Twins 5, Tigers 3: Sanchez Solid, Miranda Stays Hot, Urshela Walks It Off

Box Score
SP: Aaron Sanchez: 5 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 K (81 pitches, 51 strikes (62.9%))
Home Runs: Gio Urshela (10)
Top 3 WPA: Jose Miranda (.536), Gio Urshela (.231), Jharel Cotton (.089) 
 

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

The Minnesota Twins returned home on trade deadline eve to face off against the Tigers. While the hope was that the Twins may have acquired some pitching help via trade by this point in time, the reality is they were forced to turn to recent minor-league signing Aaron Sanchez for the start Monday evening. 

Since joining the Twins organization, Sanchez has made eight starts for the St. Paul Saints while sporting a 4.26 ERA with 11 walks and 26 strikeouts over 38 innings. Sanchez’s time in the majors this season came with the Washington Nationals, where he struggled to an 8.33 ERA in seven starts this season. 

Tigers Strike First
The second inning may have quickly been giving Sanchez flashbacks to how his season began in Washington. A walk and then a single quickly put runners on the corners with one out. Then facing Tucker Barnhardt, a ground out to the right side of the infield was able to score Jeimer Candelario to give the Tigers the early 1-0 lead. 

The positive to that second inning is that with a runner still in scoring position, Sanchez bounced back and struck out Akil Baddoo to end the inning and minimize the damage.  

Free baserunners came back to haunt Sanchez again in the 4th inning. A walk to Miguel Cabrera and hitting Willi Castro with a pitch set Barnhart up for his second RBI of the night. The catcher took advantage of that opportunity by lining a single to center field to bring Cabrera home and extend the lead to 2-0. Even though the free passes hurt Sanchez, he did limit the damage by striking out Baddoo again to end the inning. 

Garlick exits game
Kyle Garlick, who was in the game to try and fulfill his customary role as lefty masher, exited the game early with what the team has called rib inflammation. Alex Kirilloff came off the bench to replace him, but there is lots of concern on whether or not Kirilloff should have been in the game himself. He still suffers from pain in his wrist while he swings the bat. 

With Max Kepler still out due to his toe and Gilberto Celestino on the paternity list, options became limited fast, with the only other outfielder available being Byron Buxton. Buxton was on a scheduled rest day Monday evening. 

In the eighth inning, Tim Beckham pinch hit for Kirilloff and took over in leftfield, which gave relief to the concerns. 

Sanchez with solid outing
There was plenty of speculation around what exactly the Twins would get out of Sanchez in his first start for his new team. The one-time dominant starter has not looked like that for some time. Monday evening, he provided a lift to a banged-up Twins rotation that needed it. 

Sanchez made it through five innings. He struck out eight Tiger batters and induced 14 swings and misses while allowing two runs. 

Bats finally come alive in the eighth
For most of the night, the Twins bats were quiet. Outside of what Nick Gordon was able to do, it felt like the bats were lifeless. That was until the eighth inning when Michael Fulmer took the mound. Jorge Polanco got the hit parade started. Consecutive hits by Polanco, Carlos Correa, Luis Arraez, and a two-run single from Jose Miranda put the Twins on the scoreboard. Miranda’s single evened the score at two. 

Base-running error shuts down the ninth
The Twins looked to be making a bid to walk off the ball game in the ninth inning. Gordon provided some more spark to start the inning and was on third base with Correa up to bat with two outs. Correa worked a walk, but on ball four, the ball kicked away from Tigers catcher, Tucker Barnhardt. Gordon started to move toward home. Two steps in changed his mind, but he couldn’t make it back to third in time before being thrown out. 

Luis Arraez would have been up with the bases loaded and two outs. Instead, the Twins took the field as the game went into extra innings. What will certainly also be questioned about the ninth inning is why didn’t Buxton pinch-hit for Mark Contreras.  

On to the tenth
Griffin Jax was given the tenth inning, with Willi Castro standing on second. After a diving catch by Contreras in right field off the bat of Eric Haase that moved Castro to third base, Baddoo, who had struck in each of his three previous at-bats, hit the ball up the middle, past the drawn-in infield to score Castro and give the Tigers the lead. 

Urshela walks it off
The Twins weren't ready to return to the field for the eleventh inning. With one out, Jose Miranda came up big again with an RBI single to tie the game. With two outs, Gio Urshela walked up to the plate with Miranda on second and made sure there was no doubt the winning run would cross the plate. Urshela, fresh off the paternity list, hit his tenth home run of the season to give the Twins the win. 

The injuries and their effect on the team were again evident Monday night. Also, once again, the Twins figured out a way to scrape together the win. Hopefully, through tomorrow the Twins will add via the trade deadline, but for tonight Aaron Sanchez looked like he wants to be one of those deadline additions to help the Twins down the stretch. 

What’s Next? 
The Twins will look to right the ship tomorrow against the Tigers. This time they will send right-hander Chris Archer to the mound for his 18th start of the 2022 season. The Tigers will send right-hander Matt Manning to the mound. It will only be Manning’s third start of 2022. After eight total innings in his previous two starts, Manning currently sits at a 2.25 ERA. The hope will be that the Twins bats will bump that up by the end of Tuesday evening. 

Postgame Interview

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet