Orioles 11, Twins 3: Chris Paddack Pretty Much Nails Louie Varland Impression

Box Score
Starting Pitcher: Chris Paddack 5.1 IP, 12 H, 9 ER, 9 ER, 1 BB 2 K (89 pitches, 58 strikes, 6 whiffs)
Home Runs: None
Bottom 3 WPA: Chris Paddack (-.342), Christian Vazquez (-.046), Alex Kirilloff (-.045)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Sheriff Serves it Up
After the Minnesota Twins and Baltimore Orioles both traded zeroes in the first inning, Baltimore broke the ice in the second. Chris Paddack was on the bump for the visitors, and while he had flashed solid outcomes thus far this season, he struggled to assert dominance and end innings.

With two outs and two strikes. James McCann broke through against the Twins starter. No longer playing for the Tigers or White Sox, McCann continued to do damage against a familiar American League Central foe. His two-out liner into the right-center gap was booted by Manuel Margot, allowing Colton Cowser to score. One batter later, Gunnar Henderson blasted a two-run homer and made it a 3-0 game.

Similar to Louie Varland last night, Paddack was unable to execute the final pitches necessary to get back into the dugout. McCann’s double was an unfortunate result, but it was Henderson’s big fly that truly spoke to the Twins' perpetual pitching problems.

More of the Same
Many of the same outcomes have repeated themselves for the Twins in the early going this season. Following big innings for the opposing offense, the lineup has consistently gone down in order and returned to the field with the other side's momentum intact. After Willi Castro walked to lead off the third inning, Margot lined out, and Christian Vázquez grounded into a double play to end the frame.

As has also happened often this year, the opposition then ruthlessly added to their advantage. Already up 3-0, Baltimore started their half of the third inning with a Ryan O’Hearn single. After Anthony Santander lined out, Cedric Mullins singled and Colton Cowser grounded out to drive in the fourth run.

Once again close to closing a frame with two outs, Paddack threw Jordan Westburg a fat first-pitch strike, and the young infielder sent it over the left-center field wall to make it a 6-0 game. Henderson’s second hit of the game scored Jackson Holliday, and now up 7-0 in the early stages, Baltimore was in position to cruise to victory.

Paddack the Pin Cushion
You’d like to think that being down 7-0 through the first three innings of a game represents rock bottom, but the Twins found a way to make it worse. While Paddack had largely escaped a blowup coming into this contest, he owned a 5.99 FIP and was headed for this kind of crash.

Another two-out run scored in the bottom of the fourth. This time, Cowser singled home Santander to make it an 8-1 game. The tally canceled out good fortune by Minnesota, after Byron Buxton tripled to left field in the top half of the frame, scoring Alex Kirilloff, and giving Minnesota their first run of the game.

After an ugly outing by Varland last night, the Twins needed Paddack to give them a chance, and he all but gave that away before recording the first nine outs of the game.

Buxton Does it Anyway
While the game was all but over early on tonight, the Twins continued to step into the batter’s box. The quality of their at-bats wasn’t ideal, but there were still some notable performances. Kirilloff singled home Jeffers in the sixth inning after the catcher notched his fourth double of the season. Making it 8-2, it was hardly a noteworthy occurrence.

In the bottom half of the inning, Santander singled Adley Rutschman in to make it a 9-2 game, but the highlight for Minnesota was Buxton’s defensive play in center field. While his injury history has become a substantial talking point at this juncture, Buxton simply continues to show up for the Twins in every way possible to start the year.

His catch up against the center-field wall against O’Hearn was impressive, and it saved further damage. The biggest positive is that he was no worse for the wear after hitting the padding; those are the types of plays baseball fans have come to love to see from the Twins outfielder.

It Gets Worse
Minnesota got some life from Vázquez to lead off the eighth inning, and his single put the Twins in a spot to claw back again. Edouard Julien immediately went down on strikes, though, and despite a wild pitch from Yohan Ramírez that moved the Minnesota catcher to second base, Jeffers and Kirilloff both punched out to end the inning without any sort of a threat.

In the bottom half, Jay Jackson continued to work against Baltimore. A leadoff walk of Rutschman immediately gave the Orioles a baserunner, and O'Hearn sent one over the wall just out of Buxton's reach this time. While a fan did impact the baseball, and potentially kept the Twins centerfielder from catching it, there was no interference call as the baseball was clearly above and beyond the wall.

Jair Camargo got a pinch-hit opportunity to start the 9th inning, making his major league debut against Mahtomedi's own Mike Baumann. Working a 3-1 count, he took a walk that brought Trevor Larnach to the plate and allowed for the outfielder to grab his first base hit of the season. When Miranda singled up the middle on the next at-bat, Camargo came around to score his first big league run.

That's where things ended though, and the Twins' ability to mount any sort of a comeback was thwarted before it got off the ground.

Notes
The Twins signed veteran outfielder Tony Kemp to a minor league deal on Tuesday. He provides some depth for the St. Paul Saints, who began the year with just two outfielders on their roster. Matt Wallner will also join the team after being optioned by Minnesota.

What’s Next? 
Wrapping up the series with Baltimore, the Twins send Pablo Lopez to the mound on Wednesday. The Orioles will have former Minnesota prospect Tyler Wells on the bump and then will have their last off day of the month. They return home over the weekend to face the same Detroit Tigers club they split with last weekend.

Postgame Interviews

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