Twins Notebook 8/19: Forcing the Brewers to Climb the Mountain

[Ted Schwerzler]

Tonight, Rich Hill will take the ball for the Minnesota Twins and he’s being activated off the Injured List to do so. It will be his second start for Minnesota, and the first since July 29. He landed on the Injured List due to shoulder fatigue, and a night after Kenta Maeda was three outs from a no-hitter, Hill will look to provide an encore.YESTERDAY’S GAME RECAP

MIN 4, MIL 3: Kenta Maeda Carries No-No Into 9th Inning; Twins Win In Extras

Today:

Milwaukee @ Minnesota, 7:10 PM CT

Betting Lines: Minnesota -160, O/U 9.5

 

Twins Starter: Rich Hill, LHP 1-0 (0.00 ERA)

 

In his lone start of 2020 Hill was nothing short of spectacular. He cruised through five innings of work against a good St. Louis Cardinals squad. Throwing 68 pitches, he recorded two strikeouts while walking one and allowing just two hits. Coincidentally that would be the final game for the Cardinals until just a few days ago, and Hill himself is just making a return to the mound tonight.

 

Despite having a bottom of the barrel velocity on his fastball, Hill does everything else at an elite level. Because of his ability to spin the bender, Hill has been one of the best pitchers in baseball for quite some time. Yes, he’s 40 years old, and yes, he’s often injured, but when a team has had him on the bump, they can feel pretty confident about their chances.

 

Download attachment: Hill.PNG

 

Shoulder injuries are certainly tricky for pitchers, and while fatigue isn’t something requiring a procedure, it will be interesting to see what kind of runway Wes Johnson and Rocco Baldelli give him tonight. Minnesota’s bullpen was relatively taxed with the extra-innings affair last night, so getting at least five should be a must.

 

Brewers Starter: Brett Anderson, LHP (0-2, 4.91 ERA)

Much like his fellow starter, Anderson finds himself shelved quite often. Before pitching 176 innings for the Athletics in 2019, the Brewers left last topped 80 innings during a season back in 2015. Unlike Hill, Anderson’s results haven’t been nearly as good when he’s out there.

 

At his best Anderson is a control guy that keeps the ball within the strike zone and within the yard. When he gets burned, it’s because the lack of strikeout stuff combined with the propensity for multi-hit games turns into deficits too stark to overcome.

 

Download attachment: Anderson.PNG

 

Anderson has yet to pitch more the one out into the fifth this season for Milwaukee, and he’s given up two earned runs in each of his three starts. He’s given up a single homer in each of the last two outings, and opponents have generated at least four hits off of him in each of his three turns.

 

Lineup:

 

 

 

Here's how the bullpen is looking heading into tonight's game:

Download attachment: bullpen.png

Other Notes:

• Barring any negative, last-minute, developments, today is the first day since July 26 (Opening Weekend) that Major League Baseball will not be dealing with a COVID-19 related postponement.
• Pretty exciting prospect matchup between the White Sox and Tigers tonight as Dane Dunning and Casey Mize will both be making their MLB Debuts.

Around the AL Central:

CLE 6, PIT 3 (F/10)

CWS 10, DET 4

 

MIN 16-8 (+39 run differential)

CLE 14-9 (+23)

CWS 13-11 (+8)

DET 9-12 (-23)

KCR 9-14 (-10)

 

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[twinbythebay]

"Minnesota’s bullpen was relatively taxed with the extra-innings affair last night, so getting at least five should be a must."

 

I'm feeling much better today than yesterday about the availability of our top-end bullpen guys. Except for Rogers, all of the other high-end arms should be available tonight. Hats off to Thielbar and Alcala for taking care of business the night after a bullpen game. Not only were their performances huge in securing the win last night, they gave the rest of the guys the night off, improving the chances of another win tonight. If there's a save situation tonight, I'd like to see Duffey get a shot at it. He's the only guy I'd consider putting in Rogers's place long term.

[Trov]

I have not seen the corresponding move for bringing hill back.  Has anyone?  I hope Hill can stay in rotation for awhile this time.  We will really need him playoff time but will need him to be able to pitch more than 60 pitches in a playoff start too.  He has the track record in playoffs to be great.  He shows you do not need velo but change speeds, movement and location is key.  What is interesting is most of our starters are not top velo guys and the one that got more velo, Berrios has done the worst.  Just goes to show that if you know what you are doing keeping guys off balance, you can do well. 

[whosafraidofluigirussolo]

 

I have not seen the corresponding move for bringing hill back.  Has anyone?

 

I'd think it would be another pitcher. Thorpe is the freshest arm based on the chart above, but maybe also the most logical to send down?

 

Of the most recently taxed pitchers in the bullpen, Rogers isn't going anywhere, Alcala may be in line for higher leverage spots, Wisler and Smeltzer don't really deserve a demotion after solid work in the last bullpen game, I don't think Wisler can be optioned anyway and I'm not sure whether Thielbar can be either.

[Twins_Fan_For_Life]

Alcala was really good last night. He is going to be special out of the pen.

[Danchat]

 

I'd think it would be another pitcher. Thorpe is the freshest arm based on the chart above, but maybe also the most logical to send down?

 

Of the most recently taxed pitchers in the bullpen, Rogers isn't going anywhere, Alcala may be in line for higher leverage spots, Wisler and Smeltzer don't really deserve a demotion after solid work in the last bullpen game, I don't think Wisler can be optioned anyway and I'm not sure whether Thielbar can be either.

You are right about Wisler, but Thielbar actually does have an option left... not sure if they can use it (some veteran contracts don't allow the player to be optioned).

[sampleSizeOfOne]

I hope we win.

 

But i am glad the Brewers aren't making it easy.

[Channing1964]

Im not sure they need to make a corresponding roster move because i think i heard they left a spot open in anticipation of the roster limits being reduced to 28 instead of 30.

[a-wan]

Littell down for Hill.