Article: Twins 5, Cleveland 0: Mejia Battles Through, Hildenberger Debuts

[Tom Froemming]

Maybe the Twins should just play all the rest of their games on the road. Just a few days after completing a nightmare series against Cleveland at home, the Twins headed to their place and took Game 1 in convincing fashion.

 

Adalberto Mejia threw five scoreless, Jorge Polanco hit a big home run and Trevor Hildenberger made his major league debut.Twins 5, Cleveland 0

Box Score

 

Win Expectancy & Top 5 Plays (via Fangraphs)

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Download attachment: WPA623.png

Mejia’s struggles to give the Twins any kind of length continued. He labored through this start, but he delivered in the moments that mattered. Mejia pitched five scoreless innings, giving up just two hits, but he also walked five batters.

 

In the bottom of the second and with Mejia having already issued two free passes in the inning, Jason Kipnis worked a draining eight-pitch walk to load the bases. Ball four looked awfully good.

Download attachment: KipnisAB.png

Neil Allen went out to chat with Mejia, meanwhile Jason Castro had a lengthy conversation with home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez. Once everyone took up the game again, Mejia struck out Erik Gonzalez to end the inning. It was a huge crossroads of the game. Mejia loaded the bases again in the fourth inning, but wiggled out of that jam as well.

 

The Twins managed to score four runs in the top of the second inning, so for Mejia to give any of those runs back would have been deflating. The big blow came from Polanco, who smashed a two-run homer.

Brian Dozier also had a big day at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a double and two RBI. Tyler Duffey pitched perfect sixth and seventh innings, striking out three batters, and Taylor Rogers threw a scoreless eighth.

 

Hildenberger, the Twins Daily Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Year the past two seasons, made his major league debut in the ninth. He struck out the first batter he faced and managed to throw a scoreless inning.

 

Mejia broke 100 pitches for the first time as a big leaguer. Here’s a look at his pitches per start in 2017:

Download attachment: MejiaChart.png

 

Postgame With Hildenberger (via Mike Berardino)

Bullpen Usage

Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days:

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Saturday

Twins (Kyle Gibson, 6.56 ERA) at Cleveland (Corey Kluber, 3.58 ERA), 3:10 pm CT

 

The Twins have been fortunate enough to miss Kluber in their previous meetings with Cleveland. The Klubot is rolling right now, posting a 1.61 ERA and 0.71 WHIP over his last four starts. His K:BB ratio over that stretch is 9.75. In five career starts at Cleveland, Gibson has a 4.91 ERA and 1.48 WHIP. Edwin Encarnacion has a 1.516 OPS against Gibson over 18 plate appearances.

 

AL Central Standings

Cleveland 39-33

Twins 37-34 (-1.5)

Kansas City 35-36 (-.3.5)

Chicago 32-39 (-6.5)

Detroit 32-40 (-7)

 

Make sure to check out Cody’s Get To Know Trevor Hildenberger article from earlier today.

 

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[Blackjack]

I wonder what would have happened if  a two run homer would have been hit after he put one man on, how short of a leash was he on?

[jimbo92107]

Bert Mejia looks like he's going to be a very good big league pitcher, but it could take a while for him to find his best game. Could be that he's over-striding a bit, causing his stuff to ride high. When the mound was wet towards the end of his day, I noticed on the last couple batters he shortened his stride, and suddenly his pitches were zinging in at the knees, a far more effective altitude. 

 

Tie a rope on his ankles? Worked for Rocky Marciano, by gum. He was a very dangerous individual. 

[Danchat]

It's good to see Polanco have a great game at the plate after he's gone into a minor slump. I believe he's got a great bat and he'll hit his way out of this. I'm not worried about him.

[twinssporto]

 

It's good to see Polanco have a great game at the plate after he's gone into a minor slump. I believe he's got a great bat and he'll hit his way out of this. I'm not worried about him.

Agreed.  The kid is gonna be good.  The offensive side of this team is only going to get better, especially as the youngsters mature.  Keep bringing up these young pitchers until something sticks.  

[Dantes929]

Nice job bullpen.    Hopefully Hildenberger can provide a little of the depth we lack.   I 

[Han Joelo]

Only 5 comments so far? Not much to complain about when they win, I guess. Hildenberget seems like he's here to stay...at least he'll get some leash anyway.

[wavedog]

4th time to see Bauer and we did better against him - nice win on the road.   Good to see the pitching results of  Mejia, Duffey, Rogers and Hildenberger.  Kluber vs Gibson today?  Yikes - where is my lucky rabbit's foot

[ThejacKmp]

Gimenez should be added to the reliever matrix

[Shaitan]

It's nice to see a rookie get his debut in the 9th instead of thrown into the fire for once.