Tom Froemming

Box Score Gibson: 4.2 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, 53.6% strikes Home Runs: Garver 2 (2), Rosario (2), Schoop 2 (2), Polanco (2) Multi-Hit Games: Garver (4-for-5, 2 HR), Polanco (3-for-5, 3B, HR), Schoop (2-for-5, 2 HR), Rosario (2-for-4, 2B, HR, BB), Buxton (2-for-5, 2 2B) WPA of +0.1: .184 Garver, Polanco .163, Rosario .155 WPA of -0.1: -.140 Gibson (chart via FanGraphs) deGrom not only won the Cy Young last season, he even finished fifth in NL MVP voting. He had 26 consecutive quality starts heading into tonight’s game, which tied Bob Gibson’s record. He had a scoreless streak of 26 innings and had gone 41 starts without allowing multiple home runs coming into tonight. All those streaks are over. The Twins tagged deGrom for six runs, all earned, on eight hits and a walk. Mitch Garver took him deep twice and Eddie Rosario also homered off him. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1115808444370567168 This is Garver’s first multi-homer game, which apparently is the result of him doing some extra homework. If it looked like he was prepared for that pitch on his first home run, it’s because he was. https://twitter.com/TheSGonsalves/status/1115764798044635142 This Twins lineup has had some hiccups early, and playing without Nelson Cruz in these National League games hasn’t helped, but tonight they proved that when they’re rolling, even the best pitcher in baseball can’t hold them down. Listening to much of tonight’s game on the radio, I couldn’t tell if all the sounds coming through the background were the roar of airplanes taking off from LaGuardia Airport or screaming baseballs flying out of Citi Field. In addition to the three homers hit off deGrom, Jonathan Schoop hit his first two home runs with the Twins, Jorge Polanco added another and the Mets slugged four homers of their own. Byron Buxton didn’t go deep, but he did hit a couple of laser beams for doubles. That gives him five extra-base hits in eight games played so far this season, which is more than he had in 28 games all of last year. This game ended up a blowout, but it appeared for a moment in the middle innings that the Mets were on the verge of mounting a comeback. Kyle Gibson was laboring in the fifth inning with the Twins up 6-3. He gave up a leadoff double, retired the next two batters but then walked the bases loaded. Twins manager Rocco Baldelli went to the pen and Trevor Hildenberger retired the only batter he would face on the night to end the threat. After Trevor May pitched a scoreless sixth inning Adalberto Mejia got the first two outs of the seventh, then Baldelli called on Blake Parker, which was interesting since we had not seen him used prior to the ninth inning yet. Once the Twins broke open a bigger lead, Sire of Fort Myers/30-year-old rookie/Hero of Men Ryne Harper was called upon, followed by Chase De Jong. Harper has now pitched 3 ⅓ scoreless innings for the Twins. De Jong … just never mind what De Jong did tonight ... Anyway, so it was almost as if Baldelli managed his bullpen backwards tonight, which I’d like to see more often when the Twins are holding a lead. Why save anyone for the eighth or ninth innings when you have no idea if your opponent will even be within striking distance at that point? This was a great game in what’s been a great start to the 2019 season. This win ensured the Twins will have a winning road trip, so it’s as if they’ll be playing with house money against Noah Syndergaard tomorrow. 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 at NYM, 6:10 pm CT (Odorizzi-Syndergaard) Fri vs. DET, 7:10 pm CT (TBD) Sat vs. DET, 1:10 pm CT (TBD) Last Game PHI 2, MIN 1: Kepler Stays Hot, Hoskins Pops Deciding Homer More From Twins Daily Twins Minor League Report (4/9): Fort Myers Walks-Off, Pensacola PR Strong Starting Pitching Highlights Early Minor League Action Twins Minor League Report (4/8): Several HRs, But No Ws

Heading into this offseason, it appeared Austin had the inside track at the starting first base gig. His overall batting line of .236/.294/.488 (.782 OPS) was uneven, but there's never been any questioning his power. Well, a C.J. Cron waiver claim and Nelson Cruz free agent signing later and Austin was quickly on the outside looking in. He was out of options, so when the Twins DFAed him over the weekend it appeared to be only a matter of time before he was with a new team. At least the Twins have something to show for him. Malique Ziegler was the Giants' 22nd-round pick of their 2016 Draft. He grew up in Des Moines, Iowa and played his college ball at North Iowa Area Community College. A right-handed hitting outfielder, Ziegler comes to the Twins having hit .245/.339/.376 (.714 OPS) in 143 career minor league games. Zigler has some speed, he's hit nine triples and has 38 stolen bases in his career, and has a knack for getting on base. He's drawn 66 walks in 627 career plate appearances, which works out to a solid walk rate of 10.5%. There's still a fair amount of swing and miss in his game, especially considering his relative lack of power, as Ziegler has 24.3 K%. Maybe the biggest shockwave from Austin's departure from the organization is in how it relates to the first base/DH depth chart. The Twins have some guys already at the major league level who are able to move around -- Marwin Gonzalez and Willians Astudillo both can play just about anywhere, Miguel Sano has some time a first base and Max Kepler spent quite a bit of time there in his minor league career. So there's no shortage of options should Cron or Cruz miss time. If you're someone knocking on the door, such as Brent Rooker or Luke Raley, however, Austin moving on represents one more road block removed on the road to the big leagues.

Box Score Berrios: 6.0 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 7 K, 65.3% strikes (64 of 98) Home Runs: Kepler (3) Multi-Hit Games: Kepler (2-for-4, HR), Gonzalez (2-for-4) WPA of +0.1: Kepler .130 WPA of -0.1: Schoop -.120, Cron -.126 (chart via FanGraphs) This game got off to a tremendous start for the Twins, as Kepler homered for the third straight game. This was Kepler’s eighth game of 2019, it took him 10 games last season to reach three homers, 32 games in 2017 and 33 in ‘16. So trending in the right direction. https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1114938832565067777 It was also apparent early that Jose Berrios had his good stuff working once again. Berrios carried a shutout into the sixth inning, but it’s going to be tough for anybody to keep this Phillies lineup down for long. Berrios walked Andrew McCutchen to lead off the sixth inning, managed to retire both Jean Segura and Bryce Harper, but gave up a two-run home run to Rhys Hoskins to give Philadelphia a 2-1 lead. It was a good pitch, a curveball down and away on the corner, and Hoskins didn’t even appear to put all that great of a swing on it, but that’s a strong dude. https://twitter.com/DevanFink/status/1114972115520905217 Berrios leaned a bit more on his offspeed pitches in his first two starts of the year and really went curveball crazy this afternoon. He deployed that pitch 51 times today among the 98 pitches he threw. That’s pretty bonkers, considering Jose threw that curveball 30.4 percent of the time last season. It’ll be interesting to follow his use of that pitch going forward. https://twitter.com/PitchingNinja/status/1114957050776309761 The Twins only had one other really strong scoring chance. Marwin Gonzalez hit a leadoff single in the fourth inning, advanced to second on a ground out and tried to score from there on an Ehire Adrianza single. McCutchen made a beautiful play, throwing a strike to home plate, and Gonzalez was tagged out by inches. It’s too bad the Twins couldn’t muster any offense after the Kepler leadoff homer, but all in all I’d have to say this was an encouraging series for the Twins. Friday night was ugly, but they were able to hang tough against a formidable Phillies team otherwise. That bodes well for a team that gets to face the AL Central in nearly half of their games. Postgame With Baldelli https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1114987731686309888 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 at NYM, 6:10 pm CT (Gibson-deGrom) Wed at NYM, 6:10 pm CT (Odorizzi-Syndergaard) Fri vs. DET, 7:10 pm CT (TBD) Last Game MIN 6, PHI 2: Twins Find Power Stroke, Slug 3 Homers in Victory More From Twins Daily Twins Minor League Report (4/6): And on the Third Day, There Was Baseball The 12 Stages of Willians Astudillo Fandom

Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Box Score Pineda: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 63.8% strikes (51 of 80 pitches) Home Runs: Kepler (2), Astudillo (1), Rosario (1) Multi-Hit Games: Kepler (2-for-5, HR) WPA of +0.1: Rogers .137, Buxton .121, Pineda .114, Hildenberger .106, Kepler .103 WPA of -0.1: Cave -.160 The Twins held a 3-2 advantage heading into the ninth inning, but the Phillies seemed to be gaining momentum. They left the bases loaded in the eighth inning, and it was starting to feel like it was only a matter of time before they busted loose, as if bad things were to come in the bottom of the ninth. Luckily, Rosario took a lot of the tension out of this game by blasting that three-run homer. https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1114629965134196736 It's been rough going early on for Rosario. He actually started today's game on the bench, but here's hoping that big pinch hit homer breaks him out of this mini seson-opening funk. That meant Blake Parker, who was already warming in the pen at the time the homer was hit, entered the bottom of the ninth with a four-run cushion. But prior to that, his bullpen mates Adalberto Mejia, Trevor Hildenberger and Taylor Rogers did a great job at protecting the lead. The bullpen combined for four scoreless innings and gave up just three hits, two of which were fluky infield singles. It was an impressive performance against a formidable lineup. Two-Out Rally Prior to that big homer from Rosario, the Twins haven’t had a ton of luck batting with runners on base so far this season, but they found a workaround today. In the third inning, Byron Buxton singled, stole second base, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch. Max Kepler and Willians Astudillo followed that up with back-to-back two-out home runs. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1114626277930086401 Possibly the most shocking thing we saw today, however, was Astudillo draw a walk. Lots to Like About Big Mike There were no shortage of candidates, but my pick for biggest x-factor on this Twins club was Michael Pineda. So far, so good. It’s only been two starts and a grand total of nine innings pitched, but Pineda has been strong. He’s only yielded five hits and two runs, walked a pair and has 10 strikeouts. The big issue with him has been staying healthy, but if Pineda can be a pillar in this rotation it’ll go a long way toward this team finding consistency. The only run Pineda surrendered while on the mound was on a Rhys Hoskins solo home run. Mejia allowed an inherited runner of Pineda’s to score. Speaking of which ... Rubber Arm Mejia Mejia wasn’t exactly a workhorse as a starting pitcher. I’d have to imagine he’s still getting acclimated to work in the bullpen, but manager Rocco Baldelli seems motivated to break him in out there. Mejia threw 42 pitches Wednesday and 37 more last night, but was back on the job again this afternoon. He was brought into the sixth inning to face Bryce Harper, which makes a lot of sense to set up the left-on-left matchup, but he gave up a double, a walk, a sac fly and then got bailed out by some good defense by Byron Buxton and a poor risk taken by Harper. A shallow fly ball was hit to center, Buxton did a nice job of getting himself set to make a play, but Harper took off for home anyway. The throw was a bit up the line, but Willians Astudillo was able to reel it in and tag out a leaping Harper for a double play. https://twitter.com/Twins/status/1114617756920549378 Mejia only ended up with 12 pitches today, but it’s still pretty striking to see a guy all the way up at 91 on the bullpen usage chart. Trial by fire, I guess. Roster Move Needing some extra length in the bullpen, the Twins called up Chase De Jong, who also needed to be added to the 40-man roster, and designated Tyler Austin for assignment. This was probably bound to happen to Austin sooner or later, but he was a great guy to have around as insurance in case C.J. Cron or Nelson Cruz got hurt. Austin would need to clear waivers in order to remain in the org, but since he’s been DFAd once before already, he’ll also have the chance to elect free agency if he clears. That’s probably a moot point anyway, since I imagine one of the rebuilding teams will happily put in a waiver claim on Austin. As for De Jong, it’s a surprising to see him be the first man up, especially considering the Twins dropped him from the 40 man this offseason. It’s possible the Twins think it’s more important to keep the Kohl Stewart, Zack Littell and Stephen Gonsalves types on their starting schedules for developmental purposes. Stewart also just started Thursday. 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 Sun at PHI, 12:05 pm CT (Berrios-Eflin) Tue at NYM, 6:10 pm CT (TBD-deGrom) Wed at NYM, 6:10 pm CT (TBD-Syndergaard) Last Game PHI 10, MIN 4: Polanco Cycles in the Rain, Rest Is All Pain More From Twins Daily Twins Minor League Report (4/5): Powerful Pitching Performances Seth's Preseason Top 20 Minnesota Twins Pitching Prospects Seth's Preseason Top 20 Minnesota Twins Position Player Prospects

TRANSACTIONS Several hours after the Twins game, Darren Wolfson tweeted that RHP Zack Littell is going to be called up on Saturday. https://twitter.com/DWolfsonKSTP/status/1114405855598993408 AM update: Scratch that. RED WINGS REPORT Rochester at Lehigh Valley POSTPONED BLUE WAHOO BITES Game 1: Pensacola 7, Mobile 0 (7 innings) Box Score Jorge Alcala: 5.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, 65.4% strikes (49 of 75 pitches) HR: Jimmy Kerrigan (1) Multi-hit games: Luis Arraez (2-for-3, BB) With Opening Day being rained out, this scheduled seven-inning game as the first leg of a doubleheader served as Pensacola’s debut game as a Twins affiliate. Nice way to get started. Jorge Alcala and Jovani Moran combined to pitch a shutout. Alcala gave up just three hits over five innings while Moran gave up one hit over his two frames. Neither pitcher issued a walk. Taylor Grzelakowski had a big two-run double to break the scoreless tie in the fourth and Jimmy Kerrigan added a two-run homer later that inning. Game 2: Pensacola 4, Mobile 3 (8 innings) Box Score Brusdar Graterol: 4.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 58.7% strikes (44 of 75 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games: Luis Arraez (2-for-4) Brusdar Graterol’s first pitch of the evening was only 99 mph. What gives? He would end up hitting triple-digits, and more importantly, pitched a great game. Just one run on three hits and a pair of walks over 4 2/3 innings for Graterol, and he struck out six batters. Taylor Grzelakowski gave the Blue Wahoo’s a lead in the top of the first with an RBI single. Jordan Gore drove in another run in the fifth. Andro Cutura protected the lead, recording the final out of the fifth inning before pitching a scoreless sixth, but Cody Stashak, one of the most reliable relievers in the entire system last season, gave up a game-tying home run in the bottom of the seventh, which was scheduled to be the final inning. Pensacola scored two runs in the top of the eighth thanks to another Grzelakowski RBI and a wild pitch. That gave the Stashak a two-run lead to work with, but the bottom of the eighth opened with the bonus runner (this was technically an extra inning, remember) scoring from second on a single. Stashak got the next batter to strike out swinging, then Dusten Knight took over. Ground out, strikeout looking and game over. Blue Wahoos 2-0 as a Twins affiliate, great way to get things started. MIRACLE MATTERS Fort Myers 4, Charlotte 3 Box Score Jhoan Duran: 4.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, 61.4% strikes (35 of 57 pitches) HR: None Multi-hit games: Travis Blankenhorn (2-for-4) Speaking of 100 mph fastballs, Jhoan Duran also hit 100 mph multiple occasions. I think it’s safe to declare the pitch to contact era officially dead. Duran came out with guns a-blazing, pitching four no-hit innings while striking out four batters. In his first four minor league seasons, Duran’s career high in innings is only 100 2/3. So it makes sense, with a five-month regular season ahead, that the organization would aim to limit the fireballer’s workload. Fort Myers built a lead thanks in part to Trevor Larnach’s big two-RBI double. Unfortunately, Duran’s exit opened the door for the Stone Crabs to get back into this game. It was all tied up heading into the bottom of the eighth inning when Royce Lewis hit a leadoff triple. He eventually scored the go-ahead run on a passed ball. Tom Hackimer, whose 2018 season ended prematurely due to injury, was back on the mound tonight. He got the final out of the eighth inning and took care of business in the ninth to secure the one-run Miracle victory. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 10, Peoria 4 Box Score Jordan Balazovic: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 9 K, 71.1% strikes (54 of 76 pitches) HR: Trey Cabbage (1) Multi-hit games: Trey Cabbage (3-for-5, 2B, HR, 3 RBI, 2 R) Ben Rodriguez (3-for-5, 3 RBI), DaShawn Keirsey (2-for-4, 3 RBI) Among all the great starting pitching performances tonight, Jordan Balazovic was by far the most dominant. He absolutely pounded the strike zone, throwing over 70% of his pitches for strikes. Balazovic recorded a strikeout to open the game, but ran into some trouble in the first inning. He gave up a double, then a single, but erased the scoring chance by inducing an inning-ending double play. After a 1-2-3 second inning, Balazovic gave up a run-scoring triple. He turned it up after that. The 6-foot-4 Canadian right-hander blew the Chiefs away, striking out all three batters he faced in both the fourth and fifth innings. He ended up with nine strikeouts and no walks. https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1114386192865398790 Still, Balazovic exited this game with Cedar Rapids leading just 3-1. The bats broke loose in a five-hit, three-walk, five-run fifth inning. Trey Cabbage hit his first home run of the season, to go along with two other hits. Ben Rodriguez also had a three-hit day, Chris Williams reached safely three times as well, tallying a hit and a pair of walks. Yunior Severino drew just 17 walks in 50 total games last season but somehow managed to rack up four walks just in this one game tonight. He also had a single. STARS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day: Jordan Balazovic, Cedar Rapids Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day: Luis Arraez, Pensacola TOP PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed 1. Royce Lewis (FM): 1-for-2, 3B, 2 BB, 2 R 3. Brusdar Graterol (PNS): 4.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K 4. Trevor Larnach (FM): 1-for-3, 2B, BB, 2 RBI 7. Jhoan Duran (FM): 4.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K 10. Akil Baddoo (FM): 0-for-3, BB, R, SB, K 13. Ryan Jeffers (FM): 0-for-3, BB, K 15. Yunior Severino (CR): 1-for-1, 4 BB, 3 R 16. Gilberto Celestino (CR): 0-for-4, BB, R, SB, K 19. Jorge Alcala (PNS): 5.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Rochester at Lehigh Valley, 4:35 pm CT (Chase De Jong) Rochester at Lehigh Valley, Game 2 (TBD, bullpen game) Pensacola at Mobile, 7:05 pm CT (Devin Smeltzer) Fort Myers at Charlotte, 5:00 pm CT (Tyler Watson) Cedar Rapids at Wisconsin, 4:05 pm CT (Cole Sands) Please feel free to ask any questions and discuss the games.

Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) Full Box Score Odorizzi: 0.2 IP, 2 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, 50.0% strikes Home Runs: Kepler (1), Polanco (1) Multi-Hit Games: Polanco (5-for-5, 2B, 3B, HR), Schoop (2-for-4) WPA of +0.1: Polanco .220 WPA of -0.1: Harper -.134, Odorizzi -.209 And Polanco wasn’t done there, he added another single in the ninth inning. Here’s a look at the cycle: https://twitter.com/TFTwins/status/1114355824690978817 With persistent rain and temperatures in the low-40s, the Twins got off to a terribly sloppy start at Philadelphia and just kept sinking. You know how you can tell it was really bad? This rabid Phillies fanbase, energized by a new star in town, left Citizens Bank Park largely unoccupied. There were enough Phillies fans at Nationals Park earlier this week to get a “we got Harper” chant going in enemy territory, but the weather in Philadelphia led most fans to stay home despite the enthusiasm to shower love down upon their new star. Jake Odorizzi struck out Bryce Harper in the first inning. That’s about the only thing that went well in the early going. Odorizzi recorded just two outs and it took him 36 pitches just to even do that. It all got started with Andrew McCutchen drawing a walk after a borderline check swing was called a ball. Things just snowballed from there. Conditions were terrible, but as the old saying goes, they were the same for both teams. One thing that didn’t help the Twins were a few poor ball calls. As you can see, quite a few of these pitches were in the zone. I suppose when you throw as many pitches as the Twins did tonight a few are bound to not go your way. It was 192 pitches, to be exact. Wow. It was appearing this one may get called before becoming an official game, but they pressed on and things cleared up around the bottom of the fifth inning. Too bad. The Twins would rather forget pretty much all of what transpired. At least the Polanco cycle was fun. Bullpen Usage Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days: Next Three Games Sat at PHI, 1:05 pm CT (Michael Pineda-Jake Arrieta) Sun at PHI, 12:05 pm CT (Jose Berrios-Zach Eflin) Tue at NYM, 6:10 pm CT (TBD) Last Game MIN 7, KC 6: Twins Come Back From 3-Run Deficit More From Twins Daily The 12 Stages of Willians Astudillo Fandom Twins Winning in the Margins Byron Buxton: Reckless or Aggressive?

Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs) MIN 7, KC 6: Full Box Score Gibson: 4.2 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 57.2% strikes Home Runs: None Multi-Hit Games: Astudillo (3-for-5, 2B), Garver (3-for-4, 2B), Rosario (2-for-4, 2B, BB) WPA of +0.1: May .269, Rosario .238, Garver .144, Cruz .113, Kepler .109 WPA of -0.1: Gibson -.469 Gibby Gets Started Last April, Gibson averaged 92.2 mph on his four-seam fastball and gained a bit of velocity as the season progressed. With his illness putting him a little bit behind schedule, I was curious to see where he would be today. You could have certainly given him a pass if things were lagging behind a bit. No pass needed. Gibson topped out at 95.1 mph, averaging 93.4 mph on that pitch. It’s just one outing, but that bout with E. coli really put a cloud over Gibson’s winter. Great to see him come out of the gates looking strong. Gibson was cruising through the first 4 2/3 innings, but things completely fell apart from there. He walked Billy Hamilton, who stole second base and was driven in on a single. No error was charged, but Ehire Adrianza played what could have been an inning-ending ground out into a single, then Alex Gordon hit a three-run homer. The bleeding didn’t stop there. Jorge Polanco, who had made a couple nifty defensive plays earlier in the game, committed a throwing error. Two more singles and another run later and Gibson’s day was done. He gave up just one run on three hits up until that big Royals rally, but that terrible turn of events put a very negative spin on his 2019 debut. Mejia Holds Steady Adalberto Mejia took over for Gibson and stopped the bleeding. He got the final out of that messy fifth inning and followed with two more clean innings. He’s opened the season with three no-hit innings and has struck out five batters. Max Bests a Lefty That performance by Mejia bought some time for the bats to fire back. Max Kepler delivered a game-tying, two-out, two-run double off southpaw Jake Diekman in the eighth inning. Ninth-Inning Rally Nelson Cruz drew a six-pitch walk to lead off the ninth inning. Byron Buxton, who was not in the starting lineup due to a back injury, pinch ran for him and stole second base. Eddie Rosario worked a full count, then delivered the go-ahead single to plate Buxton. Big Bullpen Day With Gibson having a bit of a short start and Taylor Rogers coming off a 29-pitch outing the night before, this was an opportunity to get a glimpse at how Baldelli may be inclined to manage his bullpen. After Mejia served admirably as the long man, Trevor May took over in the eighth. He held the bottom of Kansas City’s lineup scoreless, then returned for the ninth. After retiring the first two batters of the ninth inning, May was taken out for Blake Parker. Parker induced a game-ending ground out from Alex Gordon to earn his second save of the season. New-Look Lineup Today marked the first starts for Tyler Austin (first base), Ehire Adrianza (second base) and Jake Cave (right field) this season. Also, Kepler played center field in place of Buxton, who was nursing a sore back after crashing into the wall. It’s interesting to see Rocco Baldelli go with Kepler in center over Cave. Paul Molitor went with that alignment nine times last season but had Cave in center field and Kepler in right 52 times. Postgame With Baldelli https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/1113556139520618496 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 at PHI, 6:05 pm CT Sat at PHI, 1:05 pm CT Sun at PHI, 12:05 pm CT Last Game MIN 5, KC 4 (10 Innings): Cruz Steps Up More From Twins Daily Three Catcher Conundrum Gleeman & The Geek, Ep 419: Tuesday Taproom Tour from Able Brewery