After dropping the first three games of a long home series with Boston to extend their losing streak to four, the Twins will try to right the ship today and avoid the sweep. Big Mike Pineda takes the ball for the Twins while Boston trots Garret Richards out to the hill. Two weeks into the season and I have yet to see more than an inning of any Twins game, but I'm really liking the retro feel of listening to the game on the radio while I clean the garage or rake out the lawn. Until the middle innings roll around and Dazzle does the play by play, at least. Play ball!
Two seven-inning games. Still not a fan of those post-2020.
Twins have dropped the last three and risk falling below .500 since Game 2. Maeda and Berríos are the two starters you'd want pitching to end that streak. I hope the bullpen takes the day off because really, they aren't helping.
Twins and Red Sox look to get started again after yesterday's postponement. Looks like today's announced starters will remain with Monday's starters going on Wednesday as part of a doubleheader. That means A.J. Happ versus former Twin Martin Perez.
Going to be lousy weather with wet raw temperatures in the upper 30's. I bet you could get in the game for under $10 if you wanted to (bundle up!).
Red Sox have been decent this year, not sure if it's SSS or they've made some real improvements. Twins have played well except for a relieve who shall remain nameless.
1:10p first pitch, let's hope for some baseball as a small distraction to trying times.
Hey, gang, no time to rap with you. Here are your lineups. Play ball!
BOSTON RED SOX
1. Kike Hernandez LF
2. Christian Vazquez DH
3. JD Martinez RF
4. Xander Bogaerts SS
5. Rafael Devers 3B
6. Hunter Renfroe CF
7. Christian Arroyo 2B
8. Bobby Dalbec 1B
9. Kevin Plawecki C
SP. Martín Pérez
MINNESOTA TWINS
1. Byron Buxton CF
2. Kyle Garlick LF
3. Nelson Cruz DH
4. Mitch Garver C
5. Miguel Sano 1B
6. Willians Astudillo 3B
7. Andrelton Simmons SS
8. Luis Arraez 2
9. Jake Cave RF
SP: J.A. Happ
All three series the Twins have played have split the first two games. They've managed to win the rubber game in the first two series, and turn to Shoemaker to try to keep that pattern going.
Last time out, Shoemaker got quite a bit of run support, and only allowed 3 hits over 6 innings, so I say let's do all of that again and see how it goes.
Flexen is the first right-handed starting pitcher the Twins have seen this series. So far (in ~200 PA) the Twins are a little less successful at the plate against righties (.242/.333/.453) but an .786 OPS certainly isn't a bad thing, just less than their .854 OPS against lefties (~100 PA).
Further reading?
I thought this story about scouting during COVID and Flexen's journey from the KBO back to the major leagues was pretty interesting.
The Twins return from their season debut road trip with a 4-2 record and series wins against Milwaukee and Detroit to open the home half of their schedule against the Seattle Mariners this afternoon. Jose Berrios gets the honors for the Twins, returning to the mound for his second start sporting a 1-0 record, a 0.00 ERA and 12 strikeouts. Early notice among the position players this year goes to Byron Buxton, who is launching bombas like a boss (tied with Cruz for the team lead at 3 each) and boasting a slash line of .357/.438/1.143/1.580. Honorable mention goes to Luis Arraez, who is hitting .389 and getting on base every other at bat as the Twins' primary leadoff hitter. The Mariners feature Marco Gonzales (0-0, 7.50 ERA, 2K) in the starting role today. He's coming off a somewhat rough Opening Day in which he notched six innings but gave up three runs. He also walked three batters in that game after only walking seven all of last year. But enough of that. The game’s afoot: Follow your spirit, and upon this charge, cry - Play ball!
Well that sucked. On the plus side, they are undefeated in nine innings. Unfortunately, two games took extra innings.
Kenta Maeda
vs
Matthew Boyd
Boyd had a scoreless start to open the Tiger's season. It wasn't a particular great start with more walks than strikeouts but with only three hits it was good enough.
Except for one little 9th inning hiccup and a couple of GI issues (oh and Josh Donaldson), I think Twins fans can all be pretty happy the way the season has gone so far. A 3-1 record, Buxton and Cruz hitting bombas, Arraez getting on base at 6.9420 clip, great starting pitching etc. So let's keep it going.
New Twin J.A. Happ on the mound today and the Twins only lefty. Not a big strikeout guy but maybe a good veteran presence. He's certainly been around both leagues a bit. Casey Mize for the Tigers, a former #1 pick who made his debut last year but wasn't spectacular.
After scoring 15 runs yesterday big concern about saving some for today but Twins' bats should match up well against Mize so no worries there. 12:10p start.
