Notebook 7/26: Kenta Maeda to Make Twins Debut vs. White Sox

[Tom Froemming]

Opening Day was great! Yesterday? Uh …

 

New Twin Kenta Maeda looks to lead Minnesota to a series victory today in Chicago against Reynaldo Lopez and the White Sox.YESTERDAY’S GAME RECAP

CHW 10, MIN 3: White Sox Hit 5 Homers Off Twins Bullpen

 

QUESTION OF THE DAY

What’s your favorite part about baseball being back?

 

TODAY

Twins at White Sox | 1:10 pm CT

Betting Lines: MIN -1.5, .140, 10.5 O/U

 

Twins: Kenta Maeda, RHP

Download attachment: MaedaStat.png

 

Maeda threw 84 pitches in his final tuneup outing of Summer Camp, so he should be close to full stretched out. It’s going to be interesting to see how he performs away from Dodger Stadium. He has a career 3.23 ERA at Chavez Ravine and 4.54 mark everywhere else. In his only previous outing at Guaranteed Rate Field, Maeda delivered five innings of one-run ball back in 2017.

 

Madea has been death to right-handed hitters over his career, holding them to a .199/.251/.339 batting line (.589 OPS). That bodes well, as this is a very right-handed White Sox lineup, but switch hitters Yasmani Grandal (.799 OPS) and Yoan Moncada (.839 OPS) have been better against righties over their careers.

 

White Sox: Reynaldo Lopez, RHP

Download attachment: LopezStat.png

 

Lopez boasts a fastball that averaged an impressive 95.4 mph last season. The 26-year-old took a big step back last year, however, seeing his ERA jump from 3.91 all the way up to 5.38.

 

In three starts against the Twins last season, Lopez gave up 20 runs — 16 earned — over 15 innings pitched. Current Twins hitters have combined to post a .270/.323/.550 line over 125 plate appearances against Lopez.

 

TWINS LINEUP

1. Max Kepler, RF

2. Josh Donaldson, 3B

3. Jorge Polanco, SS

4. Nelson Cruz, DH

5. Eddie Rosario, LF

6. Jake Cave, CF

7. Luis Arraez, 2B

8. Marin Gonzalez, 1B

9. Alex Avila, C

*left switch

 

Rocco's going with a lefty-heavy lineup today. Lopez has fairly even platoon splits for his career, but it's worth noting that Chicago's lefty bullpen ace Aaron Bummer is highly unlikely to be available after pitching in back-to-back games. That leaves Jace Fry (4.75 ERA last year) and Ross Detwiler (6.59 ERA last year) as the left-handers in the pen.

 

NEWS & NOTES

The Twins announced Homer Bailey will start their home opener on Tuesday against the Cardinals and Rich Hill will start Wednesday.

 

Former Twin Stephen Gonsalves was claimed by the Red Sox yesterday. Speaking of Boston, Martin Perez gave up five runs (four earned) over five innings in his debut for them yesterday. In other news of former Twins greats, Ryne Harper held the Yankees scoreless over two innings while striking out four batters in his debut with the Nationals.

 

How’s this for a weird highlight? Braves outfielder Adam Duvall crushed a home run at Citi Field that hit a cardboard cutout of Mets player Jeff McNeil’s dog.

 

 

AROUND THE AL CENTRAL

DET 6, CIN 4

KCR 3, CLE 2 (10 innings)

 

Here's a fun fact from Jayson Stark on how the Royals won in extras:

 

Standings (run differential)

1. CHW 1-1 (+2)

1. CLE 1-1 (+1)

1. KCR 1-1 (-1)

1. MIN 1-1 (-2)

1. DET 1-1 (-4)

 

SEE ALSO

We Should Be More Worried About Jake Odorizzi

MLB Provides Refreshment and Peculiarity in Return

Swinging Sixty: Minnesota Twins 2020 Season Preview

20 Twins Predictions for the 2020 Season

The 2020 Preseason All-AL Central Team

 

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[mikelink45]

Isn't it time for Rooker or someone other than Marwin to play first base?  This is Marwin's last season with us, Let's get some prospects into the mix.  He should be saved for emergencies - he is not an OF or 1B starter - get the people in who play the position. 

[tarheeltwinsfan]

I am very excited about watching Maeda pitch today. I think he will be an important   key to our starters and to our season. He looks like a pitcher who knows how to pitch. Play ball. 

[rdehring]

I understand wanting to get Adrianza and Gonzalez into games early in the season. But, I really hope Rocco isn't planning on platooning Arraez all season. 

[Squirrel]

Game's about to begin ... head over to today's game thread to share in-game talk and banter ... see you over there ... 

[4twinsJA]

Maeda looked great today, really excited about him.