Jake Odorizzi was chased after four, Jorge Polanco’s home run was the only run scored by the Twins, and the defense had three errors. The pitching may have been enough to win, but the offense and defensive performance certainly weren’t up to snuff. Overall, tonight was a bad game, but the Twins have three more to bounce back with in Kansas City.
Odorizzi: 4 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 66% strikes (X of X pitches)
Bullpen: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
Home Runs: Jorge Polanco (11)
Multi-Hit Games: Cron (2-3)
WPA of +0.1: None
WPA of -0.1: Schoop -.111, Odorizzi -.223
Active First Inning
The Twins opened tonight’s scoring with a Jorge Polanco solo home run to right field in the second at-bat of the game. The Royals would answer in their half of the first with three runs off of singles by Whit Merrifield and Nicky Lopez, a double by Alex Gordon, and a single by Lucas Duda, following a very interesting fielder’s choice to put Cheslor Cuthbert on third base.
Odorizzi Chased After Four
Jake Odorizzi had an uncharacteristically bad start tonight, giving up four runs in four innings. Outside of the first, the Royals scored one more on a single, sac bunt, and double in the fourth. Odorizzi has been the Twins best starter this season and been in talks for the AL Cy Young Award. In his last seven starts before tonight, he had an ERA of 1.77, 47 strikeouts, and has won six without a loss.
Tonight may have been a product of the fact that this is the second start in a row that Odorizzi had against the Kansas City Royals. He faced them on Saturday and gave up four over six innings.
Defense Has Another Bad Day
The Minnesota Twins defense had another bad night with three errors in the field, One throw into the head of Alex Gordon, one ball booted by Willians Astudillo at third, and another grounder missed by Jonathan Schoop at second. This means the Twins have now committed 14 errors in their last 10 games.
One bright spot for this defense is the number of double plays turned. They turned four behind Twins pitchers tonight. Also, their errors only resulted in one run as both Astudillo and Schoop’s missed grounders were stranded.
Kohl Stewart Pitches Well Out of the Bullpen
After the Twins’ marathon 17 inning game on Tuesday, a short start from Jake Odorizzi was the last thing Rocco Baldelli and the Twins wanted, but Kohl Stewart saved the rest of the bullpen by pitching the game after Odorizzi was pulled. Stewart went four innings, surrendered just two hits, and allowed no runs.
Offense Only Manages One Run
It’s been a year where the Twins have been able to overcome some poor pitching performances, but this is the second time in four days that the offense has squandered a pretty decent pitching performance. On Monday, they were unable to manage even one run against the Red Sox and tonight was not much better.
Following Polanco’s home run in the first, the Twins could not manage any extra- base hits and had only one at-bat with runners in scoring position. Their hits were all spread over the innings and when they hit the ball well, they seemed to go right at Kansas City fielders.
Of course credit has to go to the Royals pitching, but the Twins offense just didn’t show up for the first game of this road trip. Hopefully they figure it out before tomorrow.
Postgame With Baldelli
Bullpen Usage
Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: