The recent two-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers is looking less and less impressive these days, particularly after the Twins played, lost and were eventually swept by the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Twins certainly have enough quality pitching to beat the worst teams in baseball, but that’s clearly not the case when the product is more competitive. Both losses to the Brewers showed the Twins need help in the starting rotation and in the bullpen.
In Tuesday’s game, pitching wasn’t a factor at all as both teams slugged it out and took a 6-6 tie into the ninth inning. I hate to say it, but that’s when I shut the game off because I knew they weren’t going to win, and they didn’t. Reliever Tyler Duffey surrendered the winning run in the bottom of the ninth and the Twins lost, 7-6.
And then on Wednesday, the enigma known as Chris Archer took the mound and lost, falling to 2-5 with a 4.04 ERA. On paper, those numbers aren’t terrible, but then you look a little deeper and realize just how ineffective he has been. Archer has made 17 starts this season, but only has seven total decisions and two wins. He also has only pitched into the fifth inning three times this season, and he’s walked 37 batters in 69 innings pitched.
Archer was a disaster on Wednesday, allowing six runs in three innings with six walks, the second time this season he has walked that many. He exited the game with the bases loaded and it only went downhill from there, the Twins finally losing 10-4.
The Twins are off Thursday, then start a weekend series Friday against the San Diego Padres. Joe Ryan gets the ball.
Extra innings…
-MLB.com, in a story titled “7 trades contenders need to make,” they point out that the Twins need pitching in the worst way, especially in the bullpen. In the seventh and eighth innings, Twins pitching has an ERA of 4.83, which ranks 28th out of 30 major league teams.
-On July 26, 1970, the Twins were thumped at home by the Baltimore Orioles, 11-1. Boog Powell homered and singled and drove in six runs. The one run scored by the Twins was a home run hit by starting pitcher Jim Perry.
The Minneapolis Tribune game story referred to Perry’s blast as his “annual home run.”
Did he hit at least one home run per season over his career? No, but there was a stretch in his career when he did. From 1966 to 1968, he hit at least one home run, he hit none in 1969 and one in 1970. Perry hit five home runs over his 17-year pitching career.
-And then there was this…
#MNTwins team ERA by month:
April — 3.16 (#2 in AL)
May — 3.64 (#5 in AL)
June — 4.18 (#10 in AL)
July — 5.17 (#14 in AL)Twins' pitching staff ranks 29th out of 30 major-league teams in ERA since the departure of pitching coach Wes Johnson.
— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) July 27, 2022
Sources: MLB.com, Baseball-Reference.com, Newspapers.com