Doubleheader Recap: Cruz Hits 2 Home Runs, Twins Split With Royals

Game 1: Twins 4, Royals 2

Box Score

Odorizzi: 4.0 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K

Home Runs: Cruz (5)

Top 3 WPA: Cruz .218, Duffey .100, Rogers/Romo .083

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs):

Jake Odorizzi looked much better in his first start since the shaky one in Kansas City a week ago. Back in Missouri last Saturday, making his season debut after starting it on the IL, Odorizzi needed more than 70 pitches to complete three innings. He struggled with his command a little bit and allowed two earned runs on four hits, to go with two walks and two strikeouts. But today, with the same amount of work, he completely dominated the Royals lineup and went on to pitch into the fifth.

With only 40 pitches, Odorizzi threw three perfect innings, while fanning five. Overall, he ended up retiring all the first eleven batters he faced. Right then, in the bottom half of the third, Jorge Polanco doubled against lefty reliever Gabe Speier, as the Royals were having a bullpen day. They didn’t want Speier facing Nelson Cruz, so they brought in rightie Tyler Zuber with two outs. Cruz hammered a mammoth 448-feet home run to back up Odorizzi’s great performance.

https://twitter.com/Twins/status/1294706115813482496

After going 0-for-15 in his previous five home games, Luis Arráez snapped out of his funk with a single in the bottom of the fourth, sending Miguel Sanó to third. Later on Arráez would get his second hit of the day, making it his first multi-hit game at home since 9/21. Byron Buxton then flied out to left, but it was deep enough to score the big man, giving the Twins a three-run lead.

https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1294713742274498562

Maikel Franco ended Odorizzi’s afternoon with a two-run home run in the fifth. The third baseman has now homered in back-to-back games against Minnesota. The bomb came after Ryan McBroom hit a leadoff double and Odorizzi had gotten ahead in the count against Franco at 0-2. Nonetheless, it was a very encouraging performance from the Twins rightie.

Bats kept clicking as Minnesota responded right back in the bottom half of the inning. Cruz nearly homered again on a liner towards Alex Gordon, who managed to rob him of the dinger, but couldn’t hold on to the ball, allowing Nelly to reach second. Eddie Rosario stepped up and swung on the second pitch he saw, hitting a fly ball to deep right field, reaching second and scoring Cruz, giving the game its final numbers.

Taking over for Odorizzi in the fifth with no outs, Tyler Duffey started out an amazing outing from the Twins bullpen. Duffey and Sergio Romo combined for two perfect innings with only 22 pitches. Romo pitched his 700th and 701st career strikeouts in the sixth. Taylor Rogers allowed a couple of hits in the seventh, bringing the tying run to the plate twice, but he induced a double play and struck out Gordon to earn his fifth save in the season.

https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1294730762936360961

Game 2: Royals 4, Twins 2

Box Score

Berríos: 4.0 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 7 K

Home Runs: Cruz (6)

Bottom 3 WPA: Berríos -.247, Buxton -.146 Sanó -.109

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs):

Command wasn’t there for José Berríos, who threw just 12 of his 26 pitches in the first inning for strikes. He loaded the bases with two outs, after back-to-back walks., but worked out of the jam. This has contributed to an unsettling trend:

https://twitter.com/MatthewTaylorMN/status/1294742254964408326

Facing Danny Duffy for the second time this season, the offense posed a threat early on. Mitch Garver reached on a fielding error, advanced to third on a wild pitch by Duffy, and later scored on a sacrifice fly from Marwin González.

Struggles continued for Berríos, as his command continued to elude him. He gave up three singles in the second, allowing the Royals to tie it up with a Whitt Merrifield RBI-single. A 1-2-3 third had everybody thinking he was finally back on track, but then a couple of walks came back to haunt him in the fourth when he gave up a two-out, three-run home run to the same Merrifield. It was the second time this season that Berríos failed to pitch more than four innings and the third time he gave up at least four earned runs, in five starts. His season ERA is now up to 5.92.

Nelly hit a leadoff home run in the bottom of the fourth, his second bomba of the day, and kept Minnesota very much in the game.

https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1294759933855105025

Jorge Alcala tossed a couple of scoreless innings in relief of Berríos and Zack Littell, coming back from the IL, pitched a great 1-2-3 in the seventh. Overall, Minnesota’s bullpen combined for six innings without allowing a run in the two games. However, the Royal bullpen did an equally good job, holding on to the lead in the final two innings and avoiding the double header sweep.

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet