Guardians 4, Twins 1: Guardians Complete Sweep of Twins

[Theo Tollefson]

The Twins entered Sunday three games behind the Guardians for the division lead after dropping two straight to them at home. Could the Twins snap a losing streak and regain ground in the division or would they continue to falter at the end with so many key players missing from the lineup? 

Image courtesy of Bruce Kluckhohn, USA Today Sports

 

 

 

Box Score
SP: Josh Winder 4 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K (67 pitches, 44 strikes (65.6 strike %)
Home Runs: None 
Top 3 or Bottom 3 WPA: Kyle Garlick -.249, Jermaine Palacios -.186, Carlos Correa -.123

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Sunday saw Josh Winder starting on the hill for the Twins after getting recalled from St. Paul. He made his first appearance with the team since July 12th. The right-hander gave up a lead-off double to Steven Kwan but was the first Twins starter to not surrender any runs to the Guardians in the first inning in this three-game series. 

Even with a scoreless first, the Twins still fell behind early when Winder surrendered a solo home run to Andres Gimenez with one out in the second. 

The Guardians, more specifically Kwan, got the better of Winder again with another home run that put Cleveland up 2-0.

Max Kepler was removed from the game after fouling a ball off his right leg in his one and only at-bat of the game. Gilberto Celestino came in to take his batting spot while Jake Cave moved to right field.

Shane Bieber dominated the Twins through the first four innings and kept them to one hit. Josh Winder was done after four full innings. Winder only made two mistakes with two home runs surrendered but only allowed two additional hits and a walk on 67 pitches. 
It is not a surprise that Rocco Baldelli pulled Winder after four innings, but only two runs were surrendered on solo homers, one has to wonder why they couldn’t have let him go one more inning. 

Caleb Thielbar was the first out of the pen for the Twins and kept the Guardians scoreless in the fifth. Nick Gordon led off the bottom half of the fifth with a double off the scoreboard. Gordon scored on a pinch-hit from Gary Sanchez when Sanchez’s single bounced off third base and over Jose Ramirez’s to make it a 2-1 game. 

The Guardians mounted a threat in the seventh off of Michael Fulmer. Fulmer was removed with runners on first and second and two out in favor of rookie phenom Jhoan Duran. Duran walked Ramirez but retired the next batter to end the threat.

The Twins responded with a threat of their own in the bottom half of the seventh with back-to-back singles from Gio Urshela and Nick Gordon and no one out. Unfortunately, no one advanced from their bases and the Twins wasted their best chance since the fifth to get the game tied. 

Already behind by a run, the Twins had Jorge Lopez in for the ninth. Lopez’s struggles only mounted in his relief appearance as he allowed two singles before recording an out. They intentionally walked Ramirez to load the bases for Josh Naylor, who followed up with a single driving in two more runs. Lopez intentionally walked Andres Gimenez as well before getting the final out, but the damage was done as Cleveland led 4-1 going into the bottom of the ninth. 

James, the hair flipper, Karinchak got the save opportunity for the Guardians in the bottom of the ninth. Karinchak continued his obsessive hair flip in this outing as he did Friday night (and always) during this outing as he now carries the title of the modern-day human rain delay as former Guardian Mike Hargrove was best known for. 

Celestino received a lead-off walk to start the ninth and Gordon reached base on a one-out walk later in the inning. The Twins failed once again to get these runners home as Karinchak struck out Jermaine Palacios for the final out. In the words of Patrick Reusse, “This was a bad loss.” Which can be said for the whole series. 

What’s Next? 
Monday is an off day for the Twins as they will start a three-game series at Target Field against the Royals. Joe Ryan is the scheduled starter for the Twins against Kris Bubic of the Royals with a game start time of 6:40 p.m. CT.

Postgame Interview 

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

 

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[ashbury]

Well, sure, the sweep happened at home, but I'm confident things will change when Cleveland hosts them soon.  Everything is better on the road.

[Squirrel]

11 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Well, sure, the sweep happened at home, but I'm confident things will change when Cleveland hosts them soon.  Everything is better on the road.

Right … perspective is everything!

[bronald3030]

wishful thinking. Pitch around Corea and the rest of this lineup is minor league level.

 

[Bradfoot]

The White Sox seem to be hitting their stride.  This can still be a very scary lineup.  I'm starting to see them as the favorite.

 

Since August 1st

Eloy Jiminez .366/.444/.565  190wRC+

Jose Abreu  .329/.377/.401  124 wRC+

Elvis Andrus .303/.340/.528  147 wRC+

 

Lance Lynn 1.81 ERA 10.51 k/9

Dylan Cease 2.18 ERA 

Cueto 2.87 ERA

[KirbyDome89]

Nice to see Lopez continue to bleed baserunners. Consistency is the key. That extra year of control is just great #value...

[jkcarew]

We control our own destiny.

And that’s the problem. Cleveland and Chicago can’t loose every game if the Twins keep showing up on their schedule so frequently.

[mikelink45]

So we are in game three of a must win series.  We are only down by 1 run going in to the ninth.  What should we do?  How about Jorge Pagan Lopez for the ninth?  Neither Fulmer nor Lopez has been of any value to the team since their trades, but Lopez has been a big negative.  Can we get a better BP evaluator before the next big trade or signing?

But then we also need some hitters.  I have heard rumors that a guy named Wallner is across the cities and hitting bombs, could we possibly use him more than Caleb Hamilton?

[Rosterman]

The Twins are far from a scary lineup. Once again, first and third. Can't put possible stolen base fear with Gordon at first. No one can get at least one runner home. Go figure. The outfield depth is zero. There is no bench.

Would Wallner help? Of course, Polanco and Buxton would help. Anyone else in the minors? AZ bench of Caleb and Billy Hamilton, Celestino, and Leon/Sanchez is just not cutting it.

Kepler needs to sit.

Well, at least all the members of the Twins bullpen got work in this series before the Monday off day. 

When is Varland coming back? And who gets the 29th call for the Guardians double-header (Smeltzer?). Is Ober gonna be ready for that start?

Below .500. Weren't we 10 games over at one point this season?

[Dman]

It is interesting that at the beginning of the season that most of us thought this was about a 500 team or maybe slightly worse and I was fine with that as they were likely going to need to bring up the young guys.  The calculus changed some with the Correa signing and the hot start but true to form the pitching started hurting the team and lost opportunity after lost opportunity finally caught up to them.  Honestly it is a minor miracle that the Twins were even in it to the end given their level of play.

Granted the Twins made some moves at the deadline to get a better starter and closer but in true Twins fashion they both hurt the team more than helped.  There is Atlanta who makes moves that shouldn't even work and then the Twins who appeared to make decent moves and got less than nothing out of it.  Baseball is crazy.

At any rate this just isn't a very good team.  They might have great team chemistry but they fail in clutch situations and don't have enough difference makers to make a difference.  Not sure that I feel much better looking at next year either because if the pitching doesn't improve by leaps and bounds this is the same old Twins team we have been watching for years.  Don't have elite pitching and can't hit when it really matters.

They really need to focus on drafting pitching higher in the draft and also find their later reclamation projects.  Until this team can pitch better they might as well just keep losing for high draft picks because being mediocre or slightly worse just really sucks.

[jkcarew]

It’s frustrating watching this short-handed lineup, but it could be worse. Just think where we’d be without Fullmer, Mahle, and Lopez. No, wait.

[MABB1959]

Not going to change and never will until we get owners who are willing to invest in a WS team.  

[weitz41]

THUD...Well At least I get to torment the Packer fans at work tomorrow...Here in NE Wisconsin...

[howeda7]

25 minutes ago, MABB1959 said:

Not going to change and never will until we get owners who are willing to invest in a WS team.  

I'd love new owners because Jim is not curious and too disengaged. 

But this is on Falvey and Rocco. Their payroll is appropriate for their market size and is not the issue. How the payroll is deployed is. Every year that Falvey remains in charge is wasted. They will never win a WS with him IMO. 

[rv78]

The Twins just announce a new promotion give away for every game against Kansas City in the next home series. It's called the brown bag special. Get yours and wear it appropriately.

[Blyleven2011]

I wanted a 10 game winning streak , not a 10 game losing streak ...

As mentioned by some above posts , we will not win with our coaching and the FO  , 

They have no plan B to go to , they trust in plan A and continue to follow plan A day to day and continue to fail ...

I batting order right now should be ...

Arraez  ...

Gordon  ...

Miranda....

And our hot hitter at the moment  , Correa  ...

Urshela  ...

Fill in the blanks  for the remainder of the lineup and keep who is injured  out of the game ..

[roger]

Yes, this year is over.  But I see a team that could be very good next year. So much depends on getting Maeda, Alcala, Buxton, Kirilloff, Larnach, Royce Lewis, and Paddack back healthy.  And their staying healthy for 162 games, all except Paddack who should return mid-season.

Yes, add those players to the lineup and rotation and this team can compete.  As much as we all are disappointed, the injuries have been beyond anyone’s expectations.

[Blyleven2011]

 one thing I have noticed lately on the game day threads ...

The number of comments is below 150 ,,,

is that because it is football season  or because the twins are playing awful baseball  ...

[mikelink45]

6 minutes ago, Blyleven2011 said:

 one thing I have noticed lately on the game day threads ...

The number of comments is below 150 ,,,

is that because it is football season  or because the twins are playing awful baseball  ...

How many have just checked out?  It is a temptation.

[RJA]

13 minutes ago, Blyleven2011 said:

is that because it is football season  or because the twins are playing awful baseball  ...

Both :).

[MMMordabito]

[Vanimal46]

17 minutes ago, Blyleven2011 said:

 

is that because it is football season  or because the twins are playing awful baseball  ...

Yes. But more of the latter. 

[minman1982]

At the beginning of the season, I said that the Twins were probably about a 0.500 team and the third best in the Central.  I said they have a chance at the division but everything has to go their way. 

Looking ahead to next year, it is clear that more help on the pitching side of things is needed.  I think we can all agree that the defense is much improved this season over the last season.  For comparison, the Twins have allowed 592 runs while scoring 605.  The averages for current playoff teams in the AL are 521 runs allowed and 622 runs scored.  The Twins offense would be middle of the pack among playoff teams in the AL but none of the current playoff teams has allowed as many runs as the Twins.  Some have allowed far fewer (the Yankees about 100 less, the Astros about 140 less).   

The Twins seem to have a lot of 4th and 5th level starters but not anyone who is truly a top level arm.  Maybe Maeda and Mahle come back next year and provide that one-two punch you need as a true contender but I would not count on it.  If the Twins are serious, they need a top level free agent starting pitcher. 

Best case scenario: they have three great pitchers (new player, Maeda, Mahle) with a bunch of other guys with major league experience to round things out.  Who knows?  Maybe a fourth guy really takes a step forward (Ryan, Winder, anyone) and Maeda ends up being the fourth best on the team.

Worst case scenario: Where they are now.

[Chaz1966]

I'm of the opinion that the Twins need new coaching, the current staff just isn't getting it done. Rocco and company have had enough time to show they're stuff and what they've shown us isn't worth keeping. How about allowing a starter to go longer then 4 or 5 innings? How about trying to manufacture runs in a close game instead of waiting for homeruns? I guess bunting and hit and runs are a thing of the past in baseball. It is definitly hard to watch stranding baserunners inning after inning in close games waiting for 3 run homers when we just need a damn run. I understand all the injuries but this is getting just plain hard to watch.

[launchingthrees]

Lopez really is just not a good pitcher is he? That BABIP regression has been painful to watch.

[RpR]

10 minutes ago, launchingthrees said:

Lopez really is just not a good pitcher is he? That BABIP regression has been painful to watch.

In seasons in which he pitched in more than one game, only one year was his ERA below SIX, why is he here?

[RpR]

15 minutes ago, Chaz1966 said:

 How about trying to manufacture runs in a close game instead of waiting for homeruns? I guess bunting and hit and runs are a thing of the past in baseball. It is definitly hard to watch stranding baserunners inning after inning in close games waiting for 3 run homers when we just need a damn run. I understand all the injuries but this is getting just plain hard to watch.

I would agree with you except  back when they hit home runs, the same complaint was aired often so they quit hitting home runs....

[launchingthrees]

24 minutes ago, RpR said:

In seasons in which he pitched in more than one game, only one year was his ERA below SIX, why is he here?

I kept hearing that the 2nd year of team control was the reason he's here. But it doesn't really matter if he's going to continue throwing meatballs over the plate.

[insagt1]

Lopez continues to just be awful. Took a one run game and turned it into a 3 run game in the blink of an eye. Yeah, thats why we got him huh. He joins an ever growing list of bullpen liabilities that can't be trusted.

Except this season is over so experiment away. Another awful offensive  effort. Terrible AB;s in the 9th except for the two walks. The others were as expected...terrible.

I still chuckle at a previous comment that said he left two Twins tickets on his dashboard. When he returned to his car he found it had been broken into and someone had left 2 more tickets to go along with the other two.

Fact is, 3 crucial home games against a team they could have passed in the standings. Instead, they weren't in any of those games at all. There just isn't enough talent on the roster right now to compete. Does anyone honestly feel they will be able to win at least 4 games against the Guards next weekend?  For me the pressure is off. I will casually watch a game or two from here on out...unless of course they suddenly reel off 7 straight wins to tease us....and I'll crawl back on the bandwagon. Its disappointing that we led for so many months, only to completely fall apart. But thats baseball.

[howeda7]

1 hour ago, roger said:

Yes, this year is over.  But I see a team that could be very good next year. So much depends on getting Maeda, Alcala, Buxton, Kirilloff, Larnach, Royce Lewis, and Paddack back healthy.  And their staying healthy for 162 games, all except Paddack who should return mid-season.

Yes, add those players to the lineup and rotation and this team can compete.  As much as we all are disappointed, the injuries have been beyond anyone’s expectations.

I would assume you get nothing from Paddock or Lewis next year. Anything you do get is a bonus. Buxton will never approach 162 games, that's just a reality. 100 is all that's realistic. Kiriloff's seems like he's no better than 50/50 to play in the majors again, from what I've heard. The procedure he had was a last gasp. 

Some better health will help. But this team just isn't that great and I don't see them overtaking Chicago or Cleveland without some significant upgrades.