Written By Brandon Warne (ColdOmaha.com)
Photo Credit: Brian Curski
After a pair of losses to wrap up a three-game sweep at the hands of the visiting Detroit Tigers, it’s become a matter of when, not if, the Minnesota Twins will lose 100 games. It may come as early as Fan Appreciation weekend, as it could be the gift given during the final home series of the season that everyone has expected, but nobody really wants.
The Twins seemingly offering no resistence down the stretch this season. They play one more contender: A three-game series vs. the Mariners.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) September 23, 2016
There were some positives — there always seem to be — but it was far more negative on Thursday as the Twins went into the night without much more than a whimper against Justin Verlander, who is making a late case for Cy Young inclusion and combined with his cohorts to fan 17 batters in a 4-2 win in the nightcap. The early game was far uglier, as the Twins fell 9-2 despite trailing just 3-2 heading into the ninth.
Here’s what we saw from our vantage point:
Pat Dean didn’t pitch too badly
He came in with a 6.71 ERA and left with a 6.33 mark, but ultimately did a very good job doing exactly what the Twins asked him to do. He gave them five innings on 78 pitches, fanned five, walked just one and allowed just three hits and one earned run. Against a righty-heavy lineup like the Tigers, that’s a huge win for Dean, who has allowed a .941 OPS to right-handed hitters this season with the big club.
Jorge Polanco continues to swing it pretty well — and is settling in defensively
Polanco doubled twice in the first game batting second, and then he had another hit and a walk batting third in the nightcap. He’s now up to .288/.343/.425 for the season, which is good for a 108 OPS+ — a very solid mark for a shortstop.
He’s also made an incredible play on a Cameron Maybin grounder up the middle in the sixth, which we’ll try to show as best we can with still shots:
Here’s Polanco, having ranged far to his left to make the pick up.
Here he’s throwing from short center. He does a pirouette and composes himself nicely to get just enough on the throw to nip a speedy Maybin at first.
A couple other nice pieces of the play are that Polanco makes a throw that, despite hitting the dirt, gives Kennys Vargas a reasonably easy hop to play at first base. Intentional or not, it was a nice all-around play from Polanco.
Michael Tonkin is absolutely gassed
After missing 15 days earlier with a shoulder issue, he’s pitched in seven of the last 11 games for the Twins for some reason. It’s gone….about as well as one might expect, as he’s got a 7.50 ERA and has allowed opposing batters to hit .385/.448/.654 against him. Frankly, he should probably be shut down for the season. He’s made at least 10 appearances in every month for the Twins this year, and it’s starting to show. He’d been solid up until the last two appearances — both against the Tigers in this series — but they feasted against him, and that included in the first game Thursday. Tonkin recorded seven outs in the series, but the Tigers riddled him for seven hits and a pair of walks. All told, Tonkin faced 16 batters, and nine reached base (.563 OBP).
J.T. Chargois looks awesome
He struck out a pair of batters in two clean innings in the second game, and has lowered his ERA by nearly four runs in the month of September. He told me prior to Tuesday’s game that he doesn’t have just a single moment where he’s felt like he belonged in the big leagues, but that it’s been a gradual process to the point now where he feels pretty confident about having his feet underneath him.
In September he’s got a 2.61 ERA, has allowed just a .411 OPS against and has an 11-3 K/BB ratio in 10.1 innings. Also, according to Brooks Baseball, he hit 100 mph on the gun Thursday with a four-seam fastball.
Byron Buxton had a pretty good day
There’s nothing wrong with quietly productive days for Buxton, and that’s what he had in the first game with a single and a walk. The second game was also a solid 1-for-4, as he added his eight home run of the season. A home run off Verlander is nothing to sniff at, and he’s now up to .221/.275/.412 for the season. Again, that’s not exactly going to make the world fall down at his feet, but since he returned from Rochester he’s hitting a solid .300/.355/.686. There’ve still been too many strikeouts (26 in 77 PA), but 12 of 21 hits going for extra bases will help calm that narrative down a bit.
Verlander is still pretty awesome
He allowed just two earned runs — solo bombs to Buxton and Juan Centeno — and has now allowed three or fewer earned runs in every start since July 1. That means for his last 16 starts, he’s put together at least one half of what is required for a quality start, and in doing so has cut his season ERA from 4.30 to 3.21. Over that stretch, he’s got a 2.16 ERA, .580 OPS against and 127-27 K/BB ratio in 108.1 innings. That’s…..vintage Verlander.
Brian Dozier’s hitting streak ended
It was snapped at 24 games, and in fact the only hit he had all day was the leadoff home run against Anibal Sanchez to start the first game. That was his 42nd home run of the year, and 40th as a second baseman. He now holds the record for home runs from an AL second baseman, one more than Alfonso Soriano back in 2002.
It may have been the Twins’ sagging offense, but Detroit’s bullpen had a good day
The brigade of Alex Wilson, Shane Greene, Mark Lowe, Justin Wilson, Bruce Rondon and Francisco Rodriguez combined to throw seven innings of one-run ball on the day. The also added a solid 10 strikeouts, and allowed just three hits overall.
It seemed a little strange Vargas didn’t start in the second game
It’s nothing too big, but Robbie Grossman DH’d and James Beresford played first base in the nightcap. Grossman is a much better hitter against lefties — which Verlander is not — and Beresford, while a nice story, isn’t a long-term answer at any position. Vargas…might be. It just seemed odd, that’s all. He ended up getting in when Max Kepler got hurt late, anyway.
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Up Next: LHP James Paxton vs. RHP Kyle Gibson – 7:10 pm Friday, Target Field
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Notes & Quotes
- Kepler left the second game with a mild neck strain after running into the outfield fence. His status is expected to be updated on Friday.
- Dozier’s 24-game hitting streak was the longest of his career and longest for a Twins player since catcher Brian Harper in 1990.
- Dozier also had a 21-game home hitting streak snapped. Kent Hrbek’s streak of 23 in a row at the Metrodome in 1982 was the most recent longer stretch.
- With 98 losses, the Twins need to take at least two of three games from the Mariners to avoid their 100th loss taking place at Target Field.
- The 17 strikeouts for Detroit tied a season high in game two.
- The Twins finished the season 0-9 against Detroit at Target Field. That marks the first time a divisional foe had swept the season series against the Twins at home since the Texas Rangers did in 1979 at the Met, when the Twins were in the AL West.
- The Twins’ next loss at home will be No. 50 for the season.
- Ervin Santana on the tough second inning in the nightcap: “Yeah I was working too fast in the second inning. I was not able to execute my pitches, and that’s what happened.”
- Santana on the rest of the night: “Yeah, after the second inning things settled down. I was able to keep hitters off balance most of the time.”
- Santana on if he felt he deserved better than to take the loss: “You know, we’re trying to win. We’re trying to put good at-bats together every time. Defense and offense, everything was good. We’re trying to do our best. Nothing we can do. We’ll try to play better tomorrow.”
- Santana on the first inning: “Location was good. The slider and the fastball velocity was good too. It was a good first inning.”
- Santana on facing Verlander: “I just focus and do my thing. I don’t worry about anything else.”
- Santana on pitching inside to Miguel Cabrera, and if there was words: “Everybody knows I like to pitch inside. I don’t try to hit anybody, I just try to pitch inside.”
- Manager Paul Molitor on Santana: “He gave us a chance, pretty much like he has been doing every time out there. He just lost his command in the second inning after an overpowering first inning. It’s kind of hard to explain how that can happen. But the brief wildness period he went through there cost him a couple runs. But we got a couple home runs to get back to even. And then, as it’s been happening, we don’t make a play and the other team capitalizes, and the bullpen shut us down. I told him he’s pitched well enough to win a lot more games than he has. We all know that. It’s just the reality of not supporting him enough through many good outings he’s had for us, and tonight was another one of those.”