Twins pitching struggles vex starters and bullpen. Moves made before loss to Royals

Sports

add

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The season is only 10 games old, and already the Minnesota Twins are being forced to burn through their depth bullpen options.

Before Monday’s 4-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium, the Twins designated veteran reliever Darren McCaughan for assignment to make room for a fresh bullpen arm. The team selected the contract of reliever Scott Blewett, who, similar to McCaughan, was signed to a minor-league deal and is out of options, meaning he must be exposed to waivers if the Twins don’t elect to keep him on the roster the rest of the season.

The move comes only a week after the Twins, who fell to 3-7 with the loss, designated for assignment Randy Dobnak to make space on the 40-man for McCaughan.

Typically, teams prefer not to risk losing their depth options so early in the season.

But with what is projected to be a strong starting rotation failing to pitch deep into games the first two times through and no day off in sight, the Twins find themselves in a position where they can’t do much else.

“You’d prefer to not have to make those moves,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “But it’s also part of the game. A lot of the times, the fewer moves you have to make, the better, the more helpful it is as you build out really good quality depth in your organizational pitching structure. … But sometimes when the games have to be played and the innings have to be covered, you need to do it.”

The need is about as serious as can be.

Simeon Woods Richardson, who threw a career-high 107 pitches Monday, allowed four earned runs, eight hits and walked four over 5 2/3 innings.

Similar to nearly every start made by his rotation mates this season, nothing about Woods Richardson’s outing came easy. Yet after he yielded three runs in the first two innings, Woods Richardson settled in.

When he struck out MJ Melendez to start the sixth inning on Monday, Woods Richardson joined Pablo López (April 2) as the only Twins starters to record an out beyond the fifth this season.

Through 10 games, Twins starters are carrying an unseemly 6.90 ERA over 45 2/3 innings.

Early on, the Twins are facing a combination of underperformance from the rotation and pitchers facing strange conditions.

López sat through lengthy rain delays in each of his first two starts; Bailey Ober lost eight pounds in the days leading up to his first game because of illness; Chris Paddack is struggling to go deep and doesn’t like the quality of his stuff.

Throw in the desire to ease Joe Ryan back into the mix after his 2024 season ended with an injury, and the Twins have faced serious challenges.

Though a rotation projected to be the fifth-best in baseball by Fangraphs isn’t yet living up to expectations, there’s enough perspective within the clubhouse walls to avoid panicking.

“It just how it’s going to be sometimes,” said Ober, who has gained back six of the eight pounds he lost. “We’ve been there and done it. I feel like guys kind of take it with a grain of salt and move on. Obviously, at the beginning of the season you’re trying to get your feet underneath you and into a routine, but it’s a little difficult when all that crap is going on. But it is what it is. It’s just baseball. We’ve got to be able to roll with the punches and adapt and keep on going.”

An exhausted bullpen resulted in the Twins leaning on Woods Richardson for additional outs in the sixth inning on Monday.

“We were going to lean on him because our bullpen needed it,” Baldelli said.

The second-year pitcher yielded the three early runs before pitching out of traffic in the third and fourth innings. He returned for the fifth and retired the side in order for the first time all night.

“I’m only going to get the ball until Roc takes it out of my hand,” Woods Richardson said. “As a starter, you try to give your team the best chance to win. If you can do that within three runs, you’re doing a pretty good job. Just allowing three runs early, trying to keep that momentum back on our side, and getting back in the dugout to see if we can get some hits on the board for us.”

Even though he’d thrown 94 pitches, Woods Richardson returned for the sixth. He struck out Melendez and Maikel Garcia lined out to third. But Kyle Isbel homered on Woods Richardson’s next pitch to extend Kansas City’s lead to three runs.

Woods Richardson still nearly completed the sixth inning when controversy struck.

Working with a full count against Jonathan India, Woods Richardson was ruled with a pitch clock violation even though he’d first pointed to his PitchCom as if he couldn’t hear it at the seven-second mark, then stepped off the rubber, and then released a pitch with two seconds on the clock. The violation resulted in a walk and led to the 15th ejection of Baldelli’s career, one in which he kicked home plate and threw away his lineup card after a lengthy argument with plate umpire Nic Lentz.

Baldelli’s ejection also marked the end of Woods Richardson’s night.

Blewett, who recorded a 1.77 ERA in 20 1/3 innings for the Twins last season, picked up a worn-down bullpen by pitching the final 2 1/3 innings.

Even down only by three, the Twins couldn’t find a way back into the contest.

Royals starter Michael Lorenzen worked around several hard-hit balls to deliver six sharp innings with one run allowed. The Twins tried to put together a ninth-inning rally against Kansas City closer Carlos Estevez, trimming the deficit to two runs on a Harrison Bader two-out RBI single. But Edouard Julien grounded out with the tying runs aboard.

“We’re really close,” said outfielder Matt Wallner, who went 2-for-3 with a walk. “Just string consistent, string more hits together and score more runs. … Guys are getting on base and I feel like we’re having good at-bats, but just kind of here and there as opposed to one, two, three, four, five and on.”

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli kicks dirt on home plate while protesting a pitch-clock violation called on Simeon Woods Richardson. Baldelli was ejected from the game. (William Purnell / Imagn Images)

Baldelli on the violation

The surest way to know if Baldelli intends to get ejected is to look for the angry, I-told-so-you finger. As he approached Lentz, Baldelli was already wagging away. He didn’t wait for an explanation as there wouldn’t be a satisfactory one.

“I was a strong no on the call as it stood,” Baldelli said. “They were given a free base where it’s just not the right call. We got the wrong call pulled on Simeon. Simeon was on his 107th pitch of the outing. He’s clearly not out there trying to manipulate the pitch clock or anything. He has seven seconds left. He can’t get the sign or can’t hear the sign. (Vázquez) was pushing the button, but couldn’t get it. He stepped off, pointed to his ear. Didn’t get any response from Nic. He got back on the mound and tried to make a pitch. What else is he going to do? He was forced to do that with two seconds left. He’s trying to make a pitch on the mound, and he gets a pitch clock violation called on him, and the clock hadn’t even expired.

“The umpire could have remedied the situation in a number of ways, but instead made Sim get back on the mound and pitch and then banged him for a violation, which hadn’t even occurred yet. It didn’t make sense.”

Said Woods Richardson: “I supposedly didn’t give (Jonathan) India time to get back in the box. I stepped off at six. I couldn’t hear the pitch call, so I stepped up. Vazky spamming it, it got back in the signal. I got it with seconds left, got back on. India wasn’t ready, so a pitch clock violation.”

This news was originally published on this post .

Share on

email

Previous

trending_flat

Daniel James: My Game In My Words

Sports

Next

Point pomohl dvě góly Tampě k výhře

Sports