Twins Video
Box Score
Ober: 5.0 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K (68.7% strikes)
Home Runs: Garver (13)
Top 3 WPA: Minaya .718, Colomé .305, Kepler .110
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)
The bats started this game very eager to create an early lead as they did on Thursday night. That became evident by Max Kepler jumping on the game’s very first pitch and smacking a 106 MPH line drive to center. In fact, that was the first of four hard-hit balls collected by the Twins offense in the first four innings and the first out of five that had at least .500 xBA, per Statcast. Unfortunately, it was also the only one to become an actual hit. Despite allowing a great deal of hard contact, Astro’s starter Zack Greinke managed to retire the eight batters he faced following that Kepler leadoff single.
Meanwhile, Bailey Ober had a hard time against the long ball, which allowed Houston to create a three-run lead. After a scoreless first inning and retiring the first two batters faced in the second, Ober gave up back-to-back two-out hits. The second one was a two-run home run for Taylor Jones. Ober got back on track and tossed a scoreless third, but then Chas McCormick took him deep with a solo shot in the fourth, making it 3-0 Houston.
Twins rally back; bullpen helps to take the game into extras
Minnesota finally managed to ambush Greinke in the fifth inning. After being limited to only the one hit through four, the Twins produced four hits in the same inning. Mitch Garver hit a leadoff homer to left to put Minnesota on the board. Miguel Sanó and Rob Refsnyder followed him with back-to-back singles, making it three consecutive to open the inning. Then Kepler grounded into a force out to score Sanó from third, pulling the Twins within a run.
Ober finished his outing with a strong display. After getting two outs on nine pitches, he battled Kyle Tucker on a tough, seven-pitch at-bat. Ober prevailed and struck out Tucker, his first punchout since the second inning. Over his last six starts, dating back from the start of July, Ober has posted a 4.22 ERA while striking out 9.7 batters and walking just 2.9 per nine. Ober seems to be steadily evolving into a solid bottom of the rotation presence. He finished July with a 3.97 ERA over five starts and has now delivered at least five innings of work in four of his last six starts.
Jorge Polanco opened up the sixth inning with a double, showing that the Twins’ comeback wasn’t done. A couple of at-bats later, Luis Arraez hit a hard ground ball to left, his first hit of the night, pushing Polanco across and tying the game. That run also earned Ober a no-decision.
John Gant celebrated his birthday with a strong outing. He struck out the first two batters he faced before inducing a groundout to complete a 1-2-3 sixth on 17 pitches. However, Tyler Duffey’s outing after him wasn’t nearly as uneventful. He gave up back-to-back one-out hits, including a single to José Altuve that snapped an 0-for-11 stretch. Duffey took advantage of a fantastic defensive play from Arraez that ended the inning. Unfortunately, it also forced Arraez to leave the game a few moments later, as it seems like he twisted his knee on the play.
The offense struggled against Houston’s bullpen. After the game-tying single from Arraez in the sixth, the Astros relievers retired 12 Minnesota batters in a row. That put a lot of pressure on the Twins bullpen, but they managed to navigate through it. Jorge Alcala pitched a 1-2-3 eighth on 14 pitches, striking out a pair. That was his fourth consecutive outing without allowing an earned run, for a total of 5 ⅓ innings. Has he finally turned the corner? Similarly, only with fewer innings, Alexander Colomé pitched a fourth consecutive scoreless outing, keeping the game tied after nine, taking the game to extra innings.
Both teams exchange punches in extras
With Refsnyder starting the 10th inning on second, the Twins managed to score quickly. Andrelton Simmons swung on the second pitch he saw from reliever Phil Maton and sent Refsnyder to third. Then Kepler got ahead in the count and hit a sacrifice fly to center, moving up both runners. Minnesota took the lead for the first time in the game, 4-3.
That didn’t last long, though. Houston tied it up in the bottom half of the inning. Lefty Danny Coulombe came in relief of Colomé. Michael Brantley grounded out to move up Altuve, the automatic runner, to third. Then Yordan Álvarez singled to left to score Altuve. Coulombe gave up a two-out walk to Tucker, putting two runners on for Houston. Rocco Baldelli brought in Juan Minaya, who struck out Aledmys Diaz on three pitches to end the inning.
Having a quiet night up until that point, Josh Donaldson stepped in and came through with a big hit to open the 11th inning, and that was enough to score Polanco from second and retake the lead for the Twins who now took a 5-4 lead.
Minaya came back to close the game, and he did it brilliantly, retiring the first two batters on seven pitches. Then, some thrilling plays took place. Minaya induced poor contact from Jason Castro. But Garver, playing at first base, couldn’t field the ground ball cleanly, allowing his former teammate to reach and moving Diaz to third. In the final play of the game, Altuve tried to bunt to third, but Sanó was able to pick up the ball and retire Altuve at first with an 84 MPH “bazooka” throw, securing the win.
Postgame Interview
Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet
| MON | TUE | WED | THU | FRI | TOT | |
| Minaya | 0 | 0 | 44 | 0 | 17 | 61 |
| Colomé | 0 | 20 | 0 | 7 | 17 | 44 |
| Coulombe | 0 | 13 | 0 | 17 | 14 | 44 |
| Duffey | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 20 | 41 |
| Gant | 0 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 39 |
| Thielbar | 0 | 0 | 22 | 8 | 0 | 30 |
| Alcala | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 14 | 28 |
| Burrows | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
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