Tom Froemming

Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Box Score Pineda: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 63.8% strikes (51 of 80 pitches) Home Runs: Kepler (2), Astudillo (1), Rosario (1) Multi-Hit Games: Kepler (2-for-5, HR) WPA of +0.1: Rogers .137, Buxton .121, Pineda .114, Hildenberger .106, Kepler .103 WPA of -0.1: Cave -.160 The Twins held a 3-2 advantage heading into the ninth inning, but the Phillies seemed to be gaining momentum. They left the bases loaded in the eighth inning, and it was starting to feel like it was only a matter of time before they busted loose, as if bad things were to come in the bottom of the ninth. Luckily, Rosario took a lot of the tension out of this game by blasting that three-run homer. https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1114629965134196736 It's been rough going early on for Rosario. He actually started today's game on the bench, but here's hoping that big pinch hit homer breaks him out of this mini seson-opening funk. That meant Blake Parker, who was already warming in the pen at the time the homer was hit, entered the bottom of the ninth with a four-run cushion. But prior to that, his bullpen mates Adalberto Mejia, Trevor Hildenberger and Taylor Rogers did a great job at protecting the lead. The bullpen combined for four scoreless innings and gave up just three hits, two of which were fluky infield singles. It was an impressive performance against a formidable lineup. Two-Out Rally Prior to that big homer from Rosario, the Twins haven’t had a ton of luck batting with runners on base so far this season, but they found a workaround today. In the third inning, Byron Buxton singled, stole second base, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch. Max Kepler and Willians Astudillo followed that up with back-to-back two-out home runs. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1114626277930086401 Possibly the most shocking thing we saw today, however, was Astudillo draw a walk. Lots to Like About Big Mike There were no shortage of candidates, but my pick for biggest x-factor on this Twins club was Michael Pineda. So far, so good. It’s only been two starts and a grand total of nine innings pitched, but Pineda has been strong. He’s only yielded five hits and two runs, walked a pair and has 10 strikeouts. The big issue with him has been staying healthy, but if Pineda can be a pillar in this rotation it’ll go a long way toward this team finding consistency. The only run Pineda surrendered while on the mound was on a Rhys Hoskins solo home run. Mejia allowed an inherited runner of Pineda’s to score. Speaking of which ... Rubber Arm Mejia Mejia wasn’t exactly a workhorse as a starting pitcher. I’d have to imagine he’s still getting acclimated to work in the bullpen, but manager Rocco Baldelli seems motivated to break him in out there. Mejia threw 42 pitches Wednesday and 37 more last night, but was back on the job again this afternoon. He was brought into the sixth inning to face Bryce Harper, which makes a lot of sense to set up the left-on-left matchup, but he gave up a double, a walk, a sac fly and then got bailed out by some good defense by Byron Buxton and a poor risk taken by Harper. A shallow fly ball was hit to center, Buxton did a nice job of getting himself set to make a play, but Harper took off for home anyway. The throw was a bit up the line, but Willians Astudillo was able to reel it in and tag out a leaping Harper for a double play. https://twitter.com/Twins/status/1114617756920549378 Mejia only ended up with 12 pitches today, but it’s still pretty striking to see a guy all the way up at 91 on the bullpen usage chart. Trial by fire, I guess. Roster Move Needing some extra length in the bullpen, the Twins called up Chase De Jong, who also needed to be added to the 40-man roster, and designated Tyler Austin for assignment. This was probably bound to happen to Austin sooner or later, but he was a great guy to have around as insurance in case C.J. Cron or Nelson Cruz got hurt. Austin would need to clear waivers in order to remain in the org, but since he’s been DFAd once before already, he’ll also have the chance to elect free agency if he clears. That’s probably a moot point anyway, since I imagine one of the rebuilding teams will happily put in a waiver claim on Austin. As for De Jong, it’s a surprising to see him be the first man up, especially considering the Twins dropped him from the 40 man this offseason. It’s possible the Twins think it’s more important to keep the Kohl Stewart, Zack Littell and Stephen Gonsalves types on their starting schedules for developmental purposes. Stewart also just started Thursday. 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 Sun at PHI, 12:05 pm CT (Berrios-Eflin) Tue at NYM, 6:10 pm CT (TBD-deGrom) Wed at NYM, 6:10 pm CT (TBD-Syndergaard) Last Game PHI 10, MIN 4: Polanco Cycles in the Rain, Rest Is All Pain More From Twins Daily Twins Minor League Report (4/5): Powerful Pitching Performances Seth's Preseason Top 20 Minnesota Twins Pitching Prospects Seth's Preseason Top 20 Minnesota Twins Position Player Prospects

TRANSACTIONS Several hours after the Twins game, Darren Wolfson tweeted that RHP Zack Littell is going to be called up on Saturday. https://twitter.com/DWolfsonKSTP/status/1114405855598993408 AM update: Scratch that. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester at Lehigh Valley POSTPONED BLUE WAHOO BITES Game 1: Pensacola 7, Mobile 0 (7 innings) Box Score Jorge Alcala: 5.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, 65.4% strikes (49 of 75 pitches) HR: Jimmy Kerrigan (1) Multi-hit games: Luis Arraez (2-for-3, BB) With Opening Day being rained out, this scheduled seven-inning game as the first leg of a doubleheader served as Pensacola’s debut game as a Twins affiliate. Nice way to get started. Jorge Alcala and Jovani Moran combined to pitch a shutout. Alcala gave up just three hits over five innings while Moran gave up one hit over his two frames. Neither pitcher issued a walk. Taylor Grzelakowski had a big two-run double to break the scoreless tie in the fourth and Jimmy Kerrigan added a two-run homer later that inning. Game 2: Pensacola 4, Mobile 3 (8 innings) Box Score Brusdar Graterol: 4.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 58.7% strikes (44 of 75 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games: Luis Arraez (2-for-4) Brusdar Graterol’s first pitch of the evening was only 99 mph. What gives? He would end up hitting triple-digits, and more importantly, pitched a great game. Just one run on three hits and a pair of walks over 4 2/3 innings for Graterol, and he struck out six batters. Taylor Grzelakowski gave the Blue Wahoo’s a lead in the top of the first with an RBI single. Jordan Gore drove in another run in the fifth. Andro Cutura protected the lead, recording the final out of the fifth inning before pitching a scoreless sixth, but Cody Stashak, one of the most reliable relievers in the entire system last season, gave up a game-tying home run in the bottom of the seventh, which was scheduled to be the final inning. Pensacola scored two runs in the top of the eighth thanks to another Grzelakowski RBI and a wild pitch. That gave the Stashak a two-run lead to work with, but the bottom of the eighth opened with the bonus runner (this was technically an extra inning, remember) scoring from second on a single. Stashak got the next batter to strike out swinging, then Dusten Knight took over. Ground out, strikeout looking and game over. Blue Wahoos 2-0 as a Twins affiliate, great way to get things started. MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 4, Charlotte 3 Box Score Jhoan Duran: 4.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, 61.4% strikes (35 of 57 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games: Travis Blankenhorn (2-for-4) Speaking of 100 mph fastballs, Jhoan Duran also hit 100 mph multiple occasions. I think it’s safe to declare the pitch to contact era officially dead. Duran came out with guns a-blazing, pitching four no-hit innings while striking out four batters. In his first four minor league seasons, Duran’s career high in innings is only 100 2/3. So it makes sense, with a five-month regular season ahead, that the organization would aim to limit the fireballer’s workload. Fort Myers built a lead thanks in part to Trevor Larnach’s big two-RBI double. Unfortunately, Duran’s exit opened the door for the Stone Crabs to get back into this game. It was all tied up heading into the bottom of the eighth inning when Royce Lewis hit a leadoff triple. He eventually scored the go-ahead run on a passed ball. Tom Hackimer, whose 2018 season ended prematurely due to injury, was back on the mound tonight. He got the final out of the eighth inning and took care of business in the ninth to secure the one-run Miracle victory. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 10, Peoria 4 Box Score Jordan Balazovic: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 9 K, 71.1% strikes (54 of 76 pitches) HR: Trey Cabbage (1) Multi-hit games: Trey Cabbage (3-for-5, 2B, HR, 3 RBI, 2 R) Ben Rodriguez (3-for-5, 3 RBI), DaShawn Keirsey (2-for-4, 3 RBI) Among all the great starting pitching performances tonight, Jordan Balazovic was by far the most dominant. He absolutely pounded the strike zone, throwing over 70% of his pitches for strikes. Balazovic recorded a strikeout to open the game, but ran into some trouble in the first inning. He gave up a double, then a single, but erased the scoring chance by inducing an inning-ending double play. After a 1-2-3 second inning, Balazovic gave up a run-scoring triple. He turned it up after that. The 6-foot-4 Canadian right-hander blew the Chiefs away, striking out all three batters he faced in both the fourth and fifth innings. He ended up with nine strikeouts and no walks. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1114386192865398790 Still, Balazovic exited this game with Cedar Rapids leading just 3-1. The bats broke loose in a five-hit, three-walk, five-run fifth inning. Trey Cabbage hit his first home run of the season, to go along with two other hits. Ben Rodriguez also had a three-hit day, Chris Williams reached safely three times as well, tallying a hit and a pair of walks. Yunior Severino drew just 17 walks in 50 total games last season but somehow managed to rack up four walks just in this one game tonight. He also had a single. STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Jordan Balazovic, Cedar Rapids Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Luis Arraez, Pensacola TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed 1. Royce Lewis (FM): 1-for-2, 3B, 2 BB, 2 R 3. Brusdar Graterol (PNS): 4.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K 4. Trevor Larnach (FM): 1-for-3, 2B, BB, 2 RBI 7. Jhoan Duran (FM): 4.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K 10. Akil Baddoo (FM): 0-for-3, BB, R, SB, K 13. Ryan Jeffers (FM): 0-for-3, BB, K 15. Yunior Severino (CR): 1-for-1, 4 BB, 3 R 16. Gilberto Celestino (CR): 0-for-4, BB, R, SB, K 19. Jorge Alcala (PNS): 5.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester at Lehigh Valley, 4:35 pm CT (Chase De Jong) Rochester at Lehigh Valley, Game 2 (TBD, bullpen game) Pensacola at Mobile, 7:05 pm CT (Devin Smeltzer) Fort Myers at Charlotte, 5:00 pm CT (Tyler Watson) Cedar Rapids at Wisconsin, 4:05 pm CT (Cole Sands) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games.

Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Full Box Score Odorizzi: 0.2 IP, 2 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, 50.0% strikes Home Runs: Kepler (1), Polanco (1) Multi-Hit Games: Polanco (5-for-5, 2B, 3B, HR), Schoop (2-for-4) WPA of +0.1: Polanco .220 WPA of -0.1: Harper -.134, Odorizzi -.209 And Polanco wasn’t done there, he added another single in the ninth inning. Here’s a look at the cycle: https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1114355824690978817 With persistent rain and temperatures in the low-40s, the Twins got off to a terribly sloppy start at Philadelphia and just kept sinking. You know how you can tell it was really bad? This rabid Phillies fanbase, energized by a new star in town, left Citizens Bank Park largely unoccupied. There were enough Phillies fans at Nationals Park earlier this week to get a “we got Harper” chant going in enemy territory, but the weather in Philadelphia led most fans to stay home despite the enthusiasm to shower love down upon their new star. Jake Odorizzi struck out Bryce Harper in the first inning. That’s about the only thing that went well in the early going. Odorizzi recorded just two outs and it took him 36 pitches just to even do that. It all got started with Andrew McCutchen drawing a walk after a borderline check swing was called a ball. Things just snowballed from there. Conditions were terrible, but as the old saying goes, they were the same for both teams. One thing that didn’t help the Twins were a few poor ball calls. As you can see, quite a few of these pitches were in the zone. I suppose when you throw as many pitches as the Twins did tonight a few are bound to not go your way. It was 192 pitches, to be exact. Wow. It was appearing this one may get called before becoming an official game, but they pressed on and things cleared up around the bottom of the fifth inning. Too bad. The Twins would rather forget pretty much all of what transpired. At least the Polanco cycle was fun. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Next Three Games Sat at PHI, 1:05 pm CT (Michael Pineda-Jake Arrieta) Sun at PHI, 12:05 pm CT (Jose Berrios-Zach Eflin) Tue at NYM, 6:10 pm CT (TBD) Last Game MIN 7, KC 6: Twins Come Back From 3-Run Deficit More From Twins Daily The 12 Stages of Willians Astudillo Fandom Twins Winning in the Margins Byron Buxton: Reckless or Aggressive?

Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) MIN 7, KC 6: Full Box Score Gibson: 4.2 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 57.2% strikes Home Runs: None Multi-Hit Games: Astudillo (3-for-5, 2B), Garver (3-for-4, 2B), Rosario (2-for-4, 2B, BB) WPA of +0.1: May .269, Rosario .238, Garver .144, Cruz .113, Kepler .109 WPA of -0.1: Gibson -.469 Gibby Gets Started Last April, Gibson averaged 92.2 mph on his four-seam fastball and gained a bit of velocity as the season progressed. With his illness putting him a little bit behind schedule, I was curious to see where he would be today. You could have certainly given him a pass if things were lagging behind a bit. No pass needed. Gibson topped out at 95.1 mph, averaging 93.4 mph on that pitch. It’s just one outing, but that bout with E. coli really put a cloud over Gibson’s winter. Great to see him come out of the gates looking strong. Gibson was cruising through the first 4 2/3 innings, but things completely fell apart from there. He walked Billy Hamilton, who stole second base and was driven in on a single. No error was charged, but Ehire Adrianza played what could have been an inning-ending ground out into a single, then Alex Gordon hit a three-run homer. The bleeding didn’t stop there. Jorge Polanco, who had made a couple nifty defensive plays earlier in the game, committed a throwing error. Two more singles and another run later and Gibson’s day was done. He gave up just one run on three hits up until that big Royals rally, but that terrible turn of events put a very negative spin on his 2019 debut. Mejia Holds Steady Adalberto Mejia took over for Gibson and stopped the bleeding. He got the final out of that messy fifth inning and followed with two more clean innings. He’s opened the season with three no-hit innings and has struck out five batters. Max Bests a Lefty That performance by Mejia bought some time for the bats to fire back. Max Kepler delivered a game-tying, two-out, two-run double off southpaw Jake Diekman in the eighth inning. Ninth-Inning Rally Nelson Cruz drew a six-pitch walk to lead off the ninth inning. Byron Buxton, who was not in the starting lineup due to a back injury, pinch ran for him and stole second base. Eddie Rosario worked a full count, then delivered the go-ahead single to plate Buxton. Big Bullpen Day With Gibson having a bit of a short start and Taylor Rogers coming off a 29-pitch outing the night before, this was an opportunity to get a glimpse at how Baldelli may be inclined to manage his bullpen. After Mejia served admirably as the long man, Trevor May took over in the eighth. He held the bottom of Kansas City’s lineup scoreless, then returned for the ninth. After retiring the first two batters of the ninth inning, May was taken out for Blake Parker. Parker induced a game-ending ground out from Alex Gordon to earn his second save of the season. New-Look Lineup Today marked the first starts for Tyler Austin (first base), Ehire Adrianza (second base) and Jake Cave (right field) this season. Also, Kepler played center field in place of Buxton, who was nursing a sore back after crashing into the wall. It’s interesting to see Rocco Baldelli go with Kepler in center over Cave. Paul Molitor went with that alignment nine times last season but had Cave in center field and Kepler in right 52 times. Postgame With Baldelli https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1113556139520618496 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 PHI, 6:05 pm CT Sat at PHI, 1:05 pm CT Sun at PHI, 12:05 pm CT Last Game MIN 5, KC 4 (10 Innings): Cruz Steps Up More From Twins Daily Three Catcher Conundrum Gleeman & The Geek, Ep 419: Tuesday Taproom Tour from Able Brewery

Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Berrios: 7.0 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 68.6% strikes Home Runs: None Multi-Hit Games: Kepler (2-for-4, 2 BB), Polanco (2-for-5, 2B, BB), Cruz (2-for-5, 2B, BB), Cron (2-for-5, 2B) WPA of 0.1 or higher: Cruz .605, Polanco .225, Parker .209, Hildenberger .114 WPA of -0.1 or lower: Schoop -.127, Gonzalez -.185, Rogers -.194 There was some controversy in the top of the 10th inning over the foul ball call, but in the end it appeared the correct call was made. That didn’t stop one of the Kaufman faithful from chanting “we want robots, we want robots” which I got a kick out of. Nelson Cruz hit a line drive toward third base that landed just a few feet before the bag. The third base ump called it fair, which appeared to result in an inning-ending ground out, but the home plate ump called it foul. Given a second chance, Cruz delivered an RBI single to score Willians Astudillo from second base. Speaking of second chances, Blake Parker got the job done in his second opportunity with the Twins, picking up the save. Scoring Struggles The Twins had a man at second and no outs in the sixth inning and did not score. They loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh and did not score. They also got their leadoff man on in the eighth, but somehow came away with zero runs in all three of those innings. After all those offensive struggles from the Twins, this happened: https://twitter.com/AlexFast8/status/1113272122959368193 The Twins made it look like scoring was so hard, Adalberto Mondesi made it look so easy. Not Byron Buxton’s best moment there, by the way. He was finished out that inning but did not return for the ninth due to an apparent back injury. Buxton was to be re-evaluated after the game as a precaution. That inside-the-park home run ended Taylor Rogers’ scoreless inning streak at 28 2/3 innings. Strikeout Surge Ends The Royals are nowhere near as successful as they were during their recent World Series runs, but some of the same formulas remain. The speed is still there, and they still field a lineup that excels at putting the ball in play. Jose Berrios didn’t get his first strikeout until the fifth inning and only racked up four Ks altogether, ending the insane strikeout binge the staff had been on. While he wasn’t as overpowering, Berrios did a nice job of throwing strikes and avoided the one thing you really can’t afford to do against these Royals: Issue walks. It took him only 86 pitches to complete seven innings and once again relied on a heavy dose of offspeed stuff, throwing 32 curveballs and 10 changeups. A couple of the Twins, on the other hand, had all sorts of trouble making contact. Both Marwin Gonzalez and Buxton struck out three times. Gonzalez went down swinging in both of those crushing sixth and seventh innings. The Rosie Run There are all sorts of fun new advanced metrics and it can seem like we measure everything in modern baseball … because we do. You can learn about them, the same way you can learn to bet, but I want to focus on a particular one with which you may not be familiar. There’s a stat called UBR, Ultimate Baserunning, which can be found on FanGraphs. It attempts to pin a value on a player’s contributions on the basepaths outside of just what they do in terms of stolen base attempts. Eddie Rosario established a knack for picking up extra bases his rookie year, ranking seventh in all of baseball in UBR. He was in the top 25 in 2016 but then some of his risks started to backfire in 2017 and he fell outside the top 100 in that metric. Rosario really seemed to adjust nicely, developing a better feel for when to go for it and when to ease up. He ended up with the best UBR rating of his career, which was also fifth in all of baseball. Tonight, that skill came in incredibly handy. Rosario scored the Twins’ first run of the night, coming all the way from first base on a broken-bat single to left-center field. https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1113249191189286915 After opening the season 0-for-14, Rosario also broke through with a go-ahead RBI single in the top of the ninth inning. He advanced to second on a ball in the dirt in a bang-bang play at the bag, because of course he did. Cron’s Defense When the Twins signed Nelson Cruz it meant C.J. Cron was going to have to get the lion’s share of his playing time at first base. While that is his natural position, Cron spent the majority of his breakout 2018 season as Tampa Bay’s designated hitter. While the defensive metrics were very positive, Cron ranked fourth among first basemen in defensive runs saved, Twins fans have come to expect excellent play from the position. From Joe Mauer to Justin Morneau to Doug Mientkiewicz, the Twins have had a stretch of sterling scoopers over there. Cron’s made a solid first impression, though there isn’t much defense going on when your pitchers strike out 13 batters a game, but he really shined tonight. Cron made several nice scoops, some to secure outs, others to keep the ball in front of him and prevent the speedy Royals from gaining extra bases. 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 at KC, 12:15 pm CT Fri at PHI, 6:05 pm CT Sat at PHI, 1:05 pm CT Last Game MIN 9, CLE 3: Twins Take Series Behind Pineda, Tortuga More From Twins Daily 2019 Rochester Red Wings Preliminary Roster 2019 Pensacola Blue Wahoos Preliminary Roster 2019 Fort Myers Miracle Preliminary Roster

Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Pineda: 4.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 70.0% strikes Home Runs: Cruz (1) Multi-Hit Games: Cruz (3-for-5, HR, 2B), Astudillo (2-for-2, 2 2Bs), Cron (2-for-3, 2B), Schoop (2-for-4, 2B), Buxton (2-for-4, 2B), Polanco (2-for-4) WPA of 0.1 or higher: Pineda .223, Astudillo .157, Buxton .128 WPA of -0.1 or lower: None For his efforts, Astudillo was immediately hit by a pitch in his next at-bat. Not cool. There were plenty of Twins making loud contact today. Nelson Cruz hit the first Twins home run of the season, a 427-foot blast that hit the facing of the second deck, in addition to two other hits. Byron Buxton had a two-run double which was the hardest hit ball of the game for the Twins at 111.6 mph. Both C.J. Cron and Jonathan Schoop also had extra-base hits. https://twitter.com/ParkerHageman/status/1112435927559884801 But it was Astudillo who got the scoring started against Carlos Carrasco. In his last three outings against the Twins last season, Carrasco only surrendered three earned runs over 21 1/3 innings (1.27 ERA). Of course, this is a very different Twins lineup than they had in late-2018. Carrasco gave up six runs on 10 hits over 4 1/3 inning today. In all, the Twins had nine balls they hit with an exit velocity of 105 mph or harder. The first two games were a little tough to watch, but Corey Kluber and Trevor Bauer are insanely good. Carrasco isn’t far behind those two, but I’m not certain any rotation will keep this Twins lineup down for long. The pitching staff is a much bigger area of concern, but what a series they just had. No, Cleveland’s current lineup doesn’t exactly invoke fear, but you still have to execute pitches. This Twins staff did a very good job at that this series. Michael Pineda was incredibly efficient in his first major league start since July 5, 2017 (more on that in a minute), Martin Perez also looked good in his Twins debut, Trevor Hildenberger had a scoreless appearance and Ryne Harper made his major league debut. Paint By Numbers Pitching Plan It’s been a great first three games. The Twins took the series against the team they’ll be fighting for the division all summer, and this was a big when you consider these teams won’t face each other again until June. Positives all around. If you want to leave it at that and not nitpick, feel free to just scroll on through this section. Michael Pineda threw 28 of his first 40 pitches were strikes, a rate of 70%, which is excellent. He faced the minimum through four innings and racked up five strikeouts. You couldn’t have really asked for a better start, so it’s blatantly obvious he was coming out of today’s game after four innings no matter what he did. Yes, this was Pineda’s first major league outing since 2017, but his arm has been recovered from Tommy John surgery for quite some time. He made four rehab appearances in the minor leagues last season, but a knee injury prevented him from making a late-season return. If there was any concern over his health, Pineda certainly wouldn’t have thrown a team-high 20 1/3 innings this spring. Martin Perez took over in the fifth inning with the Twins leading 3-0. He gave up a leadoff single and issued a one-out walk. That created the highest leverage situation we would see all game, according to the leverage index, but Perez managed to escape that inning unscathed. The stuff was every bit as electric as we saw in spring, as he topped out at 97.2 mph. While Perez’s stuff looked very good, he was nowhere near as sharp as Pineda had been. It took Perez 82 pitches to get through 3 2/3 innings. He struck out six, which is impressive, but he gave up three runs on five hits and three walks. Luckily the Twins had built up an 8-0 lead. Perez needed work, I get that, but I’m not a fan of a game plan that’s so rigid you can’t adjust it when your starting pitcher is cruising at the level that Pineda was. That kind of managing is on par with simply batting whoever is catching eighth everyday. Oh … that’s happening right now too. Anyway, the Twins tacked on five runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, relieving any potential for that move to look really bad in hindsight. I just really don’t like that level of a paint-by-numbers game plan. It appeared the Twins were willing to potentially sacrifice this game in order to keep Perez stretched out. As if that was every bit as important as winning this game. Kyle Gibson was pushed back to the No. 4 starter because he was a bit behind schedule in comparison to his rotation mates. That being the case, if you’re going to piggyback Perez with anyone, shouldn’t it have been Gibson? Or can’t Perez throw a simulated game? I dunno, it just all seems weird, but all’s well that ends well. Sire of Fort Myers Debuts Even with all these great performances, nobody had a better day than Ryne Harper. The 30-year-old veteran of the minor leagues finally made his major league debut. He switched his number from 70 to 19, which seems fitting because 2019 is a year he’ll never forget. Harper took over in the ninth with the Twins leading 9-3. Basically the perfect situation to work a guy into his first big league game. He didn’t show nearly as good command as he did down in spring training, walking a pair of batters, but he did spin in some nice curveballs and kept Cleveland off the board for his inning. He finished things off with a swinging strikeout. https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1112458769093451776 The average person wouldn’t have pursued this dream as long as Ryne Harper. Most 29-year-old pitchers who struggle to crack 90 mph wouldn’t have spent most of their age 29 season pitching in Double A. Harper never gave up. It’s been an absolute pleasure getting to know his story and follow his journey. Postgame With Baldelli https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1112471199349563393 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 at KC, 7:15 pm CT Wed at KC, 12:15 pm CT Fri at PHI, 6:05 pm CT Last Game CLE 2, MIN 1: Odorizzi Strikes Out 11, Wild Parker Surrenders Go-Ahead Run More From Twins Daily New Territory from the Twins Dugout The Next Minnesota Twins - 2019 Analyzing the Twins' 2019 Schedule