The Minnesota Twins were looking for some redemption from a 10-1 loss in game 1 that made it a 3-game losing streak and now 2-3 after the All-Star break. Minnesota Twins starter RHP Joe Ryan allowed 5 HRs and couldn’t get out of the 5th inning. The bullpen finished the last 3.1 innings of the game and RHP Jharel Cotton made it onto Pitcher List’s 8 Nastiest Pitches list with his nasty changeup so it wasn’t all bad but…
the players likely don’t care about that as their minds are on how to snap their 3-game losing streak as they’re set to face Padres RHP Joe Musgrove with their own RHP Sonny Gray on the mound.
Twinsactions
Unfortunately, the Minnesota Twins had to place OF Max Kepler (right 5th toe fracture), & 1B/DH Miguel Sanó (left knee inflammation) on the 10-Day Injured List (IL) today. They selected the contract of INF Tim Beckham and OF Mark Contreras was recalled from Triple-A St. Paul. They said Miguel Sanó may have aggravated his injury on a slide into 2nd base in his last rehab game with the St. Paul Saints.*
*Has Miguel Sanó played his last game in a Twins Jersey?
RHP Bailey Ober (right groin strain) was also moved to the 60-Day IL to make room for Beckham on the 40-Man roster.
- He’s been on the 15-Day IL since June 6th (but retroactive to June 2nd) so he’s a day or two away from hitting 60 days on the IL anyway and he only just “progressed once again to playing catch and is expected to throw off a mound at the end of July.”
Also, Twins OF Gilberto Celestino was optioned to Triple-A St. Paul on July 25th when the Twins activated Miguel Sanó but he was recalled yesterday when the Twins put 3B Gio Urshela on the paternity list because he was expecting the arrival of a baby girl.
Here’s how both teams lined up:
Minnesota Twins Lineup:
San Diego Padres Lineup:
Game Recap
1B Luis Arraez led off the game by lining out to left field on the game’s first pitch from San Diego Padres starter Joe Musgrove. Both SS Carlos Correa & DH Byron Buxton struck out swinging on curveballs to end the top of the 1st. Twins RHP Sonny Gray allowed a 2-out walk in a scoreless bottom of the 1st and he struck out 3B Manny Machado but it took him 20 pitches (10 strikes.)
The Twins went down 1-2-3 on a couple flyouts and a groundout in the 2nd. The Padres then led off the bottom of the inning with a line drive single off the bat of RF Nomar Mazara but the Twins turned a fantastic 6-4-3 double play on a sharp hard-hit ground ball to short.
It’s a good thing, too, because CF Trent Grisham followed it with a double to center field but Sonny Gray got SS Ha-Seong Kim to ground out to 3rd to end the inning and keep the game scoreless. Luis Arraez had to make a great play to pick the throw at 1st, too.
Still 0-0
Twins RF Gilberto Celestino got the Twins first hit with a 2-out flare to right field but Arraez grounded out to end the top of the 3rd.
Manny Machado then put the Padres in front with his 18th HR of the season in the bottom of the 3rd.
1-0 Padres
Byron Buxton then used his BuxTon of Power as he learned from his 1st at-bat and expected the 2-strike high fastball* and put it in the seats to tie the game with his 26th HR of the season. 2B Jorge Polanco followed that with a walk but RF Alex Kirilloff grounded into a 3-5-1 double play to end the inning.
*In his 1st at-bat, Padres RHP Joe Musgrove threw him a 2-strike high fastball that Buxton took but it was only to set up the curve for the strikeout.
1-1 Tie
San Diego led off the bottom of the 4th with a single from Luke Voit but Sonny Gray struck out both Nomar Mazara & Austin Nola looking then got Trent Grisham to ground out to 1st.
The top of the 5th began with 3B Jose Miranda being hit-by-a-pitch. LF Nick Gordon then beat the shift with a weak liner to the left side of the infield. C Gary Sánchez struck out swinging and that brought up Celestino for the 2nd time and he repeated his 1st at-bat with another flared hit to right field and Jose Miranda read it beautifully to score from 2nd and put the Twins up 1. Arraez & Correa both struck out swinging to leave Nick Gordon stranded at 2nd base. Will that come back to bite the Twins in this close game?
2-1 Twins
San Diego led off the bottom of the 5th with a line drive single to LF by Ha-Seong Kim but 2B C.J. Abrams lined out to CF. Kim stole 2nd but Gray struck out Profar looking. A Mound Visit preceded the next at-bat (Machado HR’d in his last AB) then Machado lined out to CF to end the 5th.
Still 2-1 Twins
Buxton led off the top of 6 with a walk but Polanco K’d swinging on another wicked yacker then Kirilloff GIDP’d (4-6-3) for the 2nd time to end the inning.
Twins RHP Sonny Gray’s Final Line:
5IP 5H 1R/ER 1BB 5K 1HR – in line for the Win
79 pitches (52 strikes)
Was he pulled too soon?*
*Check out our Game Notes section at the bottom of the article for more on this topic.
Former Padre RHP Emilio Pagán came in to pitch the 6th for the Twins and he got a weak comebacker that he got to but threw low to 1st for a 2-base throwing error that allowed Hosmer to get on and advance to 2nd. Voit K’d swinging (splitter). Mazara K’d swinging (fastball). Austin Nola BB’d but Grisham flew out to CF.
And…Still 2-1 Twins
Padres RHP Joe Musgrove’s Final Line:
6IP 4H 2R/ER 2BB 8K 1HR – in line for the Loss
“Who made these god-awful jerseys, Huh? WHO WAS IT?”
RHP Nabil Crismatt replaced Joe Musgrove and set the Twins down 1-2-3 with 2 strikeouts.
The Twins made a defensive adjustment replacing RF Alex Kirilloff with just-recalled OF Mark Contreras. RHP Trevor Megill also replaced Emilio Pagán to pitch the 7th and he got Kim to ground out to 3rd on a slow chopper that Jose Miranda had to charge to make a great play on. The very next pitch is the same play to short but San Diego 2B C.J. Abrams is one of the fastest runners in the league so Carlos Correa put everything on his throw and it sailed a little up the first baseline and off Luis Arraez’s glove to allow Abrams to advance to 2nd.
Jurickson Profar came to the plate with the Padres yet to have a hit with a runner on base (0-for-11, 0-for-6 with Runners In Scoring Position (RISP)) and he hit an 0-2 curveball that had a 103-mph exit velocity off the bat up the middle to the right of 2nd base but it was headed right for the 2nd base umpire Jerry Layne. He tried to get out of the way but it hit him in the left leg/knee so it was a dead ball and Abrams, who would’ve easily made it to 3rd had to go back due to the rule on a dead ball. Abrams would’ve easily scored had it not hit the umpire. Profar was visibly upset with Jerry Layne after the play as he was doing the palms up gesture wondering why he didn’t get out of the way of a ball that was coming at him that fast.
The Twins made a pitching change to RHP Griffin Jax and he struck out Manny Machado and got Eric Hosmer to pop up to short to get the Twins out of trouble and Jurickson Profar was doing a small clap as he waited on the field for his glove & hat, probably at the umpiring crew or one specific umpire. As they came back from the commercial, Profar & Jerry Layne were talking and it appeared they had smoothed things over.
To the top of the 8th…
San Diego LHP Adrian Morejon replaced Nabil Crismatt to pitch the 8th and he struck out Celestino. Luis Arraez singled to right field. Carlos Correa was at the plate and A.J. Pierzynski said he was a pitch away from the golden sombrero of 4 strikeouts in a game and, on the very next pitch, Carlos Correa launched his 13th HR of the season to center field to triple the lead to 4-1! BOOM! 4 bases is much better than 4 strikeouts!
Byron Buxton then singled to left field on a sharp line drive. After ball 1 to Jorge Polanco, Padres C Austin Nola went out to talk to his pitcher. He then threw ball 2 and as he threw ball 3, Byron Buxton stole 2nd off the young pitcher. Polanco walked. Kyle Garlick was announced as a pinch-hitter for Mark Contreras so San Diego made a pitching change to RHP Dinelson Lamet. Garlick then hit into what should’ve been an inning-ending double play but young 2B C.J. Abrams may have rushed his throw from 2nd as it went in the dirt and 1B Eric Hosmer couldn’t scoop it so it got past him allowing Byron Buxton to score and Garlick to advance to 2nd.
Twins 3B Jose Miranda came to the plate and he took the first 2 pitches that were just barely strikes. He didn’t like the first call on the low curveball. He then fouled off a slider in the zone, took a fastball way low & outside for ball 1 and a slider way inside that he had to get out of the way of for ball 2 to make the count even. He fouled off a slider way outside and another one that was high then he got a fastball middle away and he laced it to right field for an RBI-single to make it 6-1.*
*Check out the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article for more on Jose Miranda.
Nick Gordon then hit the next pitch for a ground-rule double to deep left field to make it 7-1. A strikeout ended the top of the 8th.
Damage DONE!
Now 7-1, Twins!
Twins rookie phenom RHP Jhoan Duran entered the game to replace Griffin Jax and he had both Luke Voit and Nomar Mazara shaking their heads as they struck out looking before Austin Nola grounded out to 2nd.
The Twins went down 1-2-3 in the top of the 9th on a groundout, a flyout and a rocket of a lineout off Carlos Correa’s bat (111 mph.)
RHP Tyler Duffey replaced Duran and he got Grisham to ground out to 1st then walked Kim and followed that by hitting Abrams with a pitch. A mound visit must not have helped since he gave up a 3-run HR to Jurickson Profar to make it 7-4. He then struck out Machado and got Hoser to ground out on a comebacker to end the game. Just a reminder that the Twins still need some bullpen help.
The 2022 MLB Trade Deadline is August 2nd at 5pm CST!
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Final Score
Minnesota Twins 7 | 4 San Diego Padres
W-Gray(6-3) L-Musgrove(8-4) H-Pagán(6), Megill(2), Jax(10)
Pitching
Starters
MN:
RHP Sonny Gray:
5IP 5H 1R/ER 1BB 5K 1HR – 6th Win
SD:
RHP Joe Musgrove:
6IP 4H 2R/ER 2BB 8K 1HR – 4th Loss
Bullpen
MN:
RHP Emilio Pagán:
1IP 1BB 2K – 1 error (throwing, 2-base) 6th Hold
RHP Trevor Megill:
0.1IP 2H – 2nd Hold
RHP Griffin Jax:
0.2IP 1K – 10th Hold
RHP Jhoan Duran:
1IP 2K HR
RHP Tyler Duffey:
1IP 1H 3R/ER 1BB 1K 1HR
SD:
RHP Nabil Crismatt:
1IP 2K
LHP Adrian Morejon:
0.1IP 3H 4R/ER 1BB 1K 1HR
RHP Dinelson Lamet:
0.2IP 2H 1R/ER 1K
RHP Michel Baez:
1IP
Hitting
Home Runs
MN:
Byron Buxton (26), Carlos Correa (13)
SD:
Manny Machado (18), Jurickson Profar (10)
Doubles
MN:
Nick Gordon (12)
SD:
Trent Grisham (13)
2-Out RBI
MN (Inning):
Jose Miranda(8th), Nick Gordon(8th)
SD (Inning):
Manny Machado(3rd)
Other
(Defense, Key Plays, etc…)
MN:
Sweet 6-4-3 DP in the 2nd (Correa, Polanco, Arraez)
Arraez pick of Miranda throw to end the 2nd
Umpire Jerry Layne getting hit by the ball in the 7th
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Game Notes
*
Pitch Counts & When to Pull a Starting Pitcher
Fox broadcaster & former Twins catcher A.J. Pierzynski criticized Twins manager Rocco Baldelli for taking out Sonny Gray after the 5th inning saying he was only at 70 pitches so why not try to sneak 3 more outs out of him since Rocco had said in their pregame interview/meeting that the bullpen was exhausted. He added, “This is how you wear out a bullpen.”
He was actually at 79 pitches and his average pitches per start was 78 before the start of the game. A.J. had added that Gray was in “control of the game” or something to that effect but Gray had allowed the leadoff batter to reach in his last 2 innings and, of the 14 balls put in play by the Padres off Sonny Gray, 9 of them had an exit velocity over 100 mph and the 3 in the 5th inning had exit velocities of 100.6, 101.4 & 107.0. He was losing velocity on his pitches and he was also right at his average for pitches per start of 78. He had only thrown more than 90 pitches just twice in his 14 starts before this start.
So… does Rocco deserve some criticism for pulling him? Maybe but, especially in a 1-run game, we need to know more about the situation than just the pitch count to understand the decisions the manager makes when going to his bullpen. For all we know, Sonny Gray was asked what he thought about trying to pitch another inning and he took himself out. We don’t know and speculation and/or second-guessing is very easy to do after the fact. It worked out very well tonight.
Also, when Rocco said his bullpen was exhausted, was he referring to right now or referring to why they’ve struggled this season. All 5 relievers that pitched in this game had not pitched since Tuesday or Wednesday.
In a 1-run game with your starting pitcher beginning to look tired and losing velocity while giving up rockets off the bat, it’s very understandable to go to the bullpen.
Plus, he may be expecting some new arms showing up in the next few days via the Trade Deadline.
**
Sweet stories about Minnesota Twins Legends Tony Oliva, Harmon Killebrew & Tom Kelly from former Twin C A.J. Pierzynski
The Twins used to hold spring training in Orlando and A.J. had a bunch of balls signed by Oliva. He didn’t know who Tony-O was back then (1994). When he had signed & started his Twins career in the minors, his parents were moving so his mom had called and asked if he wanted these signed ⚾️s and he said the name in the middle of all of those ⚾️s was Tony Oliva.
He also said Tony Oliva was always at Spring Training and even in his mid-fifties, he would still take live batting practice and still hit home runs and he’d say to “watch the snake 🐍 pop” because there were woods behind the ballpark and when the ball would land the snakes would jump up.
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He mentioned Twins Harmon Killebrew as the nicest man you’d ever meet. He talked about the Minnesota Twins Caravans. They would take 4 Dodge Durangos and travel around Minnesota, the Dakotas, Iowa & Wisconsin to get out and meet Twins fans. It’d be some active Twins players and some Twins Legends. A.J. said they’d drive from place to place and “just listen to Harmon Killebrew tell stories.” How fun does that sound?
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Story about Tom Kelly teaching his pitchers what to do to hold runners on base. “If you can’t hold runners on, you can’t pitch for me.” A.J. said he’d teach them to say to themselves slowly before they threw a pitch:
“Hold the runner, bleep bleep!”
Insert your favorite profanities there! Haha!
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He also talked about David Ortiz not working out in Minnesota since he couldn’t/wouldn’t use all fields as a hitter so he was non-tendered then signed as a free agent by Boston 38 days later and they just allowed him to do what he did best and a week ago, he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
At least his Twins career helped him get over 500 Home Runs, right?
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Next Up
At San Diego for the Rubber Game to see who wins the series as 3:10 pm on Bally Sports North:
(6-4, 5.02 ERA, 1.32 WHIP*)
vs
LHP Sean Manaea
(5-5, 4.33 ERA, 1.28 WHIP)
*ERA=Earned Run Average, WHIP=Walks + Hits per Inning Pitched
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