Boxscore Breakdown #139: Back on track – Angels 5, Twins 4

Well, it wasn’t pretty and more difficult than it really needed to be, but the Angels are back in the win column and back on track for their smooth ride to the AL West crown. The offense showed some life, too. The poor Santiago start was less than ideal, but after getting swept by the Astros, this is a real step forward.

Run Expectancy Rundown
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1cNwDP2qDHtPvJdZMfn_QhIrPxPgVGH5BVQzadCgtJUA/pubchart” query=”oid=1976391661&format=interactive” width=”623″ height=”318″ /] Another kind of concerning offensive day for the Angels even though they scored five runs. That offense pretty much all came from Howie Kendrick and David Freese. That’s actually a positive sign since neither guy had been going very well of late. Nobody was particularly bad offensively, but the Angels did lose Josh Hamilton for at least one day to a shoulder injury or a thumb injury that they are pretending is a shoulder injury.

[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1cNwDP2qDHtPvJdZMfn_QhIrPxPgVGH5BVQzadCgtJUA/pubchart” query=”oid=1154832181&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”341″ /] The Twins had a pretty balanced offensive attack, though the bulk of the runs actually crossing the plate came on the Eduardo Nunez homer. That might make it seem like they just got lucky with one bad pitch, but really they all hit, with Jordan Schafer the only starter to not get a base hit.

Starting Pitcher Scores
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1cNwDP2qDHtPvJdZMfn_QhIrPxPgVGH5BVQzadCgtJUA/pubchart” query=”oid=161400381&format=interactive” width=”584″ height=”293″ /] Hector Santiago just wasn’t good. He kept his pitch count under control, but was in trouble almost constantly. Why Scioscia let him come out for the sixth inning is beyond me considering his narrow escape in the fifth inning. With the deeper bullpen, this isn’t the time to try and save the relievers from an additional inning of work.

In typical Twins fashion, Kyle Gibson only struck out one batter, but he also did a good job of scattering hits. He really just had the one bad inning and then settled in nicely after that.

Bullpen Battle
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1cNwDP2qDHtPvJdZMfn_QhIrPxPgVGH5BVQzadCgtJUA/pubchart” query=”oid=1141913419&format=interactive” width=”620″ height=”315″ /] Huston Street certainly made things interesting, but the bullpen managed to lock the Twins up. The Twins’ own closer made the one mistake to David Freese and that proved to be the one slip up the Halos needed.

Game Flow
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”spreadsheets/d/1cNwDP2qDHtPvJdZMfn_QhIrPxPgVGH5BVQzadCgtJUA/pubchart” query=”oid=451609002&format=interactive” width=”619″ height=”316″ /] This one got a little wild. The Angels jumped out to that big advantage only to give all back almost at once. But even after they took the lead in the ninth and put themselves near a certain win, the jam Street created for himself erased that advantage entirely right up until he made his miraculous escape.

Halo Hero

Two big doubles, including the one that set-up the winning run. Good to have ya back in the lineup, Freese!