Twins 5, Royals 0: López Looks Phenomenal, Twins Complete the Sweep

[Thiéres Rabelo]

Pablo López tossed the first complete-game shutout of his career – the second from a Twin this season –, and helped the Twins to complete the second sweep of the Royals in the season. The offense produced only five hits, but they were enough to score five runs.

Image courtesy of Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score
Starting Pitcher: Pablo Lopez, 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 12 K (100 pitches, 76 strikes, 76.0%)
Home Runs: Edouard Julien (6), Ryan Jeffers (4)
Top 3 WPA: Pablo López (.357), Alex Kirilloff (.160), Édouard Julien (.056)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Pablo López has been a significant source of controversy among Twins fans this season, as Minnesota traded away an absolute fan-favorite to get him during the offseason – and as said fan-favorite went on to evolve into perhaps the best hitter in the majors this season. But it wasn’t always like that: López had four absolutely solid starts to open the season before beginning to struggle and having more than a handful of rough outings since.

The Royals are on both sides of those versions of López this season. On Opening Day, the Venezuelan ace pitched into the sixth, allowing no runs and only a pair of hits. However, roughly a month later, he faced that same Kansas City lineup and ended up allowing six runs on eight hits, causing his ERA to increase by a full run. June has been a tough month for López, one in which he finished with a 4.46 ERA, so facing a last-placed Royals team could be a good opportunity for López to get a fresh start going into the second half of the season – as it was on Opening Day.

López tossed a scoreless first despite giving up a two-out double, and he got some immediate run support. Édouard Julien smacked a solo home run to right for his sixth of the year to put the Twins on the board. After a scoreless second, two more runs scored in the third: Ryan Jeffers hit a leadoff single, and Carlos Correa drew a walk next. Kansas City’s starter Alec Marsh struck out the next two batters, but then things got weird for the visitors. Alex Kirilloff lined a long single to left, and outfielder MJ Melendez made a throwing error trying to get Jeffers at home. The ball hit Jeffers on the neck and got away from Salvador Pérez, allowing Correa to score as well and Kirilloff to reach third.

López gave up two-out hits in each of the first three innings of this game, but he settled down nicely after that by throwing three consecutive 1-2-3 innings, which included six consecutive strikeouts between the fifth and the sixth. Granted, his final strikeout of the sixth was a massive mistake by Phil Cuzzi, but that didn’t stain López’s brilliance. At the end of six, his pitch count hadn’t even reached 75 yet, and he had struck out opponents a season-high 11 times. He came back to the seventh and delivered yet another 1-2-3 inning, striking out Nick Pratto on a full count to end it and establish a new career-high of 12 punch outs in a game. This was the fifth time López has completed seven in a start, the first one since June 7, and the first time he did so in shutout fashion.

With only 87 pitches thrown after seven, many wondered if López would be brought back to the eighth. If he were going to return to the mound, some more run support would go a long way for him. However, the offense went ice cold after that RBI single from Kirilloff in the third, going 0-for-10 with three walks afterward. Willi Castro and Joey Gallo got retired quickly in the bottom of the seventh, making it look like no more runs were coming. But Jeffers had other plans, and he crushed a 426-feet bomb to deep center to make it 4-0 Minnesota.

López came back to pitch the eighth, and he got two quick outs on only two pitches, inducing two flyball outs. Kyle Isbel doubled off him to get the Royals’ first hit since the third. Matt Duffy hit the ball hard next, but Max Kepler made a fantastic diving catch to rob him of a hit and finish the inning. At only 94 pitches, López would have the chance to come back and try to complete the game. So the offense decided to give him even more run support in the bottom of the eighth. Byron Buxton drew a leadoff walk, and with two outs, Donovan Solano doubled to bring him home, making it 5-0 Minnesota. Even though he’s struggled several times this season, López has enjoyed a ton of run support overall.

Back out for the ninth, López’s command was a little off in the first two pitches, but all it took next was four pitches for him to retire the side, shut down the Royals for the night, and secure his first career complete-game shutout. The Twins are back to two games above .500 (45-43), a game and a half ahead of the Cleveland Guardians.

Postgame interview

 

 

What’s Next?
The Twins have a day off on Thursday before resuming their homestand on Friday (7/7). The Baltimore Orioles come to town, and the two teams face off in a three-game series over the weekend. Game one, scheduled for 7:10 pm CDT on Friday, features Bailey Ober (5-4, 2.70 ERA) on the mound for Minnesota, while Cole Irvin (1-3, 6.32 ERA) starts for Baltimore.

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	SAT	SUN	MON	TUE	WED	TOT
Durán	8	34	0	0	0	42
Sands	37	0	0	0	0	37
Pagán	0	6	25	0	0	31
Jax	11	14	0	0	0	25
Morán	0	0	17	0	0	17
Ortega	0	0	0	13	0	13
J. López	0	0	0	8	0	8
Balazovic	0	0	6	0	0	6

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[Squirrel]

I love it when Rocco has his daughter at the post-game pressers … so adorable 🙂

[Unwinder]

Adding Pete Maki jersey to cart...

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Wes who ?

[blindeke]

Great game! 

[SwainZag]

Pablo was brilliant.   He pounded the zone all night long.  There was only a small handful of ABs that he didn't throw a first pitch strike, so refreshing to see.

[2wins87]

Jeffers behind the dish for both shutouts now.

Not to take anything away from Vasquez, but I've really been impressed with how good Jeffers has become on defense and game calling. And he's hitting.

He's looking like the player I thought he would become when Garver departed.

[Twins_Fan_For_Life]

I was at the game tonight. The Royals hitters had very few good swings at anything Pablo threw up there tonight. I know the Royals aren't very good, but man did Pablo look great!

[Squirrel]

This says it all!

 

[Mike Sixel]

28 minutes ago, Squirrel said:

This says it all!

 

I did not win the PB, btw....

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

It’s a team game, but individual achievements are fun, and raise a player’s stature. Fans and teammates alike want to see individuals do well. I am in favor of Twins starters throwing complete game shutouts. 🙂

Edited July 6, 2023 by Hosken Bombo Disco

[Brandon]

The bullpen will be well rested for the next series. Against Baltimore.  I think the bullpen will do well next series.  

[Twins_Fan_For_Life]

It looked like Pablo was fastball and slider heavy the first time through the lineup. The second time through the lineup it looked like he threw a ton of curveballs. And then after that it looked like he mixed in his change up effectively. Hard to tell being at the game. Anybody watching on TV agree with this?

[VivaBomboRivera!]

See what happens when pitchers get run support?  Makes winning much less hard work.

So far over six games, the promise has been kept.

[D.C Twins]

Are the Royals free the rest of the summer? 

I suggest we book as many dates as possible.

We would even willing to play them in KC as often as they will have us! 

[AceWrigley]

First pitch strikes ruled the day.

[Bodie]

1 hour ago, VivaBomboRivera! said:

See what happens when pitchers get run support?  Makes winning much less hard work.

So far over six games, the promise has been kept.

5 hits and 9 strikeouts (against some pretty average- at best - pitching).

Either a) the "promise" is worthless, or b) the offense in that hog-confinement pit wasn't even close to floating!

Pretty sure the actual answer is "c)", all of the above.   Truly sad to see.  Almost as sad as it is painful to watch...

Been a Twins fan long enough to remember rooting for Roy Smalley in his prime.  Long enough to actually be able to compare the Buteras.  Long enough to have seen Killabrew at the old Met.  This year's team is simply the most unwatchable team I can remember.  Not the worst team, just the worst to watch.

The worst part?  No one seems to care enough to try to improve their performance.  Case in point, an unnamed 9th year vet, career sub .200 hitter, doing NOTHING to cut down on his universally acknowledged mega-weakness.  And if he has done something, it has been nothing positive as he is hitting worse than his career average AND now striking out over 40% of the time for this season. (and approaching 50% over the last two months!)  And he is about as close to being an everyday player that we have, judging by the lineup cards being turned in every day by Mr. Roboto...

Can't even imagine how bad this would be if they had an average Twins pitching staff.... but it'd likely provide solace to this year's Royals fans.

The old adage is that a fish rots from the head.  Unfortunately, that rotting head has spread throughout the entire fish since about 2016.  November of 2016 to be more precise...

[VivaBomboRivera!]

22 minutes ago, Bodie said:

5 hits and 9 strikeouts (against some pretty average- at best - pitching)

Please do not omit the 6 BB. Today's OBP was still .324 even though BA was .185.

9Ks not great, but K rate is decidedly down since 30 June. We shall see if this trend continues.  This club amassed 838 strikeouts in the first 82 games (10.2).

[Nashvilletwin]

Two of the best pitched games in a pretty long time for the Twins from Ryan and Lopez. Well done!  Fun to watch too. The FO has built a solid starting staff - no doubt about it. We shall see if the starters can continue to carry this team as they have pretty much done all year thus far. It’s a strategy - let’s hope it works.

[UK Twin]

Brilliant from Lopez! 2nd in the AL in K's now, only behind Gausman. I know Arraez is chasing .400 but I still think we won the trade, especially as we've extended Lopez. If Arraez could hit for power, or had elite defense it would be different. He's an exceptional hitter with a great eye but he may well end up being a full time DH sooner rather than later. Lopez, while being a little inconsistent in his first year with the Twins, has shown he can pitch like an ace. 

[AlwaysinModeration]

Over his last two starts:

15IP, 7H, 1ER, 3BB, 18K

ERA down from 4.41 to 3.89

[Riverbrian]

9 hours ago, Squirrel said:

I love it when Rocco has his daughter at the post-game pressers … so adorable 🙂

For the past three years I have been controlling my social media algorithm.  

I only click on stories/videos of Baseball, Puppies and Babies Laughing. 

Add a puppy to the presser and it's all the stuff that makes life good. 😉

[rv78]

Too bad the Twins can't play the lowly Royals every day. They actually make this team look good. Well, that series is over, back to reality.

[Blyleven2011]

A gem of a pitching performance  , truly dominated a poor royals team ...

Starting pitching is definitely our strengths this year unbelievablewe have seen 2 shutouts pitched in the same season ...

Hitting still has a ways to go , we'll see how it plays out against Baltimore   , we need to at least win the series at home  against a better team like Baltimore  ...

[mikelink45]

Lopez did what he should do against a horrible team. My God, Kansas City looks worse than Oakland. That doesn't take away from the fact that Lopez was outstanding, but if we played Kansas City all year, we'd be 150 and 12. So let's take our victories and being over 500 and change the way we approach the better teams that are coming up. 

I will also say that Jeffers has taken over as number one catcher. Both defense and offense make him the choice for the majority of games as I see it.

And Julien is really settling in and looks like a tremendous asset. With Lewis down it is nice to have this young player join Kiriloff.  

Now if only Miranda can discover his bat so we can have three productive young players in the lineup. 

[JDubs]

Once again Robot Rocco pulls a pitcher who's cruising just because his fancy pants "analytics" say the game is over. What a disgrace -- let them pitch!!!11!!1!

[TwinsDr2021]

4 hours ago, AlwaysinModeration said:

Over his last two starts:

15IP, 7H, 1ER, 3BB, 18K

ERA down from 4.41 to 3.89

Stop that, the narrative is that he is just a league average pitcher. Averaging over 6 innings a start with a WHIP under 1. 😜

[Franchise Adams]

8 hours ago, Brandon said:

The bullpen will be well rested for the next series. Against Baltimore.  I think the bullpen will do well next series.  

And with the All Star Break afterwards there will be lots of recovery time before the next game, so Jax and Duran can be leaned on a little more heavily.

[jmlease1]

Lopez was brilliant. Really fun to watch, he was pitching so well. With a nice lead and no more starts before the all-star break it made total sense to let him go for the shutout, especially after a pretty quick 8th. Didn't expect him to get through the 9th that quickly, lol! (Phil Cuzzi certainly helped him out a few times in another classic Cuzzi performance. KC got a few calls from him too, but the weight was definitely on the Twins side this time. Another game to put in the "we need the electronic strike zone" ledger)

I've taken some shots at Kepler for his declining defense this season (and the stats back it up), so of course he makes multiple fine plays today. Maybe we should spend the week mocking his baserunning or something, see if that ticks up.

Would have been nice to see a few more hits, but battling for 6 walks makes up the difference just fine. Buxton and Correa both drew a couple of impressive ones after falling behind in the count and that's usually a good sign.

Jeffers is doing a very nice job this season, and it's great to see consistent offense from him, especially with Vazquez not hitting anything. This is why the Twins had zero interest on moving on from Jeffers: he's a good catcher.

Sweep! I love a sweep.

[Franchise Adams]

6 hours ago, VivaBomboRivera! said:

Please do not omit the 6 BB. Today's OBP was still .324 even though BA was .185.

9Ks not great, but K rate is decidedly down since 30 June. We shall see if this trend continues.  This club amassed 838 strikeouts in the first 82 games (10.2).

Thinking of the benefits of a lower K rate, I think of the error after Kirilloff's single. 2 runs scored in part because if you put the ball in play, crazy stuff can happen. Especially against the Royals.