Twins 4, Cleveland 2: Skeleton Crew Beats Kluber, Allen

Win Expectancy and Top 5 Plays (via Fangraphs)

There was a lot of great stuff to get to from this one, but nothing can beat how it ended. Check out this amazing diving catch from Byron Buxton to record the final out:

Per Statcast, the catch probability was 49 percent. Buxton was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, but he made another tough catch up agaisnt the wall in the third inning.

https://twitter.com/cjzer0/status/878721347081445376

Paul Molitor was forced to manage a decimated roster that was already playing with a short bench. Both Sano and Rosario are dealing with an illness and Kepler was forced to sit with a bruised right foot. Chris Gimenez had to start out in left field. Facing Corey Kluber, on paper this looked to be as close to a throw-away game as you could get in the MLB.

Here’s how the first inning started:

-Brian Dozier hit the first pitch and reached on a throwing error.

-Joe Mauer walked.

-Robbie Grossman hit a double that scored Dozier and put Mauer on third.

-Another throwing error on a pickoff attempt allowed Mauer to score.

Before you could even settle into the game, the Twins were up 2-0. Kluber mowed them down from there, finishing with 13 strikeouts over seven innings.

Kyle Gibson held Cleveland to just one run, but with two outs in the fourth inning Molitor pulled him. Gibson was at 93 pitches, had walked back-to-back batters and was about to face Jose Ramirez, who homered the previous inning. So there were plenty of reasons to pull Gibby there, but the traditional move would be to let your starter try to get that last out. You don’t see pitchers get pulled in that situation often.

Molitor summoned Tyler Duffey from the pen, and he retired Ramirez on a grounder to end the inning. Duffey also pitched a perfect sixth inning.

In the seventh, Matt Belisle came in, which caused mass panic among Twins fans. He faced four batters, got two outs and gave up two hits. A poor defensive play that went down as a Jorge Polanco error resulted in Cleveland scoring the game-tying run.

Francisco Lindor hit what looked like a potential double play ball to Kennys Vargas, who threw to Polanco for the out at second. It didn’t look like they had much of a shot to get Lindor at first, but Polanco fired it back over anyway. His throw went a little wide and Belisle overcommitted himself to the base, giving him no chance to reel in the throw.

The game was not tied for long. Cleveland brought in it’s stellar closer Cody Allen, but Dozier led off the inning by slugging the go-ahead home run.

https://twitter.com/TheRenderMLB/status/878748720015302657

Gimenez added a solo homer of his own in the top of the ninth.

https://twitter.com/TheRenderMLB/status/878755823329173504

Taylor Rogers, who bailed out Belisle in the seventh and pitched a scoreless eighth, picked up his fourth win of the year and Brandon Kintzler earned his 20th save, with a hat tip going to Buxton for that beautiful catch. Mauer had an excellent game as the DH, going 2-for-2 with a double, a run scored and a pair of walks.

Postgame With Gimenez

Bullpen Usage

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

Sunday

Twins (Ervin Santana, 2.97 ERA) at Cleveland (Josh Tomlin, 6.07 ERA), 12:10 pm CT

Tomlin has been struggling of late, posting an 8.76 ERA over his past three starts. Opposing hitters have hit .407/.435/.746 (1.181 OPS) off him during that span. Santana has also been having a rough go of late, but in his last five starts against Cleveland he’s 3-1 with a 1.72 ERA.

AL Central Standings

Cleveland 39-34

Twins 38-34 (-0.5)

Kansas City 37-36 (-2)

Chicago 32-41 (-7)

Detroit 32-41 (-7)

Yep, after all that’s happened the road warrior Twins will have Ervin Santana on the mound tomorrow with the opportunity to not only sweep Cleveland, but also move back into first place. Man, this team.