Notebook: Donaldson and Duffey shine as Twins lose 4-2

[Matthew Lenz]

The Twins fall to the Pirates in their game on Tuesday and are now 6-8 on the Grapefruit League season. Brent Rooker and Josh Donaldson stay hot on the offensive side of the ball while José Berríos gets roughed up in four innings of work. That and more in today’s notebook.Pittsburgh 4, Twins 2

Box Score

 

Twins Takeaways:

Standout pitcher: Tyler Duffey (1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 2K)

Standout hitter: Josh Donaldson (2-for-3, 2B)

 

Lineup:

 

Highlights:

TYLER DUFFEY IS BACK.

 

Okay, sorry ... but Twins fans may be able to take a deep breath after today’s outing by Duffey where he averaged 92.6 miles per hour on his fastball, which was his average in 2020, but had been averaging sub-90 this spring. Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic came to twitter with even more encouraging news…

We don’t have, or at least I couldn’t find, the data to see if this is his usual approach for spring training but given today’s results I don’t have a reason to believe otherwise.

 

Duffey wasn’t the only talking point out of the bullpen today as Alex Colome, Hansel Robles, Taylor Rogers, and Brandon Waddell threw one shutout inning each while only allowing a combined four baserunners and striking out three.

 

Berríos failed to record a single clean inning today and was really hit hard by the Pirates over four innings by allowing eight hits, walking one, and only striking out one batter. Although players seem to be ramping up, as the Twins play their second nine-inning game in as many days, I still take today’s results with a grain of salt. Although it’s not encouraging, it’s spring training and at the end of the day it’s only one start.

 

Jorge Polanco left today’s tilt early after hurting himself when diving for a ball

 

Get a Randy Dobnak shirt while supporting a good cause.

 

Check out this beautiful Alex Kirilloff Topps Inception Rookie Card

 

Other News Around the League:

Speedster Billy Hamilton, recently released by Cleveland, joins the Chicago White Sox camp on a minor league deal

The White Sox lack depth and Hamilton would be a nice option fo the extra-inning rule from 2020. Wouldn’t be surprised to see him stick as the last guy on the bench.

 

Old friend Kyle Gibson to get first Opening Day start of his career

After six-plus seasons with the Twins, the sinker baller joined Texas in 2020 making 12 starts and sporting a 5.35 ERA (5.70 xERA) and striking out 58 batters over 67.1 innings.

 

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[ashbury]

Note to self: a reliever's low velocity a few weeks into Spring Training may or may not mean anything.

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Congrats, Kyle, on the opening day start.

 

And i wonder if Mr. Hamilton will stick with the White Sox. Always a fun player to watch.

[Nine of twelve]

 

Note to self: a reliever's low velocity a few weeks into Spring Training may or may not mean anything.

IIRC, the same concerns were raised about Joe Nathan in 2004. Turned out he was able to produce at a satisfactory level in the regular season.

[BeatTheRich]

It's shocking how fast Kyle Gibson dropped off of my personal radar. And after so many years of pulling for him to put it all together, and sustain it. Good for him. No regrets here though. Changes of scenery can be good for all.

[h2oface]

When your opening day pitcher comes off a 2020 "making 12 starts and sporting a 5.35 ERA (5.70 xERA) and striking out 58 batters over 67.1 innings", your pitching staff is in a load of trouble.

[Trov]

Interesting that Topps has a card of a guy fielding when he will most likely be known for his bat. 

[mikelink45]

 

Interesting that Topps has a card of a guy fielding when he will most likely be known for his bat. 

It might not be fielding, it might be that he fell down.

[mikelink45]

So glad we moved Kyle on - his numbers just do not say major league starter, but he is now the vet on their staff.  

 

I look forward to the last few weeks of ST.  Berrios really fell flat against the worst team in baseball - not good.  Time to get up and get back to the level you belong J O.  Or was he down because Maeda is the opening day starter?

[USAFChief]

Note to self: a reliever's low velocity a few weeks into Spring Training may or may not mean anything.

So it always means SOMEthing.

[cHawk]

 

When your opening day pitcher comes off a 2020 "making 12 starts and sporting a 5.35 ERA (5.70 xERA) and striking out 58 batters over 67.1 innings", your pitching staff is in a load of trouble.

 

Didn’t he have a 4.00 ERA? Also, he had 68 strikeouts over 63.0 innings

 

EDIT: My bad, I thought you were talking about Berrios

[cHawk]

 

I look forward to the last few weeks of ST.  Berrios really fell flat against the worst team in baseball - not good.  Time to get up and get back to the level you belong J O.  Or was he down because Maeda is the opening day starter?

 

I wouldn’t take ST stats too seriously. Pros are just warming up during ST.

[wsnydes]

 

So it always means SOMEthing.

Yes.