Twins 11, Marlins 1: Offense Explodes with 4 Home Runs and Mahle Cruises in Win

[Nate Palmer]

Kepler, Gallo, Larnach, and Jeffers each launch home runs as the Twins offense exploded for eleven runs on Monday night. Tyler Mahle continued the pitching parade as the Twins easily handled the opener in Miami. 

Image courtesy of Rhona Wise-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score
SP: Tyler Mahle: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K (83 pitches, 53 strikes (63.8%)
Home Runs: Max Kepler (1), Joey Gallo (3), Trevor Larnach (1), Ryan Jeffers (1)
Top 3 WPA: Joey Gallo (0.124), Tyler Mahle (0.110), Max Kepler (0.109)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Minnesota Twins fans saw the new guy, Pablo Lopez, start the season opener in Kansas City. On Monday night, as part of the season’s second series, fans got to see the old guy, Luis Arraez. Coming into the series, Arraez has been performing very well, collecting nine hits for a .563 average and a 1.213 OPS. His old teammates will try to slow him down while visiting Miami, and Tyler Mahle got the first crack at the task Monday. 

Kepler’s first hit, first home run
Plenty of attention has been pointed in Max Kepler’s direction to see if he can get his bat back on track in 2023. The results weren’t good throughout the weekend in Kansas City, but the trip to Miami must have done something as Kepler hit a 411-foot home run off of Johnny Cueto to get things started in the first inning. 

That home run was Kepler’s 14th career leadoff home run. Kepler collected another hit in the form of an infield single. On the close play at first, Kepler visibly grimaced and was removed from the game with knee discomfort. Hopefully the move was an exercise of caution with the Twins holding a sizable lead. 

Offense doesn’t stop there 
The offense didn’t stop in the second inning. Miranda walked, and Gordon collected his first hit, a single, to put runners on the corners. Then Joey Gallo continued his hit streak like he never left Kansas City. He hit another three-run bomb to put the Twins up 4-0. 

After Cueto was removed from the game with injury concerns (sounds like a bicep injury), Jeff Lindgren stepped on the mound for the Marlins in his major-league debut. After some success getting several Twins batters to pop out, Trevor Larnach welcomed the Marlins righty to the big leagues with his first career triple, scoring Byron Buxton. Larnach added a two-run home run in the seventh inning and finished the game 2-for-5 with three RBIs.  

Carlos Correa, whose bat lacked production in the Twins first three games, also joined the hit parade. As the Twins figured out Lindgren, Correa added his own two-run double, which gave the Twins an 8-0 lead in the fourth inning. Correa went 2-for-4 Monday evening after adding another single.  

Mahle continues pitching parade
The storyline over opening weekend was how good the Twins starting pitchers were. Tyler Mahle continued that trend Monday night. He tossed five innings and gave up only one run. He threw 83 pitches and struck out seven batters. The right-hander ran his fastball up to 95.4 mph and induced nine swings and misses while also freezing a couple of Marlins hitters as part of his seven strikeouts. 

Mahle did get a bit shaky in the fifth inning as eventually none other than Arraez got to Mahle for the Marlins lone run. Arraez singled to right field to score outfielder Bryan De La Cruz. Even with the run scored, it was good to see Mahle pitch well after his season was cut short by an injury last season. 

Two Innings from Alcala
There are many hopes for Alcala to claim a valuable role in the Twins bullpen, and Monday evening, he was given two innings of work to prove that he is back and ready to contribute. His first inning (the sixth inning) included a single stuck between three strikeouts. The 10-1 lead and a desire to save other bullpen arms must have given Rocco Baldelli confidence as he gave Alcala a second inning. 

The inning started rocky as De La Cruz hit a double over Willi Castro’s head in left field. Thankfully, the Twins took advantage of some aggressive baserunning and threw the outfielder out at third base. Alcala was able to go on to induce two harmless ground balls for outs.

Cole Sands made his 2023 debut Monday night after the Twins very much had the game in hand. Sands didn’t give up any runs but allowed plenty of batters to reach base, even loaded the bases in the 8th inning. Sands did rebound in the 9th with an inning that was much more comfortable although, allowing two singles along the way. Sands ended with 28 pitches, five hits, no walks, and one strikeout.

What’s Next? 
In the second game of the series, we will see the first regular-season action from Kenta Maeda since August of 2021. It will be an excellent test for the veteran starter after an up-and-down spring training. The Twins bats will also be tested as the Marlins send Sandy Alcantara to the mound. The 2022 NL Cy Young Award winner gave up three runs in his first outing of the season to the New York Mets, but the righty was a 2.28 ERA pitcher last season. Game time is set for 5:40 p.m. central time. 

Postgame Interviews

 

 

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN	MON	TOT
Alcala	0	0	12	0	25	37
Thielbar	11	0	18	0	0	29
Sands	0	0	0	0	28	28
López	5	0	8	11	0	24
Jax	9	0	11	0	0	20
Moran	0	0	0	20	0	20
Duran	16	0	0	0	0	16
Pagan	0	0	0	16	0	16

 

 

View full article

[wsnydes]

Love to see the bats coming alive.  Nice outing by Mahle today as well.  Pretty good all around effort today.

[blindeke]

Dare I say "bomba"?

[Alex Wilde]

Great game overall for most of the team! I have to be a little negative and say that Cole Sands is straight BP and Coulombe should be in the bullpen over him. The one wrong move by the FO so far this season.

[jrod23]

We've only played the Royals and Miami, I know.  BUT...I don't remember feeling like this right off the bat in years.  So many positives.  A few negatives, but again.  It's been a while.  Unlike the Wolves, we're beating the teams we should.

[jkcarew]

"Twins and Pablo Lopez Celebrate the First Win of the Season"

"...Mahle Cruises in Win"

Anyone else see the problem here?

[darwin22]

Nate:  Excellent summary of the game tonight!  I realize its only game #4, but its been very satisfying the last two games seeing our hitters "add on" runs after taking a lead.  Far too many games last season when the failure to do that resulted in a loss.

Seriously tough match up tomorrow for our hitters tomorrow vs. Alcantara.  Will be interesting to see how Rocco alters the lineup (leadoff) if Kepler is unavailable.  I could venture a guess that Gordon could leadoff starting in LF with Larnach moving over to RF.  If that happens, either Castro or Solano could get the start at 2B as Farmer is 0-6 against Alcantara.

Will be interesting to see what Maeda can deliver tomorrow night.  I'm hoping for 5 IP with 3 or less runs. Will need multiple bullpen arms to cover the last 4 (or more) innings.

Hate to quote the immortal Ebbie Calvin LaLoosh----but....."Man, I love winning! It's like better than losing"

Go Twins!

 

[AceWrigley]

It seems the last few years the Twins dug themselves a hole early in the season. Hopefully this hot start can put us on the right foot to a really good year.

[Twins_Fan_For_Life]

The twins are beating up on the bottom feeders. Which is exactly what the division leaders should do

[puckstopper1]

8 hours ago, jrod23 said:

We've only played the Royals and Miami, I know.  BUT...I don't remember feeling like this right off the bat in years.  

The Royals certainly got the bats going against Mr. Berrios and the Blue Jays last night!

[Brazilian Twins Fan]

This game is exactly the kind of game Pagan should be pitching, not the 9th inning. He should only pitch if the other team's pitcher is a position player.

[Major League Ready]

Some of the question marks for this season are looking very good and that's a pretty big deal.  Trevor Larnach and Jorge Alcala are looking like they will provide a significant boost this year.  Larnach has recognized other teams are very reluctant to throw him fast balls and he is not swinging at breaking stuff off the plate.  This looks sustainable.  Alcala's raw stuff looks great.  Also sustainable.  Then, there is Gallo.   I thought this was a decent move from the start.  It's way too early to proclaim Gallo a success story but so far he looks a lot more like Gallo of 2021 than Gallo of 2022.  This could be a big net positive.  

Now we need a healthy Polanco and Kirilloff.  If those guys get going along with a resurgent Gallo and a break-out from Larnach we will all be in for a very fun season.   BTW ... I am not a bit worried about Sands or Pagan dragging us down.  They will not see any action with the game on the line and I suspect they are replaced in rather short order if they don't get it together.

[JDubs]

Larnach might actually be the real deal, and if he keeps hitting like this, this Twins line up is a lot scarier. I know they've only played crappy teams so far, but you can't ask more than winning every game. Time to get unreasonably excited about this team's ceiling!

[jmlease1]

Very nice win for the Twins. Mahle looked good, and it's good to see the velocity where it's supposed to be. With such a huge lead, it was probably the right decision to pull him after 5 and let Alcala (who looked pretty good) and Sands (who did not) finish it off.

Trevor Larnach is off to a very nice start, and with Kepler picking up a ding he's going to be needed even more to provide left-handed thump in the lineup. He's looking capable so far, but we've seen him kick butt in limited supply before, so if he stays healthy he should be a strong contributor.

Gallo is making me hate the signing much less right now, lol. But this is why they signed him and this is what he can do. He's also going to have 4 K days, so gotta hope the good ones can carry you through.

I know there a little "meh, it's just the Royals and the Marlins" to this win streak, but road wins can be hard to come by, even if the teams aren't very good. KC is still going to win 50-60 games from someone even they're dreadful so sweeping them on the road is big. Winning the series opener in Miami is big; take 1 of 2 the rest of the way and they win the series and come home with a 5-1 road trip and two series wins. I love seeing the Twins winning road series. 

Team is off to a really good start.

[Jeff D.]

Four games in and this club looks composed and cohesive. About the only blip I see (and a small one), is Miranda looks a bit shaky at third defensively. Gallo looks very good at first. Catching seems vastly improved behind the plate, though we have not seen any attempts to throw out a runner trying to steal second yet. It was also great to see Kepler get two hits but not good to see the knee tweak.

Who can really complain at 4-0? Starting and Relief Pitching seems superb but it is so early.

We have a team this year. Let's hope Professor Baldelli does not mess it up.

Twins Geezer out.................Go Twins.

 

[VivaBomboRivera!]

8 hours ago, jkcarew said:

Anyone else see the problem here?

No problem. Love will find a way.

[VivaBomboRivera!]

	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN	MON	TOT
Alcala	0	0	12	0	25	37
Thielbar	11	0	18	0	0	29
Sands	0	0	0	0	28	28
López	5	0	8	11	0	24
Jax	9	0	11	0	0	20
Moran	0	0	0	20	0	20
Duran	16	0	0	0	0	16
Pagan	0	0	0	16	0	16

If Maeda puts up a quality start today , we're in a very strong position going back home to face HOU on Thursday.

[jorgenswest]

10 hours ago, Alex Wilde said:

Great game overall for most of the team! I have to be a little negative and say that Cole Sands is straight BP and Coulombe should be in the bullpen over him. The one wrong move by the FO so far this season.

Very different roles. Sands has an option. He can eat innings and then be optioned out. The Marlins needed that pitcher yesterday after the early injury. Coulombe would have to be DFA’d and probably couldn’t give them 60+ pitches.

The Twins have several players that could fit that role. Winder and Henriquez are injured. Ober, Varland and Woods-Richardson are staying getting regular work as starters. It can be argued that one if those three would have been a better choice but I think getting a regular turn in the AAA rotation is better. We should see Winder for Sands in the pen soon.

The wrong move may have been Pagán over Coulombe but I think Sands is the best fit for his current role. 

[mikelink45]

Okay - Gallo is making me prepared to eat .  Still early, but I will gladly take success if he continues to deliver.  Sands was questionable last year and still is.  When Winder is healthy he should take this BP slot.  

[stringer bell]

Larnach is looking like the real deal in the middle of the order. Huge impact for the order, not only this year, but going forward after that. 

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

If Larnach becomes a healthy solid player.   That leaves us down to Kiriloff,  who with Gallo currently playing the way he is, we look protected at 1st. Then the last question mark comes down to Polanco at second.  Can Polanco get healthy and stay healthy.   If not you have Julien waiting in the wings who could be our lead off hitter of the future.  

[rv78]

4 games in and they've face a weak KC team and a washed up sore armed Cueto who was replaced by a rookie pitcher. A real test for this lineup happens today against Alcantara with a rehabbed Maeda going for the Twins. One good thing, the strong arms in the bullpen are rested. Hopefully Duran will be available if they need him. After the Marlins series the Twins have 19 games against much tougher competition before facing the Royals again to close out April. Those 19 games will tell us more about this team than the first 6.

Kepler/Gallo HITL watch;. 187-BA, 6-K, 2-BB, 4-HR, 8-RBI, 13-LOB. 

[wabene]

41 minutes ago, VivaBomboRivera! said:

No problem. Love will find a way.

Showtime 12:10 Wednesday (thanks for the earworm)

[DJL44]

9 hours ago, darwin22 said:

Will be interesting to see how Rocco alters the lineup (leadoff) if Kepler is unavailable.  I could venture a guess that Gordon could leadoff starting in LF with Larnach moving over to RF.  If that happens, either Castro or Solano could get the start at 2B as Farmer is 0-6 against Alcantara.

Why not Gallo in RF, Larnach LF, Gordon 2B, Solano 1B?

[TroyVang]

My biggest positive (besides the obvious) from this game is that we used just two relievers and neither were Theilbar, Lopez, Jax or Duran.

Too many times last year we used our strongest relievers in blowouts either way, which left us shorthanded in high leverage, close games.

[wabene]

Sands tends to start off poorly then settle in. Could just be young guy nerves. It's too early to give up on him, but yes if he continues to struggle and Winder gets healthy, then swap em out. Sands will be needed this year. He won't be up the whole time, he has a ticket on the 94 shuttle. 

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, Jeff D. said:

Catching seems vastly improved behind the plate, though we have not seen any attempts to throw out a runner trying to steal second yet.

That's actually a terrific sign for the catching. Nobody is even attempting to steal.

[nicksaviking]

Could Larnach end up being the team MVP? He looks like he was hyped up to look like two years ago.

An under considered factor about the team having so much 'depth' is that they have absolutely no reason not to be cautious with IL decisions. If Kepler even MAYBE needs to go on the IL, just do it. 

[Whitey333]

Great way to beat up on the poorest teams.  That's what good teams do.  But I have to agree it doesn't really show if you are a good team or not...we will see as the schedule gets significantly tougher after the Marlins.  But 4-0 is awesome.  Yes Pagan and Sands really don't belong on this team.  They have better options.  It will be interesting to see how they do once they see some real major league pitching.  Go Twins!!

[Battle ur tail off]

48 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

Could Larnach end up being the team MVP? He looks like he was hyped up to look like two years ago.

An under considered factor about the team having so much 'depth' is that they have absolutely no reason not to be cautious with IL decisions. If Kepler even MAYBE needs to go on the IL, just do it. 

He looks awesome. It would be a huge development and something I don't think a ton of people saw coming if he can continue this type of hitting. Like anyone, staying healthy is going to be key, but having a middle of the order hitter out of a guy most saw as a likely part-ish time player batting towards the bottom would be a real net positive for the lineup.