Once again the Twins find themselves with a three-game losing streak after they lost Game 1 to the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday, following two losses to the wealthy but underachieving New York Mets.
Throughout it all the Twins have shown they have the talent to win more games and that the future remains bright, I’m just not sure anyone has the patience to wait for the draft picks and trades to pay off.
Starter Taj Bradley, who was traded from the Rays to the Twins in exchange for reliever Griffin Jax, raced out to a 3-0 record this season, then faced his old team on Friday and it didn’t go well.
Bradley was rocked for six runs on seven hits, including four home runs, with three walks and three whiffs across six-plus innings. It’s tough to face your former team because they’re bound to know a pitcher’s tendencies.
Despite the shellacking, Bradley’s ERA bumped up to just 2.91, which shows just how good he has been in the early going.
The other bright spots:
- Reliever Andrew Morris entered the bottom of the 6th inning of Thursday’s loss to the Mets and immediately struck out the side. As he pitched deeper into the game, he got into a bit of trouble but he clearly has the stuff to get guys out.
- Rookie starter Connor Prielipp made his major league debut on Wednesday and also looked good, fanning six across four innings with just two runs allowed and no walks. He just threw too many pitches — 82 by the fourth inning — and came out of the game.
- Reliever Kendry Rojas, who came over from the Toronto Blue Jays, throws hard but needs to work on his control. He walked three batters across two innings in Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to the Mets.
Bailey Ober gets the ball on Saturday. He is coming off a 10-strikeout performance in his last start.
Extra innings…
–Move him up in the order: Twins shortstop Brooks Lee has seven hits in his last three games, including three on Thursday and three more on Friday.
–The Twins’ seemingly mild-mannered pitching coach Pete Maki was ejected from Friday’s game after he took issue with a checked swing call that was not called a strike by the third base umpire.
–The Twins are 12-14 on the young season, which is a lot better than a number of major league teams, particularly a few that were considered locks to make the postseason.
They include the 9-17 Boston Red Sox, the 10-15 Blue Jays, the 8-18 Philadelphia Phillies, the 10-17 Houston Astros and the 9-17 Mets, who lost 4-3 to the lowly Colorado Rockies on Friday, which is pretty sweet if you ask me.