Cleveland evened up the series with the Minnesota Twins on Saturday with a 2-1 victory. Here are some notes from the game:
History Made: Randy Johnson was elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame in 2015. One could argue that Curt Schilling should be a member of Cooperstown as well. So why do those two names appear at the front of a Twins-oriented column? Because on Saturday they became entangled with Twins history.
After José Berríos’s 10K’s to kick off the 2019 season, Jake Odorizzi followed that performance with 11K’s in six innings of work on Saturday, tying a career high for him. So how does that link them to Johnson and Schilling? Check out this Tweet from Twins Senior Director, Communications, Dustin Morse:
The @Twins with back-to-back 10+ strikeouts by their starters (Berrios 10 / Odorizzi 11).Since 1893, the only other team to have a pitcher strike out 10+ in each of its first 2 games of a season is the 2001 @Dbacks (Johnson & Schilling).@EliasSports confirmedh/t @Krafty_3
— Dustin Morse (@morsecode) March 30, 2019That’s an astonishing statistic given the length and breadth of baseball history. It’s also the kind of anomaly that keeps us nerds in love with the game.
Rogers Continues to Roll: Twins lefty Taylor Rogers was lights-out in the second half of last season and seems to be continuing at that level to start 2019. He’s made two appearances so far in two games with no runs surrendered. Going back to last season, he’s on a streak of 28.1 scoreless innings which is good for 4th on the Twins all-time list. He’s just 0.1IP behind Johnny Klippenstein for third all-time, and 7.2IP behind the Twins all-time leader J.C. Romero, who threw 36 scoreless innings in 2004.
More Pitching: The Twins began the 2019 season with 12 shutout innings. That ranks third on their all-time list to start a season. The Twins began seasons with 13-straight scoreless innings twice - first in 1961 and again in 1970.
The staff as a whole has 26 strikeouts in their first 18 innings of work.
Pace of Play: Saturday’s contest was played in three hours even - not quite as quick as Thursday’s 2-hour, 18-minute contest, but neither did it drag like some games we’ve seen in past seasons. Thursday’s game was the 8th fastest in Twins history. The fastest ever opener? 1966 versus the Kansas City Athletics.
Cruz at the Dish: Nelson Cruz registered his first RBI on Saturday as a Twin, and clearly enjoys hitting at Target Field. Coming into the game he was hitting .332/.352/.653 with 10 2B, 10 HR and 25 RBI in 31 career games in his new home ballpark. Fortune favors his efforts in Minnesota where is BAbip is .349 vs. his career. 305.
New Jerseys: The Twins debuted their new “Navy Uniforms” on Saturday. Reviews on Twitter were mixed, especially given that they're replacing the popular "1961 throwback pinstripe" uniforms. Here's an example of the discussion:
More egregious to me is the lack of numbers on the front. I don't mine any of the uniforms, but numbers on the front please.
— TCAnelle (@TCAnelle) March 30, 2019Next Game: The Twins face Cleveland in the rubber-match of the season-opening series tomorrow (Sunday) at Target Field. Michael Pineda will make his Twins debut opposite Carlos Carrasco for Cleveland. Pregame is at 12:30pm and first pitch is scheduled for 1:10pm on your home for Twins baseball, News/Talk 830 WCCO Radio.
