Minnesota Twins Recap vs Boston Red Sox – April 13th, 2021

The Minnesota Twins lost their 1st series of the season on Sunday and are now on their first losing streak to the season. Was it just the 9th inning pitching from RHP Alex Colomé or do you need to add the lack of offense after Seattle started their comeback in the 6th inning? They only had 3 baserunners from the 6th inning to the end of the game and none of them were from hits. One was a hit by pitch. The other two were walks.

Well, today is a new day as they begin a 4-game series against the Boston Red Sox and the Minnesota Twins have LHP J.A. Happ on the mound against fellow lefty & former Twin in Boston Red Sox LHP Martin Perez.

Happ has a lot of history facing the Boston Red Sox with the New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays and his record against them is very good with a career record of 13-4, a 2.79 ERA (Earned Run Average) and a 1.157 WHIP (Walks + Hits per Inning Pitched) in 26 starts and 154.2 innings, including 2-0 last season with a 0.66 ERA & a 0.659 WHIP.

Here’s how he’s done against the current Red Sox roster:

On the other side, maybe facing a lefty will help the offense today & Martin Perez doesn’t have a lot of history against most of the Twins roster but the ones who have faced him more have hit him well with those players being Nelson Cruz & Andrelton Simmons:

Here’s how both teams will lineup for today’s game:

Minnesota Twins Lineup:

Boston Red Sox Lineup:

It looked like the Twins could run away with this one as they loaded the bases twice in the bottom of the 1st but they only got 2 runs out of it. That was holding up pretty well and Minnesota Twins LHP J.A. Happ was getting better by the inning until the 5th when he allowed 3 straight 2-out hits and the 1st one was a Hunter Renfroe’s 1st HR of the season. A single followed then Bobby Dalbec hit an RBI-double to tie the game at 2 and RHP Cody Stashak had to come in to relieve Happ and he struck out Enrique Hernandez to end the 5th inning.

Minnesota Twins RHP Randy Dobnak took over in the 6th and set 6 straight Red Sox down. He then allowed back-to-back doubles to Christian Arroyo (4) & Bobby Dalbec (3), his 2nd RBI-double on the day. He allowed a walk to the next batter but got a double play from a great defensive play from Andrelton Simmons.

The Twins had just 3 walks and a single from the 5th inning on but they did get a 1-out walk followed by a bloop single from Willians Astudillo but Simmons flew out and Cave grounded out to end the threat.

Boston Red Sox 4 | Minnesota Twins 2 | Final

W-Hernandez (1-0) L-Dobnak (0-2) S-Barnes (1)

They’ll try to get back in the win column tomorrow with a doubleheader tomorrow with their 2 best pitchers on the mound in RHPs Kenta Maeda & José Berríos. Game 1 begins at 1:10pm with Game 2 to follow and they’re 7-inning games, too.

Game Notes

*It’s sad & frustrating how bad some of the calls were in the Xander Bogaerts at-bat to end the top of the 4th. It was a 9-pitch at-bat and only 1 of those 9 pitches was in the zone. The 3rd pitch made the count 1-2. Pitches 4 & 5 were balls outside & inside, 6, 7 & 8 were fouled off and then he was called out on pitch 9 which is at least 3 inches out of the zone and was probably never in the zone.

Sometimes, the homeplate umpire doesn’t look like he’s set up to see the whole zone or see it from a good angle but in this at-bat, it looks like he’s in a good spot to see the called strike that ended the at-bat so how does he miss it?

Look where J.A. Happ’s front foot landed & where his throwing arm is in that picture. That pitch was never inside the strike zone. 

**Are the Twins trying to get Cody Stashak more confident so they just had him get the one out then bring in Randy Dobnak to finish the game? Why not send him out there to pitch the 6th, too? Everyone had yesterday off. 

***Twins RHP Randy Dobnak gave up back-to-back doubles to leadoff the top of the 8th and change a tied game to a 1-run deficit. He then issued a 1-out walk to the next batter and RHP Jorge Alcala started to warm up in the Twins bullpen. He got a nice double play off a great defensive play from shortstop Andrelton Simmons.

I just don’t know about Dobnak. It seems a lot of the time he’s very hittable. Is he missing his spots? Is he tipping his pitches? Is it his pitch mix? Or is it just early on in the season?

Plays

Top of 1 (LHP J.A. Happ starts (2nd))

1. CF Kiki Hernandez grounded out to 3rd
2. LF Alex Verdugo flew out to CF
3. DH J.D. Martinez flew out to RCF

Bottom of 1 (LHP Martin Perez starts (2nd))

1. CF Byron Buxton 2B’d down the LF line on the 1st pitch
2. RF Kyle Garlick HBP’d on Ball 4
3. C Mitch Garver BB’d to load the bases
4. 2B Jorge Polanco hit a Sacrifice Fly to CF, Buxton scored, Garlick advanced to 3rd, 1-0
5. DH Miguel Sano BB’d to load the bases again
6. 3B Luis Arraez grounded out to 2nd but stayed out of the DP by beating the throw to 1st, Garlick scored, 2-0
7. 1B Willians Astudillo popped out to short in foul territory

Top of 2 (Happ at 22 pitches)

1. SS Xander Bogaerts 1B’d on a soft ground ball to 3rd
2. 3B Rafael Devers BB’d on 5 pitches
3. Mound Visit – C Christian Vazquez grounds into a 5-3 double play on a soft ground ball to 3rd
   1. 3B Luis Arraez used the catcher’s speed to his advantage by waiting for the ball to come to him while he had his right foot on 3rd base then threw it to 1st for the 2nd out.
4. RF Hunter Renfroe K’d swinging on a foul tip

Bottom of 2 (Perez at 25 pitches)

1. SS Andrelton Simmons lined out to RF
2. RF Jake Cave 1B’d on a soft dribbler that 3B Rafael Devers tried to bare hand but the throw went down the 1st base line, Cave to 2nd; E5
3. Buxton popped out to 1st
4. Garlick flew out to CF

Top of 3 (Happ at 44 pitches)

1. 2B Christian Arroyo flew out to RCF
2. 1B Bobby Dalbec flew out to RCF
3. Hernandez flew out to CF 

Bottom of 3 (Perez at 41 pitches)

1. Garver flew out to CF
2. Polanco HBP’d on the back of the left elbow! OUCH!
3. Sano popped out to 1st
4. Arraez lined out to LF

Top of 4 (Happ at 55 pitches)

1. Verdugo grounded out to a shifted 2nd in short RF
2. Martinez grounded out to 3rd on a great defensive play by Arraez ranging to his left
3. Bogaertz K’d looking on a pitch that was at least 3 inches outside.* The 3rd pitch looked outside, too. 6, 7 & 8 were fouled off.

Bottom of 4 (Perez at 54 pitches)

1. Astudillo flew out to short
2. Simmons 1B’d on a line drive to CF
3. Cave grounded out to 2nd, Simmons out at 2nd
4. Buxton 1B’d on a ground ball up the middle that 2B Arroyo couldn’t handle. Single? Or Error? – Mound Visit
5. Garlick K’d swinging

Top of 5 (Happ at 68 pitches)

1. Devers K’d swinging
2. Vazquez lined out to RF
3. Renfroe HR’d (1) to CF just off the top of the wall and Buxton just missed it. It didn’t look like he got a full jump on his attempt. 2-1
4. Arroyo 1B’d on a hard line drive to CF – Mound Visit
5. Dalbec 2B’d down the RF line, Arroyo scores – 2-2
   
   Pitching Change to RHP Cody Stashak  (Happ: 4.2IP 4H 2R/ER 1BB 3K 1HR)

6. Hernandez K’d swinging

Bottom of 5 (Perez at 69 pitches)

1. Garver K’d swinging
2. Polanco grounded out to short
3. Sano BB’d
4. Arraez grounded out to 2nd

Top of 6 (RHP Randy Dobnak replaced Stashak(6 pitches**(4 strikes))

1. Verdugo grounded out to short
2. Martinez flew out to RF
3. Bogaerts grounded out to 3rd  

Bottom of 6 (RHP Hirokazu Sawamura replaced Perez-88 pitches)

1. Astudillo reached on a throwing error (E6)
   1. He went into a slide when he saw the 1st baseman jump to catch the throw knowing he’d have to tag him to get him out
2. Simmons hit a hard comebacker (105mph EV) but Arroyo snagged it to start a 4-6-3 double play
3. Cave K’d swinging

Top of 7 (Dobnak at 8 pitches)

1. Devers grounded out to 1st
2. Vázquez grounded out to the pitcher
3. Renfroe grounded out to short

Bottom of 7 (RHP Adam Ottovino replaced Sawamura-18 pitches)

1. Buxton grounded out to 2nd
2. Max Kepler (PH for Garlick) BB’d on 8 pitches
3. Garver popped out to short, Bogaerts made an over his head catch
4. Kepler stole 2nd (3)
5. Polanco lined out to 2nd (101mph EV)

Top of 8 (Dobnak at 15 pitches(11 strikes))

1. Kepler remains in the game in RF, Cave moved from RF to LF
2. Arroyo 2B’d (4) down the RF line
3. Dalbec 2B’d (3) down the RF line***, Arroyo scored – 3-2 Red Sox
4. Hernandez popped out to RF
5. Verdugo BB’d on 8 pitches
6. Martinez grounded into a 6-4-3 double play started off a great grab by Andrelton Simmons

Bottom of 8 (LHP Darwinzon Hernandez replaced Ottovino)

1. Sano grounded out to 3rd
2. Arraez BB’d on 5 pitches
3. Astudillo 1B’d on a bloop to LF, Arraez to 2nd
4. Simmons popped out to LF
5. Cave grounded out to a shifted short

Top of 9 (RHP Jorge Alcala replaced Dobnak)

1. Bogaerts grounded out to 3rd
2. Devers HR’d (5) to RF – 4-2 Red Sox
3. Vázquez K’d swinging at 98mph HEAT
4. Renfroe popped out to 1st

Bottom of 9 (RHP Matt Barnes replaced Hernandez)

1. Buxton K’d swinging
2. Kepler flew out to LF
3. Garver flew out to LF

Boston Red Sox 4 | Minnesota Twins 2 | Final

W-Hernandez (1-0) L-Dobnak (0-2) S-Barnes (1)

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