO THEY HAVE TO DO? Admire your hit after you hustle your arse off. Nick Gordon should be ashamed. It makes no sense. It is all ego and nothing about the team when you don't hustle on every play, on every hit. Young player's mistake? NO WAY. YOU KNOW THIS IN LITTLE LEAGUE. Baldelli said he didn't even talk to Nick about it in the presser. WHY NOT!?! That is his job! Should have been done immediately. Yes, stop at second after you stand there and loaf out of the box instead of compounding your mistake and making the third out at third, but it is the loafing and ego admiring your drive that made it so you had to stop at second. If he had just run from the get go he could have run to third standing up and not even needed to stop at second. He knew it was going to be fair. No question it would be foul. The only question was if it was out of the park, or off the wall. Instead he was planning the worthless arm pump for glory. You cannot assume EVER!!! RUN YOUR ARSE OFF OUT OF THE BOX! EVERY TIME. ALWAYS. NO EXCUSE. NONE. If Baldelli doesn't have the cojones to do it, someone in the clubhouse needs to ream him a new one.

Correa is soooooooo disappointing, Living on past laurels. He cries for help and it is himself that needs to step it up. This is crunch time. He is failing, big time.

[ashbury]

The ball Gordon hit looked like a textbook triple once it hit the right field wall and evaded the defender.  Shame on Nick for not going all out and cashing it in.

[SwainZag]

Finally got to see the game re-play.  Outside of that 3rd inning...Joe Ryan looked like an ace, too bad there was that 3rd inning.  Moran's stuff was filthy tonight.  When he has his control he looks like he could be one of the better relievers out there.  Gordon should have been standing on 3rd base, no doubt about it, mental mistake that would have given them a nice chance to tie the game.  They had their chances in the 9th too with Luis and Carlos, would have been an awesome come back.  Oh well, they aren't going to win every night and it was nice to see them with some fight tonight after spotting the Sawx 6 runs.

Put me in the camp who does not think Correa has been disappointing, even though he hit into the DP tonight.  I expected a little more with the bat, but he is right on career lines of OPS+.

[mnfireman]

The kids giveth, the kids taketh away. Miranda should have stepped back to get the out, the runner wasn't scoring. And Gordon standing there admiring his hit and getting thrown out at third for the third out, not acceptable. Hopefully there were constructive conversations with each player after their respective misplays. 

On a bright note, the Twins took 2 of 3 as it looks like Boston's bats are coming to life. And Cleveland also lost.

[Monticore]

I doubt anyone will agree with me, but I would've liked to have seen Arreaz bunt the runners over in the 9th. 

[mikelink45]

They fought even though they were behind and thus it was a good game.  No one goes undefeated.  The pitching was okay, the hitting was okay, the fielding was okay.  This one does not upset me.  Now we carry this over to a Sox team that has not been playing that well and start moving to the top of the division.  We will face another who is he pitcher in the next game and I am fine with that.  

[Mark G]

2 hours ago, Monticore said:

I doubt anyone will agree with me, but I would've liked to have seen Arreaz bunt the runners over in the 9th. 

I couldn't agree with you more.  Arraez arguably has the best bat control on the team, and setting up your 2 and 3 hitters only makes sense, especially since the stats Rocco has in front of him show how often (2nd on the team) Correa does exactly what he did, hit into double plays.  We talk about the blunder by Miranda on defense and the blunder by Gordon on offense; how about this blunder by the manager in the dugout?  Just might have been the biggest one of all.  

[wabene]

3 hours ago, mnfireman said:

The kids giveth, the kids taketh away. Miranda should have stepped back to get the out, the runner wasn't scoring. And Gordon standing there admiring his hit and getting thrown out at third for the third out, not acceptable. Hopefully there were constructive conversations with each player after their respective misplays. 

On a bright note, the Twins took 2 of 3 as it looks like Boston's bats are coming to life. And Cleveland also lost.

Great line and exactly true. I missed the play with Miranda, but they wouldn't have been in the game without Gordon's contributions. They also may have won the game without his mental errors. 

Baldelli says he didn't talk to Nick about his base running, but it was clear Correa talked to him about blocking Leon's throw and I'll bet he heard it about the erstwhile triple. Maybe Baldelli didn't need to mention it and wasn't going to pile on in public (managing 101). For reasons I don't understand, many will just blame Baldelli for any perceived slight without a shed of evidence, hence the moniker pitchfork crowd.

As @SwainZag said, Ryan looked great outside of the 3rd (and he looked great in that inning too after the homers). What was noticeable to me was he was humping it up there at 95 to start the game and the velo held up well for 100 pitches. He seems to have incrementally regained strength since the COVID bout. He has a smooth delivery and as Perk said, doesn't rely on max effort. I'm too shell shocked from all the injuries to mention this without fear of a jinx, but he looks like he could be around for quite some time. 

 

[bighat]

7 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

September is tomorrow. Have we seen a “put the team on my back” moment from Correa this season? We sure could have used a star moment from him tonight. 

I got bad news for ya: if he hasn't done it by now, it ain't happening. 

Bad loss. Twins are now in the unfortunate position of now needing to come out of the next 7 games with a 4-3 record. A sweep in Chicago is almost a must. 

If they play like they have been playing against decent competition, Twins could go 1-6 over the next week and that'll be the end of the season. 

[Melissa]

We took advantage of a two-for-one special for seats in the fifth row near third base. Let me see lots up close up, but also without the full perspective of the field you get by viewing from higher up.

(One odd thing to me was how chatty the 3rd base umpire was with the players and coaches. I mean, really chatty.)

It seemed that a host of little things cost us the game. Miranda’s throw home potentially cost us a run or two. Bogaert’s grand slam looked to top the left field wall by a mere whisker.
 

Couldn’t tell what happened with the throw by Leon that ended up in center field. Didn’t notice Gordon admiring his hit (I was watching the ball) but he sure was motoring once he reached second base. It was also obvious that Verdugo was going to throw him out from right field when Nick rounded second.

It was good to see the boys fight back. Our pitching actually looked good most of the time. Had a sinking feeling that the game would end just like it did.

 

[jmlease1]

3 hours ago, Mark G said:

I couldn't agree with you more.  Arraez arguably has the best bat control on the team, and setting up your 2 and 3 hitters only makes sense, especially since the stats Rocco has in front of him show how often (2nd on the team) Correa does exactly what he did, hit into double plays.  We talk about the blunder by Miranda on defense and the blunder by Gordon on offense; how about this blunder by the manager in the dugout?  Just might have been the biggest one of all.  

Arraez is hitting .318 on the season and a hit to the OF ties the game. You're really going to take the bat out of his hands and ask him to sacrifice? Barnes is a RHP and Arraez is hitting .341 for the season against RHP. Calling it a "blunder" by not asking Arraez to sacrifice is just wrong. I mean, come on.

A shame that Ryan was homer-happy last night and gave one up with the bases jacked. Solo shots aren't fun but don't hurt that much; when there are ducks on the pond, he's got to keep the ball in the park. Still a fan of him as a pitcher, though.

Moran did well. I'm a fan of his: that changeup is a real weapon. He's going to have some struggles with wildness, but he's still a pitcher I want in the bullpen.

Miranda definitely made a mistake in not stepping on the bag before going home with the ball; he had the time. Showed his relative inexperience at the position. He's still having a heck of a year.

[William K Johnson]

Still trying to decide what was the worst defensive play of the night, Miranda's total misplay of a double play opportunity or Garlick's adventure in left field.

[Whitey333]

One of the things that bothers me lately with MLB in general is how many players don't hustle when running the bases.  You only get to bat three or four times a game.  If you can't hustle from the batters box and go all out you shouldn't be playing.  Fun game last night.  Good comeback but too many mistakes in the field and the managers chair.  Correa has had one great series this year .  That was against the Giants.  He decided not to show up against the Red Sox.  You don't get much effort and production for 35 million anymore I guess

[umterp23]

While Arraez is clearly the best contact hitter on the team and I like what he does with the bat, the situational baseball for the team in general isn't there at all.  Hit behind the run, move a runner over, bunt the ball to do as such is lacking from Mgmt down to the players.  While Arraez hitting a gapper to score 2 is possible in the ninth, the fact that we didn't attempt once to move the guys up a base is the wrong call.  Force the Red Sox to defend the bunt and you never know what could happen. As soon as he made the out, 1st thought was here comes the double play ball.  

Moran ate innings and pitched well minus giving up the one run, sure gave the bullpen desired rest they needed.  Sweep the Sox in Chicago is mandatory to stay in the race.  The boys need to set the tone for September and apply more pressure the Indians.

[Battle ur tail off]

9 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

September is tomorrow. Have we seen a “put the team on my back” moment from Correa this season? We sure could have used a star moment from him tonight. 

No, but we've seen plenty of them from Nick Gordon.

[Battle ur tail off]

1 hour ago, jmlease1 said:

Arraez is hitting .318 on the season and a hit to the OF ties the game. You're really going to take the bat out of his hands and ask him to sacrifice? Barnes is a RHP and Arraez is hitting .341 for the season against RHP. Calling it a "blunder" by not asking Arraez to sacrifice is just wrong. I mean, come on.

 

In that situation? 100%. It is the last inning and you'd have had runners on 2nd and 3rd for the 2 and 3 hitters. This is playoff baseball at this point. All we have to do is ground the ball out to the right side or hit a pop fly and we tie the game. And a hit wins it in walkoff fashion. Sorry, but this is why I will never trust Rocco to win us games. 

Almost every manager in the game puts the bunt on there, in that exact situation. 

[Ryan Atkins]

The lack of an experienced major league 1st baseman continues to hurt this team. They need to get this fixed for 2023.

I have no qualms with Arraez not bunting in the 9th. He is league's best hitter and unfortunately just didn't have a productive AB there and then the subsequent double-play grounder ended it. There were plenty of other opportunities earlier in the game.

[jmlease1]

39 minutes ago, Battle ur tail off said:

In that situation? 100%. It is the last inning and you'd have had runners on 2nd and 3rd for the 2 and 3 hitters. This is playoff baseball at this point. All we have to do is ground the ball out to the right side or hit a pop fly and we tie the game. And a hit wins it in walkoff fashion. Sorry, but this is why I will never trust Rocco to win us games. 

Almost every manager in the game puts the bunt on there, in that exact situation. 

I don't think so. There might be some out there who would, but most managers today would let one of their best hitters hit. Most managers today would prefer to not give up the out, especially with one of the best hitters in baseball at the plate with a superior knowledge of the strike zone.

We're not even having this conversation if Arraez gets a hit or a walk there, which he had an excellent chance of doing.

[USAFChief]

While I despise sac bunting most of the  time, there are specific situations where I would call for it. 

I would have asked Arraez to bunt in the 9th last night. But I don't think it's clearcut, letting him hit away is defensible too.

If he HAD successfully busted, I doubt Correa gets to hit. 

The Gordon double irks me to no end. Just cannot get thrown out at third there. That IS clear cut, incontrovertible, indefensible. 

I will be in the minority here, but I don't trust Moran. He doesn't look ready to me to pitch in the big leagues.

[Mark G]

1 hour ago, jmlease1 said:

Arraez is hitting .318 on the season and a hit to the OF ties the game. You're really going to take the bat out of his hands and ask him to sacrifice? Barnes is a RHP and Arraez is hitting .341 for the season against RHP. Calling it a "blunder" by not asking Arraez to sacrifice is just wrong. I mean, come on.

A shame that Ryan was homer-happy last night and gave one up with the bases jacked. Solo shots aren't fun but don't hurt that much; when there are ducks on the pond, he's got to keep the ball in the park. Still a fan of him as a pitcher, though.

Moran did well. I'm a fan of his: that changeup is a real weapon. He's going to have some struggles with wildness, but he's still a pitcher I want in the bullpen.

Miranda definitely made a mistake in not stepping on the bag before going home with the ball; he had the time. Showed his relative inexperience at the position. He's still having a heck of a year.

Normally I would agree with you; Arraez is our best hitter overall.  But right now, he is DOWN to .318.  He has been in somewhat of a slump lately, and while he still makes contact, he doesn't strike out much, he is just off enough to make weaker contact than usual.  Correa, on the other hand, has actually been half decent lately and I would have loved to see how the defense would have handled it.  The same stats that show Arraez hitting .341 against righties, is the same set of stats that shows Correa's penchant for double plays.  Can't have one without the other.  

Truth be told, he should have had Sanchez bunting with Arraez up next and Correa to follow.  Sanchez is hitting 100 points lower than Arraez and I would take my chances with the top of the order.  My point was once it got to 1st AND 2nd, you put the tying run at 3rd, where he can score in several ways, and the winning run at 2nd, with no force.  You force the defense to decide do you walk Correa to set up the force at every base, or pitch to both him and Kepler with no force and the infield in during Correa's at bat.  Make the defense decide what to do; don't decide for them.  Just waiting for the hit(s) to score the run(s) is what we do far too often, and far too often it has ended just this way.  As the old saying goes:  "you do what you've always done, you're gonna get what you've always got."

 

[Karbo]

10 hours ago, h2oface said:

It never ceases to amaze me that MLB players don't bust it out of the box EVERY DAMN TIME!! WHAT ELSE DO THEY HAVE TO DO? Admire your hit after you hustle your arse off. Nick Gordon should be ashamed. It makes no sense. It is all ego and nothing about the team when you don't hustle on every play, on every hit. Young player's mistake? NO WAY. YOU KNOW THIS IN LITTLE LEAGUE. Baldelli said he didn't even talk to Nick about it in the presser. WHY NOT!?! That is his job! Should have been done immediately. Yes, stop at second after you stand there and loaf out of the box instead of compounding your mistake and making the third out at third, but it is the loafing and ego admiring your drive that made it so you had to stop at second. If he had just run from the get go he could have run to third standing up and not even needed to stop at second. He knew it was going to be fair. No question it would be foul. The only question was if it was out of the park, or off the wall. Instead he was planning the worthless arm pump for glory. You cannot assume EVER!!! RUN YOUR ARSE OFF OUT OF THE BOX! EVERY TIME. ALWAYS. NO EXCUSE. NONE. If Baldelli doesn't have the cojones to do it, someone in the clubhouse needs to ream him a new one.

Correa is soooooooo disappointing, Living on past laurels. He cries for help and it is himself that needs to step it up. This is crunch time. He is failing, big time.

I agree completely! IMO a benching or two might wake up the squad. I see it all the time from all the teams. Guys just jogging down to 1st, or guys standing there watching how far it goes. IMO they should bust it until it's gone. Of course todays millionaire players are babied and coddeled so much that can never happen!

[teachercoach]

I said 3 weeks ago that if on 9/1 the Twinks were within 4 games, they have a chance and makes the final 5 weeks relevant.

1.5 GB - will stay engaged & hopeful.

[Swing Batter-Batter]

10 hours ago, mnfireman said:

The kids giveth, the kids taketh away. Miranda should have stepped back to get the out, the runner wasn't scoring. And Gordon standing there admiring his hit and getting thrown out at third for the third out, not acceptable. Hopefully there were constructive conversations with each player after their respective misplays. 

On a bright note, the Twins took 2 of 3 as it looks like Boston's bats are coming to life. And Cleveland also lost.

I agree completely. Miranda, rookie mistake? Gordon, not so much.

[David Maro]

Arraez needed to get the bunt down!! How many inning do we need to see 2 on no outs and come up empty. As for him being the best hitter,since the Allstar game he is well below his average. Why would Correa talk to Gordon,thats who he learned standing in the box from. This team is not playing baseball,its all about look at me I hit a homerun. Next week it will be all over for this year and better luck next year.

 

[tony&rodney]

The difference between winning and losing can come down to fundamentals on a surprisingly large number of occasions. The Twins value base hits and especially home runs which leaves strategies such as bunting, stealing bases, taking an extra base, moving a runner along by giving yourself up, and stuff like a hit and run by the wayside. The Twins want to have solid defensive players but it is just not extremely important to them. The pitchers do not hold the runners as one example. So it is what we expect from the Twins when players we really like do things such as miss the out at first base such as Miranda did, Watch the ball all the way to the wall like Gordon, and try to bust a long one like Arraez. I think the Twins are on the verge of having a really good team but fundamentals are lacking and that piece needs to be in place to compete at the highest level. Hopefully, they sweep Chicago this weekend.

[miller761]

This is not the first or second time this year Gordon has made an out at 3B on a base running mistake. Rocco better be lying if he said he did not talk to Gordon. Any manager who is any good at his job would have some sort of conversation with the player. That is the big thing lacking with this team...baseball IQ. We are not good at situational baseball and that is the manager's responsibility. Yes he is a good company man (follows the front office) and lets his players do their thing but that won't win games in October and the only division it might win would be the AL Central. 

[h2oface]

18 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

Arraez is hitting .318 on the season and a hit to the OF ties the game. You're really going to take the bat out of his hands and ask him to sacrifice? Barnes is a RHP and Arraez is hitting .341 for the season against RHP. Calling it a "blunder" by not asking Arraez to sacrifice is just wrong. I mean, come on.

Arraez is also hitting .222 in his last 7 games, .220 in his last 15. And noticably slumping since the All-Star break. Should that be taken into consideration at all? Two spans of one or two hits in 20something ABs. He did already homer in this game. It is a tough call, I agree. I think mostly you can't risk a double play in this situation, and if you can advance both runners with a bunt, and have runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out, then I like the odds of not only tying the game, but winning it. Even a slap hit here by Arraez and it may not score a Twin from second the way we run and Watkins coaches third. If he does bunt and moves the runners up, I would not call that taking the bat out of his hands. I would call it using his great bat skills to help the team. (Plus, with his bat skills, maybe he bunts for a hit and bases loaded and no outs, but then we are probably doomed  ). Correa would have probably been intentionally walked then, to load the bases and put the double play back in effect (but maybe not), but I like the bases loaded with one out and Miranda hitting a lot better than first and second with one out and Mr. Not Clutch At All This Year Correa hitting, who also has 15 GIDP now, and 14 at the time. Above all else, we need to score at least one run here, and getting a runner to third with one out opens up the chance of scoring on a WP or PB, too. Nobody should be too proud to bunt, and not know how to lay down a successful bunt on a baseball team. I would have asked Arraez to bunt, all things considered, as well, in this situation.