Tom Froemming

I like that Glynn sent him. They had to make a great play and he was out only by a matter of inches. To Adrianza's defense, I think his internal clock was telling him somebody was gonna get under that ball. I was thinking the same thing until just before it fell, it was up there a long time. Per Baseball Savant, batted balls of that same profile are only hits 43% of the time.

Just added the highlight reel. It would have been an excellent double play. Escobar had to leap to reel it in and his momentum was carrying him toward second. He did an outstanding job getting the out, but Dozier couldn't get enough on the throw to first.

The rookie showdown of Shohei Ohtani vs. Fernando Romero lived up to the hype, but the Angels prevailed thanks in large part to some incredible execution on defense. Romero and the bullpen did what they could, but it’s really hard to win when you only score one run.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Download attachment: Snapshot513.png Download attachment: WinEx513.png Romero passed another test Sunday, facing a veteran lineup in front of 38,000 fans on the road. He finally gave up a run, but he also struck out six batters over five innings. Romero wasn’t as sharp as we’d seen him previously, but to his credit he never unraveled. Romero would have managed to get through five scoreless innings if the Twins would have been able to turn a double play. Instead, Justin Upton beat out the throw by a half step, allowing the run to come in from third. Romero gave up four hits and walked three batters. The Twins tied it up in the seventh as Logan Morrison drew a walk, then advanced to third on a Robbie Grossman single. It appeared the Twins benefited from a missed call when a foul tip was called on what would have been strike three on Robbie. Joe Mauer came off the bench to deliver an RBI single. It looked like the Twins would go ahead in the top of the ninth, but the Angels made an excellent play to nab Ehire Adrianza at the plate. Adrianza was running from first on the pitch that Grossman drove into the outfield. Mike Trout fielded the ball and relayed it in to Ian Kinsler, who threw a one-hopper on the money to keep the game tied. Zach Duke hit the first batter he faced on a 0-2 count. The Angels bunted the runner over. Zack Cozart hit a ball into the outfield and it was looking like the Twins were also going to have the opportunity to make a game-saving throw, but instead of two perfect throws, Eddie Rosario failed to transfer the ball from his glove into his hand. Ohtani was phenomenal. Over 6 1/3 innings, he gave up just three hits (two to Logan Morrison), struck out 11 batters and walked two. He topped out at 99.4 mph, but his slider, splitter and curveball were all formidable as well. The slowest curve he threw was 74.6 mph. I have no idea how any batter can realistically be prepared to handle all of his offerings. Taylor Rogers pitched a scoreless sixth, but ran into trouble in the seventh. Ryan Pressly entered the game with no outs and runners on first and second base. He struck out Trout and induced a double play ball to wiggle out of trouble. Reed pitched a scoreless eighth before the Angels got to Duke in the ninth. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days:Download attachment: Bullpen513.png Next Three Games Mon vs. SEA, 6:10 pm CT Tue vs. STL, 7:10 pm CT Wed vs. STL, 12:10 pm CT Last Three Games MIN 5, LAA 3: Twins Outlast Angels in Gutsy Victory MIN 5, LAA 4: Rally Rosie LAA 7, MIN 4: What’s Up With Berrios? More From Twins Daily A Tale Of Two Rookies: Fernando Romero and Shohei Ohtani Wander Javier's Labral Tear For Saints Fans, Documentary Rings True Click here to view the article

Fixed. I was wondering what kind of things would happen if I stayed up past 1 am three nights in a row. I also scheduled some stuff on social media that said the game went 11 innings. D'oh.

Just like last night, Eddie Rosario made things happen and Mitch Garver delivered a big RBI. The Twins beat the Angels in 12 innings behind a quality start from Kyle Gibson and a gutsy performance by the bullpen.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs)Download attachment: Snapshot512.png Download attachment: WinEx512.png The Twins offense was great in the third inning. Logan Morrison led things off with a walk, Ehire Adrianza singled, Byron Buxton hit an RBI double, Joe Mauer hit an RBI single and Brian Dozier added a sac fly to put the Twins up 3-0. From there forward, the bats were incredibly quiet, allowing the Angels to get back in the game. In the 12th inning Rosario reached on an infield single and Garver pulled a double down the left field line that scored Rosie all the way from first base, putting the Twins up. Mitch scored from second on a Gregorio Petit single to provide an insurance run. Gibson has continued his upswing. He gave up just three hits over his six innings of work and struck out six batters. This was his eighth start of the year and the fifth time he’s given up two earned runs or fewer. Gibby’s slider was particularly effective. He got nine swinging strikes on the 20 times he offered up that pitch and zero balls were put in play off the slider per Baseball Savant. Gibson exited the game with a 3-2 lead, but Ryan Pressly gave up a run in his inning of work. After giving up just one earned run over 13 appearances in April, this was Pressly’s third run given up already in his sixth game this May. Addison Reed worked a scoreless inning in both the eighth and ninth. He hadn’t pitched the previous five days. Zach Duke walked the leadoff man in the 10th, but luckily he ain’t afraid of no ghosts. That walk did not haunt, as Duke worked a scoreless inning. Trevor Hildenberger took over in the 11th and hit a batter on his first pitch, bringing Mike Trout to the plate. Gulp. Hildy got him to hit into a fielder’s choice, but Trout ended up stealing second base. Justin Upton flew out to right field, allowing Trout to tag up and advanced to third. With two outs and a runner on third, the Twins intentionally walked both Albert Pujols and Andrelton Simmons, bringing up Jefry Marte. The move put a ton of pressure on Hildenberger, but he came up big, inducing an inning-ending ground out. Phew. Fernando Rodney: Also not afraid of ghosts. Rodney walked the leadoff man in the 12th but ended up working a clean inning for his seventh save of the season. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days:Download attachment: Bullpen512.png Next Three Games Sun at LAA, 3:07 pm CT Mon vs. SEA, 6:10 pm CT Tue vs. STL, 7:10 pm CT Last Three Games MIN 5, LAA 4: Rally Rosie LAA 7, MIN 4: What’s Up With Berrios? MIN 7, STL 1: Five Alive More From Twins Daily Twins Minor League Report (5/12): Trevor May Returns Click here to view the article

Trevor May made his first rehab appearance for the Miracle, Chattanooga stayed hot with a nine-run night and Royce Lewis hit a double for the Kernels. As has too often been the case, Rochester was unable to play due to inclement weather.TRANSACTIONS May was activated on the Fort Myers Miracle roster to begin his rehab assignment. Ryan LaMarre was activated for Rochester with James Ramsey heading to the DL with a shoulder contusion. Nothing is official yet, but Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press reported that Ervin Santana is expected to start his rehab assignment on May 26. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester vs. Scranton Postponed due to rain. This was the seventh postponement already for the Red Wings. They’ll make this one up as part of a doubleheader on June 12. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 9, Tennessee 6 Box Score W: Casey Crosby (1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 0 K) SV: Todd Van Steensel ( 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K) SP: Lewis Thorpe (3.1 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 K) HR: None. Multi-hit games: Zander Wiel, LaMonte Wade, Nick Gordon, Chris Paul This was a back-and-forth affair, but the Lookouts outlasted the Smokies. Tennessee got a two-run homer off Lewis Thorpe in the top of the first, but the Chattanooga bats stormed back with four runs in the bottom of the inning. The Looks added another run in the second to go up 5-2. Thorpe couldn’t make that lead stand up, as Tennessee would eventually tie the game at five in the fourth inning. Thorpe had a rough night, giving up five runs (four earned) on seven hits and three walks. His ERA is now 5.17. Luckily the Lookouts had another big inning in them. A four-runs seventh frame put Chattanooga up for good. All the usual suspects had big games. Zander Wiel was 3-for-5 with a double, two RBIs and a pair of runs scored. Nick Gordon was 2-for-4, scored twice and had an RBI. LaMonte Wade was 2-for-3 with a couple walks and a run scored. Chris Paul also collected a pair of hits and stole a base. The bullpen did a great job of buying time for the bats to get back in it. Cody Stashak pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings and Todd Van Steensel earned the save with a pair of perfect innings. He also struck out three batters. MIRACLE MATTERS Dunedin 2, Fort Myers 1 Box Score SP: Trevor May (3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 5 K) HR: None. Multi-hit games: None. He’s back! Just seeing Trevor May in action is great, but he also had an encouraging debut. Here’s the details via Twins Director of Communications Dustin Morse: Putting up zeroes, striking guys out and hitting 93 mph; pretty great vibes all around. Back in 2016, May was averaging 94.8 mph on his fastball, so it’s great to see him come anywhere close to that his first time out. This was May’s first competitive action since March 8, 2017. The Fort Myers pitching staff continued to perform from there, but the bats couldn’t get much of anything going. They combined for just four hits, the only extra-base knock coming as a Travis Blankenhorn double. Jimmy Kerrigan had the team’s lone RBI. Jaylin Davis drew his 16th walk of the season. He’s reached that mark in 99 plate appearances. That’s an encouraging sign because last year he had just 28 walks in 466 PAs. Andrew Vasquez pitched two perfect innings with three strikeouts. Clark Beeker gave up a run in the sixth inning, but went 3 1/3 innings for the Miracle. He gave up a one-out single in the bottom of the ninth then was lifted after Lewin Diaz committed an error. Ryan Mason entered the game with runners on first and second and got the first batter he faced to ground out. Unfortunately, the next hitter walked it off on an RBI single. KERNELS NUGGETS Bowling Green 4, Cedar Rapids 1 Box Score SP: Bryan Sammons (51 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K) HR: None. Multi-hit games: Shane Carrier, Jean Carlos Arias The Kernels struck first, scoring in the fourth inning. Royce Lewis hit a double and scored on a Shane Carrier single. Lewis is hitting .347, but that was just his fifth extra-base hit. Unfortunately, that was it for the offense. Starter Bryan Sammons gave up a run in the fifth inning and Jose Martinez gave up three more in the eighth. Sammons has opened his first full season of pro ball with a 2.76 ERA and 1.23 WHIP over 29 1/3 innings. STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Trevor May Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Zander Wiel TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Prospects performed: 1. Royce Lewis: 1-for-3, 2B, BB, R 3. Nick Gordon: 2-for-4, 2 R, RBI 7: Brent Rooker: 1-for-5, 2B, R, 2 K 10. Akil Baddoo: 0-for-4, K 12. Lewis Thorpe: 3.1 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 K 13. Lewin Diaz: 1-for-4, K 14. LaMonte Wade: 2-for-3, 2 BB, R 16. Ben Rortvedt: 1-for-3 17: Travis Blankenhorn: 1-for-4, 2B, R SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester at Scranton, 12:05 pm CT: Myles Jaye Chattanooga vs. Tennessee, 1:15 pm CT: TBD Fort Myers: OFF Cedar Rapids: OFF Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games. Click here to view the article

But it's not like that's anything new this year. That's who he's been from the get-go and he's got several years of being a solid MLB starter under his belt. In fact, he's actually throwing a bit harder this year than last, but the control has gone out the window. I was hoping his last start signaled a turning point. Guess not. It's a context-only stat. Rosario's second homer only decreased the Angels' win expectancy from 92.8% to 84.0%. That Garver single sunk it from 72.1% to 31.4%. The leverage index on Rosario's homers were 0.33 and 1.48. On Garver's single it was 6.11. A couple key things to keep in mind are that Garver's hit also advanced a runner to third with only one out and that Rosario had some negative WPA outcomes from earlier in the game. Rosario's biggest plate appearance in terms of leverage index came in the third inning. Rosie was up with two down and the bases loaded. He flied out, which counted as -.069 WPA for him.

Rally monkey? Pfff, who needs it? Trailing 4-2 in the top of the ninth, Eddie Rosario hit a leadoff homer, his second of the game, to jumpstart a comeback effort. Mitch Garver came off the bench to deliver a huge game-tying single, Bobby Wilson put the Twins up on a sac fly and Fernando Rodney locked down the save to secure a big win for the Twins.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Download attachment: Snapshot511.png Download attachment: WinEx511.png The Twins really couldn’t get much of anything going until the ninth. Take a look at that graph, they really stormed back and swiped this game away from the Angels. Brian Dozier hit a solo homer in first inning, Rosario added a solo tater in the sixth and that was it prior to the big three-run ninth. Here’s how that unfolded: Rosario homer. Robbie Grossman strikeout. Logan Morrison double. Max Kepler (pinch hitting for Byron Buxton) intentional walk. Garver (pinch hitting for Ehire Adrianza) single scores Morrison, Kepler goes first-to-third. Wilson sac fly scores Kepler. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days:Download attachment: Bullpen511.png Next Three Games Sat at LAA, 8:07 pm CT Sun at LAA, 3:07 pm CT Mon vs. SEA, 6:10 pm CT Last Three Games LAA 7, MIN 4: What’s Up With Berrios? MIN 7, STL 1: Five Alive MIN 6, STL 0: Fernand0 R0mer0!!!! More From Twins Daily Twins Minor League Report (5/11): Rooker Walks Off In Grand Style Buxton’s Back: Was No Rehab a Mistake? For Saints Fans, Documentary Rings True Click here to view the article

And people think the Twins move their prospects along slowly

Jose Berrios had another poor start, the bullpen made matters worse and the Twins failed to mount a second comeback after they’d tied the game in the sixth inning. But hey, Byron Buxton is back, Brian Dozier was 4-for-4 and Max Kepler can hit lefties now, so we got that going for us.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Download attachment: Snap510.png Download attachment: WinEX510.png Berrios allowed the Angels to build a 4-0 lead and ended the night with five earned runs over 5 1/3 innings. Jose gave up seven hits, two of them homers, walked a batter, hit two more and only recorded two strikeouts. Berrios averaged 93.4 mph on his fastball and topped out at 95.2, so there doesn’t appear to be anything amiss with his arm, but something clearly isn’t right. He especially seemed to have a hard time spotting his curveball. There were a few calls that didn’t go his way early, not sure if that had any lingering effects as he tried to feel out the strike zone. This was Berrios’ eighth start of the season. He’s given up zero runs in three starts and four earned runs or more in the other five. The Twins had a nice rally in the sixth inning to tie the game. Brian Dozier, who has been in a terrible slump, hit a three-run homer. He ended the game 4-for-4. In 2016, Max hit two homers in 133 plate appearances against lefties. Last season, it was two again, this time in 137 PAs. Kepler hit his second home run off a lefty already this season, and it has taken him only 32 opportunities to do so. Unfortunately, Ryan Pressly struggled in the bottom of that inning, allowing a runner he inherited from Berrios to score along with a run of his own, coughing up the lead back to the Angels. Just to make it an especially fun night for the fans in Anaheim, rookie sensation Shohei Ohtani obliterated a homer off Trevor Hildenberger in the seventh inning. Buxton was 0-for-2 with a couple of strikeouts and a walk. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen510.png Next Three Games Fri at LAA, 9:07 pm CT Sat at LAA, 8:07 pm CT San at LAA, 3:07 pm CT Last Three Games MIN 7, STL 1: Five Alive MIN 6, STL 0: Fernand0 R0mer0!!!! MIN 5, CHW 3: Rosario Lifts Twins to Third Straight Victory More From Twins Daily Buxton’s Back: Was No Rehab a Mistake? This Dozier Recipe May be a New One Get To Know Miracle Catcher Taylor Grzelakowski Click here to view the article

Randy LeBlanc continued what’s been a strong start to his 2018 season with an excellent performance and his catcher, Brian Navarreto, had a big night at the plate. The Miracle lost a late lead, the Kernels were kept in check by Brendan McKay and Rochester was rained out.TRANSACTIONS Zack Granite was on the Red Wings’ lineup card prior to the game being called. Also, Jake Reed was reinstated from the DL. Casey Crosby was sent from Rochester to Chattanooga. Jimmy Kerrigan was transferred back to Fort Myers from Rochester. Robby Rinn was sent from the Miracle to Elizabeton’s roster. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester at Scranton POSTPONED CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 3, Jackson 0 Box Score W: Randy LeBlanc (7 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K) SV: Williams Ramirez (1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K) HR: Brian Navarreto (2) Multi-hit games: Navarreto, LaMonte Wade, Chris Paul Randy LeBlanc continued his excellent start by delivering seven shutout innings, striking out eight batters in the process. Drafted in the 10th round back in 2014, LeBlanc had some trouble stepping up to the Southern League last year, seeing his ERA spike from 2.82 during his time with the Miracle to 3.99 with the Lookouts. It appears LeBlanc is settling in, as he lowered his ERA to 2.23 and improved to 5-1 with tonight’s performance. In 40 1/3 innings, he has 35 strikeouts and 10 walks. Catcher Brian Navarreto had a nice two-way night. He helped lead the Chattanooga staff to a shutout performance behind the dish and was 3-for-4 with a solo homer. LaMonte Wade and Chris Paul each had two hits while Nick Gordon had a double and drew a pair of walks. MIRACLE MATTERS Dunedin 8, Fort Myers 6 Box Score SP: Andro Cutura (5.2 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K) HR: None. Multi-hit games: Mark Contreras, Jimmy Kerrigan The Miracle held a 5-4 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh, but a big four-run inning put the Blue Jays up for good. Mark Contreras continued his hot streak by going 2-for-4 with a double and a triple. He’s recorded multiple hits in four of his last seven games. Jimmy Kerrigan was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs. Jaylin Davis was 1-for-3 and drew a couple walks. KERNELS NUGGETS Bowling Green 4, Cedar Rapids 0 Box Score SP: Randy Dobnak (4.1 IP, 10 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 1 K) HR: None. Multi-hit games: None The Kernels faced last year’s No. 4 overall pick Brendan McKay, which was unfortunate because he was dealing. McKay gave up just one hit in the six innings he handled and Cedar Rapids only mustered another base knock against the bullpen. Alex Kirilloff hit a triple, David Banuelos singled and Shane Carrier drew two walks. That was it for the offense. The bright spot for the Kernels pitching staff was Moises Gomez, who held the Hot Rods scoreless over the final 2 1/3 innings of the game. STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Randy LeBlanc Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Brian Navarreto TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Prospects performed: 1. Royce Lewis: 0-for-4, K 3. Nick Gordon: 1-for-2, 2B, 2 BBs, R 5. Alex Kirilloff: 1-for-3, 3B, K 7. Brent Rooker: 1-for-4, R 10. Akil Baddoo: 0-for-4, K 13. Lewin Diaz: 0-for-4, RBI 14. LaMonte Wade: 2-for-4, BB 16. Ben Rortvedt: 0-for-3, 2 Ks 17. Travis Blankenhorn: 0-for-4, 3 Ks FRIDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester at Scranton, 4:35 pm CT - Zack Littell Rochester at Scranton, Game 2 - Stephen Gonsalves Chattanooga vs. Jackson, 6:15 pm CT - Anthony Marzi Fort Myers at Dunedin, 5:30 pm CT - Brady Anderson Cedar Rapids at Bowling Green, 6:35 pm CT - Blayne Enlow Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games. Click here to view the article

Alright folks, you heard the man. Pack it all up, we're closing down shop until the Twins are worth writing/talking about again.

Thanks for this Steve. I appreciate your description of his swing. It's been fun to watch Alex hit here and there on MiLB.tv, it seems like every at-bat I catch he's driving the ball to the opposite field.

I'd like to pass this along in regard to Romero's changeup. via Mike Barardino's YouTube account: "I was working a month ago with Fernando Rodney. So I was trying to get like the way he's throwing his pitch. The way he grips it." So he overhauled his changeup grip a little over a month ago now and it's already a useful pitch against MLB hitters. Pretty awesome.

With another victory Tuesday afternoon, the Twins are now on a five-game winning streak, putting them just a game out of first place in the American League Central division. Jake Odorizzi gave up a home run to the third batter he faced, but it was all Twins from there. The Twins tallied seven unanswered runs to blow out the Cardinals in a nice little afternoon at the ballpark.Snapshot Info Record: 15-17 Odorizzi: 56 Game Score, 65.6 Strike%, 5.0 P, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K Bullpen: 4.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 IR, 0 IS, 4 K, 0 BB Hitters: 4-for-10 w/RISP, 8 LOB, 4 K, 3 BB Top 3 per WPA: Grossman .287, Odorizzi .164, Garver .154 Win Expectancy Chart (via FanGraphs) Download attachment: chart.png This was the ninth consecutive game in which the Twins’ starting pitcher went at least five innings. That streak has really aided the bullpen in finding its footing. As an added bonus, the Twins have a day off tomorrow before they start a four-game series at Anaheim. Odorizzi kept things pretty simple, pounding four-seam fastballs up in the zone while mixing in the slider outside to right-handers and the splitter low to lefties. It was an effective plan of attack, as after that first inning homer Odorizzi only gave up one more hit. Download attachment: chart (1).png The bats had a tough assignment in Carlos Martinez, but they passed with flying colors. Martinez had given up just three earned runs over his previous six starts. He’d also gone at least six innings in each of those starts. The Twins scored four runs against Martinez and bounced him from the game after five innings. Two of those runs were unearned, as the St. Louis defense committed three errors. Eddie Rosario has been an absolute monster. He entered today with a 1.032 slugging percentage over 31 plate appearances in May. That’s not a typo, we’re talking just slugging percentage, not OPS. Today, he was 2-for-5 and scored three runs. That Eduardo Escobar has been lighting it up all season. He also had two hits, including a two-run homer. Robbie Grossman has also been heating up of late. He had a big two-run double and drew a pair of walks. The bullpen was perfect. Ryan Pressly for two innings, Taylor Rogers for one, then an inning from Phil Hughes. No hits, no walks. Absolutely beautiful way to finish up this brief two-game series at St. Louis. Up Next Wed OFF Thu at LAA, 9:07 pm CT Fri at LAA, 9:07 pm CT Last Three Games MIN 6, STL 0: Fernand0 R0mer0!!!! MIN 5, CHW 3: Rosario Lifts Twins to Third Straight Victory MIN 8, CHW 4: Rosario Drives in Five More From Twins Daily Top Twins Prospects Are Performing The K Brigade: Twins Pitchers on a Strikeout Binge What's Gotten Into Kyle Gibson? Click here to view the article

If we want to look at the other extreme, the Dodgers have already had to turn to Walker Buehler, who's only thrown 106 2/3 innings in the minors. Much like Romero, that doesn't seem to be having any negative impact on him, as Buehler has a 1.13 ERA over three starts for LA. Some guys need more time in the minors, some don't. I have no clue how a team would go about identifying the difference, but I'm pretty certain both Romero and Buehler haven't ridden their last bus at this point. They'll both likely have some flaws exposed at some point and will need to go back down to iron things out. But, you never know.

He throws a four seamer and two seamer, so that makes four pitches. Those two are basically the same velocity, but the two seamer/sinker has some more arm-side action. He's been throwing one of those fastballs 66% of the time, the slider around 25% and then the changeup has been more of a show-me pitch at around 9%. His control was fine, he stayed in/around the zone pretty good, but if you watched where Wilson was setting up, Romero was missing sometimes very badly. Like Wilson would setup inside and Romero would miss outside. But, command is probably never going to be Romero's strong suit anyway, and there are a lot of pitchers who manage to pitch well in the bigs with a command issues. It certainly didn't hold Fernando back at all tonight. It also seemed like he was a bit sharper in the fifth and sixth innings. It was almost as if the pitch he drilled Kelly in the ribs on (96 mph, ouch) sort of forced him to focus more on spotting his pitches. Again, that's all just my take, somebody else could've seen things way different. Either way, a damn impressive performance. Jeff Johnson of the Cedar Rapids Gazette wrote a nice article back in 2014 about his efforts to learn English. Pretty impressive that he's already comfortable enough to handle his postgame interviews. If anything I'd have thought this was way, way too early. That's more because of his experience than his age (23). Romero has only thrown 324 1/3 innings in the minors. Berrios, also still only 23, pitched 591 2/3 innings down on the farm, including 229 2/3 in Triple A alone. A guy with this little experience against upper-level hitters shouldn't be able to navigate a Major League lineup. As impressive as he's been physically, I think the mental side is even more impressive to me. For him to just jump right into the bigs and do this, I don't care how talented you are, that takes some really impressive mental makeup.

Fernando Romero couldn’t possibly improve upon his impressive major league debut, right? Wrong. Romero shut out the Cardinals over six innings, striking out nine batters in the process. He gave up just three hits and walked three. That’s now 11 2/3 shutout innings to open his career.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Download attachment: Snapshot57.png Download attachment: WinEx57.png Being a Twins fan, I’ve just conditioned myself to go into things expecting the worst, particularly when it comes to pitchers. I came up with dozens of legit excuses that could’ve been made if Romero came out and had a bad start. Sure, he had already gotten his debut out of the way, but this was his first road start. Pitching in enemy territory can be difficult. While they’ve had some injuries, the Cardinals lineup is among the more patient in baseball. That’s not easy to contend with. Let’s see what else? There’s the difference between the MLB ball and the one they use in the minors. That really seemed to be an issue for Jose Berrios (pun intended). Romero was also going to have to hit for the first time since he was a young boy. You could see where that may have messed with his nerves. Plus, he had to deal with Robbie Grossman being his right fielder. OK, that last one was a joke. Nothing seemed to faze Romero. He actually didn’t have excellent command, but his pitches were so nasty it didn’t matter. He got strikeouts when he needed, and in his final inning he induced a huge double play when he really needed it. St. Louis got its leadoff man aboard in three separate innings. It didn’t matter. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen57.png Next Three Games Tue at STL, 12:15 pm CT Thu at LAA, 9:07 pm CT Fri at LAA, 9:07 pm CT Last Three Games MIN 5, CHW 3: Rosario Lifts Twins to Third Straight Victory MIN 8, CHW 4: Rosario Drives in Five MIN 6, CHW 4: Twins Slug Four Homers in Victory More From Twins Daily What's Gotten Into Kyle Gibson? Week in Review: Baby Steps Edwar Colina: From Chilly Home Opener to No-Hitter Click here to view the article