CLEARWATER, Fla. — Pablo López departed on Thursday, drove more than 2 hours north of Fort Myers to Clearwater and stayed overnight at a Holiday Inn so he could get to the ballpark early Friday ahead of his last tune-up of the spring.
He threw three scoreless innings, allowed a pair of hits, walked one, struck out four and afterwards, proclaimed himself ready for the season.
“He got some swing-and-miss against some good hitters today and his stuff looks good right now, so he’s going into his Opening Day outing in a strong spot,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “Today is a nice way for him to end his spring.”
Indeed, the next time out, it will be for real, with López facing off against former teammate Sonny Gray in St. Louis on March 27 — his third consecutive Opening Day start.
After a spring of preparation, López said he is feeling just how he wants to feel.
“Last game, with it being the highest workload with the stuff and everything being in place, it was like, OK, with one more to go, I felt everything I wanted to feel stuff-wise in my last game,” he said.
Now, it’s time to turn his attention to the regular season. López isn’t one to set hard goals — if there’s a number he’s looking at, it’s 32. Making 32 starts would indicate that he remained healthy for the entirety of the season.
Beyond that, he has another big focus: How can he stay as consistent the first half of the season as he has been in the second half?
“We have the sample size of ’23 and ’24, my second half being better,” López said. “I had better rhythm. I was more dominant than my first half, so now it’s time to make it a goal.”
López finished the first half of the season with a 3.89 earned-run average in 2023. He lowered that number to 3.36 in the second half. The difference was even more stark last season, when López was inconsistent in the first half (5.11 ERA) and sharp in the second (2.77 ERA), when he gave up three or fewer runs in 11 of his 13 starts.
López said he had “no idea” how to account for the differences, though he posited a guess.
“The more you pitch, the more comfortable you feel with everything,” he said. “You find rhythm, you find cues, you find pitches, you find comfort with being more unpredictable.”
Briefly
Simeon Woods Richardson followed López into the game on Friday. In his longest spring outing, he threw 81 pitches across 4 1/3 innings. He gave up six runs after not surrendering an earned run since Feb. 25. … Reliever Scott Blewett will start for Twins on Saturday when they host the Toronto Blue Jays at Hammond Stadium. The Blue Jays are expected to send Max Scherzer.
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