MIN 6, DET 0: Lynn Shows Will to Win

Lance Lynn pitched his best game in a Twins uniform to date, and looked like he was about ready to punch himself in the face in frustration. He delivered 6 2/3 shutout innings, but appeared to be in no way satisfied with the way things ended. I think that’s a good sign.

Image courtesy of © Jordan Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

Twins Video

Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs)

Lynn left the mound shaking his head and screaming into his mitt. With two outs in the seventh inning, he hit a batter on a first-pitch curveball. With Lynn approaching 100 pitches, Garvin Alston went out to the mound for a brief visit.

I’m guessing the conversation went something along the lines of “this is your last guy, so give him everything you’ve got left.” Lynn walked the next batter on four pitches for his only free pass issued of the night.

It was a pretty intense show of emotion that followed, the kind you rarely see in a regular season baseball game. I loved it. Lynn has obviously had his struggles, but this Twins team just seems to be lacking an edge thus far in 2018. Injuries have taken a massive toll, but I also think the club has been a bit flat.

https://twitter.com/AngryTwinsDad/status/999129001321992192

Ryan Pressly came in and got the final out of the seventh, finalizing Lynn’s line at 6 2/3 innings of shutout ball with five hits and four strikeouts. His display of emotion seemed like it may have also helped awaken the offense.

Already up 3-0, the Twins’ bats put together a great bottom half of the seventh, tacking on three more runs.

Along with Lynn’s performance, another great sign of things to come (hopefully) was a great game from Brian Dozier. He drove in a pair of runs on a two-out double in the fifth inning and added an RBI double in the seventh. Ehrie Adrianza was 2-for-2 with a walk, two RBIs and two runs. Zach Duke and Matt Magill each pitched a scoreless inning out of the bullpen.

The Twins had opportunities to score even more runs, but they had two runners thrown out at the plate. Adrianza was caught trying to score on a wild pitch in the third inning and the Tigers got Logan Morrison on his way home on grounder hit to the third baseman.

Postgame With Lynn

https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/999135175287029760

Bullpen Usage

Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: