Twins manager Rocco Baldelli went with a familiar lineup on Friday, a lineup that consisted of all the regulars we have come to know and expect the past few seasons.
And they didn’t disappoint: Byron Buxton had three hits, Oregon State man Trevor Larnach connected for two hits, including a home run, and Eddie Julien had two as well; Brooks Lee contributed two knocks, too. All of that helped the Twins take a 6-1 lead over the Baltimore Orioles through four innings.
On the mound, starter Zebby Matthews looked just as sharp, allowing only two hits across three innings with no walks and five strikeouts on 40 pitches.
But this is not the regular season, so Baldelli rotated players in and out of the lineup and on the mound, and the Orioles chipped away at the lead, finally scoring eight runs in the ninth inning for a 13-10 win. The Twins still outhit the Birds, 17 to 14.
Extra innings…
-Less impressive was the Twins’ 12-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday, including an all-too familiar start from Pablo Lopez, who, as we know, can labor through the early part of a game before settling down and taking care of business.
He went two innings in the loss but needed 52 pitches. He allowed three runs on four hits with two walks and four strikeouts. Thirty-three of his 52 pitches landed for strikes.
In 2024, Lopez pitched to a 4.50 ERA in innings 1-3, but he gets progressively stronger the rest of the game, according to Baseball-Reference.com. In innings 4-6, his ERA fell to 3.92, and if teams couldn’t get to him by then they were toast because he pitched to an ERA of 1.59 in innings 7-9, the data show.
-The Twins were 7-for-16 with runners in scoring position in Friday’s game.
-The Chicago White Sox still look terrible. They are 1-6 this spring and so far have scored only 19 runs across seven games, or a little more than two runs per game.