Pumped-up Prielipp undone by lack of command in rough 5th vs. Phillies

MINNEAPOLIS -- With the Field of Dreams Game in their rearview mirror, the Twins returned home to Target Field to resume their series with the Phillies on Saturday. But the adrenaline from Thursday night’s excitement clearly was still pumping through Connor Prielipp’s veins.

Prielipp threw four outstanding innings -- 4 2/3, actually -- but couldn’t get the final out of the fifth inning until the Phillies had scored seven runs. Philadelphia went on to win, 9-1.

“The stuff wasn’t the problem tonight,” Prielipp said. “It was just a lack of command.”

Prielipp allowed one run through the first four innings before the disastrous fifth, when he walked three straight hitters and gave up a three-run home run to Bryson Stott that broke the game open.

“We've just got to put the ball on the plate,” Twins manager Derek Shelton said. “I don't think there was anything that stood out. It wasn't just one pitch. He just lost command of pretty much everything.”

But long before the nightmare fifth inning, the game got off to a thrilling start. In the first inning, Prielipp faced the Phillies’ version of Murderer’s Row -- Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner and Bryce Harper. The trio entered the game with a combined 79 home runs and 191 RBIs so far this season.

Perhaps the rookie left-hander was channeling another pitcher from the movies, “Bull Durham’s” Nuke LaLoosh, because he went out and announced his presence with authority.

He started Schwarber with a 96.5 mph sinker that was up in the zone, but the man who crushed two balls into the cornfields on Thursday couldn’t square it up. His routine ground ball to second was the first out of the game.

Next came Turner, who took a 97 mph four-seamer for a strike, fouled off a 96.2 mph four-seamer, then watched as an 88.8 mph slider caught the bottom of the zone for strike three.

Prielipp fell behind Harper, 2-0, with a pair of 97-plus-mph four-seamers, but after running the count full, he spotted a 96.8 mph four-seamer at the top of the zone and Harper couldn’t catch up to it.

Prielipp’s four-seamer has averaged 95.5 mph this season, but that extra boost was enough to help him wade through the thickest, meanest part of the Phillies order in the pivotal first inning -- a frame in which the Twins had allowed 12 runs in their last 10 games.

In the second inning, Prielipp impressed in a different way -- by limiting damage. The Phillies loaded the bases with no outs on a soft single by Luis Arraez, a booming double by Alec Bohm and a four-pitch walk to Edmundo Sosa. But Prielipp calmly got the next three outs, allowing just one run on a one-out sacrifice fly by J.T. Realmuto.

The second time through the order, the Phillies had to be expecting more of the same from Prielipp. But this time the young lefty added a wrinkle. He struck out the first two batters, getting Schwarber on a slider and Turner swinging through a curveball in the dirt. Harper stuck his bat out at a curveball in the right-handed batter's box and laced it to left field for a hit, but Austin Martin came up big, throwing out Harper at second base to end the inning.

The fifth inning proved to be Prielipp’s undoing. He retired two of the first three batters, but couldn’t get the third out as the next six Phillies reached base on three straight walks, then back-to-back singles, and finally the fatal blow, Stott’s three-run homer.

“I felt pretty good the whole start. It just got out of hand somehow,” said Prielipp, who walked four batters for the second time in his last three starts.

“I was just missing. Then as soon as I did throw a strike, they were able to capitalize.”

In the end, it’s another building block for a rookie starter who hopes to be a big part of the Twins’ future. The key going forward, he said, is not dwelling too much on the rough spots of an otherwise strong outing.

“In this game, there’s going to be a lot of ups and downs,” he said. “The best thing I’ve learned is just to have a short memory, and that’s all I’m going to do after this one.”