Well, it wasn’t the 21-hit, 21-run affair that unfolded between the Royals and Dodgers on Saturday, but the Twins still got an extra-base hit from Ty France, a smattering of hits from a few other guys and plenty of stingy pitching to lift them to a 3-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves in Game 1 of Grapefruit League play.
Zebby Matthews got the start and worked two scoreless innings before he handed the ball off to Justin Topa, who allowed the game’s only run. But after that six pitchers pitched scoreless baseball the rest of the way. The win went to Louis Varland and the save to Cody Lawyerson.
Extra innings…
-The automated ball-strike system is being used this spring, which means the pitcher, hitter or catcher can challenge the umpire’s calls of balls and strikes during the game, according to MLB.com. Twins catcher Christian Vazquez challenged a call in Saturday’s game and it resulted in a strike for pitcher Matthews instead of a ball, which got him out of the inning.
-The arrival of spring training means listening to the radio again and tuning in to the play-by-play voices of Kris Atteberry and Dan Gladden. They had a funny story about the Twins’ Royce Lewis who apparently got married in the offseason and then honeymooned in Costa Rica. But while there, Lewis regularly called his agent about the activities he could and couldn’t pursue, according to Gladden. Could he ride a zip line? Nope. Could he ride a horse? Apparently not. Instead, he was allowed to walk the horse along the beach and that was it. Why the restrictions? So that the injury-prone Lewis does not get injured again.
-While the Twins and Braves managed to score a grand total of four runs, the Royals and Dodgers reeled off 21-runs on 21-hits in an 11-10 Royals win.
The Dodgers scored first, the Royals countered with a five-run second inning, followed by three more runs from Los Angeles to make it 5-5 going into the third inning. Kansas City also went wild on the bases, swiping nine bags during the game. Jeezus.
-How does one live up to a $765 million contract? That’s the question that will be hanging over the head of the Mets’ Juan Soto all season. But on Saturday, he lived up to it for at least a day when he hammered the fourth pitch of the game for a home run in the Mets’ 6-2 win over the Houston Astros. How many home runs does he need to keep the boo birds at bay? Oh, probably about 50. Good luck, Soto. And to think he left a ballpark with a 300-foot distance to right field.
Sources: MLB.com