The Minnesota Twins missed plenty of opportunities to steal Game 1 of the American League Divisional Series against the Houston Astros on Saturday but for the third straight playoff game, the umpires didn’t do them any favors.
According to the analytical service Umpire Scorecards, home plate umpire Brian Knight had a strong game with an overall accuracy rating of 97 percent and a called ball accuracy of 98 percent. But his called strike accuracy of 94 percent leaned in the Astros’ favor, creating 0.43 runs for Houston in the Twins’ 6-4 loss.
Umpire: Brian Knight
Final: Twins 4, Astros 6#MNTwins // #Ready2Reign#MINvsHOU // #HOUvsMIN#PostseasonMore stats for this game 👇https://t.co/ZQ9wjDPL60 pic.twitter.com/bQWeSGA2VT
— Umpire Scorecards (@UmpScorecards) October 8, 2023
According to the scorecard, all three impactful calls happened while the Twins were at the plate. This includes Carlos Correa’s at-bat in the top of the sixth with Alex Kirilloff on first base, when Justin Verlander’s 2-2 offering was down and away but was called for the third strike to end the Twins’ threat.
The other moment came when Jorge Polanco was at the plate with Michael A. Taylor on first base with two outs in the top of the fifth. Verlander’s pitch missed off the plate but was called strike three to end the threat.
The Twins benefitted from a call earlier in Polanco’s at-bat when Verlander threw a strike that was called a ball but Twins fans would argue that the most impactful play in the game came in the top of the seventh inning when Willi Castro struck out on a Hector Neris pitch that was outside the strike zone with runners on first and second base.
Polanco drove both runners in with a three-run homer two batters later but that could have been a grand slam that allowed Royce Lewis to potentially tie the game with his solo home run later in the inning.
Instead, Eddy Julien struck out for the second out of the inning before Polanco and Lewis hit back-to-back homers and Max Kepler doubled to left, leaving Kirilloff to strike out swinging to end the inning.
The performance is a disturbing pattern for Twins fans who saw umpires favor their opponent in both games of the American League Wild Card Series with the Toronto Blue Jays.
While the Twins have had their own issues including going 2 for 22 with runners in scoring position this postseason, umpires have given their opponents a total of 2.85 runs in the first three playoff games.
The Twins will hope their luck changes when Pablo LĂłpez faces Framber Valdez in Game 2 of the ALDS on Sunday night.
