Box Score
SP Bailey Ober: 3.2 IP,6 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K (73 pitches, 49 strikes (67.1%)
Home Runs: None
Top 3 WPA: Trevor Larnach (.150), Gilberto Celestino (.141), Cody Stashak (.096)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)
Pregame Notes/Lineup Decisions (with Results)
#1: Facing left-hander Tarik Skubal, Rocco Baldelli started Luis Arraez, Trevor Larnach and Max Kepler.
How it went? Against Skubal, Arraez and Kepler each went 0-for-3. Larnach, however, went 2-for-2.
#2: After DHing on Tuesday and playing center field on Wednesday, Byron Buxton was not in the starting lineup on Thursday afternoon. Gilberto Celestino, who is certainly a candidate to be sent back to St. Paul when rosters are reduced after Sunday’s games, is making his second start in center field in the past three games.
How it went? Celestino reached base in each of his first three plate appearances. He had an RBI infield single in his first at-bat. He laid down a nice bunt in his second plate appearance and reached on a throwing error. In his third at-bat, he hit a 100 mph line drive down the right-field line for a double. With Celestino, the defense is always solid. In addition, he ranged to the gap to make a very nice sliding catch in the 8th inning.
#3: There were hopes that Gary Sanchez could start behind the plate on Thursday. He was not quite ready so Ryan Jeffers started his third straight game behind the plate, including the day game after the night game.
How it went? Well, Jeffers was 0-for-4 with four strikeouts, but he did a nice job behind the plate.
Miguel Sano has a minor knee strain. That is why he is not starting against the left-hander and Arraez is back at first base.
Ober Labors, Leaves with Injury
Bailey Ober clearly didn’t have his best stuff on Thursday afternoon. It’s not that he was bad. He wasn’t. He threw strikes at a good rate (67%). He missed 12 bats. But he really had to work to strand base runners. He gave up six hits and two walks and somehow worked his way out of those situations and gave up just one run.
Unfortunately, Ober left the game early. With two outs in the top of the fourth inning, right after a balk, he gave up a single that gave the Tigers their first (and only) run. After the pitch, Ober hobbled off the mound, grabbed his upper right leg, and bent at the waist. Clearly, he was not going to proceed. Cody Stashak came in and stranded another Tigers runner. Tyler Duffey worked a scoreless inning.
Griffin Jax ended the game with three strong innings to record the save.
The team, a couple of innings later, confirmed that it was right groin tightness for Ober.
Correa’s Biggest Hit… So far.
Yeah, I know that his home run was crushed and immensely impressive, but Carlos Correa came through with the biggest hit of his short Twins career. Leading 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning, Correa came up with the bases loaded. In his two previous at-bats, he had exit velocities of 95 and 106 mph. On a 3-2 count, Correa hit a ball 108 mph toward the gap in left-center field, over Willi Castro’s head. With the Tigers’ fourth error of the game tacked on, the bases were emptied and the Twins led 5-1. Gio Urshela followed with a single to left field for a 6-1 Twins lead.
To this point, Correa is hitting the ball really hard, as you can see from the top row in the chart below. However, it appears that he is hitting a lot of ground balls. He also came into Thursday’s game having struck out 32.8% of the time. For his career, Correa has struck out just under 21% of his plate appearances. In 2021, he struck out just over 18% of the time. In other words, he's going to be just fine.
Three hits and four balls hit over 100 mph on this day should help him relax and start putting up the numbers that he has over his career.
In addition, despite his offensive woes early in the season, Correa's defense has been consistently terrific.
What’s Next?
The Twins will travel to Tampa to take on the Rays this weekend. Pitching matchups for the series include:
- Friday 6:10: Dylan Bundy (3-0, 0.59 ERA) vs RHP Corey Kluber (0-1, 3.68 ERA)
- Saturday 3:10: Chris Archer (0-0, 3.18 ERA) vs LHP Shane McClanahan (1-1, 2.45 ERA)
- Sunday 12:10: Chris Paddack (0-2, 3.68 ERA) vs TBD
Postgame Interviews
Bullpen Usage
|
|
SUN | MON | TUE | WED | THUR | TOT |
| Winder | 61 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 61 |
| Jax | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 46 | 56 |
| Thielbar | 0 | 0 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 27 |
| Duffey | 0 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 8 | 27 |
| Pagán | 0 | 0 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 23 |
| Smith | 13 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 23 |
| Coulombe | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 20 |
| Duran | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 |
| Stashak | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 18 |
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