It’s overcast and steaming hot as the Minnesota Twins prepare to take on the Seattle Mariners in game two of a four-game series at Target Field this evening. It’s expected to be in the upper-80s at game time, with a fairly good chance of thunderstorms after the game, though it doesn’t appear like they’ll threaten any part of this one.
It’s a pair of righties going for each team, as Christian Bergman will take on Kyle Gibson for the second time in less than a week. More on that in a bit.
There’s no Miguel Sano or Byron Buxton in today’s lineup for the Twins, with manager Paul Molitor suggesting he was just looking for some time to get guys a rest, and this is when their time came up. With seven games in the next six days, now is as good of a time as any to get guys some rest. With that said, Molitor noted that it’s never easy to write a lineup that doesn’t have Sano’s name in it.
Max Kepler will move over to center, with Robbie Grossman manning right and Eddie Rosario in left.
Here’s how the Twins will attack Bergman this evening:
Here’s how the Mariners will counter against Gibson:
Bergman is a 29-year-old righty who is getting his first extended exposure as a starter since 2014 with the Rockies, when all 10 of his appearances came as a starter (5.93 ERA, 4.74 FIP). Things have gone a bit better results-wise for Bergman this year (4.03 ERA), though it’s not without caveats, including a 5.58 FIP.
Bergman, who just faced the Twins and Gibson at Safeco Park last Thursday, has seen most of his struggles limited to one game. He’s allowed 17 earned runs this season in 38 innings, but 10 of those came in a nightmare outing against the Nationals on May 23. In the three starts since, Bergman has allowed just three total earned runs: 1.50 ERA, .706 OPS against and 14-6 K/BB ratio in 18 innings.
According to PITCHf/x on Fangraphs, Bergman averages in the high-80s with his fastball, and he’ll mix the two- and four-seamers pretty evenly. His preferred secondary pitch is the slider (28.9 percent, 85 mph average) and he’ll also mix in a curve and change about 10 percent of the time, each. He’s not much of a strikeout pitcher (6.2 K/9 this year, 5.6 career), and isn’t a groundball guy, either (39.3 percent). With all the fly balls he’s allowed, he’s also been prone to the long ball (1.89 per nine), which makes this a tough night for Sano to sit out, all things considered. Kennys Vargas may have to carry the torch.
Gibson has been good since returning from Triple-A Rochester, though that’s just a three-start span so far. Even with a rough inning in Baltimore — his first start back — he’s got a 2.65 ERA over those three starts spanning 17 innings, though it has come with 14 strikeouts and nine walks.
The big change for Gibson has been an increased reliance on his curveball. Before his demotion to Rochester, this is what Gibson’s pitch mix had looked like:
- Four-seam fastball – 22.9 percent
- Sinker – 34.6 percent
- Curve – 11.3 percent
- Slider – 18.5 percent
- Changeup – 12.7 percent
Here’s how his distribution has looked since:
- Four-seam fastball – 13.6 percent
- Sinker – 37.5 percent
- Curve – 23.5 percent
- Slider – 12.1 percent
- Changeup – 13.2 percent
Gibson and Jason Castro both said that they recognized early when he was back that his curveball looked better, and Gibson said that was part of a conscious effort to keep his shoulder in more while he was down with the Red Wings. Be sure to keep an eye on ZoneCoverage.com for a feature on that soon.
So far, the results on the curve have been good. The curve has a swinging strike rate of 16.7 percent, and has resulted in an .067 batting average and slugging percentage. Safe to say Gibson is giving hitters…..*sunglasses on* Trouble with the Curve?
YEEEEEAAAHHHHHH!
(sorry, trying to delete)
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Roster moves
After Monday night’s game, the Twins sent reliever Alex Wimmers back to Triple-A Rochester. Returning to the Twins in his place is reliever Ryan Pressly, who threw four scoreless innings in three appearances with the Red Wings. His entire stint down there spanned 16 batters, seven of which he struck out (15.8 K/9). Each of the last six outs Pressly recorded with Rochester came via the strikeout.
Molitor said it was likely Pressly would get into a game in the near term based on the availability of guys in the bullpen on the whole, but ideally he wouldn’t throw him into any tight situations right away.
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Upcoming pitching matchups
Molitor confirmed that rookie lefty Nik Turley pitched at least well enough to get another start, which will come Friday when the Cleveland Indians come into town. Derek Falvey’s former employers are currently slated to throw Carlos Carrasco that evening. Despite the fact that the Indians have struggled in their rotation this season — somehow — Carrasco has been solid, with a 3.36 ERA and 72-19 K/BB ratio in 75 innings.
Turley lasted just four innings against the Giants, but made some good pitches and, according to Brooks Baseball, got eight swinging strikes among his 75 pitches. He also allow eight hits and four earned runs in just four innings, with four strikeouts and no walks. Molitor said that while he didn’t see it as much in the moment, he thought it was pretty clear watching afterward that Turley’s nerves were evident in that start — his first in the big leagues.
Starting pitchers for Saturday’s doubleheader against the Indians are still up in the air as well. Hector Santiago is in the mix to start on Saturday if his health cooperates, but there’s no way to know for sure how he’ll react when he ramps up in his recovery. Chris Heston is also an option to start on Saturday, Molitor said. Heston is starting for Triple-A Rochester on Tuesday night — originally this start was slated to be David Hurlbut — which means he’d be starting on three day’s rest. That would probably mean a bit of a muted pitch count for Heston on Tuesday night, but he could feasibly come up as the team’s 26th man for that start.
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Injury Updates
The Twins announced the following injury updates:
Glen Perkins (shoulder) threw a 21-pitch simulated inning down in Fort Myers on Tuesday, and came out feeling well. Molitor estimated that Perkins was in the 85-89 mph range with his fastball and mixed in some sliders as well. He’s slated to throw an inning again on Friday — in an extended spring training game this time, however.
Starter Phil Hughes (biceps, shoulder) started a throwing program on Monday. He remains without a timeline for return.
Santiago (shoulder) long-tossed out to 150 feet on Monday, and will throw a bullpen on Thursday. How he feels after that might dictate if he’ll start a game on Saturday.
Justin Haley (shoulder) threw long toss on Monday, and will throw a bullpen on Friday.
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Notes
- The Twins have the lowest home winning percentage in MLB (.387) and the second-highest on the road (.690). Only Houston (.742) is better on the road.
- Sano is the leading vote getter among third basemen in All-Star Game balloting with 1,010,060 as of results announced Tuesday morning. He’s more than 400,000 votes above the No. 2 player on the list, Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez (697,747).
- Brian Dozier is in the midst of a seven-game hitting streak. He’s hitting a robust .385/.500/.692 over that stretch.
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