Twins 2, Red Sox 9: Rain, Defense Put Damper On Soggy Night

Great to see Santiago back.  We can expect more 100-pitch, 4+ inning outings watching his ERA continue to balloon.  This guy is awful. As I've said before, I'd run Gibson out there in a heartbeat before giving the ball to Hector.  He had a few nice early outings but those are long gone.  Even his DL stint was simply just to let the guy sit on the bench for a couple weeks.  I think he's firmly solidified his place as the Worst Starter on the Twins. 

If anyone sees something good in Santiago, I'm all ears.  I'd also wonder what you were smoking, but I'd still listen!

Good recap, Seth. I can't get my morning started without a little Twins Daily, a cup of coffee, an aspirin, an Advil, a little puff of reefer, and a tab of acid. Then I can face the day with a smile! Oh, and a slice of banana. And some milk from that spider thing that lives in my refrigerator...sneaky bastard...

Trevor Hildenberger was the best thing about last night's game. Late in a blowout was the best time to see the rookie's full repertoire. Even with the diminished crowd he was working on getting his heart rate down, and this was exactly what he needed. Especially when he whipped that change-up fading down to the arm side. The arm action was fooling 'em. Boston's boys were either whiffing on it or so late they practically screwed themselves into the ground pulling it into the stands just past third base. I can see Hildenberger driving batters batty with combinations of his fastball and change. He even threw a surprise overhand fastball at 94! 

PTI acted like the Central is a two team race but KC is right there.    What is the biggest run deficit for a division champion and what is it for a WS champion?    87 team scored 20 fewer than they gave up.     Lopsided losses don't bother me so much but the lack of competitive starts from the bottom of the rotation does.    Puts a lot of pressure on Berrios, Santana and Gibson.    Would not be shocked to get swept in Boston.   I would have preferred Berrios not going against Sale.    Would be ok with splitting the next two.

Great to see Santiago back.  We can expect more 100-pitch, 4+ inning outings watching his ERA continue to balloon.  This guy is awful. As I've said before, I'd run Gibson out there in a heartbeat before giving the ball to Hector.  He had a few nice early outings but those are long gone.  Even his DL stint was simply just to let the guy sit on the bench for a couple weeks.  I think he's firmly solidified his place as the Worst Starter on the Twins. 

 

If anyone sees something good in Santiago, I'm all ears.  I'd also wonder what you were smoking, but I'd still listen!

He still has an ERA almost a full run lower than Gibson and a WHIP that's 0.4 lower, which is an incredible difference. Gibson has gotten by on some good fortune, like well-timed double plays and hard hit line drive outs, while giving up piles of baserunners. I don't have much faith he'll straighten himself out, at least not in a Twins uniform.

I'm not a big believer in Santiago, but up until the game where he pitched in relief he had an ERA of 4.07 and WHIP of 1.32. Perfectly serviceable for back-end rotation filler. Then he pitched on 2 days rest and struggled, and left the next game with an injury in the 3rd inning after getting knocked around. Then returned last night to a weather-shortened game where he didn't get a chance to bounce back from the 2-run homerun he gave up. I'm willing to see if he can get back on track. At least he's shown he's capable of something more than Gibson's tired old routine.