MIN 9, CLE 3: Twins Take Series Behind Pineda, Tortuga

Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs)

Pineda: 4.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 70.0% strikes

Home Runs: Cruz (1)

Multi-Hit Games: Cruz (3-for-5, HR, 2B), Astudillo (2-for-2, 2 2Bs), Cron (2-for-3, 2B), Schoop (2-for-4, 2B), Buxton (2-for-4, 2B), Polanco (2-for-4)

WPA of 0.1 or higher: Pineda .223, Astudillo .157, Buxton .128

WPA of -0.1 or lower: None

For his efforts, Astudillo was immediately hit by a pitch in his next at-bat. Not cool.

There were plenty of Twins making loud contact today. Nelson Cruz hit the first Twins home run of the season, a 427-foot blast that hit the facing of the second deck, in addition to two other hits. Byron Buxton had a two-run double which was the hardest hit ball of the game for the Twins at 111.6 mph. Both C.J. Cron and Jonathan Schoop also had extra-base hits.

https://twitter.com/ParkerHageman/status/1112435927559884801

But it was Astudillo who got the scoring started against Carlos Carrasco. In his last three outings against the Twins last season, Carrasco only surrendered three earned runs over 21 1/3 innings (1.27 ERA). Of course, this is a very different Twins lineup than they had in late-2018. Carrasco gave up six runs on 10 hits over 4 1/3 inning today.

In all, the Twins had nine balls they hit with an exit velocity of 105 mph or harder. The first two games were a little tough to watch, but Corey Kluber and Trevor Bauer are insanely good. Carrasco isn’t far behind those two, but I’m not certain any rotation will keep this Twins lineup down for long.

The pitching staff is a much bigger area of concern, but what a series they just had. No, Cleveland’s current lineup doesn’t exactly invoke fear, but you still have to execute pitches. This Twins staff did a very good job at that this series.

Michael Pineda was incredibly efficient in his first major league start since July 5, 2017 (more on that in a minute), Martin Perez also looked good in his Twins debut, Trevor Hildenberger had a scoreless appearance and Ryne Harper made his major league debut.

Paint By Numbers Pitching Plan

It’s been a great first three games. The Twins took the series against the team they’ll be fighting for the division all summer, and this was a big when you consider these teams won’t face each other again until June. Positives all around. If you want to leave it at that and not nitpick, feel free to just scroll on through this section.

Michael Pineda threw 28 of his first 40 pitches were strikes, a rate of 70%, which is excellent. He faced the minimum through four innings and racked up five strikeouts. You couldn’t have really asked for a better start, so it’s blatantly obvious he was coming out of today’s game after four innings no matter what he did.

Yes, this was Pineda’s first major league outing since 2017, but his arm has been recovered from Tommy John surgery for quite some time. He made four rehab appearances in the minor leagues last season, but a knee injury prevented him from making a late-season return. If there was any concern over his health, Pineda certainly wouldn’t have thrown a team-high 20 1/3 innings this spring.

Martin Perez took over in the fifth inning with the Twins leading 3-0. He gave up a leadoff single and issued a one-out walk. That created the highest leverage situation we would see all game, according to the leverage index, but Perez managed to escape that inning unscathed. The stuff was every bit as electric as we saw in spring, as he topped out at 97.2 mph.

While Perez’s stuff looked very good, he was nowhere near as sharp as Pineda had been. It took Perez 82 pitches to get through 3 2/3 innings. He struck out six, which is impressive, but he gave up three runs on five hits and three walks. Luckily the Twins had built up an 8-0 lead.

Perez needed work, I get that, but I’m not a fan of a game plan that’s so rigid you can’t adjust it when your starting pitcher is cruising at the level that Pineda was. That kind of managing is on par with simply batting whoever is catching eighth everyday. Oh … that’s happening right now too.

Anyway, the Twins tacked on five runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, relieving any potential for that move to look really bad in hindsight. I just really don’t like that level of a paint-by-numbers game plan. It appeared the Twins were willing to potentially sacrifice this game in order to keep Perez stretched out. As if that was every bit as important as winning this game.

Kyle Gibson was pushed back to the No. 4 starter because he was a bit behind schedule in comparison to his rotation mates. That being the case, if you’re going to piggyback Perez with anyone, shouldn’t it have been Gibson? Or can’t Perez throw a simulated game? I dunno, it just all seems weird, but all’s well that ends well.

Sire of Fort Myers Debuts

Even with all these great performances, nobody had a better day than Ryne Harper. The 30-year-old veteran of the minor leagues finally made his major league debut. He switched his number from 70 to 19, which seems fitting because 2019 is a year he’ll never forget.

Harper took over in the ninth with the Twins leading 9-3. Basically the perfect situation to work a guy into his first big league game. He didn’t show nearly as good command as he did down in spring training, walking a pair of batters, but he did spin in some nice curveballs and kept Cleveland off the board for his inning. He finished things off with a swinging strikeout.

https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1112458769093451776

The average person wouldn’t have pursued this dream as long as Ryne Harper. Most 29-year-old pitchers who struggle to crack 90 mph wouldn’t have spent most of their age 29 season pitching in Double A. Harper never gave up. It’s been an absolute pleasure getting to know his story and follow his journey.

Postgame With Baldelli

https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1112471199349563393

Bullpen Usage

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

Next Three Games

Tue at KC, 7:15 pm CT

Wed at KC, 12:15 pm CT

Fri at PHI, 6:05 pm CT

Last Game

CLE 2, MIN 1: Odorizzi Strikes Out 11, Wild Parker Surrenders Go-Ahead Run

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