MINNEAPOLIS – The Target Field crowd was on its feet, Van Halen’s “Right Now” rattled over the sound system, and Pablo Lopez unbent his right arm with a series of windmills as he took the mound in the ninth inning. The only thing missing is a signal from the Twins starting pitcher, signaling to the base of the bullpen for everyone to sit down.
In his final start of the first inning, Lopez threw his first career shutout, and had a career-high 12 strikeouts to help the Twins complete a sweep of the Kansas City Royals in a 5-0 win Wednesday night. Lopez needed only 100 pitches to complete all nine innings, as his four-hitter helped move the Twins two games over .500 for the first time in three weeks.
Perhaps more importantly, the outing spanned a well-timed break to the back of the Twins bullpen, a third straight game in which Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax could relax in a busy halftime break.
“(Lopez) was staying in the game,” Twins coach Rocco Baldelli said. “As long as he gave us that thumbs up, he’d come back in there. Shoot, I wanted him to get out there and finish it. He was so good, and as the game goes on, he goes through those innings so quickly. They couldn’t get anything out of him, and it’s all down to him.” Pablo is the man.”
Although López suspected the pitch count would be low for an effective effort against aggressive Royals, he wasn’t sure until he stormed out after Max Kepler finished eighth with a diving fist to maintain a right-handed shutout. try alive.
Realizing he only threw 94 pitches, Lopez promptly pushed the Twins’ coaches to let him take the mound in the ninth. Although he’d come close before, Lopez never had a chance with Miami to finish the shutout, his closest miss coming 14 months ago when he threw 97 pitches through eight scoreless innings in a blowout victory over San Diego.
Wednesday, Lopez didn’t have to apply much pressure.
“I just told them, ‘I want this to be my game.'” “Let me out,” Lopez said. Like, “Give me the chance.” I really appreciate the trust. I really appreciate the opportunity they gave me to go out there and try to prolong the team. I always say one of the best things a beginner can do is give the boy a day off or as little work as possible. This was one of the other things on my mind. I want the bulls to just enjoy this, and they can be out there indulging it all and trying to finish it all.”
Lopez received no objections from the front desk.
Neither the Jax nor Duran have come close to leading the league in appearances this season. Jakes has pitched in 38 games as a team, and Duran has thrown in 30. Giovanni Moran is second for the club with 33 games played. But the Jax’s 19 appearances qualify as high leverage positions and 60 percent turnover (18 games), meaning at least half of each player’s matches have come in positions where one mistake could mean the difference between a win or a loss.
The Jax’s high-impact appearances on Wednesday ranked eighth among all American League pros, and Doran was twelfth. While those make-or-breaker patches are the ones any devotee would crave, promoting them adds up.
While Duran relieved himself briefly by playing the catch in the ninth inning, Lopez made sure he never got too warm. First, López, who hit six consecutive batters between the fifth and sixth innings, retired Mikel Garcia on a batter to third. Bobby Witt Jr. followed, grounding short. Then MJ Melendez lined up to quarterback to finish it off.
Coupled with explosive wins over lowly royals on Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday’s effort means Duran will go no fewer than four full days between outings. His last show is Sunday, and because the twins were off Thursday, he won’t play until Friday at the earliest.
“(If) you get three days off, it’s because something good happened,” Doran said. “The team (scores) a lot of runs. It’s good, and the starting pitchers are doing a good job. It’s amazing to see Pablo Lopez do that today. I tried to play nice and easy in the ninth inning, but I know he pitched a good game. I feel good.” Because I feel (stronger)….a good rest for everyone on the battlefield.”
Jax won’t have as much time as Doran. If there was a save on Monday night, the twins planned to use Jax.
Although the Twins eventually pulled away with a late five-run walk, it seemed for a moment that they might need Jax, who pitched scoreless innings Saturday and Sunday. The Jax started to warm up quickly after Edward Julien led off the eighth inning of Monday’s 8-4 win with a tie-breaking home run, then sat out as the offense mounted, only to have to heat up again when Emilio Pagan struggled in the top of the ninth.
Although Jax did not play on Monday, his 1 1/2 warm-ups mean he will not play on Tuesday. Now, Jax won’t have to play again until the Twins find themselves in another tight spot late on. With the Twins only leading by three after six innings, the Jakes began to fall behind in case. But like Doran, he never came close to an arm warmer.
“From the very beginning, Pablo was dominant,” Jax said. “It was very easy to watch from the parking lot. … We were playing a lot of close ball games. I feel like the vast majority of the time it was a 2-1, 3-2 game. That’s the inning you want to be out of the game. You won’t complain.” “Never. But when you get into those games, it’s more tiring. You usually warm up a little longer than you would in a 5-0 game. You can never complain about an extra rest day.”
Lopez won’t complain about the opportunity to enjoy the moment.
Although his stuff is lively and he’s pitched in the sixth inning or later in each of his past eight starts, Lopez has only two wins to show for it. He’s been bitten by some bad luck, as evidenced by his 4.46 ERA vs. 2.44 Fielding Independent Pitching in June.
On Wednesday, Lopez had only two runners reach the scoring position. He polluted the area with strikes, hitting 76 off 24 balls. He finished with 17 swings and hits and also had 25 strikeouts. Lopez retired 19 of his last 20 batters and had back-to-back wins in consecutive starts for the first time since he was with Miami in April 2022.
“Every little milestone we all achieve as players, we need to suck it up,” Lopez said. “Because as players, as people, we spend so much time thinking about failure that I think we don’t cherish the good times that much. It’s obviously a game of failure. We’re in this position because we’re the best at dealing with failure in some way. But when good moments like this come I think it’s very important to enjoy it.”
(Photo: David Berding/Getty Images)
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