Doubleheader Recap: Tigers Sweep, Twins Sink To 3rd Place

Game 1: DET 8, MIN 2

Box Score

Dobnak: 4.1 IP, 12 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 1 K

Home Runs: Cruz (12)

Bottom 3 WPA: Dobnak -.261, Avila -.087, Cruz -.061

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs):

Game 2: DET 4, MIN 2

Box Score

Home Runs: Cruz (13)

Bottom 3 WPA: Duffey -.271, May -.193, Sanó -.160

Win Probability Chart:

Facing lefties this year has been one of the toughest tasks for this Twins offense. Coming into this series, Minnesota had the 10th worst OPS (.686) and wRC+ (89) against southpaws as a team. The Tigers had two lefties lined up to start both games and they didn’t have much trouble in dominating the Twins lineup for the day.

Offense was bad...

For Game 1 Rocco Baldelli made some experiments with the lineup, promoting two big changes. Max Kepler, who batted either first or second in 24 of his 30 previous games this season, started this game batting eighth, only for the second time this year. The other one was Miguel Sanó batting second for the very first time this season. Luis Arráez and Jake Cave sat this one out, as Minnesota tried to overcome their struggles against left handers.

The strategies didn’t work very well. Minnesota’s offense was absolutely dominated by Tigers starter Matthew Boyd, who allowed only one hit through the first four innings, a Polanco leadoff single in the first. Even the only Twins run he allowed on that stretch came after first baseman Jeimer Candelario allowed Kepler to go to second on an error and Polanco scored him on a sac-fly.

The Twins offense simply couldn’t figure Boyd out this afternoon. Not only hitting, but they couldn’t draw a single walk against him either. Minnesota’s other run came on a Nelson Cruz solo home run in the sixth.

https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1299783199132979207

...and pitching was worse

But that wasn’t even the worst performance from Minnesota in the game. Randy Dobnak had the worst start of his young career, giving up six earned runs on 12 hits. It was brutal and a bit surprising, given his great start to the game, throwing a six-pitch first. His pitch to contact approach failed him today, as 11 of the 12 hits he allowed were hard hits. Curiously enough, only three of those resulted in extra bases.

To go with such bad pitching performance, the Twins fielding also had a day to forget. From a bizarre throw to first from Polanco in the second inning to retire Candelario (a runner who would later score), to Eddie Rosario and Mak Kepler failing to glove a couple of hard hit balls that became RBI doubles, the defense was awful. Candelario’s single, by the way, had a .050 xBA and came off the bat at only 82.7 mph.

Lewis Thorpe wasn’t much of an improvement when he took over for Dobnak in the fifth, with the bases loaded.He gave up a total of four hits, including a two-run double in the sixth to Miguel Cabrera. After a promising start to the season, he finished a rough month of August with an 8.49 ERA, the worst month of his young career.

Bullpen studs struggle

Things didn’t look much better in the second game. Detroit brought in another lefty in rookie Tarik Skubal, who held the Twins to only three hits in the first four innings. However, Minnesota was able to capitalize this time, starting with a sac fly from Marwin González in the second inning to take the 1-0 lead.

The bullpen game had been working really well for the Twins this year. Well, not today. Matt Wisler started the game in great fashion, ending his outing one out shy of delivering two scoreless innings. But then the unthinkable took place. Two of the team’s best and most reliable arms of the year, Trevor May and Tyler Duffey, had terrible outings. Detroit took the lead against May in the third with a one-out, two-run homer from Candelario. Tyler Clippard came in to finish the inning and pitch a scoreless fourth. With him on the mound, Minnesota tied it up with Cruz’s second home run of the day, his 13th on the year.

https://twitter.com/Twins/status/1299819218167312384

Duffey took the mound in the fifth, and after giving up a walk, Miguel Cabrera made him pay, homering to right for his third hit of the day to put Detroit ahead, 4-2. Some really good defense from the Tigers helped them to hold on to win. Cruz and Rosario both reached to open the final inning, but Sanó grounded into a double play.

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

Postgame Pint

Seth Stohs is joined by Matthew Trueblood, Nate Palmer and Twins Daily's live virtual audience to discuss the Minnesota Twins' bats going silent versus the Tigers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75L-OoGW78c&feature=youtu.be

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