Hector Santiago twirled 6.1 solid innings and was backed up by three of his finest bullpen chums as the Twins shut out the White Sox 6-0 Saturday night at U.S. Cellular Field. The Twins jumped on the formerly formidable James Shields with five earned runs over seven innings, and his offense mustered just four hits total in a rarely-seen drubbing at the hands of Minnesota.
Juan Centeno of all people was the only player on either side with a multi-hit game, as he cracked a double apiece off Shields and reliever Michael Ynoa. Outside of a couple of home runs — one from Byron Buxton and another from Jorge Polanco — it was a pretty quiet night for both offenses, as the teams combined to strike out 19 times.
Here’s what we saw from our vantage point:
Buxton continues to roll
He hit another home run — his ninth of the season and eighth in September. He also walked again and came out of the game hitting a non-terrible .221/.280/.415. Also encouraging was that he saw 21 pitches in four plate appearances — a solid 5.25 per time to bat. He also scored half of the Twins runs and flashes some wheels when he came around to score on both of Centeno’s doubles in the seventh inning and again in the ninth.
The Twins pitching staff looked very solid
Santiago sliced and diced through the White Sox lineup for 6.1 innings, scattering three hits with three walks as he threw 108 pitches (70 strikes). With three walks but still a more than 2-to-1 strike-ball ratio, Santiago wasn’t terribly wild, but just wild enough to keep White Sox hitters off balance. The six strikeouts also matched his best mark as a Twin, as he also fanned six White Sox back on Sept. 3 — also at The Cell. Santiago also got 10 swinging strikes on his 108 pitches, which marks the third time in 11 starts with the Twins that he’s registered double digits in that respect. For a final act, Santiago was pretty impressive. It should be all but guaranteed the Twins tender him a deal this offseason, though they could still look to trade him.
Not only was Santiago silky smooth, but he was backed by 2.2 shutout innings of relief from Buddy Boshers, J.T. Chargois and Brandon Kintzler. That trio combined to allow just one baserunner with three strikeouts over the final eight outs recorded. Chargois again has been impressive, as he’s now down to a 4.70 season ERA, and an ERA of 2.84 in September/October with a 13-3 K/BB ratio in 12.2 innings. I still think Ryan Pressly should get the first crack to close next year, but Chargois could be in that discussion, and quickly.
Big Miggy got down and dirty on the defensive side
I still believe he can be a fine defensive third baseman if he can hone the skills and just focus enough. Plays like this give me even more confidence.
That was on Carlos Sanchez, as Sano dove to his left, got up and fired a seed to get him by a full stride. To put it not to delicately, it was a hell of a play. He also made a nifty pick up to start a 5-4-3 double play later in the game against Jose Abreu.
Shields is a disaster
The Twins got to him for a pair of home runs, and he finished the season with a 5.85 ERA and a 6.77 mark since coming over from the Padres. Worse yet is that he’ll opt back into his deal, which’ll pay him $21 million over the next two years — with some help coming from San Diego — before he gets a $2 million buyout for 2019. The two home runs he allowed got him to 40 on the season. That’s a mark reached only once by any pitcher since 2010, when Bronson Arroyo allowed 46 home runs at the launchpad known as Great American Ballpark back in 2011.
In short, it’s rarified air — kind of like Coors Field.
The Twins didn’t get much done against Ynoa — whose brother Huascar is in the Minnesota farm system — over the final two innings, though: one hit, one earned run, three strikeouts and no walks.
Neither offense was all that good
Not only did they combine to strike out 19 times, but they only combined for nine hits total. Basically speaking, the teams combined to hit just .143 in the game (9-for-63), though six walks do take a little sting out of it. That’s still just a meager .217 OBP, however.
Dozier checks out
Dozier left in the seventh inning with right oblique soreness, and told the St. Paul Pioneer Press Twins reporter Mike Berardino that he felt it grab during his first plate appearance of the game, and decided he just had to get out of there. “I might be from Mississippi but I ain’t dumb,” Dozier told Berardino. “I always play through injuries…but this was one where I didn’t want to push it. There’s no sense in that.” There’s no telling what a night of rest will do, but based on Berardino’s tweets Saturday night, it doesn’t seem terribly likely Dozier will be in the lineup in the finale.
Bombing the Cell
The Twins hit two home runs Saturday night to get to 197 on the season, which is the third-highest total in club history.
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Up Next: RHP Jose Berrios vs. LHP Chris Sale – 2:10 p.m. Sunday, U.S. Cellular Field
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Notes
- The White Sox announced that manager Robin Ventura will not be brought back for next season, and the expectation is that former Cubs manager Rick Renteria will be named the next manager. Renteria, who was a utility infielder on the expansion Florida Marlins back in 1993, managed the Cubs in 2014 before joining the White Sox staff this year as bench coach.
- With one game left on his managerial ledger, Ventura’s record sits at 375-434 (.464) through five season.
- By comparison, Paul Molitor is at 141-182 (.437).
- There have been 5,491 pitchers to throw at least 50 innings in a season since 2000. Only five have worse ERA marks than Berrios’ present mark of 8.61. One is former Twin Joe Mays at 8.70 in 2006, and another is Sean Bergman who had a 9.66 mark with the Twins. And standing alone atop the list? None other than Roy Halladay, who in 2000 had a 10.64 ERA in 67.2 innings with the Jays. He turned out OK, I think.
