Minnesota Twins Recap vs Seattle Mariners-April 11th, 2021

Did the Minnesota Twins respond to a loss with a win, again?

The Minnesota Twins went back to the righty lineup with all regulars in the lineup. Jake Cave gets the start in left field and Ryan Jeffers is back behind the plate with RHP Matt Shoemaker on the mound! Shoe went 6 in his first start (6IP 3H 1R/ER 0BB 5K 1HR).

This is how the Shoemaker has done against the current Mariners roster:

They faced former Yankee RHP Chris Flexen who had a very good 1st start (5IP 4H 0R/ER 2BB 6K). He has never faced the Minnesota Twins or any current Minnesota Twins players!

AND…Happy Birthday 🎂 to Twins RHP Kenta Maeda!!!

Let’s see if the Twins responded to another loss with another win.

Here’s how both teams lined up today:

Minnesota Twins Lineup:

Seattle Mariners Lineup:

I went back and watched Minnesota Twins RHP Matt Shoemaker’s 1st start because I missed that game and it was very impressive but that’s pretty obvious from the results of just 3 hits & 1 run allowed with no walks and 5 strikeouts. I wanted to see his pitching repertoire and, of course, how he uses it and I was most impressed with the splitter & the changeup or is that the knuckle curve and how he uses them off of his sinker.

He had it going again in this game as he had only allowed 3 hits & 1 walk through 5 innings on 80 pitches (51 strikes) and his team had built a 6-0 lead on a couple sacrifice flies from Nelson Cruz & Max Kepler, a 2-run double (4) & a 2-run HR (5) from Byron Buxton who just keeps on hitting.

Then Matt Shoemaker came out for the 6th and allowed a solo HR to Kyle Seager, a double off the top of the right center field wall, a single and then a 3-run blast off the bat from Seattle Mariners CF Taylor Trammell that ended his night because he apparently said something to the ump and was ejected for it.

Minnesota Twins manager Rocco Baldelli brought in RHP Cody Stashak came in to relieve Shoemaker and struck out 3 but allowed a 1-out single. He then came out to start the 7th inning and hit Ty France with a pitch which prompted Rocco to bring in LHP Caleb Thielbar and he allowed a single to Kyle Seager that advanced France to 3rd and a ground ball from Dylan Moore for a force out scored France to get Seattle within 1 run.

Thielbar added a wild pitch but struck out both Luis Torrens & Taylor Trammell swinging to end the top of the 7th. RHP Hansel Robles allowed nothing in the 8th.

That set up a 9th inning closing opportunity for RHP Alex Colomé against the top of the Mariners lineup of Mitch Haniger, Ty France & Kyle Seager. Haniger & France singled to right field & left field and Seager was perfect on the day at that point with a walk, 2 singles and HR that started his team’s comeback and he was the only player who had seen Colomé before this season. He didn’t have a ton of success at just 2-for-9 with 2 singles, 2 RBI and 2 walks with 1 strikeout. The at-bat was at a 2-2 count and Seager had just fouled off an low & inside cutter and they were trying to double up that cutter low & inside but Alex hung it and it landed just over the right center field wall to put the Mariners up 8-6.

Alex got the next batter to fly out but allowed another single right after it so Rocco went to RHP Jorge Alcala to finish off the 9th. He allowed a single to the 1st batter he faced but then induced a double play to end the 9th.

The Twins have Nelson Cruz, Byron Buxton and Max Kepler coming to the plate in the bottom of the 9th, which sounds good but they couldn’t keep the game alive as both Cruz & Buxton flew out to CF & Max Kepler lined out to left field to end the game and the Minnesota Twins lost their 1st series of the season.

The biggest problem is they had just 3 baserunners and no hits in the last 4 innings. Those baserunners came from 2 walks (Sano & Arraez) and when Buxton was hit by a pitch.

They don’t have much time to worry about it as they start a 4-game series against the Boston Red Sox this afternoon as LHP J.A. Happ makes his 2nd start of the season against fellow lefty & former Twin LHP Martin Perez at 1:10pm on Bally Sports North!

Game Notes

*The missed calls on balls & strikes can really change an at-bat and sometimes, even an entire game.

A ball was called a strike yesterday to end the 8th when Miguel Sano struck out looking & there were 2 runners in scoring position in a game the Twins eventually lost in extra innings. If that pitch is called a ball, the count is then full. Who knows what would’ve happened on the next pitch? A wild pitch had already been thrown and Sano has the ability to put one in the seats as much as he could strikeout. Andrelton Simmons was on deck but it the Twins get a lead there, does Taylor Rogers close it out in the 9th?

During this at-bat today & one pitch later when the count went to 3-1, Minnesota Twins analyst Justin Morneau said:

“It’s the challenge of how one pitch swings an entire at-bat and how the pitcher is gonna approach him and how aggressive the pitcher has to be.”

Justin Morneau

After the at-bat, Twins play-by-play broadcaster, Dick Bremer, asked analyst Justin Morneau if he was in favor of an electronic strike zone and he quickly responded yes, then he made a joke that he’d make a comeback if they went to an electronic strike zone then added he didn’t think it would help him, at this point.

“If they were able to get the technology where every pitch that goes in that box is a strike and every pitch that doesn’t touch that box is a ball…then I don’t see how human error or the beauty of human mistakes benefits anyone…and the hitters know what a strike is and there’s no argument. The pitchers know what the strike zone is. They work off of that and it seems pretty straight-forward to me but a lot of people disagree.”

Justin Morneau

Major League Baseball plans to use Automated Ball-Strike technology (ABS) at eight of nine ballparks in the Low-A Southeast League, which starts play May 4 across Florida as minor league baseball resumes after a one-year break caused by the coronavirus pandemic. – March 21st, 2021 from Fox Sports Midwest.

Plays

Top of 1 (RHP Matt Shoemaker starts for Minnesota (2nd))

1. RF Mitch Haniger K’d swinging on a slider #ShoemaKer
2. 2B Ty France was Hit By a Pitch in the right forearm
3. 3B Kyle Seager BB’d #ShoemaKKer
   1. The 1-1 (3rd) pitch is in the zone but, for some reason, is called a ball*

4. 1B Jose Marmolejos K’d swinging on a splitter
5. DH Luis Torrens grounded out to 2nd. Great defensive play by Jorge Polanco who had to come in on a high chopper to end the inning*

Bottom of 1 (RHP Chris Flexen starts for Seattle (2nd))

1. 3B Luis Arraez 1B’d on a line drive to RF
2. 2B Jorge Polanco 1B’d on a hard hit (107mph) ground ball to RF, Arraez to 3rd
3. DH Nelson Cruz flew out to deep CF for a sacrifice fly, Arraez scored – 1-0
4. CF Byron Buxton 1B’d on a hard hit (108mph) ground ball to LF, Polanco to 2nd
5. RF Max Kepler popped out to short
6. Miguel Sano popped out to first to end the 1st

Top of 2 (Shoemaker at 21 pitches)

1. CF Taylor Trammell K’d looking at a slider #ShoemaKKKer 
2. C Tom Murphy K’d swinging on a high sinker #ShoemaKKKKer
3. SS J.P. Crawford flew out to RCF

Bottom of 2 (Flexen at 11 pitches)

1. LF Jake Cave K’d swinging at a nasty curveball
2. C Ryan Jeffers grounded out to 1st & the pitch broke his bat
3. SS Andrelton Simmons grounded out to short

Top of 3 (Shoemaker at 36 pitches)

1. LF Braden Bishop grounded out to 2nd
2. Haniger grounded out to 2nd
3. France 1B’d on a line drive to RF
4. Seager 1B’d on a ground ball to RF
5. Marmolejos popped out to the C

Bottom of 3 (Flexen at 27 pitches)

1. Arraez 1B’d on a ground ball up the middle
2. Polanco reaches on a fielding error (E1) on a check swing but he hustled out of the box
3. Cruz gets a bloop 1B to load the bases
4. Buxton 2B’d to the right field wall, Arraez & Polanco scored, Cruz to 3rd – 3-0
5. Kepler hit a sacrifice fly to score Cruz from 3rd – 4-0, Buxton to 3rd
6. Sano K’d swinging 
7. Cave grounded out to 1st

Top of 4 (Shoemaker at 53 pitches)

1. Torrens popped out to 2nd
2. Trammell popped out to 3rd
3. Murphy K’d swinging at a high 92.3mph sinker #ShoemaKKKKKer

Bottom of 4 (Flexen at 47 pitches)

1. Jeffers K’d looking
2. Simmons K’d looking
3. Arraez BB’d
4. Polanco flew out to CF

Top of 5 (Shoemaker at 67 pitches)

1. Crawford 1B’d on a soft liner to LF
2. Bishop tried to bunt. It goes down as a sac bunt according to MLB’s At-Bat app
3. Haniger K’d swinging at an inside sinker #ShoemaKKKKKKer
4. France K’d swinging at a low splitter #ShoemaKKKKKKKer

Bottom of 5 (Flexen at 64 pitches)

1. Cruz BB’d
2. Buxton HR’d (5) to the Twins Bullpen (Exit Velocity: 111mph, Distance: 428’, Launch Angle: 36º – 6-0
3. Kepler 2B’d (4) to RF
4. Sano grounded out to the pitcher
5. Cave K’d swinging
6. Jeffers grounded out to 2nd

Top of 6 (Shoemaker at 77 pitches)

1. Seager HR’d (1) to right field – 6-1
2. Marmolejos 2B’d (1) to RF. It hit the top of the wall in RCF so Seattle asked the umps to review it to see if it was a HR but it stayed a 2B
3. Torrens 1B’d on a ground ball to LF
4. Trammell HR’d (2) to RF – 6-4, Shoemaker was Ejected by homeplate umpire Manny Gonzalez
5. RHP Cody Stashak replaced Shoemaker (5IP 7H 4R/ER 1BB 7K on 91 pitches (59 strikes))
6. Murphy K’d swinging on a fastball #StashaK
7. Crawford 1B’d on a line drive to LF
8. Bishop K’d swinging on a slider #StashaKK
9. Haniger K’d swinging on a slider #StashaKKK

Bottom of 6 (RHP Will Vest replaced Flexen (5IP 8H 6R 5ER 2BB 5K on 84 pitches(53 strikes))

1. Simmons grounded out to short
2. Arraez flew out to LF
3. Polanco lined out to 1st

Top of 7 (Stashak at 17 pitches)

1. France hit by a pitch in the left arm. He was hit in the right arm in the 1st inning.
2. LHP Caleb Thielbar replaced Cody Stashak (1IP 1H 1R/ER 0B 3K on 21 pitches (11 strikes))
3. Seager 1B’d on a ground ball to right field, France to 3rd
4. Moore (PH for Marmolejos) grounded out to 2nd, force out at 2nd as they couldn’t turn the double play, France scored, 6-5 
5. Wild pitch, Moore to 2nd
6. Torrens K’d swinging on a breaking ball (curve/slider)! THAT’s a Nice Pitch!
7. Trammell K’d swinging at 93mph! 2 Big Ks for #KKaleb, there! 

Bottom of 7 (Vest at 18 pitches)

Ty France moved from 2B to 1B, Dylan Moore stays in the game at 2B

1. Cruz K’d swinging at an 87mph slider low & away
2. Buxton is HBP’d, Seattle manager Scott Servais is ejected after coming out to say the pitch was a changeup. You can’t argue that & aren’t supposed to even come out of the dugout for it, apparently
3. Kepler grounds out to 2nd
4. Sano BB’d, Kepler to 2nd
5. Cave grounded out to short

Top of 8 (RHP Hansel Robles replaced Thielbar)

1. Murphy flew out to the warning track in CF
2. Crawford popped out to short
3. Sam Haggerty (PH for Bishop) popped out to short

Bottom of 8 (RHP Drew Steckenrider replaced Vest)

1. Jeffers K’d looking
2. Simmons grounded out to 3rd
3. Arraez BB’d
4. Polanco grounded out to short

Top of 9 (RHP Alex Colomé replaced Robles)

1. Haniger 1B’d on a line drive to RF
2. France 1B’d on a line drive to LF
3. Seager HR’d (2) to RCF – 6-8
4. Moore flew out to RF
5. Torrens 1B’d on a ground ball up the middle
6. Mound Visit & Pitching Change to RHP Jorge Alcala
7. Trammell gets an infield hit on a swinging bunt
8. Murphy grounded into a 5-4-3 double play

Bottom of 9 (RHP Rafael Montero replaced Steckenrider)

Evan White replaced 1B Ty France

1. Cruz flew out to CF on the 1st pitch
2. Buxton flew out to CF
3. Kepler lined out to left field

 Seattle Mariners 8, Minnesota Twins 6 | Final

L-Colomé(0-1) W-Steckenrider(1-1) S-Montero(2)

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