Search the Community

The Minnesota Twins couldn't finish off the sweep, falling to Baltimore 3-1 at Target Field. It was a frustrating day for the bats and an eventful day in the outfield, particularly for Gilberto Celestino, who made an error but followed that up with a great running catch and a tremendous throw to nail a runner at home. Tonight's minor league action includes highlights of Tim Beckham, Anthony Prato and Will Holland. Here's the Twins System Recap for Sunday, 7/3. View full video

The Twins had 21 consecutive batters retired on a brutal night against a tough Oriole pitching staff, but on a couple of swings late in the ninth, they walked off Baltimore to win the series opener. Box Score Starting Pitcher: Joe Ryan, 7.0 IP, 2H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 7K (89 pitches, 64 strikes, 71.9%) Home Runs: Byron Buxton (21) Top 3 WPA: Byron Buxton(.594), Joe Ryan (.315), Luis Arraez (.137) Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) An outstanding pitcher’s duel took place at Target Field tonight. Starters Joe Ryan and Spenser Watkins brilliantly dominated their opposing lineups for most of this game, and both teams scored only one run each after seven innings. The Twins' offense created a clear threat in the first inning, despite coming out of it with only one run. Luis Arraez hit a leadoff double, and shortly after that Minnesota loaded the bases with one out, with a Carlos Correa single and a Max Kepler walk. However, the Twins couldn’t capitalize: Jose Miranda hit a two-out ground ball to left that scored Arráez, but Correa was caught at home by a beautiful assist from left fielder Ryan McKenna, ending the inning. Watkins would follow that shaky first inning by retiring 15 Twins in a row, making it five straight perfect innings, completely shutting down the Twins' offense. He departed the game after the sixth inning. Ryan was just as efficient as Watkins, having retired the first eight batters he saw. The only two mistakes he made came both with two outs in the third inning when he gave up a walk to Jorge Mateo, which was followed by an RBI double by Cedric Mullins to tie the game. But that didn’t get to Ryan and he was back on track right away. After the Mullins double, he held the Baltimore bats to a 1-for-8, including a three-strikeout 1-2-3 fifth. After five innings, both offenses had combined for only five total hits. Twins hitters didn’t only have to deal with a hot night from Watkins, but also some good Oriole defense. Several balls were decently hit but ended up right on the gloves of the well-positioned Baltimore shift. Also, McKenna robbed Arráez of an extra-base hit in the bottom of the sixth with a fantastic diving catch – it had a .036 xBA, according to Statcast. Ryan completed seven innings, cementing one of his most dominating starts of the year. After 89 pitches, it was up to the bullpen in the eighth to keep this a close game until the offense would spark a game-winning rally. Caleb Thielbar gave up a leadoff double to the man of the night, McKenna, who would later score after a groundout and a fielder’s choice, giving Baltimore its first lead of the night. Juan Minaya, who was called up for the team earlier today, did a fine job getting the final out in the eighth, then pitching a scoreless top of the ninth. The biggest issue was that, despite a good night from the bullpen, the offense still couldn’t break through. Even after Watkins departed the game, Twins bats still couldn’t get on base, with 21 consecutive Minnesota hitters sent down. With the bullpen keeping this an open game, the Twins got their final chance in the bottom of the ninth. Facing reliever Jorge Lopez, Arráez broke the streak and reached base with a leadoff single, becoming the first Twins baserunner since the first inning. Then, Buxton stepped up to the plate and, despite falling 0-2 on the count, crushed a hanging slider to deep left to win the game. What’s Next? The Twins can secure the series win tomorrow when Sonny Gray (2.17 ERA) duels with Jordan Lyles (4.94 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 pm CDT. Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet MON TUE WED THU FRI TOT Minaya 0 0 30 0 27 57 Moran 0 34 0 20 0 54 Duffey 0 12 0 28 0 40 Jax 0 21 16 0 0 37 Pagán 0 22 14 0 0 36 Duran 0 0 33 0 0 33 Thielbar 0 10 11 0 12 33 Cotton 24 0 8 0 0 32 View full article

Following their 9-4 win over the Pirates at Hammond Stadium on Wednesday afternoon, 11 players found out they will be heading to minor-league camp. Soon several of them will be on a plane to Minnesota to start their Triple-A season with the Saints. Trevor Larnach and Jose Miranda were both optioned to Triple-A St. Paul today. Nine players were reassigned to minor-league camp. They are pitchers Chi Chi Gonzalez, Ian Hamilton, Trevor Megill, and Juan Minaya, catchers David Banuelos and Caleb Hamilton, infielders Jermaine Palacios and Curtis Terry, and outfielder Derek Fisher. The moves put the Twins' spring training roster at 38 players which means over the next five to six days, they will need to drop ten more players from the roster to get to the 28-man Opening Day roster. Of course, there could be other transactions and Injury List moves in between. There are currently 20 pitchers in camp (3 non-roster), three catchers (0 non-roster), eight infielders (2 non-roster), and seven outfielders (2 non-roster). Jose Miranda was added to the 40-man roster following his incredible 2021 season between Wichita and St. Paul in which he hit .344 with 32 doubles and 30 homers. He hit .231 (.544) during his spring training appearances and made some nice plays at third base. Trevor Larnach needs to play. Last year, after missing the 2020 season due to the pandemic, he was called up to the Twins during the season's first week. He sure showed glimpses of the immense talent he has, but he went through a prolonged slump that included a ton of strikeouts. For both Miranda (23) and Larnach (25), they need at-bats. They need repetition. They will both have long big-league careers, but sitting on the bench for the first month instead of playing every day for the Saints just doesn't make sense. Both will be impact players in 2022 and beyond. No real surprises among the non-roster position players that were reassigned on Wednesday. Both catchers are likely to spend the majority of the season in St. Paul. The question is, will they be joined by Jose Godoy? Jermaine Palacios impressed with his glove, and after a strong 2021 season in Wichita, he should start the 2022 season as the Saints' primary shortstop. Curtis Terry can hit, and at just 25, he will get a lot of at-bats as the Saints first baseman and be prepared if needed. Again, not a lot of surprise with the non-roster pitchers reassigned either. That said, Juan Minaya was so good with the Twins over the final two months of the season, it is a little surprising he was only able to get a minor-league deal this spring. Hamilton and Megill are young and throw hard. My sense is that both will get time with the Twins during the season. And Chi Chi Gonzalez only joined the Twins the last 7-10 days as a free agent. He will likely make starts and/or work long relief out of the Saints bullpen. What do you think? The roster is coming together? Any surprises for you? What do you think the final ten moves will be? Leave your COMMENTS below. View full article

Continuing the theme of keying in on current assets and their focus for the season ahead, the Twins next area to come under fire for 2022 resolutions is the bullpen. The group wasn’t as expected last season, as was the case for most of the team as a whole, but where do we go from here? After ranking 24th as a whole when it came to pitching in 2021, the Minnesota Twins were 20th in terms of fWAR for just relievers. While slightly better than the starting staff being 25th, relief efforts took a significant step backward last year. In 2020 Wes Johnson coached the 2nd-best bullpen in baseball, and his group was 3rd overall in 2019. Getting back to that level is where things need to be focused for 2022. How can we get there? New Years Resolutions: Starting Pitching Taylor Rogers He’s here because he’s the best thing Minnesota’s bullpen has going. They could’ve decided to non-tender him if there was fear Rogers’ injury situation was grave, but that doesn’t appear to be reality. He was named an All-Star for the first time and got to show up for the game in his home state. In 2020 Rogers didn’t benefit from a season that allowed his numbers to normalize. In 2021, his 2.13 FIP was the best number of his career, and the strikeout rate was unmatched. If there’s something that Rogers needs to do in 2022, it’s be healthy and repeat as a dominant force. Lefties this good don’t grow on trees, and the Twins have one. Cody Stashak Once looking like a substantial bullpen piece, Stashak fell off the tracks significantly last year. He posted a 25/1 K/BB in his first 25 big-league innings and followed that up with a 17/3 K/BB in 15 innings during 2020. In 2021 Stashak had a 26/10 K/BB, and his ERA ballooned to 6.89. The homers and hits didn’t get out of whack, and his FIP was still solid at 3.62. In short, the pitcher he once was is still there, and we’re still dealing with a small sample size as a whole. Minnesota needs Stashak to again be a high command, big strikeout arm that can pitch in the middle innings. Tyler Duffey It wasn’t that Duffey was awful in 2021, but the pitcher Duffey became in 2019, and 2020 looked a whole lot different. Although Duffey did allow the lowest home run rate of his career, he also walked four batters per nine, easily a career-high, and his strikeouts dropped below double-digits per nine. Duffey is now 31, and while his velocity isn’t what it was in 2019, it did stay consistent from a year ago. Adding back to that number or staying consistent is a must. Generating chase swings again on his curveball has to happen, and if it’s not coming by pairing fastball velocity, then sequencing and tunneling are avenues he can further explore. Jorge Alcala We’ve been waiting for Alcala to break out over a whole year for a while. It looked like it would happen in 2021 after a strong showing in 2020. Pitching in nearly 60 innings last year, Alcala sat with a 5.54 ERA through his first 42 appearances. From there, he made 18 more appearances and tallied a 0.87 ERA and a 26/3 K/BB. That stretch was dominant and where Minnesota needs him to come out starting the season. At 26, Alcala isn’t exactly young anymore, but he certainly could be coming into his own. Juan Minaya This is maybe less about Minaya than the concept of his addition. The Twins did a good job finding the former White Sox arm as they also did with Danny Coulombe. Minaya contributed 40 innings with a 2.48 ERA. He’s always walked too many guys, but the strikeouts were there. Jharel Cotton was claimed by Minnesota, while Ralph Garza Jr. was a late-season addition. It’d be great for the Twins to hit on a handful of these types, especially if they aren’t going to add a higher tier reliever or two. At this point, these aren’t non-roster guys, and being correct on a few wouldn’t hurt. We’re now through the pitching side of things and will turn it over to the bats for the final installment. MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email View full article

August is complete, and we are already handing out awards. Today, we are going to share the Twins Daily choice for Pitcher of the Month. There were several relievers and one starter who were deserving of consideration. Taylor Rogers was the choice for Twins Daily Pitcher of the Month in both May and June, and Kenta Maeda ‘received’ the award in August. Who will take home the prestigious award in their minds (because we haven’t come up with any sort of physical trophy or plaque or piece of paper). Now, before we get too far into this, I will debunk a rumor that was going around the Twitter-sphere on Wednesday afternoon. Sure, he had a 0.00 ERA and just a 1.00 WHIP, and opponents didn’t get a single hit off of him all month, but here are some candidates that finished ahead of La Tortuga in voting. Before even getting to the Honorable Mentions and the Winner, there were several strong pitching performances by the Twins in August, particularly out of the bullpen. Unfortunately, the starting pitching was not as good. First, Andrew Albers posted a 0.96 ERA and a 0.75 WHIP in his two appearances and 9 1/3 innings. Jorge Alcala had a 1.50 ERA and a 0.83 WHIP in August, but he pitched in just five games and spent half of the month on the Injured List. Tyler Duffey had a 2.25 ERA and 12 strikeouts but had just eight innings and a 1.75 WHIP. Caleb Thielbar became one of the most reliable arms out of the team’s bullpen. He had 14 strikeouts in 12 2/3 innings. His WHIP was just 0.95. Without further ado, here are three honorable mentions, followed by the big winner! Honorable Mention #3: RHP Ralph Garza, Jr. The Twins claimed the 27-year-old right-hander after the Astros DFA’d him on August 1st. He was called up to the Twins on August 14th and has been impressive since. In eight games and 10 1/3 innings, he posted a 1.74 ERA and a 0.77 WHIP. He gave up just two earned runs on six hits. He walked two and struck out nine batters. Opponents hit just .167 against him. The Twins have claimed several players off waivers over the past couple of months and signed a few others to minor league deals. Several have already been DFAd and weren’t claimed by another team, hence, they remain in St. Paul (Beau Burrows, Edgar Garcia, Nick Vincent). However, Garza, with his multiple side-winding arm angles and pitch movement, has made a good first impression. Honorable Mention #2: RHP Alexander Colome Colome hasn’t been good in 2021. It would be tough to argue that he has been. However, he was solid in August. Following the trade of Hansel Robles at the July 30th trade deadline and the season-ending injury to Taylor Rogers, Colome has returned to the closer’s role and generally been good. Of his 13 appearances in August, ten of them provided him with a save opportunity. He converted eight of them. And he had a solid month in Alexander Colome fashion. In his 12 2/3 innings, he had a 1.22 WHIP. He gave up some hits, and he issued five walks to go with just five strikeouts. Honorable Mention #1: Bailey Ober Ober made his big-league debut in May. He had some ups and downs along the way, but overall, the Twins have to be thrilled with his performance. In his five August starts, he went 1-1 with a 2.30 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP. In 27 1/3 innings, he gave up 27 hits, walked just three and struck out 26 batters. As important, Ober has been very consistent and reliable over the past month. He pitched at least five innings in all five starts. His ERA dropped from 4.94 to 3.98 over the course of the month. He hasn’t given up more than three earned runs since July 10. The Twins are now 10-6 in games started by Ober in 2021. The only rookie starters whose teams have a better winning percentage in their games started are Alek Manoak of the Blue Jays and Shane McClanahan of the Rays. Twins Starting Pitcher of the Month: Juan Minaya Minaya has been with the Twins since the beginning of the 2020 season. Before that, he had spent much of the previous four seasons in the White Sox bullpen. He had recorded 142 strikeouts over 128 1/3 innings with Chicago. He signed a minor league signed a minor league deal with the Twins and went to spring training 2020. He then participated at the Twins alternate site in St. Paul. In fact, he was called up to the Twins once last year, but a day or two later, he was DFAd without pitching in a game. He went unclaimed and stayed in the organization. He signed back with the Twins in 2021 and began the season in St. Paul. He was called up to the Twins at the end of May and pitched in four games before being DFAd on June 5th to make room for Griffin Jax. He was again unclaimed and returned to St. Paul. However, in mid-July, he was called up one more time, and after sporadic appearances, he got thrown into more proverbial fires following the trade deadline, and he has been very good. In August, Minaya worked in ten games. He went 1-0 with a 1.29 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP. Opponents hit just .180 off of him. He walked eight, but struck out 16 batters in his 14 innings. Still just 30-years-old, Minaya has a chance to keep himself on the 40-man roster throughout the offseason and in the plans for the team’s 2022 bullpen. August was a good month for that endeavor. Congratulations to Juan Minaya on a great month, as well as the other Honorable Mentions. Do you agree that Minaya is the choice? Should Bailey Ober have been the recipient? MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email View full article

Rain threatened this game starting hours before hand. The first three innings flew by. The Twins took a lead. Milwaukee evened it up... But the Twins were able to take a lead and the bullpen, led by Juan Minaya held the lead for another Twins series win over a division leader. Box Score SP: Charlie Barnes: 4.0 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K (64 pitches, 47 strikes (73.4%)) Home Runs: None Top 3 WPA: Miguel Sano (.184), Juan Minaya (.177), Josh Donaldson (.119) Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) As the game proceeded, it was as if the goal was to get through five innings to make the game complete. Through the game’s first four innings, Charlie Barnes took advantage of aggressive Brewers hitters. Before the rains came, Barnes was sharp with his fastball, changeup and slider, coaxing a lot of weak content. Through four innings, he had allowed only one hit. In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Twins scored four runs. With the bases loaded, Miguel Sano grounded a 3-0 pitch past shortstop and turned it into a double. (some might say very similar to Byron Buxton) Adrian Houser's control was certainly affected by the wet conditions. He hit two batters and had a couple of walks. Unfortunately, with a 4-0 lead and the rains continuing to come down, harder than previously, Barnes took the mound needing three outs to qualify for his first MLB Win. He issued his first walk to the leadoff batter. It was followed with three soft singles. Barnes left the game with the Twins holding on to a 4-2 lead. Caleb Thielbar came on and got a pop out for the first out. Willy Adames singled to load the bases for Christian Yelich. Thielbar got the former MVP to fly out to medium-deep right field. Max Kepler caught and threw toward home. Miguel Sano cut it off and threw wildly to third base allowing a second run to score on the error. Thielbar got the team out of the inning with a strikeout. Thielbar recorded a 1-2-3 sixth inning, striking out two batters. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Miguel Sano singled, Brent Rooker was hit by a pitch, and Ryan Jeffers singled to load the bases. Andrelton Simmons grounded into a double play, but the Twins did re-take the lead at 5-4. Veteran Juan Minaya came on for the seventh inning. He needed just six pitches to get three outs that inning. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Josh Donaldson drove in Jorge Polanco with a double to give the Twins a two-run lead. Despite a one-out single to Yelich, Minaya needed just 11 pitches to complete a scoreless eighth inning. Alexander Colome came in for the ninth inning, looking to record the save after a couple of bad outings earlier in the week. He got one out, but then things got interesting by walking a batter and serving up a single to Omar Narvaez. However, before Twins fans were even starting to get too nervous, Jace Peterson grounded out to Simmons who turned the double play to end the game. The Twins will play the Brewers on Sunday afternoon, having already won the series, and they lead the season series 4-1. This month, the Twins are 13-11 and have series wins over the Astros, the White Sox, Cleveland, the Rays and the Brewers. Bullpen Notes Caleb Thielbar gets the win to improve to 6-0. Juan Minaya threw two scoreless innings. He hasn't allowed a run in nine of his past ten appearances. In that time frame, his ERA is just 1.29. In 14 innings, he has 17 strikeouts and the opponents are hitting just .128. The 30-year-old pitched in 125 games for the White Sox between 2016 and 2019. He spent 2020 at the Twins alternate site. He was actually called up for a couple of games, but before he got into a game, he was DFAd. He re-signed with the Twins on a minor league deal, and since his promotion, he has now pitched to a 3.20 ERA over 17 games and 25 1/3 innings. Postgame Interview Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet TUE WED THU FRI SAT TOT Albers 0 0 0 88 0 88 Garza Jr. 0 24 4 0 0 28 Coulombe 0 19 0 20 0 39 Thielbar 14 22 0 0 23 59 Duffey 19 9 0 6 0 34 Colomé 0 20 0 13 13 46 Minaya 30 0 0 0 17 47 Gibaut 23 0 0 0 0 23 Alcalá 0 0 0 12 0 12 Barnes 0 0 0 0 64 64 View full article

Jorge Polanco and the Minnesota Twins pitchers put on a show today, as the Twins earned a hard fought 1-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox, and claimed the series victory in the process. Box Score Starting Pitcher: Ober 5.1 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K Homeruns: Polanco (21) Top 3 WPA: Ober (0.284), Minaya (0.188), Polanco (0.154) Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) Bailey Ober’s Excellent Start After a shaky first month or so of his MLB career, Bailey Ober has settled in nicely since the start of July, as he has posted a respectable 4.23 ERA with solid strikeout and walk numbers in his last six starts coming into today. Those number’s got even better after Ober put up what may have been his best start of the season. Ober had a strong first inning, as he got Cesar Hernandez to strikeout to leadoff the ball game. Then, after an Andrew Vaughn strikeout, he struck out Jose Abreu to end the first. In the second, Eloy Jimenez got a leadoff single to begin the inning, before Brian Goodwin flew out to center field for the first out of the inning. Ober then made a great play on a weak comebacker off the bat of Adam Engel that set up the 1-4-3 double play to end the inning. After two smooth innings to start the game, Bailey Ober found himself in a big spot facing Andrew Vaughn with runners on the corners and two outs. Ober was up for the challenge, however, and got Vaughn to swing and miss on three straight 94 MPH fastballs to get out of the jam. After another strong inning in the fourth, where he gave up just a lone single, Ober found himself in another dicey spot in the fifth. After a leadoff single, followed by one out walk, the White Sox were threatening with the top of their order due up. Pitching coach Wes Johnson came out to settle down his young right-hander. Like many times before it, whatever Johnson said must have worked, as Ober came back with two more strikeouts to get out of the jam once again. Jorge Polanco Goes Deep Again One of the few bright spots for Twins fans this season has been the play of Jorge Polanco, who has returned to his early 2019 form over the past three plus months of this season. Entering play today, Polanco had an OPS of .885 since the start of May. Polanco has taken that to a whole new level so far in August, as he already had five home runs in just nine games entering play today. That hot streak continued again today, as Polanco went deep to the opposite field in the bottom of the sixth to give the Twins the 1-0 lead. He almost followed that up with another home run in the bottom of the eighth, that would have given the Twins a potentially huge insurance run. However, the ball hit right off of the top of the wall in right, and Polanco had to settle for a two out triple. Luis Arraez made a strong bid to drive him in, but his line drive held up just enough to be caught by White Sox center fielder Adam Engel. Twins Bats Were Cold Outside of the Jorge Polanco home run and triple, it was a rough day for Twins hitters at the plate. The other eight hitters in the Twins lineup went just 2-for-23 with 12 strikeouts and four walks. Luis Arraez got one of those two hits, drilled a leadoff double to the left-center field gap to leadoff the second. However, the Twins failed to cash in on the early opportunity. The other hit came from Trevor Larnach who got a two-out threat started with a single in the fifth. Andrelton Simmons followed that with a walk, before a wild pickoff attempt from White Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet allowed both Larnach and Simmons to advance. Unfortunately, that opportunity would not be taken advantage of as Max Kepler struck out to end the inning. The Bullpen Shuts the Door After Bailey Ober’s strong start, it was the bullpen’s job to seal the deal for the Twins win and that is exactly what they did today. Caleb Thielbar, Juan Minaya and Alex Colome all deserve some credit, as they each pitched exceptionally well. Collectively, they combined to go 3 and ⅔ innings, allowing zero runs on zero hits while striking out four and walking two. Bullpen Usage Chart What's Next? After back-to-back series wins against American League division leaders, the Twins will have an off day on Thursday before welcoming another American League division leader in the Tampa Bay Rays to town on Friday. Michael Pineda is scheduled to get the start for the Twins, while the Rays starter is still TBD. View full article

It was a wild one, but the Twins came back from an early 3-0 deficit to beat the Astros in the second game of the series, earning at least a split. Minnesota’s bullpen had an outstanding game to support Bailey Ober’s solid start. Box Score Ober: 5.0 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K (68.7% strikes) Home Runs: Garver (13) Top 3 WPA: Minaya .718, Colomé .305, Kepler .110 Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) The bats started this game very eager to create an early lead as they did on Thursday night. That became evident by Max Kepler jumping on the game’s very first pitch and smacking a 106 MPH line drive to center. In fact, that was the first of four hard-hit balls collected by the Twins offense in the first four innings and the first out of five that had at least .500 xBA, per Statcast. Unfortunately, it was also the only one to become an actual hit. Despite allowing a great deal of hard contact, Astro’s starter Zack Greinke managed to retire the eight batters he faced following that Kepler leadoff single. Meanwhile, Bailey Ober had a hard time against the long ball, which allowed Houston to create a three-run lead. After a scoreless first inning and retiring the first two batters faced in the second, Ober gave up back-to-back two-out hits. The second one was a two-run home run for Taylor Jones. Ober got back on track and tossed a scoreless third, but then Chas McCormick took him deep with a solo shot in the fourth, making it 3-0 Houston. Twins rally back; bullpen helps to take the game into extras Minnesota finally managed to ambush Greinke in the fifth inning. After being limited to only the one hit through four, the Twins produced four hits in the same inning. Mitch Garver hit a leadoff homer to left to put Minnesota on the board. Miguel Sanó and Rob Refsnyder followed him with back-to-back singles, making it three consecutive to open the inning. Then Kepler grounded into a force out to score Sanó from third, pulling the Twins within a run. Ober finished his outing with a strong display. After getting two outs on nine pitches, he battled Kyle Tucker on a tough, seven-pitch at-bat. Ober prevailed and struck out Tucker, his first punchout since the second inning. Over his last six starts, dating back from the start of July, Ober has posted a 4.22 ERA while striking out 9.7 batters and walking just 2.9 per nine. Ober seems to be steadily evolving into a solid bottom of the rotation presence. He finished July with a 3.97 ERA over five starts and has now delivered at least five innings of work in four of his last six starts. Jorge Polanco opened up the sixth inning with a double, showing that the Twins’ comeback wasn’t done. A couple of at-bats later, Luis Arraez hit a hard ground ball to left, his first hit of the night, pushing Polanco across and tying the game. That run also earned Ober a no-decision. John Gant celebrated his birthday with a strong outing. He struck out the first two batters he faced before inducing a groundout to complete a 1-2-3 sixth on 17 pitches. However, Tyler Duffey’s outing after him wasn’t nearly as uneventful. He gave up back-to-back one-out hits, including a single to José Altuve that snapped an 0-for-11 stretch. Duffey took advantage of a fantastic defensive play from Arraez that ended the inning. Unfortunately, it also forced Arraez to leave the game a few moments later, as it seems like he twisted his knee on the play. The offense struggled against Houston’s bullpen. After the game-tying single from Arraez in the sixth, the Astros relievers retired 12 Minnesota batters in a row. That put a lot of pressure on the Twins bullpen, but they managed to navigate through it. Jorge Alcala pitched a 1-2-3 eighth on 14 pitches, striking out a pair. That was his fourth consecutive outing without allowing an earned run, for a total of 5 ⅓ innings. Has he finally turned the corner? Similarly, only with fewer innings, Alexander Colomé pitched a fourth consecutive scoreless outing, keeping the game tied after nine, taking the game to extra innings. Both teams exchange punches in extras With Refsnyder starting the 10th inning on second, the Twins managed to score quickly. Andrelton Simmons swung on the second pitch he saw from reliever Phil Maton and sent Refsnyder to third. Then Kepler got ahead in the count and hit a sacrifice fly to center, moving up both runners. Minnesota took the lead for the first time in the game, 4-3. That didn’t last long, though. Houston tied it up in the bottom half of the inning. Lefty Danny Coulombe came in relief of Colomé. Michael Brantley grounded out to move up Altuve, the automatic runner, to third. Then Yordan Álvarez singled to left to score Altuve. Coulombe gave up a two-out walk to Tucker, putting two runners on for Houston. Rocco Baldelli brought in Juan Minaya, who struck out Aledmys Diaz on three pitches to end the inning. Having a quiet night up until that point, Josh Donaldson stepped in and came through with a big hit to open the 11th inning, and that was enough to score Polanco from second and retake the lead for the Twins who now took a 5-4 lead. Minaya came back to close the game, and he did it brilliantly, retiring the first two batters on seven pitches. Then, some thrilling plays took place. Minaya induced poor contact from Jason Castro. But Garver, playing at first base, couldn’t field the ground ball cleanly, allowing his former teammate to reach and moving Diaz to third. In the final play of the game, Altuve tried to bunt to third, but Sanó was able to pick up the ball and retire Altuve at first with an 84 MPH “bazooka” throw, securing the win. Postgame Interview Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet MON TUE WED THU FRI TOT Minaya 0 0 44 0 17 61 Colomé 0 20 0 7 17 44 Coulombe 0 13 0 17 14 44 Duffey 0 0 0 21 20 41 Gant 0 22 0 0 17 39 Thielbar 0 0 22 8 0 30 Alcala 0 0 0 14 14 28 Burrows 0 0 13 0 0 13 View full article

After a ninth inning comeback last night, the Minnesota Twins tried to make another this afternoon, but came up short as the Cincinnati Reds held on to split the two-game series. Box Score Barnes: 4.0 IP, 7 H, 5R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 2 K Home Runs: Polanco (18) Bottom 3 WPA: Barnes (-0.299), Sano (-0.259), Rooker (-0.215) Win Probability Chart (via Fangraphs) Jorge Polanco Gets the Twins on the Board Early Just a matter of hours after hitting the game winning home run in the top of the ninth in Tuesday night’s ballgame, Jorge Polanco went deep again in the first inning of today’s game, giving the Twins the early 1-0 lead. Polanco had another good performance at the plate again today, as he would go 2-for-4 with a walk. Charlie Barnes Gets the Nod for Second Career Start 25-year-old Charlie Barns began the game on the mound this afternoon for the Twins. In his only previous start, the 2017 4th round pick out of Clemson did well, as he only allowed one run, on a solo shot, over four innings of work to the Detroit Tigers back on July 17th. Things went well for Burns to begin the ballgame. He gave up a leadoff single to Jonathan India, who has lived up to the hype so far as the former 5th overall pick in the 2018 MLB Draft was recently named the NL Rookie of the Month for July. That would be no trouble for Burns, however, as he got Jesse Winker to flyout to left before Kyle Farmer grounded into a double play to end the inning. In the second, Burns gave up a two out single to Eugenio Suarez, but other than that looked sharp. The third inning is where things got away from Burns. Reds center fielder Shogo Akiyama singled to begin the inning, before advancing to second on a sacrifice bunt from Reds pitcher Luis Castillo. Burns then got Jonathan India to strikeout and appeared to be on the cusp of getting out of the inning with no damage done. That would not be the case, however, as the next four Reds batters went walk, single, double, single and before you knew it they had a 4-1 lead. The Reds would tack on another run against Charlie Burns in the fourth. After Aristides Aquino flew out to begin the inning, Burns issued a one out walk to Shogo Akiyama. The Reds then executed National League style baseball to perfection, as they had Luis Castillo sacrifice him over to second and Jonathan India came through with a clutch two out single to give the Red the 5-1 lead. Juan Minaya Strikes Out Five in Two Innings of Relief Work A week removed from his outing against Detroit in the emphamis 17-14 Twins loss, where Juan Minaya was cruising until everything fell apart on him in the ninth, Rocco Baldelli learned his lesson and only left Minaya in for two innings of work. The outing did not get off to a great start for Juan Minaya, as he walked both Kyle Farmer and Joey Votto to leadoff the fifth. However, after a mound visit from pitching coach Wes Johnson, Minaya found his rhythm as he struck out each of the next three batters to get out of the inning. Minaya would follow that up with another scoreless inning in the sixth, where he gave up a two out double to Jonathan India, but struck out two more hitters, including Jesse Winker to get out of the inning unscathed. Reds Add Crucial Insurance Run in the 7th After an excellent outing from Juan Minaya, Rocco Baldelli turned to Beau Burrows in the seventh, with the Twins still trailing 5-1 at the time. Burrows looked decent in the inning, as he retired three of the four batters he faced. Unfortunately for the Twins, the loan batter he failed to get out was Tyler Stephenson, who took Burrows deep to center field giving the Reds a 6-1 lead. While it may not have seemed like it at the time, that run would be monumental just an inning later. Twins Comeback Effort Falls Short With the Twins trailing 6-1 entering the eighth inning, it seemed as though the game was getting out of reach of the Twins if they didn’t get something going with the bats in a hurry, and that is exactly what they did. Jorge Polanco and Luis Arraez leadoff the inning with a couple of walks, before Miguel Sano laced an opposite field double into right, bringing Polanco around to score and advancing Arraez to third. The Reds then went to the bullpen and brought in Luis Cessa to face Trevor Larnach, who was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts at that point in the game. That would change quickly, though, as Larnach delivered with a ground ball double that was just fair down the first baseline, bringing around both Arraez and Sano to score. With Nick Gordon up with Trevor Larnach on second, and the Twins now down by just two with still nobody out, they seemed primed to finish off the big comeback right here. Gordon would wind up advancing Larnach to third on a groundout, before Ryan Jeffers brought him in with a one out single. The Reds would go to the bullpen once again, this time bringing in Michael Lorenzen. With the pitcher’s spot in the order due up, Josh Donaldson made an appearance as a pinch hitter, but he would fail to help the cause as he struck out for the second out of the inning. It was then Max Kepler’s turn, who would come up with a big double of his own. Despite being two outs in the inning, Ryan Jeffers was unable to score for first and was held up at third. While Jeffers being not the most fleet of foot base runners did not help, credit the Reds defense for getting the ball back in so quickly and forcing Tony Diaz to put the stop sign up for Jeffers as he rounded third. This put the pressure on an already 0-for-4 Brent Rooker to come up with a big two out hit. However, things did not turn out the Twins' way, as Rooker struck out to end the scoring threat. The Twins would have another chance in the top of the ninth with Polanco, Arraez and Sano due up. Polanco put up a good battle, but eventually struck out on a 3-2 pitch. Luis Arraez then did his job as he got on base with a one out single. Nothing came of that however, as Miguel Sano would immediately ground into a double play to end the ballgame. Bullpen Usage Chart SAT SUN MON TUE WED TOT Coulombe 0 21 0 13 0 34 Burrows 0 45 0 0 13 58 Gant 0 16 0 22 0 38 Colomé 16 0 0 20 0 36 Duffey 0 0 0 0 0 0 Alcala 21 0 0 0 0 21 Minaya 18 0 0 0 44 62 Thielbar 14 0 0 0 22 36 Postgame Interviews What's Next The Twins will travel to Houston to face the Astros in a four-game series beginning Thursday night at 7:10 p.m. CDT. Griffen Jax (6.41 ERA) is scheduled to be on the mound against Astros starter Framber Valdez (3.01 ERA). View full article