TB 11, MIN 4: Bullpen Lets Game Get Out Of Hand

My thoughts:

It stinks for Berrios to have another rough outing, but they just gotta keep throwing him out there. He'll get better and better as he goes on, but it's not going to be smooth sailing the whole time. 

The back end of the bullpen has been pretty brutal. I thought Perkins' problems would end up being his lack of velocity and inability to get Ks but apparently his problem is the inability to throw a strike - 3 walks and 3 HBPs in 5 innings. Maybe he has the stuff to hang on in the MLB but he needed a lot more than 7.1 innings in the minors before he was ready. He didn't pitch for 18 months and all he gets is 7.1 warmup innings before he's fed to the sharks?!

Duffey has been downright terrible in his last 4 outings, giving up 8 earned runs plus more inherited runs. He needs to figure things out quick because his pitching isn't cutting it.

I always read where Turner was a MLB ready defensive catcher, and that Garvers bat was way ahead of his glove. I have not ever saw Turner catch, but it's not hard to see where he must have been better than Garver. The decision to again choose offense over defense at certain positions puzzles me. As for Perkins, either him or Molitor need to decide that he will not be any help this year. If he wants to continue his comeback next spring, go for it. But this ain't the time or place.

Too bad about that Buxton double clutch before his throw. But the MLB game looks too fast for Garver as a catcher, at least as of now. Trouble blocking pitches and not throwing down to second on steal attempts.

Isn't Castro back now? And wasn't the whole point of signing Giminez to add a "steady presence" behind the plate defensively? 

The Twins came off a rough September series, they're on the road with a young pitcher in an absolutely huge pressure game, and Molitor opts to put the rookie catcher back there? I don't get the decision. 

The good news is that the Twins still are hanging on to that wildcard. Bartolo, we'll be watching tonight and we'd like to see a huge game from ya, big man! 

I'd say the relievers that didn't pitch last night, sans Turley, are the first four pitchers on the most trusted list right now.

As you say, Tom, losses like this seemed much more frequent earlier in the season. And last year.

We had a poor finish to our season two years ago too.  It's hard to say why, but Twins fans start to get nervous when we get a streak like this in September and rightfully so - in 2015 we were 551 the first half and 466 the second.  https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/MIN/2015-schedule-scores.shtml With the top two rotation pitchers now used we have to turn to Father Time Colon, Young Slegers, and Resurgent Gibson to right the ship.

We also have to stop putting Boshers in with runners on base.  Boshers has allowed 17 inherited runners to score in 32 innings. http://m.mlb.com/player/542953/buddy-boshers which is a very poor record.  -  half the runners on base when he comes in score!  Why are we using him in these situations?

We in trouble.

Think I've seen about all I need to see from Perk this season.  He just doesn't look like he has the stuff to get big-league hitters out at this point.

I give him props for making it back-  I tore the labrum in my non-throwing shoulder.  It's a painful surgery / recovery and rehab process.  Can't imagine throwing a ball again after having done that.  That said, I'd rather see him take the off-season to see if can fully make it back.  Don't need to see him on the Twins mound the rest of the way here.

Correct... they didn't use Belisle, Rogers, Busenitz or Hildenberger last night. They were already down about 4-1 when they started using the bullpen. Actually Pressly's been fantastic of late and he was used first... I again, can't really argue with who was used when they were used. Obviously, we can/should hope for better results. But there are still 25 games left. They're not going to win them all. I guarantee they will try to win them all, but there will likely be a a few more frustrating losses.

I don't know if I would describe Pressly's outings of late as "fantastic".  Sure, he had only given up 2 of his OWN runs dating back to the end of July prior to yesterday.  But, he gave up 2 inherited runs in the Toronto game, two in a game against Cleveland and two more in a game in Oakland.  It's been an issue for him all season long.  He's inherited 31 runners and allowed 10 to score, 31%.  By comparison, Taylor Rogers has allowed just 4 of 26 inherited runners to score, 15%.  One would think that Pressly would be the guy to go to in a sticky situation because he does have the ability to get a strikeout. Indeed, only Hildenberger has a better K rate out of the pen.  But, his failure rate is a tad high.

Catching Berrios is never going to be a walk in the park, and when he starts losing it, it gets that much tougher.

"It feels like a [make-or-break series], but I don't think that's the reality," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "I think a team can suffer through a couple of series losses, losing two out of three, and still be capable of putting together eight wins out of 10, or nine out of 10, and find themselves right back in the mix."

Wow. I guess that inspirational training is paying off, eh? arrrrggggghhhh.

"It feels like a [make-or-break series], but I don't think that's the reality," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "I think a team can suffer through a couple of series losses, losing two out of three, and still be capable of putting together eight wins out of 10, or nine out of 10, and find themselves right back in the mix."

 

Wow. I guess that inspirational training is paying off, eh? arrrrggggghhhh.

Sure, a team with a strong, deep rotation can. Not convinced that describes the Twins.