It’s becoming quite clear, especially after another blowout loss (until late) to the Atlanta Braves by a score of 11-7, that the Minnesota Twins pitching depth isn’t playoff material.
With that said, the Minnesota Twins still have a great shot in making it to the playoffs. Unfortunately, compared to other playoff contenders, their pitching is relatively weak. It’s rather puzzling because, on the year, the Twins rank in the top ten in team ERA at 4.07. A positive for the pitching staff is that they’re in one of the weakest divisions in all of baseball. Even the Cleveland Indians have been lacking offensive firepower up until the trade deadline.
Martin Perez struggled quite a bit in today’s contest as he took yet another loss. He has an ERA of just under 6.00 in his last 7 outings. If you’ve missed the last couple of months of baseball, you’d think you’re watching a completely different pitcher named Martin Perez.
Twin Takeaway – The good
Though they got off to a slow start, the offense still managed to push 7 runs across the plate. Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t even close to enough to take the victory in this afternoons contest. Miguel Sano led the way with a 9th inning 3-run blast. Jake Cave also got in on the action at the plate as he mustered a pair of doubles. Let’s hope the 2-4 showing from Cave will get him some confidence at the dish.
The Minnesota Twins defense also had a nice highlight play today in the form of a 5-4-3 triple play. It was the defenses 2nd 5-4-3 triple play of the season and 2nd behind starting pitcher Martin Perez.
How rare are triple plays?
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) August 7, 2019
Well, we just turned our 2nd one in a little over 2 weeks. #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/3KSqGpOMx8
Twin Takeaway – The not-so-good
Not only is it getting frustrating to watch from the perspective of a fan, but it has to be frustrating for the offense as well. Far too often are they let down by the starter or the bullpen giving up a ridiculous amount of runs. Martin Perez continued his ugly second half of the season as he gave up an incredible 11 hits and 3 homers in his 6 innings pitched.
Kohl Stewart, recently recalled from AAA, didn’t perform much better. In his brief 3 innings pitched, he allowed 4 earned runs and gave up a long-ball of his own. The Minnesota Twins need to go back to the well to find some pitching talent that could give them some positive innings. A couple more guys like Devin Smeltzer perhaps?
A massive 4-game series against the Cleveland Indians kicks off tomorrow evening with Kyle Gibson facing Mike Clevinger. The Twins could very well lose their top spot in the division if the pitching doesn’t figure something out, and fast.