The Twins want to keep it simple with Matthews and Castro despite the close playoff race

CLEVELAND — After having their world fall apart over the past month, the Minnesota Twins would like nothing more than for their players to simplify things so that every moment of the last 11 games doesn't feel bigger than it should be.

Throw better. Hit better. Defend better.

As simple as those instructions may seem, those are the points that Derek Falvey, Twins president of baseball operations, emphasized to reporters early Tuesday night before the Twins' game against the Cleveland Guardians.

With three rookies in the starting lineup, the Twins believe it may be more helpful overall to emphasize a “day by day, inning by inning, pitch by pitch” mentality.

As if on cue, rookie starter Zebby Matthews followed the script and the rest of his team, including more than half of the bullpen, followed suit.

From an outstanding defense to the pitching performance of Johnny Wholestaff to key hits from several players, the Twins pulled out a complete victory, defeating the Guardians 4-1 in front of 17,391 spectators at Progressive Field.

Matthews pitched well into the fifth inning, and five relievers threw 4 1/3 scoreless innings to allow for a pair of RBI singles by Matt Wallner and a two-run home run by Willi Castro.

“Great win for our whole team,” said Twins manager Rocco Baldelli. “Everywhere you looked, in the dugout or the bullpen, everyone contributed in their own way. … There's a lot to clap and talk about.”

Baldelli's loudest praise was for Matthews, who has a 13.06 ERA in his last three starts. In his fourth team this season after starting at High-A Cedar Rapids, Matthews has never faced a bigger must-win situation than he did on the mound Tuesday following Monday's crushing 4-3 loss.

Before thoroughly analyzing Pablo López's strong start on Monday, taking notes and developing a game plan, Matthews said he relaxed by calling his wife.

He continued training on Tuesday morning, and although the blister that has plagued him since June felt a little better, Matthews delivered a decisive performance that was good enough for Baldelli to claim he deserved the win despite not qualifying.

Working with very good material and questionable control, Matthews made big throws when he needed to. He started with a quick 1-2-3 in the first inning, but had to get out of a tough situation in the second by striking out Bo Naylor with two on and two outs.

After allowing a one-out single in the third inning, Matthews ended the inning with a strikeout of José Ramírez.

He also responded well after allowing a solo home run to tie the score in the fourth inning, which forced the next two batters out and ended the inning. Even after allowing a leadoff single in the fifth inning, Matthews immediately made up for it with a double play. Matthews left the game after allowing a two-out single, but limited Cleveland to just one earned run on five hits with one walk and five strikeouts.

“(Tuesday) was definitely better because we had runners, made big throws and got out of some tough situations,” Matthews said. “There are still some things that can be done a lot better, but I'm really happy with it. … It's something to build on.”

An “all hands on deck” mentality was at the heart of Tuesday's victory. Hours after saying he was ready to do whatever was asked of him and predicting a playoff berth for the Twins, rookie Cole Irvin struck out Andrés Giménez for the final out of the fifth inning.

Cole Sands provided the centerpiece of the Guardians lineup in the sixth inning. Ronny Henriquez, whose role appears to have been upgraded by the demotion of Jorge Alcala on Monday, pitched a scoreless seventh inning that he started with a pick off pinch runner Myles Straw after Kyle Manzardo opened the inning with a single.

Jhoan Duran threw a perfect eighth and returned for the ninth, only to make way for Jax after putting two men on the field. A day after allowing a bone-crushing home run to Manzardo, Jax rebounded with a two-out save and even secured the game-winning out on his own.

“You can't just sulk because something happened the day before,” Jax said. “I was just happy to be back out there. … I just wanted to get the ball and get the game over with. I didn't want to leave it to chance again.”

Castro did his best to reduce the likelihood of such fluctuating losses, which dominated the team's 9-18 streak since August 18.

Facing Nick Sandlin with two outs after a Trevor Larnach single, Castro hit an 0-1 fastball for a two-run homer to extend the Twins' lead to 4-1. Before Castro's hit, the Twins had failed to extend the lead three times before.

Marking his second anniversary in the major leagues, Wallner gave the Twins a 1-0 lead with a two-out RBI single in the third inning. In the fifth inning, Wallner followed a double by Byron Buxton with another two-out RBI single to give the Twins a 2-1 lead. But both times, Cleveland starter Gavin Williams was able to bail out, first with a strikeout by Carlos Santana and later with a touch by Royce Lewis.

Finally, Castro got the hit the Twins needed and also got his first extra-base hit since August 27th.

“It was really good to have that win,” Castro said. “Obviously, those are really (big) games. All those games count. … We're going to keep going like that. We have the team to keep having games like that.”

The Twins hope that the benefit of a win like that will help make things easier. Detroit is still hot on their heels and Seattle is lurking on their heels. The Twins know they have to improve after a poor month last year to be able to compete in October.

“When you go through a stretch like this and you haven't won the amount of games you expect or want, you're going to feel like that all the time,” Falvey said. “It means the performance isn't where you want it to be, and that's why we want to hit a little bit more. Yeah, we want to shoot a little bit better. Yeah, we want to play a little bit better defense. If the record was reversed during the stretch of games, we'd say, 'Oh, all of those things are fine.' We've got to do everything a little bit better now, and I think our guys just need to start taking it one game at a time.”

Length is an important factor for Varland compared to Alcala

The current makeup of Minnesota's starting lineup — and the fact that Alcala still has a minor league option — were the reasons behind the team's decision to demote him to Triple A and replace Louie Varland, who has struggled since returning to the major leagues earlier this month. The Twins feel comfortable using Varland in a short relief appearance, but they also believe he's more capable of pitching two innings than Alcala, who has a 7.11 ERA since July 21 and has allowed eight home runs in 19 innings.

“Length is probably the most important thing,” Baldelli said. “We're going to have games where we might need someone to go out and throw maybe three or four innings. … We can't get in a situation where we can't cover. We've got to piece together those assignments. We've got to find ways to get two or three innings for guys. Ronny's going to have to do that. Lou's going to have to do that. I'm not saying it's going to go perfectly, because it's not. But we're going to have to do it that way.”

Kepler gets cortisone injection

The hope is that Max Kepler will play for Triple-A St. Paul this weekend after getting a cortisone shot in the groin/hip area, Falvey said. Kepler felt soreness after taking live batting practice last week while recovering from patellar tendonitis.

“He's in really good shape,” Falvey said. “The goal right now, and his goal right now because he'll hopefully feel better in the next few days, is to get back to action. We know the season is coming to an end here soon, so we're aiming to get him in games this weekend in St. Paul.”

(Photo of Willi Castro, right, celebrating his two-run home run with Trevor Larnach: Jason Miller / Getty Images)