Twins @ Red Sox Game Thread/15th-18th April 2022

Observations from the Red Sox’ 3-3 start
By Julian McWilliams Globe Staff,Updated April 14, 2022, 8:19 p.m.

The Red Sox finished their season-opening road trip 3-3. They began slowly against the Yankees with a series loss but seem to have turned the corner, starting with the second game of the set against the Tigers, mainly because they began hitting.

Observations from the first six games and what fans should expect moving forward:

▪ Story getting his feet under him. Trevor Story told manager Alex Cora that he was good to go before Wednesday’s 9-7 win in Detroit. Story had been dealing with a stomach bug that kept him out for the final game against the Yankees and the first two games against the Tigers.


Story went 2 for 5 with a double on Wednesday. The second baseman couldn’t help but smile when asked what his emotions were like knowing he would play his first game at Fenway on Friday as a member of the Sox.

“I can’t wait,” he said. “That’s what me and my wife [Mallie] have been talking about, really all my family. We can’t wait to get there and play in front of Red Sox Nation and see Fenway in person.”


Story will get his first taste of what it feels like to play in a passionate market. And Fenway might be the perfect park for Story, particularly the 310-foot mark in left field.

Story is a pull hitter and has the most success when employing that method. He’s a career .408 hitter on balls to the pull side, including 88 homers. Indeed, stats at Coors Field, Story’s home field for the first six years of his career, can be inflated, but that can also be the case at Fenway for a righthanded hitter. Now, some of Story’s mishit balls will be doubles off the Green Monster.

Story, who missed a lot of the spring after signing late, and then the birth of his first child, said he is close to feeling like himself. The Sox will take care of him in the beginning, finding him occasional offdays as he continues to find his stride. When he does, though, you can expect him to round out this lineup and possibly become the force he was for the Rockies.


▪ Taylor is needed. Josh Taylor would have been a good option for the Red Sox in the seventh or eighth inning Wednesday when the Tigers scored five runs, shrinking their deficit to two. Taylor was solid last season with runners in scoring position, striking out 11.1 per nine innings. Taylor also has been impressive in high-leverage situations in his career, holding opponents to a .122 average.
When will Josh Taylor be good to go?
When will Josh Taylor be good to go?Jim Davis/Globe Staff

Taylor threw a live batting practice session in Fort Myers, Fla., on Thursday. He will throw another this weekend before the Sox make a decision on the next step in his recovery from a back injury.

***

Nick Pivetta will start Friday afternoon’s home opener against the Twins. He can be dominant, then one or two mistakes can cost him.

That was the case in his first outing against the Yankees, when he cruised through three innings only to get ambushed by two-run homers by Anthony Rizzo in the fourth and Giancarlo Stanton in the sixth. Granted, the Sox might have stuck with Pivetta for too long in that one because of their questionable bullpen.

It won’t get any easier against the Twins’ offense. Pivetta made one start against Minnesota last year, lasting just four innings. He was pounded for four runs, including two homers.


***

The Red Sox will wear their home white uniforms on Friday. Players on all major league teams will wear No. 42 to commemorate Jackie Robinson Day … Fans attending the home opener are encouraged to be in their seats by 1:30 p.m. for pregame ceremonies … Prior to the game, both teams will be introduced, while the American flag will be draped over the Green Monster by members of Hanscom Air Force Base and the Vermont National Guard … The national anthem will be performed by the Premiere Choir of Boston Children’s Chorus. There will be a flyover by an MH-60T, a medium-range search and rescue helicopter from the Coast Guard air station on Cape Cod … Springfield native Michelle Brooks Thompson will perform “God Bless America” in the middle of the seventh inning … The Red Sox will wear their City Connect uniforms on Saturday and Sunday.

Red Sox vs. Twins Series Preview

Here’s what to expect from the Twins as the Red Sox play their first home series of 2022.
By Phil Neuffer@philneuffer Apr 15, 2022, 10:01am EDT


SB Nation Blog

Twinkie Town
The opponent in one sentence

Led by two of the best position players in baseball in Byron Buxton and surprise free agent addition Carlos Correa, the Twins are aiming to contend again after a dismal 2021.
Record (2022)

2-4
Head-to-head record (2021)

5-2
Pitching Matchups

4/15: Nick Pivetta vs. Joe Ryan, 2:10 p.m. EST (NESN)

Like most of the Red Sox’s starters during the first run through the rotation, Nick Pivetta wasn’t especially sharp in his season debut against the Yankees last weekend. He did pitch fairly deep into the game for an early April start (5 2⁄3 innings), but he also allowed two home runs and walked three batters while allowing four total earned runs. Miscast as the Red Sox’s No. 2 starter until Chris Sale returns or Tanner Houck really breaks out, Pivetta’s velocity was a bit down in that opening start, so maybe he’s still getting tuned up after a short spring training, but the walk issues have always plagued him, even during his largely solid 2021 season.

Joe Ryan is among the Twins’ best prospects, so he hasn’t reached full-blown ace status yet, but that didn’t stop manager Rocco Baldelli from giving the 25-year-old right-hander the start on Opening Day against Seattle. Ryan, who is best known for his fastball and slider, was OK in that first start. He struck out four batters in as many innings, but he also walked a quartet of Mariners and gave up a long ball. It was a step backward from Ryan’s brief but promising audition in 2021 when he struck out 30 percent of the batters he faced while walking only five percent in 26 2/3 innings.

4/16: Tanner Houck vs. Sonny Gray, 4:10 p.m. EST (NESN)

Houck’s path to a major breakout and the solidification of his spot in the Red Sox’s rotation got off to a bumpy start on Sunday night against the Yankees. Although the 25-year-old right-hander made some good pitches, including an air-bending slider to strike out Josh Donaldson looking for the first out of the bottom of the first inning, Houck’s command faltered and he exited midway through the fourth inning after allowing three earned runs on six hits and three walks while striking out three batters. Houck consistently hit the mid-90s with his fastball on the radar gun and it’s just one start, but the Red Sox need much more from him. Many would argue that they should expect more as well. Houck has flashed some incredible stuff in his short time in the majors, including three brilliant albeit brief starts in 2020 and a 2021 season in which he logged 69 innings across 18 appearances (13 starts) while posting a 3.52 ERA, 2.58 FIP and a 30.5 percent strikeout rate.

The Twins have taken a throw-anything-and-everything-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks approach to improving a pitching staff that could hold them back from contention. One of the biggest splashes of that strategy was trading for Sonny Gray right after the lockout ended. Gray, who began his career in Oakland looking like he was on track to be a certified ace, has been a solid big-league pitcher for quite some time, although I’m not sure he’s the type of pitcher who can sit at the very top of a rotation. Still, with more-than-solid career marks in ERA (3.61), FIP (3.70), ERA- (87) and FIP- (88), he was a good addition to a staff that needed effective arms. Gray didn’t quite live up to that billing in his first start as a Twin, heading for the showers after 4 2⁄3 innings of two-run ball against the Mariners on April 9.

4/17: Michael Wacha vs. Bailey Ober, 1:35 p.m. EST (NESN and MLB Network for out-of-market viewers)

The Red Sox aren’t too far off from the Twins in terms of their rotation construction strategy, except they opted to buy a few lottery tickets rather than sign bigger names or swing trades. Michael Wacha was one of those fliers. A right-handed starter in his age-30 season, Wacha has been a below average starter based on ERA- for three-straight seasons and even during the 2021 campaign in Tampa Bay, he pitched to a 5.05 ERA across 124 2⁄3 innings. If the Rays couldn’t work their magic on him, I’m not sure anyone can. However, the Red Sox saw enough in Wacha (maybe his 3.91 xFIP last season) to give him a shot in the rotation.

After a rocky opening to his first start with the Red Sox earlier this week, Wacha settled in a bit before eventually running out of gas in the fifth inning. He definitely had his hiccups (three walks allowed), but he also avoided too much hard contact and struck out four batters while allowing just one earned run in 4 1/3 innings. In many ways, it was one of the better starts by a Red Sox pitcher through the first spin of the rotation.

Bailey Ober tossed 92 1/3 innings of relatively solid baseball in his first taste of MLB action in 2021, earning him a spot in the Twins’ rotation, at least to start the year. The 26-year-old right-hander doesn’t have overwhelming velocity, but he did have pretty impressive strikeout rates in the minors and a tendency to avoid free passes. He was so-so in his first start this season, allowing four earned runs on four hits (including a home run) and two walks while striking out four batters against Seattle last Sunday.

4/18: Rich Hill vs. Dylan Bundy, 11:10 a.m. EST (NESN and MLB Network for out-of-market viewers)

This year’s Patriots’ Day start belongs to the ageless Rich Hill. The journeyman southpaw with the dynamite curveball is in his third stint with the Red Sox, having pitched with them from 2010 to 2012 and then again in 2015 when his career found new life. From that 2015 season to today, Hill has pitched in 668 innings with a 3.17 ERA, 3.67 FIP and 128 ERA+. Even last year with the Rays and Mets, he combined to appear in 32 games (31 starts) across 158 2/3 innings (the second-most of his career) while posting a 3.86 ERA and 4.34 FIP. At some point, the wheels will fall off for Hill, but he seems to still have enough to be a serviceable starter at the very least. That’s what he looked like on Tuesday against Detroit, surrendering three earned runs on five hits while walking only one and striking out four before exiting in the fifth inning.

Dylan Bundy is pretty well known to the Red Sox since he spent the first four full years of his career with the Baltimore Orioles (not counting a two-game cup of coffee in 2012), surpassing 100 innings pitched every year from 2016 to 2019. Bundy, who has a career 5.58 ERA in 88 2/3 innings against Boston, is trying to regroup from an ineffective 2021 with the Los Angeles Angels when his ERA ballooned past 6.00 and he walked more than three batters per nine innings. So far so good for the 29-year-old right-hander, who threw five shutout innings against Seattle last Monday while walking just one batter.
Old Friends

None at the MLB level.

Starting Position Players

Buxton might be the best center fielder in baseball not named Mike Trout and he his absolutely crushing the ball to start this season. Don’t let his .217 batting average fool you, as Buxton is slugging .696 with a barrel rate in the 100th percentile in baseball so far in 2022. Buxton got off to a similarly hot start in 2021 before injuries robbed him of a full campaign, something that has often kept him from reaching the stratosphere in terms of production, but maybe this is the year.

Correa was considered the top free agent this past offseason and for good reason. The former Astros shortstop is a strong hitter and a great fielder at the most important infield position. At the plate, Correa can hit for power, but he also has a keen eye and even cut his strikeout rate down by more than four percent last season. He has been more strikeout prone in the early going this year and has slashed .211/.250/.474, but it’s only been through 20 plate appearances.

Jorge Polanco is coming off one of the best seasons of his career. The former shortstop who has moved over to second with Correa on the field smashed a career-best 33 home runs last season and was 22 percent better than league average at the plate.

Luis Arráez doesn’t provide a ton of power, but he rarely strikes out and regularly hits above .300. Last year was his first season of more than 100 games, but he’s been at the MLB level (and with Minnesota) since 2019.

Gary Sánchez and Gio Urshela are a pair of former Yankees who came over to Minnesota in a trade that sent Josh Donaldson and Isiah Kiner-Falefa to New York. Sánchez is a catcher who can still slug homers and Urshela is an infielder, mostly playing third base for the Twins, who posted back-to-back 130 wRC+ seasons as recently as 2019 and 2020.

Miguel Sanó provides more right-handed power for the lineup and the ability to play either corner infield spot, although he is best suited for first base or DH duties.

Max Kepler can play all over the outfield and is adept at drawing walks and avoiding strikeouts. He even has some 30 home run power in him, although his bat-to-ball work has drastically regressed since his 36 home run outburst in 2019.

With outfielder Alex Kirilloff recently sidelined with wrist inflammation, some combination of Trevor Larnach, Nick Gordon and Gilberto Celestino will likely get some starting time this weekend.

Bullpen Snapshot

The Twins didn’t completely overhaul their bullpen for 2022, but they did add Joe Smith and Emilio Pagán into the fold. Smith, a 38-year-old right-hander who doesn’t usually strike out many batters, has appeared in three games and logged 2 1/3 innings without allowing a run, while Pagán, who struggled in San Diego for two years after a breakout in 2019 with Tampa Bay, has pitched in two innings so far, allowing a single run. Even with those two on board, however, the reliever corps remains a potential weakness for the Twins.

In terms of holdovers, Danny Coulombe has been one of the most utilized relievers on the roster so far, pitching 3 1/3 innings and appearing in three games. Like Smith, he’s also yet to allow a run. Meanwhile, promising prospect Jhoan Duran (3 innings, no runs allowed), Tyler Duffey (two innings, two runs allowed) and Caleb Thielbar (2 1/3 innings, three runs allowed) are some of the other more utilized arms on the roster, with a true pecking order largely unclear, at least from the outside.
Injuries

The Twins have multiple pitchers on the injured list, including Kenta Maeda, who started in 21 games for them a year ago. Unfortunately, he will miss most of this season after Tommy John surgery. Other hurlers on the shelf include Randy Dobnak (strained finger), Jorge Alcala (elbow inflammation) and Cody Stashak (strained biceps). On the position player side, outfielder Alex Kirilloff is sidelined with wrist inflammation.
Weather Forecast

The weather should be generally good this weekend at Fenway Park, with a mix of sun and clouds and temperatures ranging from the low 50s to the high 60s.

Even if baseball ain’t what it used to be, the hope of an opener endures
First pitch for the Red Sox' home opener against the Minnesota Twins is scheduled for 2:10 p.m.



By Jon Couture
April 15, 2022 | 9:53 AM

COMMENTARY

Today is a day to celebrate.

It is a simple, straightforward idea at a time when we could use the chance to not think for a few hours. The 111th season of baseball at Fenway Park is scheduled to begin this afternoon, and if only for a day, anything beyond that is gravy.

Cincinnati’s staged a parade on Opening Day for more than a century, which really feels like an idea Boston would’ve tried to swipe by now. The April average temperature here being south of 50 degrees probably plays a part in not. And I suppose, the Sox already did sort of swipe it by making Truck Day a thing, in which case forget I said anything.

Fenway will appear its usual resplendent self this afternoon, and not just because most of us will view it through the lens of NESN’s shiny new studio in the brand-new 550 Feet From Home Plate Pavilion. Cash is now verboten at the newly carbon-neutral bandbox, and I encourage you to workshop that into a joke about the insufficient extension offers for Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers on your own time.

Today is about hope. Giant flagged hope. Fenway green hope. That the starting pitching won’t be as putrid (5.20 ERA, into the bullpen by the fifth half the time) as it was the opening week. That the defense (outside of Christian Arroyo learning right field on the fly) and bullpen will keep outperforming.

That the surprising uplift of last season isn’t replaced by water finding its level. That we’ll still have to pay attention to the Sox after Patriots training camp starts.

That the big ovation some foundational names get this afternoon are superseded by even louder ones in 2023, when they’re still here.

Even by home opener standards, it’s going to be a lot. It’s One Boston Day. It’s Jackie Robinson Day, with every team this year not only wearing his No. 42, but in Dodger blue. Even the opponent will add to the festivities, given the Twins pulled off the shocker of the winter by giving Carlos Correa $35.1 million each of the next three years if he opts to stick around.

“It tells you all you need to know about what they’re thinking upstairs,” Twins reliever Tyler Duffey told reporters last month. “They want to win right now.”

Because they have to. Minnesota’s brass is as aware as anyone that Correa could be a short-timer thanks to two opt outs in a three-year deal. They might only have him for 2022, so swing for the fences.

Who might the Red Sox not have after 2022? Take your pick. J.D. Martinez, Nate Eovaldi, and Kiké Hernández are free agents. Bogaerts, as you’re already sick of hearing, will almost certainly join them. Devers can hit the open market after the 2023 season, which means the chances of “losing him for nothing” grows with each missile he sprays somewhere.

The 2022 Red Sox are not swing-for-the-fences built. They have won four world championships since the Twins won their last playoff game. Success forever worth savoring, but success that allows the play to be sustainability, and not just when it comes to fakakta carbon credits.

“When you’re talking extensions and doing things early, so to speak, you’re adding more variables. There’s risk that gets shared when you do those things. There’s upside that gets shared,” Sox architect Chaim Bloom told WEEI on Thursday, speaking generally about negotiating long-term extensions. “There’s just much more potential, even if the desire is there and the player wants to be here and we want the player here, there’s just much more potential for people to see the world differently.”

This certainly isn’t just a Boston problem. My goodness, Aaron Judge is seeing the world differently to the tune of betting he’ll get Mike Trout money. Players standing up in a system built on undercompensating them in the early years and saying “I want what I deserve” is a wonderful ideal.

And yet unless you’re in Los Angeles, the only franchise which seems able/willing to bring back their stars in free-agent bidding wars, it means more new generations coming through the ranks. It means more goodbyes. It means the Jon Lester the Cub and Mookie Betts the Dodger and on and on.

Heck, even the Trevor Story signing can be viewed through a team-friendly lens. Ken Rosenthal’s latest from The Athletic stresses that “Story, Red Sox people believe, might have commanded $200 million on the open market if he had not been coming off an off year both offensively and defensively.”

In other words, they got a deal. That’s why he’s here.

Oh, Chaim. Even if the player wants to be here and we want the player here … good grief.

This really is a sport that’s gotten too smart for its own good.

We’ve spent the last few days batting around Dodgers manager Dave Roberts pulling Clayton Kershaw after seven perfect innings and just 80 pitches. To be clear, I get why — Kershaw himself put an 85-pitch limit on his outing. Given the shortened spring training, I especially understand it, and I suspect you do too given it barely registered a blip when San Diego yanked pitchers with active no-hitters on back-to-back days last week.

But that’s the thing. It’s become conventional wisdom. That’s depressing. In the last three years, 15 starters have been pulled with an active no-hitter of at least six innings, including Nick Pivetta last June. (Tanner Houck was pulled after five no-hit last October.)

In almost every case, we got it. I just … I hate this is what the game’s evolved to.

At least days like this one endure, as they have since people were crowing that Fenway was the “most modern of sports stadiums” because it was a comfortable place to watch a grueling 2 hour, 36 minute, 11-inning game. Times change. Teams change. Not always for the better.

But the hope of an opener endures.