The Twins ran into a tough customer on Thursday in the form of pitcher Gavin Williams, who is one of the best in the biz. He fanned 11 batters over seven innings — the Guardians had 14 total strikeouts — and that shut down the Twins offense en route to a 5-2 Cleveland win over Minnesota.
Despite the loss, it was the Twins’ fourth straight series win that started with the Colorado Rockies, followed by the Astros, Yankees and Guards. The Twins beat the Guardians Tuesday and Wednesday.
The good news Thursday is that Bailey Ober, fresh off the injured list, got the ball and allowed just a run over five innings with five strikeouts on 74 pitches. My guess is that Ober is going to see limited action until he can build up his strength to go deeper into games.
The bad news is that the Twins bullpen — yep, that thing — struggled yet again as Kendry Rojas had a poor outing. Rojas can miss bats, but he also misses the strike zone. Although he struck out three over two innings, he walked three batters and allowed three runs to take the loss.
The Twins couldn’t sweep the Guardians, but they have a good chance to do that against a very weak Angels team this weekend at Target Field. Zebby Matthews gets the ball Friday.
Extra innings…
–The walking wounded: Twins injuries are piling up again. The team has lost lefty reliever Anthony Banda for the rest of the season because he needed surgery to repair a damaged lat. Starter Connor Prielipp and reliever Marco Raya also find themselves on the injured list, but catcher Ryan Jeffers is set to be activated from the list this weekend.
–The curious case of reliever Woo-Suk Go. The Twins this week traded to get the minor league player from Detroit in exchange for cash considerations, and then he made his first appearance for the Twins on Thursday. If that sounds fast, it was because he had an assignment clause in his contract that he must be added to the active roster, according to MLB Trade Rumors. Go served up a dinger in the ninth inning.
–The Twins bullpen needs help. I think that is abundantly clear to most fans, but sniffing around the scrap heap for players like Go or Justin Lawrence is not the answer. The Twins need to make a trade for some quality talent. The Pohlads must recognize that the Twins are very much part of the AL race. Will they be buyers, sellers or do nothing at all?
–As good as Cleveland’s pitching was on Thursday, it was terrible Wednesday as they issued eight base on balls, including three runs on bases-loaded walks. Exhibit No. 1 was reliever Erik Sabrowski who tossed 14 pitches but only two landed for strikes. The Twins won 6-5.