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Box Score
Starting Pitcher: Pablo López 6.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K (87 pitches, 55 strikes, 13 whiffs)
Home Runs: None
Bottom 3 WPA: Griffin Jax (-.365), Steven Okert (-.232), Byron Buxton (-.137)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)
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Pitchers of a Different Ilk
Scheduled to face former Twins prospect Tyler Wells today, Minnesota instead was opposed by Albert Suárez, with Wells going on the injured list due to elbow inflammation. Wednesday’s start was Suárez’s first appearance in a major-league game since 2017, and the first time he was making a start since 2016. They don't make big-league hurlers much more different from one another than Suárez and Pablo López.
Despite not having much of a track record and struggling mightily during his brief Triple-A showing this year, Suárez acquitted himself in the first inning. Blowing pitches past Minnesota leadoff hitter Edouard Julien, it was as though the Twins hitter couldn’t touch his fastball. Ryan Jeffers and Byron Buxton went down on softly-hit fly balls, and Suárez kept it simple with nine straight fastballs. For whatever reason, Minnesota could not adjust.
Gunnar Henderson stepped in against López, having homered in back-to-back games, and decided to make it a third straight. Before Minnesota had recorded an out, they trailed 1-0. Minnesota’s ace got out of the inning without allowing any more damage, but once again, the Twins trailed early.
Suárez Continues to Shove
Despite having been out of affiliated baseball for years, and looking like organizational fodder at Triple-A to start this season, Suárez showed up ready to compete against the Twins today. Rocco Baldelli has watched his lineup be largely lethargic for the duration of the season, but Wednesday in Baltimore was a new low.
Velocity has long been a significant part of the game at the highest level. What Suárez flashed against the Twins was impressive, but his 95-96-mph fastball shouldn’t have overwhelmed a competent big-league lineup. It did, anyway.
Through four innings, Suarez had generated 10 whiffs on his four-seam fastball, and 13 total in just 56 pitches. A pair of doubles from José Miranda and Alex Kirilloff were the only positive outcomes in the early portion of the contest, and as the Twins have done for a while now, they stranded both on the bases. The gameplan at the plate seemed to be nonexistent. It might be time for both David Popkins and Rudy Hernandez to find themselves in hot water.
Pablo Does His Job
After a pair of victories for Baltimore, the Twins needed their ace to be a stopper. While Henderson did get the solo home run leading off the game, the Minnesota starter settled in thereafter. While he didn’t seem to overmatch Orioles hitters at the same confounding level that Suárez did against Minnesota, he continued to set them down.
Following a Ryan Jeffers hit by pitch, and move to second base after a wild pitch, Baltimore countered by bringing in former Minnesota reliever Danny Coulombe. (He could still be in the Twins bullpen, but that’s a rehashed frustration for a different time.) Coulombe got Kirilloff to ground out and turned over the inning.
López got Jackson Holliday and Henderson both on whiffs to start the sixth inning. Then Adley Rutschman stepped in and got acquainted with Austin Martin in center field. With Buxton operating as the designated hitter today, it was Martin patrolling the deep green. Ranging to his right and diving, Martin came up with a big catch and sent his teammates back to the dish
Martin then found himself in a position to impact the game offensively during the next half-inning. Manuel Margot took a one-out walk, and running on Martin’s base hit to left center, Tommy Watkins got aggressive and sent him in to tie things up at one. Martin came through in the field, then immediately knotted things up in the top of the 7th inning.
Despite looking utterly lost in his first two at-bats of the game, Farmer lined a 2-2 single to left field that allowed Martin to score from second base. Martin’s speed is a significant part of his game, and going on contact with two outs, there was never a doubt as to whether he’d be sent home. López was in line for a well-earned win.
Short-Lived Lead
Despite López being at just 87 pitches through six innings, Baldelli opted for his bullpen to take over starting the seventh. Steven Okert was the first man up, and after getting Austin Hays to fly out, he gave up a big fly to Anthony Santander tying the game at two.
With an off day next on the docket for the Twins, and both Brock Stewart and Griffin Jax fresh in the bullpen, having your ace go seven would have been ideal, and not allowing him to start that frame was a frustrating decision by the Twins skipper. Stewart came on to bail out Okert needing one out with runners on the corners. Getting Jordan Westburg on strikes, he preserved the tie.
Sent to the Orioles in the Jorge López trade, Yennier Canó came on for Baltimore against his former organization. He got Jeffers to ground out, and a Buxton strikeout pushed the struggling slugger's strikeout-to-walk ratio on the season to 22/1. Kirilloff drew a walk to make things interesting, but Miranda went down swinging and Minnesota was going to need the ninth inning. Stewart got Minnesota over the hump, but the lineup again needed to come through.
Mullins Ends It
Ending López’s day early and turning the ball over to the bullpen, Baldelli had committed to Stewart and Griffin Jax to finish the first nine innings. Stewart did his job, while the lineup failed to produce another run. In the bottom of the ninth, Cedric Mullins called game.
Mullins finishing them off neatly rounded out the narrative for this series. From his run-saving catch in the first inning of the first game, Mullins symbolized the sheer superiority of the Orioles at this moment in time throughout the set. The two-run shot secured the sweep for Baltimore, and Minnesota was set to return home after going a terrible 2-5 on their road trip.
Notes
Max Kepler, who has been on the injured list dealing with a bone bruise, is starting a rehab assignment with the St. Paul Saints on Friday. The Twins Triple-A club is in Indianapolis this week, so he could presumably rejoin the big league club sometime early next week if things go well.
After DFA’ing Michael Tonkin earlier this week, the Twins found out they have lost him on waivers to the New York Mets. New York is who Minnesota claimed Tonkin from, and to make a spot for him on the roster, they DFA’d another former Twins prospect, Tyler Jay.
What’s Next?
The Twins return home on Thursday with their final scheduled off day of the month on tap. Welcoming a pair of divisional foes to Target Field, both the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox represent beatable teams for Minnesota to use as a get-right spot. Needing to turn the tide of their start, it’s getting late early for Baldelli’s club should things continue.
Postgame Interviews
Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet
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