Tom Froemming

While there was a full slate of games scheduled to be played today, Mother Nature saw to it that only two of the games actually were to be played. Despite this unfortunate circumstance, I’ll take you through both of the games that actually were played this Saturday.TRANSACTIONS -RHP Tanner Howell promoted from Rookie Ball Elizabethton to A+ Fort Myers -RHP Kohl Stewart activated at AAA after being optioned on 4/25 -RHP D.J. Baxendale placed on the injured list at AAA with a left ankle sprain RED WINGS REPORT Postponed, game to be made up as a doubleheader on May 24th. There is more regarding the Red Wings, however. They were recently featured on ESPN for their upcoming “Deaf Culture Day” at the ballpark. The video clip of the segment can be found below: BLUE WAHOO BITES Pensacola 4, Jackson 3 Box Score Brusdar Graterol: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 64% strikes (57 of 89 pitches) HR: Caleb Hamilton (2) Multi-hit games: Luis Arraez (2-for-4, R, 2 RBI), Caleb Hamilton (2-for-3, 2 R, RBI) The Twins top pitching prospect, Brusdar Graterol, had a solid start for the Blue Wahoos as he went 5 innings with just two runs given up. Although knowing how well the Blue Wahoos starters have done so far this year, this may have actually raised their average starting ERA, which is no slight toward Graterol. Actually, let me self-promote some of the numbers I dug up the other day regarding a few of their starters: KERNELS NUGGETS Postponed, game to be made up as a doubleheader tomorrow. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Charlie Barnes Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Luis Arraez PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #1 - Royce Lewis (Ft. Myers) - 2-for-5, RBI #2 - Alex Kirilloff (Pensacola) - Injured list #3 - Brusdar Graterol (Pensacola) - 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K #4 - Trevor Larnach (Ft. Myers) - 1-for-5, RBI, 2 K #5 - Wander Javier (EST) - Season has not started #6 - Brent Rooker (Rochester) - Postponed #7 - Jhoan Duran (Ft. Myers) - Did not pitch #8 - Lewis Thorpe (Rochester) - Postponed #9 - Blayne Enlow (Cedar Rapids) - Postponed #10 - Akil Baddoo (Ft. Myers) - 2-for-5, 2B, 3B, R, 3 K #11 - Nick Gordon (Rochester) - Injured list #12 - Stephen Gonsalves (Rochester) - Injured list #13 - Ryan Jeffers (Ft. Myers) - 2-for-4, R, 2 K #14 - Ben Rortvedt (Ft. Myers) - 1-for-3, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, BB, K #15 - Yunior Severino (Cedar Rapids) - Injured list #16 - Gilberto Celestino (Cedar Rapids) - Postponed #17 - Zack Littell (Rochester) - Postponed #18 - LaMonte Wade (Rochester) - Postponed #19 - Jorge Alcala (Pensacola) - Did not pitch #20 - Jose Miranda (Ft. Myers) - 2-for-5, R, RBI SUNDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Pawtucket @ Rochester (12:05 P.M.) - LHP Justin Nicolino Pensacola @ Jackson (2:05 P.M.) - LHP Devin Smeltzer Palm Beach @ Fort Myers (12:00 P.M.) - RHP Randy Dobnak Cedar Rapids @ Kane County (G1) (1:00 P.M.) - RHP Cole Sands Cedar Rapids @ Kane County (G2) (~30 minutes after G1) - RHP Josh Winder Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss Saturday’s games. Click here to view the article

Jose Berrios turned in a quality start and the Twins lineup tallied nine more runs. The Twins hit five more home runs this afternoon, giving them 47 already through just 24 games. Last season, they had 26 homers through this same number of games.Box Score Berrios: 6.0 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, 69.3% strikes (70 of 101 pitches) Home Runs: Cron (5), Kepler 2 (6), Gonzalez (2), Castro (2) Multi-Hit Games: Kepler (2-for-4, 2 HR), Cruz (2-for-4, 2B), Cron (2-for-4, HR) WPA of +0.1: Cron .254, Cruz .131 WPA of -0.1: Schoop -.149 Download attachment: Win427.png (chart via FanGraphs) Berrios appeared to have a hard time commanding pretty much anything but his four-seam fastball today. He had been using his curveball 37.6% of the time coming into today, but went to that pitch less than half as often, just 17 times among his 101 pitches. We saw more changeups than usual, but Berrios seemed to be using that more as a show-me pitch. Coming into today, the most he had thrown that pitch in any outing was 13 times. This afternoon, Jose went to the change 23 times. Here’s the location on those pitches: Download attachment: BerriosChange.png There were a lot more uncompetitive pitches than we’ve seen from Berrios in any start so far this season, but he and Jason Castro made it work. Berrios entered this game with a very strong 66.2 strike percentage, which would represent a career high. He pounded the zone even harder today, throwing nearly 70% of his pitches for strikes. Even though the changeup wasn’t exactly there, it still helped on an afternoon in which Berrios was forced to feature the four-seamer. He struck out eight, did not walk a batter and still got 13 swinging strikes. I think we’re seeing an evolution in 2019. Berrios appears to be a guy who’s learning to make adjustments on the fly and how to properly shift the game plan when something isn’t there. That should go a long way toward him becoming a little less streaky. Despite the quality start, Berrios exited this game with the Twins trailing 2-1. In the bottom of the sixth, however, C.J. Cron ripped a two-run homer 113.4 mph to put the Twins on top. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen427.png Next Three Games Sun vs. BAL, 1:10 pm CT (Gibson-Bundy) Mon vs. HOU, 6:40 pm CT (TBD) Tue vs. HOUT, 6:40 pm CT (TBD) Last Game MIN 6, BAL 1: Sticking to the Formula Click here to view the article

This is the formula. Score early, hit dingers and keep the pressure off the pitching staff. If the Twins do this on a regular basis it’s going to be a very good summer. Nelson Cruz, Eddie Rosario and C.J. Cron hit consecutive home runs in the first inning and Martin Perez had his cutter working, making for a low-stress evening at Target Field.Box Score Perez: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 66.7% strikes (64 of 96 pitches) Home Runs: Cruz 2 (5), Rosario (11), Cron (4), Kepler (4) Multi-Hit Games: Cruz (3-for-4, 2 HR), Kepler (2-for-4, HR) WPA of +0.1: Perez .203, Cruz .133 WPA of -0.1: None Download attachment: Win426.png (chart via FanGraphs) Mike Petriello of MLB.com wrote about pitchers who’ve added new weapons to their repertoire this season. He noted that Martin Perez’s new cutter has only yielded one hit so far in 110 offerings, a single. Perez really featured that pitch tonight, throwing it nearly half the time. He got eight swinging strikes on that offering, and the nine cutters Baltimore put in play only had an average exit velocity of 78 mph. Much was made of Perez’s increased velocity this spring, and his four-seam fastball did top out at 96 mph tonight, but it’s that 87-88 mph cutter that’s really making the difference for Perez. Here’s a full look at the info from Baseball Savant: Download attachment: MartinPerezChart.png After looking shaky in his early work out of the bullpen, Perez has been much better in his three starts. He’s given up six earned runs over 18 innings (3.00 ERA), has 11 strikeouts and, maybe most encouraging, just three walks. Having a lead makes it much easier to pitch, of course. It was good the Twins were launching balls into the seats, because they went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position tonight. Elite firepower can make up for a lot of shortcomings elsewhere. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen426.png Next Three Games Sat vs. BAL, 1:10 pm CT (Berrios-Straily) Sun vs. BAL, 1:10 pm CT (Gibson-Bundy) Mon vs. HOU, 6:40 pm CT (TBD) Last Game HOU 7, MIN 1: Foregone Conclusion Click here to view the article

Bailey Ober pitched six more scoreless innings tonight for Fort Myers, keeping his ERA at a perfect 0.00 through 24 frames so far this season. Jordan Balazovic also impressed, once again, for Cedar Rapids. Come check out what else happened down on the farm Friday.TRANSACTIONS Matt Magill was activated from his rehab assignment and has joined the Twins. In 5 1/3 innings with Rochester, he had eight strikeouts and only gave up one run on two hits and a walk. Left-handed pitcher Daniel Camerena was transferred from Rochester to Pensacola. RED WINGS REPORT Pawtucket 17, Rochester 5 Box Score Chase De Jong: 0.1 IP, 4 H, 7 ER, 3 BB, 0 K, 51.5% strikes (17 of 33 pitches) HR: Zander Wiel (5), Tomas Telis (3) Multi-hit games: Telis (3-for-4, HR, RBI, 2 R), Wiel (2-for-4, 3B, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R), LaMonte Wade (2-for-4) Chase De Jong could use a hug. After being outrighted off the Twins’ 40-man roster earlier in the day, De Jong got rocked in his start Friday evening. He gave up seven runs, all earned, while recording just one out. And if you see Ryan Eades, offer him a warm embrace as well. Eades was the first man out of the pen. He gave up seven more runs over an inning and a third. The Red Wings were trailing 16-0 after the top of the second inning. Ouch. Catcher Tomas Telis, who signed as a minor league free agent this winter, had a three-hit game highlighted by his third home run. He’s hitting .325 with a .989 OPS so far this season. Zander Wiel had a triple and his fifth home run. Tyler Duffey struck out four in 2 2/3 scoreless innings in his return to Triple A. Andrew Vasquez and Austin Adams each turned in a pair of scoreless innings. Brent Rooker was out in left field for the first two innings of this game, but when his spot in the lineup came up in the bottom of the second he was removed from the game. I’ll try to circle back and see if I can find more details as to why once the Twins game is over/recap is all done. UPDATE: It's believed that Rooker may have aggravated a hamstring injury that had kept him out of a few games earlier, but nothing official. BLUE WAHOO BITES Jackson 12, Pensacola 7 Box Score Jorge Alcala: 3.0 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 57.1% strikes (40 of 70 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games: Jaylin Davis (4-for-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI, 2 R), Luis Arraez (2-for-4, BB, RBI, R), Tanner English (2-for-4, 2B, 3B, 2 R), Drew Maggi (2-for-4, 2B, 2 R) Jorge Alcala made such a good first impression in 2019, heading into this start 4-0 with an excellent 1.02 WHIP and eye-popping 8.33 K:BB ratio, but everything took a turn for the worse tonight. The Blue Wahoos jumped out to a 3-0 lead but Alcala couldn’t take advantage. He gave up three runs in the third inning then two more in the fourth before even recording an out that inning. He was his own worst enemy. Alcala walked three batters, hit another, was called for a balk and committed a fielding error. I feel like that has to be some sort of pitcher’s nightmare bingo or something. Tyler Jay allowed two runners he inherited from Alcala to score and it appeared the rout was on. Jackson opened up a 9-3 lead, but Pensacola would not go down quietly. They rallied back to pull within two runs, but the Generals responded with a three-run inning of their own. Jaylin Davis had a big night, going 4-for-5, and is now hitting .351 with a .962 OPS on the season. Travis Blankenhorn started at second base and went 1-for-4 with an RBI single in his Double-A debut. MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 4, Palm Beach 3 Box Score Bailey Ober: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 74.0% strikes (54 of 73 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games: Akil Baddoo (3-for-5), Ryan Jeffers (2-for-5, 2B), Michael Helman (2-for-4) What an incredible way to open a season. With six more scoreless innings, Ober is now up to 24 innings and he has yet to give up an earned run. He struck out five batters and walked one tonight, putting him up to 26 strikeouts against just three walks on the season. Runs have been incredibly tough to come by for Fort Myers, as they’ve scored just 19 runs over their past nine games. The Miracle scored all four of their runs in the fourth inning. Ryan Jeffers got things started with a leadoff double, Michael Helman drove him in on a single and a Ryan Costello hit-by-pitch followed by an Aaron Whitefield walk loaded the bases with no outs. Mark Contreras came up and grounded out to first base, but a throwing error on the double-play attempt allowed two more runs to score. To top it off, an errant pickoff attempt allowed Whitefield to score. So not exactly an offensive explosion that inning, but this team will take any runs it can get. Johan Quezada gave up a two-run homer in the eighth and Tom Hackimer walked the bases loaded to open the ninth, but the Miracle turned a double play. The runner at third successfully tagged up to score on a fly to left field, but the trail runner was thrown out trying to advance to third on a relay from Contreras to Jeffers to third baseman Jose Miranda. Hackimer was ejected before he could finish wiggling out of his own jam. Hector Lujan was pressed into action and struck out the only batter he faced to end the game. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 6, Kane County 2 Box Score Jordan Balazovic: 6.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 67.1% strikes (55 of 82 pitches) HR: Joe Cronin (1) Multi-hit games: Cronin (3-for-4, 2B, 3B, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R), Gabe Snyder (2-for-4, 2B, R) This was Jordan Balazovic’s fourth start of the season. He’s given up no more than four hits, two runs and has had at least seven strikeouts in all four. He surrendered his first home run of the season tonight, but that was the only earned run he gave up in his six innings. Balazovic has now struck out 33 batters and walked just four in his 20 2/3 innings (8.25 K:BB ratio). Balazovic exited this game with the Kernels trailing 2-0, but a Joe Cronin two-run homer evened things up in the seventh. Cedar Rapids added three more runs in the eighth, thanks to a Gilberto Celestino RBI double and a David Banuelos two-run single. Cronin was a hit shy of the cycle, and it's not the one you're probably thinking. He was 3-for-4 with a double, a triple and that home run. It's not often you see a guy fall a single short of a cycle. Jacob Blank pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings of relief and Joe Record was perfect over the final 1 1/3 frames to earn his fourth save. Record has a 0.00 ERA, 13 strikeouts and just one walk in six innings so far. He was drafted in the 28th round back in 2017, but he had elbow and knee injuries that prevented him from making his pro debut until this year. He appears intent on making up for lost time. STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Bailey Ober, Fort Myers Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Joe Cronin, Cedar Rapids TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed 1. Royce Lewis (FM): 1-for-5, 2 K 4. Trevor Larnach (FM): 0-for-4, BB, 2 K 6. Brent Rooker (ROC): Removed in the second inning prior to his plate appearance. 10. Akil Baddoo (FM): 3-for-5, SB 13. Ryan Jeffers (FM): 2-for-5, 2B, R 16. Gilberto Celestino (CR): 1-for-4, 2B, BB, RBI, R, 2 K 18. LaMonte Wade (ROC): 2-for-4, BB, K 19. Jorge Alcala (PNS): 3.0 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 4 K 20. Jose Miranda (FM): 0-for-1, BB SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester vs. Pawtucket, 12:05 pm CT (TBD) Pensacola at Jackson, 6:05 pm CT, (Brusdar Graterol) Fort Myers vs. Palm Beach, 5 pm CT (Charlie Barnes) Cedar Rapids at Kane County, 1 pm CT (Cole Sands) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games. Click here to view the article

Kohl Stewart vs. Justin Verlander. C’mon, what did you realistically expect? The Twins dropped the rubber game of their three-game series at Houston, but it was a postponement during their series at Baltimore that set in motion the events that led to Stewart being needed for a cameo. Not that the Verlander-led Astros are ever easy to beat, but tonight was a complete mismatch.Box Score Stewart: 6.0 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, 57.1% strikes (60 of 105 pitches) Home Runs: Polanco (5) Multi-Hit Games: None WPA of +0.1: None WPA of -0.1: Stewart -.267 Download attachment: Win424.png (chart via FanGraphs) The Astros are really good. They can make even good pitchers look pretty bad. But when you leave as many pitches over the meat of the plate as Stewart did tonight, well, you’re just making it way too easy for them. Here’s the location on all of Houston’s hits off Stewart: Download attachment: Stewart.png Again, facing the Astros is a very tough assignment, but Stewart also had a difficult time throwing strikes. He walked three batters, threw a pair of wild pitches and his strike percentage was just 57.1. While falling behind got him into some other trouble, it is ironic that both the homers Stewart surrendered (a solo shot to Carlos Correa and a two-run homer to Michael Brantley) were on the first pitch of an at bat. On the positive side, at least Stewart managed to pitch sixth innings and the Twins won’t need to rely on him again in the foreseeable future. Stewart was optioned back to Rochester at the end of this game. No offense intended, there still seems to be some untapped potential in Stewart, but he wasn’t even pitching very well down in the minors. It would be nice to see him get on a roll down in Triple A prior to his next opportunity with the Twins. Speaking of guys who hadn’t exactly been lighting it up in Triple A, Fernando Romero came in to pitch the final two innings of this game. He pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning, but gave up a two-run homer to Josh Reddick in the eighth. Romero struck out a pair of batters and threw four pitches in excess of 98 mph, so there certainly seems to be something there. Again, considering the Twins pinned Stewart against Verlander, it shouldn’t really be any surprise they lost this game. I’m not saying they should have moved anyone else up to start this game, it just is what it is. Verlander was his usual excellent self, holding the Twins to one run on four hits over eight innings while striking out eight. Rocco Baldelli decided to give a couple of his regulars the day off against a tough right-hander, though Verlander has never had big platoon splits. Both Byron Buxton and Jonathan Schoop came into tonight with a six-game hitting streak, yet both were on the bench even with an offday on the schedule tomorrow. Willians Astudillo made his first MLB start in the outfield, filling in out in right field while Max Kepler swung over to center. I thought it was interesting that was the call as opposed to putting Willians at third base and having Marwin Gonzalez play right. Now that Jake Cave has been sent down, the Twins are really going to need to lean on their versatility. Marwin has played all but four innings at third base this season and has yet to appear in the outfield. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen424.png Next Three Games Thu OFF Fri vs. BAL, 7:10 pm CT (Perez-Cobb) Sat vs. BAL, 1:10 pm CT (Berrios-Straily) Sun vs. BAL, 1:10 pm CT (Gibson-Bundy) Last Game HOU 10, MIN 4: Springer and Bregman and Altuve... Oh My! Click here to view the article

Audra Martin reported late in the game on FSN that Blake Parker had told her he was good to go today.

Kyle Gibson delivered his first quality start of the year, Trevor Hildenberger stranded two more inherited runners and Taylor Rogers worked around an error to pick up his third save of the season as the Twins finished off a sweep at Baltimore. The O's nearly scored the game-tying run in the bottom of the ninth, but Eddie Rosario made an excellent play to cut down a ball and relay it into the infield.Box Score Gibson: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 61.8% strikes (55 of 89 pitches) Home Runs: None Multi-Hit Games: Cron (2-for-3, BB), Adrianza (2-for-4) WPA of +0.1: Hildenberger .340, Gibson .168, Cron .112 WPA of -0.1: Rosario -.108, May -.165 Download attachment: Win421.png (chart via FanGraphs) Kyle Gibson had by far his best start of the season this afternoon, completing six innings for the first time in 2019. It took him only 89 pitches to do so. He got 14 swinging strikes, five alone on the 19 sliders he threw. Gibson completed at least five innings in 29 of his 32 starts last season, going at least six innings in 21 of those outings. In three starts so far this season, Gibby had topped out at 5 1/3 innings and only completed five frames once. Things got a bit hairy in the third inning, but Kyle worked his way through it and got back on track. The Orioles scored a pair of two-out runs in the third, but would only get one more baserunner over Gibson’s final three innings. It seemed like the Twins used up all their power yesterday. Maybe should have saved one or two of those homers for this afternoon. They did all their scoring in the first four innings. Willians Astudillo and C.J. Cron had run-scoring hits in the first inning and Jake Cave had an RBI single in the third. Byron Buxton led off that fourth inning with yet another double. He advanced to third on a sacrifice fly and came around to score on another sacrifice. We saw Taylor Rogers cover two innings in his outing during the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader and today Trevor May, the first man out of the bullpen, came back out for the eighth after pitching a scoreless seventh inning. May gave up back-to-back singles and Trevor Hildenberger was summoned from the bullpen. Hildy came into today having inherited 17 runners already this season, three more than any other reliever in baseball. Hildenberger got a huge strikeout, then induced a weak groundout to first base. He had a good battle with Renato Nunez, but ended up walking him to load the bases. That’s when you knew Hildy had them right where he wanted them. He had already faced seven batters with the bases loaded this season. Sure enough, he got a weak swinging bunt to end the threat. It’s pretty remarkable how good Hildenberger has been so far this season after looking so lost in the second half of last season. The bullpen could still use some help, but Hildenberger’s continued resurgence would be a massive boost. Speaking of Rogers, he came in to handle the ninth. It wasn’t his usual automatic inning. He hit a batter, gave up a pair of hits and an error was committed behind him. The Orioles scored a run, and might have had another if it wasn’t for an excellent play in the field. Eddie Rosario did it all in this series. He hit three home runs and robbed the O’s of another one in the field during yesterday’s doubleheader. He was 0-for-5 at the plate today, but he prevented the game-tying run from scoring by cutting off a ball before it reached the fence and getting it back to the infield in time to keep a runner at third base. With this sweep, the Twins are now 12-7. That’s a 102-win pace. Sure, there are some clouds lingering around the future sustainability of this success, as there are with any team this early in the season, but an impressive showing against the Astros would go a long way toward blowing those clouds away. The Twins head to Houston with a 7-3 record on the road and a 4-4 record against teams with winning records. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen421.png Next Three Games Mon at HOU, 7:10 pm CT (Odorizzi-Peacock) Tue at HOU, 7:10 pm CT (Pineda-Miley) Wed at HOU, 7:10 pm CT (TBD-Verlander) Last Game Super Rosario Stars as Twins Sweep Doubleheader Click here to view the article

Have to work with what's available.

It was only a matter of time before we saw this offense really take off. The Twins scored six runs in the first game and 16 more in the second leg of the doubleheader in Baltimore tonight. Eddie Rosario hit three home runs on the day, giving him nine on the season already.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 Download attachment: 420WinG1.png (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. 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: Download attachment: Bullpen420.png 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 Click here to view the article

AJ!

I tend to lean on the side of letting guys be athletic and do what feels natural to them, but I do think Royce is going to need to ditch the gigantic leg kick sooner or later.

Four starting pitchers went at least five innings and gave up one or no earned runs, there were seven home runs hit — including a walk-off from Michael Helman — and Twins affiliates went 4-1. Come check out the details on what went down across the minor league system Friday night.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. 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. Click here to view the article

This killed me. I am now dead.

After three encouraging starts to open the season, Michael Pineda was pounded in his fourth start today. He gave up as many runs in the fourth inning as he had all season prior to today. Eddie Rosario provided some pop, hitting his fifth and sixth home runs of the season, but it wasn’t enough.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 Download attachment: Win418.png (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: Download attachment: Bullpen418.png 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 Click here to view the article

WPA is all about context. FanGraphs has a nice write up of it in their Sabermetrics Library if you're interested in learning more. Here's another link if you want to go really deep. I think it's a pretty good snapshot stat more often than not for individual games like this, but it most definitely has it's weaknesses.

It’s amazing how much easier things seem when you get an early lead. Toronto scored a run in the top of the first, but the Twins answered with two runs of their own and never looked back. Jake Odorizzi picked up his first win of the year after holding the Blue Jays to one run over 5 2/3 innings and the bullpen got back on track.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 Download attachment: Win417.png (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 Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen417.png 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 Click here to view the article