The Twins broke through with a come-from-behind win against the Angels on Friday night to move to 1-9 on the season. And while that’s far from ideal, former Twin and current postgame analyst Jack Morris was quick to point out that the 1991 team also started 2-9. The parallels basically stop there, but it’s worth noting that a 2-9 start doesn’t have to be the death knell for wherever a team is headed.

Interestingly enough, the 1991 team that fell to 2-9 did so against the then-California Angels. Then again, that they’ve undergone a number of name changes since then probably tells you how much parallels from 25 years ago matter. Nonetheless, the Twins got the proverbial monkey off their collective backs with a win on Friday night, and now have to set sights on simply getting back to .500. It’s an uphill climb, and it can take time — the 1991 Twins weren’t .500 for good until June 2 at 25-25, and they still won 95 games — but the season is far from over.

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Paul Molitor said on Saturday morning that Eduardo Nunez emerged from Friday night’s game “fine” despite suffering a number of physical woes throughout the course of the game. Nunez collided with Miguel Sano in right field early in Friday night’s game — a play that allowed Joe Mauer to show just how well he can still throw — but that wasn’t it for Nunez, who also lost his helmet while returning to first base on a fly out and got hit by a pitch in the later innings. Nunez was also nearly struck on a Mauer groundout when running the bases after he was hit. Nunez was put in motion to stay out of the double play, and just missed getting hit by the batted ball on a 4-3 groundout. All told, Nunez did come up with a strong effort out of the leadoff spot for the Twins, and finds himself there again Saturday — this time playing shortstop.

Nunez has been red-hot to start the season. He’s reached base nine times in his last 10 plate appearances, with seven hits and being hit by two pitches. Further concerning was that Nunez was hit in roughly the same spot both times, a malady he appeared to be lamenting to Albert Pujols first and then the Angels’ middle infielders when he reached second base. It’s hard to imagine him settling in at one spot as a starter, but if he keeps hitting it shouldn’t be too hard for Molitor to mix and match him as a super utility guy to keep his bat in the lineup as long as it’s hot.

Twins public relations director Dustin Morse also relayed that while Byron Buxton is able to do stationary hitting drills — off a tee, or anything without appreciable velocity — he’s still hampered by his wrist when it comes to facing live pitching. The preference would be not to have him hit on Saturday, but it’s not out of the question that he could make an appearance in the outfield — as he did in the ninth inning Friday night.

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Here’s the lineup for Saturday’s 1:10 tilt with the Halos:

1. Nunez SS
2. Dozier 2B
3. Mauer DH
4. Sano RF
5. Plouffe 3B
6. Arcia LF
7. Park 1B
8. Rosario CF
9. Murphy C

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Starting pitcher – Ricky Nolasco (0-0, 1.29 ERA)

Nolasco was solid in his first start of the season for the Twins, tossing seven strong innings against the Royals with five strikeouts, no walks and just one earned run on three hits. Nolasco had good swing-and-miss stuff, throwing 67 strikes in 98 pitches with 14 swinging strikes. In general, that’s a very strong percentage of swings and misses. Brooks Baseball had Nolasco averaging 90.8 mph on his four-seamer. or just slightly down from the last two years with the Twins. It’ll rarely be about velocity with Nolasco, but rather how his off-speed and breaking stuff is working day-to-day. The slider was particularly strong against the Royals, as Brooks says Nolasco had 13 swings and misses on it in 46 instances.

Nolasco was solid in his first start of the season.

Opposing Nolasco is Jered Weaver, who no-hit the Twins on May 3, 2012. The Twins managed just one walk in that game — Josh Willingham — and the losing pitcher was Liam Hendriks. That loss also sent the Twins to a 6-18 record. To say a lot has changed for Weaver since then is an understatement; Weaver has never possessed a big fastball, but in 2012 he was averaging 87.8 mph with his fastball. This year, with Mark Buehrle out of the picture, Weaver is battling R.A. Dickey neck-and-neck for the lowest average fastball velocity at 81.3 mph. His only company anywhere close is comprised of knuckleballers — Dickey and Steven Wright of the Red Sox — with the next closest “normal” pitcher being Doug Fister at 85.1 mph.

Fister has a 7.59 ERA so far this season.

To reframe that, if 81.3 mph was Weaver’s changeup, he’d be tied with San Francisco’s Javier Lopez for 244th among 290 pitchers who have thrown at least one changeup this year velocity-wise. How about one last reframing? Friday night’s starter Tommy Milone, who is regarded as anything but a fireballer, averages 81.5 mph on his changeup — 0.2 mph faster than Weaver’s heater.

Brandon Warne

Brandon Warne covers the Minnesota Twins for Zone Coverage and is also the site's senior editor. He hosts the Midwest Swing podcast for the site as well. He and his wife Amanda live in the outer Twin Cities suburbs with their daughter, Harper.

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