The Minnesota Twins swept the Kansas City Royals in a 3-game series over the weekend finishing the club off with a 3-0 victory led by rookie Devin Smeltzer.
The Minnesota Twins pushed back Jake Odorizzi‘s scheduled start as they gave the nod to rookie Devin Smeltzer. Devin struck out 4 through 6 brilliant innings of work while allowing 0 runs to cross the plate. Smeltzer was able to pick up the win, his first in the majors, as the entire staff pitched well and surrendered no runs on the afternoon. Taylor Rogers picked up the save, his 17th of the year.
Twin Takeaway – The good
The Twins pitching staff was brilliant today headlined by the rookie. After walking Alex Gordon to lead off the 7th inning, Tyler Duffey came in and secured 2 quick strikeouts. With Alex Gordon taking off on a pitch to Jorge Soler and Soler going down swinging, Duffey and Jason Castro pulled off a much-needed “strike em out throw em out” to end the threat. Sergio Romo has been outstanding so far in a Twins uniform while throwing another clean inning in the 8th.
The battery combination today was one of the best in a while as the Twins pitching staff and Jason Castro was fantastic. Castro had a huge throw out at 2nd base in the top half of the 7th and blasted a solo shot to give the Twins some insurance in the bottom half of the inning. A fantastic game as Jason locked things down for the Twins in the final innings.
Twin Takeaway – The not-so-good
Though the bats weren’t as loud as they typically are, the Twins still did enough to push some run support across the plate. The real negative in Minnesota Twins territory today is some more injury news. Newly acquired Sam Dyson will join Byron Buxton and Michael Pineda on the injured list as the most recent Twins additions to the IL. Just as C.J. Cron got healthy, a few more Twins go down with injuries, not surprising as that’s been happening all year for the first-place team in the AL Central.
The homestand continues tomorrow as the Atlanta Braves visit Target Field to begin a 3-game set with your Minnesota Twins. Jake Odorizzi, who was originally slated to start today’s contest, will get the start on the bump as he faces off against Mike Soroka for Atlanta.