Twins 4, Cleveland 1: Dobnak Delivers 5 Shutout Innings

Good victory. The offense jumped on early and Dobnak gave us 5 solid innings. Clippard has really impressed thus far, and Duffey is one of the most underrated relievers in the game. Romo is as cool as the other side of the pillow, and Rogers is a certified closer. The offense did a nice job getting on base, but the timely hitting has not been there thus far. When we are rolling this is a game we put away in the mid-innings. All in all, I will take a split facing Bieber and Clevinger. 

Awesome response to last night.

Dobnak just keeps getting outs. How impressive/valuable is Adrianza? Can play anywhere, solid switch hitter, etc. Duffey and Rogers (unknown to most baseball fans outside of the AL Central) continue to dominate. It’s been really fun to watch these guys emerging from relative obscurity.

The bad news is that losing Donaldson for a significant period of time is a possibility. That would be a killer. His presence and professional approach are taking this offense to another level.

Randy Dobnak did a pretty good Carl Willis impersonation against Cleveland, the team for which Willis is pitching coach. Like Willis, Dobnak zips sinkers low in the zone to get strikeouts and lots of ground balls. Unlike Willis, Dobbs appears pretty comfortable going 5 innings, and might stretch out for more. 

The key for Dobbsie going more innings is a very nuanced change to his sinker. Right now certain hitters are able to foul off his current offerings, rather than whiffing or hitting a ground ball. Counter-intuitively, the solution is to sink the ball slightly less, thus allowing more weak ground balls from players that currently are just barely ticking the top of the ball. If Randers can vary the sink just a little, he can prevent those 17-pitch at-bats that keep him from going into late innings. 

Meanwhile, I do believe that Randy Dobnak is the young stud horse that I thought he was. Good to be right, now and then...

You heard it here first.

Dobnak has proved to me that he`s the Twins top pitcher, right now. It was great that he got the run support & Baldelli finally pulled out the big guns in the BP to secure his victory. Dobnak is like a pitbull, he`s tenacious. Go Twins, hope Donaldson a speedy recovery, we need him

So the risk of bringing Donaldson on board was due to calf injury problems, and he exited last night because of a calf injury. Yeesh. The Twins have a deep lineup and they also have a history of really shutting guys down at the slightest hint of injury (see: Buxton, Byron). I'd imagine we won't see Josh in the lineup for at least a week if not more.

Great job Dobnak, what a luxury having this guy as the 6th starter who can fill in for anyone. The Twins may lose a couple pitchers to free agency and he's looking like he could be a real part of the rotation in the future.

Avila outplaying Garver so far and it's not even close.

 

 

Avila outplaying Garver so far and it's not even close.

I've been really impressed with Avila's defense and pitch calling as well. He's a good framer back there. 

After Baldelli's comments after the game, if I am Homer Bailey, I am worried about my spot here when Pineda comes back. Or ever Odorizzi.  Twins may be starting to turn into the pitching factory that Cleveland is.  That would be a great thing for this decade.

First of all, I need to eat some crow about a comment I made a few days ago worrying about Marwin Gonzalez at first base. He was really solid last night in all respects: going to his right and feeding the pitcher; heading back blind to catch a tricky low pop fly to right field; snaring throws form the other infielders.

Secondly, I'm as much a fan of Dobnak as the next person here. What I hope is that he and Wes Johnson can figure out a way to find some sort of out pitch to cut down on all those lengthy at-bats with so many offerings being fouled off.

Dobnak is quoted after the game as saying he pitches to contact. That grinding sound you here is the gnashing of teeth on these boards.

Dobnak didn't get a lot of favors from the inconsistent strike zone last night; when he hits his spots and doesn't get the call he's going to rack up a high pitch count. I was impressed how well he hung in there and didn't let it get in his head.

Hopefully Donaldson's removal was just precautionary and he doesn't miss significant time.

My best look at Dobby last night. Great movement and weak swings with weak contact. Impressive. I hope the bats get going. Solid bullpen game. A WIN

I commented about the home plate ump in the game thread and there were others that saw what I saw--the home plate ump was excellent. He missed a strike that Dobnak threw and maybe gave Romo a strike in the eighth, but other than that, I thought he was terrific.

Guess I must have been influenced by Smalley talking about a missed pitch...