Minnesota Twins – Losing Is A Disease

Posted on April 22, 2021 by Robb
The Minnesota Twins Should Trust in What They Are Doing

How do the Minnesota Twins Get Back to Winning? The Minnesota Twins are 1-9 in their last 10 games. It’s not difficult to see they’re in a losing funk right now. When you’re losing & have been losing, you find ways to keep losing because you’ve lost confidence in yourself.

The Psychology of Losing

It’s amazing what losing (& winning) does to any player & team. We’ve all seen it before. When a team is on a losing streak or a player is struggling, their confidence is low so maybe their technique gets bad & they do things differently than they normally would. They start to not trust their own ability and also their teammate’s ability. The result is they make unusual mistakes & if something goes bad they get a “here we go, again” feeling instead of just forgetting about it and getting back to playing the way they know they can.

This is why players, teams and maybe everyone needs coaches or mentors.

They’ll reestablish the confidence in yourself and your game to get you back to playing/doing whatever you do how you’re meant to do it.

We’ve all probably had bad managers or friends or just acquaintances that brought you down or said something like, “don’t screw this up!” I got a promotion & my manager at the time said, “If you screw this up, you’re done.” Well, that was inspiring, especially since I had never done that job before. Luckily, I already knew the guy was a jerk so it didn’t phase me one bit & I excelled at that job.

I’ve also always been fascinated at how professional teams handle their players & develop them into what they can be & maybe even past what they thought they could be. Usually, that’s with brutal honesty like, “Hey, you were terrible tonight!” but that’s not the end of it. They don’t just destroy the player & walk away. They take them into a video session & show them what they did bad or wrong and then tell them what to do differently so they don’t make the same mistake again.

It’s basically the difference between fans & coaches. Fans say, “They’re terrible & I’m done with them,” “Bench them” or “Send them down to the minors.” It’s one reason it’s difficult to follow sports & be a fan of any team.

It’s hard to believe any good coach ever told a player they were the reason they lost the game. Teams lose games. Players try to play their best every time and make physical & mental mistakes every now & then.

Yesterday, the Minnesota Twins should’ve won a baseball game they scored 12 runs in but they’re a losing team right now so…physical mistakes were made and they lost on a walkoff error on a routine play that is probably made 99% of the time regardless of who’s in position to make that play. There were actually 2 plays like that.

2nd Guessing is the Easiest Job in the World

There is no easier job in the world than to make decisions after you know what happened. That’s why that job doesn’t exist. Think of every mistake or wrong decision you ever made and see if you’d do it the exact same way again.

Minnesota Twins Manager Rocco Baldelli made what a lot of people are calling questionable decisions in yesterday’s game:

  • He pinch-ran for 3B Josh Donaldson with INF Travis Blankenhorn to begin the 10th inning, taking out his great defensive 3rd baseman
  • He had RHP Alex Colomé pitch the 10th when he had RHP Jorge Alcala (although he did pitch the day before) & LHP Devin Smeltzer as other options in the bullpen
  • He put Luis Arraez at 3rd base & Travis Blankenhorn at 2nd base

Donaldson would’ve scored just like Blankenhorn on Byron Buxton’s 10th inning 2-run home run. Alex Colomé threw 49 pitches & 29 strikes in 2 innings. He threw 19 pitches in the 9th when he blew his 3rd save of the season to send the game into extra innings. He then got a flyout & a strikeout on 10 pitches to begin the bottom of the 10th. He walked the next batter on 5 pitches and walked the batter after that on 6 pitches to load the bases. He then got a ground ball to 2nd base but Travis Blankenhorn didn’t make the play so a run scored to make it a 1-run game. He then got another ground ball, this one to 3rd base off the bat of Ramón Laureano & he has some speed but Arraez fielded it and overthrew 1st base to allow Oakland to score 2 runs and walk-off and extend their winning streak to 11 games.

Rocco Baldelli Interview

After the game, Rocco Baldelli spoke about his decision to replace Josh Donaldson:

“In extra innings, if you don’t find a way to put a run on the board, you’re going to end up losing a lot of those games & doing everything possible to put that first run on the board is instrumental to find ways to win those games. There are going to be times where we’re going to be pinch-running for guys in those situations. We’ve done it in the past a fair amount & we’ll continue to do it. We have to get the guys that give us the best chance to score out there and that’s what we did and we pinch-ran for him and took him out of the game.”

“It’s been a helluva trip in not a good way. Today was a game where…we’re finding ways to not win games even games we should be winning. What we really saw today was something that we haven’t seen a ton from our group and I stand in the front of it and take responsibility for all of it. It was a very difficult day. Nothing came easy. Our guys continued to fight and continued to play hard. We got to the point in the last inning where we needed to make one of two routine plays, just routine ground balls, and we weren’t able to do it and I think it really comes down to that. It’s as simple as that. I think we played a game we should’ve won and we’re not winning those games right now.

There was no blame given, just facts about what happened. It’s easy to say well, he shouldn’t have pinch-ran for Josh Donaldson and Luis Arraez makes the play at 2nd if he puts Travis Blankenhorn at 3rd instead and Alex Colomé shouldn’t have been in there & Jorge Alcala and/or Devin Smeltzer should be able to be depended on to get one out.

If only Mr. Baldelli could see into the future so he could make a different decision. It’s not likely there was any hesitation to make the moves he made because he has confidence that every one of his players can make those plays the majority of the time. Errors will happen but a manager thinks from a positive standpoint so while this loss was disappointing, he knows what he has with the 2021 Minnesota Twins and he expects they will get out of this and start to play very good baseball very soon if not in the very next game.

There are 145 more baseball games to be played so the Minnesota Twins can & likely will get past this and become a better baseball team as soon as tomorrow when they start a 3-game homestand against the Pittsburgh Pirates with LHP J.A. Happ on the mound against RHP JT Brubaker at 7pm on Bally Sports North.

It’s their first night game at home so maybe they can get in a routine of normal baseball schedule, get some batting practice in and get back to winning.

Thank You for reading our TwinsTakes! We’d love to hear your TwinsTakes! 

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Minnesota Twins Recap at Oakland Athletics – April 20th, 2021

Posted on April 21, 2021 by Robb

The Minnesota Twins are Back after some COVID problems so…Let’s Play Two!

Guilty on all counts! Let’s hope & help make this a start to systemic change in the world, the country, the state and ourselves!

WE HAVE TWINS BASEBALL TODAY!!!

The Minnesota Twins resumed their 2021 season today but they had to make some “Twinsactions” to get their roster in order as OFs Max Kepler, Kyle Garlick & LHP Caleb Thielbar had to be added to the COVID-Injured List:

OF Brent Rooker was reinstated from the 10-Day IL (cervical (neck) strain), UTIL Travis Blankenhorn was recalled from the Taxi Squad & the Twins selected the contract of RHP Luke Farrell.

Also, LHP Lewis Thorpe was recalled from the Taxi Squad as the 27th-man for today’s doubleheader.

The Twins send RHP Matt Shoemaker to the mound for his 3rd start of the season. He’s looked very good in his 1st 2 starts (4.09 ERA, 1.00 WHIP).

Shoe has been hit hard by a few A’s (Moreland, Piscotty & Chapman) so pay attention to how he pitches to them today.

He’ll face Oakland LHP Sean Manaea (4.32 ERA, 1.26 WHIP), who will make his 4th start today. He wasn’t very good in his 1st start but has gotten better in every start since, winning his last time out vs Detroit by going 6 innings & allowing just 2 runs on 5 hits (1 HR), no walks and striking out 7.

Manaea hasn’t faced the Twins very much as the only current Twins that have more than 4 At-Bats are DH Nelson Cruz & 3B Josh Donaldson but they’ve hit him hard, especially #TheBoomStick (7-for-19 with 3 HRs & 8 RBIs with 7 walks and just 1 strikeout.)

The Twins outfield will be Luis Arraez in LF, Byron Buxton in CF (He’s Back!!!) & Brent Rooker in RF. That means Willians Astudillo will make the start at 2nd base today!

Minnesota Twins Lineup:

Oakland Athletics Lineup:

Game 1 Notes

Nothing much. Do everything better—pitching, fielding & hitting—and that will help compete for wins!

Key Plays

Bottom of 2

Mitch Moreland continued his mastery of Minnesota Twins RHP Matt Shoemaker as he hit his 1st HR of the season to put Oakland up 2-0

Bottom of 4

More Moreland as he hit his 2nd HR of the game and the season to lead off the bottom of the 4th inning. Shoemaker got a ground out then gave up a single & a stolen base to Elvis Andrus then walked the next batter (Mark Canha) before he was replaced by RHP Jorge Alcala. On his first pitch, Elvis Andrus stole 3rd base then Mark Canha stole 2nd base. Alcala struck out Ramon Laureano looking then walked Jed Lowrie to load the bases.

Jorge Alcala went down 2-0 then was 3-1 but came back to make the count full and Matt Olson fouled the first payoff pitch off before getting an inside fastball that maybe wasn’t meant to be as far inside as it was and Olson was ready for it but he watched the ball because it was obviously very close to going foul but it ended up hitting the foul pole and put Oakland up 7-0.

Add the Complete Game Shutout from Oakland Athletics LHP Sean Manaea because yeah, that’s a pretty key part to winning, huh?

The Twins had 6 hits but just 1 extra-base hit with Mitch Garver’s 3rd double of the season with 1 out in the 3rd.

They’ll send RHP José Berríos to the mound in Game 2. He’s a pitcher who has the stuff to stop losing streaks and start winning streaks and his team needs him.

Hey, Hey, José!!!

Minnesota Twins Lineup:

Oakland Athletics Lineup:

Game 2 Notes

They got a good start from José Berríos but their offense failed them with just 2 hits off a pitcher who’d given up 19 hits, 12 runs, 3 HRs & 7 walks in his previous 3 starts & 13 innings. His 2nd start wasn’t terrible (5.1IP 5H 2R/ER 4BB & 6K vs the Los Angeles Dodgers) & he was the #12 Top Prospect the past 2 seasons & #60 in 2018* so it’s not like he’s a scrub by any means. It seems Oakland has been great at finding & developing pitching forever.
*He was part of the Sean Doolittle trade with the Washington Nationals in 2017—Oakland Athletics traded RHP Ryan Madson and LHP Sean Doolittle to Washington Nationals for RHP Blake Treinen, LHP Jesus Luzardo and 3B Sheldon Neuse. That’s a pretty nice haul for Oakland. You might say…MoneyBall.

The Minnesota Twins have run into a couple of buzzsaws with teams who are on a tear. The Red Sox had won 6 games in a row after going 0-3 to begin the season. Oakland had won 8 straight after starting their season 0-6 so…this goes to show there is a way out of this. The Twins just need to find it and get back in that good winning groove.

Right now, they’re in a funk and someone (or more than one) is going to have to get them out of it. It was really close today in the 2nd game as Willians Astudillo hit a deep fly ball to left field that fell about 2-3 feet short of turning a 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 lead but it didn’t and it was caught to end the game.

Key Plays

Well, there weren’t many as it was a 1-0 game so the leadoff double from Oakland Athletics 1B Matt Olson (who hit a Grand Slam in the 1st game) in the bottom of the 4th was arguably the biggest play of the game. Of course, you could also say the RBI-single 2 batters later from OF Seth Brown is bigger since it brought in the only run of the game.

There were a few big plays from the Minnesota Twins, too:

  • In the 4th inning, Luis Arraez made a great diving catch then got up quickly to double up the runner at 2nd to get the Twins out of that inning. 
    • The next inning, the lights in left field went out for a 30-minute or so delay.
  • The pitching kept them in the game for a chance to win it in the 7th.
  • Berríos had his best inning in the 5th after the delay, going 1-2-3 on 9 pitches.
  • Hansel Robles pitched a perfect 6th to keep the game at 1-0

Most people will say we’re reaching for positives but that’s something you almost have to do when you’re losing, look for the positives or anything to get you in the right state of mind to break out of a slump. When you’re losing, you’re looking for the bad things that make it seem like, “Here we go again.” rather than when you’re winning, you just play loose and relaxed because things are going well.

The Bottom Paragraph

Tomorrow is a new day and a new game and a chance to win again and start a winning streak and…RHP Kenta Maeda is on the ma-ound-a to get them back in the Win column!

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Minnesota Twins Recap vs Boston Red Sox – April 15th, 2021

Posted on April 15, 2021 by Robb

Minnesota Twins Twinsactions start the day once again as they have optioned reliever RHP Cody Stashak to their Alternate Training Site and recalled RHP Shaun Anderson who was acquired when the Minnesota Twins traded OF LaMonte Wade, Jr to the #Giants in February (Wade was put on the 10-Day Injured List (IL) with a left oblique strain yesterday.)

Today & tomorrow, we celebrate the life & career of Jackie Robinson! All players will don the #42 jersey to honor him!

The Lineups are in for today’s 12:10pm tilt & there is no Buxton (sore hamstring) or Donaldson (rest? slowly getting him back to a regular?) in the lineup.

Luis Arraez is leading off & in LF, Willians #LaTortuga Astudillo is at 3B & Jake Cave is in CF. RHP Michael Pineda is on the mound against #RedSox RHP Garrett Richards!!!

Let’s Go, Boys! Time to Win!!!

Minnesota Twins Lineup:

Boston Red Sox Lineup:

Minnesota Twins RHP Michael Pineda pitched a helluva game today!!! He threw 7 innings of scoreless 2-hit ball with one walk and six strikeouts and he was in line for the win.

Key Plays

2nd Inning:

Boston Red Sox C Christina Vazquez appeared to have been hit by a pitch but the ball rolled all the way past the pitching mound and MN SS JT Riddle fielded it & threw it to 1st while Vazquez acted like he was in pain from being hit by the pitch. The Twins challenged the call and it was overturned into a 6-3 putout.

Then…in the bottom of the 2nd, with Miguel Sanó at 1st (BB), SS JT Riddle grounded into a force out to 1st. The throw went a little wide left of 2B Christian Arroyo forcing him to stretch to make the catch and as Sanó slid into 2nd, he had the best look at the play so he could see Arroyo’s foot was off the bag so…the Twins challenged this play, too, and… this play was also overturned.

So…stretch to catch turns at force-out into a force off! AND…the Riddler was part of both of those plays! Riddle Me This, Riddle Me That, then, huh? HA!

The safe at 2nd call also allowed the Twins to load the bases and eventually get a 2-run single from Luis Arraez.

6th Inning

Minnesota Twins 1st baseman Miguel Sanó led off the bottom of the 6th inning with a mammoth blast to the 2nd deck in left field today. Maybe fans will get off his back a little, now. It put the Twins up 3-0.

8th Inning

Minnesota Twins RHP Hansel Robles relieved RHP Michael Pineda who pitched 7 shutout innings (7IP 2H 0R/ER 1BB 6K) and he hits the batter on the first pitch then walks the 2nd batter so Twins Pitching Coach Wes Johnson made a Mound Visit to settle down his reliever. A flyout to left & a strikeout swinging followed but Marwin Gonzalez (Pinch Hit for Kiki Hernandez) walked to load the bases to bring up OF Alex Verdugo so Rocco Baldelli made a Pitching Change to LHP Taylor Rogers to get him out.

In a 10-pitch at-bat, Verdugo ended up hitting a ball down the left field line & with 2 outs and the count full, the runners were off with the pitch so it cleared the bases and tied the game at 3!

They intentionally walked Xander Bogaerts to get to Rafael Devers and he struck looking to end the half-inning but the damage was done as a 3-0 lead vanished.

The Twins got a leadoff double from Kyle Garlick in the bottom of the 8th then Miguel Sanó got his 12th walk of the season and Jake Cave bunted them over with a sacrifice bunt. Ryan Jeffers struck out swinging twice.* JT Riddle was pinch-hit for by Mitch Garver and hit a solid liner (100mph EV) right to 3rd to end the inning.
*Twice? Yes! Amazingly, the home-plate ump thought Ryan Jeffers foul tipped that ball but he completely missed it. Boston manager Alex Cora came out to ask him to confer with his crew and they left the call the same so Cora got thrown out then Jeffers struck out on the very next pitch! DOH!

On to the 9th…

Minnesota Twins RHP Alex Colomé came in to pitch the 9th** & he got the 1st batter to fly out to center field but allowed a double off the left field wall that was played very well by Kyle Garlick to make it a close play at 2nd base but the runner was safe. Colomé then struck out the next 2 batters to send it to the bottom of the 9th.

Luis Arraez lead off the bottom of the 9th and he was already 3-4 with 3 singles including a big 2-run single in the bottom of the 2nd that put the Twins up early. He also made a great catch in left field in the 6th. RHP Adam Ottavino came in to pitch the 9th for Boston and Luis had walked in his only previous appearance against him but, of course, that’s pretty normal for Luis, right?

Luis hit his 4th single of the day. That brought up Jorge Polanco and he was hit on the foot by a pitch. Nelson Cruz then struck out for the 1st out. Max Kepler came to the plate with a goal of just putting the ball in play. Ottavino threw him a first-pitch slider that he took because it was way inside. He then threw Max another slider but this one was a hanger and Max put it in play. He probably should’ve crushed it but he got enough of it for it to drop into short center field and Luis Arraez got a great read on it so he was near 3rd, if not at 3rd already, when the ball hit the ground so he was safe at home! BALLGAME! STREAK SNAPPED!

IT’S TIME TO CELEBRATE!!!

Rumor has it the Minnesota Twins are starting LHP Lewis Thorpe in tomorrow’s 1st game in Anaheim against Mike Trout and the Los Angeles Angels.

Game Notes

”Losing is a Disease.” – The Natural

*Losing seems to get in the heads of everyone so 1 loss or bad play tends to turn into multiple losses and teams finding ways to lose games. Their mentality turns from we’re going to win to what’s going to happen today then heads go down and it’s that “not again” feeling.

It’s crazy that this happens to professional athletes and teams but it does and they just have to try to forget about it and move on. You can’t do anything about the past except learn from it and the best lesson is to play hard and know that you have the ability to have a great day individually and as a team or else you wouldn’t be here. Stay in the moment! See ball, hit ball!

Minnesotans have this thinking of this only happens to our teams and of course that would happen here. You know, the whole, “That’s so Minnesota” saying as if their teams are cursed or can’t win for some reason.

Stop crying and support your team and all of their players whether you like them or not.

**Fans tweet things like I’m done with that player or I’ve seen enough to know he’s not an everyday player. They apparently forget the game of baseball is a marathon, not a sprint. It’s 162 games AND we’re still in a pandemic so players are adjusting to it. Plus, 99% of all baseball fans don’t know nearly as much about the game as the players and staffs of the Major League Baseball Organizations but, man, they sure think they do.

They second-guess moves and calls made and why is so & so still in the lineup or one of my faves, bench him or send him to the minors to bring up someone with even less experience and give them a chance.

We are just 13 games into the season. That’s 3 games from being a 10th of the way through the season. Before today, not one batter had 50 at-bats yet. Who are you giving only 50 at-bats to & telling them if they don’t produce, we’re giving someone else a chance?

Can you imagine the reaction if their teams did what they wanted to do?

Is there such a thing as a negativity filter? “That guy sucks!” – Put him/her in the filter! BYE!!!

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

Posted on April 13, 2021 by Robb

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?

That’s not a strike!

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

Posted on April 12, 2021 by Robb

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*
  1. 1B Jose Marmolejos K’d swinging on a splitter
  2. 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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