Tom Froemming

Agreed. I never made an argument that Rosario is doomed or should be benched/sent down. I suspect Rosie is going to put up offensive numbers similar to last season. He's got better days ahead of him. The same can be said about Morrison, Buxton and anybody else who's slumping. But when these guys have bad games (just like when they have good games) I'm probably going to focus on them in these game recaps. Those defensive plays were the only two run-scoring plays of the game, and Rosie's GIDP was the biggest swing in win probability on the night. Those are the kinds of things I'm going to highlight more often than not.

I went into depth on Morrison's poor performance the last game, and I compared him to early-2006 Rondell White here. That's about as harsh a comp as I can put on a guy. Also, here are the bottom three Twins hitters in WPA so far this season: -.32 Morrison -.42 Buxton -.61 Rosario Rosie actually has the 13th-lowest WPA in baseball right now.

This game was long, dare I say even boring at times, and it ended in the Twins being shut out. Not a great way to invest three and a half hours of your time, if we’re being honest. But, there were some moments of hope and baseball, as the game always seems to do, providing some strange performances and plays on this chilly Minnesota evening.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Download attachment: Snapshot49.png Download attachment: WinEx49.png You see a lot of weird stuff in baseball, but this outing from Lance Lynn tonight was one of the stranger pitching performances I can remember in a while. He channeled his inner Francisco Liriano, striking out nine batters while only lasting five innings. It took Lynn 105 pitches just to make it that far and only 57 of which were strikes. Lynn walked four batters, but two of the three hits he gave up never left the infield and probably would’ve been outs more often than not. Eduardo Escobar had trouble picking up a slow roller at shortstop and Miguel Sano charged in to field a ball but failed to pluck it out of his glove. It’s always difficult to evaluate performances early in the season, especially for guys like Lynn who sign late, but this cold weather is making it even more difficult to draw conclusions. Lynn clearly did not have great command, he was either having issues gripping the ball or blister problems, but he made pitches when he needed to. You’ll take the five shutout innings any day of the week, but I’d imagine under normal circumstances this would have been an even better outing for Lynn. Or maybe it was just really hard to hit tonight. The teams combined to record far more strikeouts, 23, than base hits, 13. The Twins lost this game because they were 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. In both the eighth and ninth innings, the Twins came close to slugging epic homers that would have changed the game (first Sano, then Byron Buxton), but it wasn’t meant to be. They both had the distance but sailed foul. Our friend Eddie Rosario had another adventurous night at the ballpark. In the sixth inning, a hard liner was hit right at him. It should have been an RBI single, but Rosie couldn’t keep it in front of him and was charged with a two-base error. Luckily that runner did not score. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen49.png Next Three Games Tue vs. HOU, 7:10 pm CT Wed vs. HOU, 12:10 pm CT Thu vs. CHW, 7:10 pm CT Last Three Games SEA 11, MIN 4: That Escalated Quickly MIN 4, SEA 2: Bombs and Bullpen MIN 7, PIT 3: Rosario Sparks Comeback, Inspires Some Head-Scratching More From Twins Daily Twins Minor League Report (4/9): KKKKKKKKKohl Stewart's 2018 Debut Twins vs Astros Series Preview Changing Timeline: Is It Time To Start Worrying About Santana? Click here to view the article

I don't know if I should be proud or embarrassed by the fact that I knew Bobby Korecky is the relief pitcher was was 1-for-1 at the plate.

"In the first regular season game in Twins history, Pedro Ramos pitches a three-hit shutout versus Whitey Ford and the eventual 1961 World Series champions at Yankee Stadium." And that would also be the last time the Twins ever beat the New York Yankees. Sorry, I can never resist that one

Video has been added to the Kernels section.

Mauer ranks fourth all-time among the franchise times on base leaders. The only guy ahead of him who actually played for the Twins is Harmon. I think Joe has a chance of catching Killebrew this year if we disclude his Washington years. Joe is at 2,907 times on base for his career. You wanna know who he just passed on that list? Yogi Berra. It's a very interesting list. Torii Hunter is 152nd all-time, one spot behind Larry Walker. Gary Gaetti is also among the 203 players to have reached 3,000 times on base in his career.

Lewis' plate appearance in the 10th was scored as a fielder's choice, so no hit, but there wasn't an out recorded on the play. Next batter hit the walk-off sac fly. So I'm also giving Royce some extra credit for putting the ball in play there in the 10th to force the opponent to make a play, which they could not. Also, a run scored on the double Lewis hit to put the Kernels up 3-2, but he didn't get credit for the RBI because it was an error that allowed the runner to score. I'm trying to get my friends at Twins Highlights (wink, wink) to upload some video of that finish, but the archive of that game is not available yet on MiLB.tv.

The tie breaker for me was that Lewis was more instrumental to his team winning.

Stephen Gonsalves got his season off to a great start, throwing 5.1 no-hit innings for Chattanooga. He was removed after 71 pitches, following an early-season trend of the Twins’ affiliates being conservative with pitch counts. We also saw Cedar Rapids win its first extra inning game under the new rules implemented this season.Welcome to the Saturday Speed Round! Things are going to look slightly different, but hopefully you’ll still get all the great information you’re accustomed to seeing in the minor league reports here at Twins Daily. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester vs. Buffalo POSTPONED That’s back-to-back postponements for Rochester, as the Red Wings have yet to make their season debut. The teams will play a doubleheader at a later date. There’s still just one game scheduled for tomorrow. CHATTANOOGA CHATTER Chattanooga 2, Birmingham 0 Box Score W Stephen Gonsalves: 5.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 K SV Ryne Harper: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3K HR None Multi-hit games None What a pitching performance. Gonsalves set the tone with 5.1 no-hit innings. He walked three batters and had “only” three strikeouts, but the Barons only managed to hit four balls out of the infield. Tyler Jay was responsible for the lone hit the Lookouts gave up tonight, but he also pitched 1.2 shutout innings with a pair of strikeouts. Zack Jones walked two batters over a scoreless eighth inning before Ryne Harper staked his claim to the Chattanooga closer role. He struck out the side in a perfect ninth inning, needing just 13 pitches to do so. Tanner English led off the third inning with a double and scored on an Edgar Corcino sac fly. In the seventh inning, Sean Miller hit a single that scored catcher Wynston Sawyer. MIRACLE MATTERS Charlotte 8, Fort Myers 4 Box Score SP Charlie Barnes: 4.2 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 8 K HR None Multi-hit games: Travis Blankenhorn 2-for-5, 2 2Bs, 2 RBIs, 2 R Brandon Lopez 2-for-3, 2B, BB, R Jimmy Kerrigan 2-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI Barnes struck out eight of the 20 batters he faced, but a couple of of his pitches the Stone Crabs made contact with really hurt. He gave up a two-run homer in the first, but the bats fought back to give Barnes a 4-3 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth. Unfortunately, Barnes surrendered another two-run homer. Max Cordy gave up another three runs over 2.1 innings of relief. Carlos Suniaga, who pitched for E-Town last year, had a successful FSL debut, throwing a perfect inning. Aaron Whitefield drew three walks and scored a run. Blankenhorn now has five extra-base hits in three games this season. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 4, Quad Cities 3 (10 innings) Box Score W Ryan Mason: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K SP Edwar Colina: 4.0 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 K HR None Multi-hit games: Royce Lewis 2-for-4, 2B, BB, R This game went into extra innings, meaning we got our first look at the new format where a runner starts the inning on second base. Instead of intentionally walking the first batter to set up a double play, Cedar Rapids manager Toby Gardenhire let his guys go to work. The decision paid off. The leadoff batter flew out, Ryan Mason picked off the runner who had been gifted second base to start the inning and then he struck out the next batter. Can’t get much better than that. The River Bandits also decided against the strategy of intentionally walking the leadoff batter in the hopes of inducing a double play. That decision did not pay off. Lewis led off the inning with a ground ball to the third baseman. Akil Baddoo, who started the inning on second base, broke to third on the play. The Quad Cities third basemen tried tagging Baddoo, but missed. Alex Kirilloff, the next batter, delivered a sacrifice fly, scoring Baddoo to walk it off. STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Stephen Gonsalves, Chattanooga Lookouts Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Royce Lewis, Cedar Rapids Kernels TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Prospects performed: #1 Royce Lewis (CR): 2-for-4, 2B, BB, R #2 Nick Gordon (CHAT): 1-for-2, 2B, 2 BBs, SB, K #4 Stephen Gonsalves (CHAT): 5.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 K #5 Alex Kirilloff (CR): 0-for-4, 2 K, walk-off sacrifice fly #7 Brent Rooker (CHAT): 0-for-4, 4 K #10 Akil Baddoo (CR): 1-for-5, 2 R, SB, 2 K #13 Lewin Diaz (FM): 1-for-4 #14 LaMonte Wade (CHAT): 0-for-3, BB #17 Travis Blankenhorn (FM): 2-for-5, 2 2Bs, 2 RBIs, 2 R #19 Tyler Jay (CHAT): 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester vs. Buffalo (12:05 pm CT) - Aaron Slegers Chattanooga vs. Birmingham (1:15 pm CT) - Lewis Thorpe Chattanooga vs. Birmingham (Game 2) - Randy LeBlanc Fort Myers at Charlotte (11:35 pm CT) - Brady Anderson Cedar Rapids vs. Quad Cities (2:05 pm CT) - Blayne Enlow Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games. Click here to view the article

The Twins pitching staff entered today with the lowest batting average on balls in play in all of baseball at .200. They were not as fortunate this afternoon, as the Mariners scored 11 runs on 12 hits. After falling behind 5-0 early, the Twins managed to pull within two runs of Seattle, but a huge five-run eighth by the M’s ended any hope of a comeback.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Download attachment: Snap47Fix.png Download attachment: WinEx47.png Woah, Berrios gave up five runs in 4.2 innings today? Terrible start, huh? Not exactly. Through the first three innings, it was actually looking like Berrios was on his way to another tremendous outing. With one out in the fourth, Jean Segura singled on what was basically a swinging bunt and advanced to second on a throwing error by Miguel Sano. Robinson Cano drove in Segura on a single. Berrios got the next batter to pop out, but fell behind Kyle Seager. Jose made his only big mistake of the game, letting a 93 mph fastball get a bit too much of the plate, and Seager did not miss. He blasted a homer to put the Mariners up 3-0. The next inning, Ichiro got a solid single and catcher Mike Marjama doubled. They both came in to score on a ball Dee Gordon hit 62.5 mph that trickled passed a drawn in infield. The hit probability was just 11 percent, but it put the M’s up 5-0. At the end of the day, Berrios had seven strikeouts and zero walks. Things are typically going to work out very well when that happens. Oh, and he made this gorgeous play on an Ichiro bunt: Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen47.png Next Three Games Sun vs. SEA 1:10 pm CT Mon vs. HOU 7:10 pm CT Tue vs. HOU 7:10 pm CT Last Three Games MIN 4, SEA 2: Bombs and Bullpen MIN 7, PIT 3: Rosario Sparks Comeback, Inspires Some Head-Scratching PIT 5, MIN 4: Lynn Surrenders Grand Slam in Twins Debut More From Twins Daily Twins vs Mariners Series Preview Jason Castro and a Cup of Coffee Blackmon's Deal With Rockies Sets Precedent For Dozier Click here to view the article

Thanks for Fansplaining that one to all of us.

Yes, but the weird early-season schedule allows for stuff like that to happen. I have some concerns about how the bullpen has been managed thus far. I'm going to try and discuss those on a live stream via Twitter tonight.

Kyle Gibson Yesterday: three swinging strikes on 80 pitches (3.75%), average exit velocity of 81.4 mph. First start: 16 swinging strikes on 102 pitches (15.7%), average exit velocity of 77.1 mph. No reason for panic or anything, but he was certainly less impressive this time around. He did a great job pitching his way out of jams, in particular against Robinson Cano. Not only was he 0-for-3 with a strikeout against Gibby, but Cano also left five men on base in those PAs.

All over the place. The Quad Cities broadcast doesn't show the gun ... or any other graphics at all. A lot of the minor league broadcasts are very rudimentary. But, his changeup was outstanding. Being a lefty, that's obviously going to be a huge pitch for him. But he was also really wild. Three walks, two wild pitches and I counted three run-saving blocks by Rortvedt that inning when there was a runner on third.

There's already been a really good "Race and Rosario" discussion going on in The Sports Bar, let's keep it over there. http://twinsdaily.com/topic/29199-race-and-rosario/

The Twins hit three more home runs, including the first of Mitch Garver’s career, and the bullpen delivered 4.2 shutout innings of one-hit ball to help lift Minnesota to victory on the home opener. It was a day of firsts, as Zach Duke earned his first win as a Twin and Fernando Rodney recorded his first save with the club.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Download attachment: Snapshot45.png James Paxton figured to be a tough draw for the Twins today. He was among the best pitchers in baseball last season, though his season went somewhat underappreciated because he missed some time. Here are the 2017 leaders in FIP, minimum 130 innings pitched: 2.45 Chris Sale 2.50 Corey Kluber 2.61 Paxton 2.71 Stephen Strasburg 2.90 Max Scherzer We learned during the pregame ceremonies that Paxton is also a pretty cool customer. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen45.png Next Three Games Sat vs. SEA, 1:10 pm CT Sun vs. SEA, 1:10 pm CT Mon vs. HOU, 7:10 pm CT Last Three Games MIN 7, PIT 3: Rosario Sparks Comeback, Inspires Some Head-Scratching PIT 5, MIN 4: Lynn Surrenders Grand Slam in Twins Debut MIN 7, BAL 0: Berri0s More From Twins Daily Twins vs Mariners Series Preview Talented Lookouts Eye Repeat In Southern League Blackmon's Deal With Rockies Sets Precedent For Dozier Click here to view the article

Looks like it's supposed to be 37 degrees and mostly cloudy at first pitch with only 7 mph winds, though the gusts tend to really swirl inside Target Field. Not ideal baseball weather, but I'd suspect the players will be more comfortable than they were last night in Pittsburgh.

That was definitely not intentional. In a postgame interview on FSN (available on their Twitter, but I don't have the ability to post a link right now), Sano admitted to running through the stop sign. He also said "People say I'm fat, but I'm not. I'm quick." I like that

I don't expect him to hustle to first on that play, but even if he was at the very least "dogging" it, he's probably safe. Any effort toward first base would have been nice, even if it was merely at a Miguel Sano homer trot pace.

This was one of those Eddie Rosario adventure games. You know the ones. Rosie can do it all on the diamond, and he played a big role in the Twins picking up a win tonight. But, he does stuff on a regular basis that leaves you scratching your head, which also happened tonight.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Download attachment: Snapshot44.png With the Twins trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth, Rosario made a great throw to gun down Gregory Polanco at the plate. It was a huge momentum-shifting play in this game. Who knows what may have happened if the Pirates both extended their lead and extended that inning. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen44.png Next Three Games THU vs. SEA, 3:10 pm CT SAT vs. SEA, 1:10 pm CT SUN vs. SEA, 1:10 pm CT Last Three Games PIT 5, MIN 4: Lynn Surrenders Grand Slam in Twins Debut MIN 7, BAL 0: Berri0s MIN 6, BAL 2: Good Gibby Rides Again! More From Twins Daily Blackmon's Deal With Rockies Sets Precedent For Dozier Cold Front: Breaking Down The First Twins Homestand Win A Party With New Twin Logan Morrison Click here to view the article