Twins Notebook 8/24: Twins Begin Crucial Series in Cleveland

[Andrew Thares]

Coming off a series victory in Kansas City, the Twins can now put the Royals in their review mirror and look forward to perhaps the most important part of their 2020 schedule. Of the Twins next 23 games, 13 of them come against either the Cleveland Indians or Chicago White Sox. That stretch kicks off tonight, with a three-game series in Cleveland.Yesterday’s Game Recap

MIN 5, KC 4 : Bullpen Steps Up Again

 

Today

Twins @ Indians, 6:10 pm CDT

Betting Line: MIN -120, CLE +100, O/U: 8.5

 

Twins Starter: Kenta Maeda, RHP 2.27 ERA

 

Kenta Maeda is coming off the best start by a Twins pitcher in quite some time and it was arguably the best start of Maeda’s MLB career. After throwing eight no-hit innings, which included striking out a Twins record eight consecutive batters at one point, Maeda went back out for the ninth, just to have his hopes of the first no-hitter by a Minnesota Twin since Francisco Liriano in 2011, dashed by a soft line-drive off the bat of Eric Sogard.

 

 

After five days of rest following that 115-pitch outing, Maeda will look to continue his success in what will be his most important start, thus far, in a Twins uniform. After a slow start to the season for the Cleveland bats, who averaged just 2.6 runs per game through their first 13 games of the season, they have picked it up of late, averaging 5.2 runs per game over the last 15. A leading catalyst for the Indians offense emergence has been outfielder Franmil Reyes, who has a 1.158 OPS over the Indians last 15 games.

 

Indians Starter: Aaron Civale, RHP 2.91 ERA

 

In a starting rotation where Shane Bieber steals all of the headlines, Aaron Civale has quietly been the second-best starter in what is probably the best starting rotation in Major League Baseball. In his second season at the big-league level, Civale has already improved on the ten excellent starts that he made as a rookie in 2019. He’s done this by doing what every team would like to see from their young pitchers, he has increased his strikeouts, while at the same time decreasing his walks. So far this year, Civale has 32 strikeouts and just 3 walks in 34 innings pitched.

 

Download attachment: 07A1CB21-B741-4204-92DD-26931400E5CE.png

 

Civale is not an overpowering pitcher by today’s standards. Instead, he is a master of keeping opposing hitters off balance. He features a strong five-pitch mix that includes a low-90s sinker and an upper-80s cutter. Civale also has both a curveball and slider in his repertoire, both of which he has learned how to throw from strikes with consistency in 2020, to go along with a solid changeup.

 

Against right-handed hitters, Civale with typically attack them with his sinker-slider combo and mix in his cutter when he falls behind in the count, and his curveball when he gets ahead in the count. Contrast that with Civale’s approach against lefties, where the cutter becomes his primary pitch, with his sinker, curveball and changeup all being available as secondary offerings. While righties can expect a heavy dosage of first pitch sinkers, lefties will need to stay balanced, as Civale throws an almost equal distribute of cutters, sinkers, curveballs and changeups to them.

 

Twins Lineup

 

1. Max Kepler, RF

2. Jorge Polanco, SS

3. Nelson Cruz, DH

4. Eddie Rosario, LF

5. Miguel Sano, 1B

6. Jake Cave, CF

7. Marwin Gonzalez, 3B

8. Luis Arraez, 2B

9. Alex Avila, C

 

News & Notes

 

- The Twins place Jake Odorizzi on the 10-day IL with a chest contusion, as a result of the comebacker he took off the chest that ended his start against Kansas City on Friday night.

 

- The Twins have also moved Homer Bailey to the 45-day IL, retroactive to July 28th. It is unclear at this point if the Twins expect to have Bailey back at all this season.

 

- After two positive COVID-19 tests last Thursday, the New York Mets did not have any further positive tests over the weekend and are set to resume play with a doubleheader against the Miami Marlins on Tuesday.

 

AROUND THE AL CENTRAL

Cubs 2, White Sox 1

Tigers 7, Indians 4

 

1. MIN 19-10 (+40)

2. CLE 17-11 (+28)

3. CHW 17-12 (+30)

4. DET 11-15 (-31)

5. KC 11-17 (-12)

 

See Also

Week in Review: Riding the Roller Coaster

Watch Out, Miguel Sano's Bat Is Starting to Click

What Happened To Jorge Polanco's Sota Pop?

Snap, Crackle, Pop Time: What it is and how the Twins' Catchers Fare

 

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[tarheeltwinsfan]

Victory, victory, that's my cry. V.I.C.T.O.R.Y.

[Channing1964]

Yeah for sure now is the time to make a Loud Statement.

[JoshDungan1]

Twins have faced Civale three times so far in his MLB career, going 1-1 in his starts against us last season and 1-0 in his one start against us this season. This season's start was the worst of the three, as we knocked in three runs against him (we had been held to one run in each of his 2019 starts, though we had scored two and four additional runs against the Cleveland bullpen in those two starts.

 

As for Franmil Reyes, we have done extremely well against him since he came over to the Indians. He's currently 9-49 (.184) with two doubles, no home runs and 4 RBI's and a 21/2 strikeout-walk split. And that .184 average comes with a little help, considering he's averaging a .321 BABIP (13th against team's he's faced). Just keep pitching to him like we have and we shouldn't have to worry too much about what he can do.