Simeon Woods Richardson has been nothing short of spectacular for the Twins over the past month or so. He’s looked supremely confident on the mound with complete control of his full arsenal of pitches.
Asked about Woods Richardson’s impressive stretch, manager Rocco Baldelli summed it up perfectly, saying, “He’s just been better more often.”
A simple statement that encapsulates the consistency with Woods Richardson has pitched for the Twins as of late. He was nearly untouchable couple of weeks ago solid in a win over the Seattle Mariners, for example, then followed it up with another solid performance in a win over the Miami Marlins.
“If he loses something that he wants, he gets it back more quickly and finds it,” Baldelli said. “He’s finding ways to make those adjustments pitch to pitch as opposed to batter to batter or inning to inning.”
Those adjustments were apparent on Tuesday night at Target Field as Woods Richardson set the tone for the Twins in what ended up being a runaway 8-1 win over the Chicago Cubs. He scattered a pair of hits across five scoreless innings before handing the ball over to the bullpen.
It got a little nervy after Baldelli opted for a pitching change as Danny Coulombe walked the first batter he faced, and later served up a single to Inver Grove Heights native Michael Busch to put runners on the corners. That set the stage for Brock Stewart, who fell behind in the count against Dansby Swanson, then battled back for a clutch strikeout to put an end to the scoring threat.
Most of the run support for Woods Richardson came long after he had exited the game. Though he was already in line for the win thanks to the Twins pushing a pair of runs across early in the game the offensive outburst late in the game left no doubt.
A home run from Ryan Jeffers scored Byron Buxton and was immediately followed by a home run from Willi Castro. Royce Lewis later singled to score Carlos Correa before Harrison Bader cleared the bases with another home run that served as the exclamation point.
All of it added up to a deserved win for Woods Richardson.
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