Article: MIN 1, HOU 0: Let’s Go Crazy

[Tom Froemming]

All across Twins Territory, fans seem to be doing their best to contain their excitement. Their mantra has been it’s only April, it’s only the Orioles, we still don’t know much about this Twins team.

 

That all could change over the course of this week. A big performance against the Astros and the Yankees would make it difficult for even the most reserved Midwesterner to temper excitement. The Twins got things off to a great start Monday evening.Box Score

Odorizzi: 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 66.3% strikes

Home Runs: Adrianza (1)

Multi-Hit Games: None

WPA of +0.1: Odorizzi .473, Parker .170, Rogers .124, Adrianza .123

WPA of -0.1: Rosario -.100

Download attachment: Win429.png

(chart via FanGraphs)

 

There are certain things, even in the early going, that can give you certain vibes as a fan that your team may be on the verge of something special. Certain events just hit you and let those “this is our year” vibes to start flowing.

 

Jake Odorizzi and the Twins bullpen shutting out the Houston Astros lineup would be one of those things. Ehire Adrianza hitting a home run off Justin Verlander for the only run of a game would be another one. Both those things happened tonight.

 

It took Odorizzi just 86 pitches to get through seven innings. That’s a solid mark for any pitcher, but Odo isn’t exactly known for his efficiency. He got 13 swinging strikes on those 86 pitches, improving upon the career-high rate he carried into this outing. Odorizzi has gotten swinging strikes on 13% of his pitches this year. Last season, only nine qualified starters had a swinging strike rate above 13%, and Odorizzi was at 10.2%.

 

Not surprisingly, the strikeout rates are also encouraging for Odorizzi in the early going of this season. He's now struck out exactly a quarter of the batters he's faced so far. That would represent a career high and a nice boost from his 22.8 K% from last year.

 

Odorizzi needed a grand total of just 21 pitches to get through the third through fifth innings. He ran into trouble in the sixth, issuing a one-out walk followed by a single. We’ve seen him unravel in similar situations before, but he struck out both Carlos Correa and Yuli Gurriel to end the threat.

 

While Odorizzi was cruising, Justin Verlander was also carving up the Twins. But there was a different look to the lineup tonight. They entered this game with a league-low 3.76 pitches per plate appearances. Tonight, they had a batter work an at-bat of six pitches or more in each of Verlander’s six innings. The longest of those was a 10-pitch walk for Max Kepler to lead off the first inning. Eddie Rosario had a nine-pitch at-bat that ended in a strikeout, and one of those longer plate appearances produced the game’s only run.

 

In the third inning, Ehire Adrianza fell behind Verlander 1-2. He fouled off the fourth pitch to extend the at-bat, then watched two balls go by. Ehire deposited pitch No. 7 into the stands.

Verlander was nasty, but all that work resulted in him needing 100 pitches to get through six innings. He turned things over to the bullpen at that point. Unfortunately, there’s not much of a drop off. The Houston bullpen held the Twins scoreless for two innings.

 

Taylor Rogers looked incredibly nasty in a scoreless eighth inning before Blake Parker took care of business in the ninth. Parker gave up a leadoff single, but managed to induce a double play ball from the next batter.

 

Postgame With Baldelli

Bullpen Usage

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

Download attachment: Bullpen429.png

Next Three Games

Tue vs. HOU, 6:40 pm CT (Pineda-Cole)

Wed vs. HOU, 7:10 pm CT (Perez-McHugh)

Thu vs. HOU, 12:10 pm CT (Berrios-Peacock)

 

Last Game

MIN 4, BAL 1: Kepler Sets Tone, Gibby Brings It Home

 

Click here to view the article

[IndianaTwin]

Raise your hand if you thought the Twins would head into the last day of April a game behind Tampa Bay for the best record in baseball.

 

You’re lying.

[jkcarew]

I knew if the Twins were to ever show they can beat a really good team in a tight, low-scoring game, that it would have to be Odorizzi and Adrianza.

[TheLeviathan]

Gotta love a W like that.

[Tibs]

AND WE CAN BUILD THIS DREAM TOGETHER

[Han Joelo]

[.......................]

[USAFChief]

Raise your hand if you thought the Twins would head into the last day of April a game behind Tampa Bay for the best record in baseball.

 

You’re lying.

indeed.

 

I had the Twins a game ahead of the Rays for best record in baseball.

[wabene]

Now thatsa what I like my paisano! Nothing better than one zip! Crisp clean dubya

[Don't Feed the Greed Guy]

What a gem! Baldelli's strategy worked, but why not send Odorizzi out for the 8th, on a short leash? Only 86 pitches through the 7th, with the #9 hitter, the first of three righty batters, coming up against RHP, Odorizzi. Rogers has proven to be effective against right handed batters, but not as effective as port-sided swingers. Either Parker or Odo might have made more sense, match-up wise.

 

Finally, another inning from Odorizzi takes just a little more pressure off the bullpen. This is the first of four against the Astros, four games into a stretch of 13 in a row.

 

Oh, well. Small potatoes. Tidy win. Go Twins.

[wabene]

Rogers...SMH

[Blake]

 

Raise your hand if you thought the Twins would head into the last day of April a game behind Tampa Bay for the best record in baseball.

You’re lying.

Things are going just the way I thought they would.

(I may get a lot of use out of that particular image this year)

 

[Oldgoat_MN]

 

I knew if the Twins were to ever show they can beat a really good team in a tight, low-scoring game, that it would have to be Odorizzi and Adrianza.

Lies. All lies.

[HrbieFan]

Verlander has become my most respected pitcher. He is what Clemons was towards the end, just a nasty bulldog out there. And a big thumbs up to Odo tonight! He has pitched like a solid #2 this year, but hasn't shown it in the win columns yet. Would like to know if they considered letting him go out for the 8th with so few pitches thrown

[Dantes929]

  Does this game prove that Verlander and the Astros just can't compete with the big dogs like the Twins?

[Dantes929]

 

indeed.

I had the Twins a game ahead of the Rays for best record in baseball.

Except for the word indeed this was exactly what I was going to post before seeing yours.    Well, actually, my prediction was about the results finishing the 2nd last day of April rather than heading into the last day of April but that is just semantics.

[DiscGolfer]

 

Raise your hand if you thought the Twins would head into the last day of April a game behind Tampa Bay for the best record in baseball.

You’re lying.

 

I never thought the Rays would have the best record, that's the big surprise. 

[DocBauer]

Honestly, does it get much better than this?

[DocBauer]

Oh hell, I can't just shut up! LOL

 

Odorizzi is just one of those guys you just keep waiting to turn a corner! You saw glimpses late last year, and you saw glimpses this year before mysterious wildness took over. I love how he works high in the zone in today's game of low ball hitters and launch angles. It's the crap in the umpires mask and above the catchers reach that befuddles me.

 

Is what we saw tonight, or his first start, and glimpses in the starts between maturation, (similar to Gibson mid 2017), and the work of Johnson? Or just a welcomed blip on the radar?

 

I know what I am hoping for.

[Channing1964]

it was exactly what it was. A good old fashioned showdown between two of the best teams in the American League.

[h2oface]

That homer by Adrianza was a no doubter, a bomb, spanked tater.... a Thome Blast! Just what we needed, just what he needed. 

 

Hopefully, Odorizzi will inspire Pineda. We need him to really step up. 

[Don't Feed the Greed Guy]

Jake Odorizzi:

April 10: 0-2, 6.35 ERA

April 29: 3-2, 3.34 ERA

[David HK]

 

What a gem! Baldelli's strategy worked, but why not send Odorizzi out for the 8th, on a short leash? Only 86 pitches through the 7th, with the #9 hitter, the first of three righty batters, coming up against RHP, Odorizzi. Rogers has proven to be effective against right handed batters, but not as effective as port-sided swingers. Either Parker or Odo might have made more sense, match-up wise.

Finally, another inning from Odorizzi takes just a little more pressure off the bullpen. This is the first of four against the Astros, four games into a stretch of 13 in a row.

Oh, well. Small potatoes. Tidy win. Go Twins.

That would have been cool, but it was just as cool, if not moreso, to see a rested Taylor Rogers just wipe out those Houston boys in the 8th.

 

Now, I'd like the rest of the team to just beat the living snot out of 'em the rest of this series! Announce our presence with authority! 

 

And by gum, ain't it great to get one over on Verlander once in a while? 

 

Edited April 30, 2019 by David HK

[Pitz]

Adriana strikes out against Chris Davis, homers off of Justin Verlander. Baseball!

 

P.S. Thank you Ehire for saving it for when it was needed.

[AlwaysinModeration]

Now the Twins have a regular ol’ three game home series against the Astros. Take 2 of 3, and take the season series against them. Oh, and they miss Verlander in this series, and have Berrios lined up for the finale.

[MMMordabito]

Baldelli threw the Verlander game in Houston, so Hinch simply returned the favor last night

[USAFChief]

So who do we start in WS Game 4 against the Dodgers, Pineda or Perez?

yes.

[Han Joelo]

I liked Odo's comment about this team being "special."  They do seem to have some real mojo.

[bunt_vs_the_shift]

Great game and the best April we've had in a long time. Nothing wrong with enjoying a great W, but there's a lot of season left... Now to keep our head down and continue stacking months like this we'll be playing some October baseball!

[rdehring]

Coming into this series I was hoping the Twins could split.  Win one of three would have been ok.

 

OK, we have the one win and will be going for the split tonight.  With Verlander out of the way, can we win 2 of 3?

 

Was that the best game Odorizzi has pitched as a Twin?  I seem to remember one very good outing last year, but not the details.  And wasn't it fun watching a real pitchers duel?  Loved it!

[diehardtwinsfan]

 

It took Odorizzi just 86 pitches to get through seven innings. That’s a solid mark for any pitcher, but Odo isn’t exactly known for his efficiency. He got 13 swinging strikes on those 86 pitches, improving upon the career-high rate he carried into this outing. Odorizzi has gotten swinging strikes on 13% of his pitches this year. Last season, only nine qualified starters had a swinging strike rate above 13%, and Odorizzi was at 10.2%.

 

Not surprisingly, the strikeout rates are also encouraging for Odorizzi in the early going of this season. He's now struck out exactly a quarter of the batters he's faced so far. That would represent a career high and a nice boost from his 22.8 K% from last year.

 

I could be wrong, but I remember reading somewhere that those improvements actually started last year, and that you could see a nice trend on him last fall.  

 

I'm beginning to think he's turned a corner. If so, great find by our front office.