Box Score:
Starting Pitcher: Simeon Woods Richardson: 5 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K (53 Pitches, 38 Strikes, 71.7%)
Home Runs: Brooks Lee (7)
Bottom 3 WPA: Jhoan Duran (-.309), Christian Vázquez (-.203), Cole Sands (-.194)
Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs):
You would be well within your rights to avoid watching Sunday’s game in favor of celebrating Father’s Day, watching the US Open, or drinking yourself into oblivion—maybe even all three! Nevertheless, there was a game to play, despite the Twins losing Pablo López, Zebby Matthews, Royce Lewis and (maybe) Byron Buxton in the past two weeks to injury, while losing games at an accelerating pace. Today was definitely a game to avoid, but the Twins themselves didn’t have that privilege.
To try and salvage a win from this series against the Houston Astros, the Twins turned to Houston native Simeon Woods Richardson, who was obliterated his last time out, returning from the minor leagues to allow seven runs to the Texas Rangers—until then, a struggling offense.
Woods Richardson either made some adjustments, or was pitching angry, as his velocity was up and both his breaking balls looked sharp. He breezed through the first four innings on 31 pitches, without allowing a baserunner. If you’ve watched him at all, you know he tends to struggle to end at-bats and can be inefficient, even on a good day, so this was a welcome change of pace.
Meanwhile, the Twins were up against journeyman lefty Brandon Walter, making his third career start. Walter moved around his cutter pretty well with good command, but the Twins made pretty good contact against him. Brooks Lee extended his hitting streak to 15 games by smacking a hanging cutter into the Crawford Boxes for the game’s first run in the third.
Lee then began the fifth inning with a sharp single to center field. After Ryan Jeffers was hit by a pitch and Carlos Correa advanced the runners, Willi Castro (already with two hits on the day) came up with two outs and ran the count full—before taking a sinker right down the middle to end the inning.
The Astros finally got a baserunner in the fifth, as Jake Meyers hit a one-out grounder up the middle that deflected off Correa’s glove. Woods Richardson then ran the count full against Saturday’s walkoff hero, Cam Smith. All of a sudden, the game seemed to be in the balance, as this would not be the first time Woods Richardson looked great over the first three or four innings before giving it all up in the fifth. Smith did walk, which brought up the recently recalled Cooper Hummel for his fourth at-bat of the year. The Twins starter won that matchup, though, with a nasty changeup (allegedly a new split-change) darting away that got Hummel swinging. Mauricio Dubón did make decent contact with a Woods RIchardson fastball, but lined out to Harrison Bader in center to end the threat.
With the bullpen fairly fresh and Woods Richardson in need of some confidence, Brock Stewart was summoned to begin the sixth inning. This, despite the starter being at just 53 pitches and not through the lineup a second time. Perhaps if the Twins had extended the lead in the fifth or sixth, instead of going down 1-2-3 in quick fashion, Rocco Baldelli may have given his young righty more leash.
Conversely, Walter was allowed to begin the seventh inning. He allowed a one-out hit to Lee (his third), and was lifted after striking out Christian Vázquez for the second out. Credit to Walter: he showed some gumption, and has now delivered the injury-ravaged Astros rotation three solid starts. Whether he is actually part of the solution for Houston, or whether his good day was just a product of the Twins’ offensive struggles, is hard to ascertain.
The bottom half of the inning began ominously, as Louis Varland hit Jose Altuve with a pitch on his right forearm. However, Victor Caratini immediately grounded to Lee at second, who began a fairly easy double play before Jake Meyers grounded out to end the inning, the lead still intact.
Varland was asked to start the eighth inning, as well, and he was greeted with a laser off the bat of Smith that nearly tied to game. It was hit so hard that Smith couldn’t advance to second, however, as Castro made a nice play on the ball. A questionable sacrifice bunt call and two groundouts later, Varland escaped unscathed yet again.
Jhoan Duran was summoned to close out the game, after throwing 20 pitches and taking the loss on Saturday. He was tasked with the top of the Houston lineup and began Jeremy Peña with four straight balls. He recovered to strike out Yainer Diaz on a devastating splinker, but Peña stole second on the first pitch to Altuve the following at-bat. After running the count full, Altuve reached out (on ball four) and tapped a ground ball to Correa, who was playing back and wasn’t able to retire Altuve,
Altuve not taking the walk proved costly, as Caratini swung at the first pitch from Duran and lifted a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 1-1.
Extra innings ensued, and the Twins executed their half of the inning about as poorly as humanly possible. The first hitter was Vázquez, who failed to advance the runners and popped out. Jeffers then struck out, and Correa popped out.
Cole Sands did his part, not allowing the advance on the first hitter, as Smith tapped out to the left side and Hummel struck out swinging. Dubón then lifted a fly ball to deep left-center that Castro appeared to get a glove on, but the ball dropped, allowing Houston to win and sweep the series.
Stray Observations:
-Lee isn’t just producing, but it looks somewhat sustainable, as he appears to be swinging less and waiting for the pitcher to come to him before making better contact; he’s not getting popped up as often. His OPS has eclipsed the .700 mark for the first time in quite a while.
-Castro picked up two more hits batting right-handed, moving his OPS from that side of the plate over .800, a far cry from the hopeless at-bats Castro took against lefties the second half of 2024.
–Jonah Bride looks cooked, missing hittable pitches and running his hitless streak to 24 at-bats. There’s a good hitter somewhere in there, but the Twins could use his roster spot a lot more efficiently right now. The combination of Edouard Julien and Jose Miranda being ineffective with Lewis and Luke Keaschall getting hurt have all conspired to keep Bride’s spot on the team.
What’s Next: David Festa (1-1, 4.76 ERA) takes on the Reds and Andrew Abbott (6-1, 1.87 ERA) in the bandbox known as Great American Ballpark. The Reds have been playing well lately and Abbott is trying to strengthen his case for his first All-Star appearance. By the way, Abbott is a lefty. Festa looked great his last time out against the Rangers, pitching deep (for him) into the game in the one win they had in that Texas series. Festa establishing himself as a reliable starter every fifth day would go a long ways towards the Twins surviving the next 90 days without Lopez.
Postgame Interviews:
Bullpen Usage Chart:
WED
THU
FRI
SAT
SUN
TOT
Durán
13
0
0
20
21
54
Wentz
0
38
0
0
0
38
Varland
16
0
0
0
22
38
Sands
0
26
0
0
12
38
Jax
0
0
17
13
0
30
Stewart
13
0
0
0
10
23
Coulombe
0
1
19
0
0
20
Topa
0
0
16
0
0
16