MIN 6, SEA 5: Comeback Victory Capped By Trevor May Save

It’s always better to be lucky than......... actually, these guys are good, too!

Something must be wrong with Rogers, unless Rocco was trying to make some kind of point. He was willing to sacrifice the game by staying with May and no one else backing him up, and he won-this time.

Followed the tracker and radio for part of the game and joined in about the 6th inning. It was a stomach Turner, but a fun game and win. A few comments to make:

1] This is a very good team who believes in themselves and never give up.

2] I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but even though Perez has been struggling his last few starts, be struck out 7 in 5 IP tonight. The stuff appears to still be there. He's been mkre wild lately. There are ebbs and flows for batters and pitchers alike. I am not panicking at this point.

3] Duffey was good for his 1 IP. Harper was OK but allowed a run. EARTH SHATTERING. Magill had an impressive inning. Where was THAT on the road trip? His stuff is just too good to give up on. But he needs to do that again and again over the next few weeks or he could be replaced.

4] May came through! There were a couple weak shots that provided scary moments. He got a called 3rd strike that may have changed the game. Somewhat debatable as it was a nice pitch. But those calls happen for both teams in every game. But he stayed in control and got the job done. IMO, he's starting to collect himself and looking more and more like the pitcher we saw last season. And that could pay huge dividends going forward.

Good game and good win! Go Twins!

Chief called it in the game thread in the 9th:

 

Rocco Baldelli said Taylor Rogers was not available tonight out of the bullpen because of back tightness. That enabled Trevor May to take the ninth and get his first save of the season.

His stat line may not say it, but I thought Perez pitched pretty well tonight. Made a mistake on the HR to Edwin, but his strikeouts were back today. Still needs work on not giving up so many walks. Both of them came back to hurt him.

Thought for sure I’d be reading all kinds of pleas and arguments for electronic calling of balls and strikes. Guess not. Weird.

Try the game thread.

I did...there was acknowledgment that the bases should have been loaded with nobody out...but not the usual outrage that we get when the call goes the other way. I’m firmly in the ‘let the umpires call the pitches, it’s not a big problem’ camp. But that was one of the worse calls on an extremely high leverage pitch that we’ll see all year.

"See Twins fans, our bullpen isn’t the only one to blow leads late in the game. In fact, entering tonight, the Twins are tied for fifth-fewest blown saves with only four.  Though the Twins don’t have that many blown saves, that doesn’t mean our bullpen isn’t bad.".   I think it does mean that.    I also think that you cite giving up two singles while not giving up a run as an example shows what unrealistic expectations of a bullpen fans have.    4 relievers aside from our best one pitched 4 innings of 1 run ball.   That is a really good performance and helped win the game and it was hardly the only time this season that the pen has pitched 3 or 4 innings of good relief in a close win.   Twins have 4 blown saves.     Astros have 8 blown saves, Yankees have 10 blown saves,  Red Sox have 10 blown saves.  Rangers have 9 blown saves.   Braves have 11 blown saves.  Dodgers have 10 blown saves.  Cubs have 12 blown saves.    I'm not saying they are great or couldn't use another guy but relievers give up runs.    

Yeah, he had really good stuff tonight, I thought. But I wouldn't say he pitched well.

He grooved that pitch to Edwin E. When I saw the location on MLB.com, I said to myself, "Stay in the park." Alas, it did not.

The other thing that was not really thrilling me was that after the Twins fought back to tie it, Perez gave back the lead immediately.

Loved the bottom of the eighth, though. Great to work that inning for three runs.

May was fortunate to get Edwin E. on strikes. Two of those pitches were outside the zone according to MLB.com's tracker--the third strike seemed completely outside of the box-0-not really even close (with about a baseball's width space between the actual pitch and the black). I was wondering if he beefed about it. If the tracker was correct, I'm sure he mumbled something. (Did anyone see footage of it or was anyone at the game? I'm more curious than anything.) CORRECTION: I finally got to see the third strike to EE in the 9th. That was a very nice job of framing by Castro. The pitch looked much better once we saw the video. (It was still a tad outside and perhaps an eyelash low, but with the superb framing by Castro, it looked much better than I had imagined.)

It's a win, and we're happy to take it, but as has been mentioned numerous times. If Rogers goes on the IL/IR list, the Twins will be thin on relief pitching.

The Twins have't blown many saves because they haven't had very many save opportunities due to the large leads that they've built.  

Thought for sure I’d be reading all kinds of pleas and arguments for electronic calling of balls and strikes. Guess not. Weird.

Maybe check in with Mariners Nation; I'm sure that a few of their faithful might have demanded robot umpires. ;-)

Close pitches go both ways, just doesn't seem like the Twins way that often.  May has closer stuff, if he can harness location, that is still a big if(but he is not the only reliever with that issue). A very good win.  

Twins are doing what all good clubs do, beat the bad clubs most of the time.  That is a good sign.

I am constantly surprised by some of the comments about Twins players.  Perez did not pitch well - not close.  Whatever is wrong with Perez, it might be time for one of those mysterious IL vacations.  May did not pass any test - 2 hits in one inning is not a good line and I do not trust him.

What I do agree with is that this was a great win and the Twins are really staying focused as a team.

If Cruz is up in Yankee Stadium, and the Twins had Polanco and Kepler on base in the 9th inning, and Cruz gets called out on a pitch that far off the plate, .... c'mon, that's not good for the game of baseball. Fans would be calling for blood.

That said, the Yankees do get those calls in New York. So, let's chalk that up to "earning it" by being such a good team.

But, realistically, you can't make that bad of a call on such a big pitch and not diminish the game on some level.

Can you imagine being a Twins' player, waking up this morning, seeing you are 23 games above .500, 10 games up in the division, destroying HR records left and right and then realizing that Tommy Milone is pitching for the Mariners tonight?

That's gotta give an extra hop to your step.

Who are we mad at this morning? May? Sano? Perez? Harper?

I'm trying to be more positive today so I'll focus on the big picture: the Cruz and Gonzalez signings were brilliant. Our catchers are offensive juggernauts. This team is surely playoff bound. The window to trade for pitching help will be opening up in a couple weeks. The only question is if the Twins can secure home field throughout with the best AL record! Wow!

I am constantly surprised by some of the comments about Twins players.  Perez did not pitch well - not close.  Whatever is wrong with Perez, it might be time for one of those mysterious IL vacations.  May did not pass any test - 2 hits in one inning is not a good line and I do not trust him.

 

What I do agree with is that this was a great win and the Twins are really staying focused as a team.

Looks like May threw a scoreless inning to me.

His stat line may not say it, but I thought Perez pitched pretty well tonight. Made a mistake on the HR to Edwin, but his strikeouts were back today. Still needs work on not giving up so many walks. Both of them came back to hurt him.

Two of his three walks were to Encarnacion and close to intentional.

He got the following batter Vogelbach to strike out the first two at bats. It is the third at bat against Vogelbach that was bothersome. He stayed on the outside every pitch of that at bat. He needed to trust his stuff and come in hard inside. Eventually Vogelbach three his bat out there and flared one to left for an RBI.

I am not worried about the walks. I do wonder if he is questioning his stuff as he pitches to Encarnacion and even coming inside against Vogelbach.

His stat line may not say it, but I thought Perez pitched pretty well tonight. Made a mistake on the HR to Edwin, but his strikeouts were back today. Still needs work on not giving up so many walks. Both of them came back to hurt him.

 A couple of those walks were unintentional, intentional walks to Encarnacion to get to Vogelbach. Perez didn't look great, but he certainly looked better than he did in his previous 2 starts.

Edit: Whoops, echo chamber in here with the post above me.

The way Perez pitches I was shocked that with two strikes he grooved a pitch down the middle to Edwin.  I guess they were hoping Edwin would be shocked as well and not swing? Perez tip toed around the zone all night why with their best power hitter up does he decide to go down the middle?  Baffling at least to me.  I mean if he gets the homer on a tough low outside or inside pitch so be it but to put it on platter for him seems odd especially from a pitcher reluctant to throw strikes.

At times it felt like the offense was little too aggressive but a tip of the hat to Leeke as he was willing to pump in first pitch strikes and keep attacking.  I was impressed at how he held the Twins offense down fro the most part.

Sano still looks pretty ugly at the plate.  I know his OPS is still very good but if he can clean up some things he can be much better.

I know you shouldn't mess with a good thing but it feels like Buxton is ready for the top of the order especially since Kepler hasn't been outstanding in that role so far this year.  Also their OBP and OPS are not that different this year.

Hate to see a called third strike on such a borderline pitch but it felt like we took a lot of bad calls in that game as well.  I still think robo umps would be better.

Can you imagine being a Twins' player, waking up this morning, seeing you are 23 games above .500, 10 games up in the division, destroying HR records left and right and then realizing that Tommy Milone is pitching for the Mariners tonight?

 

That's gotta give an extra hop to your step.

I’m going to the game tonight. Hopefully get a chance for a few HR balls. I know Cruz hits him well anyway.

Yesterday was Tuesday, June 11 and it was the 65th game of the year.  The Twins are now 40%  of the way through the season.  Out of 59 years, the current team ranks 33rd on the all-time list of Twins' home runs in one season and are on a pace to hit 317 home runs this season..

Can you imagine being a Twins' player, waking up this morning, seeing you are 23 games above .500, 10 games up in the division, destroying HR records left and right and then realizing that Tommy Milone is pitching for the Mariners tonight?

 

That's gotta give an extra hop to your step.

 Is it okay to hope for our third 8-homer game of the season? Or is that asking too much?