MINNESOTA TWINS NOTES:
THE TWINS: Have gone 1-3 through four games on their current six-game roadtrip, getting swept in three games in Kansas City over the weekend, followed by a win in St. Louis last night…tonight, Minnesota will play the second of three at Busch Stadium against the Cardi- nals…they will complete the trip with the three-game series finale against St. Louis tomorrow night before traveling home for a three-game homestand/weekend series with the Arizona Diamondbacks…the Twins have gone 30-24 at home and 25-29 on the road.
Of the Twins’ 54 remaining games, they have an opponent winning percentage of .483, the fifth-lowest strength of schedule.
SOLANO CELEBRATES PABLO DAY: The Twins beat the Cardinals last night at Busch Stadium by a score of 3-2…the win snapped their five-game losing streak and marked their first win in eight days (7/24 vs. SEA)…Pablo López (6-6) was the starter and winner, allowing one run on four hits in 6.0 innings pitched, with no walks and five strikeouts…Emilio Pagán (4) and Griffin Jax (15) each earned a hold as Jhoan Duran earned his 18th save…the offense recorded seven hits, highlighted by a Donovan Solano pinch-hit go-ahead two-RBI single in the top of the seventh inning…Byron Buxton (17), Matt Wallner (3) and Ryan Jeffers (9) each doubled.
Wallner’s outfield assist in the sixth inning, throwing out Lars Nootbaar at third base (also assist from Polanco, the cut-off man), registered at 100.4 mph, the third-fasted outfield assist by a Twin in the Statcast Era (since 2015), trailing Aaron Hicks (101.9 mph on 6/12/15) and Eddie Rosario (100.6 mph on 8/23/18).
FOR STARTERS: Pablo López gave the Twins their MLB-best 54th quality start last night… Twins starters have combined to go 31-33, 3.85 ERA (610.0 IP, 261 ER) with 159 walks, 672 strikeouts and a .237 opponent batting average…below are Twins starting pitching ranks among the other MLB teams:
INNINGS ERA BAA BB/9.0 FIP WHIP K’s OPS
MIN – 610.0 SD – 3.62 TB – .234 SEA – 2.07 TB – 3.52 SEA – 1.14 MIN – 672 TB – .674
HOU – 609.1 TB – 3.67 MIN – .237 SF – 2.31 MIN – 3.65 MIN – 1.16 CWS – 620 MIN – .686
SEA – 600.2 HOU – 3.75 SEA – .238 MIN – 2.35 SEA – 3.87 TB – 1.17 TOR – 620 SEA – .688
TEX – 593.1 TEX – 3.84 MIL – .238 PHI – 2.48 MIA – 3.89 PHI – 1.20 LAA – 600 PHI – .701
TOR – 590.2 MIN – 3.85 SD – .239 TB – 2.55 PHI – 3.90 MIL – 1.23 MIA – 589 SD – .702
ADDITIONALLY: Twins starters have walked just two batters on this roadtrip — Kenta Maeda walked Michael Massey and Drew Waters on Sunday.
IT’S A MIDWEST THING: Twins and Cardinals are playing each other in the regular season this series for the 34th, 35th and 36th time in their regular season history…they last played the Cardinals for three games here in 2021 as the Twins won just the middle of the three-game series…Twins are 18-16 all-time against St. Louis in the regular season (since 1997) and 10-4 in their last 14…they were 2-7 all-time in the regular season at the old Busch Stadium (1997-2001) and are 7-6 all-time at the new Busch Stadium (2009-23).
Donovan Solano is slashing .321/.357/.340 in 17 career games at Busch Stadium.
NATIONAL ATTENTION: The Twins have gone 11-13 in Interleague Play this season, going 1-2 at Miami, 1-2 vs. Washington, 2-1 vs. San Diego, 2-1 vs. Chicago-NL, 1-2 vs. Los Angeles-NL, 1-2 vs. San Francisco, 2-0 vs. Milwaukee, 0-3 at Atlanta and 1-0 at St. Louis.
Twins are 261-245 all-time in IL Play, for a .516 winning percentage, the seventh best in MLB.
After this series, Minnesota’s remaining 2023 IL schedule includes Target Field visits from the Diamondbacks (August 4-6), Pirates (August 18-20) and Mets (September 8-10)…the Twins will also play road games at Phillies (August 11-13), Brewers (August 22-23), Reds (September 18-20) and Rockies (September 29-October 1).
Jorge Polanco has hit safely in 11 of 12 Interleague games this season, hitting .313 (15- for-48) with four doubles, three home runs, five RBI, four walks, and a .949 OPS…he has reached safely in 11 of his last 23 IL plate appearances (7 hits, 4 walks).
SECOND HALF STRENGTH: Despite going 1-5 in their last six games, the Twins have gone 10-7 since the All-Star break, tied for the fifth-most wins in baseball…below are the offensive numbers and MLB ranks pre-All-Star break vs. post-All-Star break: AVG R/G H HR BB OBP SLG OPS TB SB
PRE: .232 (25) 4.2 (24) 708 (22) 115 (8) 297 (16) .309 (25) .400 (20) .709 (22) 1219 (20) 44 (T-26)
POST: .263 (5) 5.5 (5) 157 (5) 26 (T-6) 62 (10) .341 (7) .476 (3) .817 (4) 284 (2) 12 (T-11)
SERIES BUSINESS: The Twins are seeking their 16th series victory this season…they are 15-15-4 in series play in 2023, going 9-6-2 at home and 6-9-2 on the road.
Twins are 6-3-3 all-time vs. the Cardinals in series play…their last series victory over St. Louis was a two-game sweep at Target Field from July 28-29, 2020…their last series win at Busch Stadium came in a two-game sweep from May 7-8, 2018.
Entering today, the Twins have gone 5-4-1 in their last 10 series, dating back to their June 23-25 series at Detroit.
CAN’T SPELL EDOUARD WITHOUT R.O.A.D.: Edouard Julien is hitting .311 (32-for-103) with four doubles, four home runs, eight RBI, 11 walks, 13 runs scored, a .385 on-base percentage, a .466 slugging percentage and an .851 OPS in 32 road games for the Twins this season…since the All-Star break, he is 14-for-31 (.452) on the road, with a 1.205 OPS in 10 games.
MAD MAX, FURY ROAD: Max Kepler is hitting .295 (28-for-95) with six doubles, five home runs, 16 RBI, 16 runs scored, seven walks and an .856 OPS in his last 26 games.
AIn 14 road games since June 30, he is hitting .340 (17-for-50) with four doubles, four home runs, nine RBI, a .370 on-base percentage, a .660 slugging percentage and a 1.030 OPS.
MINOR MATTERS: Double-A Wichita infielder Brooks Lee and High-A Cedar Rapids right-handed pitcher Zebby Matthews have been named Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Month for July.
Lee, 22, played in 20 games for the Wind Surge, hitting .365 (31-for-85) with five doubles, five home runs, 20 RBI, 15 runs scored, a .433 on-base percentage, a .600 slugging percentage and a 1.033 OPS…the San Luis Obispo, California native was selected by the Twins eighth overall in the 2022 First-Year Player Draft out of California Polytechnic State University.
Matthews, 23, went 2-0, 3.22 ERA (22.1 IP, 8 ER) with just one walk, 23 strikeouts and a 0.85 WHIP in four starts for the Kernels… the Cullowhee, North Carolina native was selected by the Twins in the eighth round of the 2022 First-Year Player Draft out of Western Carolina University.
WAY BACK WEDNESDAY: Twins radio stud Dan Gladden played in 26 career regular season and postseason games against the Cardinals, hitting .279 (29-for-104) with seven doubles, two triples, one home run, 14 RBI, 13 runs scored, six stolen bases (0 caught) and a .738 OPS…in 12 career regular and Postseason games at old Busch Stadium, he hit .295 (13-for-44)…his only career home run against the Cardinals came in Game One of the 1987 World Series, a fourth-inning grand slam off Bob Forsch at the Metrodome…in three ’87 World Series games at old Busch Stadium, Gladden went 3-for-12 with two walks, hitting safely in all three.
STARTING PITCHER – #41 JOE RYAN
2023: 9-7, 4.06 ERA CAREER: 24-16, 3.80 ERA
Making his 22nd start and appearance of 2023 and his 11th road start of the year…also his 54th career start and appearance.
Facing St. Louis for the first time in his career…is 5-4, 5.58 ERA (50.0 IP, 31 ER) with 14 walks and 58 strikeouts in 10 career Interleague starts.
Owns the most strikeouts (329) and is tied for the third-most wins (24) through a pitcher’s first 53 career games in Twins history (since 1961).
LAST TIME OUT: Took his seventh loss of the season on July 26 vs. Seattle in an 8-7 Twins’ defeat at Target Field…allowed four runs on seven hits (2 HR) in 3.2 innings pitched, his second-shortest career start by innings (3.0 IP on June 27 at Atlanta); also issued two walks and struck out seven batters…after Julio Rodríguez doubled to lead off the game, Ryan allowed an RBI single to Teoscar Hernández…yielded solo homers to Dylan Moore in the second inning and Rodríguez in the third in- ning…allowed the first four batters of the fourth inning to reach safely, including an RBI single by Kolten Wong, then recorded two strikeouts before being relieved by Jordan Balazovic…Twins rallied for four runs in the bottom of the sixth but were shut out in the final three innings, dropping the rubber game of the three-game series.
Has allowed a homer in six-straight starts, the longest streak of his career…Ryan’s 13 homers allowed in his last six starts are the most by a Twin in a six-game span since Carlos Silva also allowed 13 in six games from April 18-May 14, 2006.
Became the fourth Twin since 1988 to throw 95-or-more pitches in fewer than 4.0 innings and first since Ervin Santana tossed 95 pitches in 3.1 innings on July 21, 2017.
Despite the loss, Ryan remains among the American League leaders in walks-per-9.0 in- nings (1.77 – 4th), strikeouts (148 – 6th), quality starts (12 – T-7th), WHIP (1.09 – 12th) and WAR (2.3 – 13th).
TWO STARTS AGO: Earned the win on July 21 vs. Chicago-AL, a 9-4 Twins’ victory at Target Field… pitched 6.0 innings and allowed four runs on seven hits (2 HR), with one walk and a season-high-tying 10 strikeouts…allowed a leadoff homer to Andrew Benintendi, the third of his career (also, June 27 at Atlanta – Ronald Acuña Jr; July 3 vs. Kansas City – Maikel Garcia)…received five runs of support in the bottom of the first, then tossed scoreless innings in the second, third and fourth innings, allowing just two hits and a walk…yielded a two-out RBI single to Tim Anderson in the top of the fifth and a two-run homer to Yasmani Grandal in the sixth…was relieved by Emilio Pagán to begin the top of the seventh; Pagán (1.0 IP) and Jovani Moran (2.0 IP) kept the White Sox off the board, and the Twins scored nine runs on nine hits to win the series opener.
Struck out a season-high 10 batters for the fifth time this season (also, April 8 vs. Houston, April 13 at New York-AL, May 13 vs. Chicago-NL and July 9 vs. Baltimore)…was one short of his career high of 11 (September 22, 2021 at Chicago-NL).
NEW DECK OF CARDS: Facing the Cardinals for the first time in his career tonight…St. Louis will be the 21st team Ryan has faced in the majors; in 20 career starts when facing a new team, he is 5-8, 5.40 ERA (100.0 IP, 60 ER) with 39 walks and 92 strikeouts…has never faced any active Cardinals batters…is 2-1, 2.53 ERA (21.1 IP, 6 ER) with five walks and 29 strikeouts in four career starts vs. National League Central opponents…Twins are 3-1 in his four starts vs. the NL Central.
INTERLEAGUE INTEGERS: Tonight is Ryan’s fourth Interleague start of 2023 and 11th of his career…is 2-1 with a 4.50 ERA (14.0 IP, 7 ER), three walks and 19 strikeouts in three starts against the Senior Circuit this season…earned the win on May 13 vs. Chicago-NL and May 24 vs. San Francisco; took the loss in his last IL start on June 27 at Atlanta…is 5-4, 5.58 ERA (50.0 IP, 31 ER) with 14 walks and 58 strikeouts in 10 career IL starts.
BUMPS IN THE ROAD: After winning each of his first three road starts this year, Ryan has gone winless in his last seven road starts (0-3, 5.20 ERA), with the Twins going 2-5 in those outings…owns a 3-3 record and a 4.23 ERA (55.1 IP, 26 ER) in 10 overall road starts, with 13 walks and 61 strikeouts… took a no-decision in his last road start on July 16 at Oakland, a 5-4 Twins’ win; allowed three runs on five hits (1 HR) in 5.1 innings pitched, with three walks and seven strikeouts…is 6-4, 3.92 ERA (66.2 IP, 29 ER) with 11 walks and 87 strikeouts in 11 starts at Target Field this season.
Pitching at Busch Stadium for the first time in his career; the venue will be the 18th different ballpark he has pitched at in the majors…in 17 career starts when pitching at a new ballpark, he is 5-7, 5.55 ERA (86.0 IP, 53 ER) with 22 walks and 93 strikeouts.
Is 11-7, 3.97 ERA (131.1 IP, 58 ER) with 32 walks and 137 strikeouts in 24 career road starts…in 29 career home starts, he is 13-9, 3.67 ERA (164.1 IP, 67 ER) with 44 walks and 192 strikeouts.
LEFT LEADER: Left-handed hitters are batting just .199 (43-for-216) with a .567 OPS and 58 strikeouts against Ryan this year…his .567 opponent OPS against left-handed hitters is the sixth lowest in the American League this season (min. 15 GS)…right-handed hitters are hitting .263 (66-for-251) with a .787 OPS and 90 strikeouts against Ryan in 2023…his .233 (109-for-467) overall opponent batting average in 2023 ranks 15th in the AL among qualified starters.
Lefties are hitting just .201 (97-for-483) against Ryan since the start of last season, the 12thlowest opponent average vs. lefties among starting pitchers with at least 106.0 IP (Inside Edge).
Over his career, lefties are batting .196 (104-for-530) with a .605 OPS against him…his .605 career opponent OPS vs. lefties is the fifth lowest in the American League since his debut (min. 250 at-bats)…righties are hitting .235 (136-for-578) with a .719 OPS off Ryan in his career.
THE ARSENAL: Has utilized a four-pitch mix in his first 21 starts of the 2023 season…has leaned on his four-seam fastball and split finger, combining to throw the two pitches 85.6 percent of the time this year…struck out three batters with his sweeper in his last start on July 26 vs. Seattle, tying his season high (also, June 16 vs. Detroit and July 3 vs. Kansas City.
TOP SHELF: Ryan is among the top 15 percent of all pitchers in baseball in 2023 in several advanced metrics, per Baseball Savant…here are his numbers and where he ranks in the majors this year:
METRIC RYAN’S #’s PERCENTILE (MLB RANK)
xOBP……………………………………………… .261 ………………………………………………98th (8th)
Chase Rate…………………………………….. 34.6 …………………………………………….95th (17th)
Walk Rate……………………………………….. 4.8 ……………………………………………..93rd (26th)
xwOBA…………………………………………… .274 …………………………………………….89th (40th)
Also ranks in the 86th percentile in strikeout rate (29.6) and the 80th percentile in xBA (.216) despite ranking in the 31st percentile in fastball velocity (92.4).
Owns a 3.07 xERA this season, which ranks in the 89th percentile in all of baseball… had a 3.57 xERA in 2022, putting him in the 63rd percentile in MLB…also owns a career-low 7.1 barrel percentage this year.
FASTBALL FRENZY: Ryan has thrown 1,134 four-seam fastballs this year, the third-highest four-seam fastball total in the American League (NYY’s Gerrit Cole – 1,224; CWS’s Michael Kopech – 1,171)…owns an opponent hard-hit rate of just 43 percent on fastballs away this year, the eighth-best hard-hit rate among qualified starters (Inside Edge)…opponents have hit just .196 (122-for-623) against his fastball since his debut in 2021, the third-best opponent average against fastballs among MLB starters since the start of 2021 (min. 171.0 IP).
ST. LOUIS CARDINALS NOTES:
RECENT REDBIRDS: The St. Louis Cardinals continue their longest homestand (10 games/11 days) of the season with the second of a three-game series with the American League Central Division-leading Minnesota Twins, tonight at 6:45 p.m. Last night, the Cardinals were clipped by the Twins 3-2, their 22nd one-run loss of the season. The Cardinals began the homestand dropping three of four to the Chicago Cubs and will conclude the homestand with a three-game series vs. the Colorado Rockies Friday through Sunday (Aug. 4-6).
FLIGHT PATTERN: St. Louis enters the day in last place in the NL Central, 11.5 games behind 1st place Cincinnati and 11.0 games back in the NL Wild Card chase … St. Louis has spent 86 of 122 days in last place on this season’s MLB schedule (April 26-May 19, May 29-July 7 & July 28-present) … This season is the Cardinals slowest start since 1995 when they were 44-64 (.407) after 108 games … With one-third of the schedule remaining (54 games), the Cardinals need to go 34-20 (.630) to finish at .500. Their remaining schedule ranks 16th with a .501 opponent winning percentage.
HUDSON HORNET: Since making his Major League debut with the Cardinals nearly five years ago this week (July 28, 2018), tonight’s starting pitcher Dakota Hudson has posted an 18-5 record at Busch Stadium III, the highest winning percentage (.783) in the stadium’s history and the 10th-best home mark in Major League history of a pitcher with 20 or more home decisions. Hudson hasn’t taken a home loss since July 14, 2022 vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers, while the Cardinals are 25-9 (.735) all-time when he starts at home.
COMPLETING THE CIRCUIT: Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt has yet to hit a home run in his career against the Minnesota Twins. The Twins are the only team the slugger has yet to clear the fence against among his 333 career home runs. He would become the 14th active player to complete the circuit (full list left in sidebar). -Elias Sports Bureau
SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST: On Sunday, LHP JoJo Romero recorded his first Major League save. It came exactly one year after Romero was traded to the Cardinals from the Phillies for INF Edmundo Sosa. Romero went his first 48 Major League appearances without recording a win, loss or save; the longest active streak without a decision when he broke it on July 9 with a win at Chicago (AL). Over the last 21 days since that win, Romero is 2-1 with a 3.48 ERA and one save in eight relief appearances. His 0.87 WHIP over that period ranks as 10th-lowest mark among National League left-handed relievers.
CANADIAN CLUB-BED: In the 9th inning last night, Tyler O’Neill slammed a 102 MPH fastball for an opposite field home run off Twins closer Jhoan Duran. The home run snapped a 26-game drought without a home run for O’Neill, tied for the longest stretch of his career without a longball (6/11-7/16/21). O’Neill smacked a career-high 34 home runs in 2021.
INTERLEAGUE INSTIGATOR: Nolan Arenado tied last night’s game with a two-out RBI single in the 6th inning, it marked his 30th RBI in
Interleague games this season. Arenado leads all National League players and trails only Alex Bregman (HOU) who has 32 this season.
With the expanded Interleague schedule in 2023, Bregman, Arenado and Ozzie Albies already rank 1-2-3 for single season RBI in Interleague
games each playing over 32, however, Arenado held the previous single-season mark with 29 Interleague RBI in 20 games during the 2019
season with Colorado.
KING ME!: Newly acquired relief pitcher from the Texas Rangers, southpaw John King, made his Cardinals debut last night with a scoreless
inning. King was the only pitcher acquired during the trade deadline who was placed on the St. Louis roster and the 12th different player to
make his Cardinals debut this season.
IT’S A GAME OF STREAKS: With two runs scored last night by the Cardinals, the team has yet to score more than three runs in any of the
five games during this current homestand. It’s the longest streak of games scoring three runs or fewer by the team since setting the stadium record with seven straight such games in 2015 (June 30-July 17), a season the Cardinals won 100 games. On their last road trip, the
Cardinals posted two double-digit run totals in their three-game series at Arizona and in the previous homestand, coming out of the All-Star
Break, the Cardinals scored five or more runs in six straight home games.
HAIR BEYOND COMPARE: Taylor Motter collected a season-high two hits last night and has hit safely in 7-of-14 games this season. His
career-long hitting streak is six, back in 2017 with Seattle. With Brendan Donovan on the Injured List, Motter no longer has compeition, or
confusion, when coming to identifying who has the longest locks on the team.
LEADING MAN: With Lars Nootbaar’s lead-off home run Saturday night, he now has four lead-off home runs in 2023 and five for his career. It’s the most lead-off home runs in a single-season by a Cardinal since Matt Carpenter set the franchise record with eight in 2018. His four lead-off rockets ranks T-4th in MLB this season behind Mookie Betts (10, LAD), Kyle Schwarber (6, PHI) and Marcus Semien (5, TEX).
TONIGHT’S STARTING PITCHER: RHP DAKOTA HUDSON (1-0, 4.19)
- Makes his 2nd start of the season and 8th appearance since his promotion from Memphis (AAA) at the beginning of July.
- Is facing the Minnesota Twins for the first time in his career.
- Had spent the bulk of 2023 season at Memphis (AAA) where he was 5-4, 6.00 ERA in 11 starts.
- Has appeared in 103 career MLB games, going 33-17, 3.63 ERA , including team-leading 16 wins in 2019 when he finished 5th in NL ROY voting.
- Was 8-7, 4.45 ERA in 27 games (26 starts) for Cardinals last season. Tied for MLB lead with 25 GIDPs induced.
- Was brought up as the 27th player for the DH vs. NYY (7/1) in Game 2 and pitched 2.2 innings.
- Was recalled on 7/5 from Memphis (AAA) and was thrust into action that night allowing two runs in 2.2 relief innings at MIA.
- Earned his 1st win of season with 3.1 scoreless IP on 7/15 vs. WSH, matching STL season high for IP by a reliever. It came in his 100th career appearance.
- Made first start of the season on 7/19 vs. MIA (3.0 IP), throwing 66 pitches.
- Made longest relief app. (4.1 IP) by Cardinal this season on 7/27 vs. CHI after Mikolas was ejected in the 1st inning. Threw a season-high 93 pitches.
- Dating to last season, has allowed just 6 HR’s in his last 26 games (128.2 IP). Had a career-best 46.1 homerless IP streak from 5/8-6/23/22. It was longest for the Cardinals since Trevor Rosenthal’s 54.0 IP in 2015.
- The Cardinals are 27-16 (.628 win pct.) in his 68 career games started and 25-9 (.750) in his 34 career games started at Busch Stadium.
- He’s 18-5 (.783 win pct.) in 51 career games (34 starts) at Busch Stadium, and ranks 3rd in ERA (2.67) all-time at Busch III among pitchers with a minimum 200.0 IP.
LAST TIME OUT
- Entered game with two outs in the 1st inning last Thu. (7/27) vs. Cubs after Miles Mikolas had been ejected for intentionally throwing at batter. Logged a season high 4.1 IP, the longest relief appearance by a Cardinal this season.
DATE vs. RESULT DEC IP H R ER BB SO HR NP-S
7/27 CHI L 10-3 — 4.1 9 5 5 2 3 0 93-55
