Twins defense has gotten sloppy of late

July 29, 2019 at 7:04PM
Twins second baseman Jonathan Schoop made an error against the Mets in mid-July. The Twins have committed six errors over the previous three games and 12 errors in 16 games since the All-Star break.
Twins second baseman Jonathan Schoop made an error against the Mets in mid-July. The Twins have committed six errors over the previous three games and 12 errors in 16 games since the All-Star break. (Brian Wicker — Associated Press/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

CHICAGO – If you are wondering if the Twins have been botching more plays in the field of late, you are correct.

Twins fielders played a relatively clean game Sunday during their 11-1 rout of the White Sox. But they had committed six errors over the previous three games and 12 errors in 16 games since the All-Star break.

That gives the Twins 71 errors on the season, tied for ninth-most in the majors.

And the errors don't tell the entire defensive story. There have been bad decisions on where to throw the ball, ill-advised diving attempts at sinking fly balls and other missed plays.

And the Twins have paid the price lately in the form of unearned runs. There were 15 unearned runs scored off Twins pitchers in April and May combined. That ballooned to 20 in June and 16 this month.

All this without drilling deep into defensive analytics.

A team's weaknesses will be exposed over a 162-game season. But manager Rocco Baldelli doesn't feel defense is a weakness for his team.

"No, because I think these are the types of plays that, when you play a ton of baseball and you're playing it at the major league level and things are happening fast out there, sometimes things don't go smoothly," Baldelli said. "Sometimes decisions are made very quickly on the field. Ultimately, they don't work out the way you want, but a lot of those plays are very challenging to prepare for."

The Twins routinely take grounders before games, but those aren't game-speed drills, and they have not been clean at game speed lately.

"If I didn't think our guys were ready to play and our guys weren't prepared when they took the field, that would be something I would think would be concerning," Baldelli said. "But I don't think that's the case at all. Our guys are ready to play when they get out there."

Sano show

Starting at first base Sunday, Miguel Sano slightly injured his left hand in the fifth inning while trying to stop Welington Castillo's grounder. He remained in the game and singled to left in the seventh inning, his third hit of the day. He was removed for a pinch runner after that but said after the game that his hand is fine.

The three hits tied a season high, and he has had multiple hits in four of his past six games.

Sano was hitting .195 on June 27, when he went 0-for-7 in an 18- inning loss to Tampa Bay. He is now at .248, thanks to a 25-game surge in which he has hit .321 with nine home runs and 22 RBI.

"I come here every day and do my routine when I hit," he said. "I find the pitches I want to hit. I don't find the pitches they want to get me out, and that's the mentality I have at the plate."

about the writer

about the writer

La Velle E. Neal III

Columnist

La Velle E. Neal III is a sports columnist for the Minnesota Star Tribune who previously covered the Twins for more than 20 years.

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