The Minnesota Twins won at home tonight, and Adalberto Mejia went seven innings in the 9-5 victory over the Los Angeles Angels. Those two developments bode well for a 42-40 club that is 17-25 at Target Field and hasn’t had a pitcher go seven innings since June 21.
“Mejia stepped up, and he’s given us some good games as of late,” said Twins manager Paul Molitor. “And it was nice to see him go deep. I don’t know when the last time we had seven innings other than [Ervin] Santana or [Jose] Berrios. We needed a little pick-me-up there, and he gave it to us.”
The last pitcher go to seven innings other than Minnesota’s one-two punch at the top of the rotation? Adalberto Mejia on May 21. The Twins need more of this if they are going to win the AL Central — a winnable division and their most likely path to a playoff spot.
“It’s nice when he’s using all his pitches,” said Molitor. “The changeup obviously is a good pitch, but that slider, when he stays on top, we saw some good swings and misses down and into the righties.
“But I think that the more success that comes his way, in terms of going deeper into games, and putting wins next to his name, I think he feels better about what he’s doing.”
After giving up nine hits and three earned runs, Mejia is now 4-3, and his ERA dropped 10 points to 4.32.
As for old friend Alex Meyer, a one-time top prospect in the Twins system, he only managed to go five innings, giving up six hits and five earned runs. His pitches topped out in the high-90s, but he also walked four batters, hit Eduardo Escobar in the first inning and was issued a balk in the second inning.
“I don’t think we’ve patrolled the right-handed balk particularly well, especially when it involves buckling the front leg,” said Molitor.
“A lot of teams are teaching it now to some degree, because it’s usually so quick, it’s hard to detect, unless you slow it down. But it’s a deceiving move, and the one that he got call on, for me it’s a no-brainer.”
Immediately after the balk, Joe Mauer hit his fifth home run of the season. He was one of many Twins hitters to contribute tonight: Max Kepler was 4-for-4 and a triple shy of the cycle and Miguel Sano was 3-for-5.
“Offensively it was nice that a lot of guys contributed,” Molitor said. “Obviously Joe’s homer was big, gave us a little cushion early, but we kept adding on, which made a big difference at the end of the game.
“Sano had the big double, driving in a couple.”
As for Kepler, Molitor said his mind is less cluttered, allowing his natural ability to take over at the plate.
“Freedom of thought, freedom of swing,” said Molitor. “It’s one of those things where you’ve got younger players that have had some taste of success, and yet every once in a while, it becomes a little harder to find.
“You learn to press through those things, and not over-think is probably pretty accurate. You trust your preparation, and he has a beautiful swing. He’s got a quick bat. He’s got a good enough eye. It’s a matter of going up there and and trusting it.”
Mauer was hitting leadoff tonight because Brian Dozier was a late scratch due to back issues. He’s day-to-day.
“I wasn’t even aware of it until after batting practice,” said Molitor. “It’s just that he woke up this morning and had some back spasming. He thought it wouldn’t be an issue when he got out here and he got going, but batting practice was difficult, and the reports after the game is he’s doing a little bit better.”
After the game, Ehire Adrianza was activated and Kennys Vargas, who is hitting .247/.301/.428, was sent down to Triple-A Rochester.
“I had a good chat with him after the game, with our couple of hitting guys, and tried to give him some things to try to get back on track,” said Molitor.
“I need to keep the pitching.”
And really, for the Twins to succeed in the second half of the season, they need to have pitching worth keeping.
