Derek Shelton reveals Twins outfield preference with strange lineup choice vs Blue Jays

The Minnesota Twins have announced their lineup for Game 2 of their three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre, with Joe Ryan, who allowed three runs (two earned) on three hits and three walks across five innings with seven strikeouts against the Detroit Tigers in his last outing, slated to start on the mound.

Minnesota is set to face yet another lefty in Eric Lauer, who pitched just two innings in his last start while allowing two earned runs on three hits and three walks against the Chicago White Sox. Matt Wallner has been the left-handed bat regularly starting against southpaws this year, but Derek Shelton decided to go with Larnach instead today.

Larnach starting over Wallner isn't the most interesting part of this lineup, however. It's the fact that Larnach is in left field, and Austin Martin is making his first career start in right field.

Derek Shelton's interesting Twins lineup decision seems strange but makes sense

Ryan induces a high volume of fly balls. Based on this lineup construction, Shelton must believe the Blue Jays will hit more fly balls to right field than left today, as Martin has more range than Larnach.

The Blue Jays' lineup today includes five hitters who will bat from the left side against Ryan: Daulton Varsho, Jesús Sánchez, Nathan Lukes, Andrés Giménez and Brandon Valenzuela. As for the right-handed bats, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Ernie Clement are known for hitting the ball to all sides of the field, with George Springer and Davis Schneider being the only righties in the lineup who are mainly pull hitters.

Therefore, while Shelton's decision to play Martin in right field and Larnach in left may seem odd, the logic makes sense.

Other than the outfield construction and Larnach earning a start over Wallner, the only notable difference in today's lineup compared to the other ones this season is that Ryan Kreidler is starting at third base. The Twins recalled Kreidler from Triple-A St. Paul this morning as a corresponding move to placing Royce Lewis on the injured list with a left knee sprain. Minnesota also recalled right-handed pitcher Andrew Morris this morning as a corresponding move to placing right-handed pitcher Cody Laweryson on the injured list with a right forearm strain.

Toronto won Game 1 of the series with Minnesota 10-4 last night. Game 2 today is scheduled to begin at 2:07 p.m. CST. The game will be available to watch on Twins.TV.