Tom Froemming

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

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

Box Score Berrios: 6.2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 67.3% strikes Home Runs: Cron (1), Rosario (3) Multi-Hit Games: Rosario (3-for-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 R), Polanco (2-for-4), Cruz (2-for-4, R), Garver (2-for-3, 2 2B, BB, R), Buxton (2-for-4, 2B, RBI) WPA of +0.1: Hildenberger .283, Rogers .172, Cron .153, Berrios .142, Rosario .131, Buxton .103 WPA of -0.1: Schoop -.111, May -.175, Parker -.204 (chart via FanGraphs) Berrios pitched to Jason Castro in all three of his previous starts coming into today. That combo seemed to make a lot of sense, as Berrios entered today’s game with a 4.56 ERA in 71 innings pitched to Garver, a full run higher than his ERA with Castro (he’s only pitched 18 2/3 innings to Willians Astudillo). The Berrios-Garver duo got off to a bit of a rocky start, but there was no harm done. It took Berrios 27 pitches to get through the first inning, but the Tigers were held scoreless. They weren’t as lucky in the second, as Berrios gave up a double to Ronny Rodriguez, then a two-run homer to Gordon Beckham. Regardless of any pitch calling or receiving elements, Berrios just didn’t look especially sharp early on after having six days off. His command of his offspeed pitches was nowhere near as good as it had been in his previous starts so far this season. He had been using his curveball a ton, increasing his usage of that offering from 30.4% last year to 42.9% so far this year, but that pitch wasn’t worthy of being featured as such today. That lack of command didn’t show up in the box score, as his control was good enough to where he only walked one batter and hit another, but he was not spotting those offspeed pitches. But they figured it out. Berrios (and Garver) decreased the dependency on that curveball and instead went to more sinkers today. Jose had been throwing that pitch 16.4% of the time so far this year, but threw the sinker 26 times today among his 98 pitches. The result seemed to be that Berrios’ four-seam fastball really played up. Berrios got 14 swinging strikes, nine of which came on the four-seamer. That’s very unusual, as Berrios typically gets a much higher percentage of swings and misses on his offspeed offerings. Berrios didn’t get a single swinging strike on a four-seam fastball in his last start against the Phillies, he got just one in his start before that at Kansas City and three on Opening Day against Cleveland. Add it all up, and Berrios had just four swinging strikes on 87 four-seam fastballs heading into today (4.6%). He had nine on just 35 four-seamers this afternoon (25.7%). Assessing what’s working, what isn’t and making proper adjustments is typically a collaboration between the pitcher and the catcher. You may have some input from coaches between innings, but all the adjustments made on the fly are between those two guys on the field. It’s still very much worth monitoring how Berrios and Garver work together going forward, as I think we all expect those two to be playing together for quite some time, but it was a very encouraging afternoon. Below you can see all the balls and called strikes for Berrios. We’ve had some fun analyzing and discussing these charts, which come from MLB’s StatCast data via Baseball Savant. It’s sort of like a work of art in that not everyone will see the same thing, and I always like to point out the top and bottom of the strike zone isn’t the same for every batter, but to my eyes Garver had a very good afternoon, especially by his standards. He also smothered several balls in the dirt with runners on in the eighth and ninth innings. Garver was a force at the plate once again, something you’d have to figure the pitching staff also appreciates. He was 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles and a walk. That puts him up to 11-for-22 on the season with three home runs and three doubles. Garver, C.J. Cron and Byron Buxton all hit two balls in excess of 105 mph. Altogether, the Twins combined for nine balls hit at a 105 mph exit velocity or harder. Cron’s first homer as a Twin was an absolute laser beam. https://twitter.com/Twins/status/1117511571100585984 The Twins also played excellent defense today. Jorge Polanco made a web gem and Cron had several beautiful scoops, but nothing beats this great catch made by Buxton as he crashed into the wall. https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1117503923898609664 The Twins led 6-2 heading into the eighth inning, but things got a little hairy with the bullpen. Trevor May ran into trouble, the Tigers managed to score two runs in the eighth, but Taylor Rogers ended up pitching out of a jam, leaving the bases loaded. Blake Parker came out for the ninth to attempt to record his fourth save as a Twin. He had a bit of an adventure in picking up the save on Saturday and his career ERA on zero days rest is 5.18, so there was plenty of reason for anxiety. Parker gave up a leadoff infield single on a hot grounder Polanco couldn’t quite handle. Parker walked the next batter, putting the game-tying run on base with no outs for Miguel Cabrera. Anxiety level rising. Parker fell behind Cabrera 3-1 — teetering on a panic attack now — but battled back to strike him out. A nine-pitch battle with Christin Stewart followed, Parker walked him and was done for the day after needing 29 pitches to record one out. Trevor Hildenberger came in and struck out the next two batters to strand the bases loaded and earn his first save of the season, the ninth of his career. After inheriting 25 runners in 73 appearances last year, Hildenberger has already inherited 14 runners in just eight games this season. His resurgence has been invaluable to the Twins’ bullpen thus far. 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 Mon vs. TOR, 6:40 pm CT (Perez-Shoemaker) Tue vs. TOR, 6:40 pm CT (Gibson-Sanchez) Wed vs. TOR, 6:40 pm CT (Odorizzi-Thornton) Last Game MIN 4, DET 3: Bats Quiet, Bullpen Hangs On

Box Score Pineda: 6.0 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 76.0% strikes (73 of 96 pitches) Home Runs: None Multi-Hit Games: Rosario (2-for-4, 2 RBI) WPA of +0.1: Parker .170, Buxton .132, Rogers .124, Kepler .101 WPA of -0.1: Cron -.140 (chart via FanGraphs) At first glance this doesn’t appear to be all that bad of an offensive performance, but the Twins got their four runs on just five hits, all of them singles. The Twins had an excellent scoring chance in the bottom of the seventh, but let it slip through their fingers. The Tigers walked the first three batters of the inning, but Jorge Polanco and Nelson Cruz both struck out and Eddie Rosario flew out to center field. Not that the Tigers exactly impressed, either. Again, with game time temperatures just above freezing, this was not a great day to hit. In the top of the third inning, Pineda induced what appeared to be a double-play ball, but it ricocheted off the second-base umpire for what was scored a single. That loaded the bases with no outs, and Detroit was able to capitalize by scoring two runs that inning. Luckily, the lineup had Pinada’s back. The Twins answered in the bottom of the third, scoring all four of their runs on the day without the benefit of an extra-base hit. Rosario provided the big hit, a two-run single. https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1117150139401916416 That inning ended with Rosario trying to trail Cruz as they both attempted to advance bases on a fly out to center. I’m guessing Eddie assumed Cruz would draw a throw to third base. Instead, Rosario was thrown out at second to end the inning. Luck continued to trend in the Twins’ direction in the top of the fourth, as Pineda had an eight-pitch inning thanks to a line-drive double play. Pineda was going right after Tigers hitters, and after striking out five more batters while not issuing a walk today, he has an incredible 7.50 strikeout to walk ratio (15 Ks, 2 BBs). Trevor Hildenberger was the first man out of the bullpen, taking over a clean inning for a change. He’s already inherited 11 runners this season, allowing three of them to score (27%). In all of last season, he only inherited 25 runners, 14 of which scored (56%). Hildy delivered a scoreless inning, Taylor Rogers pitched a scoreless eighth inning and Blake Parker came in for the ninth. Parker put the tying run on with a one-out walk and allowed that runner to advance into scoring position due to a wild pitch. But just when it looked like things were slipping away, Parker struck out the next two batters to earn the save. Jorge Polanco had a single and a sacrifice fly at the plate, and also made a great diving catch to end the first inning. https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1117130688052858880 Marwin Gonzalez was 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts. His passive approach has paid off the past couple seasons, but it seems to be working against him so far this year. He took seven strikes today and was called out looking both times. I talked a bit (very briskly) about Marwin’s approach yesterday evening. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1116862725458726912 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 vs. DET, 1:10 pm CT (Berrios-Zimmerman) Mon vs. TOR, 6:40 pm CT (Perez-Shoemaker) Tue vs. TOR, 6:40 pm CT (Gibson-Sanchez) Last Game NYM 9, MIN 6: Forever of a 5th Inning

TRANSACTIONS Yunior Severino was placed on the injured list with a left thumb fracture. Taking his spot on the Cedar Rapids roster is infielder Yeltsin Encarnacion. Also, Tanner English was activated from the Pensacola Injured List and RHP Jeff Ames was placed on the IL. RED WINGS REPORT Lehigh Valley 3, Rochester 0 Box Score Zack Littell: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, 61.6% strikes (53 of 86 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games: None I put Littell’s line above, but it was actually Mike Morin who was the opener tonight. He pitched a clean inning before Littell took over. Tyler Duffey struck out five batters in his two innings of relief and Jake Reed also pitched a shutout inning, but none of that matters much when you can’t score any runs. The Red Wings mustered just two hits, a John Andreoli double and a single from LaMonte Wade. Their best scoring chance came in the seventh inning. After Wade’s single, Luke Raley drew a walk, putting a runner in scoring position with one out. Unfortunately, Wynston Sawyer grounded into an inning-ending double play. BLUE WAHOO BITES Pensacola 2, Jacksonville 0 Box Score Devin Smeltzer: 8.1 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, 76.5% strikes (65 of 85 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games: None Wow. Devin Smeltzer carried a shutout into the ninth inning tonight in an outing that followed an impressive 2019 season debut for Smeltzer. He’s now pitched 14 scoreless innings, has 17 strikeouts and has allowed just five hits and two walks. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1116906793584812037 Smeltzer was absolutely pounding the strike zone tonight, and needed just 85 pitches to complete 8 1/3 innings. Tanner English put a fun finish on Smeltzer’s night, making an outstanding diving catch to open the eighth inning. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1116877290892296192 It would have been fun to see Smeltzer try for the complete game shutout, but it is still very early in the season. He only threw 95 2/3 innings last season, as he was moved into the bullpen prior to being traded to the Twins in the deal that sent Brian Dozier to the Dodgers, so it makes sense that there would be a limit on how far he’d be allowed to go in just his second start. Cody Stashak came out of the bullpen for Pensacola and retired the only two batters he faced to secure the shutout. The Blue Wahoos scratched across runs in the first and second innings. Taylor Grzelakoski drove in a run on a groundout and English plated another on a single. There were a grand total of just seven hits in this game, all of them singles, and it took just under two hours to complete. MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 5, Clearwater 4 (12 innings) Box Score Tyler Watson: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 ER 1 BB, 5 K, 65.5% strikes (57 of 87 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games: Aaron Whitefield (2-for-5, 2B) Fort Myers trailed 1-0 heading into the top of the ninth inning, but Aaron Whitefield got things going with a lead off single, which was just Fort Myers’ second hit of the game. He advanced all the way to third base on a ground out to the second baseman, then scored on a Royce Lewis sacrifice fly. These two teams went blow-for-blow in extras. Fort Myers scratched across a run in the top of the 10th but Clearwater answered in the bottom of the inning. The Miracle took advantage of some sloppy play by the Threshers in the top of the 11th, scoring a pair of runs without the benefit of a hit. With the bonus runner on second base, the Miracle leadoff man struck out, but reached safely due to a wild pitch on strike 3. The next two batters also struck out, but then Lewis walked to load the bases and both Travis Blankenhorn and Jose Miranda walked to force in runs. At that point, Fort Myers had four runs on just two hits. So that’s gotta be it, right? Nope. Clearwater hit a leadoff two-run homer (yes, that’s right, minor league extra innings are weird) to tie the game. The Miracle managed to score another run in the top of the 12th, as Whitefield drove in Ryan Costello from third on a single. They stranded another runner at third base after two consecutive strikeouts ended the inning, setting up what seemed destined to be another answer inning. Alex Phillips took over on the mound for the Miracle and slammed the door. He snagged a comebacker and turned it into a leadoff double play (again, minor league extra innings are really weird). Phillips then induced a game-ended pop out. Tyler Watson gave up just one run over six innings and Tom Hackimer threw two more scoreless innings tonight, bringing him up to 4 2/3 clean innings so far. Hackimer has given up just one hit and has nine strikeouts. Great to see after 2018 was essentially a lost season for him. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 8, Burlington 3 Box Score Cole Sands: 4.0 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, 53.2% strikes (48 of 74 pitches) HR: Jean Carlos Arias (1), Andrew Bechtold (1), Gabe Snyder (1) Multi-hit games: None Cole Sands followed up an impressive professional debut with a rough outing in which he struggled with his command. Austin Schulfer came in and did an excellent job at stabilizing this game. He gave up just one hit over four scoreless innings and struck out five batters. Cedar Rapids took the lead in the sixth inning by drawing four (!) bases-loaded walks. They scored another run in the eighth on a three-base error followed by a sac fly. At that point, the Kernels had seven runs on just three hits. What a weird day of offense across the system. Gilberto Celestino reached base safely three times and stole a pair of bases. Jean Carlos Arias and Andrew Bechtold hit their first home runs of the season while Gabe Snyder tallied his first Midwest League home run. Arias also drove in a run on a walk and hit a sacrifice fly. https://twitter.com/natejrazz/status/1116893749643231233 DaShawn Keirsey was removed from this game after the second inning. STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Devin Smeltzer, Pensacola Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Jean Carlos Arias, Cedar Rapids TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed 1. Royce Lewis (FM): 0-for-3, 2 BB, RBI, SB (5), 2 K 6. Brent Rooker (ROC): 0-for-4, 2 K 10. Akil Baddoo (FM):0-for-6, 4 K 14. Ben Rortvedt (FM): 1-for-5, 2B, R 16. Gilberto Celestino (CR): 1-for-3, 2 BB, R, 2 SB (3), 2 K 17. Zack Littell (ROC): 5.0 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, 61.6% strikes (53 of 86 pitches) 18. LaMonte Wade (ROC): 1-for-3, BB 20. Jose Miranda (FM): 0-for-4, BB, RBI, K SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester vs. Lehigh Valley, 12:05 pm CT (Chase De Jong) Pensacola vs. Jacksonville, 6:05 pm CT (Griffin Jax) Fort Myers at Clearwater, 5:30 pm CT (Bailey Ober) Cedar Rapids vs. Burlington, 5:05 pm CT (Josh Winder) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games.

Box Score Odorizzi: 4.2 IP, 1 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, 57.7% strikes Home Runs: Garver (3) Multi-Hit Games: Kepler (2-for-4, 2B), Schoop (3-for-4, 2B) WPA of +0.1: Odorizzi .168, Kepler .126 WPA of -0.1: Astudillo -.110, Hildenberger -.120, Vasquez -.414 (chart via FanGraphs) That rough fifth inning could have actually been even worse. The Mets gifted their 14th out of the game to the Twins, as Jeff McNeil ran halfway home from third on a passed ball and then just kinda stood there for a moment. He was thrown out trying to get back to third. But the Twins could not get out of their own way. Jake Odorizzi gave up a single and walked the bases loaded prior to that McNeil baserunning gaffe. Instead of taking advantage of the miscue, Odorizzi re-loaded the bases by walking Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard. That was it for Odorizzi, as the recently recalled Andrew Vasquez came in to make his 2019 debut for the Twins. It did not go well. Vasquez hit the first batter he faced to force in a run, then walked in two more runs. Trevor Hildenberger came in … he walked in another run. Then he gave up a two-run single. Finally our good ol’ buddy Jeff McNeil came up to hit again and ended the inning by striking out. The Mets managed to scratch across six runs that inning despite recording only two hits, both of them singles. Martin Perez was the next Twins pitcher up. He gave up three more runs over the next two innings. He’s given up 11 hits and walked nine batters in 8 1/3 innings pitched this season. The lineup heated up as soon as Syndergaard was out of the game. They scored four runs in the eighth and Mitch Garver added a solo homer in the ninth. It was an ugly game, but the Twins head home having completed a winning road trip. Another positive: They don’t have to play another road game in a National League stadium until after the All-Star break. 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 vs. DET, 7:10 pm CT (Pineda-Norris) Sat vs. DET, 1:10 pm CT (Berrios-Ross) Sun vs. DET, 1:10 pm CT (TBD-Zimmermann) Last Game MIN 14, NYM 8: Beating the Best And One More Thing