Short starts and a hot bullpen

I worried in Friday's post that Kyle Gibson would have a short start, and indeed he did: 4.2 innings. This was, of course, longer than Dietrich Enns went on Thursday, but it still required a lot of work from the bullpen for the second straight day.

No problem.

Home, Since the Kintzler trade the @Twins bullpen has given up just 4 earned runs in 37 innings...that's an incredible .97 ERA.

— TwinsRadio (@TwinsRadio) August 12, 2017

I certainly didn't expect that. The bullpen had been struggling to hold leads in the week or so leading up to the deadline, which was part of what led the front office to retreat into sell mode. Brandon Kintzler wasn't innocent in those problems, but it would be silly to see the trade as addition by subtraction.

Not playing the Dodgers helps, obviously. The Twins schedule coming out of the All-Star break was genuinely challenging (with series vs. the Astros and Yankees and a long West Coast road trip that included three games against the Dodgers). The Twins didn't handle that challenge particularly well, and "Falvine" flipped Kintzler and Jaime Garcia for prospects.

Now the schedule is considerably lighter, the Twins have climbed into the second wild card spot, and one wonders if Derek Falvey and Thad Levine would like to undo those deals.