It was about as rough of a first inning as possible for rookie Connor Prielipp. Second baseman Cole Young doubled on Prielipp's first pitch of the game, and then he walked the next two Mariners on nine total pitches to load the bases with no outs. Julio Rodriguez then singled on the first pitch HE saw and it was 1-0 Seattle before Prielipp even worked up a sweat. He walked in one more run a few batters later, but the young lefty struckout the side in the midst of all this chaos to limit the damage.
Seattle got one more in the second inning thanks to a solo homer by Randy Arozarena to make it 3-0, but from there, Prielipp was completely locked in. It took him 55 pitches to get through the first two innings, and then 33 to finish the next 3.1 frames. That's the exact kind of development you want to see from a rookie starting pitcher and why so many people within the Twins are high on his long term outlook. The Mariners did mount another threat in the fifth inning with two men on and one out, but Prielipp successfully worked his way out of that jam and got Josh Naylor to start the sixth for a cherry on top.
On the other half of the game, the Twins had yet another slow start against an opposing starter. If it feels like Minnesota has been playing from behind often you'd be correct. Setting aside the three and four error slop-filled games last week, the Twins have scored just eight total runs in first five innings of games since the All-Star Break. They've taken the first lead in just two of those games as well. It was more of the same against Logan Gilbert and Seattle today.
The Twins had just one hit and baserunner through the first four innings before a Luke Keaschall solo shot got rid of the goose egg on the scoreboard. Trevor Larnach added a bomb of his own in the sixth, and then the Twins played some good small following a Brooks Lee leadoff double and finally worked their way to a 3-3 tie. Minnesota then had a great opportunity to take the lead in the eighth with two runners in scoring position and one out, but Kody Clemens and Royce Lewis struck out to end the threat.
Then, a weird ninth inning happened. With Andrew Morris in to try to send things to extras, Arozarena led things off of with a sharp double and advanced to third on a fly ball. Morris then intentionally walked Julio Rodriguez to put runners on the corners with one out. The Twins brought the infield in for Cal Raleigh, hoping to either get the runner at home or set up a quick double play, and they got exactly what they needed with a hard ground ball hit directly to Royce Lewis at first. Lewis, still fairly new to the position, went to step on first base, but seemed to realize the problem with that mid-play, as you can see below.
#Seattle
Seattle got one more in the second inning thanks to a solo homer by Randy Arozarena to make it 3-0, but from there, Prielipp was completely locked in. It took him 55 pitches to get through the first two innings, and then 33 to finish the next 3.1 frames. That's the exact kind of development you want to see from a rookie starting pitcher and why so many people within the Twins are high on his long term outlook. The Mariners did mount another threat in the fifth inning with two men on and one out, but Prielipp successfully worked his way out of that jam and got Josh Naylor to start the sixth for a cherry on top.
On the other half of the game, the Twins had yet another slow start against an opposing starter. If it feels like Minnesota has been playing from behind often you'd be correct. Setting aside the three and four error slop-filled games last week, the Twins have scored just eight total runs in first five innings of games since the All-Star Break. They've taken the first lead in just two of those games as well. It was more of the same against Logan Gilbert and Seattle today.
The Twins had just one hit and baserunner through the first four innings before a Luke Keaschall solo shot got rid of the goose egg on the scoreboard. Trevor Larnach added a bomb of his own in the sixth, and then the Twins played some good small following a Brooks Lee leadoff double and finally worked their way to a 3-3 tie. Minnesota then had a great opportunity to take the lead in the eighth with two runners in scoring position and one out, but Kody Clemens and Royce Lewis struck out to end the threat.
Then, a weird ninth inning happened. With Andrew Morris in to try to send things to extras, Arozarena led things off of with a sharp double and advanced to third on a fly ball. Morris then intentionally walked Julio Rodriguez to put runners on the corners with one out. The Twins brought the infield in for Cal Raleigh, hoping to either get the runner at home or set up a quick double play, and they got exactly what they needed with a hard ground ball hit directly to Royce Lewis at first. Lewis, still fairly new to the position, went to step on first base, but seemed to realize the problem with that mid-play, as you can see below.
#Seattle
2 months ago
