Make It Official! Twins 4, Tigers 1: Castro Crushes and Sands Saves

[Ted Schwerzler]

Grabbing both sides of a doubleheader is never an easy task, and even less so when calling upon a spot starter. In the nightcap though, Minnesota watched Simeon Woods Richardson shove for his first career major league victory, and Willi Castro's home run allowed for Cole Sands to grab his second career save.

Image courtesy of © Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Game 2: Twins 4, Tigers 1
Box Score
SP: Simeon Woods Richardson 6.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K (80 pitches, 53 strikes, 7 whiffs)
Home Runs: Edouard Julien (4), Willi Castro (1)
Top 3 WPA: Simeon Woods Richardson (.252), Cole Sands (.167), Willi Castro (.162)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Out to a Lead
While it took the Twins some time to grab a lead during the first half of the doubleheader today, they wasted no time in the nightcap. Julien started the game against Matt Manning with a walk, rather than a strikeout, and it immediately put the Tigers in a bad spot. Jeffers drew a walk out of the two hole after being the offensive hero from game one, and Kirilloff moved Julien to third with a ground out. Buxton then lifted a sacrifice fly to center and Minnesota had a 1-0 lead.

Today was the first showing of Simeon Woods Richardson at the major league level this season. After using a fastball that barely broke 91 mph the past two seasons, his spring was highlighted by a four-seam pitch that moved up into the 93-94 mph range. He flashed that against the Tigers during the 1st inning, and was able to grab strikeouts from both Greene and Torkelson to set Detroit down in order.

Woods Richardson saw traffic in the 2nd inning with the bases loaded and just one out, but thankfully he had Baez stepping in. Despite a miss of a pitch, the Tigers shortstop popped it up to center and only tied the game on a sacrifice fly. He got out of the inning with the game being even, but a 25-pitch 2nd inning meant that Woods Richardson was already over the 40-mark for the game.

Moar Tacos
Farmer came up and grounded out, again, in the 3rd inning but Julien decided he had seen enough. Punching another opposite field home run for 400 feet, the Twins second baseman grabbed yet another taco and put the good guys back up by a run. With the amount he continues to go the opposite way, it seems like it's only a matter of time before he gets a taco sponsorship. Jeffers followed him with a single but Kirilloff and Buxton grounded out to end the inning.

Woods Richardson also got what he needed in the bottom half. After a laborious 2nd inning, he worked the 3rd inning on just five pitches. Comerica is where he made his major league debut, and while he looks like an entirely different pitcher at this point in his career, shutting down the opposition so easily is never going to bring on anything but good vibes. He carried those through the next two innings and that left his teammates in a good spot.

Hello From the Other Side
Castro has struggled to get things going this season, but he is going to be a vital part of the Twins plans going forward without Correa. Starting at shortstop on a routine basis, he will draw plenty of at bats against both righties and lefties. After Buxton struck out to bring his tally to 18/1 K/BB on the season, the Minnesota utility man clobbered a baseball to right center. With Martin on base, Castro's first home run of the season made it a 4-1 game.

Entering the 6th inning having retired 11 in a row, Woods Richardson quickly got Greene out on a ground ball to first base. Seeking his first win, there may be some exciting sorts of vindication to get that victory at the place he made his major league debut. Finishing off the inning in order, the Twins starter had sent 14 in a row packing and the victory vibes were building again. Leaving after six, Woods Richardson was in line for his first big league win, and he gave the club everything they could have wanted in a spot start following a long first game.

Kody Funderburk got the first two outs on a pair of strikeouts, but a pair of hits made things dicey. Cole Sands came in and got a first-pitch grounder from Baez that Julien made a nice play on to end the inning.

Sands Sends it to the 9th
As has been the case with Alcala early this season, Sands has found a way to make himself among the Twins most impressive relievers. After generating a one-pitch out in the 7th inning, he worked a full 8th inning, grabbing two strikeouts while allowing no baserunners. Sands hit the mid-90's with his fastball and also showed a velocity uptick that Minnesota could work with. While it's unfortunate that Jhoan Duran, Caleb Thielbar, Josh Staumont, and Justin Topa are missing time to begin the year, it's the bullpen depth that has an opportunity to prove its mettle.

Margot struck out to kick off the 9th inning before a Santana single gave him his second base hit of the game. Stranded at second following a Julien groundout, it was on Minnesota to grab the final three outs and make it a sweep of the doubleheader on Saturday. Baldelli stuck with Sands after the strong work he already showed, and he entered the frame in line for the second save of his career.

Notes
With the win today Simeon Woods Richardson gets his first at the major league level. While he was called up to be the 27th man for Minnesota, there's no doubt they'll rely on him as the season goes on. With Brent Headrick on the injury list and David Festa still getting his feet wet at Triple-A, it's Woods Richardson that should be expected top be the first man up for the foreseeable future.

Find today's game 1 recap here.

Postgame Interviews

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

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[Doctor Gast]

So happy that SWR pitched so well, confirming my faith in him. Sweeping this double-header has done a lot to help restore my optimism towards this team. Just what the doctor ordered. 

[Rosterman]

Pitchers can always have a bad game now ands then. But so many good pitches this Saturday.

Was I surprised that Rocco didn't have Jair catch Simeon? Or totally unsure how the guy can handle any major league abserunners. But Simeon pitched like he wants Varland's job.

Be interesting to see what Bowman can do, as the Twins have to make a decision on Thielbar and is sending Fundeburk down just because you can the true answer?

Suddently the Twins are 6-7. Not even 15 games yet, so there is still a chance to shine and shine and shine...if the bats can just do their job.

Quote

 

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

2 minutes ago, Rosterman said:

Pitchers can always have a bad game now ands then. But so many good pitches this Saturday.

Was I surprised that Rocco didn't have Jair catch Simeon? Or totally unsure how the guy can handle any major league abserunners. But Simeon pitched like he wants Varland's job.

Be interesting to see what Bowman can do, as the Twins have to make a decision on Thielbar and is sending Fundeburk down just because you can the true answer?

Suddently the Twins are 6-7. Not even 15 games yet, so there is still a chance to shine and shine and shine...if the bats can just do their job.

 

With this staff, the lineup needs to be average and you could stumble to 85 wins.

[jmlease1]

Great job by SWR! Hope it's a sign of things to come. I've always been a fan of his talent and it's not like he's old for AAA. If the mechanical fix can keep his fastball up and he commands his pitches like he did today it's a good sign. His outing should give people a little more confidence in our ability to manage an injury to the rotation?

Love sweeping a doubleheader. Maybe this will help get the team out of its funk and start them on a bit of a run. Still plenty of work to do, but these were good wins. Funny game, baseball.

[Linus]

Happy for SWR. He had a recent clunker in AAA so I was a little skeptical but if he could could be a legit back end starter that would be huge. 

[MN Brian]

Feels like sweeping the double header could be a significant change in momentum for the team, especially if they can pick-up the series finale.  That said the hitting has been very mediocre and while the outcomes were improved today the hitting felt only marginally improved.

[Jocko87]

6-7 feels a heck of a lot better than 4-9 or 5-8.  Still early but a big swing.

SWR and Sands showing why spending $30m on a pitcher is completely unnecessary.

Ducks.

[Dman]

Man SWR really had everything working today.  He was hitting those corners and his Changeup is a difference maker when he is throwing enough strikes.  You can't pitch much better than he did today and going 6 innings after the 1st game went extra's was huge.

I was disappointed with Sands last year and was pretty vocal about it.  He is off to an impressive start this year. I think I saw he had his fastball around 97mph today on at least one pitch.  So nice to see the pen arms stepping up and not giving away so many games like last year.

If the offense can get things goin the Twins can play with anyone this year.

[IndianaTwin]

Lost in today's wins, don't forget about Tonkin. When he was signed this week, there were a decent number of people complaining, while others of us were naming that he was likely just a placeholder for a few days. 

Well, last night, he held that place and threw two innings after they were down 5-0. In doing so, he allowed them to have a fresh bullpen today, which was huge. Sure, Bowman could have conceivably thrown those two innings Friday night, but then he wouldn't have been available today (when he wasn't needed, but was an available body) or tomorrow (when he'll be the only completely fresh arm). 

It's almost like the front office knew what it was doing in signing Tonkin.

[Patzky]

27 minutes ago, MN Brian said:

Feels like sweeping the double header could be a significant change in momentum for the team, especially if they can pick-up the series finale.  That said the hitting has been very mediocre and while the outcomes were improved today the hitting felt only marginally improved.

So we found the trick is that it takes ten or eleven at bats a day for Carlos Santana to get warmed up..

[Linus]

19 minutes ago, IndianaTwin said:

Lost in today's wins, don't forget about Tonkin. When he was signed this week, there were a decent number of people complaining, while others of us were naming that he was likely just a placeholder for a few days. 

Well, last night, he held that place and threw two innings after they were down 5-0. In doing so, he allowed them to have a fresh bullpen today, which was huge. Sure, Bowman could have conceivably thrown those two innings Friday night, but then he wouldn't have been available today (when he wasn't needed, but was an available body) or tomorrow (when he'll be the only completely fresh arm). 

It's almost like the front office knew what it was doing in signing Tonkin.

I was going to post about this. I think the reliever churn is something the MLBPA needs to fight MLB on. Tonkin basically got used and then kicked to the curb. Which was entirely predictable. He should feigned a back problem and made them IL him for 10 days so he would get a little more pay. The MLBPA worries about the dumbest sh*t and then lets their rank and file get used like this. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

9 minutes ago, Linus said:

I was going to post about this. I think the reliever churn is something the MLBPA needs to fight MLB on. Tonkin basically got used and then kicked to the curb. Which was entirely predictable. He should feigned a back problem and made them IL him for 10 days so he would get a little more pay. The MLBPA worries about the dumbest sh*t and then lets their rank and file get used like this. 

There's an easy fix to roster churn but MLB will *hate* it.

When a guy is called up, he gets ten days of service time and pay. You can demote him the next day but he's paid the MLB rate for ten days.

Second, lower service time required to qualify for a full season to ~120 days.

You can still roster churn all you want but it's gonna hit your pocketbook in a big way.

[Pat]

As I read  all these updates here appear to be the most  common statements:

"[Fill in the name]  went down swinging."

"[Fill in the name]" was called out on strikes."

[jmlease1]

54 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

There's an easy fix to roster churn but MLB will *hate* it.

When a guy is called up, he gets ten days of service time and pay. You can demote him the next day but he's paid the MLB rate for ten days.

Second, lower service time required to qualify for a full season to ~120 days.

You can still roster churn all you want but it's gonna hit your pocketbook in a big way.

The question is whether the MLBPA would fight for something like this, or if they'll spend all their capital on things that benefit the top players making the biggest contracts. It's why there's been a split in the MLBPA recently, including the current internal union strife. But something like this is achievable.

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, Linus said:

I think the reliever churn is something the MLBPA needs to fight MLB on. Tonkin basically got used and then kicked to the curb. Which was entirely predictable. He should feigned a back problem and made them IL him for 10 days so he would get a little more pay. The MLBPA worries about the dumbest sh*t and then lets their rank and file get used like this. 

This is not the battle I would choose to fight. Fungible relievers are fungible. Tonkin has benefitted from relief pitcher churn more than it has cost him in his career.

[Peter]

Give credit where credit is due! Very impressive in double header sweep!!! Especially after losing Friday night-SWR was awesome winning his debut and bullpen did excellent as well. 6-7 is a lot better then 4-9/5-8. Let’s get win tomorrow/take this series and get back to .500 go Twins!!!

[stringer bell]

1 hour ago, Pat said:

As I read  all these updates here appear to be the most  common statements:

"[Fill in the name]  went down swinging."

"[Fill in the name]" was called out on strikes."

I would like to point out that Twins' pitchers have struck out more batters than the Twins have struck out.

[jorgenswest]

2 hours ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

There's an easy fix to roster churn but MLB will *hate* it.

When a guy is called up, he gets ten days of service time and pay. You can demote him the next day but he's paid the MLB rate for ten days.

Second, lower service time required to qualify for a full season to ~120 days.

You can still roster churn all you want but it's gonna hit your pocketbook in a big way.

While we’re at it let’s give the waiver fee to the player. 

[Guest]

Sands has been filthy this year, really filled out his complement of pitches.  Why not stretch him out and swap Sands into Louie's 5th rotation spot?  Varland excelled at one inning; Sands has enough variety now to make a nice starter.

[mikelink45]

Varland needs to step up, SWR just put the pressure on him.  Sands has surprised me in a good way.  I am also delighted by Funderburk and his performance this year.  

Hopefully Jeffers and Julien can join Kiriloff and start getting some hits on a regular basis. 

[jorgenswest]

Today there were good performances from players not expected to be on the original 26. Woods Richardson, Sands, Funderburk and Alcala* gave up 1 earned run in 11 innings. Martin and Miranda were on base 6 times in their 13 plate appearances. These games felt critical and the young players stepped up.
 

*I guess this assumes that Staumont was in line to claim that last spot but none of those 5 had a lock on the roster. 

[DocBauer]

WONDERFUL sweep! Too much to comment about 2 games so I'm putting it all in one thread. 

1] Ryan has looked good to amazing. He looks like the ALL STAR he was in 2023 before his groin injury. He won't always be this good, but few do. He deserved the win. But then again, sometimes you get the W on bad days as well.

2] I understand we need guys to pitch 2 innings once Ina while. Everyone needs that. But considering his STUFF and potential, and all the time he's missed, I'm still surprised how Alcala is treated. Honestly, if you've watched him, he's pretty much dominant for 1 IP. In his career, it's always been extending him that has inflated some numbers. I guess Rocco and Maki feel enough confidence in him that he can do more. He sure did it today after a break. Wonderful job!

3] I KNOW Wallner's HR was pretty much BS against a position player in a game already out of hand. But when you've been struggling, and getting a series of BS calls against you, and then you YANK one, regardless of circumstance, it just has to make you smile and feel better. Does he take a happy moment and carry it over?

4] Martin showed what he CAN do. If he's up, and 2 of your top 3 players are down, then PLAY the kid!

5] I like Jeffers. If you don't, shame on you. I've been a believer and  still am.

6]  I've been hot and cold on SWR since we got him. Promoted too soon, Olympics time, bad times and a good 2022, and a bad 2023 with some late season rally. Just who in the hell is this kid who was a top prospect and traded twice? And then he suddenly changes  his arm angle and suddenly has more velocity t_o add to his secondary stuff. He has a limited ST and then tosses OK at AAA to begin the season. And then he comes up to toss 6 great innings. 

Color me surprised and hopeful 

7] What's up with Sands? I know it's early. But he's been pretty good so far. Unexpectedly so. His velocity is in the mid 90's. His stuff so far, has velocity and movement. Are we seeing the development of another reliable pen arm?

 

[Danchat]

4 hours ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

There's an easy fix to roster churn but MLB will *hate* it.

When a guy is called up, he gets ten days of service time and pay. You can demote him the next day but he's paid the MLB rate for ten days.

Second, lower service time required to qualify for a full season to ~120 days.

You can still roster churn all you want but it's gonna hit your pocketbook in a big way.

The NFL actually does this with promoting players from the practice squad (or poaching from another team's), IIRC they get 4 game checks minimum even if they are axed after one game. Similar concept.

[D.C Twins]

Make it official..... we need to let Martin have an extended period of consistent play to see exactly what we have in him. 

[UK Twin]

An excellent day for the Twins. Sweeping a DH can really provide a boost to a team and we needed a boost. On top of that it sounds like Correa's injury isn't as bad as it could have been so hopefully he won't need a lot more than the minimum stay on the IL. 

Outstanding from SWR - he needed to make sure he went at least 6 after the 12 inning game in game 1. Knowing that adds a little more pressure and he was great. 

Getting very concerned about Wallner. He looks all at sea at the plate right now. He needs a stint at AAA to sort himself out but problem is who can we call up? Larnach is injured, Lee is injured, Miranda and Martin are already up. 

[John Belinski]

Maybe the best pitched game of the season. The rookie really pitched well and certainly should get more starts..

[stringer bell]

4 hours ago, UK Twin said:

An excellent day for the Twins. Sweeping a DH can really provide a boost to a team and we needed a boost. On top of that it sounds like Correa's injury isn't as bad as it could have been so hopefully he won't need a lot more than the minimum stay on the IL. 

Outstanding from SWR - he needed to make sure he went at least 6 after the 12 inning game in game 1. Knowing that adds a little more pressure and he was great. 

Getting very concerned about Wallner. He looks all at sea at the plate right now. He needs a stint at AAA to sort himself out but problem is who can we call up? Larnach is injured, Lee is injured, Miranda and Martin are already up. 

It should be noted that Larnach is rehabbing and should be physically ready soon or maybe immediately. 

[Whitey333]

Great sweep Twins.  To make the two wins Saturday even more important the Twins need to win Sunday and start a long term positive run.  It's funny what a doubleheader sweep will do to enhance positive vibes.  I still need a lot of convincing to be able to claim this team legit.  

[Bodie]

Nice to this game follow the earlier 12th inning "outburst"!  Kick 'em when they are down! (twice if you can)

Nice to see the kids step up and play like they belong in Minneapolis and not St. Paul.  Does a lot to calm some early season bad vibes that I'm getting....