Minnesota Twins: Afterthoughts from the Sweep of the Kansas City Royals
This is “Afterthoughts” focused on the Minnesota Twins. The thoughts and interesting stats from the previous game.
The two most notable takeaways from the first three games of the season were the amount of Minnesota Twins batters taking walks and the success at the plate in the seventh inning.
The Kansas City Royals pitching staff handed out 23 walks. As a result, the Twins lead the MLB with a .407 OBP through three games.
For perspective, it took the Twins eight games to walk 26 times last season. In two of those eight games, the Twins failed to draw a walk. Quite the stark difference.
With the high volume of walks, Twins batters have scored a lot as well. The Twins have scored 21 runs, which puts the team in a tie for fourth in the majors in that category.
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What’s unusual is who is scoring all the runs and drawing the most walks. The bottom of the Twins lineup has driven most of the team runs and walked quite a bit as well.
The seventh, eighth, and ninth hitters have combined for five walks and nine RBI.
With the bottom of the order and driving in runs and getting on base, it gives the top of the lineup ample opportunities to drive them in. However, so far that hasn’t been the case.
The first, second, and third hitters have driven in just three runs.
It’s still early in the season, but this trend will likely continue as long as the Twins lineup structure remains mostly intact. With the recent success, it might take a month of bad offensive baseball for Paul Molitor to shake up the lineup.
Seventh Inning Success
7th-inning magic. #LetItSano #MNTwins https://t.co/yU9R2FVSu9
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) April 5, 2017
The seventh inning has been the Twins best inning regarding, well, everything. The team is slashing an absurd .556/.680/.944 in the seventh inning. Additionally, the Twins have scored 14 of its 21 runs in the seventh inning.
All this seventh inning magic seems like a fluke as the Royals bullpen had a lot to do with the rallies. However, the late inning rallies show a sense of competition with this year’s team. The Twins entered the seventh inning tied twice in the series with the Royals. Twice the Twins took the lead and twice the Twins scored six runs in the seventh.
However, it does show a sense of competition. The Twins entered the seventh inning tied twice in the series with the Royals. Twice the Twins scored six runs in the seventh.
This new-found competition was a no-show last year. The Twins ranked No. 21 in runs scored in the seventh inning or later and ranked similarly in runs scored when with the score last season.
Moving forward, it will be worth watching how the team fairs in the seventh inning or later while playing on the road.