The Minnesota Twins start their final series at home against their American League Central Division rival, the Detroit Tigers!
The Minnesota Twins have just 6 games remaining in the 2021 season with 3 at home & 3 on the road. They’ll end their home schedule against American League Central opponent, the Detroit Tigers then head to Kansas City to take on the Royals to finish up the season.
It’s been a very disappointing season basically from the start but one thing the Twins have been able to do this season is both acquire and develop their prospects. They’ve also been able to see what a lot of those prospects can do in the Majors due to so many injuries and trading away players they wouldn’t have traded under different circumstances.
Is that a good thing? No. It’s not but…you have to do what you have to do to make the best of any situation and the Twins did a solid job of that or, at least, right now, it looks that way.
Season Series
The Twins need to win just one game of this 3-game series to clinch the season series against Detroit as they currently lead with a record of 9-7 against the Tigers this season.
Twinsactions
One of the prospects they were able to get a really good look at and who have pitched very well is RHP Bailey Ober so to hear he’s done for the season due to an injury is sad. He would only have pitched one more start and his results
Twins placed RHP Bailey Ober on the 10-Day Injured List with a right hip strain. LHP Charlie Barnes was recalled from Triple-A St. Paul and will start tonight’s game.
Minnesota Twins RHP Bailey Ober made his 20th start last Friday night. That seems crazy, doesn’t it? That’s almost ⅔ of a season. He made his MLB Debut on May 18th then was optioned back down to Triple-A St. Paul 3 days later but was called up again on June 6th and has held a rotation spot for now 19 straight starts and he is 2-3 with a 4.34 ERA (Earned Run Average) & a 1.230 WHIP (Walks + Hits per Inning Pitched) and 90 strikeouts in 87 innings. That’s pretty good and hopefully, he can keep that up and hold down a rotation spot for next season and beyond.
In that 20th start, he pitched 6.1 innings and allowed just 1 run on 4 hits with no walks while striking out 6 and outpitching his former teammate, RHP José Berríos.
He’s had a pretty amazing minor-league career* so, maybe we should expect good things out of this tall pitcher.
*In 35 starts (& 38 games), he’s 18-3 with a 2.41 ERA, a 0.956 WHIP with just 26 walks in 197.2 innings with 244 strikeouts which is an 11.1 SO9 (Strikeout per 9 innings rate). Uhh…yeah!
So…LHP Charlie Barnes was recalled from Triple-A St. Paul and was given the ball to start tonight’s game. Mr. Barnes has had a pretty good season at Triple-A.
In 16 starts, he’s gone 6-4 with a 3.79 ERA & a WHIP of 1.226 and allowed 32 earned runs on 73 hits (7 HRs) and 24 walks while striking out 62.
Those are very good numbers and you’d take those results in the Majors, too. Unfortunately, he hasn’t had that same success up with the Twins just yet. He has had a couple of good starts, though.
Anyway…here’s how both teams lined up for Game 1 of 3:
Minnesota Twins Lineup:
Detroit Tigers Lineup:
Game Recap
Twins starter LHP Charlie Barnes only gave up a walk in the first inning while the Twins bats had 3 singles in the bottom of the inning but couldn’t scores as Byron Buxton’s leadoff single was erased with a double-play ball from Jorge Polanco then Mitch Garver & Josh Donaldson hit back-to-back singles but Miguel Sanó struck out to end the inning.
In the 2nd, the Tigers got a 2-out double off the bat of Eric Haase and then Barnes hit Dustin Garneau with a pitch but he got out of the jam by inducing a popup to end the inning. For the Twins, LF Brent Rooker singled to lead off the inning and he advanced to 2nd on a wild pitch. Then Willans Astudillo hit a line-drive fly ball to right-center field but former Twins prospect Akil Baddoo made a great catch and Rooker didn’t tag up from 2nd to advance to 3rd.* Max Kepler then grounded out to 2nd for the 2nd out and Andrelton Simmons flew out to right field to end the inning.
In the 3rd, both teams lead off with a walk, Akil Baddoo for the Tigers & Byron Buxton for the Twins**. Detroit & former Twin 2B Jonathan Schoop then grounded into a double-play to clear the bases for Detroit. Former Twin RF Robbie Grossman then doubled down the left field line but Miguel Cabrera flew out to center to end the top of the 2nd for Detroit. Buxton stole 2nd base then advanced to 3rd on Polanco’s flyout to right field and scored on Mitch Garver’s sacrifice fly to center field. Donaldson grounded out to 3rd to end the inning. Tigers 0, Twins 1
In the 4th, Barnes allowed a 1-out double and a 2-out walk but he got out of another jam after a mound visit from pitching coach Wes Johnson by getting Zach Short to flyout to right field. The Twins went down 1-2-3 with 2 strikeouts and 1 flyout.
Minnesota Twins manager Rocco Baldelli went to his bullpen to begin the 5th inning by bringing in RHP Jorge Alcala and he needed just 10 pitches to get through the inning on a groundout, a flyout and a swinging strikeout. The Twins went down 1-2-3 on a flyout and 2 strikeouts.
Charlie Barnes final pitching line:
4IP 3H 0R/ER 3BB 2K
RHP Tyler Duffey took over for the Twins in the 6th. He allowed a leadoff single and a 1-out single but got Eric Haase to groundout to 3rd and Dustin Garneau to flyout to center to end the threat. The Twins went down 1-2-3 again, this time on a strikeout, a flyout and a groundout.
It was LHP Caleb Thielbar’s turn in the 7th and he sandwiched a lineout between 2 strikeouts. The Tigers turned to their bullpen by bringing in RHP José Ureña and Miguel Sanó greeted him with his 30th HR of the season*** to double the Twins lead to 2-0 and it was a blast to the 2nd deck in left field.
Nick Gordon then pinch-hit for LF Brent Rooker and walked on 6 pitches (all sinkers). La Tortuga then singled up the middle. Nick Gordon was off with the pitch but he watched the ball so he saw it get deflected off the shortstop and advanced to 3rd on the play and that allowed another run to score when Max Kepler flew out to center field for a sacrifice fly. Simmons grounded out & Buxton struck out to end the inning. Tigers 0, Twins 3
Ralph Garza, Jr came in to pitch the 8th for the Twins and he allowed a 2-out walk but got the next batter to flyout to end the inning. Jorge Polanco then led off the bottom of the 8th with a single and advanced to 2nd on a wild pitch but Garver grounded out and Donaldson & Sanó both struck out to end the 8th inning.
In came Twins closer RHP Alex Colomé and he allowed a leadoff single to Eric Haase then got a groundout 2 groundouts that advanced Haase to 2nd & 3rd. Akil Baddoo & Jonathan Schoop then hit back-to-back singles to score 2 runs (Baddoo took 2nd on fielder’s indifference) but Colomé struck out Robbie Grossman to end the game. Tigers 2, Twins 3!
Game Notes
*Baserunning! Bottom of the 2nd with Brent Rooker at 2nd with no outs after a wild pitch and Willians Astudillo hit a ball to right-center field but Tigers CF Akil Baddoo made a great diving catch and Rooker didn’t tag up and go to 3rd. It ended up preventing the Twins from scoring a run as the next batter, Max Kepler, grounded out to 2nd which would’ve likely scored Rooker from 3rd.
It seems there are only a small number of players in Major League Baseball who will make the correct play in that situation.
-Ironic to see Nick Gordon replace Brent Rooker then make a great baserunning play in the 7th that helped put another run on the board and THAT run became the game-winning run!
**BuxTON of Speed!!! He scored without a hit in the bottom of the 3rd inning by walking, stealing 2nd, tagging up on a flyout to right-center field then scoring on a sacrifice fly.
Speed Kills!!! – This, of course, is one of the biggest reasons Byron Buxton is such a great player. If he gets to 1st base, the game changes because he’s a huge threat to steal 2nd. It would be nice to see him steal 3rd a little more often but he doesn’t necessarily have to because he can score from 2nd on most base hits.
Man, I hope they can sign him for the next 5 years or so.
***Miguel Sanó has been a different player since his mentor & best friend Nelson Cruz was traded away on July 22nd. In 14 less games from before the trade, his numbers are up across the board from a triple slash of Average/On-Base%/Slugging% from .219/.309/.469 to .243/.343/.519 and a BAbip (Batting Average on Balls in Play) from .282 to .309!
That’s great to see and hopefully, the big man can keep building off of that. Yes, the strikeouts are still there but they were also better if only by a little. Is this just the beginning for Miguel?
Minor-League Scores
No Minor League Action tonight!
Did you know Triple-A isn’t doing official playoffs this season?
Triple-A classification to add 10 games to 2021 schedule
‘Triple-A Final Stretch’ reschedules five home games, five road games in tournament format
Minor League Baseball and Major League Baseball has announced the rescheduling of 10 games at the Triple-A level that were postponed at the start of the 2021 season. The rescheduled games will be played in a new postseason tournament format called the “Triple-A Final Stretch” and will follow the current 120-game Triple-A championship season schedule. All 30 Triple-A clubs will play five home games and five road games during the Final Stretch.
For both the Triple-A East and Triple-A West, a 2021 Regular Season Champion will be named based on overall winning percentage through the originally scheduled championship season (concluding Sept. 19 and Sept. 21, respectively). Among the 30 clubs, a single 2021 Triple-A Final Stretch Winner will also be crowned based on the highest overall winning percentage during this 10-game stretch. The winning club will be awarded a prize from Major League Baseball.
“We think this format will add excitement to the end of the season while also allowing our teams a chance to reschedule games that were lost earlier in the year,” said Major League Baseball Senior Vice President, Minor League Operations and Development Peter Woodfork. “With all 30 teams participating in this Final Stretch, all Triple-A players and communities will have the opportunity to win this year’s postseason tournament.”
The following tiebreakers will apply to determine the two Regular Season Champions as well as the Final Stretch winner:
- Best regular season winning percentage.
- Regular season head-to-head record (_if three or more clubs are tied, the best winning percentage in games among the clubs_).
- Best regular season winning percentage over the final 20 games.
- Best regular season winning percentage over the final 21 games, etc.
I assume this is just a one-year thing because of the schedule but it doesn’t say in the article.
The St. Paul Saints went 4-1 against the Iowa Cubs in their 5-game Home Series and will start their 5-game Road Series tomorrow against the Toledo Mudhens who happen to be the Detroit Tigers Triple-A affiliate. Their 4-1 record has them tied for 3rd with 4 other teams.
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