Kirby O'Connor

Jake Odorizzi was chased after four, Jorge Polanco’s home run was the only run scored by the Twins, and the defense had three errors. The pitching may have been enough to win, but the offense and defensive performance certainly weren’t up to snuff. Overall, tonight was a bad game, but the Twins have three more to bounce back with in Kansas City.Box Score Odorizzi: 4 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 66% strikes (X of X pitches) Bullpen: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K Home Runs: Jorge Polanco (11) Multi-Hit Games: Cron (2-3) WPA of +0.1: None WPA of -0.1: Schoop -.111, Odorizzi -.223 Download attachment: Win620.png (chart via FanGraphs) Active First Inning The Twins opened tonight’s scoring with a Jorge Polanco solo home run to right field in the second at-bat of the game. The Royals would answer in their half of the first with three runs off of singles by Whit Merrifield and Nicky Lopez, a double by Alex Gordon, and a single by Lucas Duda, following a very interesting fielder’s choice to put Cheslor Cuthbert on third base. Odorizzi Chased After Four Jake Odorizzi had an uncharacteristically bad start tonight, giving up four runs in four innings. Outside of the first, the Royals scored one more on a single, sac bunt, and double in the fourth. Odorizzi has been the Twins best starter this season and been in talks for the AL Cy Young Award. In his last seven starts before tonight, he had an ERA of 1.77, 47 strikeouts, and has won six without a loss. Tonight may have been a product of the fact that this is the second start in a row that Odorizzi had against the Kansas City Royals. He faced them on Saturday and gave up four over six innings. Defense Has Another Bad Day The Minnesota Twins defense had another bad night with three errors in the field, One throw into the head of Alex Gordon, one ball booted by Willians Astudillo at third, and another grounder missed by Jonathan Schoop at second. This means the Twins have now committed 14 errors in their last 10 games. One bright spot for this defense is the number of double plays turned. They turned four behind Twins pitchers tonight. Also, their errors only resulted in one run as both Astudillo and Schoop’s missed grounders were stranded. Kohl Stewart Pitches Well Out of the Bullpen After the Twins’ marathon 17 inning game on Tuesday, a short start from Jake Odorizzi was the last thing Rocco Baldelli and the Twins wanted, but Kohl Stewart saved the rest of the bullpen by pitching the game after Odorizzi was pulled. Stewart went four innings, surrendered just two hits, and allowed no runs. Offense Only Manages One Run It’s been a year where the Twins have been able to overcome some poor pitching performances, but this is the second time in four days that the offense has squandered a pretty decent pitching performance. On Monday, they were unable to manage even one run against the Red Sox and tonight was not much better. Following Polanco’s home run in the first, the Twins could not manage any extra- base hits and had only one at-bat with runners in scoring position. Their hits were all spread over the innings and when they hit the ball well, they seemed to go right at Kansas City fielders. Of course credit has to go to the Royals pitching, but the Twins offense just didn’t show up for the first game of this road trip. Hopefully they figure it out before tomorrow. Postgame With Baldelli Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Pen620.png Click here to view the article

Taylor Rogers is currently the only left-handed pitcher in the Minnesota Twins bullpen. With the coaching staff embracing analytics and matchups, the team would love to add another southpaw to come out of the pen in any given situation. They could add that lefty arm while also taking something away from division rival Cleveland Indians if they make a play for reliever Brad Hand.Brad Hand, LHP, 29-years-old Cleveland Indians (38-34, 2nd in AL Central) Under team control through 2020, with a team option in 2021. 2019: 0.88 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, 13.5 K/9, 2.3 BB/9 in 30.2 IP 2018: 2.28 ERA, 1.157 WHIP, 13.3 K/9, 4.2 BB/9 in 27.2 IP What’s to Like? Everybody loves left-handed pitching coming out of their bullpen. Brad Hand is not just a left-handed specialist, he’s tough on both right and left-hand batters. Lefties are hitting .115 off him while righties are only hitting slightly better at .154. Hand reminds me of Taylor Rogers, he’s a left-handed reliever who can be brought in whenever you need outs. Hand is tied the AL lead in saves (20), is the AL leader in FanGraphs’ WAR (1.4) for relievers, is a perfect 20/20 on saves this season, and 2nd in ERA (0.88) for AL relievers. According to Statcast, Hand has an average spin rate of 2,529 RPMs on his four-seam fastball, which is about the same as former Twin Ryan Pressly, and good for about 12th best in the league. Pressly left Minnesota, increased his spin rate and has been very good for the Houston Astros since. A higher spin rate means hitters will have a harder time hitting a fastball as it will have more “life” to it. Hand also was born in Minneapolis and drafted out of Chaska High School, so it would be a nice homecoming. Concerns The largest concern with landing Hand would be the sheer cost to obtain him. With Hand being on a Cleveland Indians team that is not in rebuild mode, the Twins would have to give up more than one top prospect. Add to that fact that Hand is still under team control through 2021, and you have one of the most expensive targets the Twins could consider. Another concern with Hand would be the number of innings he’s pitched over the last four seasons. Since 2016 Hand has logged 271.1 innings pitched. While he’s not old by any means, there is always concern that a reliever will fall apart with too much use. With Hand being a starter early in his career though, this might not be much of an issue. See Also Oliver Perez, LHP Cleveland Robert Stephenson, RHP, Reds John Gant, RHP, Cardinals Alex Colome, RHP, White Sox Seth Lugo, RHP, Mets Greg Holland, RHP, Diamondbacks Sean Doolittle, LHP, Nationals Kirby Yates, RHP, Padres 10 Relievers Minnesota Could Target Click here to view the article

Tonight’s game featured incredible starts by Jose Berrios and Boston’s Rick Procello. The only runs of the game came in the first inning and the last. Boston never put more than one runner on the bases at a time, but were able to still plate the only two runs of the game. A frustrating night for the offense, but encouraging stuff from Berrios.Box Score Starter: 8 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 10 K, 76.1% strikes (83 of 109 pitches) Bullpen: 1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K Home Runs: None Multi-Hit Games: Cron (2-4, 2B) WPA of +0.1: Berrios .328 WPA of -0.1: Castro -.158, Gonzalez -.176, Rosario -.222, Cruz -.304 Download attachment: Win617.png (chart via FanGraphs) Starting Pitchers Duel Jose Berrios started the game by giving up three singles and a Red Sox run. After that run scored, Berrios sat down 19 men in a row. Berrios was dealing all night, but was on the short-end of tonight’s decision. Red Sox starter Rick Porcello was also on the top of his game, and did not allow a run through seven innings. He also struck out five in a row from the second out in the second through the last out of the third. Porcello surrendered the first walk of the game with two outs in the seventh inning. It’s not often in today’s game that you see two starters go seven-plus innings, but tonight’s game was very much a throwback in how it was played. Porcello and Berrios were both working ahead, trusting their defenses, and getting strikeouts. Jack Morris and Dick Bremer were beside themselves with glee with how tonight’s game went. An Ineffective Offense The Twins have one of the best lineups in the MLB, but tonight they were unable to come up when it mattered most. C.J. Cron was able to get to second base with one out in the seventh, but fly outs from Marwin Gonzalez and Jason Castro ended the threat. In the eighth, the Twins got a leadoff single from Jonathon Schoop, which was followed by a Max Kepler walk. With two men on and no outs, Jorge Polanco laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners. Schoop ran himself into an out on a nubber by Nelson Cruz, but Kepler compounded the mistake by running back to second when he could have had third base. Of course Kepler’s mistake didn’t make a bit of difference because Eddie Rosario chopped out to first base to end the inning. Streaking Sox The Boston Red Sox entered tonight’s game having won five straight games, and seven straight road games. Since the Red Sox last loss, they have outscored their opponents 39-19. Even with the hot streak, Boston entered tonight’s game 5.5 games behind the AL East-leading New York Yankees. It would have been nice to upset the streak, but Boston is very much a playoff contender. Postgame With Baldelli Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Pen617.png Click here to view the article

It has been a week since the Minnesota Twins' last off day, and in that time they've played six games, all on the road and all against divisional opponents. The Good: The good news is that the Twins still don't have a losing segment on their schedule. This means that they have yet to have a losing road trip or home stand. The team ended the week with a slug fest against the Detroit Tigers, but early in the week it was Jose Berrios' start that snapped a 2-game losing "streak." Berrios looked like everything an ace should be, righting the team's ship following two poor performances, the first game being Devin Smeltzer looking good except for four mistake pitches that were belted for home runs and the second a game where the Twins pitching and defense squandered an offense that put up 7 runs. Of course Berrios wouldn't have been able to win the game if it wasn't for Max "Power" Kepler breaking his 0-21 at-bat streak with 3 home runs. The Twins bats are still another good, with the team hitting 16 more home runs to bring their season total to 125. The Bad: I'm going to have to say that the bad of this week was probably a few pitchers just losing it when they needed it. The week started with Smeltzer's mistakes leading to 5 runs, which was the first loss. Game two featured 7 Twins' runs, but also featured Blake Parker giving up 3 runs in one inning and the team losing by 2. Skipping to the Twins 9-3 loss on Saturday in Detroit, starter Kyle Gibson gave up 5 runs while reliever Matt Magill gave up 4 in one inning. So, the Twins definitely need to find some more consistency especially out of the bullpen. It is worth noting that Smeltzer has been sent back down to triple-A with the return of Michael Pineda. The Ugly: The Twins not landing Craig Kimbrel. This is less about the team and more about the fans around the team. Reports are that the Twins made a very competitive offer, but Kimbrel decided to sign with the Chicago Cubs, reportedly because he wanted at least a three year deal. The reception by fans has not been happy. Kimbrel undoubtedly has elite stuff, and could be key to a Cubs playoff run, which would only make Twins fans more angry. Of course I alluded to it before, but the casual fan saw Kimbrel as the move to solidify the bullpen and give consistency to a group that can really rely on one maybe two pitchers in high leverage situations. However, I don't know that the Kimbrel move would have done that. Kimbrel has yet to face any big league hitters this year, and likely won't see the field for another few weeks. Nobody knows where his stuff will be after not having pitched since last October, it might take a month to figure out, or he might not be very good for the whole rest of this year. The final gripe that I've seen with this deal, or lack thereof, is that this is "typical Pohlad penny-pinching." However, Kimbrel's issue wasn't with money but with years, so the Twins may have been ready to put up the money, but didn't want to lock themselves in and be prevented from making moves in the future. In any case, this was a miss on a free agent that is sure to cause a rift between a lot of fans and the team, especially if the bullpen does not perform up to snuff for what should be a good playoff team.

After Shane Bieber gave up three home runs and six earned runs in his last start, it looked like the Minnesota Twins, owners of the most potent offense in the MLB, might have an easy time against Cleveland’s starter. However, Bieber figured out the Twins lineup and was able to throw seven innings while only allowing two runs, both coming on solo home runs.Box Score Smeltzer: 6.1 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 59.8% strikes (49 of 82 pitches) Home Runs: Gonzalez (7), Rosario (18) Multi-Hit Games: Gonzalez (2-for-4, 2B, HR) WPA of +0.1: None WPA of -0.1: Kepler -.102, Smeltzer -.183 Download attachment: Win64.png (chart via FanGraphs) The Twins had only one other true scoring threat, when they put Miguel Sano at third and Johnathon Schoop at second with two outs in the second inning. Minnesota didn’t move anybody past second base outside of their two solo shots. The Tribe’s bullpen would come in and shut the door, Oliver Perez struck out the side in the eighth, and Brad Hand shut the door for the save in the ninth. The Twins did not record a hit after Eddie Rosario’s home run in the sixth inning. Margo and Rosie Continue Their Tears, Rest of Team Goes Silent One of the bright spots in a bleak night in Cleveland is the continued surges of Marwin Gonzalez and Eddie Rosario. Gonzalez would add a home run and double to his season total, following his strong series in Tampa Bay where he had another game where he had a double and home run. Gonzalez has six home runs and seven doubles this year. Unfortunately, Gonzalez ended his night with a game ending double-play ball. Eddie Rosario only had one hit, but it was his 18th home run this year. The Twins couldn’t muster anything else out of their offense, with another particularly bad performance turned in by right fielder Max Kepler. Kepler went 0-for-4 to extend his at-bat streak without a hit to 17. Outside of Gonzalez and Rosario, the Twins only had two other hits, the double by Jonathan Schoop, and a single by Jorge Polanco. Byron Buxton should have had an infield single in the eighth, but a bobble by Cleveland shortstop Fransisco Lindor made it an error. Smetlzer Can’t Figure Out Lindor, Gets Chased by Back-to-Back Homers Rookie Devin Smeltzer had his “welcome to the big leagues” game as a starter today when he gave up two home runs to Indians’ shortstop Fransisco Lindor. Lindor hit a solo shot in the third on an 0-2 count, a pitch that Smeltzer was trying to locate above the zone, but left it belt-high and middle-in. The second home run that Lindor hit was another pitch middle-in, but this time was a changeup left just under the belt. Lindor finished the game with those two home runs, a walk, and three RBIs. Smeltzer was chased from the game in the seventh inning when he gave up home runs on back-to-back pitches to Cleveland’s Roberto Perez and Jake Bauers. Twins relievers were solid tonight, and not overtaxed as Ryne Harper collected two outs and Tyler Duffey pitched a spotless eighth. The Twins certainly didn’t play up to their potential tonight, but they also got rocked 14-3 to start their last series in Tampa Bay. The bats going cold is concerning, but it’s happened before. Smeltzer didn’t look as untouchable as he did in his last start, but it’s only his second career start and he was only making it as Michael Pineda spends time on the injured list. It never feels good to lose to a division rival, but this series is not make-or-break for the Twins. Look for a good bounce-back tomorrow from Minnesota tomorrow. After all, they are 15-3 following losses. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen64.png Next Game Wed at CLE, 6:10 pm CT (Perez-Carrasco) Last Game MIN 9, TB 7: Odorizzi Shines In Tampa Return More from Twins Daily Twins Select Keoni Cavaco with 13th Overall Pick Twins Select Minnesotan Matt Wallner with 39th Overall Pick Week in Review: Test Passed in Tampa Click here to view the article

This was supposed to come out yesterday, but I hit "Save Draft" instead of "Publish," so here it is now. The Twins have only had four games since their last off day. However, they have been perhaps the biggest games of this season so far. Facing Tampa Bay's pitching staff was a true test and the results are proof that the Twins are a top team this season. The Good Taking three out of four games from a very good Tampa Bay Rays team. This series included a lot of bright spots for the twins including standout performances from some important pieces. José Berríos had a strong outing going 6.2 innings while the Twins would win 5-3 on a 2-run RBI single by Eddie Rosario in the 9th of game two of the series. Taylor Rodgers would get the win in that game by relieving Berríos and going 2.1 innings. In game three, the Twins scored 6 as a team, and only allowed 2 runs. In the final game of the series the team once again put up a big number, 9 runs, but needed almost all of it as their bullpen gave up 7 runs 6 of those being earned. Some of those wins didn't come easy, but they came against a very strong ball club on the road. They also came in-a-row and setup the team nicely to roll into Cleveland for a three game series against the Indians. The Bad Game one of the series featured the Twins worst loss since April 30, when they were shutout by the Astros 11-0. Starter Martín Pérez opened strong with a clean first and second inning, but had trouble with his control in the third where he gave up 2 walks, 3 singles, 2 doubles, and 6 runs before being replaced by Zack Littell. Littell would protect the rest of the bullpen by going 4.1 innings, but gave up 8 runs, all earned, in the process. Littell also was optioned to triple-A to make room for the returning Mitch Garver. Another bad from this series is Max Kepler going 0-13. Kepler will look to rebound in Cleveland, a place that he has hit well in historically. The Ugly I almost put game one of this series under ugly, but I think the true ugly in this series was Tropicana Field. Miguel Sanó once again had a home run stolen by the unusual overhead obstacles, this time by a speaker. Two exciting young teams at the top of the MLB, the home team only a few games back from the Yankees, and only 51,448 fans attended over 4 games. That's 12,862 per game. Tropicana Field's max capacity is 42,735. It's a weird, echoey monstrosity that has unfortunately been the home of one of the best products in baseball over the last decade. It is criminal how poor that stadium is and I hope for the fans sake that they can relocate into Tampa Bay proper instead of St. Petersburg, but it might be more likely that they find a whole new home city soon.

It's been exactly one week since the Twins last off day, an unplanned off day prompted by a wet field in Los Angeles, so now is a good time to assess what has gone right, and what has gone wrong for the team since then. The Good A 5-1 record since the last day off. Simply put the Twins have been mashing in that time with a convincing win over the Angels, a sweep against the White Sox, and a well-played 2 game split against one of the National League's best teams the Milwaukee Brewers. In those 6 games, the Twins have outscored their opponents 51-23, Max Kepler has collected AL Player of the Week honors, and have increased their divisional lead from 7 games to 10 games. Obviously when you have that record a lot has gone well, but starting pitching has to be the biggest plus in those six games. Starters allowed just 7 earned runs in 36 innings in this time. The Bad Although the team has been playing well, there has been some rough patches, particularly for the Twins bullpen. Austin Adams gave up 5 earned runs while only recording 2 outs in the final game in Los Angeles. Luckily the Twins were up by 14 prior to Adams' appearance and would still win by 9. However, it led to Adams being waived and claimed by the Detroit Tigers. Adams' roster spot was taken by Zack Littell who pitched two clean innings against Chicago in the series opener on the 24th. The other bad out of the Twins pen is Taylor Rodgers being taken deep. Rodgers came into both games against Milwaukee and proceeded to give up a home run in both appearances. In the first game he gave up what would be a game winning 2-run shot to Orlando Arcia, and gave up a harmless solo homer to Yasmani Grandal last night. Of course this is not so bad if the team continues to have three-plus run leads, but Rodgers will be called upon in high leverage situation the rest of the way, and will need to find a way to avoid leaving pitches over the heart of the plate. Rodgers has been one of Minnesota's best relievers and I anticipate him finding himself again. The Ugly The Twins have been bitten a bit by the injury bug as of late. Mitch Garver has been on the injured list with a high ankle sprain, but looks to possibly return this weekend. Nelso Cruz has taken his time returning from a sore wrist. Starter Michael Pineda was placed on the injured list yesterday with right knee tendinitis. Finally, center fielder Byron Buxton had a nasty collision with Target Field's center field wall last night and is currently listed as day-to-day with a bruised right knee. All of these things sound benign enough, but the Twins need to remain healthy to continue their torrid pace, and any sort of setback could drastically hurt the team especially a setback to Buxton or Garver who have been among the league's best at their respective positions.

Last night the Minnesota Twins got their first taste of a game that truly resembled playoff baseball. The Milwaukee Brewers are certainly a playoff caliber team, maybe even National League Champion caliber, and showed it on a wet Memorial Day. The Twins struck first against the Brew Crew, scoring four 2-out runs in the 2nd on a Luis Arraez single and Byron Buxton Home Run. The Brewers would immediately respond by scoring 3 runs of their own on a double and 2 sacrifice flies. The Brewers would complete their comeback with a 2-run homer from Orlando Arcia, assumedly it was payback for DFA-ing his brother Oswaldo. Josh Hader would shut the door in the next 2 innings despite a threat by the Twins in the 9th. This game felt very different from the ones the Twins have played recently where, even if they are having an off day, they score 7 runs and only allowed 1 or 2. This game truly felt like playoff baseball where both teams a fighting and clawing for every baserunner and every run. The Twins had a chance to add runs in the 3rd when they had Miguel Sano on third and 1 out. However, the aggressive Willians Astudillo popped out to the 3rd baseman Mike Moustakas. Pop outs can be a by-product of being so aggressive, but I think most fans would take the trade-off of Astudillo making solid contact most of the time over striking out more often. The inning would end on a sliding catch by Milwaukee Left Fielder Ben Gamel off the bat of Luis Arraez. This Minnesota Twins team hasn't left too many runners in scoring position this year, leaving just 3.4/game good for 11th best in the league. The Twins would put runners in scoring position two more times, in the 6th when a Buxton sacrifice bunt would move Arraez to 2nd with 1 out and in the 9th when a walk and single put Johnathon Schoop on 2nd and Ehire Adrianza on 1st, also with 1 out. In the 6th, the threat ended with back-to-back strikeouts, and the 9th inning would end with a short fly ball to center and a strikeout to end the game by Miguel Sano. This was the first Twins game this season that truly felt like a playoff game. Both teams pitched well, and that made scoring opportunities few and far between. The Brewers threw their best out of the bullpen, Josh Hader, to finish the game like you would in the playoff, and the Twins almost scored off of him to tie it up. This Twins team doesn't know much of playoff ball outside of their free agents, they've only have made the playoffs once in the last 8 years. It was good to get a feel for what the games are like and how you need to adjust to what the other team is doing. I felt they could have been a bit more patient and gauged pitches a bit better, and also could have resisted swinging for the fences so much, mostly Miguel Sano in his final at-bat. Of course it's easy for me to make those distinctions from my armchair where I'm not facing one of, if not the best, reliever in baseball. The final thing that can be gleaned from this game was that the Twins played well and had a chance despite not having Nelson Cruz and Mitch Garver. Garver has been red hot this season, and Nelson Cruz has enough experience to be invaluable in games like the Twins played last night.