Rays 8, Twins 6: Minnesota Bullpen Blows Liriano's Gem
by Jesse on Jul 4, 2010 6:17 AM EDT
in Game Recaps
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PrintTampa Bay explodes for seven runs in the eighth.
I stayed up to watch this game last night, from the UK. Why? It was a Francisco Liriano start, that's why. And he didn't disappoint.
Liriano struck out ten over seven innings, including the side in the fifth, Evan Longoria on four straight sliders in the sixth, and every single Rays starter at least once. Tampa did manage to fight for a few extended at-bats, but other than a manufactured run in the third this was a team that was owned by the Minnesota ace.
And Cisco wasn't the only star of the night for your division-leading squad. Jim Thome bounced back nicely from an 0-for-6 performance in his last two starts (which included five strikeouts) by slamming solo shots in back-to-back plate appearances early in the contest. His first, a low and away fastball from Wade Davis, was punched over the left field wall for an opposite-field blast showing exactly how powerful Thome can be when putting good wood on the ball. His second was an uppercut into the left-center field bullpen.
In the bottom of the ninth Thome followed up a Michael Cuddyer double with one of this own, charting his third RBI of the night. Unfortunately, inbetween the second home run and the double, Liriano departed the contest. He left holding a 4-1 lead, with the normally reliable Alex Burnett taking the hill.
Burnett lasted all of two batters, both reaching. His replacement, Jose Mijares, allowed a double before being removed. Matt Guerrier allowed the fourth and fifth hitters of the inning to reach before finally picking up the first out, but by then the game was tied. A couple of batters later, Matt Joyce silenced the Target Field crowd by launching a dagger of a grand slam to straight away center field. Denard Span ran out of room as the ball barely cleared the fence, and Joyce's first home run will be one for him (and Rays fans) to remember.
The Twins rally in the ninth fell two runs short, and for the second time in three games the Twins bullpen has blown a late lead. Against good offenses like the Rays it's going to happen from time to time but twice in this series, in a big series against a team that will likely be heading to October, it stings a little bit more. Bullpens are never perfect. You'd just prefer them to prove reliable against quality teams.
This has been bad timing for implosions.
- All four hits the Rays had off Liriano last night came off his fastball. On balls in play, the Rays were 0-for-11 against his slider and 0-for-2 against the changeup.
- Every two-strike at-bat for the Rays was converted into an out by Liriano.
- 22% of Liriano's strikes garnered a swing and a miss last night, and ramp that up to 30% overall. The man was on fire.
- Jim Thome's two home runs allwed him to leap frog Harmon Killebrew into solo possession of ninth place all-time on the career home run list, with 574. He's now just nine away from Mark McGwire, and considering Thome's now blasted five homers since June 19 McGwire's 583 suddenly doesn't seem so far away.
- Thome also leap frogged Delmon Young last night, and is now tied for second on the Twins with 10 home runs along with Jason Kubel.
- Justin Morneau's home run last night was his 17th.
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same story here
decided to stay up for the game to watch it from germany and saw a great performance by Liriano thinking that he should get to pitch the 8th as well, since it didnt look like he was going to run into much trouble, only to be disappointed by the relievers not being effective enough to hold the lead…
it is clear that the bullpen isnt going to be perfect in each and every game (and on other accounts of Bad starts they actually shut out the other teams and helped us come from behind to get some wins already this season) so I am not overly disappointed or worried about them, yet it was definitely unfortunate that it came together for all three of the guys used in the 8th at the same time.
oh well, the season is still long and nothing is lost
by twinscrazy_german on Jul 4, 2010 7:39 AM EDT reply actions
+1
That’s pretty much where I’m at with it too.
And it’s good to see I’m not the only European-locked displaced Twins fan!
well I am From germany, but having spend a year in MN become quite the MN sports geek.
but european locked sounds about right… if only college wasnt so expensive in the us, I would be over there by now
by twinscrazy_german on Jul 4, 2010 7:57 AM EDT up reply actions
Guerrier
Gardenhire was clearly hesitant to use Guerrier. He should have left him in the bullpen, Guerrier put the ball on a tee.
He looked like the Matty of 2008
Everything was belt-high in the middle of the plate with no life or movement. It looked like BP out there. Even the outs were crushed.
He needs to take a 15-day sabbatical to the DL so we can get a fresh arm up here.
"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot
Well that was disappointing.
Can’t give the Rays second chances these days. Oh well, time to move on. At least Gardy owned up to it. Maybe he’ll use Duensing more now.
The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. ~ Terence Mann
can't put this on Gardy
except for maybe should have kept francisco in for longer, but guerrier has been very relieable this season and i would have trusted him to get out of the jam if i was Gardenhire.
everyone is going to have a bad day eventually, it happens. that’s why this is not a 16 game -season
by twinscrazy_german on Jul 4, 2010 9:29 AM EDT up reply actions
Liriano had thrown 103 pitches and was dominating
Considering the state of the bullpen, the decision to give him another inning would have been pretty easy to me. That’s on Gardy.
"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot
Crawford's first inning AB was huge.
Even though Liriano eventually got him on a K, he made Franchise throw twelve pitches. If he had been at 96 instead of 103, he probably comes out for the 8th and the Twins win the game.
Gardy knew it was a bad idea
He and Anderson were trying to avoid Guerrier at all costs.
Duensing
Already has the second-most innings in the pen. Don’t want to wear him out.
Do you want to know the terrifying truth, or do you want to see me sock a few dingers?
by natetheskate on Jul 4, 2010 11:12 AM EDT up reply actions
I was going to say
He had just pitched four days in a row.
"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot
Burnett and Guerrier
have both been iffy lately, and that’s before we even get to Rauch. Since 6/18, Burnett has only managed 2.0 IP, giving up 7 hits, 2 walks and 4 runs. And in those five appearances, he has gotten no more than one out. Part of this is his performance (e.g., 2 hits and a walk in New York), part of it is Gardy’s desire to play the matchups (two one batter outings where he got the out). Alex was most effective when he was used an inning at a time. We need to get him back to that.
Guerrier has been quite hittable over the last week, 10 hits, 2 walks, 6 runs in 4.1 innings, including a couple home runs. Part of this may very well be workload and a dead arm, 38 appearances and who knows how many other warmups in the pen. But it’s also at least partially a regression in luck. Guerrier has always been a guy whose ERA outperforms his FIP/xFIP (3.36 vs 4.43/4.40 career), but his BABIP and HR/FB were very low, have to expect those to bounce back some.
Going forward, getting Guerrier some rest and moving Burnett to the back of the bullpen where he can regain confidence pitching the 6th and/or 7th innings would help. I’m fine with Duensing getting more 8th inning high leverage work, he’s been real good. Heck, even Crain has been good lately, no runs allowed in his last 8 appearances dating back to 6/10. And last night’s double was the first hit Mijares has allowed over six appearances, since 6/13. There are other options for Gardy right now.
Imagine
Condrey will come up and replace Burnett after the all-star break.
Then the Twins have to make decisions about arbitration/free agent guys that they don’t want to offer arbitration to (and thus, not get draft picks) like Crain, Rauch and Guerrier (and Mahay and Condrey) and trade a couple of them and hope that someone can move up to the closer role (if Rauch goes…he could nab a couple of good prospects if a team needs a closer). With Neshek, Waldrop, Slama in the wings, you’d think two (especially if you add Burnett abck into the mix) will come thru with flying colors and repalce two of the overpriced veterans.
Visit www.TwinsCards.com and check out "rosters" to see my collection!
Congrats to Thome for passing Killer
Great game by The Franchise. I’m proud of the way the offense stayed in this to the bitter end, chipping away at the 4 run lead in the bottom o’ the 9th. The bullpen really sucked last night, reminded me of 2009.
"Don't take life for granted, because tomorrow isn't promised to any one of us." -Kirby Puckett
"Now I am become Mod, the destroyer of bad words." -fischean
by less cowbell, more 'neau on Jul 4, 2010 12:08 PM EDT reply actions
Definitely on Gardy
This loss is not on the players, but on the Manager. The team was cruising along nicely through the seventh inning and Lariano should have come out to pitch the eighth. Lariano should no signs of being tired. If taking out Lariano weren’t disastrous enough, Gardy takes out Kubel, moves Cuddyer out to right to miss-play a flyball, which was not his fault after seven innings at third, then inserting Punto’s weak bat! Over-managing, strategic blunder, or just plain stubbornness, cost the Twins a victory.
What would you do with the rest of your life if you knew that you could not fail?
i dont like taking lirano out, but i dont see how putting a better defender in at 3rd and replacing a bad by a slightly better RF is a bad decision. we needed defense, not offense at that point
by twinscrazy_german on Jul 4, 2010 12:32 PM EDT up reply actions
No.
It’s on the players. It’s the bullpen’s job to shut the door, and they couldn’t do it. Any of them.
Besides, if Liriano had come out for the 8th and then unravelled, everyone would be crucifying Gardenhire.
+35
"Don't take life for granted, because tomorrow isn't promised to any one of us." -Kirby Puckett
"Now I am become Mod, the destroyer of bad words." -fischean
by less cowbell, more 'neau on Jul 4, 2010 1:03 PM EDT up reply actions
CB Buckner Just Handed the Tigers a Loss
Way to get help from the MLB fron office with the strikezone Twinkies!
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