Twins Notebook 9/8: Twins Look To Berríos, Dobnak In Doubleheader vs. Cardinals

[Tom Froemming]

In a strange scheduling quirk, the Twins are in St. Louis today to play a doubleheader against the Cardinals. Here’s a look into today’s matchups, as well as a review of the remaining schedules of the American League Central contenders.YESTERDAY’S RECAP

Twins 6, Tigers 2: Pineda Pitches 7 Innings, Twins Take 4 of 5

 

TODAY

Twins at Cardinals

Game 1 2:15 pm CT

José Berríos (4.29 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 2.35 K:BB) vs. Carlos Martinez (14.73 ERA, 2.18 WHIP, 2.00 K:BB)

 

Game 2 to follow 30 minutes later

Randy Dobnak (2.72 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 2.10 K:BB) vs. Daniel Ponce de Leon (7.82 ERA, 1.90 WHIP, 1.21 K:BB)

 

These look like a couple of very good matchups for the Twins on paper, but Martinez’s numbers are all from one start (which happened to be against the Twins) and Ponce de Leon’s career numbers (3.91 ERA in 94 1/3 innings) are much better than what he’s shown in 2020.

 

Berríos racked up 23 strikeouts over 17 2/3 innings in his last three starts, posting a 2.04 ERA in the process. Dobnak will be pitching on short rest, but he also threw just 61 pitches in his last start. It’ll be interesting to see how long he goes today.

 

The schedule originally called for this short series to be played over the next two days, but the Cardinals had to move some things around after they had a number of games suspended. St. Louis will have an off day tomorrow before hosting Detroit for another doubleheader Thursday. The Twins will actually have the luxury of having the next two days off.

 

The Cardinals are 17-16 this season, which is good enough to put them fifth in the National League playoff picture. They’ve won six of their last eight games. St. Louis is 6-4 in doubleheader games so far this season while Minnesota is 3-3.

 

Nelson Cruz last played on Saturday, as he’s been dealing with a sore hip. It’ll be interesting to see if he plays in today’s doubleheader or if the Twins take the opportunity to give him a long period of rest with the two days off coming.

 

AROUND THE AL CENTRAL

CLE 5, KCR 2

 

1. CHW 26-15

1. CLE 26-15

3. MIN 26-17 (-1)

4. DET 18-21 (-7)

5. KCR 14-28 (-12.5)

 

I took a look into the remaining schedules for each of the three top AL Central teams in the video below.

 

 

SEE ALSO

3 Twins Players Heading to Free Agency at the Wrong Time

You are Hereby Circled: The Legacy of Bert Blyleven

The September Jolt We Forgot We Needed

 

Click here to view the article

[rdehring]

With Dobnak and Berrios pitching today, expect one (Berrios) will come back to start Sunday against Cleveland on normal rest. That would mean Pineda could start Saturday on normal rest with Maeda pitching the opener Friday with an extra day of rest. Sets up nicely for what will be a huge series for the Twins effort to win the division. Will be interesting to see if Rocco skips Hill to have what may be his three best starters versus the Indians.

 

I know many of us thought Dobnak could/should have gone another inning last time out. Do you think, Tom, that Rocco had this game in mind when he pulled him from a short start?

[mikelink45]

Nice summary - some exciting ball ahead.  I keep thinking about Garver coming back and wonder if Jeffers will get bounced.   I would move Avila and keep Jeffers.  

[denarded]

Good job Tom

[Tom Froemming]

 

With Dobnak and Berrios pitching today, expect one (Berrios) will come back to start Sunday against Cleveland on normal rest. That would mean Pineda could start Saturday on normal rest with Maeda pitching the opener Friday with an extra day of rest. Sets up nicely for what will be a huge series for the Twins effort to win the division. Will be interesting to see if Rocco skips Hill to have what may be his three best starters versus the Indians.

 

I know many of us thought Dobnak could/should have gone another inning last time out. Do you think, Tom, that Rocco had this game in mind when he pulled him from a short start?

 

Yes, that is my interpretation on the logic behind Dobnak's last start. Rocco appears to be thinking two steps ahead, which may pay off huge if the Twins can take advantage of all these extra off days they have compared to Chicago and Cleveland.

 

 

Nice summary - some exciting ball ahead.  I keep thinking about Garver coming back and wonder if Jeffers will get bounced.   I would move Avila and keep Jeffers.  

 

It probably comes down to Avila's health, but I could see a scenario in which they keep all three. As much as people like to joke about Gardy's love of having three catchers on the roster, it does come in handy sometimes. 

 

 

Good job Tom

 

Thank you! 

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

It probably comes down to Avila's health, but I could see a scenario in which they keep all three. As much as people like to joke about Gardy's love of having three catchers on the roster, it does come in handy sometimes. 

It makes a fair amount of sense to carry three catchers given the makeup of each catcher.

 

Garver is a given.

 

Avila bats left-handed.

 

Astudillo is "break glass in case of emergency" behind the plate but is very useful as an extreme contact hitter during those situations you just need someone to put wood on the ball.

 

The odd man out here, as far as I see it, is Jeffers... which is too bad because damn he's smooth behind the plate and has done just fine stepping into the role with zero MLB experience before a few weeks ago.

[Monticore]

I continue to root for Astudillo as a Grimm's Fairy Tale character come to life. 2 hits, 2 runs scored today from the 9 spot.