I don't see a game log for the biggest game of the year (so far), so here's one. Go Twins!
24 thoughts on “Game 57: Royals at Twins”
Good first inning for Hughes.
Couple of hard-hit balls for the Twins in the first. Hopefully that turns into runs at some point.
The sound Morales' bat made was impressive.
In twelve starts, Hughes has had only three in which he did not give up a home run. This will not be the fourth.
Stephen Gonsalves had a fairly successful high-A debut, giving up one run in five innings before allowing a two-run homer in the sixth. We'll have more tomorrow in Minor Details.
Thanks for the assist, Padre. Sorry bout that.
No problem. Happy to help.
Seems like the Twins have had a lot of hard-hit outs tonight. Some of that's good defense, but some of it's also bad luck.
Since I haven't seen it mentioned yet, the Twins selected Jay Taylor, LHP, from University of Illinois with the sixth pick. From mlb.com:
Now he's a lock to become the second first-round pick ever produced by Illinois, following John Ericks in 1988, and he's the consensus best left-hander in the 2015 Draft. He is still not very physical at 6-foot-1 and 175 pounds, but Jay now works at 93-95 mph and peaks at 98 mph with his fastball, even when he works on consecutive days. He generates that heat with athleticism and a quick arm rather than an excessive amount of effort in his delivery. Jay has a deeper repertoire than most relievers. His plus slider is his second-best pitch, and he also has a curveball with power and depth and shows signs of interesting changeup. He has enough pitches and control to lead a pro team to consider trying him as a starter, though he lacks size and could speed to the Majors if he remains a reliever.
"Consensus best left-hander" is nice, but the profiling as a reliever is less nice. I would guess the Twins try him as a starter first. He only needs one of the curveball or changeup to improve to have a chance.
I read somewhere else that the reliever/starter choice was probably somewhat contingent on the time table the selecting team wanted for him... reliever = could be up this year even, starter = more time.
It might also be the bias against slight pitchers being starters. I'll just picture him as the left-handed version of Pedro.
So Johan?
I was thinking Ron Guidry.
I would settle for Roy Oswalt or Tim Hudson.
Or, Rev. Jeff, remember"The Blade"?
I'd settle for Aaron Thomp - Oh, wait.
I certainly do. Not a long career, but he was pretty awesome for a few years.
Guy's gonna be great, post-TJ!
#MNTwins haven't taken a first-round college pitcher that didn't require Tommy John surgery since Matt Garza in 2005. Debuted 14 mos later.
Don't like taking a reliever this high in the draft. My guess is the Twins agree this isn't a deep draft and decided to gamble on higher upside but more of a risk. If he can stick at starter, could be a great pick. If he doesn't but turns into Perkins 2.0, I don't think anyone will be complaining. One positive of taking a college reliever is he's faced tougher competition with his arm taking less of a beating, at least as far as throwing a ton of pitches per outing.
If they wanted higher upside they should have gone with Aiken.
We add Vargas to the end of the order and suddenly they produce! And it's the top of the order that lets us down...
Yeah, what are they thinking hitting line drives right to gloves. Don't they have better bat control than that? Seriously, though, just not any luck at all tonight. Line drives all other the place right to fielders and then the Twins twice had 2 singles and an extra-base hit in an inning (for at least 4 total bases) and came away with 1 run total in those innings. Liked the look of the lineup a lot better and Arcia is still down in Rochester. If Rosario keeps hitting, it may take an injury to get Arcia up. Either that, or he'll come up as a 4th OF with Rosario being the backup CF and then each OF plus Vargas getting a day off every five games or throw in Mauer for every six games. I would just hope that Hicks stays out there whenever Hughes or Malone starts.
It'll also take Arcia to start hitting for him to come up. Right now, he's at .125/.162/.188 in 32 at-bats. He's better than that, obviously, and I fully expect him to get it going, but I don't think it's likely that the Twins will bring him up until he does.
Good first inning for Hughes.
Couple of hard-hit balls for the Twins in the first. Hopefully that turns into runs at some point.
The sound Morales' bat made was impressive.
In twelve starts, Hughes has had only three in which he did not give up a home run. This will not be the fourth.
Stephen Gonsalves had a fairly successful high-A debut, giving up one run in five innings before allowing a two-run homer in the sixth. We'll have more tomorrow in Minor Details.
Thanks for the assist, Padre. Sorry bout that.
No problem. Happy to help.
Seems like the Twins have had a lot of hard-hit outs tonight. Some of that's good defense, but some of it's also bad luck.
Since I haven't seen it mentioned yet, the Twins selected Jay Taylor, LHP, from University of Illinois with the sixth pick. From mlb.com:
"Consensus best left-hander" is nice, but the profiling as a reliever is less nice. I would guess the Twins try him as a starter first. He only needs one of the curveball or changeup to improve to have a chance.
I read somewhere else that the reliever/starter choice was probably somewhat contingent on the time table the selecting team wanted for him... reliever = could be up this year even, starter = more time.
It might also be the bias against slight pitchers being starters. I'll just picture him as the left-handed version of Pedro.
So Johan?
I was thinking Ron Guidry.
I would settle for Roy Oswalt or Tim Hudson.
Or, Rev. Jeff, remember"The Blade"?
I'd settle for Aaron Thomp - Oh, wait.
I certainly do. Not a long career, but he was pretty awesome for a few years.
Guy's gonna be great, post-TJ!
Don't like taking a reliever this high in the draft. My guess is the Twins agree this isn't a deep draft and decided to gamble on higher upside but more of a risk. If he can stick at starter, could be a great pick. If he doesn't but turns into Perkins 2.0, I don't think anyone will be complaining. One positive of taking a college reliever is he's faced tougher competition with his arm taking less of a beating, at least as far as throwing a ton of pitches per outing.
If they wanted higher upside they should have gone with Aiken.
We add Vargas to the end of the order and suddenly they produce! And it's the top of the order that lets us down...
Yeah, what are they thinking hitting line drives right to gloves. Don't they have better bat control than that? Seriously, though, just not any luck at all tonight. Line drives all other the place right to fielders and then the Twins twice had 2 singles and an extra-base hit in an inning (for at least 4 total bases) and came away with 1 run total in those innings. Liked the look of the lineup a lot better and Arcia is still down in Rochester. If Rosario keeps hitting, it may take an injury to get Arcia up. Either that, or he'll come up as a 4th OF with Rosario being the backup CF and then each OF plus Vargas getting a day off every five games or throw in Mauer for every six games. I would just hope that Hicks stays out there whenever Hughes or Malone starts.
It'll also take Arcia to start hitting for him to come up. Right now, he's at .125/.162/.188 in 32 at-bats. He's better than that, obviously, and I fully expect him to get it going, but I don't think it's likely that the Twins will bring him up until he does.