Minnesota Twins Pitching Implodes, Mets Reap Rewards

Minnesota Twins pitching had quite the meltdown on Wednesday.

During the fifth inning of the Twins/Mets game Wednesday, the Minnesota Twins pitching had a meltdown, the Mets did something that hasn’t been done in 25 years, and a rookie manager may have learned a lesson.

With the Twins leading the Mets 1-0, Jake Odorizzi allowed a single to Jeff McNeil and then proceeded to walk two batters to load the bases. A lucky wild pitch and bounce from the backstop allowed catcher Mitch Garver to throw McNeil out at third, but Odorizzi walked Noah Syndergaard to reload the bases.

Here the Twins sat, two outs and the bases loaded in a one-run game, and rookie manager Rocco Baldelli summoned for Andrew Vasquez, a pitcher who had just been called up from Triple-A.

Vasquez first hit Brandon Nimmo with a pitch, then walked Pete Alonso, and then walked Robinson Cano on four straight pitches. Each time a run scored. Vasquez was taken out with the bases still loaded and the Mets leading 3-1.

Trevor Hildenberger was brought in. He walked the first batter he faced and then gave up a two run single. When it was done, the Mets were leading 6-1 and had done something that hadn’t happened in in 25 years.

That’s right, they had seven consecutive batters either walk or get hit by a pitch. While the score may have been 6-1, the Mets only had two hits in the game.

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Per La Velle E. Neal III, Baldelli said that the situation was exactly why Vasquez was brought up. That may be so. But his mettle can be tested in many other situations, not a one-run game with the bases loaded. Two on and a two run lead, bases loaded and a three run lead, whatever, but not with the game on the line.

Vasquez may have a good slider, as Baldelli said, and he may have been called up for high leverage situations, but his small sample size of career big league numbers suggests otherwise. In 9 games and 5 innings in 2018, Vasquez had an ERA of 7.20 and a WHIP of 1.40.

He also had 7 strikeouts and only 2 walks, which contradicts the outing he had on Wednesday.

I don’t know what Baldelli was looking at, along with pitching coach Wes Johnson, to tell them that Vasquez was the answer. Maybe it was the matchup, maybe it was something they had seen more than a month ago during spring training, before Vasquez was sent to minor league camp. I don’t know. But it was a gamble, and Baldelli lost.

I hope Vasquez isn’t sent down based on that one appearance, because it was the wrong situation for him to be in. He had 5 innings last year and it was his first appearance this year; still a rookie.

As for Baldelli, the Minnesota Twins have gotten off to a good start under his tutelage, sans Wednesday’s game. Perhaps he’s learned from this experience. April is a lot better time to learn than September.