Make It Official! Twins 11, Mariners 1: Scoring Runs Early and Often on Pablo Day (2024)

Box Score
SP: Pablo Lopez - 6.1 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 10 K (100 pitches, 61 strikes (61.0%), 15 whiffs)
Home Runs: Max Kepler (3), Ryan Jeffers (8)
Top 3 WPA: Manuel Margot (.185), Pablo Lopez (.096), Max Kepler (0.70)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Twins Score Early…
There is nothing like getting some early offense! Start the game out well. Give your pitcher some breathing room. And honestly, when you’re playing a get-away day afternoon game, it might just be more important.

On Thursday, the Twins did just that. Just as important, it was nice to see some of the players who have really struggled of late contribute right away.

Twins Daily's winning "Make It Official!" game recaps are sponsored by Official Fried Chicken, which you can find in center field of Target Field. With a name like "Official," we know we have to be the best in the game every day, and from your first bite, you'll know thats a promise we make good on.

Edouard Julien has been in a big slump, but he led off the bottom of the first inning with a walk. He stole second. After a pop-out, Trevor Larnach lined a single to center that pushed Julien to third. Max Kepler came up and lined a single to right field that drove in Julien with the first run. Jose Miranda bled a shallow single to center that loaded the bases. Willi Castro flew out.

However, Manuel Margot came up and picked up his teammate in nearly-grand style. He cleared the bases with a double to make it 4-0.

Margot has been the subject of much scrutiny early this season since he has not hit or played the kind of defense I’d think the Twins expected. Coming into the game, he was hitting just .164/.240/.224 (.464) with one double and one home run in 75 plate appearances. Since April 16, he had played in 18 games, and he had a hit in just three of those games. Over that stretch, he was just 4-for-33 (.121). Whether you want to look at any of the slash-line stats, WPA, anything, it has not been good.

Granted, it’s not like the slump is over. In the game, that was his only hit in four at-bats. So instead of being in a 4-for-33 slump, he’s in a 5-for-37 (.135). But he was productive and can feel good about helping the team win on Thursday. He had five RBI in the game.

Carlos Santana followed with an RBI single and the Twins had a 5-0 lead.

… And Often
Over the past couple of seasons, the Twins have had several big innings early and then did little with the bat after that. However, in this game, they kept adding on.

They scored one run in the second inning. They added two runs in the fourth and another in the fifth. They then scored two more runs in the seventh inning.

Max Kepler continues to rank. He went 2-for-4 with a long home run in the seventh inning.

Jose Miranda went 2-for-4 with a double and three runs scored. He’s been playing well again. Clearly he’s healthy and he’s regained not only his confidence, but a little more selective eye at the plate.

Carlos Santana went 2-for-4 in the game. Santana had a very nice run late in April that really sparked the Twins during the early parts of their long winning streak, but he has struggled of late. On Wednesday night, he wasn’t in the starting lineup for just the second time this season. Both times, he has entered the game late. However, in seven May games, he was just 3-for-21 coming into this game.

Ryan Jeffers went 1-for-2 with a walk, was hit by a pitch and his eighth homer of the season.

Pablo Day!
Concerns about Pablo Lopez’s April seem to now be well on the backburner as he was fantastic again on Thursday. He had 10 strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.

It was his second start on Pablo Day since its recent introduction. In those two starts, he has given up two runs on nine hits in 12 1/3 innings. He has walked one and struck out 18 batters.

He has always been a guy who uses his various pitches, but in this game, he really mixed it up well. Of his 100 pitches, he threw 26 four-seam fastballs, 25 changeups, 17 sweepers, 17 curveballs, and 15 sinkers. That is a pretty good way of keeping the opposition off balanced. He did so while being incredibly consistent with his release point. He had really good spin on each of his pitches which helped create a lot of movement. So, not only did he had 15 whiffs in the game, but he gave up very little hard contact.

Team Defense
Now this is how teammates work together on defense.

What’s Next?
The Twins will head to Canada and take on the Blue Jays for three games. Think anyone will show up to watch Edouard Julien?

Fri 6:07 pm: RHP Joe Ryan (1-2, 3.54 ERA) vs LHP Yusei Kikuchi (2-2, 2.72 ERA)
Sat 2:07 pm: RHP Simeon Woods Richardson (1-0, 1.74 ERA) vs RHP Kevin Gausman (2-3, 3.78 ERA)
Sun 12:37 pm: RHP Bailey Ober (3-1, 4.42 ERA) vs RHP Alek Manoah (0-0, 13.50 ERA)

The Twins will get a day off on Monday before coming back to Target Field.

Postgame Interviews