Twins Drop Series To White Sox

The Twins dropped a 12-5 decision to the White Sox yesterday to lose their 4^th series in the last 5 tries. We’ll take a (thankfully) quick look at each contest and then put this series in the rearview mirror.

Tuesday: White Sox 3 – Twins 2 (Losing pitcher: Liam Hendriks)

Liam Hendriks took to the mound Tuesday night and did everything necessary to earn his first big league win. Hendriks went 6.1 innings, giving up only 5 hits and 3 earned runs while striking out 5. After back to back to back to back (dating back to the start of the season) poor outings, it was nice to see Hendriks show the elite stuff he’s been throwing in AAA.

Also worth a ‘hat tip’ is Tyler Robertson’s major league debut. Robinson entered the game in the 7^th and faced 3 batters – all of which he struck out. Striking out the side in your first major league appearance? That deserves some accolades. Hopefully Robinson continues to yield this strikeout ability and will get to hang around the big leagues for a long while.

All of this positive pitching was wasted, however, thanks to the offense’s inability to push across runs in scoring situations. The Twins tacked on two 9^th inning runs that made the game, and overall final score, look better than it really was. Prior to that, the Twins squandered scoring attempts in the 1^st, 2^nd, 4^th and 6^th innings. You can’t leave that many runs on base and expect to win a game. Chalk this one up as yet another game the Twins should have won – but couldn’t get it done when it counted.

Wednesday: White Sox 12 – Twins 5 (Losing pitcher: Nick Blackburn)

You’ll get games like Wednesday’s 12-5 beating every now and again from Nick Blackburn. Sometimes, he’ll take to the mound and look like a dominant pitcher – inducing ground balls and keeping runners off the bases (see: Nick Blackburn’s previous two starts) other times he’ll look like he did yesterday – his pitches stay up in the zone and get smashed all over the yard.

There’s not much else to add about yesterday’s loss. You’ll get these games from a #5 starter like Blackburn (the fact that he’s the Twins’ #3 is irrelevant here…at least that’s what I’m telling myself to feel better).

Looking Forward:

The Twins start a 4 game series with the Royals on Friday that includes a double header on Saturday. Brian Duensing (1-3 3.82 ERA) will get his second start of the year on Friday against Luis Mendoza (2-4 4.95 ERA). Game one Saturday will be Scott Diamond (6-3 2.67 ERA) against Jonathan Sanchez (1-3 6.21 ERA) while game two will feature a yet-to-be-determined Twins starter against Luke Hochevar (5-7 5.07 ERA). The final game of the series on Sunday has Francisco Liriano (2-7 5.30 ERA) facing off with Bruce Chen (7-4 4.53 ERA).

On paper, the Twins should be at an advantage with each of these matchups (outside of Sunday’s game against “Twin killer” Bruce Chen), however, the Royals are coming off of a 3 game sweep of Tampa Bay and have been playing better baseball of late. With the inconsistent offense and pitching, there’s no telling which Twins team will take to the field on any given day.

These Twins / Royals matchups have a little excitement as they are the battle to stay out of last place in a very bad AL Central…so…there’s that.

Developing Market For Liriano?

Yesterday was not a good day to be a New York Yankees fan. The day started with the Yankees putting CC Sabathia on the DL due to a groin strain. It ended with Andy Pettite being lost for 4 to 6 weeks after he took a ground ball off of his leg – and BROKE HIS FIBULA (Insert old man / broken bone joke here – I’m partial to “At his age, he’s lucky it wasn’t a hip!” or “Luckily, he had Life Alert and received medical care quickly”)

This leaves the Yankees desperate for pitching (one could argue they were desperate before – as they had to pull Andy Pettite out of retirement to fill holes in their rotation) and the Twins holding a nice ‘fix’ in Francisco Liriano. This is what we’d like to call a “seller’s market”.

Also potentially in the pitching market are the Texas Rangers, who have had to put 3 starting pitchers on the DL over the past month. Neither situation is ideal for Liriano as the Rangers play in a hitter’s park and Liriano could struggle with the pressure of New York; but with two very high profile teams suddenly in the market for pitching, you’d have to believe the Twins are on the phone and letting them know that Franky is available.

The one downside to this market is that the Twins are not the only sellers. The Cubs, at a major league worst 26-49 are letting it be known that both Ryan Dempster and Matt Garza are available for the right price.

Even the most hardcore Twins fan could admit that both Garza and Dempster are better pitchers (currently) than Liriano. With the Cubs clearly in sell mode, the Twins may need to act fast and move Liriano while the price is at its highest point.

Movers & Shakers

The Twins announced after Wednesday’s game that they were demoting reliever Jeff Manship and calling right handed reliever Kyle Waldrop to the majors. Manship struggled mightly during his brief stint in the big leagues and Wednesday’s 6^th inning effort (5 hits, 3 runs) was likely the final straw for Twins’ management.

Waldrop looked to be a candidate to make the roster out of spring training, but ended up on the DL due to a strained elbow. Waldrop was then optioned to AAA to get his arm strength back and get regular appearances while rehabbing. In 9 appearances with Rochester, Waldrop only yielded 5 walks and struck out 5 all while posting a 1.26 ERA. Waldrop looked lights out in spring training, so he’s likely here to stay as a middle reliever.