Twins wither in the weather vs Houston

One night after a stellar pitching performance by starter Jake Odorizzi, who shut down the

Michael Pineda

hard hitting Houston Astros in a 1-0 win, the Twins pitching staff was a dumpster fire on Tuesday. The blaze was so big, not even the rain that fell most of the night could put this one out.

In front of a brave crowd of about 15-hundred at chilly-damp Target Field,  starter Michael Pineda got knocked around for five runs and nine hits in five innings of work, including two home runs enroute to an 11-0 Astros win.  Enter Matt Magill who got lit up for two runs in two innings. Then there was Adelberto Mejia who couldn’t throw a strike and gave up four runs in just one-third of an inning, including three walks in the disastrous 8th inning. 

Meanwhile. Astros starter Garrit Cole had a no-hitter through five innings and eventually went seven innings allowing just one hit, a 6th inning  double to Max Kepler.

This is a warning shot to the Twins. Both on Michael Pineda and the state of their sometimes shaky bullpen. Pineda has now had two rough outings in a row and hasn’t pitched past the sixth inning in any of his outings. His ERA has now ballooned to 6.21. Coming off of a year off recovering from Tommy John surgery the hunt may be on to fill his spot in the rotation if this continues.  Right now there aren’t many good options. Kohl Stewart got his chance in Houston last week as a spot starter and fared ok, but clearly isn’t ready.

Then there’s the bullpen. Mejia and Magill in particular.  Mejia’s ERA now stands at a staggering 8.74 while Magill checks in at 6.75.

It’s not a 4-alarm fire, yet.  But it is a sign of things to come if the Twins staff continues to bob and weave. If they have a shot at being in the post season there will need to be better performances than what we’ve seen so far from Pineda in particular, and a handful of their shaky bullpen.

And then there’s this Craig Kimbrel guy who doesn’t have a job yet.

TWINS NOTES:

1. THE TWINS fell in game two of the four-game series by a score of 11-0, evening the series at one win apiece…the Twins are 29-33 all-time against the Astros, including a record of 18-24 since Houston joined the American League in 2013.

2. Allowed 15 hits, the most this season, and the most since September 15, 2018 at Kansas City…allowed 15+ hits 10 times in 2018.

3. Dating back to the eighth inning on Sunday against the Orioles, Twins pitchers (Hildenberger-1.0, Parker-2.0, Odorizzi-7.0, Rogers-1.0 and Pineda-2.1) combined to throw 13.1 scoreless innings before George Springer’s RBI double in the third, the longest stretch of consecutive scoreless innings this season.

4. Allowed five hits in the four-run sixth inning, the third time the Twins have allowed five hits in an inning this season, first time since the fourth inning on April 18 vs. Toronto.

5. Allowed 10-or-more runs for the third time this season, also: 10 runs at PHI on April 5 and 10 runs at Houston on April 23…allowed 10-or-more runs 13 times last season.

6. MICHAEL PINEDA stumbled in his fourth career vs. the Astros tonight…worked just 5.0 innings (plus two batters), allowing five runs on nine hits with two home runs and just two strikeouts, falling to 2-2 with a 6.21 ERA (29.0 IP, 20 ER) this season.

7. Issued just one walk…has not allowed more than three walks since July 31, 2016, a total of 34 starts, and is one of only 13 pitchers with an active streak of 34-or-more starts with three walks or less.

8. Raised his March/April ERA to 3.93 (167.0 IP, 73 ER) and moved his record to 15-9…struck out two batters, raising his monthly total to 166, the highest of any month for Pineda.

9. NELSON CRUZ grounded out to shortstop in the first inning on a ball that registered at 115.2 MPH (the hardest ball hit this season by a Twins batter), the sixth-hardest ball hit in the Statcast Era (2015-now) by a Twin, and the third-hardest out, behind a pair of Kennys Vargas groundouts (116.4, 115.6) in 2016…for reference, the hardest out recorded was a Gary Sánchez line out to Mariners leftfielder Denard Span on June 19, 2018, clocked at 121.1 MPH.

10. MAX KEPLER collected the Twins’ first hit in the bottom of the sixth inning, a double that hit off the wall in rightfield, and singled in the eighth…marked his eighth multi-hit game of the season, tying Jorge Polanco and Nelson Cruz for the most on the Twins, and is now hitting .306 (22-for-72) vs. right-handed pitching, with an OPS of 1.011.

11. MATT MAGILL entered the game in the sixth inning in relief of Michael Pineda and threw 2.0 innings without issuing a walk…marked the fifth time in his big league career that he threw 2.0+ IP and didn’t issue a walk, after doing so four times last year.

12. EHIRE ADRIANZA reached base with a pair of walks tonight in the fifth and eighth innings…marked the ninth time in his career with two-or-more walks, and first since July 14, 2018 vs. Tampa Bay.

13. JONATHAN SCHOOP collected a two-out single in the ninth inning and is hitting .360 (36-for-100) with nine doubles, five home runs, 15 RBI and a .966 OPS in 25 career games vs. the Astros…the .360 average is his highest vs. any AL opponent.

14. MIGUEL SANÓ played in his first rehab game tonight in Ft. Myers, starting at third base…went 0-for-1 with a walk and played five innings in the field, recording one putout.