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  • MIN 13, TOR 7: Mauer Grand Slam Among 4 Twins Homers In Comeback Victory

    Tom Froemming

    By Tom Froemming

    Things didn’t get off to a great start for the Twins Sunday afternoon, but oh boy did they end well. After spotting the Blue Jays a five-run lead, the Twins stormed back and not only caught Toronto, but ended up blowing them out.

    Image courtesy of Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

    Twins Video

    Snapshot (chart via Fangraphs)

    Snapshot917.png

    Gibson entered this game on quite the roll, having pitched to a 1.38 ERA over his previous five starts. Matt Trueblood of Baseball Prospectus did an excellent overview of Gibby’s turnaround, and among the reasons for it he cited the fact that Gibby has been doing a better job of mixing things up, deploying a five-pitch repertoire. He seemed to have a feel for zero of those pitches in the early innings of Sunday afternoon’s game.

    Gibson walked four batters in the first inning alone and Josh Donaldson took him deep twice, giving him back-to-back multi-homer games. The Blue Jays jumped out to a 5-0 lead, and it was starting to look like the Twins lead for the second Wild Card spot was in jeopardy.

    But the offense erupted for seven runs in the second inning and Gibson found himself as he cruised through the next four frames. The bats would add six more runs in the fifth inning, allowing a low-stress day for the bullpen.

    The five earned runs and five walks make Gibson’s line look pretty ugly, but he only gave up three hits and had eight strikeouts over 6.0 innings. He didn’t allow a single base runner from the third through sixth innings.

    Eddie Rosario and Byron Buxton got the comeback started by hitting back-to-back homers. The big blast of the day came from Joe Mauer, who hit a grand slam in the fifth. Later that inning, Rosario addd his second home run of the day.

    https://twitter.com/Twins/status/909518709743587330

    Mauer, Rosario and Buxton all finished with three hits. Byron also drew a walk. Brian Dozier, Eduardo Escobar and Jason Castro all had a pair of hits. Escobar added a walk and stole his fifth base of the season.

    AL Wild Card Standings

    WC1: Yankees 82-67 (+4.0)

    WC2: Twins 78-71

    Angels 76-73 (-2.0)

    Mariners 74-76 (-4.5)

    Postgame With Dozier

    https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/909534081880178688

    Bullpen Usage

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

    bullpen917.png

    Looking Ahead

    Mon: Twins (Ervin Santana) at Yankees (Jaime Garcia) , 6:05 pm CT

    Tue: Twins (Jose Berrios) at Yankees (CC Sabathia), 6:05 pm CT

    Wed: Twins (Bartolo Colon) at Yankees (Masahiro Tanaka), 12:08 pm CT

    Looking Back

    TOR 7, MIN 2: Pub Crawlers Have Best Night Ever Despite Twins Loss

    TOR 4, MIN 3: Pressley Fails To Pounce, Is Victim Of A Bad Bounce

    MIN 3, TOR 2: Buxton Blasts Walk-Off HR

    Attachments:
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    //dtb3yzl0vm3pr.cloudfront.net/monthly_09_2017/ccs-8747-0-40232400-1505685102.png
    Follow Tom Froemming on Twitter: TFTwins

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    Featured Comments

    h2oface

    h2oface 7,066

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    Every pitcher should wear Gibson's jersey and number from now on. It seems that makes the batters score runs.

     

    We dropped a game to the Yankees during this series. But we can still sweep in NY and be within 1 game of home field for the wild card game. Plus, we are up 2-1 on the season series for a tie-breaker. 

     

    Then on to sweeping Cleveland, who are due for some losses. Positive waves, man.

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    yarnivek1972

    yarnivek1972 6,290

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    So, I wonder if in his one start the team was able to pick up anything about Garcia that might help them tomorrow. Mauer has terrible career numbers against CC. 1 for 15 since 2012. Have to think he gets that day off. He's not realistically going to play in all the remaining games. With Wednesday being a day game, Tuesday is probably a good day.

     

    Obviously, there needs to be a balance between putting the best people out there and making sure those people don't break down.

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    Florida Loggerman

    Florida Loggerman 25

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    Congrats to the entire Twins team! did not see this one coming today after such a slow/tough start today for Gibson. 4 walks alone in the 1st inning made me scratch my bald head and wonder if there any way in the world that the Twins could once again make a huge comeback? yup, they dang sure did, in a big way to boot~! good solid turn around for Gibby after that rough 1st inning, and the hitting with power??? what is going on? I'm, loving the power surge from Rosario/Buxton/Polanco! and even Mauer getting a taste of the long ball, really a huge tough stretch with the hated Yankmee's and then the unreal Indians, it's truly do or die in the next 7 days, I don't think our current starters are strong enough to make this WC happen, but with the way the offense has been playing, one never ever knows for sure,? have to keep the Faith!

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    AlwaysinModeration

    AlwaysinModeration 4,343

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    I just looked at Brooksnet to check out Gibson's first inning. The walks to Smoak, Bautista and Pillar were all on the black. Plus another "ball" to Smoak was well inside the strike zone. His line was ugly, but after getting squeezed in the first, he pitched innings 2-6 giving up a walk and the solo homer to Donaldson. Good perseverance to make it possible for the comeback, and to get the game into the seventh before the bullpen had to come in.

     

    I was thinking this morning about when Joe would hit his next home run.

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    wavedog

    wavedog 1,608

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

     

    I just looked at Brooksnet to check out Gibson's first inning. The walks to Smoak, Bautista and Pillar were all on the black. Plus another "ball" to Smoak was well inside the strike zone. His line was ugly, but after getting squeezed in the first, he pitched innings 2-6 giving up a walk and the solo homer to Donaldson. Good perseverance to make it possible for the comeback, and to get the game into the seventh before the bullpen had to come in.

    I was thinking this morning about when Joe would hit his next home run.

    If you wouldn't mind thinking about when Joe will hit his next home run tomorrow morning as well - that would be much appreciated. 

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    jokin

    jokin 4,237

  • Old-Timey Member

    • Posted

     

    Mauer has been a terrific player for the Twins for many years. Without a doubt he is one of the few best players in MLB.

     

     

    Actually, he used to be a terrific player for the Twins for many years- as a catcher.

     

    Mauer was ranked one of the worst at his position for the three years previous to this season- according to Fangraphs, 25th best @ 1st base. While he is clearly having his best season since 2013, and his defense has greatly improved over the years, he's still only ranked around 16th best in terms of fWAR @ 1st base for 2017.

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    SwainZag

    SwainZag 5,031

  • Community Moderator

    • Posted

     

    Actually, he used to be a terrific player for the Twins for many years- as a catcher.

     

    Mauer was ranked one of the worst at his position for the three years previous to this season- according to Fangraphs, 25th best @ 1st base. While he is clearly having his best season since 2013, and his defense has greatly improved over the years, he's still only ranked around 16th best in terms of fWAR @ 1st base for 2017.

     

    That's fair, 1B is a stacked position for sluggers.  That being said, with a team like this full of free swingers having a guy hit 305/385/420 with 800 OPS and 40 XBH has a ton of value.

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    jokin

    jokin 4,237

  • Old-Timey Member

    • Posted (edited)

     

    That's fair, 1B is a stacked position for sluggers.  That being said, with a team like this full of free swingers having a guy hit 305/385/420 with 800 OPS and 40 XBH has a ton of value.

     

    Agreed, it's great to see a little of the Old Joe back and somewhat resembling his previous form from his batting championship days. Seeing him pull that Grand Slam deep to RF makes me hope for a Renaissance Joe in finishing out his contract out with a flourish through 2018. But no matter how it ends up playing out, he's as much a hitter out of sync with the traditional production at his position as Wade Boggs was @ 3B for the Red Sox.

    Edited by jokin
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    Gold15

    Gold15 18

  • Provisional Member

    • Posted

    Thanks for the great right up. Love (win the Twins win) reading them.

     

    I recently subscribed to the Athletic to read the Wilds coverage since Russo moved over there from the Strib. They have recently had a few Twins articles and did a right up on Gibsons turnaround. It basically said since he switched back to pitching off the 3rd base side opposed to the 1st base side of the (pitching) rubber, his era is 2.48. (Probably a little higher after yesterday's game) the down side is, throwing from the the 3rd base side puts more pressure on his shoulder.

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    jimmer

    jimmer 9,961

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    That's fair, 1B is a stacked position for sluggers. That being said, with a team like this full of free swingers having a guy hit 305/385/420 with 800 OPS and 40 XBH has a ton of value.

    and then add the GG caliber defense he has provided.
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    Doctor Wu

    Doctor Wu 761

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    Molitor was quoted in a post-game interview, talking about Gibson's rough first innnng: "Of all the things he's done, this one's, in some ways, is maybe a little more impressive to give us six innings after that start."

     

    And I have to agree with that. Hanging in there, settling down, and giving the Twins six innings was huge. If Molitor had been forced to go to the bullpen in the second inning, well, the outcome of this game may have been very different. In any case, Gibson held it together when we needed it.

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    MN_ExPat

    MN_ExPat 1,845

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

     

    I think his double off of the wall was hit just as hard. He's been hitting well all year!

    I concur as well.   I think we also have to factor in that he's finally been truly healthy and much better rested for the first time in a long time and we are all seeing the results.

     

    Joe can still play :)

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    Tom Froemming

    Tom Froemming 9,895

  • Twins Daily Staff

    • Posted

     

    You forgot to mention that Dozier BUNTED for a hit.

     

     

    From the Strib - "With Robbie Grossman on first and Jason Castro on second, Dozier noticed Donaldson playing back at third and bunted for a hit, loading the bases for Mauer."

    Dozier talks about the thought process behind that bunt in the postgame interview I included. I had no problem with that, take what the defense is giving you. Even if he didn't get the hit, you get two runners in scoring position with one out. 

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    Mike Sixel

    Mike Sixel 41,021

  • Old-Timey Member

    • Posted

     

    All those who put the loss on Molitor for not pulling Colon sooner should tip their hats to him today for letting Gibson continue. 

     

    100% different situations between the 5th/6th inning choices and the first inning choices, right? 

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    Blackjack

    Blackjack 869

  • Provisional Member

    • Posted

     

    that's what the minors are for, right?

    Sure. But in order to be good at anything, you need to keep doing it in a high pressure, game situation. If you have a veteran player that hasn't bunted in a few years, how good will they be at it??  Bunt periodically to keep defenses honest and so you know how to do it when its really needed in a game situation.

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