Make It Official! Twins 5, Red Sox 2: Chris Paddack's Dominance Boosts Winning Streak to 11

[Matt Braun]

The sausage works against teams above .500, too!

Image courtesy of Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score
Chris Paddack: 6 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K
Home Runs: None
Top 3 WPA: Chris Paddack (.364), Edouard Julien (.153), Willi Castro (.115)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

How powerful is this sausage really? The Twins are such a fascinating franchise; that such a sentence can be typed, and understood only accentuates the bizarre vibes constantly pulsating from the team’s ethos. Would Saturday be just as weird? Does a bear do business in the woods?

Two tantalizing righties—Chris Paddack and Tanner Houck—faced off in the battle of pitchers with an inherent desire to shade their eyes. Not a cornea was observed on the mound. Houck entered the game as one of the AL’s finest performers, a true, identifiable ace with one of the lowest ERAs in the game. Paddack, less so. The country would riot if his ERA was the price of gas. He joined the fray as one of the more hittable starters out there, with only a few solid starts under his belt. Naturally, we received a pitcher’s duel. 

It didn’t start pretty. Carlos Correa botched a grounder he could make while comatose, allowing the first runner of the game to reach. Rafael Devers doubled. We all saw where this was going.

But Paddack stranded both runners and worked relentlessly to retire each batter he faced afterward. A quick 3rd begat a breezy 4th. Hitters flailed at the changeup and found themselves late on the fastball—fueling a dominant, highly efficient start from the 28-year-old. He never broke stride. The dust settled with six shutout innings over just 83 pitches. Paddack struck out six and walked one. It was by far his finest start against a non-White Sox lineup. 

Houck was just a little worse. The man with one of the smoothest pitching lines in baseball didn’t budge, but he did crack just a little. A Willi Castro liner just narrowly found fair territory, and Edouard Julien coaxed him home when an opposite-field grounder perfectly split the difference between the shortstop and third baseman. In any case, the two mistakes—as much as casual baseball misfortune can be called such—served as the only blemishes on Houck’s line. At least, the only ones you can blame him for. 

Some innings full of false stops gave way to a fruitful 7th. Trevor Larnach and Carlos Santana singled before a run scored when a Castro sacrifice bunt morphed into an awkward oh-I-guess-a-run-is-scoring-now situation. Santana slid directly into Boston’s Ceddanne Rafaela. It was weird.

A third run scored on an Edouard Julien walk, and the lead turned to five when Ryan Jeffers gashed a double into the left-center gap. 

Boston did not fall quietly; they finally scored thanks to a cracked Rafael Devers double in the 8th. That rally ended with a Caleb Thielbar strikeout of Tyler O'Neil. 

Ideally, those runs never score, allowing Minnesota to waltz softly into a victory as some random reliever feigns drama in a nondescript 9th inning. But they did. And since a three-run lead outlines a save in our shared baseball lexicon, Jhoan Duran entered the game. Pandamonium ensued. 

He huffed and puffed and climbed on top of the mound, claiming the throne from which he'd retired Boston's hitters. Wilyer Abreu couldn't catch up to a fastball. Garrett Cooper chopped a founder to third. Dominic Smith could have just stayed in the dugout; he whiffed on three pitches. Minnesota's winning streak now stands at 11. 

Notes:

Minnesota's 11-game winning streak is their longest since 2006.

Jhoan Duran earned his 37th career save on Friday. He is seven saves away from passing Doug Corbett for 14th place on the Twins' all-time save list.

Edouard Julien walked multiple times in a game for the 15th time in his MLB career. 

Chris Paddack dropped his season ERA over a full run, from 5.88 to 4.78.

Post-Game Interview:

 

 

 

What’s Next?

The Twins and Red Sox play the second game of their series on Saturday. The dangerous and crafty TBD will face off against Minnesota’s struggling ace, Pablo López. First pitch is at 1:10 PM.

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

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[Patzky]

It really satisfies.

Sausage and snickers.

[h2oface]

Kudos to Paddack. We can sure use a lot of that.

[USAFChief]

Truly dominant outing from Paddack. Impressive.

 

[wabene]

Jax was incredible, they had no chance. Oh yeah and Duran was pretty good too 

[LastOnePicked]

It is possible ...

 

 

... that I was wrong two weeks ago about the season being over.

[Parfigliano]

Maybe there's something to this sausage.

[BH67]

This whole meme is taking a turn for the wurst.

[VivaBomboRivera!]

4 minutes ago, Parfigliano said:

Maybe there's something to this sausage.

A totally tubular win!

This year's contributions from Larnach and Miranda are truly unexpected surprises. I had thought their careers would be leading them elsewhere, but both looking much improved thus far.

[VivaBomboRivera!]

2 minutes ago, BH67 said:

This whole meme is taking a turn for the wurst.

A "knock" wurst, perhaps?

[D.C Twins]

The Official Chicken has been laying a lot of golden Ws the past two weeks!

[D.C Twins]

38 minutes ago, LastOnePicked said:

It is possible ...

 

 

... that I was wrong two weeks ago about the season being over.

I thought you meant that you thought the (regular) season was (essentially) over (because we were all but a lock to win the division)... So .... kudos... your prediction is tracking!

On the flip side... everyone who predicted a 11 game win streak.... raise your hand! (....and show your work :)

[jimbo92107]

Q: Does a bear do business in the woods?

A: Never ask a bear about its business. 

Score at least 6 runs per game, you'll be a winning team, even with mediocre pitching and fielding. 

Score less than that, you'll need a little something extra from the other two areas. Today, the Twins got a lot extra from Chris Paddack, and a little extra from Carlos Correa, after an initial blunder. 

It was enough. Wave a sausage, eat a chicken. Food for the soul. 

[UK Twin]

Outstanding from Paddack. Getting out of that first inning jam clearly gave him confidence and then pitched 5 top innings after that. He's got the stuff to be a good middle of the rotation starter so if he can stay healthy he should be able to give us a chance to win on most days that he starts.

[Joe A. Preusser]

6 hours ago, D.C Twins said:

I thought you meant that you thought the (regular) season was (essentially) over (because we were all but a lock to win the division)... So .... kudos... your prediction is tracking!

On the flip side... everyone who predicted a 11 game win streak.... raise your hand! (....and show your work :)

Only a fool would predict an 11 game winning streak...

My prediction was 16. 

[Brazilian Twins Fan]

16 minutes ago, Joe A. Preusser said:

Only a fool would predict an 11 game winning streak...

My prediction was 16. 

I'm not an optimistic person at all.

My prediction is that we'll break the Indians record of 22.

[bighat]

Wiener, wiener....chicken dinner?

[William K Johnson]

Love the winning streak, but a couple of observations:

- Why can't we try Castro at leadoff?

- Cole Sands in the eighth inning?

- Is anyone else beginning to get a little concerned about Kiriloff?

- I thought Margot was Buxton insurance.

Anyway, this sure is fun.

[Fezig]

7 hours ago, LastOnePicked said:

It is possible ...

 

 

... that I was wrong two weeks ago about the season being over.

I sure hope you were. I'd have to throw my hat in the "I was wrong" ring as well. Of course, I wasn't suspecting the Twins were actually going to stop swinging for the fences each pitch either. Based on the twitter highlight above, it appears Julien has learned to shorten his swing and hit to the opposite field. 

Of course the potential is there for the Twins to do an extended version on the Wild's season and it will be filled with peaks and valleys of winning and losing streaks. 

[Karbo]

What a turn around! Looks like a very confident team right now. Jeffers for MVP!

[CRF]

Amazing! Never saw this coming. 

[jmlease1]

Really good win. Jax and Duran look pretty great out there, and that's bad for other teams. I'm amazed how how easily Duran throws 101. There doesn't seem to be any extra effort or strain when he throws that fastball and then the gun shows 101 and you just shake your head.

Excellent start from Paddack, and hope it's a sign of things to come. Maybe Keith Law will acknowledge Paddack as being a starter now. (unlikely)

Good job breaking open the game but the offense, showed a lot of patience there.

[Doctor Gast]

Impressive win. Paddack outshined Houck & the line-up showed up. Lets keep the ball rolling & sweep BOS.

[Peter]

Huge statement win especially against Boston!!! Paddock was awesome as was jefferies, Duran is 🔥since returning from DL let’s win this series and win streak to 12! Go Twins!!!

[bighat]

1 hour ago, William K Johnson said:

Love the winning streak, but a couple of observations:

- Why can't we try Castro at leadoff?

- Cole Sands in the eighth inning?

- Is anyone else beginning to get a little concerned about Kiriloff?

- I thought Margot was Buxton insurance.

Anyway, this sure is fun.

- Don't know why Castro isn't hitting leadoff

- Cole Sands is turning back into a pumpkin. He is who we thought he was. He had a nice April, but I am hoping the Twins have someone ready to replace this guy ASAP, the implosion has begun. 

- Yes, getting concerned about Kirilloff. He looks....tired? Seems like a guy who is just out of gas. Doesn't look like an everyday player, should be platooning. Playing 6 games per week is way too much for him. 

- Did the Twins really trade the best SS prospect in the game for Manuel Margot? This is embarrassing. 

One more: 

- Thielbar is a 40 year-old man coming off injury and he looks every part of it. Even when he's not giving up runs, he's giving up hart hits and walking guys. Like Sands, I sure hope the Twins have a plan to replace this guy. 

Also: yes, this sure is fun! Will be watching to see if they can make it 12 today! 

[Karbo]

13 minutes ago, bighat said:

- Don't know why Castro isn't hitting leadoff

- Cole Sands is turning back into a pumpkin. He is who we thought he was. He had a nice April, but I am hoping the Twins have someone ready to replace this guy ASAP, the implosion has begun. 

- Yes, getting concerned about Kirilloff. He looks....tired? Seems like a guy who is just out of gas. Doesn't look like an everyday player, should be platooning. Playing 6 games per week is way too much for him. 

- Did the Twins really trade the best SS prospect in the game for Manuel Margot? This is embarrassing. 

One more: 

- Thielbar is a 40 year-old man coming off injury and he looks every part of it. Even when he's not giving up runs, he's giving up hart hits and walking guys. Like Sands, I sure hope the Twins have a plan to replace this guy. 

Also: yes, this sure is fun! Will be watching to see if they can make it 12 today! 

I've been wondering if AK is hurting again, and I agree the Margot trade, so far, is a flop. Not giving up om Sands at all. Though I don't think he is a late inning guy yet. I think Alcala will probably slide into that role.

[DJL44]

19 minutes ago, bighat said:

- Did the Twins really trade the best SS prospect in the game for Manuel Margot? This is embarrassing. 

That one is an emphatic no. Jackson Holliday is in the Orioles system.

[wornsmooth]

9 hours ago, VivaBomboRivera! said:

A totally tubular win!

This year's contributions from Larnach and Miranda are truly unexpected surprises. I had thought their careers would be leading them elsewhere, but both looking much improved thus far.

I always liked Larnach. Even playing part time he was one of the team leaders in RBIs until he was sent down.

[wornsmooth]

4 hours ago, UK Twin said:

Outstanding from Paddack. Getting out of that first inning jam clearly gave him confidence and then pitched 5 top innings after that. He's got the stuff to be a good middle of the rotation starter so if he can stay healthy he should be able to give us a chance to win on most days that he starts.

Getting out of 1st inning jam against some of Bostons best hitters showed mental toughness and ability to focus. It was a stellar performance.

 

 

[wornsmooth]

6 minutes ago, wornsmooth said:

I always liked Larnach. Even playing part time he was one of the team leaders in RBIs until he was sent down.

Sent down last year, is what i meant to say.