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  • MIN 5, KC 4: Bats Rally, Bullpen Protects 1-Run Lead

    Tom Froemming

    By Tom Froemming

    With this lineup, you can never count out the Twins. They fell behind 4-1 tonight, but rallied back to tie the game in the fifth and took the lead in the sixth. Working with just a one-run lead over the final three innings, the bullpen not only got the job done, but even managed to pitch around a couple of errors.

    Image courtesy of © David Berding-USA TODAY Sports

    Twins Video

    Box Score

    Odorizzi: 6.0 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 71.7% strikes (66 of 92 pitches)

    Bullpen: 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K

    Home Runs: Kepler (17), Gonzalez (9)

    Multi-Hit Games: Gonzalez (2-for-4, HR)

    WPA of +0.1: Gonzalez .205, Rogers .170, Cron .120, Polanco .102

    WPA of -0.1: Odorizzi -.111, Schoop -.122, Cruz -.126

    Win615.png

    (chart via FanGraphs)

    No Lead is Safe

    The Twins fell behind 4-1 heading into the bottom of the fifth. They were within a run of the Royals by the time an out was recorded that inning. Mitch Garver singled and Marwin Gonzalez socked a two-run bomba.

    Later that inning, Jorge Polanco provided a game-tying RBI double with two outs. The comeback was complete when C.J. Cron hit an RBI double in the bottom of the sixth inning.

    Bullpen Secures Victory

    Sometimes that “no lead is safe” statement applies to the Twins’ bullpen, but not tonight. After the bats stormed back, the bullpen managed to protect that lead.

    Trevor May pitched around an error to record a scoreless seventh inning. There was another error committed in the eighth, but Blake Parker and Ryne Harper combined to keep Kansas City off the board that inning. Taylor Rogers gave up a one-out single and issued a two-out walk in the ninth, but worked around them to earn his eighth save.

    Odorizzi is Human

    Jake Odorizzi gave up as many earned runs tonight, four, as he had in those previous eight outings. He looked a little more human tonight, though he did still provide the Twins with six innings.

    Odorizzi gave up seven hits, walked two batters and struck out seven. He gave up multiple home runs for the second time this season, but to his credit, never flew completely off the rails.

    I’ve Got a Riddle for You

    Who’s the most underrated Twin? I started brainstorming an article around this question, but it was too difficult. There are so many guys on this 2019 teams that are doing so well, but still have such low profiles across the landscape of baseball.

    Now of course, if you’re here at Twins Daily reading a game recap, you’re obviously more invested than the average sports fan. But how many people actually realize that, say, Max Kepler is doing what he’s doing?

    Anyway, Kepler hit his 17th home run tonight. He entered this game with a 134 OPS+ so far. He’s never even cracked 100 before (which is league average).

    People around town are definitely starting to take notice of what this team is doing collectively, which is tremendous, but it’s pretty incredible what so many of these guys are doing on an individual basis, as well.

    No.7 Retired

    Before tonight’s game, the Twins put together a ceremony that was pretty neat. Joe Mauer’s No. 7 was retired.

    https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1140052204293767168

    https://twitter.com/Twins/status/1140045762274963456

    Postgame With Baldelli

    https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1140103508940640256

    Bullpen Usage

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

    Bullpen615.png

    And One More Thing ...

    I try really hard to avoid ump talk, but I’m sorry, we have to go there tonight. It’s a tough job, I get that, and both teams are stuck with the same umpire, so things typically even out. But, my word, is Angel Hernandez terrible. If anybody needs a retirement party, it’s that guy.

    Here’s a look at the called strikes on Twins hittters:

    KCPitcherCalledStriks.png

    And below are the called strikes on Royals hitters:

    MINPitcherCalledStrikes.png

    The guy basically made a joke of this game. How can MLB allow this to continue to happen?

    Attachments:
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    Follow Tom Froemming on Twitter: TFTwins

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    Featured Comments

    jkcarew

    jkcarew 3,876

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    A couple points: I like the gamble for 2 by Schoop with 2 outs. Getting into scoring position is worth it. The outfielder just made a good play.

    The thing I like most about Gonzalez' catch in the ninth, was how shallow he was playing. It was Billy Hamilton...make him hit it over your head. If he's not playing really shallow, that's a hit, followed by a probable stolen base.

    Twins teams of the past would have had their outfielders with their backs glued to the wall, in some silly "no doubles" prevent defense. They routinely played their OF too deep, and in the 9th would have played them even farther back, no matter who was at the plate.

    I’ve always been in the ‘take the chance to get to second with two outs’ camp. And I still like that...but maybe not quite as much when the club is on pace to hit 300 home runs and the guy that follows you is on pace to hit 40. And that’s how it played out.

     

    Great point on the positioning of Gonzalez for the Hamilton play. Without that he has no chance, and Hamilton is probably on second with a single and a stolen base.

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    Hosken Bombo Disco

    Hosken Bombo Disco 15,870

  • Community Leader

    • Posted

    It would be fun to know if Gonzalez used his cheat card to position himself on that Hamilton ball, or if someone on the bench whistled out to him, (or maybe he was just lucky). In any case, I loved seeing what looked like a sure leadoff hit turn into an out when they switched from the home plate camera to the outfield. It reminded me of ... wait for it ... when Alex Gordon started shifting on Mauer shallow down the left field line :)

     

    (because Joe Mauer night, KC vs Twins, etc)

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    MNT1996

    MNT1996 3,030

  • Verified Member

    • Posted (edited)

     

    A couple points: I like the gamble for 2 by Schoop with 2 outs. Getting into scoring position is worth it. The outfielder just made a good play.

    The thing I like most about Gonzalez' catch in the ninth, was how shallow he was playing. It was Billy Hamilton...make him hit it over your head. If he's not playing really shallow, that's a hit, followed by a probable stolen base.

    Twins teams of the past would have had their outfielders with their backs glued to the wall, in some silly "no doubles" prevent defense. They routinely played their OF too deep, and in the 9th would have played them even farther back, no matter who was at the plate.

     

    Schoop was out by a mile trying to stretch that single. Terrible read and not a good call when down by two. Runners in scoring position is great, but making the final out of the inning on the base paths is not great. Twins have obviously shown the ability to drive balls into the gaps or over the fence so while that extra base would be nice it's not worth the risk especially for a slower guy like Schoop.

    Edited by MNT1996
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    james2334

    james2334 251

  • Provisional Member

    • Posted (edited)

     

    That's fair about the 9th inning catch. I was multi-tasking at the time and I didn't see it until now on a video site. I suspect most RFers make that play, as it didn't require many steps, but credit where credit is due.

    https://cuts.diamond.mlb.com/FORGE/2019/2019-06/15/f2c00e36-0a743b10-11995ccb-CSVM-DIAMONDTMP-asset_1280x720_59_4000K.mp4

     

    Likewise with Adrianza taking a base the other day, I don't recall it. A good lead and smart baserunning wasn't really what I was getting at, though. It just takes him longer to get where he's going, once he's going, than I expect of a guy of his size and general athleticism. Shortstop is more about quick-twitch reaction than raw speed anyway, and I'm just saying that he'd easily lose a footrace to any of the four I named, and that might not be the case for the average utility infielder. I don't have any complaints about Ehire's work on the basepaths - he's just.... not.... you know, fast. If I'm third-base coach and faced with a close decision, I don't send Cron, I don't send Schoop, I don't send Adrianza. Nothing to do with yesterday's game, of course, just a side observation after Schoop was thrown out by a mile at second.

    While you can complain about the speed of the Twins players, I think it is a result of putting more emphasis on other areas such as power. By contrast the Royals put a ton of emphasis on having players with speed and the ability to steal bases. While the Twins were signing Nelson Cruz, the Royals were signing Billy Hamilton. So far the Twins have scored 411 runs to the Royals 288. I''ll take power over speed every day of the week. 

    Edited by james2334
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    Tom Froemming

    Tom Froemming 9,895

  • Twins Daily Staff

    • Posted

     

    We could add Odorizzi to the list of players no is really talking about, and Cron, and Garver, even Rosario and Buxton. I was reading suggested all stars by various sports gurus and the Twins players were conspicuously absent. Only one analyst had two Twins players on the list (Polanco and Rosario). Of all the others, only one Twin was even mentioned and that by only one guru (surprisingly that was Castro). In a sense, maybe that's the beauty of the Twins; there are different heroes depending on the game.

    It's crazy. I started to outline an article on that topic of most underrated Twin, but I ended up with about 75% of the roster in consideration. A lot of these guys are among the best players in baseball this year, and most of them could probably stroll around MPLS and go unrecognized, let alone on the bigger, national scale. 

     

    People are most definitely taking notice of the Twins' success, but to your point, there's no superstar carrying the team by himself. It's a team effort. One of the guys the team marketed the most (La Tortuga) is in Triple A right now.

     

     

     

     

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    ashbury

    ashbury 48,546

  • Old-Timey Member

    • Posted

    While you can complain about the speed of the Twins players,

    Didn't think I was doing that. Mainly making an observation about Schoop's one play. That was not a long throw from the outfield, and even if Merrifield was not a regular there the throw was more or less like from one infielder to another. I hated seeing the try as soon as Schoop made the turn, and he was out by way too large a margin. I like aggressive baserunning, but not suicidal.

     

    I don't remember seeing Adrianza make a mistake (in my view) like that, my comment was just a general memory many weeks ago of the third-base coach waving him home in a situation I thought was a good choice, and he wound up being tagged out because he arrived at the plate a step or two slower than I would have guessed for him. We aren't really a team that is built on speed, and I'm fine with that; our offense is working great at the moment and so we shouldn't like to throw away outs.

     

    I was impressed with how quickly Merrifield transferred the ball over and got rid of it.

    He's a middle infielder. Transferring the ball is what he does for a living. :)

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    stringer bell

    stringer bell 12,723

  • Community Leader

    • Posted

     

    Didn't think I was doing that. Mainly making an observation about Schoop's one play. That was not a long throw from the outfield, and even if Merrifield was not a regular there the throw was more or less like from one infielder to another. I hated seeing the try as soon as Schoop made the turn, and he was out by way too large a margin. I like aggressive baserunning, but not suicidal.
     
    I don't remember seeing Adrianza make a mistake (in my view) like that, my comment was just a general memory many weeks ago of the third-base coach waving him home in a situation I thought was a good choice, and he wound up being tagged out because he arrived at the plate a step or two slower than I would have guessed for him. We aren't really a team that is built on speed, and I'm fine with that; our offense is working great at the moment and so we shouldn't like to throw away outs.
     

    He's a middle infielder. Transferring the ball is what he does for a living. :)

    The play for Merrifield was not easy, particularly for a non-outfielder (IMHO), To his credit, Merrifield made the play and it looked routine.

     

    As far as speed, the Twins appear to have only Buxton with game-changing speed. I think that one reason why the Twins should hang on to Nick Gordon is that he could provide speed along with Buck. There isn't much speed besides those guys in the top tiers of the organization. Polanco, Kepler, and Rosario run well, but not to the point that they are disruptive.

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