Tom Froemming

Game 1: Box Score Berrios: 6.0 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 60.6% strikes (63 of 104 pitches) Home Runs: Rosario 2 (8), Astudillo (2) Multi-Hit Games: Rosario (3-for-5, 2B, 2 HR), Astudillo (2-for-4, HR) WPA of +0.1: Rosario .244, Rogers .207, Castro .165, Buxton .107 WPA of -0.1: Berrios -.100,Gonzalez -.110, Polanco -.150 (chart via FanGraphs) Jose Berrios had his worst start of the season, giving up four runs on eight hits, three of which were home runs. Rosario picked him up by slugging a pair of homers himself and taking away another on a great catch in left field. https://twitter.com/Twins/status/1119730441731366917 That gives Rosie back-to-back multi-homer games. He was not done. Taylor Rogers had a rare shaky inning, giving up a run on three hits in the eighth. Still, Rocco Baldelli rolled with Rogers again in the ninth. Rogers rewarded his manager for showing faith in him by striking out the side in order to secure the one-run victory. He struck out five of the nine batters he faced. If this wasn’t a doubleheader, I’d be willing to bet Baldelli would have went with someone else in the ninth, but it made sense to let Rogers go and protect another pitcher for the evening game in this case. But maybe this is actually something that can work on a regular basis. Would you rather have Rogers pitch shorter bursts and be available to appear in more games? Or would you rather him cover multiple innings but be limited to fewer games? I’m not sure what the right answer is, but sometimes I feel like it’s pretty unrealistic to expect three or sometimes four of your relief pitchers to all have it in one night. Sometimes it’s not worth it to plan ahead for the next game, because you never know when ... Game 2: Box Score Perez: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 69.8% strikes (67 of 96 pitches) Home Runs: Cruz 2 (3), Schoop 2 (4), Garver 2 (5), Rosario (9), Cron (1) WPA of +0.1: Cruz .193 WPA of -0.1: None (chart via FanGraphs) … your lineup is going to do something bananas like score 16 runs. The Twins hit eight home runs in this one, two each from Nelson Cruz, Jonathan Schoop and Mitch Garver. C.J. Cron also homered, and you know Eddie wasn’t gonna let everyone else have all the fun. Rosario homered again in the night game, giving him nine on the season. The earliest Rosie had ever reached that mark previously was May 11. I didn’t list out the multi-hit games above because it was nearly the entire lineup. What a show. Cruz, Garver and Schoop also doubled. Garver, tonight’s leadoff man, had a team-high five RBIs while Schoop drove in four. Byron Buxton added a pair of doubles of his own, giving him 11 on the season already. All this damage without Jorge Polanco and Max Kepler in the lineup. It was the kind of game we were all dreaming of these bats putting together coming into the season. The Twins put up 10 runs in the first three innings, meaning the main thing they really needed out of starter Martin Perez was innings. He did a good job of throwing strikes, and managed to log six innings, giving up just one walk. He was charged four runs on six hits, two of which were home runs. Fernando Romero, the 26th man for this doubleheader, made his 2019 Twins debut. It didn’t go so great. He gave up three runs over two innings. He didn’t record a strikeout, and only got one swinging strike among his 24 pitches. On a brighter side, Tyler Duffey pitched a scoreless inning in the ninth. These two victories put the Twins up to 11-7 on the season. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Next Three Games Sun at BAL, 12:05 pm CT (Gibson-Bundy) Mon at HOU, 7:10 pm CT (Odorizzi-Peacock) Tue at HOU, 7:10 pm CT (Pineda-Miley) Last Game TOR 7, MIN 4: Rosario Homers Twice as Twins Drop Game, Series

TRANSACTIONS Cedar Rapids activated pitcher Tyler Palm form the seven-day injured list and swapped him out for fellow pitcher Jose Martinez, who hits the IL due to a left groin strain. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 4, Lehigh Valley 1 Box Score Zack Littell: 5.2 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, 58.5% strikes (55 of 94 pitches) HR: Zander Wiel (4) Multi-hit games: Wiel (2-for-4, 2B, HR), Adam Rosales (2-for-4, 2B) Zack Littell had a rough first start of the season but has recovered in his two outings since. Tonight was his best effort yet, as he threw 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball and racked up nine strikeouts. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1119459793272496128 The Rochester bats did a nice job getting a lead early. Zander Wiel led off the third inning with a double and was later doubled around by Adam Rosales. Wiel came up again the next inning and clubbed a three-run homer. That was plenty enough wiggle room in what turned out to be a rare low-scoring Triple-A game so far this season. Matt Magill pitched for the second straight night and third overall appearance of his rehab assignment with the Red Wings. He pitched a 1-2-3 innings with a strikeout and a pair of groundouts. With 1 1/3 more scoreless innings tonight, Mike Morin is up to 7 1/3 scoreless, three-hit innings to open the year. BLUE WAHOO BITES Game 1: Pensacola 9, Biloxi 1 (7 innings) Box Score Griffin Jax: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 56.4% strikes (53 of 94 pitches) HR: Brian Navarreto (1), Brian Schales (3) Multi-hit games: Navarreto (3-for-4, 2B, HR), Mark Contreras (2-for-3, BB) Brian Schales and Brian Navarreto both hit three-run homers and Griffin Jax was very good once again, giving the Blue Wahoos a very low-stress victory in the first game of this doubleheader. Jax gave up one earned runs on five hits over six innings pitched. He now has a 0.54 ERA and 1.14 WHIP on the season. Gabriel Moya made the debut appearance of his rehab assignment, pitching the final inning. He gave up a leadoff single, then a one-out double to put runners on second and third. Things were looking a bit sketchy, but Moya struck out both of the next two batters to end the game. Game 2: Biloxi 4, Pensacola 3 Box Score Andro Cutura: 3.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 64.4% strikes (38 of 59 pitches) HR: Mitchell Kranson (2) Multi-hit games: None This was a much different story than the first game, as it was a back-and-forth affair. The Blue Wahoos were able to fight back from early deficits to tie this game twice, but could not generate one last comeback. Biloxi scored twice in the bottom of the first, but Pensacola tied it up the next half inning thanks to a solo homer from Mitchell Kranson and an RBI groundout from Taylor Grzelakowski. Biloxi took the lead again in the bottom of the third inning, but the Blue Wahoos answered again. The Shuckers carved out another lead in the fourth inning and managed to protect it this time. Ryan Mason delivered two no-hit innings out of the bullpen. He’s only surrendered three hits and one walk over 7 2/3 scoreless innings so far this season. He’s also struck out eight batters. Brian Schales hit a double in this one. He’s making a very good first impression in the org after being acquired from Miami over the offseason. Schales leads Pensacola with a .908 OPS. MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 3, Charlotte 1 Box Score Bailey Ober: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 68.0% strikes (51 of 75 pitches) HR: Michael Helman (1) Multi-hit games: Trevor Larnach (3-for-4) WALK OFF, BABY! The Miracle trailed 1-0 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, but Trevor Larnach drove in Fort Myers’ first run on what was his third single of the night. The first two batters were retired in the bottom of the ninth but Ryan Jeffers hit a single and Michael Helman blasted his first Florida State League homer to walk it off. https://twitter.com/MiracleBaseball/status/1119426987297255424 Bailey Ober, the reigning FSL Pitcher of the Week, gave up one earned run over six five-hit innings. He has not given up an earned run in 18 innings this season. Ober had six strikeouts and walked a batter, just his third walk issued on the season. Hector Lujan struck out four batters over 2 2/3 scoreless innings and Michael Quezada picked up his second win by recording the final out of the top of the ninth inning. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 4, Beloit 1 Box Score Cole Sands: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 62.4% strikes (53 of 85 pitches) HR: Trey Cabbage (5) Chris Williams (2) Multi-hit games: Gabriel Maciel (2-for-4, 2B), Williams (2-for-4, 2B, HR) Trey Cabbage has come out of the gates in absolute beast mode. He homered yet again tonight, giving him five home runs in just 13 games with the Kernels. He had eight homers in 99 games with Cedar Rapids last season. In case you missed it, SD Buhr had a great feature on Cabbage here at the site earlier this week. Cabbage socked a solo homer in the seventh inning to break what was a scoreless tie at that point. Chris Williams followed with a dinger of his own to make it back-to-back jacks. He also provided a two-run double in the bottom of the eighth. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1119456720621850626 Cole Sands was dealing again tonight. After five shutout innings his ERA is down to 1.93. With six more strikeouts, Sands has 18 Ks in just 14 innings this season. Austin Schulfer earned the win in relief by throwing three scoreless innings. STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Bailey Ober, Fort Myers Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Michael Helman, Fort Myers TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed 1. Royce Lewis (FM): 0-for-4, 3 K, E 4. Trevor Larnach (FM): 3-for-4, RBI 10. Akil Baddoo (FM): 1-for-3, BB 13. Ryan Jeffers (FM): 1-for-3, BB, R 16. Gilberto Celestino (CR): 0-for-4, 2 K 17. Zack Littell (ROC): 5.2 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, 58.5% strikes 18. LaMonte Wade (ROC): 1-for-3, BB, R) 20. Jose Miranda (FM): 0-for-4 SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester at Lehigh Valley, 5:35 pm CT (Chase De Jong) Pensacola vs. Mobile, 6:05 pm CT (Sean Poppen) Fort Myers vs. Charlotte, 5:00 pm CT (Charlie Barnes) Cedar Rapids vs. Beloit, 2:05 pm CT (Josh Winder) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games.

Box Score Pineda: 3.2 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 64.0% strikes (48 of 75 pitches) Home Runs: Rosario 2 (6) Multi-Hit Games: Rosario (2-for-4, 2 HR), Astudillo (2-for-4), Schoop (2-for-4) WPA of +0.1: Rosario .105, Harper .100 WPA of -0.1: Kepler -.144, Pineda -.472 (chart via FanGraphs) The Twins did not pitch well in this series, but another reason why they dropped three out of four games to Toronto is they didn’t do an especially great job at scoring runs either. A grand total of 16 runs were scored by Minnesota, no more than five in any game. Not that you ever expect to win on a day your staff surrenders seven runs. While Pineda had an awful day, the much beleaguered Twins bullpen actually held things together despite the shorts start. Ryne Harper held the Blue Jays to one hit over 3 1/3 innings, Tyler Duffey gave up a solo home run but also had two more strikeouts and Trevor May pitched a perfect inning. Rosario was the big star at the plate, though it was too bad both his homers were of the solo variety. The three batters in front of him in the lineup combined to go 0-for-12, though Max Kepler and Jorge Polanco each drew a walk. Willians Astudillo and Jonathan Schoop, a couple of guys who had been ice cold heading into today, each recorded a pair of hits. Byron Buxton hit his eighth double, had an RBI ground out and stole his fourth base of the season. Postgame With Baldelli Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Next Three Games Fri at BAL, 6:05 pm CT (Berrios-Cobb) Sat at BAL, 6:05 pm CT (Perez-TBD) Sun at BAL, 12:05 pm CT (Gibson-TBD) Last Game MIN 4, TOR 1: Pitching Staff Redemption Night

Box Score Odorizzi: 5.2 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 63.3% strikes (64 of 101 pitches) Home Runs: None Multi-Hit Games: Polanco (2-for-3, 2B, BB), Cruz (2-for-3, 2B, BB), Gonzalez (2-for-3, BB) WPA of +0.1: Odorizzi .211, Cruz .175 WPA of -0.1: Rosario -.120 (chart via FanGraphs) Odorizzi had an encouraging outing after back-to-back poor starts, Adalberto Mejia recovered from his most recent poor performance with a scoreless outing and Blake Parker, who looked pretty lost over the weekend, got the save in a scoreless ninth inning. Oh, and in between all that Taylor Rogers did his thing in the eighth, turning in a scoreless frame with a pair of strikeouts. Nelson Cruz returned to the lineup and provided a pair of run-scoring hits. He drove in the Twins’ first run with a single in the first, then hit an RBI double in the third inning. Jorge Polanco had yet another excellent game. His OPS is up to 1.242. If you want to put a number on how much more relaxed tonight’s game was compared to the first two of this series (which, of course I’m going to want to do that), Leverage Index would be a good place to look. Tonight, the LI maxed out at 1.95. Last night, 18 plate appearances exceeded that mark with that max at 5.40. There were five plate appearances topped that mark on Monday night, the highest being at 3.41. Postgame With Parker https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1118722648412811264 Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Next Three Games Thu vs. TOR, 12:10 pm CT (Pineda-Buchholz) Fri vs. TOR, 6:05 pm CT (TBD-Cobb) Sat vs. TOR, 6:05 pm CT (TBD-TBD) Last Game TOR 6, MIN 5: Gut Punch

Box Score Gibson: 5.1 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 56.4% strikes (53 of 94 pitches) Home Runs: Polanco (3), Rosario (4), Gonzalez (1) Multi-Hit Games: Gonzalez (2-for-4, HR) WPA of +0.1: Rosario .232, Cruz .135 WPA of -0.1: Cron -.128, Harper -.136, Hildenberger -.241 (chart via FanGraphs) The Twins headed into the bottom of the ninth down two, but Marwin Gonzalez made sure the Twins weren’t going to go down quietly. Gonzalez hit his first home run as a Twin to lead off the bottom of the ninth. https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1118342839195168768 Nelson Cruz followed with a pinch-hit walk. Cron pinch hit, grounding into a fielder’s choice, before Mitch Garver, who also started this game on the bench, struck out on a checked swing. Buxton ripped a ball down the left field line and all the chips were laid down, as Cron was going to try to score from first base. The Twins were forcing the Blue Jays to make a play. Unfortunately, they came through. https://twitter.com/BlueJays/status/1118346800589467648 Kyle Gibson looked good, until he didn’t. That’s pretty much been the case in all of his starts so far this season. Very Odorizzi-esque. Gibby gave up a single to lead off the game, quickly erased that runner on a double play and didn’t give up another hit through five innings. He only recorded one out that inning, finishing his outing after giving up a two-run single. Ryne Harper couldn’t stop the bleeding, as he allowed both his inherited runners to score. Eddie Rosario picked up his teammates by pounding a game-tying three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth. https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1118327419511824384 Trevor May loaded the bases in the seventh, meaning apparent bases-loaded specialist Trevor Hildenberger was called upon. Hildy has been a magician in those situations so far this year, but his luck finally ran out, as he gave up a two-run single. Hildenberger only threw one pitch, yet he was pulled. Tyler Duffey came in to make his 2019 debut. Duffey faced three men in the eighth, he struck out two of them, the other was out trying to bunt for a hit. He got another strikeout in a scoreless ninth inning. https://twitter.com/ParkerHageman/status/1118338401500053504 It ended up being too little too late, but it was nice to see Duffey keep the Twins in this game. Willians Astudillo was 0-for-4, and has just two hits in his last 22 at-bats. Ehire Adrianza was 0-for-3, and is 2-for-19 on the season. Jason Castro was 0-for-2 and is now 2-for-14. All five of the Twins’ runs tonight came on home runs. Toronto pitchers issued six walks. Postgame With Baldelli Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Next Three Games Wed vs. TOR, 6:40 pm CT (Odorizzi-Thornton) Thu vs. TOR, 12:10 pm CT (Pineda-Buchholz) Fri vs. BAL, 6:05 pm CT (TBD-Cobb) Last Game TOR 5, MIN 3: About That Bullpen …

Box Score Perez: 6.0 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 66.3% strikes (57 of 86 pitches) Home Runs: Cron (2) Multi-Hit Games: Polanco (3-for-3, BB, R) WPA of +0.1: Cron .223, Perez .221, Polanco .115 WPA of -0.1: Cruz -.120, Mejia -.666 (chart via FanGraphs) There’s only so much a manager can do about a top-heavy bullpen. Rocco Baldelli, much like his predecessor, seems to be taking the approach that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. He’s opted to use his top guys to secure a win at hand and worry about the two games in the bush later. Or, something like that. I understand that strategy, why risk losing a game in hand just to try to plan for something that may not happen later? Make sense, but it can also lead to trouble. With Taylor Rogers, Trevor Hildenberger and Blake Parker having all pitched both of the previous two games, it figured that Rocco was going to have to dip a little deeper into the pen tonight. Perez did everything he could to help, needing only 86 pitches to get through six innings. Baldelli decided that was enough for Perez, who had only thrown 44 pitches in his most recent appearance. Ryne Harper pitched a perfect seventh inning (more on that in a moment) before Mejia took over in the eighth. Single, double, RBI single, three-run home run. Also, those were all hit by right-handed batters (and Mejia is, of course, a lefty). Perez’s First Start Perez looked good in what was kind of his second Twins debut. He entered this season with just 13 career bullpen appearances, but he was forced to pitch out of relief due to the extra off days. He didn’t look especially good in those outings. An important thing to remember is that Perez was brought in to be the fifth starter. He’s not expected to be the savior of the rotation. The front office didn’t commit an exorbitant amount of money to him. He just needs to be competent. Anything extra would be a bonus. The especially encouraging part of Perez’s outing tonight wasn’t his increased velocity, but that he was throwing strikes. If he can get into pitcher’s counts and limit walks, he’s going to be an asset. Perez has always had good velocity, but it’s never translated into missing bats. Tonight, he got five strikeouts and eight swinging strikes. Another encouraging sign. It would be fair to point out this Toronto lineup has been among the worst in baseball, but remember, all Perez really needs to do is be a fifth starter. Sire of Fort Myers Still Rolling Ryne Harper pitched, which means I got all sorts of warm fuzzies. He pitched a perfect inning and struck out two batters. He threw 15 pitches, 10 of which were curveballs. That pitch ranged from 72.6 mph to 67.5 mph. https://twitter.com/ParkerHageman/status/1117970348530708480 It’s a little like watching a knuckleballer in that anything he throws outside of that signature pitch is a surprise. The 30-year-old rookie has given up zero earned runs, two hits, two walks and has five strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings. I don’t know how long this ride is going to last, but I’m going to enjoy every last bit of it while it does. The guy is really fun to watch and it’s a great story. Buxton Does it Again Byron was doing his thing again, making an outstanding catch in the first inning. https://twitter.com/MLBStats/status/1117949923880730625 Cron Crushes Another One After hitting a laser line drive for a homer yesterday, Cron blasted a majestic, towering shot for another home run tonight. https://twitter.com/Twins/status/1117957095582728194 Rocco Gets Tossed Baldelli got ejected for the first time in his managing career. It was maybe the least entertaining ejection I’ve ever seen. He spoke on the issue during his postgame interview. https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1117989128564383746 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 vs. TOR, 6:40 pm CT (Gibson-Sanchez) Wed vs. TOR, 6:40 pm CT (Odorizzi-Thornton) Thu v. TOR, 12:10 pm CT (Pineda-Buchholz) Last Game MIN 6, DET 4: Berrios Figures It Out, Bullpen Barely Hangs On