Tom Froemming

Tanner English hit a first-inning grand slam in what was a crazy game that ended with a Pensacola victory, Devin Smeltzer impressed in his Triple-A debut and Ryan Jeffers had a big day in a Miracle win. Come check out what else happened across the minor league system Friday evening.TRANSACTIONS -Miguel Sano was bumped up from Fort Myers to Pensacola as he gears up to return to the Twins. He was not in the Blue Wahoos’ lineup tonight. -Jordan Balazovic was promoted to Fort Myers. He had a 2.18 ERA and 33 strikeouts in 20 2/3 innings for the Kernels. To make room, Moises Gomez was sent down to Cedar Rapids. He made one appearance with the Miracle. -Mark Contreras was promoted back up to Pensacola. He’s been a busy guy, spending his first six games with Fort Myers, moving up to Pensacola for four games, then rejoined the Miracle for seven games. -Outfielder Malique Ziegler has joined Fort Myers. He’s the player the Twins acquired from San Francisco for Tyler Austin. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester 7, Pawtucket 1 Box Score Devin Smeltzer: 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 69.8% strikes (67 of 96 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games: Zander Wiel (3-for-4), Randy Cesar (2-for-4, BB), Luke Raley (2-for-3, BB) After pitching to a 0.60 ERA in five starts for Pensacola, Devin Smeltzer was moved up to Rochester to make his Triple-A debut. Since the MLB ball is being used at the Triple-A level this season, any pitchers making the jump up have a built in excuse if they struggle right out the gates. Smeltzer didn’t need any excuses. If Smeltzer was at all nervous, it didn’t show. He looked composed on the mound and went right after hitters, throwing nearly 70% of his pitches for strikes. The funky lefty used his defense plenty, but opposing hitters struggled to square up to the ball. He gave up just one hit through the first five innings and the only run he allowed was unearned. Despite Smeltzer’s effort, the Red Wings entered the top of the ninth in a 1-1 tie. They had a big six-run ninth inning that was aided by a couple walks and a throwing error. Gabriel Moya, who had been struggling, threw a perfect inning and struck out two batters. Tyler Duffey pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning. Zander Wiel had a three-hit game, and is hitting .379 over his last seven games. BLUE WAHOO BITES Pensacola 10, Biloxi 8 Box Score Brusdar Graterol: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 55.8% strikes (43 of 77 pitches) HR: Tanner English (2), Joe Cronin (1) Multi-hit games: Luis Arraez (3-for-4, BB, SB), Ernie De La Trinidad (3-for-4, BB), Taylor Grzelakowski (2-for-5) Tanner English blasted a first-inning grand slam to put the Blue Wahoos up 5-0. That granny also knocked the opposing starting pitcher out of the game. MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 7, Palm Beach 4 Box Score Tyler Watson: 5.0 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 68.2% strikes (58 of 85) HR: Ryan Costello (3), Akil Baddoo (4) Multi-hit games: Trevor Larnach (2-for-4, 2B, BB), Trey Cabbage (2-for-5, 2B), Michael Helman (2-for-4, 2B), Ryan Jeffers (2-for-4, 2B) The Miracle jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second inning behind a Ryan Jeffers RBI double and a Ryan Costello two-run home run. Tyler Watson couldn’t get that lead to hold up, as he gave up three runs over his five innings of work, but good thing the Fort Myers lineup still had some runs in those bats. Jeffers hit a two-run single in the sixth before Akil Baddoo slugged a solo homer and Trey Cabbage added an RBI double in the seventh. Tom Hackimer and Joe Record each provided two shutout innings out of the bullpen. Hackimer struck out four more batters tonight, putting him up to 27 over just 15 1/3 innings. He’s only given up three hits and one earned run. KERNELS NUGGETS Dayton 4, Cedar Rapids 3 Box Score Blayne Enlow: 5.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, 67.0% strikes (63 of 94 pitches) HR: Chris Williams (6) Multi-hit games: Gabe Snyder (2-for-4, BB) Blayne Enlow looked a lot better than his stat line would suggest. His breaking ball was sharp, he was getting plenty of swings and misses, but he paid for a mistake. Enlow left a 1-1 pitch right in the middle of the plate and watched it sail over the fence for a two-run homer. He was also called for a pair of balks. Enlow exited with Cedar Rapids trailing 4-1. The Kernels tallied a couple of runs in the seventh inning, then mounted a rally in the ninth. Gabriel Maciel led off the inning with a single, then Gabe Snyder walked. Chris Williams struck out one pitch after hitting a laser just foul. Jacob Pearson then flew out, bringing DaShawn Keirsey to the plate. During the plate appearance, yet another balk was called, the third of the game. That brought the tying run to third base and pushed the winning run into scoring position. Keirsey struck out on a checked swing to end the game. STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Devin Smeltzer, Rochester Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Tanner English, Pensacola TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed 1. Royce Lewis (FM): 0-for-4, BB, E (2) 2. Alex Kirilloff (PNS): 1-for-2, BB, 2 HBP 3. Brusdar Graterol (PNS): 5.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 55.8% strikes (43 of 77 pitches) 4. Trevor Larnach (FM): 2-for-4, 2B, BB, R, K 9. Blayne Enlow (CR): 5.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, 67.0% strikes (63 of 94 pitches) 10. Akil Baddoo (FM): 1-for-3, HR (4), 2 BB, RBI, R, 2 K 11. Nick Gordon (ROC): 1-for-5, 2B, RBI, 2 K 13. Ryan Jeffers (FM): 2-for-4, 2B, 3 RBI, R 16. Gilberto Celestino (CR): 0-for-3, BB, 2 K 18. LaMonte Wade (ROC): 0-for-5, K 20. Jose Miranda (FM): 1-for-5, R, 2 K SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester at Pawtucket, 5:15 pm CT (Lewis Thorpe) Pensacola vs. Biloxi, 6:05 pm CT (Randy Dobnak) Fort Myers at Palm Beach, 4:30 pm CT (Charlie Barnes) Cedar Rapids vs. Dayton, 6:35 pm CT (Tyler Palm) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games. Click here to view the article

Great to see your name at the site again, Andrew! What a win, what a series. This is FUN

I’m going to start calling Martin Perez “The Feather” because it’s starting to look like he may become a huge feather in the cap of the Twins’ front office and coaching staff. Perez 2.0, the new and improved version, is really catching on. He had a statement game tonight, holding Houston scoreless over eight innings.Box Score Perez: 8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 66.0% strikes (66 of 100 pitches) Home Runs: Schoop (5) Multi-Hit Games: Polanco (2-for-4), Cruz (2-for-4, 2B) WPA of +0.1: Perez .347, Schoop .157 WPA of -0.1: None Download attachment: Win51.png (chart via FanGraphs) Perez continued to feature the cutter tonight, he threw 45 among his 100 pitches. He limited the Astros to just four hits, walked two batters and struck out seven, but things got off to a shaky start. Perez walked leadoff man George Springer on four pitches, then gave up a single to Jose Altuve. He got Alex Bregman to fly out, then induced an inning-ending double play. It was all Martin Perez from there. Here’s the full chart from tonight’s outing via Baseball Savant: Download attachment: PerezInfo.png Perez now has a 2.08 ERA in his four starts this season. Rangers fans have to be very confused right now. He had a 6.78 ERA in 15 starts with Texas last season. It's still very early, but Houston entered this game with a ridiculous .300/.379/.540 line against left-handed pitching so far this season (.919 OPS), so I'm not sure you could have realistically imagined a more encouraging start from Perez. Jonathan Schoop got the Twins on the board with a mammoth two-run home run in the third inning. The Twins added another run on a Jorge Polanco single, thanks to a throwing error by Astros starter Collin McHugh. Nelson Cruz added an RBI single in the fifth, then hit a run-scoring double in the eighth. C.J. Cron added a sacrifice fly to give the Twins a 6-0 lead. Trevor Hildenberger gave up two runs in the ninth, but with that big of a lead his most important job was to simply throw strikes. He did excellent, throwing 15 strikes on his 20 pitches. Here’s the thing about that 11-run blowout last night: It proves this isn’t simply a slumping Astros team the Twins caught at the right time. This is a dangerous team, we saw that, but even the best teams go on slumps. These outstanding outings from Jake Odorizzi and Perez sandwiched between that clunker are obviously very encouraging. It’s Jose Day tomorrow. Get excited. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen51.png Next Three Games Thu vs. HOU, 12:10 pm CT (Berrios-Peacock) Fri at NYY, 6:05 pm CT (Gibson-Paxton) Sat at NYY, 12:05 pm CT (Odorizzi-Happ) Last Game HOU 11, MIN 0: Completely Dominated Click here to view the article

Well, you couldn’t have expected the Astros’ lineup to be held down for long. One night after being shut out, Houston tagged the Twins for 11 runs. Oh, and they got an even better pitching performance, as Gerrit Cole pitched seven one-hit innings while striking out 11 batters.Box Score Pineda: 5.0 IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 65.3% strikes (64 of 98 pitches) Home Runs: None Multi-Hit Games: Kepler (2-for-3, 2B, BB) WPA of +0.1: None WPA of -0.1: Cruz -.127, Pineda -.164 Download attachment: Win430.png (chart via FanGraphs) This game actually got off to a very encouraging start for the Twins. After Michael Pineda pitched a 1-2-3 top of the first inning, Gerrit Cole walked the first two batters he faced and fell behind Nelson Cruz 2-0. That concluded the positive portion of the evening for Minnesota. Cole battled back and induced a double play, though to be fair that pitch was absolutely obliterated. The Twins didn’t get another base runner until the fifth inning and didn’t have a hit until the sixth. By that time, Houston had already busted open a 7-0 lead. In the grand scheme of things, this is just one loss to a good team. But if Pineda can’t be a dependable piece in the rotation, well that would be something to fret about. After giving up just five earned runs on 13 hits over his first 15 innings of the season, Pineda has now surrendered 15 earned runs on 24 hits in 14 innings since. Not good. To be fair, this was a 1-0 game entering the fifth inning, so it’s not like Pineda was completely overmatched from the start. Outside of those rough first couple batters from Cole, however, Twins hitters were most definitely overmatched. Cole was a beast tonight, and is up to 65 strikeouts in 43 1/3 innings this year. Just silly. Oh, and the bullpen was bad too. Adalberto Mejia looks completely lost. He walked three of the five batters he faced and threw just 10 of his 27 pitches for strikes. The Twins also played their worst game in the field all season. Just a dreadful all-around performance, really. Positives? Well, Max Kepler got two more hits. Fernando Romero looked pretty nasty in a scoreless ninth. He didn’t seem to have much command, but his stuff was moving all over the place. Let’s see, one more positive … uh … at least there weren’t many people who had to suffer through the whole thing? Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen430.png Next Three Games Wed vs. HOU, 7:10 pm CT (Perez-McHugh) Thu vs. HOU, 12:10 pm CT (Berrios-Peacock) Fri at NYY, 6:05 pm CT (Gibson-TBD) Last Game MIN 1, HOU 0: Let’s Go Crazy Click here to view the article

His last two months of the season were weird. It was almost as if he was trying to go back to more of a pitch to contact approach. The first four months he gave up an .802 OPS but his K% was 24.0 and his swinging strike rate was 11%. That produced a 4.58 ERA. Then those last two months he limited opponents to just a .610 OPS, but his strikeout rate dropped to 20.0% and he was only getting swinging strikes 8% of the time. He had a 4.30 ERA over those final 10 starts. So it certainly appears after the team raised the white flag at the trade deadline Odorrizi started working on some things. Not all of those adjustments yielded great results -- he had a 5.06 ERA in September -- but maybe he discovered some things to build upon.

All across Twins Territory, fans seem to be doing their best to contain their excitement. Their mantra has been it’s only April, it’s only the Orioles, we still don’t know much about this Twins team. That all could change over the course of this week. A big performance against the Astros and the Yankees would make it difficult for even the most reserved Midwesterner to temper excitement. The Twins got things off to a great start Monday evening.Box Score Odorizzi: 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 66.3% strikes Home Runs: Adrianza (1) Multi-Hit Games: None WPA of +0.1: Odorizzi .473, Parker .170, Rogers .124, Adrianza .123 WPA of -0.1: Rosario -.100 Download attachment: Win429.png (chart via FanGraphs) There are certain things, even in the early going, that can give you certain vibes as a fan that your team may be on the verge of something special. Certain events just hit you and let those “this is our year” vibes to start flowing. Jake Odorizzi and the Twins bullpen shutting out the Houston Astros lineup would be one of those things. Ehire Adrianza hitting a home run off Justin Verlander for the only run of a game would be another one. Both those things happened tonight. It took Odorizzi just 86 pitches to get through seven innings. That’s a solid mark for any pitcher, but Odo isn’t exactly known for his efficiency. He got 13 swinging strikes on those 86 pitches, improving upon the career-high rate he carried into this outing. Odorizzi has gotten swinging strikes on 13% of his pitches this year. Last season, only nine qualified starters had a swinging strike rate above 13%, and Odorizzi was at 10.2%. Not surprisingly, the strikeout rates are also encouraging for Odorizzi in the early going of this season. He's now struck out exactly a quarter of the batters he's faced so far. That would represent a career high and a nice boost from his 22.8 K% from last year. Odorizzi needed a grand total of just 21 pitches to get through the third through fifth innings. He ran into trouble in the sixth, issuing a one-out walk followed by a single. We’ve seen him unravel in similar situations before, but he struck out both Carlos Correa and Yuli Gurriel to end the threat. While Odorizzi was cruising, Justin Verlander was also carving up the Twins. But there was a different look to the lineup tonight. They entered this game with a league-low 3.76 pitches per plate appearances. Tonight, they had a batter work an at-bat of six pitches or more in each of Verlander’s six innings. The longest of those was a 10-pitch walk for Max Kepler to lead off the first inning. Eddie Rosario had a nine-pitch at-bat that ended in a strikeout, and one of those longer plate appearances produced the game’s only run. In the third inning, Ehire Adrianza fell behind Verlander 1-2. He fouled off the fourth pitch to extend the at-bat, then watched two balls go by. Ehire deposited pitch No. 7 into the stands. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen429.png Next Three Games Tue vs. HOU, 6:40 pm CT (Pineda-Cole) Wed vs. HOU, 7:10 pm CT (Perez-McHugh) Thu vs. HOU, 12:10 pm CT (Berrios-Peacock) Last Game MIN 4, BAL 1: Kepler Sets Tone, Gibby Brings It Home Click here to view the article

It took all of one pitch for the Twins to continue their Baltimore home run barrage. Max Kepler went deep on the very first pitch of today’s game and Byron Buxton added his first homer of the year in the third. Kyle Gibson had his best start of the season and the Twins cruised to victory, sweeping the Orioles.Box Score Gibson: 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 66.7% strikes (70 of 105 pitches) Home Runs: Kepler (7), Buxton (1) Multi-Hit Games: Kepler (2-for-4, 2B, HR) WPA of +0.1: Gibson .270, Gonzalez .162, Kepler .125 WPA of -0.1: None Download attachment: Win428.png (chart via FanGraphs) Gibson did a really nice job pitching with the lead. He had a shutout going until Chris Davis hit a solo homer with two outs in the seventh. Gibby set his season highs in pitches, innings and strike percentage today. The most strikes he had thrown in a start coming into today was 55. He threw 70 strikes this afternoon. Gibson needed this. It now appears he’s put his slow start to the season behind him and is gaining momentum. With his second straight quality start, Gibby has lowered his ERA form 7.36 to 4.88 over his past two outings. He also hasn’t issued a walk for two straight starts now. It’s the first time since 2014 that Gibby hasn’t walked a batter in consecutive starts. It’s perfect timing to get into a groove, too. The Twins have some stiffer competition coming up, so it’s really nice to see Kyle look like he’s pointed in the right direction. He’s obviously an important piece to this team maintaining success over the long haul in 2019. Kepler’s leadoff homer got things going for the bats and Buxton added his first home run of the season to lead off the third inning. Kepler followed with a double and scored along with Eddie Rosario on a Marwin Gonzalez hit that somehow dropped into the Bermuda Triangle. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Download attachment: Bullpen428.png Next Three Games Mon vs. HOU, 6:40 pm CT (Odorizzi-Verlander) Tue vs. HOU, 6:40 pm CT (TBD-Cole) Wed vs. HOU, 7:10 pm CT (TBD-McHugh) Last Game MIN 9, BAL 2: Quality from Berrios, Quantity from the Bats Click here to view the article

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.