Twins pitchers respond to fiery, emotional meeting with three-hit shutout over Seattle

New York Times

3 days ago

MINNEAPOLIS — Their unimaginable struggles now three weeks old, the Twins recently called a fiery, pitchers-only meeting in hopes of sparking change.
The team's sit down paid big dividends only 24 hours later as Minnesota's pitchers, led by Joe Ryan, combined for a three-hit shutout in a 2-0 victory over the Seattle Mariners at Target Field on Wednesday night. Ryan struck out eight batters in six scoreless innings as the Twins staff carried the team to only its second victory since June 11.
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After discussing the idea with manager Rocco Baldelli and others, pitching coach Pete Maki assembled his staff for a pregame session on Tuesday. Hours before he made a start which resulted in a no-decision despite yielding five runs, Chris Paddack, who said Maki's talk had him ready to run through a wall, offered fiery words of encouragement to the group.
A top-five pitching staff only three weeks ago, the Twins are trying to wrap their heads around an ongoing plunge off the high dive. Though the stretch coincides with the injuries to Pablo López and Zebby Matthews, the Twins think far more is at play than the losses of two starting pitchers. They also think it's correctable.
Baldelli highlighted some of the key discussion points for a team desperate to get back on track ahead of Wednesday's win.
'The meeting really stemmed from the following idea: there are things you can control and that you should attack and there are things that you have less control over,' Baldelli said. 'Not that those things aren't going to be on your mind, but focus on the things that you can clearly control and do those things exceptionally well and start there. That was a good reminder, I think, for everyone in the room.'
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Three weeks ago, the Twins pitching staff was living large. Even as the offense struggled to find a rhythm, the Twins were winning, accruing a 34-27 record in large part because of their pitching.
The staff's 3.28 earned-run average ranked sixth out of 30 in baseball. They were second in Fielding Independent Pitching (3.40). The Twins led the majors in strikeout to walk ratio (3.61), issued the fewest walks per nine in baseball (2.55), boasted the most f-Wins Above Replacement (10.6) and rated fourth in strikeouts per nine (9.18).
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Life was good.
But around the same time the Twins were peaking, López and Matthews suffered shoulder injuries, Bailey Ober began to struggle and the performances of Paddack and Ryan slowed down. With David Festa and Simeon Woods Richardson not matching López, or even Matthews, the team's pitching performance was in a free fall until Ryan and Co. stopped it for an evening.
Ryan did so by slowing down red-hot Cal Raleigh and a Mariners squad which won eight of its last 11 by using a six-pitch mix. The right-hander generated 12 swings and misses and fronted the team's first pitching-led victory since Festa provided six strong innings in a June 11 win over the Texas Rangers.
Since Festa's gem, Twins pitching surrendered at least six runs in eight of its last 13 games.
'This is part of any season,' Maki said. 'Has it been bad? Yeah, it's been bad, man. The run getting to fourth base has been a little insane. We were leading the league in strikeout to walk ratio on June 1 and that's no longer the case. The past month we're kind of the opposite of No. 1. What's leading to that? We're walking a few too many guys. Our count leverage, early count numbers, are as good as they've been. Maybe we're not doing a good job when we get to three-ball counts, like we're losing them when we get to three-ball counts. There is some of that. … We can be better. We need to be better. We will be better.'
Though anything is possible, it's difficult to imagine things being worse than their current state.
The Twins pride themselves on being strike-throwers and always attacking the zone, something they did consistently through June 4. Since then, the team is 25th in walks per nine (3.55) and strikeout to walk ratio (2.12). There's also been a significant reduction in strikeouts per nine (7.91), which ranks 20th.
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Since June 5, the Twins are 28th in FIP (5.00) and 29th in xFIP (4.71). They're last in the majors in Win Percentage Added, 27th in average exit velocity and 26th in hard-hit percentage.
'You could point the fingers at the pitchers,' Paddack said. 'We know we have to fix some things. … Right now, we're the ones to blame, including myself. It's just tough. A lot of crooked numbers the last couple weeks, but it's going to change.'
Two reasons the Twins believe their fortunes will change is simply an improvement in luck. Over these three weeks, Twins pitchers have stranded the fewest runners in baseball (only 52.6 percent) and their .332 batting average on balls in play (BABIP) is second-worst.
They know those factors are more out of their control than others. But the point of the meeting for to Twins pitchers to make sure to focus on what they can control while acknowledging some of the equation, as always, is out of their hands.
'You need to have each other's backs and try to support one another whenever we're going through hard times like we have been the last couple weeks,' Ober said. 'Just being able to come together as a group and support each other, it always means a lot. It was a good, successful meeting.'
Now, it's about making their discussion actionable.
While acknowledging a hellish stretch which sent them from leading the American League wild-card race to entering Wednesday 3 1/2 games out, the Twins realize they need to worry about what they can do instead of what they weren't able to accomplish.
'Pete led the way,' Baldelli said. 'Paddack had some words for the group and they were emotional and they were very good and they were positive and they were looking forward on ways that we're going to get where we need to be. He spoke from the heart and I loved it, to be honest with you.'
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Said Paddack: 'It kind of got us fired up. … We were the best pitching staff in May. Nothing's changed. The BABIP is through the roof. We have to continue to trust each other. Believe in one another and it's all going to turn around. It's just a matter of time. We have to stay positive during this rough stretch.'
(Photo of Twins pitcher Joe Ryan: Brad Rempel / Imagn Images)