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The Twins opened up with the first of five games in four days Monday night against the Guardians. Sonny Gray made his ninth start of the season dominating through seven innings as the Twins bats awoke for the first of five straight games in Cleveland. Box Score SP: Sonny Gray 7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K (97 pitches, 64 strikes (66 strike %)) Home Runs: Gary Sanchez (9), Nick Gordon (3), Carlos Correa (8) Top 3 or Bottom 3 WPA: Gary Sanchez .199, Sonny Gray .198, Gio Urshela .167 Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) The first inning was a quiet affair at the plate for both teams. That changed in the top of the second as Alex Kirilloff and Gio Urshela reached base on a hit-by-pitch and double, respectively. Then Gary Sanchez came to the plate and on a 1-0 count saw a fastball right down the middle of the plate from Triston McKenzie and took it to deep left field for a three-run homer giving the Twins the first lead of the game. As the Twins moved into the bottom halves of the second and third, Sonny Gray kept the game scoreless allowing only one base runner on a single by Josh Naylor. Come time for the top of the fourth, the Twins were back at it again with the hits. Kirilloff reached base once again, this time on a single, and Urshela continued to be a doubles machine in his second at-bat getting an RBI double that scored Kirllioff to make it a 4-0 Twins lead. The following at-bat by Gary Sanchez brought another run home with Urshela scoring on an RBI single to make it 5-0 Twins over Cleveland. In the bottom of the fourth, Gray once again allowed the leadoff man Amed Rosario to reach, making it three of four innings where the leadoff man reached on a single off Gray. Still Gray escaped the hiccup retiring the next three batters and keeping the score at 5-0. Both McKenzie and Gray retired the minimum in the fifth inning keeping the game score at 5-0. Kirilloff kept up the hitting game again in the top of the sixth with a leadoff single. He wanted to extend that hit into a double but slid in too late and was thrown out by Steven Kwan from left field. Sanchez followed up Kirilloff two at-bats later by being the other Twin to reach base at least three times in the game. The next pitch was the first for Nick Gordon’s third at-bat and Nick Gordon pulled it to right field for a two-run home run to make the Twins lead 7-0. Gray continued his domination in the bottom of the sixth retiring the minimum for the third time in the game. Even more impressive was Gray’s total pitch count being only at 77 through six in his third start since returning from the IL. The offense gave Gray even more run support in the top of the seventh inning as Luis Arraez led off, drawing his second walk of the game. Two at-bats later, Carlos Correa delivered more runs on another two-run shot to put the Twins up further 9-0. Kirilloff got another chance to make up for his running game in his next at-bat in the top of the seventh. This time, Kwan had trouble reading the ball landing in left field from Kirilloff and he reached second safely to give himself a three-hit game and reached base in every plate appearance of the game to that point. The bottom of the seventh started off with a ten-pitch at-bat by Jose Ramirez against Gray that ended in a walk. The following at-bat made up for the walk as the Twins recorded a 3-5-1 double play against Naylor. Gray retired the final batter of the inning and Spongbob fan Oscar Gonzalez on a live drive to Correa, marking the end of Gray’s stellar start with seven innings of shutout baseball on 97 pitches. The eighth inning did not have much going for either team and as the game entered the top of the ninth inning, the Guardians forfeited their designated hitter by putting in Ernie Clement in the game for Jose Ramirez. Clement was on the mound in the ninth and the Guardians starting designated hitter, Owen Miller, was moved over to third. The top of the ninth did bring another first of the season as Mark Contreras came off the bench in place of Correa, hit against the shift and earned his first major league hit. Kirilloff was retired in the top of the ninth but got a sacrifice that scored Gilberto Celestino changing the score to 10-0. The next at-bat saw Urshela get his third hit and third RBI of the game scoring Contreras for his first big league run scored and making it an 11-0. Sanchez ended the inning on a double play, but the Twins walked away happy with a couple more insurance runs. Jharel Cotton, who had already pitched in the eighth, continued for the Twins in the ninth to close out the game. Cotton struggled with the first two batters giving up a single and a walk. He retired the next two batters but a wild pitch to Naylor allowed Myles Straw to score, but Cotton fixed that error by retiring Naylor on the very next pitch. What’s Next? The Twins have their second double header of the season on Tuesday with the first game against the Guardians starting at 12:10 p.m. CT and the second 6:10 p.m. CT. Game one will be started by Devin Smeltzer against Zach Plesac and game two Josh Winder will face off against Konnor Pilkington for the Guardians. Postgame Interview Coming soon. Bullpen Usage View full article

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 View full article