Image courtesy of © Matt Krohn-Imagn Images
The Weekly Nutshell:
After getting shredded by Cy Young front-runner Tarik Skubal to close out the previous week, the Twins couldn’t snap out of their offensive funk in Miami, scoring just three runs in three games to drop yet another series. They returned to Target Field for a nine-game home stand to close out the first half, desperately needing to get on track against a very tough opponent in the Rays.
The Twins made it happen. Back-to-back walk-off wins on Friday and Saturday secured their first series win in a month. And they put forth a good effort at the sweep on Sunday, coming back from multiple deficits before running out of gas in the 10th. It wasn’t always pretty, but Minnesota hung in there with one of the top contenders in the American League, and that’s a welcome development following several straight weeks of nonstop losing and frequent beatdowns.Â
Weekly Snapshot: Mon, 6/30 through Sun, 7/6
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Record Last Week: 3-3 (Overall: 43-47)
Run Differential Last Week: -4 (Overall: -18)
Standing: 2nd Place in AL Central (13.5 GB)Â
Last Week’s Game Results:
Game 85 | MIA 2, MIN 0: Offense Remains Dormant in Second Straight Shutout Loss
Twins hitters: 2 H, 1 BB, 9 K
Game 86 | MIN 2, MIA 1: Twins Squeeze Past Marlins Behind More Strong Pitching
Woods Richardson: 5 IP, 1 ER, 2 H
Game 87 | MIA 4, MIN 1: Another No-Show from Lineup Leads to Another Series Loss
Twins hitters: 1 XBH, 1 BB, 10 K, 0-5 RISP
Game 88 | MIN 4, TB 3: Bader’s Second Home Run of the Day Walks It Off in Ninth
Game 89 | MIN 6, TB 5: Lee’s Walk-Off Bunt Wins It After Clemens Shocks Twins Back to Life
Clemens: Game-tying 3-R HR
Game 90 | TB 7, MIN 5: Twins Show Plenty of Fight But Fall Short in Finale Against Rays
Topa: 1 IP, 3 R (1 ER), E
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NEWS & NOTES
The Twins placed Bailey Ober on the injured list with a right hip impingement, running out of alternatives after Ober went 0-5 with a 9.00 ERA in June and showed no real signs of course-correcting. It seems like the plan is to give him a breather up until the All-Star break and then re-evaluate, since there is no compelling option to take his place for any extended length of time.
The Twins called up Kody Funderburk to fill in as an interim extra reliever, and then swapped him out for Travis Adams who worked as the bulk pitcher in his major-league debut on Saturday. Adams filled the strike zone, as advertised, but struggled to miss bats, striking out only one of the 20 hitters he faced in four innings of work. He paid the price, giving up five earned runs on nine hits, but to his credit Adams did enough to keep Minnesota alive in a game they eventually managed to win.
Jonah Bride, who’d been designated for assignment to make room for Royce Lewis at the start of the week, was outrighted to St. Paul after clearing waivers and joined the Saints. In his first week back with the Twins, Lewis started five of six games – notably, all at third base instead of DH – and went 5-for-19 with a double and two RBIs. He still doesn’t look entirely comfortable or stable in the batter’s box, but Lewis is putting the ball in play and at least getting some results. Usage-wise, the Twins don’t seem too inclined to take it easy on him coming off the multiple hammy strains.
In a much deserved honor, Byron Buxton was named to his second All-Star Game at week’s end. He celebrated earlier in the day by launching a leadoff homer to open up the finale against Tampa, his 20th home run of the season, and later added his 16th steal. He’ll be Minnesota’s lone rep (as of now) at an exhibition set to take place in Atlanta, his hometown neck of the woods, a week from Tuesday. The Buxton season we’ve all been waiting for has been a major morale lifter in a largely disappointing first half for the Twins.Â
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HIGHLIGHTS
The silver lining of their series loss in Miami was that Minnesota’s pitching staff looked very strong as it continues to round back into form following a brutal month of June. Simeon Woods Richardson led the way in a 2-1 victory on Wednesday, allowing just one solo homer in five innings before the Twins threw all their top relievers – Brock Stewart, Louis Varland, Danny Coulombe, Griffin Jax, Jhoan Durán – to shut down the final four frames and lock in a much-needed dub. It was a prototype for winning that we saw frequently in May but rarely since.
Right now, Woods Richardson is doing pretty much exactly the same thing that earned him so much good will as a rookie last year: saving the back end of the rotation right when the team needs it. Things were spiraling out of control after Pablo López and Zebby Matthews went down, and SWR fanned the flames by getting crushed in his first start back, but he has since posted a 1.71 ERA with only one home run allowed in four starts, completing at least five innings in each.
David Festa gave up three runs in the first inning of his start on Thursday, but rebounded to finish with four earned in six-plus innings of work, striking out seven. He’s answering the call for this rotation by pitching deeper into games, working at least into the sixth inning four times in his past six starts. Altogether another encouraging step forward for the young righty.Â
Chris Paddack was solid against Tampa on Friday (5 IP, 2 ER), which is all we can really ask of him. Joe Ryan was customarily excellent in his two starts, allowing three runs in 13 innings but receiving pitifully little run support in two eventual losses for the team. Ryan wasn’t on the initial All-Star roster unveiled on Sunday, but could easily be named as an injury or usage replacement in the coming days. He very much deserves it.
The Twins needed all hands on deck to squeak out tight wins, capturing three consecutive victories in one-run margins after having dropped the previous nine straight. That meant starters keeping them in games and relievers stepping up late. The top bullpen arms all played a role in nursing a tight one-run lead on Wednesday, and Varland fired two perfect innings on Friday to set up a walk-off win in the ninth, then another scoreless ninth in a tie game on Sunday.Â
Varland has quietly been the hero of the Twins relief corps, handling a massive workload and consistently getting the job done. He gave up three home runs in April but hasn’t surrendered one since. Over his past 26 appearances Varland has allowed just two earned runs for a 0.69 ERA that ranks fifth-best in baseball.Â
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On Saturday it was Durán pulling extra duty, pushing through two innings and keeping Tampa off the board to set the stage for another walk-off. Earlier in the week he breezed through a 1-2-3 ninth with a one-run lead to pick up his 13th save in 15 attempts. Durán, like Varland, has been a linchpin in the Twins bullpen – he hasn’t allowed multiple runs in an appearance all year, with a 1.56 ERA that certainly puts him in the realm of All-Star consideration alongside Ryan. (Varland honestly deserves a look too, but it’s tough out there for middle relievers.)
In a generally rough week for the lineup, the big hits and big moments counted extra. Harrison Bader lifted the Twins in a huge way on Friday with his two-homer game, sending the team home when he laced a line drive into the left field bleachers. On Sunday, Bader entered as a pinch-hitter in the eighth with the Twins down two, and he did it again, yanking a two-run homer just inside the foul pole to tie the game. A legendary week of heroics. Already Bader is cementing himself as one of the best free-agent signings in franchise history, and I’ve gotta admit, I did not at all see that coming.Â
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Brooks Lee got plenty of adulation for his well-executed walk-off squeeze bunt on Saturday, but the dramatic play was only made possible by Kody Clemens‘ game-tying three-run homer with two outs in the sixth, jolting the Twins back from the dead. Clemens has cracked 10 homers in 51 games since joining the Twins in early May, and a great many of them have been very meaningful – this one more than most. Again, yeah, did not see that coming.
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LOWLIGHTS
Another punchless week from Carlos Correa, who was showing some signs of coming alive with a pair of homers in late June. In the first week of July he had no extra-base hits, with just one RBI on four singles in 18 at-bats. Watching the entire lineup sputter along as Correa makes zero noise in the heart of the order is quite demoralizing.Â
Aaron Gleeman wrote at The Athletic last week about the disappearance of Correa’s “clutch factor,” for which he was so renowned in Houston. As Aaron notes, Correa has been one of the worst hitters in the league with runners in scoring position during his time in Minnesota, and especially with two outs.Â
His Twins-era lack of clutchness was on clear display over the weekend. On Friday, Correa went 0-for-4 as cleanup hitter. In the fourth of those fruitless at-bats, during the seventh inning, he came up with the bases loaded and two outs in a 3-3 contest, facing a left-hander in Garrett Cleavinger. Correa got blown away, striking out on three pitches to drop to 0-for-10 this year with the bases full. On Sunday he struck out twice with the tying run in scoring position, waving at a slider about a foot outside the zone in the second of those. These are bad, non-competitive at-bats with really high stakes. Save for a few small flashes, Correa just looks incapable of fighting his way out of this.
By contrast, high-leverage performance has been the only thing stopping Ty France‘s first season as a Twin from being an outright disaster. He’s slashing .329/.364/.402 with runners in scoring position, but has twice as many plate appearances with the bases empty, where his line is .210/.272/.318. France went 1-for-13 this past week, has an OPS around .600 over the past month, and is increasingly ceding playing time at first base to Clemens against righties.Â
The Twins have got to find some answers offensively. It’s hard to conceive that staying committed to France at first base is part of the solution. They’re more or less powerless over whether guys like Correa and Lewis can find a spark, but the front office can find ways to power up one of the most offense-oriented positions on the field, whether that means looking externally at the trade deadline, or – more likely – within.
TRENDING STORYLINE
With France’s value fading and his playing time being reduced, the door could be open for a different righty-swinging first baseman to enter the mix. On Thursday, Aaron Sabato hit his third home run in three weeks since being promoted to Triple-A, muscling a high fastball the other way for a 425-foot bomb. He’s batting .300 with an .882 OPS in 18 games as a Saint, and Sabato keeps on showing the traits that have fueled his remarkable resurrection as a prospect: he’s taking good ABs, putting the ball in play, and making loud contact consistently.
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The upcoming All-Star break is often a time for teams to re-evaluate and retool for the final 10 weeks. What do the Twins do with France? That’s not necessarily a straightforward question to answer. As mentioned, France has been somewhat productive thanks to some well-timed hits – he’s second on the team in RBIs (42) and his league-leading 14 HBPs are helping keep his on-base percentage afloat despite a bottom-tier walk rate.Â
But there’s just no upside here, and that was the entire problem with signing France to begin with. His OPS is almost exactly the same as it was last year, when his production was bad enough that no team gave him a guaranteed contract over the winter. This is exactly what we should’ve expected, and it’s not good enough. However they go about it, improving at first base is an essential priority for the Twins as they attempt to conjure enough offensive punch to be a legit threat in the second half.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Twins close out the pre-break schedule with a pair of interleague matchups at home, starting with a Cubs team that is among the league’s best. If they could find a way to go 5-1 they’d move above the .500 mark for the break, which would offer some level of reassurance as they regroup for the second half. But a winning week feels more or less imperative.Â
The Twins starter for Friday’s opener against the Pirates is currently TBD, but as of now I’m presuming they’ll follow a similar plan as they did on Saturday, with Adams operating as the bulk guy in a bullpen game.
TUESDAY, JULY 8: CUBS @ TWINS — LHP Shota Imanaga v. RHP Simeon Woods Richardson
WEDNESDAY, JULY 9: CUBS @ TWINS — RHP Cade Horton v. RHP David Festa
THURSDAY, JULY 10: CUBS @ TWINS — RHP Colin Rea v. RHP Chris Paddack
FRIDAY, JULY 11: PIRATES @ TWINS — RHP Mike Burrows v. TBD
SATURDAY, JULY 12: PIRATES @ TWINS — RHP Paul Skenes v. RHP Joe Ryan
SUNDAY, JULY 13: PIRATES @ TWINS — LHP Andrew Heaney v. RHP Simeon Woods Richardson