Twins notes: Zebby Matthews' best start, Pablo López's progress and a rare steal

New York Times

6 days ago

MINNEAPOLIS — Making his second start since missing six weeks with a strained right shoulder, Zebby Matthews had the most impressive outing of his young Minnesota Twins career Friday, throwing six shutout innings in a 1-0 win over the Washington Nationals.
Matthews struck out seven and walked none, giving up just two hits while recording 18 outs on 81 pitches. His fastball averaged 97.5 mph, topping out at 98.8 mph. His power slider reached 91.6 mph and avoided hard contact. It was an extremely encouraging and at times overpowering performance.
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'Zebby was lights out,' manager Rocco Baldelli said. 'He was fantastic. It was a very big-time outing. Visually, as we watched it, the stuff was way up. He had the velo that, when he's right, everything is working. The slider was a really good pitch. That's what it looks like when he's pitching great.'
Zebby Matthews, 2Ks in the 5th. pic.twitter.com/DjbvFdO8rh
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) July 26, 2025
Because the Twins lineup managed just one run, Matthews had no margin for error when Baldelli kept him in for the sixth inning to face the top of the Nationals' lineup for a third time. He set them down 1-2-3, including a called strikeout on a 3-2 fastball to All-Star slugger James Wood to end the frame.
'I had the full mix tonight,' Matthews said. 'I felt like I did a pretty good job keeping hitters guessing up there. Ryan (Jeffers) called a really good game. I thought, for the most part, I executed really well. I was able to make some big pitches there in some 3-2 counts.'
And from there, the bullpen trio of Danny Coulombe, Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran — each of whom has been the subject of trade rumors — closed out the Twins' first 1-0 victory in over two years with three scoreless innings in front of a substantial scouting presence at Target Field.
'The kid is a future star,' Coulombe said of Matthews. 'I truly believe that. He's got to trust himself. He's got to trust how good he is. I truly believe he can be an ace in this league.'
Matthews came into the game with a 6.53 ERA in 14 career starts, including a 6.26 ERA in five starts this season, but for one night, at least it was easy to see why the 25-year-old right-hander was a consensus top-100 prospect and the Twins' minor-league pitcher of the year before graduating to the majors.
And it was a much-needed step forward for Matthews, who remains a large part of the Twins' long-term pitching plan, and for a struggling rotation that has seen injuries to Pablo López, Bailey Ober and David Festa wreck what once looked like strong starter depth.
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'Big confidence boost,' Matthews said. 'I had some really good outings in Triple A and had a really good spring. But then I got up here and was very inconsistent. … It's something I know I can do. I've seen it in Triple A and spring training. To finally get results up here is big.'
With López out since June 3 with a right shoulder strain, his recovery has recently progressed to throwing off flat ground, a crucial step before being cleared to return to the mound.
'Now it's just a waiting game to give the arm the volume, give the arm the distance,' López said Friday. 'Getting used to that feel of this is what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm supposed to be throwing baseballs pretty hard and then bouncing back for the next day.'
López is about seven weeks into what was initially announced by the Twins as an eight-to-12-week return timeline. He has progressed well and appears on track to rejoin the Twins within that window, but a more specific time frame won't be known until he throws off the mound and faces live hitters.
'The body feels good,' López said. 'But it's one thing to identify how the body feels jumping, running, weightlifting, reactive, agility and strength. Throwing a baseball is such an unusual thing to do, especially max effort off the mound, so I'm checking all the boxes pre-mound.'
López had a 2.82 ERA in 11 starts before the June 3 injury, and the Twins' rotation as a whole ranked fifth in MLB with a collective 3.43 ERA. Since his injury, the Twins' rotation ranks 27th in MLB with a 5.12 ERA. And the Twins were 33-27 (.550) before his injury compared with 17-26 (.395) since.
DaShawn Keirsey Jr.'s swiping third base during Wednesday's loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers might not have seemed like a big deal in the moment, but it was the Twins' first successful steal of third base since Aug. 16 — which was 132 games ago — and their first attempted steal of third base this season.
They were the last MLB team to steal third base this year, and the other 29 teams have done so an average of nine times, including an MLB-leading 18 by the Cleveland Guardians. Meanwhile, the Twins have stolen third base just three times in 255 games over the past two seasons.
'I gave (Keirsey) the green light,' Baldelli said. 'It was a good opportunity to run, and he is a good runner. I think it was a good play for the game that we were in and the players that were on the field.'
Overall, since Baldelli took over as manager in 2019, the Twins are dead last in MLB with 30 steals of third base, half of which came in 2023.
'I like playing good, aggressive baseball,' Baldelli said. 'And I like stealing bases. I enjoy it. It's a part of the game I like spending time thinking about how to beat the other team with. As we know, it's not necessarily in our skill set most of the time to be flying around the bases and stealing third base.'
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Baldelli is correct in that the front office has consistently built slow rosters, making it difficult to get aggressive on the bases. By average sprint speed, the Twins are MLB's slowest team this season after placing 29th in 2024, and they've ranked 22nd or lower in six of Baldelli's seven seasons.
But there's also some weirdness at play in the Twins' refusal to steal third base. Willi Castro led the 2023 team by stealing third base six times, but he has never attempted to steal third base in another season before or since. That's weird.
Byron Buxton is the only player in MLB history with more than 100 career steals and a success rate above 90 percent. But he got thrown out trying to steal third base once, by A.J. Pierzynski in 2016, and has never attempted to do it again. That's weird.
'It's a lot about feel and timing and taking advantage if the pitcher is giving you something,' Baldelli said. 'Most pitchers make it reasonably difficult to steal third. So most of the time, it's not a great play. But for the pitchers who are going to give you an opportunity … you're going to be open-minded to it with your better runners.'
Now we'll see whether it takes the Twins another 132 games to swipe third again.
(Photo of Zebby Matthews: Matt Krohn / Getty Images)