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Article: MIN 4, CHW 0: Mauer Reaches 2,000 Hits, Leads Twins to Victory

Tom Froemming
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Tom Froemming All-Star

Tom Froemming

Twins Daily Staff
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Sometimes milestones are anticlimactic, but this one was pretty neat. With the Twins leading 2-0 in the seventh inning, Joe Mauer ripped a single up the middle for his 2,000th career hit. That drove in two runs and came in front of his home fans. If you ask for more than that, you’re just being greedy.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs)

Download attachment: Snapshot412.png Download attachment: WinEx412.png

Of course, in order to get to 2,000 Mauer had to get 1,999. He delivered an RBI single in the third inning and also walked in the first.

Mauer has been one of the best hitters in baseball so far in this young season. He closed the night with a .412 batting average and 1.074 OPS.

Berrios was incredible. He tied a career high with 11 strikeouts and did not walk a batter over seven shutout innings. Of his 99 pitches, 73 were for strikes. On the season, Jose has 24 strikeouts, one walk and an ERA of 2.18. Wow.

 

He’s on quite a roll heading into the Puerto Rico series.

 

According to Baseball Savant, Berrios racked up 17 swinging strikes tonight, 11 of them on the 37 curveballs he threw. That pitch is developing into one of the more formidable offerings in baseball.

 

Brian Dozier had an RBI double and scored twice. He has a hit in every game so far this season. Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario also doubled. Byron Buxton stole a pair of bases, giving him four on the year already. He didn't swipe his fourth base until May 18 last season.

 

Bullpen Usage

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

Download attachment: Bullpen412.png

Next Three Games

Fri vs. CHW 7:10 pm CT

Sat vs. CHW 1:10 pm CT

Sun vs. CHW 1:10 pm CT

 

Last Three Games

MIN 9, HOU 8: Max to the Rescue!

MIN 4, HOU 1: Odorizzi, Twins Battle Their Way to Victory

HOU 2, MIN 0: Failure to Launch

 

More From Twins Daily

Minors Report

A Milestone For Minnesota And Mauer

Logan Morrison: Bad or Just Bad Luck?

Changing Timeline: Is It Time To Start Worrying About Santana?

 

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Han Joelo GCL Twins

Han Joelo

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Mauer's not flipping around this year, darn it. In fact, he was at batting practice, and the batboy asked him which bat was his, and Mauer finished dipping his French fry in mayonnaise, and then said, "It's the one that says Bad Mauer Flipper on it."

 

Mauer's a stud, and that is not fiction of any kind.

 

Berrios is a stud too.  A stud muffin even.

 

Pressly is gaining my confidence, and Moya has it.  I'll be bummed if he gets shipped out tonight.

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RaoulDuke Draft Eligible

RaoulDuke

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I could only watch the condensed game (damn those are nice btw hope mlb.com runs them all year), Berrios looked like he was eating people alive with the curve.  That is a +++ pitch when he has it going and makes his fastball a real danger as well.

 

Congratz Mr. Mauer, its a shame injuries made it take this long but thats a hell of a milestone.

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diehardtwinsfan Minnesota Twins

diehardtwinsfan

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I wish I could have watched this one. Nothing quite like seeing a 4-0 box score. Means every side of the team was working well. 

 

Hope this Mauer torrid streak continues. 

 

Only real thing I want to see is Sano and Buxton cutting down on the Ks. I know Sano's OPS looks good, but I really don't think either have really taken off yet. 

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D. Hocking GCL Twins

D. Hocking

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It is nice that Joe's 2000th hit was one that mattered on a team that has some hope rather than a meaningless hit in a game we were sure to lose and in one of the dark seasons.  Also nice that it was at a time that he finished the night leading the league in batting average and batting over 400.  Not that the 400 is sustainable (although that would be nice).

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bighat Cedar Rapids Kernels

bighat

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Only real thing I want to see is Sano and Buxton cutting down on the Ks. I know Sano's OPS looks good, but I really don't think either have really taken off yet. 

 

Buxton has really been cutting down on the K's. He's struck out just twice in his last 18 at-bats.

 

Sano on the other hand....P.U.  He is hammering the ball when he makes contact, though. And at this point Logan Morrison has been so terrible that moving Sano in the batting order isn't realistic.

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Tom Froemming All-Star

Tom Froemming

Twins Daily Staff
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Replay / review aided the Twins as well.  Without that, Buxton is caught stealing and the Twins likely do not score the 2 runs in the 3rd.  That made it a different ballgame.

You're right, and Buxton had a huge impact on the bases that inning. Singled, stole second, advanced to third on a fly out to the center fielder and then scored on a groundball hit to the shortstop while the infield was drawn in.

 

A very small percentage of players would have been able to make all that happen. The White Sox made some poor throws that allowed him to get to third and then home, but it definitely seemed like they were feeling the pressure of Buxton on the bases.

 

On replay, I still can't believe it took them over three and a half minutes to review that Berrios-Anderson pickoff and they still got it wrong.

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bobs Draft Eligible

bobs

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  Was in KC August 2016 for Twins/Royals.  Watched Berrios LABOR through about 3 innings.  Seemed like every hitter was 3-2.  Kept hearing "he needs to trust his stuff".  What a difference 2 years makes.  This kid is special.  Don't overanalyze him folks, just enjoy him.

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jmlease1 GCL Twins

jmlease1

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Berrios is becoming appointment viewing when he's on the mound. you really don't want to miss a start, because it might be something pretty special and almost certainly pretty fun to watch. That curve is filthy and he's spotting his fastball well.

 

I'm really happy Mauer is off to a fast start and got his 2000 last night. He looks like he's playing free and easy and that swing as just as smooth as it's always been. Kinda back to being surprised when Mauer strikes out. Hope he keeps slashing singles and knocking doubles all over the field.

 

Fun game, even with the replay delays and fails.

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