MIN 12, TOR 6: More Like Er-win Sweep-tana!!!

Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs)

Ervin Santana: 50 Game Score, 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 K, 3 BB, 61.9% strikes

Bullpen: 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 5 K, 1 BB

Lineup: 6-for-17 w/RISP, 12 LOB

WPA of 0.1 or higher: Garver .396, Kepler .364, Belisle .289, Duke .140

WPA of -0.1 or lower: Morrison -.143, Hildenberger -.408

Let’s go around the horn …

First Base

It’s great to see Ervin back, and his 2018 debut has to be considered a success. After a much longer recovery than expected followed by some concerning reports throughout the early stages of his minor league rehab assignment, Santana didn’t pitch a gem but he gave his team a chance to win.

Santana topped out at 91.1 mph, but relied heavily on his offspeed stuff. According to Baseball Savant, only 25 of his 97 pitches were fastballs. He threw 37 changeups and 35 sliders. Last season, Ervin averaged 93.1 mph on his four-seamer and only threw his changeup 10.3 percent of the time.

It’ll be really interesting to follow Santana’s pitch usage, but as a veteran who’s had to make plenty of adjustments over his career, one would think he can still be an asset even without his best stuff going.

Second Base

Trevor Hildenberger’s having a weird year. He gave up three earned runs in an inning of work today, coughing up the lead in the eighth inning in the process. He’s now given up 21 earned runs this season, 11 of which have come in three particularly ugly appearances. But hey, he’s been pretty awesome in those other 44 games.

It was all OK, because the Twins were bailed out by ... Matt Belisle? Wait, that can’t be right.

OK, so Matty B pitched his way into trouble and then was aided by terrible baserunning by Kendrys Morales, but he did pitch a scoreless ninth inning. And he wasn’t done! Belisle came back out for the 10th, gave up a leadoff single, but again worked a scoreless inning.

Just gonna go ahead and pencil Matt Belisle into my projected 2019 Minnesota Twins bullpen right now.

Third Base

Max Kepler, well ... he had a bad moment.

https://twitter.com/ParkerHageman/status/1022222775669469184

Apparently Max didn’t inherit those dancer’s feet Kepler drove in the go-ahead run in the top of the 11th inning with a bases-loaded hit by pitch. Maybe not the most heroic way to pick up the game-winning RBI, but whatever works.

The crazy part was the Twins just kept scoring in the 11th inning, thanks in large part to ...

Home Plate

Mitch Garver. He was the heartbeat of the Twins offense today. Garver singled to drive in the Twins first run in the second inning, hit a go-ahead home run in the sixth, added an RBI single in the eighth inning and then delivered a two-run double in the 11th.

https://twitter.com/Twins/status/1022245124988755968

Garver entered this game having hit .308 with an .868 OPS over his previous 30 games. It was also great to see things work out so that Mitch was catching Santana’s first game back. Forming a battery with such a veteran is only going to help Garver’s development behind the plate.

Bullpen Usage

Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days:

AL Central Standings

CLE 55-46

MIN 47-53 (-7.5)

DET 44-60 (-12.5)

CHW 36-64 (-18.5)

KC 31-70 (-24)

Next Three Games

Thu at BOS, 6:10 pm CT: Kyle Gibson vs. Brian Johnson

Fri at BOS, 6:10 pm CT: Lance Lynn vs. Chris Sale

Sat at BOS, 6:10 pm CT: TBD

Last Three Games

MIN 5, TOR 0: All-Star, Indeed

MIN 8, TOR 3: Twins Cruise Over Toronto

KC 5, MIN 3: Royals Sweep Twins, Butera Hits Inside-the-Park Homer (Seriously)