The Twins hit three more home runs, including the first of Mitch Garver’s career, and the bullpen delivered 4.2 shutout innings of one-hit ball to help lift Minnesota to victory on the home opener. It was a day of firsts, as Zach Duke earned his first win as a Twin and Fernando Rodney recorded his first save with the club.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs)

Download attachment: Snapshot45.png

James Paxton figured to be a tough draw for the Twins today. He was among the best pitchers in baseball last season, though his season went somewhat underappreciated because he missed some time. Here are the 2017 leaders in FIP, minimum 130 innings pitched:

 

2.45 Chris Sale

2.50 Corey Kluber

2.61 Paxton

2.71 Stephen Strasburg

2.90 Max Scherzer

 

We learned during the pregame ceremonies that Paxton is also a pretty cool customer.

Paxton lived up to the billing, and was cruising right along until Miguel Sano blasted Target Field’s first home run of 2018 to tie the game at 2-2. It was also the Twins’ first homer with runners on this season.

From there it was all Twins. Garver gave the Twins the lead in the seventh inning with his blast ...

.. and Eddie Rosario provided a nice insurance run with his first dinger of the year in the eighth.

The bullpen was spectacular.

 

Taylor Rogers got a huge inning-ending double play in the fifth and then pitched a 1-2-3 sixth inning. Ryan Pressly gave up a leadoff walk and a Texas Leaguer to open the seventh before getting a huge strikeout. He was bailed out of trouble in part by Duke and in part by a suboptimal baserunning play by Seattle.

 

Duke retired both men he faced. Addison Reed came in for the eighth and had about as good of an inning you could hope for. He struck out two batters and only needed 10 pitches, nine of which were strikes.

 

Rodney came in for his first save opportunity of the year. He walked the first batter he faced on four pitches, but retired Jean Segura, Robinson Cano and Mitch Haniger in order to close it out.

The guy who shoots arrows is playing his home games at Target Field. It just seems like it’s meant to be.

 

The Mariners hit three balls 105 mph or harder off Kyle Gibson and had seven hits over his 4.1 innings pitched. The M’s scored both of their runs off Gibby in the first inning, one was unearned due to a Sano error.

 

Postgame With Molitor

Bullpen Usage

Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days:

Download attachment: Bullpen45.png

Next Three Games

Sat vs. SEA, 1:10 pm CT

Sun vs. SEA, 1:10 pm CT

Mon vs. HOU, 7:10 pm CT

 

Last Three Games

MIN 7, PIT 3: Rosario Sparks Comeback, Inspires Some Head-Scratching

PIT 5, MIN 4: Lynn Surrenders Grand Slam in Twins Debut

MIN 7, BAL 0: Berri0s

 

More From Twins Daily

Twins vs Mariners Series Preview

Talented Lookouts Eye Repeat In Southern League

Blackmon's Deal With Rockies Sets Precedent For Dozier

 

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I just want to say ... I turned to my buddies during the game (section 118 row 9) and said “I’m gonna call it. Mitch is gonna Hit a bomb to left here in this AB”. Boom.

 

You’re welcome.

Thank you!

How did Gibson *really* look today? I listened on the radio but won’t watch the game until tomorrow. It sounded like he was struggling a bit but mostly ran into a string of bad BABIP luck.

How did Gibson *really* look today? I listened on the radio but won’t watch the game until tomorrow. It sounded like he was struggling a bit but mostly ran into a string of bad BABIP luck.

I watched on teevee, and he had his usual command, which is to say nil.

How come they didn't 'ignore' Garver in the dugout on his 1st homerun? Isn't that the tradition?

 

I watched on teevee, and he had his usual command, which is to say nil.

So what you're saying is that the ball approached the plate and things happened.

So what you're saying is that the ball approached the plate and things happened.

Mistakes were made.

 

Such as a changeup over the middle of the plate.

It was cold out there!

but mostly ran into a string of bad BABIP luck.

Let me take another swing at this. 3 thoughts:

1. the bad BABIP luck was countered by pretty good pitching out of trouble luck after the first inning, plus relief help.
2. the problem wasn't BABIP, but BIP. He struck out only 3 of 23 batters and walked 1.
3. when I was paying attention, he wasn't getting beat on good pitches. The eye test confirmed the line score, for me.

Sloppy D today

 

Rodney > Jansen in '18

 

How did Gibson *really* look today? I listened on the radio but won’t watch the game until tomorrow. It sounded like he was struggling a bit but mostly ran into a string of bad BABIP luck.

I wouldn't say that Gibson had BABIP bad luck. His BABIP in this game was .412, but his deserved BABIP based on his Statcast numbers was .369. He just left way too many pitches up in the zone, and Gibson doesn't have the stuff to get away with that.

How did Gibson *really* look today? I listened on the radio but won’t watch the game until tomorrow. It sounded like he was struggling a bit but mostly ran into a string of bad BABIP luck.

He has some shaky defense behind him in Sano and Adrianza that resulted in an elevated pitch count and stressful innings. The Gibson of old might have imploded and left the game in a lot worse shape than down 2-0.

1] So far so good. We've seen some great SP and some not so great SP, but every day won't be great/good. The pen has looked pretty awesome so far. Even in the game where Duke gave up those runs he SO 4!

 

2] The power on this team is real and Morrison hasn't even got cranked up yet.

 

3] As a TEAM they are starting off where they left it last season, playing as a team in all facets and getting it done. There is a lot of confidence in these guys.

 

4] Hats off to Garver for his first ML HR! Am I the only one who believes if Molitor uses his catching "platoon" correctly we could get 30 doubles and 16-18 HR combined this year?

As Mike noted in the game thread, if I were a Mariner fan I’d be questioning letting my LH starter give up a game tying 2 run HR to Sano.

 

Particularly since he was then immediately removed.

Didn't the MLB say Rodney couldn't do the arrow thing anymore?

Garver's shot was an absolute blast.

 

Get that man more playing time please.

Nice to see Garver can do more than just wheel around the bases for triples.

Great clutch performance by both the bats and the pen!
Love a young guy hitting the go ahead homer late!

Also, any chance Sunday's game gets moved to tomorrow because of snow forecast? Or does that never happen? 

Also, any chance Sunday's game gets moved to tomorrow because of snow forecast? Or does that never happen?

High temperature tomorrow is forecast to be 22F. No game getting played then. Find a day to bring the Mariners back during the season when it is warm.

 

High temperature tomorrow is forecast to be 22F. No game getting played then. Find a day to bring the Mariners back during the season when it is warm.

Come on, that's perfect spring baseball weather

Didn't the MLB say Rodney couldn't do the arrow thing anymore?

I thought it was in honor of his father?

 

I wouldn't say that Gibson had BABIP bad luck. His BABIP in this game was .412, but his deserved BABIP based on his Statcast numbers was .369. He just left way too many pitches up in the zone, and Gibson doesn't have the stuff to get away with that.

I agree with pretty much everything... except (sorry) that no​ pitcher in baseball has the stuff to get away with it when they leave a ball on a hitter's dinner plate.

 

You're absolutely right though, Gibby just flat out struggled today overall (even accounting for the cold).

Didn't the MLB say Rodney couldn't do the arrow thing anymore?

Wait, what? Why!?!!?

 

Let the players have their “thing”, particularly when it has personal significance.

Is that a phone in Garver's back right pocket? 

2 games in a row where Rosario catches a break.  That called ball not only was strike 3, it was not even borderline!  Next pitch...bomb.  We'll take it.

I was at the game today. The thing I was blown by was that Lemarre bats right but throws left. So weird. If he's naturally left-handed, it would be weird to have him hit right handed since left handed hitting is a much rarer commodity.

 

If he just is naturally split between batting and hitting, is this common? Is he an X-man?

Gone are the days the Twins needed to turn the fans on at the dome to get an edge,  its the modern era and now we send birds of prey on our foes.

I was at the game today. The thing I was blown by was that Lemarre bats right but throws left. So weird. If he's naturally left-handed, it would be weird to have him hit right handed since left handed hitting is a much rarer commodity.

 

If he just is naturally split between batting and hitting, is this common? Is he an X-man?

Apparently only 5 players in history of mlb have that combo (over 1000 at bats). Rickey Henderson, Ryan Ludwick, Cody Ross and 2 others.

 

Apparently it is much more common to bat left and throw right. There are hundreds of examples of that

Edited April 6, 20188 yr by AZTwin

Gibsons performance was almost magical. While he didn't really get much help from the defense, he also got pretty much hammered. And last game 5 walks? He is definitely testing the theory of damage control. The good news is help is on the way. Hughes was mid season form in 5 innings, and is ready to resume his rightful position on the roster.