After falling to 0-4 this spring with an ERA of about 8.00, the Twins’ Pablo Lopez got back on track Friday, pitching three scoreless innings against the Philadelphia Phillies in a 6-3 loss. He allowed two hits, walked one and fanned four to trim his spring ERA to 6.62.
Lopez looked good, including two solid appearances against Bryce Harper in which he struck out the slugger twice.
But I will say this: Twins rookie right fielder Jeferson Morales did a heck of a job backing up Pablo by flagging down a number of hard hit balls, both deep in the corner and elsewhere. Anyone slower than Morales and I’m afraid Lopez might have been in trouble.
As it turned out, the trouble fell on Simeon Woods Richardson’s shoulders. He did not look good as he served up six runs on nine hits across four-plus innings. SWR was tagged with the loss and blown save.
Although the bats have cooled, Twins pitching overall has looked pretty good, especially on Thursday in a 2-1 win over the Boston Red Sox.
Chris Paddack struck out seven over four-plus innings, then five relievers fanned 10 additional batters. Cole Sands whiffed the side in the sixth inning on 18 pitches and Griffin Jax, who has yet to allow an earned run this spring, picked up the win.
Extra innings…
-While the Twins were losing to one group of Phillies, ex-Twin Jose Berrios was carving up a split squad of Phils on Friday as he allowed just one run over five-plus innings with five strikeouts.
Berrios, who is coming off a 16-win season for the Toronto Blue Jays, has become a solid, dependable and reliable starter. He pitched to a 3.60 ERA last season and is closing in on 100 wins. Berrios also continues to give the Blue Jays about 200 innings per season.
-The Twins faced ex-Twin Max Kepler on Friday. Kepler, hitting in the leadoff spot, had a 2-for-2 day with two walks in the win.