Angels 4, Twins 2: Missed Opportunities Prove Costly Against Ohtani

[Thiéres Rabelo]

The Twins didn’t take advantage of two loaded bases situations and were offensively limited by a solid Shohei Ohtani start. Louie Varland gave them a chance, but the Angels did just enough to hold on to their lead.

Image courtesy of Jordan Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

 

Box Score
Starting Pitcher: Louie Varland, 5 2/3 IP, 7H, 3R, 3ER, 1BB, 3K (88 pitches, 58 strikes, 65.9%)
Home Runs: none
Bottom 3 WPA: Gilberto Celestino (-.203), Matt Wallner (-.161), Jermaine Palacios (-.140)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Varland and Ohtani both debut at Target Field, both pitch into the sixth
Two teams with disappointing seasons and miles away from playoff contention met on a cold, somewhat rainy Friday night at Target Field. Everything pointed out to this being one of the most irrelevant games for both fanbases to attend or watch from home, except for one thing: the pitching duel. After two starts on the road, St. Paul native and recently appointed Twins Daily’s minor league starting pitcher of the year, Louie Varland, finally made his Target Field debut. Furthermore, Shohei Ohtani, one of our generation’s greatest talents, was set to toe the rubber for the Angels, also representing his first-ever start at Target Field.

Varland was off to a hot start, tossing a 1-2-3 top of the first on only seven pitches, retiring Ohtani himself with a groundout on the first pitch. Then, Shohei took to the mound for what might’ve been the coldest temperature he’s ever experienced at first pitch in his MLB career. To make matters even worse for him, the rain came down during his first trip to the mound and almost caused him some serious damage.

After Ohtani retired leadoff hitter Luis Arraez, the rain got stronger, and he started to struggle with his command. So much so that he lost the next three batters, giving up walks to Jose Miranda and Gio Urshela and hitting Nick Gordon in the ankle. Then, Jake Cave grounded into an inning-ending double play which, at first, kept this a scoreless game. But after review, it was noticed that Miranda crossed home plate before third baseman Matt Duffy could glove the throw by second baseman Livan Soto, scoring the game’s first run.

But that lead didn’t last long. Varland gave up a leadoff home run to Taylor Ward in the top of the second that tied the game. Then, in the third inning, after losing the first two batters, Varland gave up an RBI single to Mike Trout, which scored Max Stassi from third. Ohtani couldn’t get anything going in his second at-bat of the game, but, back on the mound, he really got into the zone. He pitched a perfect bottom of the third, and after giving up a leadoff walk in the fourth – matching his season-high four walks in a game – he went on to strike out five Twins batters in a row. Minnesota didn’t have a hit until the fifth when Arráez hit a two-out grounder to left.

Despite allowing a few hits, Varland managed to deliver a couple of scoreless frames after the Angels scored their second run. But for the second time on the night, Ward took him deep to lead off an inning. The Angels’ cleanup hitter crushed another fastball up the middle, basically at the same location as his first home run, making it 3-1 Angels in the top of the sixth. Varland retired the next two batters before Rocco Baldelli brought in Trevor Megill to get the inning’s final out.

Twins get one run back but waste a bases-loaded, nobody-out situation
After four dominant innings from Ohtani, the Twins’ offense finally made him sweat and ended the night for him. Gordon led off the bottom of the sixth with a single, then Urshela drew his third walk of the night. As the Angels bullpen started to warm up, Cave singled to center, and Gordon scored from second, cutting the Angels’ lead in half.

Ohtani was allowed to face another batter in Gary Sanchez, and the Twins’ catcher also drew a walk, loading the bases for the second time on the night for Minnesota – this time with no outs. Ball four was rightfully protested as the Twins caught a huge break, but it ended up going to waste anyway. With reliever Aaron Loup pitching, Matt Wallner and Gilberto Celestino couldn’t capitalize. Loup escaped with a strikeout and an inning-ending double play.

Minnesota failed to add on, but Los Angeles didn’t. Megill got two outs in the seventh, but not before he had also allowed two men to reach on a couple of walks. The latter came after a hard-fought, ten-pitch at-bat against Trout that brought Ohtani to the plate with two men on instead of ending the inning. Baldelli decided to bring Caleb Thielbar to face a still-hitless Ohtani, but it didn’t pan out. The superstar hit a ground ball to center and brought Soto home, making it 4-2 Angels. Overall, Minnesota’s offense went 2-for-13 against the Angels bullpen and didn’t come even close to sparkling a late rally.

Postgame interview

What’s Next?
Game two of the series is scheduled for this Saturday, with first pitch at 6:10 pm CDT. The Twins will bring Joe Ryan (3.61 ERA) to the mound, whereas Los Angeles will start lefty Reid Detmers (3.71 ERA).

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	MON	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	TOT
Henriquez	73	0	0	0	0	73
Megill	0	17	0	0	28	45
Pagán	15	0	0	0	23	38
López	34	0	0	0	0	34
Thielbar	0	23	0	0	10	33
Moran	0	0	0	31	0	31
Fulmer	0	23	0	0	0	23
Jax	0	4	0	0	0	4
Duran	0	0	0	0	0	0

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[ashbury]

The failure to pinch hit Correa in the sixth, down a run and with the bases loaded, is baffling.

[USAFChief]

10 minutes ago, ashbury said:

The failure to pinch hit Correa in the sixth, down a run and with the bases loaded, is baffling.

"Scheduled day off"

[ashbury]

19 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

"Scheduled day off"

"Baffling" might not pertain strictly to that one decision.

[Aggies7]

This team is ELEVEN games out now lol incomprehensible 

[Aggies7]

32 minutes ago, ashbury said:

The failure to pinch hit Correa in the sixth, down a run and with the bases loaded, is baffling.

You didn’t prefer celestino instead? ?

[USAFChief]

2 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

This team is ELEVEN games out now lol incomprehensible 

 

[Aggies7]

2 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

 

One day the perpetually pessimistic posters like me are going to be wrong. I hope 

[D.C Twins]

The new race is for more draft lotto balls and THAT is a race we are excelling in!

We can still 'overtake' Boston, Arizona, and SF for draft lotto status!!!!

[D.C Twins]

1 hour ago, USAFChief said:

"Scheduled day off"

We NEEDED to make sure to REST him for um..... er.....ahhhhh.....eeeh...... yah know..... yeah.......

[D.C Twins]

I think next year Rocco needs to take it up a notch and transition from 'scheduled rest days' to 'scheduled rest series' en route to 'scheduled rejuvenation weeks' and perhaps ultimately 'scheduled sabbatical years!" ***

 

*** Except for relief pitchers.... they will need to cover 4-5 innings a game, every game

[Whitey333]

Twins are a mess.  Yes the injury bug has hit them hard especially in September.  But that doesn't account for their overall poor, uninspired play since June 1.  Correa scheduled day off?  Like everything this team has done it was stupid and ridiculous.  There is only 12 games left he has months to rest up for his next team.  They should have rested him Thursday in KC instead of Friday in front of home crowd paying huge bucks to watch minor league baseball.  Rocco's unwillingness to use Correa in key pinch hitting situations shows the plan is more important than a possible win and more important than the home paying crowd.  This exemplifies what is wrong with this organization.  Too bad we have to put up with this phony front office and manager again next year

[mikelink45]

At least we got to see Ohtani. 

Tough conditions for the pitchers. 

 

When is Rocco's scheduled day off?

[HokieRif]

This collapse continues. The team already made the point that they weren’t a contender but now they are really trying to emphasize it. 

[Doctor Gast]

These games are basically meaningless except seeing what our young guys have. IMO bringing in Correa to pinch hit, serves very little purpose.

It has been painful to watch Arraez slowly slide in BA, I'd have really liked to see him win that batting title & get the national attention he deserves. Again he'd have fare much better if he'd have had some sceduled time off. But alas that might be beyond his grasp now.

[Blyleven2011]

It's pretty sad now that we have only 2 players that are hitting in September  , Gordon and the rested Correa  ...

It was a winnable game had they hit it were they ain't  ...

It was a winnable game  and Rocco brought in pagan  who did manage for once to keep the score the same ... 

It's tough to watch the twins and the plan ...

looking forward to watching the better teams in the playoffs play better fundamentally baseball  ...

[Dave The Dastardly]

2 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

At least we got to see Ohtani. 

Tough conditions for the pitchers. 

 

When is Rocco's scheduled day off?

I think he should get a "rest year". Maybe 10.

[mnfireman]

11 hours ago, USAFChief said:

"Scheduled day off"

Cal Ripken never took a "scheduled day off" from May 29, 1982 until September 20, 1998, and the 1986 - 1988 Baltimore Orioles were pretty bad, he probably could have used a mental wellness day...

[insagt1]

name of this game is still 'win'. We already knew what we 'have' in Celestino (offensively very little) This was THE correct time to pinch hit Correa. You still do try and win, right? The Twins failures in the clutch over the past several weeks has reached epic proportions. Even Bremer seems to have thrown in the towel. As soon as Celestino hit the ball, he said'''and there's a double play ball'. Period. Wash, rinse, repeat. There is nothing there right now. The replacements are a dismal failure. The regulars aren't getting it done. 

this has been one sorry conclusion to what was still a horserace at Labor Day.  A total mess.

[ashbury]

4 hours ago, Blyleven2011 said:

It was a winnable game  and Rocco brought in pagan  who did manage for once to keep the score the same ...

Even though the score at the time wasn't outrageous, it seemed like "garbage time" for a pitcher, given what we expect from our offense the rest of the game.

Caused me to wonder if there was a trend, of Pagan pitching his best when the pressure was off.  So I went to b-r.com and took a look at his pitching log. I looked for instances of clean innings, or the multi-inning stints where he gave up fewer base runners than innings.  Guess what?  Contrary to my expectation, most of his best performances in 2022 have been in wins, and not simply blowout wins at that.

Of course his bad performances correlate pretty directly to losses.  Bad, gut wrenching losses.  I'm not papering over that.  But, fair's fair.  He's had good days when it counts.  I can sort of see why the manager and coaches may find him an enigma and keep trying to unlock something.  He's no Tyler Duffey, who's lost his stuff.  Pagan can pitch.  He just... sometimes... often... too often... doesn't.

[David Maro]

Rocco gave the game away to start!! Giving Correa the night off was just another dumb move. Correa has faced Ohtani how many times playing in the same division,but let's give him the night off. Then to top it off we get to watch Varland look like a pitching machine not a pitcher. He couldn't throw his pitches fast enough. A real manager would have sent Maki out to slow him down. Maybe he had a 9:00 dinner date!!

[rwilfong86]

18 minutes ago, David Maro said:

Rocco gave the game away to start!! Giving Correa the night off was just another dumb move. Correa has faced Ohtani how many times playing in the same division,but let's give him the night off. Then to top it off we get to watch Varland look like a pitching machine not a pitcher. He couldn't throw his pitches fast enough. A real manager would have sent Maki out to slow him down. Maybe he had a 9:00 dinner date!!

Since Correa is opting out, the Twins need to play him every single game now. Every inning. Get their money's worth.

[RpR]

2 hours ago, rwilfong86 said:

 Correa is opting out,

SO SAYS, MISS CLEO!

[rv78]

17 hours ago, ashbury said:

The failure to pinch hit Correa in the sixth, down a run and with the bases loaded, is baffling.

No it isn't.... all you have to do is look to see who is managing, then it all makes sense.

[rv78]

8 hours ago, Dave The Dastardly said:

I think he should get a "rest year". Maybe 10.

As far as I'm concerned he can manage next year, as long as it is somewhere else. 

[rwilfong86]

1 minute ago, rv78 said:

As far as I'm concerned he can manage next year, as long as it is somewhere else. 

Maybe the Yomiuri Giants of the NPB could use him?