There’s a big difference between effectively wild and wildly effective, and Lance Lynn has been far more the former on his good days.
That won’t always be the case, but it was on Saturday afternoon as the big righty stymied the Cleveland Indians for six innings on the way to a 7-1 win at Target Field.
The Indians sent Trevor Bauer to the mound to oppose Lynn, and while his peripheral statistics looked better, it was unearned runs that doomed the mercurial righty to a loss, as both he and Lynn emerged 4-4 on the season.
Here’s what we saw from our vantage point:
Rosario continued his May sizzle into June
After hitting a sizzling .368/.388/.615 last month, Rosario has sprinted out of the blocks in June by going 2-for-5 with four walks — matching his total in 28 May games — as he went 1-for-2 with a pair of walks in this one.
The hit was a big one, as Rosario homered to right field — a two-run job off Bauer — to score what was essentially the winning runs of the game, as it gave the Twins a 3-1 lead.
Brian Dozier and Logan Morrison look to be coming out of their funks
Dozier went 2-for-4 — with a triple and double — and pushed his season line to .241/.313/.420 in the process, while Morrison singled twice and is finally over the Mendoza line at .201/.318/.355.
Neither is going to make anyone forget about what they did last year individually, but wherever this offense goes will hinge a lot on what these guys can produce — especially if they’re holding down the leadoff and cleanup spots — so don’t write either of them off. Their history of production proves they deserve that.
Speaking of sizzle, the Twins bullpen continues to roll
The unit was fourth in the AL in ERA in May, and hasn’t allowed an earned run yet in June. This time around it was three scoreless innings — one apiece from Trevor Hildenberger, Ryan Pressly and Tyler Duffey — with three strikeouts and no walks. The only sketchy part was that the trio allowed five hits, but managed to pitch around it.
Hildenberger’s ERA is down to 2.79, Pressly’s is down to 2.15 and Duffey’s is…well it’s still 8.64, but for a bullpen that doesn’t really have any weak links, he’s probably the closest thing right now. He not only has enough big-league equity to keep trying out there, but he’s been absolutely filthy for Rochester this season: 1.50 ERA in 24 innings, 25-7 K/BB ratio.
One thing that’s worth wondering is if it might have been preferable to avoid using Pressly in this one. He’s already on pace to pitch in roughly 90 games this season, and the Twins did have a six-run lead when he entered in the eighth. It’s easy to say from here, but maybe Matt Magill or even going with Duffey for two innings might have made more sense?
Lynn was fairly strong
Looking past the five walks, Lynn allowed just two hits — both singles — and only the single earned run, and it came home on a wild pitch. Lynn threw enough strikes — 65 of his 113 pitches — and got a respectable nine swinging strikes along the way.
None of that will make anyone’s eyes pop out of their skulls, but for a guy who throws almost exclusively fastballs, it got the job done. He’s about a solid start or two from getting his ERA under 5.00, and looking like he can finally settle in as a reliable member of a pretty solid rotation.
Lynn has allowed just three earned runs over his last three starts — spanning 18.2 innings — and in the process has lowered his ERA more than two full runs.
Lynn’s velocity again was solid — around 93 mph with his two-seamer, 94 with his four with a peak of 96 — and he threw just 15 pitches that weren’t some type of fastball.
Again, what you see is what you get with Lynn, but when he’s right, he’s damn good.
Bauer’s defense did him in
We don’t really care about pitcher wins or losses in this space, but someone had to take it for the Indians and it wasn’t because Bauer pitched poorly. In 5.2 innings, the talented righty allowed just three earned runs — seven total — with six hits, 11 strikeouts and three walks.
The Twins pushed across four runs on four hits in the sixth inning, but they were aided by an error from Jason Kipnis at second base when Robbie Grossman grounded into what looked like a possible double play.
Later in the inning, the Twins scratched another run across on a passed ball by catcher Roberto Perez, though by then, Oliver Perez had taken over on the mound.
Bauer has always had a quirky personality, but it appears he was especially prickly after this one:
The Twins were up to some RISPy business
It’s not repeatable or necessarily predictive of anything, but the Twins made the most of their chances with runners in scoring position on Saturday. They went 5-for-13 with runners in scoring position, while the Indians were a collective 0-for-9.
An opportunistic offense is good to see, because lining them up side-by-side would have been a definite advantage to Cleveland based on how things looked on paper. At the end of the day, however, it comes down to execution.
Cleveland just didn’t execute all day long:
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Notes
- The Twins guaranteed at least a split of the series, but can take three of four with a win on Sunday. It’ll be righties Mike Clevinger and Kyle Gibson tangling at Target Field with first pitch scheduled for 1:10 p.m.
- Rosario is hitting .372 since May 1, according to the game notes.
- Lynn leads the AL with 38 walks.
- The Twins are 3-2 against Cleveland this year, 10-6 against the AL Central and 13-13 at Target Field.
- First pitch of this game was at 3:11; the game lasted 3:12.
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