After watching his pitchers give up a combined 46 runs in the past four games, Twins pitching coach Pete Maki convened a meeting of the group before Tuesday night’s game. It seemed like the right time for it.
The Twins entered Wednesday night’s game against Seattle losers of 11 of their past 12 games. They had a league-worst 6.73 earned-run average in the month of June — by almost a run and a half. They’re searching for answers.
Sure, they lost their ace Pablo López to a shoulder injury early in the month; that certainly has not helped matters. But the issues run far deeper than just López’s absence.
“We have very talented guys in the bullpen and rotation. This is part of any season,” Maki said. “Has it been bad? Yeah, it’s been bad, man. The run getting to fourth base has been a little insane. The way to really evaluate is each outing. What led to it today? What do you want back?”
It’s been a little different on a nightly basis, but a big culprit has been free bases. Jhoan Duran, for example, hit a pair of batters on Tuesday night in the ninth inning of a tied game, leading to a Mariners run in the Twins’ one-run loss.
And the Twins’ strikeout-to-walk ratio, once tops in the majors, has plummeted. Heading into Wednesday, the 76 walks the pitching staff has issued in June was tied for sixth in the majors. In May, a month during which they had a collective 3.11 earned-run average, they walked just 60 batters, tied for first in the majors.
“The past month we’re kind of the opposite of No. 1,” Maki said. “So, what’s leading to that? We’re walking a few too many guys.”
Yes, walks have been a problem, but really there is no easy answer to what has ailed the pitching staff as a whole, which carried the team earlier in the season, considering it varies pitcher to pitcher, day to day.
The pitchers meeting on Tuesday focused heavily on checking back in on the goals they had set for themselves as a group during spring training and assessing where they were at with those, starter Chris Paddack said. Manager Rocco Baldelli said another focus was on controlling what they could control and starting from there, calling it a “good reminder for everyone in the room.”
Paddack, Baldelli said, was one of the guys who stepped up to address the group and “spoke from the heart,” delivering what the manager described as an emotional message to the pitching staff.
“Obviously, whenever you’re going through a tough stretch, you need to have each other’s backs and try to support one another whenever we’re going through hard times like we have been the last couple weeks,” starter Bailey Ober said. “Just being able to come together as a group and support each other, it always means a lot. It was a good, successful meeting. I thought it was well needed, and hopefully we come out of that and kind of turn the script.”
Briefly
The Twins have Friday’s starter against Detroit listed as TBA. That would be David Festa’s day to start. Baldelli said it’s possible that Festa starts that game or it’s possible they use an opener, as they did during Festa’s last turn through the rotation. … Simeon Woods Richardson is scheduled to start the series finale against the Seattle Mariners on Thursday afternoon.
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