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  • Game Score: Twins 8, Red Sox 4


    Thiéres Rabelo

    Minnesota bounced back nicely after getting swept by the Dodgers at home earlier this week. Despite losing Byron Buxton to an injury in the very first inning, the Twins went on to beat the Red Sox at Fenway Park, behind a magnificent start by rookie Joe Ryan.

    Image courtesy of Paul Rutherford-USA TODAY Sports

    Twins Video

    Box Score
    Starting Pitcher: Joe Ryan, 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K (82 pitches, 60 strikes, 73.1%)
    Home Runs: Miguel Sanó (1)
    Top 3 WPA: Joe Ryan (.189), Miguel Sanó (.170), Luis Arráez (.109)
    Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)
    chart.png.cbd9e95a7bf259e86924ae7d1999d449.png

    Twins lose Buxton early but score four runs on five hits
    It was an eventful start to the game for Minnesota. Eight pitches into the first inning, Byron Buxton left the game with an apparent leg injury. He popped up to shallow left, and when Boston’s defense couldn’t make the play because of the sun, he sprinted and slid into second when the injury occurred. He immediately headed to the dugout and was replaced by Nick Gordon.

    On the brighter side of the inning, Luis Arráez snapped an 0-for-7 funk with a liner to center, and yet again, the Red Sox defense couldn’t take care of it, allowing Gordon to score the game’s first run easily. Even though Jorge Polanco drew a walk, helping to drive Nick Pivetta’s pitch count to 26, Minnesota had to settle for the one run in the first. But that wouldn’t last long.

    After Joe Ryan cruised through the bottom first on only eight pitches, striking out two and throwing strikes on every pitch, the offense ambushed Pivetta, scoring three runs on three hits. After Trevor Larnach drew a one-out walk, Miguel Sanó followed with a moon shot that went over the ‘green monster’ to make it 3-0 Twins. That was his first base hit of the season. Could his biggest early-season problem be the cold weather?

    Later on, Gordon singled to center with two outs, only to be brought home in the following at-bat by an Arráez double, making it 4-0 Minnesota. That’s the second multi-hit game for Luis this season. Closing out the inning with 54 pitches, Pivetta was done after two. Alex Verdugo got Boston a run back in the bottom of the second with a solo homer to center.

    Ryan looks excellent through six; the offense adds on
    After a somewhat shaky opening day start, Ryan looked superb today at Fenway. Boston hitters simply couldn’t figure him out, especially his slider, which produced whiffs 47% of the time in the first five innings. He also managed to get out of jams during the fourth and fifth innings when Boston had two runners on in each of them.

    In the meantime, he got even more run support from the bats. Carlos Correa and Polanco reached on a walk and a single to open the fifth inning, and both of them scored on a Gary Sánchez ground ball, making it 6-1 Minnesota. With those two runs batted in, Sánchez now has more RBI against Boston than any other team in the majors.

    Ryan continued his fantastic outing with a 1-2-3 sixth, shredding through Red Sox hitting with his off-speed offerings. By the end of the inning, he had produced an astonishing 19 swinging strikes, a career-high for him. Overall, 40% of his pitches were either called strikes or swinging strikes.

    Duran breaks Twitter, Boston’s rally comes up short
    Jhoan Duran took over once Ryan departed, and he baffled local fans and media with an incredible seventh inning. He retired the side on eight pitches which averaged 98.2 MPH and touched 102 MPH. His performance drew the attention of several national media accounts on Twitter.

    Boston got to him during the eighth, scoring three runs. Jackie Bradley Jr. hit a leadoff double and was pushed across a couple of at-bats later by a Kike Hernandez double. Then, Rafael Devers followed that with a two-run home run to the corner right, cutting the Twins lead in half. Duran cooled down and struck out the final two batters to end the inning.

    With the Red Sox getting dangerously close, Minnesota needed some insurance runs. Reliever Matt Barnes retired Arráez to open the top of the ninth, but he gave up a couple of walks against the following two batters. The Twins cashed in on both of those walks, first with a Max Kepler single and then with a slow groundout from Larnach with the bases loaded, bringing the lead back to four. Emilio Pagán came in to pitch the bottom of the ninth, and he threw a clean 1-2-3 inning to secure the win.

    What’s Next?
    For game two on Saturday, the Twins turn to Sonny Gray, who is set to face Boston’s Tanner Houck. The first pitch is scheduled for 3:10 pm CDT.

    Postgame Interview

    Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

      MON TUE WED THU FRI TOT
    Duran 11 0 0 0 34 45
    Thielbar 19 18 0 0 0 37
    Romero 0 34 0 0 0 34
    Pagán 0 20 0 0 11 31
    Winder 0 28 0 0 0 28
    Jax 0 0 22 0 0 22
    Smith 19 3 0 0 0 22
    Coulombe 0 14 0 0 0 14
    Duffey 14 0 0 0 0 14

     

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    26 minutes ago, DJwessmix said:

    I'd rather he be available multiple times for one series, able to work high-leverage situations in games, versus some of the other arms in the pen. He can't be stretched to a starter at this point in the season. We have 6 starters in the dugout, plus Winder. Maximize your staff, your situations. 

    They keep saying they want to manage his IP. You do that by going 1 IP at a time, not 2 or "stretching out" to start.

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    2 hours ago, Sconnie said:

    I believe it to be 2 reasons.

    1) he could start again, if he’s already stretched out to 2, he could stretch out faster to 3/4/5 again pretty quickly

    2) workload management for the rotation.   It’s also why there’s a 6 man rotation. They do not have the horses for a full season.

    And if he had pulled him after one inning, people would be complaining that Rocco should have left him in the game and that his damn computer told him to take Duran out.  Rocco isn't going to win at Twins Daily no matter what he does.

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    12 hours ago, Crackedfungo said:

    I know Jr Babe Ruth players that wouldn't butcher two plays like Araez and Garlick (just DFA him already) did. 

    I believe I understand your angst, but this statement rings of hyperbole.

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    59 minutes ago, terrydactyls said:

    And if he had pulled him after one inning, people would be complaining that Rocco should have left him in the game and that his damn computer told him to take Duran out.  Rocco isn't going to win at Twins Daily no matter what he does.

    Seriously. This team could go on a 10 game winning streak and people would still find something to complain about with Rocco. Seems to be a segment of the fanbase that's decided that Rocco = Bad and I have to wonder if anything would change their minds.

    Twins scored a nice win against Boston. Ryan pitched great. Really nice to see the team working a bundle of walks; that was the difference. Twins walked no one. Boston walked everyone.

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    i agree on the walks. It was good to see the Twins take much more high quality at bats. They are going to have to do that to be successful offensively. This team just doesn't have the talent in the lineup to mash opponents, and they now have even less with Buxton and Kirilloff out. They are going to have to work counts, get walks, and hit situationally to score runs. That hasn't been a trademark of this team the last few years. I hope they can do that. 

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    Duran says thanks for the ERA to Arraez and Garlick. Both who commintted no errors.

    RiiiiiiiiiiiGHT!

    But both looked pretty foolish out there in the field. That right field wall at Fenway is only 5 feet tall over at the corner where it landed, uncaught but catchable, and dips down to even 3 feet just to the left of there. I don't understand going to Garlick for defense. Put the supposed defensive phenom Celestino in center and leave Kepler in right. Celestino doesn't even have to bat. Garlick already had struck out to end the inning with two on and a runner in scoring position and there was no reason for him to be in the game for defense and move Kepler and weaken right as well as center now with (no Buxton) to compliment the already weakened Larnach left field. And WTF, Garlick for Gordon? Unnecessary left/right call with a 5 run lead at the time. Was Baldelli just trying to get Garlick an at bat? Wanted a 6th insurance run? OK. But leaving him in the game with better defensive options?Arrgh. But still won, so all good, I guess. Tragedy averted. But still very questionable management calls.

    No questions about any of the moves in the post game video edit with Baldelli above.......

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    2 hours ago, DJwessmix said:

    I'd rather he be available multiple times for one series, able to work high-leverage situations in games, versus some of the other arms in the pen. He can't be stretched to a starter at this point in the season. We have 6 starters in the dugout, plus Winder. Maximize your staff, your situations. 

    It may be that they view one multi-inning outing as less risky for Duran’s health than multiple shorter outings.

    Roles are fluid and the season is long, so he could still transition to a multi-inning piggyback starter role, setting up a full-fledged return to starting in 2023 even if he doesn’t get there in 2022.

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    On 4/15/2022 at 11:47 PM, terrydactyls said:

    If God were scoring, Duran would not be charged for any of the runs.  Arraez bailed on a hard hit ground ball and Garlic managed to turn a normal fly into a home run.  I would swear that the foul pole is only 250 feet from home plate and not the advertised 312.  However, for a brighter note, because I live in Maine, I watched the game on NESN with the Boston announcers.  They were falling all over themselves trying to find the right words to say that would convey how much they were impressed by Ryan and Duran.  The downside, however, was that the term "splinker" was never used.  So I still don't know what it looks like.

    Well, to begin, I haven't quoted myself since I wrote my senior thesis at the U of M in 1969.  I needed a perfect statement to complete my paper so I created it, put it in quotation marks, and cited myself in the footnotes.  But I digress.  Once again I watched the Twins through the eyes of the Red Sox announcers.  When Sonny took the mound in the first inning, the two announcers immediately returned to the previous day's game and talked about Joe Ryan.  They were falling all over themselves praising how good he looked.  They went on to say that it sure looks like the Twins fleeced Tampa Bay getting Ryan and another "good pitcher" (Strotman) for the rental of Nelson Cruz for a couple months.

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