MINNEAPOLIS -- Connor Prielipp’s time came more quickly than anyone could have anticipated. But make no mistake, it’s here.
The Twins’ hard-throwing lefty rookie built on his impressive debut with a second consecutive strong showing, allowing one hit over five innings as Minnesota snapped a five-game skid with an 11-4 win against the Mariners.
Prielipp, who entered Spring Training somewhere around 10th on the starting pitching depth chart, continues to make a case that he belongs in the big league rotation.
He didn’t allow a hit in the first four innings, retiring 12 of the game’s first 13 batters. A pair of walks to open the fifth put him in a jam, and Seattle pushed across two runs, but the unflappable rookie didn’t let the inning get away from him. A single and a sacrifice fly got the Mariners in the game, but Prielipp finished his outing with a pair of strikeouts before handing the ball to the bullpen.
Over the course of his five innings, the Mariners hit some balls hard but very few of them were threatening. Only two of Seattle’s batted balls had an expected batting average higher than .220.
It wasn’t just the slider, either. All of Prielipp’s offspeed pitches had the Mariners guessing. He got swinging strikeouts on his slider, changeup, and curveball. All while averaging a robust 94.8 miles per hour on his four-seam fastball and 93.9 on his sinker, on a cold, rainy night.