The Minnesota Twins took their season-opening series against the Chicago White Sox this weekend, scoring at least 10 runs in the first and third game, while giving up 10 in the middle contest.
Here’s a few takeaways from this weekend’s series that might give a better impression of what the 2020 Twins will look like throughout the season.
HIGH SCORING AFFAIRS
Minnesota scored 10 runs on Friday, allowed 10 on Saturday and scored 10 in four innings on Sunday’s rubber match. As is often the case with a lineup full of home run-seeking batters, strikeouts may ensue when the big swings don’t connect. That trend was evident over the weekend with the Twins’ entire batting order being productive Friday and Sunday but coming up cold on Saturday.
While it is important to note that the Twins are likely to have a more varied lineup of success throughout the season, some games they will look like a completely different team with pitchers finding ways to keep them off the base paths, as Dallas Keuchel did in his White Sox debut on Saturday in Chicago’s 10-3 victory.
ONE BOMBA, TWO BOMBA
Although Minnesota’s starting rotation was bolstered in the offseason, the Twins struggled in the pitching department overall during the series. Opening Day starter Jose Berrios made it through four innings and allowed five runs.
Zack Littell (three home runs) and Devin Smeltzer (two) struggled out of the bullpen, but Game 2 and 3 starters Randy Dobnak (three hits, one earned run in 4.0 innings pitched) and Kenta Maeda (4 H, 2 ER, 5.0 IP) had strong showings before they turned it over to the bullpen.
NELSON CRUZ IS AGELESS
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