Twins Blog: Homestand Notes
By Dan Cook
It was a rough homestand for the Twins. One-and-five isn't exactly what they had in mind after finding themselves in 1st place in the division. Now they find themselves heading on a road trip trailing the Royals by two games.
Here are some notes and musings from the Milwaukee and Kansas City series that most Twins fans would like to forget.
The War on 94
The homestand got off to a rough start with the Crew traveling up I-94 to visit Target Field. It was a 10-5 drubbing in Game 1.
Game 2 saw the first MLB start for one J.R. Graham who had been used exclusively out of the bullpen this season. But Ricky Nolasco's ankle injury necessitated a shuffle in the rotation, and Graham found himself on the bump for a Saturday matinee. He pitched well, lasting four innings, and being considered for a fifth. But the Twins bats remained quiet and Milwaukee guaranteed a series win with a 4-2 victory.
The Twins avoided a sweep with a 2-0 win on Sunday behind Mike Pelfrey who's gone from being told he'd be in the bullpen to start the season, to turning into the Twins most reliable starter.
Speaking of which...
Big Pelf – The "Stopper"
Pelfrey pitched eight shutout innings on Sunday. And given the stress on the Twins bullpen as of late, that was huge. It was all the more impressive given his seven strikeouts – which tied a season high.
Pelf has started 194 games in his Major League career, but Sunday marked only the third time he'd gone as many as eight innings without allowing a run. The only active pitchers who've started that many without tossing a shutout are Jorge De la Rosa (198 starts) and Chris Young (194) [insert massive foreshadow here].
Pelfrey finds himself with a 5-2 record, a 2.28 ERA, and 34 strikeouts to only 19 walks. Compared to his previous two seasons, the Twins have to be thrilled to finally be getting some production from him.
Love That Interleague Play
Despite the disappointing Brewers series, the Twins still have a solid Interleague record. Minnesota is now 177-150 all-time in Interleague Play, which represent the seventh-most wins in IL play. They've won 7 of their last 11 against NL opponents.
They especially enjoy home cooking against the NL. They're 97-66 in Interleague games played in Minnesota, though the bulk of that success came at Metrodome as they're only 26-24 at Target Field.
The Twins don't have to wait long to have another crack at the NL. They begin a 4-game home and home series with the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday (Mon/Tues in STL, Wed/Thurs in MIN).
Kansas City Broom Company
The disappointment continued for Minnesota when the Royals got into town on Monday.
The Twins started the series a game up on KC in the Central, but a series sweep by the Royals put Minnesota two games out at the finish.
The club's offensive doldrums of late have been costly. No more so than in the first two games of the series.
Phil Hughes gave the Twins a quality start in Game 1, going 7.2 innings and giving up just three runs, but the Minnesota bats managed to only scratch out a single run off of Jason Vargas and the Royals formidable bullpen.
Game 2 saw another quality start for the Twins, this time it was Trevor May and his effective changeup that got them 6 innings while surrendering only a single run.
Unfortunately for Minnesota their offensive woes continued and [see earlier foreshadowing] Kansas City's Chris Young threw 7.1 innings of no-hit baseball before Trevor Plouffe broke it up with a triple off the right field wall.
Young was far from perfect – he walked three hitters while striking out only two – but he was good enough to keep the Twins off-balance until Plouffe finally connected.
If the aforementioned "foreshadowing" didn't convince you how unlikely Young's no-hit bid was, look at his previous two starts. He gave up a total of 10 runs on 15 hits combined against Cleveland and the Yankees.
Game 3 on Wednesday night saw the Twins fall behind early, thanks to a 3-run bomb from Alex Gordon. A deficit from which they never recovered as they went on to lose [7-2].
Kyle Gibson, who came into the game with a 4-1 record versus the Royals, with a 2.03 ERA, 10 walks and 18 strikeouts. But he gave up 5 runs – though only 4 of them were earned – over six innings and left the game with his team trailing by four. And given how quiet the Twins bats have been, it was too much to overcome.
Outfield Assistance
The arrivals of Eddie Rosario and Aaron Hicks have stabilized the Twins outfield defense for the time being.
Hicks made a nice play Tuesday night, gunning out Kendrys Morales at home in the 6th to keep it to a one-run deficit. That was the 16th outfield assist Minnesota has recorded this season.
The only teams in baseball with more than the Twins? The Baltimore Orioles with 18 and the Chicago White Sox with 17.
Regression, Thy Name is Minnesota
Remember when the Twins were hitting .305 with Runners In Scoring Position? That was fun, wasn't it?
But to those of you who were aggravated by the sabermetrics crowd claiming that the Twins couldn't possibly sustain their offensive success – the last dozen games or so are what they were talking about.
Over the 11 games preceding Wednesday night, the Twins were hitting just .221 with RISP (17-for-77).
That's not a huge sample-size, obviously, but it does go to show that it's a long season and just because your first third of the season is successful, that's no guarantee of future results. If the metrics aren't well-balanced then regression is nigh.
The Draft
Major League Baseball is the only major professional sport that conducts its annual amateur draft during its regular season. And this year, that draft ran concurrent with the Twins series against Kansas City.
Monday night they drafted left-hander Tyler Jay out of the University of Illinois with the 6th overall pick in the first round. Jay had put together a 5-2 record with a 1.08 ERA for the Illini this season. Baseball America said he had the best breaking ball of any prospect in the draft – a fact that is bolstered by his 76 strikeouts to only seven walks in his 30 appearances this season.
He worked out of the bullpen for Illinois this year, but the Twins believe he has the stuff to be a starting pitcher and will give him every opportunity to fulfill that potential when he hits the minor leagues.
The Twins went on to draft 39 more players over the three-day draft. They picked a total of seven left-handed pitchers, 11 righties, six infielders, 11 outfielders and five catchers.
They even managed to scoop up a pair of home-town boys: Dalton Sawyer in the 27th round, who pitched at the U, and Jake Irvin in the 37th round out of Bloomington Jefferson.
Next Homestand...
After a day off on Thursday, the Twins are on the road for just five games before returning to Target Field for an eight-game homestand.
They start with the aforementioned back-half of the home-and-home with St. Louis (who just happens to have the best record in baseball). Wednesday the 17th is a 7:10pm start. Thursday is a matinee with a 12:10pm first pitch.
The Cardinals are followed by their divisional brothers as Kris Bryant, Addison Russell and Anthony Rizzo bring the Chicago Cubs to town over Father's Day weekend.
The Northsiders are followed by the Southsiders as the White Sox visit Target Field for three games on June 22nd through the 24th.
