It’s overcast and warm — but a bit cooler than the last two nights — as the Minnesota Twins prepare for the rubber game of a three-game weekend set with the Detroit Tigers. It’ll be a pair of lefties doing battle in this one, as Adalberto Mejia (4.22 ERA/5.07 FIP in 70.1 innings) will toe the rubber for the Twins against Matt Boyd (5.58 ERA/4.60 FIP in 61.1 innings) of the Tigers.
More on that in a bit.
It’s Armed Forces Appreciation Day at Target Field, and in addition to some pregame stuff, there’ll be a helicopter fly over just before first pitch.
Here’s how the Twins will line up in the finale:
Here’s how the Tigers will counter:
Mejia doesn’t exactly have the sexiest stats — 7.4 strikeouts per nine, 4.1 walks per nine and a WHIP of 1.44 — but he’s been markedly better since the middle of June. Over his last six starts, Mejia has an ERA of 2.62, a K/BB rate of 25-13 (34.1 innings) and a slash line against of .235/.313/.386. Efficiency has been an issue all season long, but manager Paul Molitor sees Mejia as a work in progress who gives the team a chance to win far more often than not.
“I think we’ve seen the development of a young pitcher,” Molitor said. “Obviously there are ways you continue to get better, but I think compared to earlier in the year…I think you can make a bit of a Gibson comparison to where he’d get tentative and pitch from behind. It didn’t work out particularly well. I think he’s more confident with his stuff in the zone, which leads to quicker outs. His pitch counts have been staying down a bit more consistently.”
The Tigers aren’t exactly an easy matchup, either. No team has a higher wRC+ against left-handed pitchers this season than Detroit (124). It doesn’t help Mejia’s case that Miguel Cabrera is back from a one-game hiatus, either.
“It’s going to be a tough order for him today,” Molitor said. “The Tigers have handled left-handed pitchers fairly well. I think if he can maintain that aggressive mindset — knowing he’s going to have to use his offspeed pitches when he gets ahead — I think it’ll be a good day.”
The Twins are likely going to be less of a challenge for Boyd, as they’re 22nd in MLB with a wRC+ of 85 against lefties this season. With that said, it’s not like Boyd has pitched particularly well this season. Opposing batters are peppering him to the tune of a .319/.378/.476 slash line, with righties (.879 OPS) faring much better than lefties (.718). That would explain why the Twins lineup doesn’t have Joe Mauer or Jason Castro in it, and as a result is about as righty/switch hitter-heavy as it can possibly be.
Boyd will mix and match with a four-seam fastball and a sinker, both of which sit in the low-90s with regularity. He’ll also throw in a cutter now and then (87.3 mph average) with a changeup (21.8 percent), curve (14.2 percent) and a slider (7.2 percent). Boyd’s swing-and-miss pitch is the changeup (15.8 percent), while the changeup and cutter both induce grounders in excess of 50 percent. Oddly enough, the sinker is a fly ball pitch (38.3 percent GB rate), and it has been absolutely throttled by opposing hitters this season (.344/.394/.578).
Injury/Availability Update
Molitor called Byron Buxton’s return from the disabled list on Tuesday “fairly imminent.” Buxton has done hitting, running and fielding drills before each of the last two games and appears ready to hit the ground running in Los Angeles.
It’s not an injury update, but Molitor said he wasn’t sure yet if Taylor Rogers would be available after throwing 24 pitches on Saturday night. Rogers has already made 43 appearances spanning 37.2 innings through 96 games this season. That’s a pace of 73 appearances and 64 innings over 162 games. Rogers got into 57 games spanning 61.1 innings with the Twins last season and also saw action in seven games at Rochester last season spanning 18 innings. Molitor said the team was monitoring his workload, and if he’s available on Sunday it would likely be in a “shutdown” situation rather than a full inning.
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Notes and Quotes
- The Twins are expecting 30,000 fans today.
- The Twins are 9-6 over their last 15 games at Target Field. Prior to that stretch, they were 14-24 at home.
- After Sunday’s game, the next seven games in the season series will be in Detroit. The Twins and Tigers wrap up the regular season with a three-game set in Minneapolis from Sept. 29-Oct. 1.
- Brian Dozier is on an eight-game hitting streak out of the All-Star break. Miguel Sano is also in the midst of a hitting streak (five games).
- A win on Sunday would be 50 for the Twins on the season. They won their 50th game last season on Sept. 1. The Twins had just 37 wins on July 23 last year.
- Per the game notes, the Twins have spent 50 days in first place, 46 in second, eight in third and five in fourth this season. They have not spent a single day in last place.
- Molitor on Mejia and efficiency: “I think with a lot of things we’ve seen improve, he’s learned to trust his catcher more. I think he’s taken the message about staying on top of his pitches, especially his slider, which has produced better results. He’s got enough movement with his two-seamer and a combination of the slider and changeup. There’s no reason he can’t be effective here. Everyone’s going to have their bad days, but I think, for the most part, we’re seeing that he has a chance to go out there and put you in a position to win every time he takes the mound.”
- Molitor on Granite playing better of late: “It’s what you dreamt about doing for a long time, and when you finally get a chance to meet it head on, almost for everybody there’s a bit of…I won’t say doubt, but you just aren’t sure what’s going to be the difference in playing the game up here versus every other level I’ve been able to conquer. The start that he had, the hits didn’t come his way but I thought the at-bats were decent. Now he looks like he’s swinging a bit more confidently and freely as he’s gotten a few more hits. I think he’s got really good bat-to-ball skills as far as being able to put the ball in play. I don’t think velocity intimidates him. As we saw last night, he has the ability to hit the ball where it’s pitched and spread it around to keep the defense honest.”
- Molitor on if Granite and Buxton can coexist in the same outfield: “We’re looking at a lot of different ways this could play out with Byron’s return. With the other things that are ongoing, we’re just going to have to see where we land on that with Tuesday looming. Right now, we only have three bench players. How we’re going to do our bullpen and everything else moving forward, we’ll see if anything else happens in the next 48 hours, too. We’re just going to have to wait until we get down to having to make a decision on how Byron is going to return to the 25-man roster.”
- Molitor on if Granite can handle left-handed pitching: “Yeah, he’s had good success in the past. Minor-league reports were that he stayed in there against everybody this year. I think he sees the ball well. He’s one of those guys — the style of hitter he is — that doesn’t commit too soon on pitches. I think he really sees them a long time, which helps him keep the left-handed slider in the zone. I think that’s the most problematic pitch for lefties against lefties, it seems. I think there’s no question he can be effective, whether it’s long-term where most guys have a little bit of a sway one way or the other in terms of better matchups, but I don’t have any apprehension about him not being able to handle it.”
- Molitor on if he prefers Granite at the top or bottom of the order: “I prefer him at the bottom for now. I think it’s the right thing for a young player. I think he does provide a bit of being a player who can roll (the order) over and still steal a base and give you opportunities that way. We’ve had him up at the top here more frequently than I would have liked so far, mainly because of the fact that we’ve had an overload of left-handed hitters in the lineup which we’ve tried to spread out.”
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