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Twins Video
Box Score:
Starting Pitcher: Zebby Matthews: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K (77 Pitches, 49 Strikes, 63.6%)
Home Runs: Christian Vazquez (7), Max Kepler (8), Kyle Farmer (1)
Top 3 WPA: Jose Miranda (.185), Matt Wallner (.116), Matthews (.099)
Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs):
Excitement was in the air on Tuesday, as Twins fans awaited the debut of Daniel Zebulon "Zebby" Matthews. His arrival was hastened as a result of Joe Ryan's (likely) season-ending teres major strain, but Matthews has a lot of helium as a prospect. He started the year in single A but his overwhelming dominance (114/7 strikeout/walk ratio) prompted the Twins to turn to him, potentially over the more experienced Louie Varland, to fill the fifth spot in their rotation.
Matthews was sharp around the zone, showcasing his elite strike-throwing ability. After a long fly out to leadoff hitter Michael Massey in the first, Matthews struck out MVP candidate Bobby Witt Jr. on three swinging strikes, going cutter-cutter-slider, a truly impressive display.
While Matthews continued to paint the edges of the strike zone, he quickly got a crash course in how major league hitters can still hurt you if they know, or guess, what's coming. MJ Melendez, one of the more mediocre hitters in baseball (though with some power) guessed that Matthews was going to bust him inside and pulled his hands in, crushing a Matthews cutter 405 feet for the Royals' first run in the second.
Opposing Matthews was the sort of pitcher he may become someday, Seth Lugo. Lugo throws about a hundred different pitches and commands them all well. He doesn't issue any walks and can throw his fastball as hard as 96-97 MPH. Kept in captivity by some dysfunctional Mets teams as a security blanket reliever for several years, he was finally allowed to start in 2023 with the Padres and pitched well, prompting the Royals to sign him to a multi-year deal this past off-season. He's been even better in 2024, making his first all-star team, and holding the Twins to a single run in 12 innings, but his league leading 155 2/3 innings have perhaps started to wear on him, as he hasn't been as effective lately, while skipping between start throwing sessions.
It didn't take long for the Twins to take advantage. Willi Castro led off the first with a ringing double off the wall in right-center. Royce Lewis then worked a long at-bat that ended with him shortening up and lining a single up the middle to score Castro. Matt Wallner, now in the third spot in the lineup, hit a ball of the end of his bat and still drove it over the right fielder's head for a double. Jose Miranda, fighting a slump and zero for his last eleven, grounded to the third baseman Maikel Franco, who hesitated on whether he should throw home with Lewis going from third on contact. Franco decided against that, and threw wildly to first, with Miranda ending up at second and both Lewis and Wallner scoring to make the score 3-0.
Facing Melendez again in the fourth inning, Matthews nibbled himself into a 3-1 count. He challenged the outfielder with a couple fastballs at 95 MPH down the middle that were fouled back. Matthews then finished off the at-bat with a backdoor slider. The at-bat was a good example of two affirmations for the rookie: A) He can beat hitters in the zone when he needs to and B) He needs to be conscious of not throwing too many strikes.
Even better for the rookie, the Twins kept adding on against Lugo. Miranda doubled home Wallner in the third, and the red-hot Christian Vazquez homered to dead center field in the fourth (Should he move up in the order?).
Matthews' best sequence came in the fifth, though not without some consternation. He struck out Adam Frazier on a cutter darting in on his hands, and then struck out Garcia on a 95 MPH fastball dotted at the bottom of the zone. Unfortunately, Kyle Isbel bounced a ball just out of the reach of a diving Austin Martin, and Massey lined a ball just short of Max Kepler's glove, with the ball rolling away and allowing Isbel to score.
That brought up Witt Jr. for the third time, and after getting ahead with a painted first pitch slider, Matthews got Witt reaching for a fastball outside and induced a weak fly out to Kepler, a good sign in gauging the rookie's intestinal fortitude.
Twins Daily's winning "Make It Official!" game recaps are sponsored by Official Fried Chicken, which you can find in center field of Target Field. With a name like "Official," we know we have to be the best in the game every day, and from your first bite, you'll know that's a promise we make good on.
Matthews was done after five innings, and the lineup set out to make sure he earned a win in his debut. In the bottom of the fifth, Miranda and Wallner singled, and Carlos Santana walked to load the bases. Kepler then singled, which ended the night for Lugo. Facing Twins punching bag Chris Stratton, Manuel Margot produced an infield single of Garcia's glove and Vazquez delivered a sacrifice fly to make the score 8-2.
I was unsure about the health/mental state of Kepler, who looked visibly frustrated striking out his first two times up and hasn't hit for much power lately. He must be fine though, as he delivered the aforementioned dagger to Lugo and then, facing lefty Will Smith in the sixth, golfed a three run home run to officially put the game out of reach. He later singled in the eighth to complete a three hit night.
The Twins added some more runs off of Smith in the seventh, courtesy of a Kyle Farmer home run. Steven Okert, Caleb Thielbar and Josh Winder pitched the last four innings to seal the win.
Trends:
| Healthy/Performing | Healthy/Trending Up | ||||
| Key: | Hurt/Performing | Hurt/Trending Up | |||
| Healthy/Slumping | Healthy/Trending Down | ||||
| Hurt/Slumping | Hurt/Trending Down | ||||
| Dead/IL/Minors | |||||
| C | Ryan Jeffers | Christian Vazquez | |||
| 1B | Carlos Santana | Alex Kirilloff | Jose Miranda | ||
| 2B | Edouard Julien | Kyle Farmer | |||
| 3B | Royce Lewis | ||||
| SS | Carlos Correa | Brooks Lee | |||
| LF | Matt Wallner | Trevor Larnach | Austin Martin | ||
| CF | Byron Buxton | Manuel Margot | |||
| RF | Max Kepler | ||||
| UTIL | Willi Castro | ||||
| SP | Pablo Lopez | Bailey Ober | Joe Ryan | Chris Paddack | Louie Varland |
| RSP | David Festa | Zebby Matthews |
Simeon Woods Richardson
|
||
| CR | Jhoan Duran | Griffin Jax | |||
| SR | Brock Stewart | Jorge Alcala | Cole Sands | ||
| MR | Trevor Richards | Caleb Thielbar | Steven Okert |
Kody Funderburk
|
|
| LR | Josh Winder |
Stray Notes:
Miranda looks back, delivering a classic double to left-center and spraying the ball around with authority. He finished a home run shy of the cycle.
Steven Okert returned from bereavement, and had the misfortune of facing Salvador Perez, who launched a home run to dead center in the sixth. Okert had given up a .931 to righties entering play. He may need to outpitch Trevor Richards down the stretch to keep his roster spot.
Kyle Farmer hit his first home run of the year, an upper decker in the seventh to further ruin the day of Will Smith.
Since last Friday's doubleheader, Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax have combined for one appearance. That could be crucial as the Twins are in the midst of playing 14 games in 13 days.
Buxton's MRI showed no significant damage and he remains day-to-day. His hip has popped up as an issue several times since 2021.
What’s Next: Louie Varland (0-4, 6.46) looks to build off an encouraging start in the second game of the Cleveland series (outside of that one curveball) opposing lefty Cole Ragans (9-7, 3.27 ERA). Ragans has electric stuff but has looked human against the Twins thus far, losing both games he started and allowing five runs in eleven innings.
Postgame Interviews:
Bullpen Usage Chart:
| FRI | SAT | SUN | MON | TUE | TOT | |
| Thielbar | 20 | 0 | 32 | 0 | 14 | 66 |
| Winder | 0 | 29 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 55 |
| Richards | 9 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 0 | 34 |
| Alcalá | 16 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 31 |
| Sands | 18 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 27 |
| Jax | 12 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 24 |
| Okert | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 15 |
| Durán | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
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