MINNEAPOLIS – When things don’t go according to plan, people adapt. That’s what the Twins had to do when Mike Paredes sustained a left oblique strain while warming up in the ’pen ahead of his scheduled start against the Athletics on Saturday night.
With their starter down, the Twins called upon fellow rookie Kendry Rojas to make the start in his place, and he did not disappoint in the Twins' 2-0 victory over the A’s. Rojas threw four scoreless innings on 56 pitches, allowed just one hit and one walk, while striking out five batters.
Rojas showcased a lot of heat on his four-seamer, which topped out at 98 mph and averaged 96.4 mph on the night, while his slider induced four of his eight whiffs.
While Rojas and the Twins’ bullpen kept the A’s lineup in check, Minnesota hitters still struggled against the arms the Athletics continued to throw at them. That was until the Twins were able to get a couple of runners in scoring position in the bottom of the sixth.
Josh Bell drew a one-out walk against A’s reliever Mason Barnett, and Royce Lewis followed with a double pulled down the left-field line. Victor Caratini worked a seven-pitch at-bat, but flew out to shallow left field, keeping the runners at bay.
That handed things over to Alan Roden against Barnett. A’s manager Mark Kotsay had left-hander José Suarez warming in the ’pen, but opted to keep Barnett in the game, which proved to be a mistake as Roden cashed a two-run single, scoring both Bell and Lewis, to give the Twins a 2-0 lead.
It was mostly smooth sailing for the Twins’ bullpen thereafter, although Andrew Morris did run into some trouble in the top of the eighth. Morris walked Lawrence Butler to start the inning and then got a hard-hit grounder back to him at the mound from Jacob Wilson. Morris turned to throw the ball to second for a double play, and it instead ended up in center field, turning what could have been a two-out situation against Nick Kurtz into runners on second and third with no outs.
But Morris kept his composure, touching 100.6 mph on his fastball as he struck out Kurtz and Tyler Soderstrom before getting Jonah Heim to ground out to end the inning with no damage allowed.
The Twins' 2-0 victory puts them back to just two games under .500. With the Guardians losing a fourth straight game on Saturday in Tampa, the Twins are now just two games back of them for the third AL Wild Card spot.