Minnesota Twins Trending in Right Direction in Week One Ups and Downs
UP: Miguel Sano. We might look back five years from now and peg this season as the one where the young Dominican put it all together at the plate. He’s become patient (four walks to just seven strikeouts) and is waiting longer, letting the pitches get deeper before swinging – allowing for better pitch recognition.
This has led to extra base hits to the opposite field, including a towering home run at Target Field, one of five XBH already for the Sano, as well as eight RBI – second only to the nine of Texas’ Nomar Mazara.
UP: Speaking of patience, no one has exhibited more patience at the plate than the Twins’ new catcher, Jason Castro. His .550 OBP leads all of Major League Baseball. With five hits and seven walks, Castro is constantly spurring the offense to rallies.
Proving the old adage, “A walk is as good as a hit,” Castro helped lead the Twins to a season-opening seven walks, including three with the bases loaded, to break open a tight game for an easy Minnesota win on Opening Day.
He has also hit both right-handed and left-handed pitchers, despite the assumption he would be benched against most lefties. But he’s shown the ability to hit where the ball is pitched, including a line single to left field to drive in two runs after the three RBI walks.
His double off lefty reliever Mike Minor in the seventh inning last Thursday drove in the winning run, and sparked the Twins to another multi-run seventh inning. In the three-game series, the Twins scored 14 of their 21 runs in the seventh inning!
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UP: Starting pitching, especially Ervin Santana. To help the Twins’ new bullpen, Molitor was going to need his starting pitchers to step up and provide quality innings. Through the first four games, they provided that and more.
Each pitcher pitched into the sixth inning through their four-game win streak. Only rookie fifth starter Aldaberto Mejia faltered. Unsurprisingly, that led to the Twins’ first loss of the season. Molitor hopes that Mejia’s start could be chalked up to jitters. Otherwise, the fifth starting spot could be up for grabs once again.
Showing the team what an ace is supposed to do, Santana followed up the loss with a stellar outing against Chicago’s own, Jose Quintana. Santana out-battled Quintana with one of his best starts as a Twin.
For the second consecutive start, he allowed only two hits, in a 4-1 Twins win. His stat line for the season so far is a jaw-dropping 13 IP / 4 H / 7 K / 4 BB / 1 ER / 0.62 WHIP / 0.69 ERA.
Next: Twins, Diamondbacks Headline Week 1 Surprises
STRANGE, BUT TRUE, STAT OF THE WEEK: According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Twins’ bullpen started off this season with 13 scoreless innings. The last time they went as long without giving up a run to start a season? 1987, when they went…13. Oh, and Minnesota is celebrating the 30th anniversary of that World Series-winning squad this year.