Twins Video
Box Score
SP: Chris Paddack - 5 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K (95 pitches, 60 strikes (63.2%), 9 whiffs)
Home Runs: Carlos Santana (3), Max Kepler (1), Ryan Jeffers (5)
Top 3 WPA: Carlos Santana (0.284), Edouard Julien (0.146), Max Kepler (0.109)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)
Chris Paddack Stuff
On Saturday night, Chris Paddack made his fifth start of the season. To say that the results have been up and down would be putting it lightly. Obviously his nine earned runs start against the very good Orioles offense is one side of the spectrum. On the other side is his 10 strikeout, seven scoreless innings performance against the White Sox.
Even within this start against the Angels, we saw good and bad. I would say that he threw too many very hittable strikes on pitcher's counts. He seemed to get the first two outs fairly quickly but then struggled to get that third out. But he also came up with some really big pitches to end threats as well.
There was some discussion about his velocity being down nearly two mph on his various pitches. The “Spin” rates were down as well.
I’m not ready to be overly worried about this yet. He is just five starts into the season after missing most of the two previous seasons, so I would think there will be some ups and downs, both in terms of “Stuff” and “Results.”
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Everybody Hits, Sometimes.
The Twins offense started the season incredibly slow. They really haven’t had a game like they did on Saturday night in Anaheim. Everybody hit.
All nine starters had at least one hit. Edouard Julien had three hits. Six Twins starters had two hits. Six of the starters had at least one walk. 17 hits and seven walks. That’s a lot of base runners! I don’t think we even need to complain about leaving eight on base. Before the game, he spoke with his best buddy, Trevor Plouffe.
What a Week!
When the Twins arrived at Target Field last Monday afternoon, they were just 7-13 on the season. There were injuries. There were veterans simply not contributing.
What a difference a week can make! Or… what a difference a week can make when you play a couple of teams with bad pitching! The Twins have gone 6-0 against the White Sox and Angels. (Of note, facing Reid Detmers is another story! That guy is really good!) Back to .500 at 13-13!
With that in mind, here are some fun numbers. Sure, it’s a small sample size, but seven Twins hitters have an OPS of over 1.000 in that stretch.
- Edouard Julien: .474/.565/1.105 (1.670), 3 doubles, 3 homers, 3 walks, 7 RBI.
- Trevor Larnach: .467/.556/.800 (1.356), 2 doubles, 1 homer, 3 walks, 4 RBI.
- Ryan Jeffers: .400/.520/.750 (1.270), 1 double, 2 homers, 2 walks, 4 RBI.
- Carlos Santana: .304/.385/.783 (1.168), 2 doubles, 3 homers, 2 walks, 8 RBI.
- Max Kepler: .421/.476/.684 (1.160), 2 doubles, 1 homer, 2 walks, 7 RBI.
- Byron Buxton: .385/.429/.692 (1.121), 1 double, 1 homer, 0 walks, 2 RBI.
- Willi Castro: .385/.385/.654 (1.039), 4 doubles, 1 homer, 0 walks, 6 RBI.
“The farmer has to be an optimist or he wouldn't still be a farmer.”
A century ago, Will Rogers became famous in vaudeville, acting during the transition from silent films to ‘talkies.’ A native of Oklahoma, he always showed pride in his state, ranching, farming. He became known as a political humorist, a philosopher, and starred in newspapers and on radio. He was incredibly famous and has many quotes that are still out there. This is one of them.
The above Rogers’ quote feels fitting. Coming into Saturday night’s game, Farmer was hitting .064/.200/.085 (.285) with a double. He had just three hits in 47 at-bats over 20 games played. On Saturday night, Farmer went 2-for-3 with two walks and a double. He also made some nice plays at third base.
Trying to stay optimistic through the slump Farmer is in has to be incredibly challenging. We know Farmer has really struggled with it, even telling media recently he would shower in his uniform if he thought it would help.
Even now, Farmer is hitting .100/.250/.140 (.390) on the season, still quite the slump. But the quality of his plate appearances on Saturday night were much improved. The two walks don’t help the batting average, but they do help tell him that he is getting closer.
In the third inning, he came up with runners on second and third. Coming through with a big double had to feel really good.
Farmer scored two runs in this game which gives him 200 for his career.
Santana Completes Impressive AB with Huge Homer
In the top of the third inning, he came up with runners on base, and drilled a double to score Max Kepler and move Willi Castro to third. That pushed the Twins Win Probability from 78.6% to 88.3%
While the Twins were scoring runs, so were the Angels. They scored two runs in the bottom of the third to cut the Twins lead to 7-4. As a fan, watching from home, it was just an uncomfortable feeling knowing that the lead was just three with 18 more outs to get.
Santana came to the plate with two outs in the top of the fourth frame. There were also two runners on base.
Jose Cisnero fell behind Santana 3-1, but Santana has struggled early this season with velocity, especially when the pitchers are able to mix and match well. A slider made it 3-2, both strikes were swing and miss. Then Cisnero got tough. He was able to foul off a fastball at 96. Then he did a great job just fouling off a 89.5 mph changeup with 35 inch drop! Then, on the eighth pitch of the at-bat, he got a fastball and crushed it way into the right field bleachers.
It was a great at-bat for Santana. He has now homered in three straight games. But it was a great at-bat in terms of working the strike zone, fouling off a couple of tough pitches, and finally getting a pitch he could do something with. A three-run lead became a 10-4 Twins lead.
Hicks Pitches!
Aaron Hicks was the Twins top draft pick in 2008 out of high school in southern California. At that time of the draft, there were clearly several teams that wanted to draft him in the first round as a pitcher. He wanted to be a hitter, an everyday player. And frankly, the Twins have had a lot of success in developing great athletes like Aaron Hicks.
It would have been fun to see him pitch when he was younger and was known to have a mid-90s fastball. Unfortunately, in the ninth inning of this game, Hicks did the position player pitching thing and just tossed 60 mph lobs over the plate. Granted, he wasn't attempting to see how slow he could pitch like others do, but he even had one pitch reach 80 mph, and it didn't look like he was overexerting to get there.
I was the first time in his career that he pitched. He worked one inning and faced six batters. He gave up two runs on two hits and a walk. One of the hits was a long home run for Ryan Jeffers.
Hicks is still playing under his seven year, $70 million contract that he signed with the Yankees before the 2019 season. He will be paid $9.5 million in 2024 and 2025. The Angels signed him at the end of January and will be paying him the league minimum of $740,000 with the Yankees on the hook for the other $8.76 million. And he will get paid $9.5 million in 2025 too.
Last night, Hicks went 1-for-3 with a walk. It was his first start since last Sunday. Coming into the game, he was hitting .140/.218/.200 (.418). He is now hitting .151/.237/.208 (.445) with one home run. He has struck out 20 times in 59 plate appearances (33.9%).
Fellow former Twin Miguel Sano did not play on Saturday. In 21 games for the Angels this season, he is hitting .262/.352/.361 (.713) with three doubles and a homer. He has 27 strikeouts in 71 plate appearances (38.0%).
Utilityman Ehire Adrianza was promoted to the Angels big-league club a week ago. He has played in three games and gone 1-for-7 so far.
What’s Next?
The Twins will finish their three-game series in Anaheim by sending Pablo Lopez to the mound. He’ll face lefty Reid Detmers who has been terrific this season.
Sun 3:07 pm: RHP Pablo Lopez (1-2, 4.39 ERA) vs LHP Reid Detmers (3-1, 2.12 ERA)
Mon 6:40 pm: RHP Joe Ryan (1-1, 3.45 ERA) vs LHP Garrett Crochet (1-4, 6.37 ERA)
Tues 6:40 pm: RHP Simeon Woods Richardson (1-0, 2.45 ERA) vs RHP Michael Soroka (0-3, 6.83 ERA)
Wed 1:10 pm: RHP Bailey Ober (2-1, 4.21 ERA) vs RHP Chris Flexen (1-3, 5.11 ERA)
The Twins will finally get a day off again on Thursday.
Postgame Interviews
Bullpen Availability
| TUE | WED | THU | FRI | SAT | TOT | |
| Jackson | 41 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 70 |
| Funderburk | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 53 |
| Bowman | 0 | 6 | 0 | 35 | 0 | 41 |
| Sands | 18 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 31 |
| Stewart | 0 | 11 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 31 |
| Okert | 11 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 21 |
| Thielbar | 0 | 0 | 13 | 7 | 0 | 20 |
| Jax | 0 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 18 |
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