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  • Game Recap: Twins 6, Royals 5


    Tom Froemming

    Insurance runs have been tough to come by this season for the Twins but they tacked on a few this afternoon at Target Field. Boy, was it a good thing that they did. Read all about the game in today’s recap.

    Image courtesy of © Jordan Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

    Twins Video

    Box Score
    Happ: 5 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
    Home Runs: Larnach (3)
    Top 3 WPA: Larnach .196, Garver .135, Cruz .108
    Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

    chart.png

    The Twins jumped out to an early lead, scoring runs in the first and second innings, but that advantage was quickly erased by a Salvador Perez two-run homer in the third. J.A. Happ retired the last seven batters he faced after giving up that homer.

    The bats took the lead back thanks in part to a Rob Refsnyder RBI bloop single and a run-scoring passed ball. They tacked on runs in the sixth and eighth innings to extend the lead to four runs. Every bit of that wiggle room was needed.

    Jorge Alcala and Tyler Duffey each delivered a perfect inning before Hansel Robles gave up a run in the eighth. Taylor Rogers came on for the ninth inning to protect a three-run lead and got off to a concerning start.

    After Kelvin Gutierrez doubled Adalberto Mondesi hit a two-run homer to reduce the lead to one run with no outs in the ninth. Rogers induced a groundout then struckout the final two batters he faced to secure his fourth save of the season.

    Larnach’s Bomb

    Larnach’s home run was another tape-measure shot. He went deep into the Delta Sky360 Suite earlier this week and nearly did it again today. This one was “only” hit 423 feet with a 109.5 mph exit velocity.

    Postgame Interview

    Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

      TUE WED THU FRI SAT TOT
    Robles 13 20 0 0 21 54
    Rogers 26 0 0 0 21 47
    Duffey 0 15 0 0 13 28
    Thielbar 2 16 0 0 0 18
    Farrell 0 0 0 17 0 17
    Minaya 0 0 15 0 0 15
    Colomé 13 0 0 0 0 13
    Alcala 0 0 0 0 10 10

     

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    15 hours ago, SoDakTwinsFan4 said:

    Side note: Nelson Cruz is Completely Lost at the plate not seeing the ball well at all. Getting almost zero production from you DH and Multi Million dollar 3rd baseman isn't helping. 

    It's very obvious to me that Nelson has been really out of sync ever since he was hit by a pitch a couple weeks ago. He then sat on the bench for 5-6 games and that really threw his timing off. Cruz needs to play every day - he's getting fooled on almost every pitch and frankly the guy's been terrible since returning to the lineup.

    Thank The Flying Spaghetti Monster for Rob Refsnyder. Frankly the Twins should have Kirilloff, Refsnyder & Larnach batting 2-3-4 right now. Unreal.

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    16 hours ago, Dman said:

    Count me in the disappointed Donaldson category.  It looks like we paid for his bad years.  Come on man have some pride and be clutch once in a while.  He looks horrible at the plate I would rather have Blankenhorn back and batting in his spot because he wouldn't be any worse and would have upside.  Maybe call up one of replacement players who at least seem to be doing something. Hard to believe a veteran bat can be so overmatched at the plate especially in run scoring opportunities.  Absolute waste of money.

    What worries me about Donaldson is he flinches at every breaking ball - he seems to be scared of it hitting him or isn't picking it up. He either swings and misses badly or pops it up, right?

    18 hours ago, insagt1 said:

    Rogers gave us a few moments, didn't he, but winning is always fun. And finally Twins are scoring runs the old fashioned way as well as by the bomb.

    Is anyone even remotely concerned about Donaldson? Yeah he gets walks, but he has completely stopped hitting. His splits over the last 7, 15 and 30 games are brutal. His AB today in the 8th with sacks juiced was butt-ugly. If this is what the Twins wanted, they vastly overpaid for this guy. Hopefully soon, he will snap out of it like Garver, Polanco and Sano seemed to have done. But for now, he is an out machine, with the BA getting close to the Mendoza Line. Its a darned good thing he does get the occasional walks because thats the sum of his 'offense' this month.

    What worries me about Donaldson is he flinches at every breaking ball - he seems to be scared of it hitting him or isn't picking it up. He either swings and misses badly or pops it up, right?

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    The Twins are still doing the analytics thing in regards to T Larnach and left handers. And in regards to him making adjustments, he already has. His 1st 2 weeks he was pulling everything or trying to. He went through a lot of swing and misses. Now hes expanding to use all fields. Him and Kiriloff can hit. And back to the analytic guys. Show me the data that says he doesn't fare well against lefties. 2 if his 3 Homeruns have came off them. And he homered off Bubic when he was at Stanford. Not the major leagues, but he has seen him before. I'm all about wins. Let the future play, if it is indeed the future for the Twins

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    The Twins are still doing the analytics thing in regards to T Larnach and left handers. And in regards to him making adjustments, he already has. His 1st 2 weeks he was pulling everything or trying to. He went through a lot of swing and misses. Now hes expanding to use all fields. Him and Kiriloff can hit. And back to the analytic guys. Show me the data that says he doesn't fare well against lefties. 2 if his 3 Homeruns have came off them. And he homered off Bubic when he was at Stanford. Not the major leagues, but he has seen him before. I'm all about wins. Let the future play, if it is indeed the future for the Twins

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    Agree with insagt1. Resnyder is better than Cave, and working his way towards being better than Kepler, if for no other reason than durability. Of course, all this is still a small sample size.

    The other thing I like about Refsnyder is hustle, which should count as the sixth tool. A guy that displays all-out hustle can help bring it out of the rest of a team, which can be the difference between winning and losing.

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