Nine ugly Twins numbers after first 9 games, from pitching and hitting to attendance

Sports

add

MINNEAPOLIS — Swept by the St. Louis Cardinals to open the season, the Minnesota Twins were three outs away from responding with back-to-back series wins over the Chicago White Sox and Houston Astros.

Instead, the Twins’ bullpen blew a 7-1 lead Sunday afternoon at Target Field and lost 9-7 to the Astros in extra innings, stumbling out of the gates to a 3-6 record for the second year in a row.

Here are nine ugly numbers after the Twins’ first nine games.

6.98

Starting pitching was supposed to be a strength this season, but the Twins’ rotation has an MLB-worst 6.98 ERA through nine games.

Pablo López’s seven innings of one-run ball against the White Sox on April 2 was the Twins’ lone start of more than five innings. In their other eight games, the starters have combined for an 8.18 ERA, allowing 30 earned runs in 33 innings and failing to complete five innings five times.

14.73

Hanging on to Chris Paddack rather than shedding his $7.5 million salary via trade and clearing the way for a younger starter is one of the biggest decisions the front office made in an uneventful, status quo offseason.

Paddack has a 14.73 ERA through two starts, allowing 12 earned runs in 7 1/3 innings. He didn’t get much help from the defense Sunday, but Paddack also had trouble putting Houston’s hitters away. And he got knocked around by Chicago in his 2025 debut after missing the second half of last season.

Zebby Matthews, David Festa and Andrew Morris are all viable Triple-A alternatives with short-term upside and longer-term futures in the Twins’ rotation, so Paddack should be under a lot of pressure to perform.

A 3-run homer for Andrew Vaughn ‼️ pic.twitter.com/7ySkf5RJ8c

— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) March 31, 2025

2

López allowed just one homer on 599 total changeups last season, but this year has been a different story. López allowed a homer on a changeup in each of his first two starts, with Lars Nootbaar of the Cardinals and Brooks Baldwin of the White Sox taking him deep.

Early in López’s career, with the Miami Marlins, he leaned heavily on what was an elite changeup, but it’s been less effective and a smaller part of his arsenal with the Twins. He’s thrown a career-high 44.9 percent fastballs this year, up from 40.4 percent last season and 34.5 percent in 2023.

.198

For the second consecutive year, the Twins’ lineup has a collective batting average under .200 after nine games.

Through nine games last season, they hit .181 with a .593 OPS.

Through nine games this season, they hit .198 with a .581 OPS.

Last season’s offensive struggles continued for much of April, as the Twins started 7-13 and were hitting below .200 as late as April 21. They devoted a lot of spring training energy and messaging to working on things meant to help avoid a similarly slow start. So much for that.

.125

Carlos Correa is off to the slowest start in a lineup full of them, hitting just .125 with a .356 OPS in nine games. He’s also grounded into an MLB-high three double plays thanks to a combination of hitting the ball on the ground more than ever and running slower than ever.

Those struggles are exacerbated by Correa’s being robbed of several hits on well-struck balls. He’s made a lot of contact, leading to an expected batting average of .258. But though there’s plenty of bad luck involved, Correa’s hard-hit rate and average exit velocity are way down from his career norms, too.

Shane Smith, Disgusting 92mph Changeup. 🤮

1st MLB K. And absolutely filthy. pic.twitter.com/qnzhKYLZLD

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 1, 2025

23.2

When a lineup is hitting below .200, it’s often safe to assume the batters have been striking out a lot. However, the Twins’ strikeout rate is 23.2 percent, which is nearly identical to the league-wide rate of 22.5 percent and puts them in the middle of the pack, ranking 14th out of 30 teams.

Making contact hasn’t been the problem; it’s the low quality of contact that’s holding back the Twins’ offense. They rank among MLB’s worst 10 teams in hard-hit rate, average exit velocity and expected slugging percentage. And pitchers have shown how little they fear Twins bats by pounding the zone.

.176

Royce Lewis’ replacements at third base — Jose Miranda for six games and Willi Castro for three — have hit .176 with a .465 OPS, totaling 11 strikeouts and no walks. Their lone extra-base hit was Miranda’s three-run homer Saturday versus Houston.

Lewis is three weeks into his recovery for a moderate left hamstring strain, which typically carries a return timeline of at least six weeks. He’s unlikely to play before May, but Brooks Lee could join the third-base mix relatively soon after starting a rehab assignment for his back injury Sunday.

1-4

Within their 3-6 start overall, the Twins are 1-4 when not playing the lowly White Sox. That’s taking an already small sample and shrinking it further, but if nothing else, it shows how outclassed the Twins have appeared when facing actual MLB-caliber opponents, being outscored by 13 runs.

The good news is they have 10 more games against the White Sox, starting with a three-game series at Target Field from April 22 to 24.

The bad news is the Twins’ four series before then are all against potential playoff teams in the Kansas City Royals, Detroit Tigers, New York Mets and Atlanta Braves. If the Twins don’t get their act together in a hurry, those 10 remaining games against the White Sox might not mean much.

67,503

Failing to sell out Opening Day wasn’t a surprise given how far fan morale has plummeted since October 2023, but it was still somewhat jarring to see Target Field roughly two-thirds full for the opener despite decent weather by April standards, a prominent opponent and heavily discounted tickets.

But what should really have Twins officials worried is how fast attendance cratered once the automatic draw of Opening Day was gone:

Game 1 — 36,873
Game 2 — 16,082
Game 3 — 14,638

Selling just 67,503 tickets for the opening three games can’t be ignored. By comparison, the Twins sold 61,401 tickets for the first two games against the Cleveland Guardians last season before the third game was rained out. Two years ago, also facing Houston for three games, they sold 79,111 tickets.

Anyone trying to blame the fans for the low turnout hasn’t been paying attention. Actions have consequences. You get the audience you deserve.

(Photo of Griffin Jax: Abbie Parr / Associated Press)

This news was originally published on this post .

Share on

email

Previous

trending_flat

Bo Henriksen on taking Mainz to the brink of the Champions League: ‘Without fear, anything is possible’

Sports

Next

trending_flat

Rory Wilson signs new two-year Aston Villa deal

Sports