The Twins have by far the most strikeouts of any team. Atlanta ranks second in strikeouts per nine (9.64 K/9), a tiny bit ahead of the Marlins (9.57) and Twins (9.56). Out of all qualified pitchers, Strider ranks first in strikeout percentage (39.0%). Pablo López is a distant fifth at merely 30.1%. Joe Ryan is twelfth at 27.4%. If you go by K/9, Strider is at 14.5. There is no one in the 13s or 12s. Ohtani leads the way in the 11s at 11.8. Strider strikes out a ton of batters. Today is a good day for the Twins to shorten up those swings.
The Twins have really optimized this team. Rather than waiting until September to play poorly, they now moved it up to June. The starters were second in ERA in the AL for April and fourth in May. So far in June, they are 13th. The relievers have been slightly more consistent, moving from eleventh to seventh to ninth. Scoring has gone from sixth to eleventh for May and June. It's not good.
Well that was a fun ending. Let's do it again, except score those runs earlier and maybe allow the Brewers score several fewer.
Continuing the odd scheduling for this series, after the Twins successfully sold over 34 thousand tickets for a Tuesday night game, now how many can they sell for a nooner against the Brewers?
Twins with the unexpected chance to go 3-3 on the road trip to the AL East. They have already notched three runs against Gausman, who has continued his success from the previous two season.
Final game against the Astros this season. The Twins won the series at home in early April and today's rubber match would make it two series wins against a good team.
This is Hunter Brown's rookie season, but not his first season as he tossed 20 ⅓ innings last year across seven games. He earned Houston's sole win in the first series with seven innings, two hits, and a single unearned run. Here's hoping the Twins have figured out a better plan of attack for their hot-or-not batters.
If the previous two series are any indication, the Twins either missed their chance at a win yesterday or are due for one today. Ryan better be up for a complete game shutout in order to make it happen.
That battle of the 'ays today and final game against the Dodgers this season. It's been a competitive series so far, at least per the results for someone not willing to stay up past midnight on the opposite coast.
That figures to continue with Gray pitching today. He's been absolutely excellent this year. His May hasn't been as strong but now is a good time to improve his May stats versus a May.
Twins starters are tied with the Mariners for first in fWAR, 5.2. The Rays are third at 4.3. The relievers unfortunately rank 17th. More unfortunately, the batters are way down at 21st. Correa is a big part of that but Miranda has been worse. The success of the starters means it has been nice to know the team will be in the game until late each time. Sure, I also know those 2-0 games very likely could end up at 2-0 or 2-1 but it's nicer than knowing last season it will not stay at only two runs given up.
Overall good pitching last night. Not so much the same for the batting part. The White Sox, through yesterday, have averaged 6.17 runs allowed per game while the Twins have scored an average of 4.53 runs per game. Today is a good day to get closer to those averages. Cease strikes out a bunch and the Twins love strikeouts, ranking fifth in most batter strikeouts. I'd suggest stealing some bases as Cease also walks four per nine, but that's simply not happening with this team.
