Twins 2, Orioles 1: Paddack, Bullpen Pitch Twins to Series-Opening Win

[jmlease1]

I had no idea until last night that the O's had made changes to the fences at Camden. Be interesting to see if that suppresses offense consistently there, but the combo of early season weather/short spring training/higher fences/improved pitching held down the Twins a lot more than any O's staff in quite a while. Fortunately, ours did well in matching them!

I like Paddack, and I hope as he gets greater confidence and mastery over his breaking pitches it will help his fastball play up a bit (and it's good to see him cruising that in consistently at 95-96, instead of 92) and I like his changeup a lot. I didn't think he had his best game last night but still kept the team in a low-scoring affair, which is definitely something to like. 

Correa is a heck of a player. 

Thrilled for Jose Miranda to get his first MLB game action. The results weren't there last night, but the approach was good and he didn't looked overwhelmed at the plate. Looking forward to seeing him while guys get healthy! He's a talented hitter, and his ability to get a bat on the ball will be nice with RISP.

[roger]

2 hours ago, Dman said:

Totally agree that Paddack has good stuff.  He really does get good movement on a lot of his pitches.  He just wasn't as fearless in the zone and first pitch strikes as Wells and that was the main gist of my comment.  They both technically pitched equally well with Paddack starting the 6th he probably should get the edge but Wells was more efficient IMO.  To your point I didn't mean to slight Paddacks excellent performance as much as point out how surprised I was that Wells went straight at the hitters with great success.

I was also more than a little surprised with how well Wells threw last night.  Was impressive.  Another thing I really liked about Paddack was his pace.  He got the ball and was ready to pitch.  I really liked that.

[USNMCPO]

I really would like to know who approved the reconfiguration of the Camden Yard outfield. It's like the little hill that used to be in the ballpark in Houston. That outcropping that Nick Gordon almost crashed into is going to get a player seriously injured. The ballpark designers just can't help themselves but to get really cute. Just stupid.

[cHawk]

This pitching staff has been fire the last 10 games

[big dog]

So far Wells has had two good starts, two dreadful starts, and one adequate start. Naturally one of is good starts was against a bunch of former teammates. Let's check in with him in July and see how things are going. I'll bet on Paddack.

[2wins87]

7 hours ago, PDX Twin said:

I remember Wells vaguely from his time in the Twins' system, but I don't remember him getting that much attention. How high did he reach in the prospect rankings? Maybe mid-teens?

I think he was in the mid 20's or late teens prior to the 2019 season.  He was a lot like Bailey Ober a couple years later.  Tall guy with good control for his size, getting deception from his height and putting up better numbers than the raw stuff would suggest.  He missed all of 2019 after a Tommy John surgery and and I'm not even sure if he pitched at the alternate site in 2020, so he was just a big question mark coming into 2021 when the Orioles took him in the rule-5.

His pitch location seemed really good last night, and I'm guessing it's not always quite so sharp.  He was getting ahead painting fastballs in the top corners of the zone.  When he missed, I don't think he missed in the zone so the Twins hitters didn't see too many good pitches to drive.