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Twins Video
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)
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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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