Game Score: Mariners 2, Twins 1

[Thiéres Rabelo]

Minnesota put together a lovely pitching performance, but Robbie Ray’s fantastic outing ultimately was the difference-maker. The Mariners held off a Twins rally late and handed Minnesota’s first season loss.

Box Score
Starting Pitcher: Joe Ryan, 4.0 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 4 K (70 pitches, 42 strikes, 64%)
Home Runs: Gio Urshela (1)
Bottom 3 WPA: Byron Buxton (-.214), Carlos Correa (-.173), Gary Sanchez (.152),
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Ryan gives up an early home run, departs after four innings
Joe Ryan was named the Opening Day starter for the Twins, becoming the first rookie starting pitcher to do so in precisely 53 years: on 4/8/1969, rookie Tom Hall took the mound, and he pitched into the sixth against the Royals in Kansas City to open the season. With only 26 2/3 big league innings in his career, Ryan became the Opening Day starter with the fewest such innings in franchise history and the first in the majors since David Nied in 1993.

The first two times through the Seattle order were anything but smooth for Ryan. Having given up only five total walks in his five 2021 starts, he gave up three in the first three innings while also hitting a batter. He hung a fastball against Mitch Haniger in the first, which was crushed for a two-out, two-run home run.

Seattle couldn't build momentum and add on despite posing a constant threat during the first three innings. Ryan closed out each of those innings with a strikeout, two against Eugenio Suárez. He also got some big help from a great defensive play by Carlos Correa in the third, which almost started a double play.

Speaking of the new guy, he was responsible for Minnesota’s only hit early, as reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Robbie Ray – and his famous pants – cruised through the Twins lineup. In his first at-bat with Minnesota, C4 smacked a fastball down the middle for a single.

Minnesota gets on the board, Duran impresses in majors debut
Minnesota managed to get on the board in the fourth, with another new guy making a good first impression. Gio Urshela, once known for his efficiency against off-speed pitches, took Ray deep for the Twins’ first home run of the season.

The fourth inning was also the final one for Ryan in the ballgame, as he once again failed to prevent baserunners from reaching. Rocco Baldelli brought in flame-throwing prospect Jhoan Duran for his Major League debut for the next two innings, and the Dominican didn’t disappoint.

Duran didn’t get off to a good start, giving up back-to-back singles to open the inning. However, with his pitches reaching 100.7 MPH on the radar gun and showing off some nasty movement, he managed to blow past the heart of the Mariner lineup, striking out the next four batters. His velocity wasn’t the same during his second inning out there, but he still managed to hold off Seattle.

The bats can’t provide the rally against Ray, Seattle’s bullpen
Ray continued to dominate the Twins' offense and did so economically, as his pitch count didn’t hit 90 until the seventh inning. With one of baseball’s best bullpens last season, Mariner relievers managed to keep the Twins offense out of the game in the final two innings.

After a 1-2-3 inning from reliever Paul Sewald in the eighth, Minnesota had one inning to try and spark a rally, and they almost did. Luis Arráez replaced Urshela in the ninth, and he put together a superb nine-pitch that ended in a leadoff single. It all came down to Gary Sánchez with two outs and a man on, and he put on a good fight but eventually flew out, merely inches away from a walk-off homer.

A positive takeaway from this game for the Twins was the excellent pitching performance, especially from the bullpen. After Duran pitched two scoreless frames, Jorge Alcalá and Danny Coulombe kept Seattle scoreless for the rest of the game. Minnesota’s relievers combined for five scoreless innings, with three hits, three walks, and seven strikeouts.

What’s Next?
On  Saturday, the series continues when Sonny Gray will make his Twins debut against Logan Gilbert. The first pitch is scheduled for 1:10 pm.

Postgame Interview

 

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet
(pitch counts were not available for Tuesday's spring training game) 

	MON	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	TOT
Ober	56	0	0	0	0	56
Duran	0	0	0	0	31	31
Coulombe	0	0	0	0	27	27
Alcalá	10	0	0	0	13	23
Cotton	22	0	0	0	0	22
Thielbar	0	0	0	0	0	0
Duffey	0	0	0	0	0	0
Pagán	0	0	0	0	0	0
Romero	0	0	0	0	0	0
Smith	0	0	0	0	0	0
Winder	0	0	0	0	0	0

 

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[Puckett34]

 

Have to wake up bats

[VivaBomboRivera!]

Today's pitchers should be proud of their work.

4 - 29 at the plate, however, recalls the anemic offensive performances of the first half of the 2021 season - not a place we want to revisit.

This was a fun game, in any event. Close enough to make us believe that better days are coming.

[Dman]

5 minutes ago, VivaBomboRivera! said:

Today's pitchers should be proud of their work.

4 - 29 at the plate, however, recalls the anemic offensive performances of the first half of the 2021 season - not a place we want to revisit.

This was a fun game, in any event. Close enough to make us believe that better days are coming.

I agree it was a good game.  Ryan with one mistake pitch and that was it.  Duran when on looks very tough.  Coulombe held his own.  The big bats went missing today.  Buc just didn't have the magic today.  I will say Ray has some serious lateral movement on his pitches very tough.  I was surprised how long they kept him out there but it worked out well for Seattle today.

Let's go get'em tomorrow.

[VivaBomboRivera!]

31 minutes ago, Puckett34 said:

 

Have to wake up bats

That's it, they left their head covers in Fort Myers...

 

[Puckett34]

10 minutes ago, VivaBomboRivera! said:

That's it, they left their head covers in Fort Myers...

 

Hats for bats

[VivaBomboRivera!]

5 minutes ago, Puckett34 said:

Hats for bats

"Keep bats warm."

[Rosterman]

It will be interesting watching the development of Ryan. He can challenge the hitters, but if a team is savvy, they can also make him throw strikes. It's that fine line of when you just throw strikes and when you try and be cute, and keeping the advantage in your arena rather than the batters.

 

I'm glad Duran got butterflies out of the way. He might just be the closer the Twins need now and forever. What do you think?

 

I keep trying to think how I would construct this lineup. I always loved Arraez as a lead-off hitter as he can make a pitcher work. Better than Buxton usually can at this point. Correa is a good #2 hitter. But if Buxton gets on base, I love his ability to advance if the #2 hitter puts a ball in plau compared to Arraez. Yet Buxton could also give us power and would be a nice fit in the #3 hole. But you don't want him followed by strikeout kings like Sano or Sanchez.

 

Is Kirilloff the good #4 hitter...but then HE is followed by the strikeout kinds. Or Gio...should he be the #4 hitter? And I hate toi bury Polanco in the end of the line-up, but someone has to anchor that end of the card, too.

 

The Twins did get their own walks, and didn't swing as free as the Mariners, which was good. Ray managed to endure, which is a plus these days for saving a staff and is the type of performance Ryan should study...how to work a game.

 

Of course, both pitchers suffered from a lone home run. Ryan's had a hit batsman.

 

Read somewhere that the Twins are going with a six man rotation the first month. Pushed Ryan into the 70-pitch count. Happily the bullpen had a couple of multi-inning arms.

 

 

[wsnydes]

55 minutes ago, Puckett34 said:

 

Have to wake up bats

 

[Doctor Gast]

Great game! great pitching effort by the Twins especially the BP. Unfortunately Seatle's pitching was a little bit better. Encouraged by the performance, GO TWINS!

[Melissa]

It was fun watching Twins baseball again! A little strange seeing all the new players, but nice to see Correa make a couple of sharp plays at shortstop and Urshela bang one out. Too bad Sánchez didn’t muscle that last one out.

I share Rosterman’s hope or belief that Duran could handle the high leverage situations (though I wouldn’t restrict him to the traditional closer role).

Go Twins! Sonny tomorrow!

[LastOnePicked]

Urshela hammers a homer against the reigning Cy Young. Sanchez misses a 9th inning game-winning stunner by inches.

Donaldson sneaks a seeing-eye grounder through the infield for a walk-off win.

Yankees win. Twins lose. Welcome to Minnesota, boys. Land o' hard luck.

 

[jmlease1]

Interesting game. Not sure we're going to see another game all year where Ryan has 4 walks and a HBP like that, so maybe a bit unlucky there, but this is going to be the key to his success this season: keeping runners off-base if he gives up the dinger. Because he's going to give up a few. Despite that, Ryan wasn't bad, and the bullpen definitely picked him up. 

Bats were cold as ice, but I still like this lineup. Was bummed for Sanchez that he missed that last one by a couple of feet, would have been a really nice start for him, but he still had a good AB in the situation and gave the ball a ride. Was fun hearing Bremer go "hello!" when he connected.

Duran is pretty filthy. I have to wonder what his best role for the team is: extra innings going two + destroying a team in the 5-7th, or 1 inning dominating in the last three? I mean, fun problem to have, I guess? But interesting idea to think about. Coulombe showed why he got added to the roster, I thought.

[MplsFan]

8 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

Interesting game. Not sure we're going to see another game all year where Ryan has 4 walks and a HBP like that, so maybe a bit unlucky there, but this is going to be the key to his success this season: keeping runners off-base if he gives up the dinger. Because he's going to give up a few. Despite that, Ryan wasn't bad, and the bullpen definitely picked him up. 

Bats were cold as ice, but I still like this lineup. Was bummed for Sanchez that he missed that last one by a couple of feet, would have been a really nice start for him, but he still had a good AB in the situation and gave the ball a ride. Was fun hearing Bremer go "hello!" when he connected.

Duran is pretty filthy. I have to wonder what his best role for the team is: extra innings going two + destroying a team in the 5-7th, or 1 inning dominating in the last three? I mean, fun problem to have, I guess? But interesting idea to think about. Coulombe showed why he got added to the roster, I thought.

Nice post.  I also thought Sanchez missed the home run by a “couple feet” though an earlier poster said a couple of inches.  A buddy of mine said it “was very close” but I didn’t think so.  Regardless, not enough to merit a bat flip in my opinion.  He was getting roasted on Twitter saying he thinks he’s still in Yankee stadium.

Great insight on Duran and the question of what he is: an inning 5-7 fireman or the closer?  Like you said: “good problem to have” and I enjoy it, but if he’s got the intestinal fortitude for it, I’d say just make him the closer.  Not sure who else could do it.

[Wizard11]

Great piece and superbly written.

[TC-D.MajorBaseballFan]

Message to Rocco and FO:

The explanation for why the Giants manager wins is that he understands Bill James baseball is a situational strategy, not a blanket strategy.  It's good in some spots, but not all spots.  It’s not a baseball unicorn.  Where the Giants manager adds his magic is he knows when to play traditional baseball and when to play Bill James baseball.  That’s a skill of feel.  Some guys have it, some guys don’t.  Front offices need to develop a WAR metric to figure out who does and who doesn’t.

Rocco, you wouldn’t coach my kid’s little league team right now.

Bunt with Buxton in Bottom 3 with runners on first and second and no outs.  He’ll advance the runners AND probably get an infield hit to load the bases.  Even if the Mariners inexplicably throw Buc out, there’s still a runner on third with less than two outs (and a trailing runner in scoring position).  Then, Correa can swing away.

Frankly, that was t-ball Rocco.  Keep your eye on the ball.  It just takes one.  And when you’re playing third base, remember the ball gets to first faster when you throw it than run it.  That was quite a shift for the kids to pick up, but they eventually got it.

I'm praying we advance to coach pitch this year.

PS: Jhoan Duran was awesome.

[bighat]

As Morneau said, in month that ball Sanchez hit in the 9th is 5 rows deep into the seats. Tough way to end it.

Maybe Kiriloff should flip spots with Kepler in the batting order. Looked overmatched today, and not just against Ray.

Duran looked like the real deal, what a day for him.

Fantastic AB from Luis Arraez in the 9th, the guy can just flat hit.

Let's hope Bux didn't leave everything down in Fort Myers. Very disappointing day for Byron and the rest of the bats.

[mikelink45]

Tudo bem?  I just read that you are from Brazil - love the country and have many great friends there. 

For the game - it looked like a game where a short spring training does not really have us ready to go.  When I looked at your bottom three WPA - it looks backward!  Those will be the top soon.  

Loved Correa in the field and Urshela did a lot to win the fans over to him. Ryan did not look like he was ready - nerves or lack of ST?  

I loved the fact that Robbie Ray pitched seven innings.  That is what a starter is supposed to do and it is important to have a manager recognize that fact.

Great first impression by our pen.  Both Duran and Acala started slow which either means that they have beginning of the year jitters or that they should not be brought in with runners already on base.

I am ready for another game!

[Doctor Gast]

4 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

Tudo bem?  I just read that you are from Brazil - love the country and have many great friends there. 

For the game - it looked like a game where a short spring training does not really have us ready to go.  When I looked at your bottom three WPA - it looks backward!  Those will be the top soon.  

Loved Correa in the field and Urshela did a lot to win the fans over to him. Ryan did not look like he was ready - nerves or lack of ST?  

I loved the fact that Robbie Ray pitched seven innings.  That is what a starter is supposed to do and it is important to have a manager recognize that fact.

Great first impression by our pen.  Both Duran and Acala started slow which either means that they have beginning of the year jitters or that they should not be brought in with runners already on base.

I am ready for another game!

Oi! Thieres. Donde voce mora? Continua seu bon trabalho! Viva Twins!

[Doctor Gast]

The cold damp air favored the pitching, a slightly warmer & drier day it could've been a different story. Also DET pulled off an upset over CWS, great to see Meadows hit a 2 out triple with Baez getting an extra base walk off