Twins 5, Tigers 1: Rome Wasn't Built in a Day

Box Score:
Starting Pitcher: Simeon Woods Richardson: 5 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K (78 Pitches, 54 Strikes, 69.2%)
Home Runs: Byron Buxton (3), Edouard Julien (1)
Top 3 WPA: Woods Richardson (.171), Buxton (.126), Louis Varland (.079)
Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs):

What a week, huh? When I was recapping last Sunday's game, the Twins were three outs away from taking a series against a decent Houston team and moving to 4-5 on the year. Since then, the Twins have collapsed in on themselves, losing that rubber match against the Astros, dropping three of four from the Royals and losing the first two against Detroit—in, uh, less than impressive fashion. 

The face of the team's failures ended up being Jose Miranda, the jumpy third baseman who forgot first how to identify a strike, and later how to perceive a safe call. He was sent to St. Paul after yesterday's game in favor of a rehabbed Brooks Lee.

Other changes included giving Carlos Correa the day off after playing every game thus far. Somewhat surprisingly, Willi Castro started at shortstop instead of the more natural fit, in Lee. Then again, Castro hasn't looked great at third, and perhaps that played into the decision.

Matt Wallner was also moved out of the leadoff spot in favor of Edouard Julien, who earned the spot by quietly hitting .380 over the last seven games.

On the mound was Simeon Woods Richardson, who has been hard to get a feel for thus far. His stuff hasn't looked amazing, but he has hung in and given the Twins a chance to win in each of his starts. He has emphasized his slider and curveball over his change-up in the early going and his fastball has lived in the 90-94 MPH range. The jury is out if his career trajectory is going to look like Boof Bonser or someone like Chris Bassitt. 

He hung a couple of sliders in the first. The first was smacked off the wall by Kerry Carpenter, the second got All-Star Riley Greene rung up for the third out of the inning.

Opposing Woods Richardson was former number one overall pick Casey Mize. Mize sat 96 with his fastball but struck Julien out on four pitches to start his outing, all sliders and splitters. Byron Buxton hit next, and worked the count to 3-2 before pouncing on a mistake fastball that leaked over the heart of the plate and depositing it in the left field bleachers.

The second inning may have been even more encouraging. After Ty France led off with a duck snort single, he was advanced to second by a Ryan Jeffers groundout, and to third on a wild pitch. Brooks Lee then fought off a splitter and grounded it back up the middle to score France. Maybe Lee just likes facing the Tigers?

SWR kept dancing through raindrops, taking advantage of the bottom of the Tigers lineup and minimizing the damage done by the meat of the order. He struck out Greene to end the third on a 95 MPH fastball on the outer edge, stranding two runners in the process.

Mize was in a groove by this point, not allowing any solid contact and locating his splitter well. He retired ten Twins in a row at one point in the middle innings. SWR allowed a fourth inning home run to the red hot Spencer Torkelson on a fat fastball but continued to compete well. He gave up a two out hit to Gleyber Torres before hitting Carpenter with a pitch in the fifth, but recovered to get Greene to pop out to right.

SWR was removed after 78 Pitches and five innings. Some may have questioned that move, but Torkelson was leading off the inning and Woods Richardson threw a career high 107 pitches in his last outing. Louis Varland was the choice to replace him, and he looked the best he has in quite a while, locking up Torkelson on a nasty curveball, and striking out the side in order.

That choice looked even smarter when Julien led off the bottom of the inning with an opposite field homer off a high splitter from Mize.

Buxton followed with a single that he stretched into a double by virtue of his being Byron Buxton, and Castro hit a dribbler that became an infield single. After Wallner struck out, the best Twins' best hitter™ Ty France hit a chopper upon the middle that Torres tried to flip to second, only shortstop Trey Sweeney was not covering, allowing everyone to be safe. After a Jeffers fly out, Mize was done and threw a tantrum in the dugout, a sight for sore eyes.

Everything was lined up for Cole Sands, Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran to pitch the final three innings. That should have inspired confidence, but these are the 2025 Twins we're talking about.  Harrison Bader did his part to make sure that Sands kept his inning scoreless:

Jax looked locked in, 2024-style. He struck out Carpenter, Greene and Torkelson in order, mixing his assortment of pitches to perfection.

Then in the eighth, to everyone's surprise, Wallner laced a double the opposite way (against a lefty with an 0-2 count), to score Castro and provide a crucial insurance run.

Duran pitched an uneventful ninth to seal the win.

Trends:

What’s Next: Joe Ryan (1-1, 2.65 ERA) takes on Clay Holmes (1-1, 4.30 ERA) as the Twins begin a three game set with the New York Mets. The Mets made it to the NLCS last year and added Juan Soto to their lineup, which so far has them leading the NL East. Holmes has spent the past three years as the Yankee's closer, but joined the Mets as a starting pitcher. His early results have been pretty uninspiring but there's nothing like facing the Twins to cure what ails a pitcher.

Postgame Interviews:

(coming soon)

Bullpen Usage Chart: