Twins’ Postseason Woes Continue as Astros Sweep
For the Astros, their two-game sweep is a little bit of vindication after entering the playoffs with the worst regular season record amongst the American League field — not to mention the lingering skepticism from their sign-stealing scandal. Houston’s bats didn’t carry the load; rather, it was the injury-wracked pitching staff that got them through this short series. A day after Zack Greinke and Framber Valdez shut down the Twins offense, Urquidy and three relievers were just as strong in the series clinching game.
The Astros scored their first run of the game in the fourth on a seeing-eye single off the bat of Kyle Tucker. Twins starter Jose Berrios had looked like he was in complete control through three innings but walked two straight batters with two outs and paid for that lapse in command with a run.
The lone Twins threat came in the fifth inning when they scored their only run. Urquidy started off the inning by allowing a single to Marwin Gonzalez and then struck out Ryan Jeffers. With the top of the Twins lineup coming up, Astros manager Dusty Baker turned to his bullpen, bringing in the left-hander Raley to face the left-handed Luis Arraez and Max Kepler. Arraez walked and Kepler struck out but because of the new three batter rule, Raley had to face Nelson Cruz with two on and two out. After swinging through a hittable inside cutter, Cruz crushed a line drive to left off another cutter that got too much of the plate. Gonzalez scored easily but Arraez was cut down at the plate for the third out, ending the threat. The Twins wouldn’t have another runner in scoring position for the rest of the game.
After their fifth inning mini-rally, the Twins bats fell asleep again. Javier entered the game in the sixth and gave the Astros three innings much in the same vein as Valdez’s bulk frames yesterday. In the last four innings, the Twins recorded seven fly ball outs, none of which were hit hard, and struck out four times. Javier wasn’t sharp — he allowed two harmless walks — but he got the job done with weak contact off the bat and Pressly shut the door.
The Twins simply couldn’t make solid contact off any of the Astros pitchers. They put 17 balls in the air and only a handful had an expected batting average above .500 — their three hits and Alex Kirilloff’s lineout in the ninth. Outside of those four batted balls, it was a bunch of weak fly ball contact that led to their demise.
| Player | Inning | Exit Velocity | Launch Angle | xBA | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nelson Cruz | 1st | 85.5 | 47 | .010 | Flyout |
| Alex Kirilloff | 1st | 88.5 | 26 | .110 | Lineout |
| Jorge Polanco | 2nd | 87.1 | 58 | .000 | Flyout |
| Marwin Gonzalez | 2nd | 72.2 | 42 | .280 | Flyout |
| Max Kepler | 3rd | 90.7 | 42 | .010 | Flyout |
| Eddie Rosario | 4th | 102.3 | 45 | .100 | Flyout |
| Miguel Sano | 4th | 98 | 64 | .000 | Pop Out |
| Alex Kirilloff | 4th | 105.9 | 14 | .700 | Single |
| Marwin Gonzalez | 5th | 76 | 16 | .770 | Single |
| Nelson Cruz | 5th | 114.7 | 18 | .860 | Double |
| Miguel Sano | 6th | 100.2 | 56 | .020 | Flyout |
| Alex Kirilloff | 6th | 89.1 | 47 | .010 | Flyout |
| Marwin Gonzalez | 7th | 91.5 | 40 | .010 | Flyout |
| Ryan Jeffers | 7th | 94.5 | 43 | .010 | Flyout |
| Luis Arraez | 7th | 91.9 | 44 | .010 | Flyout |
| Max Kepler | 8th | 84.5 | 74 | .010 | Pop Out |
| Alex Kirilloff | 9th | 96.3 | 5 | .590 | Lineout |
The Astros took the lead for good off a Carlos Correa solo shot in the seventh inning. Despite posting a .119 ISO during the regular season — a 170 point drop from 2019 — this was Correa’s 12th postseason home run, an impressive accomplishment for the six-year veteran. Houston added an insurance run in the ninth for good measure.
Both teams had reason to be frustrated with the strike zone of home plate umpire Manny Gonzalez; there were some fairly generous strike calls on both sides. A called strike three in the fourth drew the ire of George Springer, who was loudly frustrated with Gonzalez’s call on a pitch that looked like it missed the outside corner by an inch. Numerous other calls inspired both benches to air their grievances. That bubbling frustration came to a head in the sixth when Eddie Rosario thought he had watched ball four go by (the pitch did catch a large portion of the top of the zone). He swung through the next pitch and made a comment to Gonzalez as he was leaving the batter’s box. Gonzalez tossed him from the game on the spot.
Jake Cave replaced Rosario in the lineup and had a chance to get a rally started in the eighth with a runner on first. In a full count, he swung through a pitch well above the strike zone killing any hopes of a late-inning comeback.
In something of a hollow victory for Twins fans, Alex Kirilloff showed off why he’s such a highly regarded prospect. He became the first player to make his major league debut by starting a postseason game and collected his first postseason hit in the fourth, a line drive single to right; in a fun statistical oddity, his first major league hit will likely come sometime during 2021 regular season since postseason stats are counted separately. He also made a few nice catches in right showing off good range and instincts in the field.
The Astros will await the winner of the A’s/White Sox series. That Division Series is scheduled to start on Monday, October 5 in Los Angeles with Dodger Stadium playing host to all five games.
Jake Mailhot is a contributor to FanGraphs. A long-suffering Mariners fan, he also writes about them for Lookout Landing. Follow him on Twitter @jakemailhot.