It’s freezing outside, the Minnesota Vikings are playing and only one player from the Opening Day lineup started on Saturday night, so it’s completely understandable if you’ve checked out on the Minnesota Twins as the season comes to a close.
But the Twins have played better of late, winning their last five games to bring their record to 77-84 with one game left after Saturday’s 8-3 win over the Chicago White Sox.
And if you’ve watched a Twins game any time in the last 15 years or so, Sunday might be a landmark game.
If you have to ask why, just look around.
Joe Mauer celebrated his potential retirement-eve with a pair of hits and a walk, Jorge Polanco (3-for-5), Willians Astudillo (2-for-5) and Johnny Field (2-for-4) all had multi-hit games and Kyle Gibson capped his breakout age-30 season by tossing six solid innings, fanning seven batters while allowing just one earned run on three hits.
For the second game in a row, the Twins jumped a White Sox starter out of the gate and sent him to an early shower. This time, it was lefty Carlos Rodon, whose success earlier in the season was foretold by some iffier peripherals that suggested that he wasn’t quite pitching as well as his ERA indicated.
That ERA came crashing down like a piano from a third-story window, as the Twins pushed across eight earned runs in just an inning-plus against the young lefty, who closes his season with a 4.18 ERA but while being in good health.
After missing much of the season following shoulder surgery, simply being healthy is a huge boon for the 25-year-old lefty’s future.
The White Sox actually struck first in Saturday’s game, as Omar Narvaez singled home Daniel Palka with two outs in the opening frame.
The lead was short-lived, as Mauer opened the bottom half with a walk, moved to second on a Polanco single, moved to third on a Robbie Grossman walk and scored when Jake Cave poked a double to right.
The big damage came in the second, as the first six batters reached before Rodon was lifted by manager Rick Renteria. Jeanmar Gomez took over and stopped the bleeding, but not before allowing all three of his inherited runners to score to give the Twins an 8-1 lead.
Field opened the inning with a double, followed by a Chris Gimenez walk. Mauer singled to left-center, Polanco followed with a single of his own and Willians Astudillo drilled a double to left that chased Mauer home. Grossman picked up his second walk in as many innings, and that was the final straw for Rodon, who faced 13 batters but recorded just three outs.
Gomez, Aaron Bummer and Thyago Vieira clamped down to throw eight innings while not allowing any earned runs — outside of the Rodon runners — with six strikeouts and just five hits allowed, but Gibson, Trevor Hildenberger, Gabriel Moya and Matt Belisle took care of business, allowing just three runs — only one earned — all night.
“I said pregame he’s been a reliable starter, taken the ball, given us a chance so it’s nice to see him end with a win.”
“One thing that really stands out — when I got to the mound, Robbie Grossman was coming off second base and he said ‘Keep attacking. Nobody really wants to swing out here tonight,'” Gibson said. “With the cold weather, it’s something that just kind of refocused me a little bit. Especially a team like this that you face so many times, you can try to get too cute and trick guys and throw sliders and off-speed pitches by them to throw the one they’re not looking for.
“When it comes down to it, not many people want to hit inside fastballs for sure and fastballs in general. I think it really kind of focused me back in and got me back into attack mode a little.
And while it came in the midst of a trying season for the team, Gibson did have some thoughts on a breakout season of his own.
“Overall it was just the mentality I was able to keep,” he said. “Kind of the beauty of having your priorities straight and having a good, confident mentality is one start, whether it’s good or bad, isn’t going to take you too high or too low. I could have had another year like last year and hopefully my mentality would have stayed the same.
“You try to stay focused on the things outside of baseball that really matter and understand that one outing or one pitch or one inning doesn’t change who your identity should be on the mound or off the mound. Overall, stuff like that is what allowed me to keep a consistent mindset.”
While the potential of finishing 78-84 wouldn’t have delighted any Twins fans six months ago when the season started, there are some signs of life with this club.
First of all, the team is 14-13 in September. After being left for dead in the middle of the season following a brutal stretch against both Chicago teams and Milwaukee, the Twins haven’t done their typical September fade.
Here’s how this year’s September compares to some other recent losing seasons:
- 2018: 14-13
- 2016: 8-19
- 2014: 11-15
- 2013: 8-20
- 2012: 13-15 (and 0-3 in October)
- 2011: 6-20
In fact, since going 8-14 in April, the Twins have been remarkably consistent the rest of the way, somehow:
- May: 13-15
- June: 13-14
- July: 14-13
- August: 14-14
- September: 14-13
There’ll be a lot of change with the club this offseason, and it very likely will start at the top. Most of the highest-paid players won’t be back — Mauer and Ervin Santana come to mind — and it’s worth wondering how the Twins will handle the Molitor contract situation with two years left.
But not completely folding in September has to be worth something. Even if fans checked out, the players clearly did not.
It isn’t much, but that’s something to hang their hats on after Sunday’s game.
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Notes
- Mauer’s multi-hit game was his 42nd of the season.
- The Twins moved to 11-7 against the White Sox this season, and 48-32 at Target Field.
- Gibson set a career-high mark with 196.2 innings and also with 177 strikeouts.
- The White Sox are just 3-11 over their last 14 games against AL Central foes.
- Narvaez left the game with lower-back stiffness.
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