Another disappointing day for the Twins.
After they were blown out by the New York Mets on Monday, the Twins returned to the scene of the crime on Tuesday and struck out 13 times as a team and were shut out on two hits to lose 2-0.
The heart of the order was especially victimized as Byron Buxton, Royce Lewis and Jose Miranda were responsible for 10 of the 13 whiffs; Buck struck out four times.
Twins pitching wasn’t terrible. Rookie hurler David Festa, the “Slim Reaper,” allowed two runs over five innings with six strikeouts. Unfortunately, Festa, to quote radio voice Kris Atteberry, “gift-wrapped” the first run of the game with a walk, a balk, a wild pitch and then served up a single. The second run of the game came via a solo home run.
The Twins will try to salvage the final game of the series on Wednesday. Pablo Lopez gets the ball.
Extra innings…
-The trade deadline has come and gone and with little in return for the Twins. They did not get a starting pitcher as many of us thought they would; instead, the Twins sent a minor league prospect to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for reliever Trevor Richards.
I’m not against the Twins adding a reliever because I felt they did need a little help in that department, and it now makes even more sense after learning reliever Brock Stewart is headed back to the injured list, according to MLB.com.
Still, the deal was underwhelming and shockingly the Twins have jettisoned reliever Josh Staumont by designating him for assignment to make room on the roster. But why Staumont? The Twins had targeted him during the offseason, signed him for a relative bargain at $950,000, and then once healthy, Staumont didn’t allow an earned run until July 12.
-Some details about Richards, according to MLB Trade Rumors:
“Richards’ performance has been inconsistent, as he leaves the Jays with a 4.75 ERA over his 221 2/3 total innings with the team. This season, Richards has a 4.64 ERA in 52 1/3 innings with a subpar 11% walk rate and a 22.5% strikeout rate that is around league average. The latter number is way down from the 31.3K% Richards posted in 2021-23, though his barrel rate is much improved from the previous three seasons.”
MLB Trade Rumors says money is an issue for the Twins.
“Concerns over broadcasting revenue have been a big story for the Twins over the last year, resulting in both a pretty quiet offseason and what had been a quiet deadline push — the Twins were the last team to swing a trade within the week.”
Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey remains confident in the makeup of the team.
“I feel really good about the guys that are in that room,” he told MLB.com. “Hopefully, the fans who have watched our team this year feel that way, too. I don’t think the deadline … is always singlehandedly the difference between whether or not you’re there or not at the end. A lot of it comes from what you already have in the room.”