MINNEAPOLIS -- Back in the Metrodome days, a short video that played on its rudimentary scoreboard whenever an opposing pitcher gave up a base on balls became a huge fan favorite.
The screen would go black. Then a handful of animated ghosts would swoop around while ominous organ music played. Finally, the message arrived:
WALKS WILL HAUNT!
That image might be spinning through the minds of Twins pitchers lately, especially after Zebby Matthews walked a career-high four batters in four innings and Travis Adams walked four more in 1 1/3 innings of relief during Saturday’s 8-5 loss to the Tigers at Target Field.
Matthews built a reputation in the Minor Leagues as a guy who was practically allergic to issuing free passes. In 2024, he cruised through High-A Cedar Rapids, Double-A Wichita and Triple-A St. Paul while walking just seven batters in 97 innings pitched.
Entering Saturday night’s start, Matthews had walked 11 batters in 44 Major League innings this season. But his control deserted him from the outset against the Tigers.
Matthews fell behind 2-0 to the first three hitters, leading to walks for leadoff man Colt Keith and No. 3 hitter Kerry Carpenter. He ran the count full before striking out Riley Greene for the second out, but Spencer Torkelson lined a 1-0 pitch to right field for an RBI single.
In all, Matthews failed to throw a first-pitch strike to the first seven Tiges he faced. He walked Keith again in the second inning, matching his season high of three walks after just 10 batters.
After the game, Matthews hadn’t fully digested the cause of the walks, but he acknowledged it was probably a combination of mechanical concerns and hitters not chasing close pitches.
“I didn’t do a good job of working ahead of hitters, especially to Keith -- I fell behind twice there,” Matthews said. “I had a lot of arm-side misses; that could be a mechanical thing. But it’s also the takes. I thought Carpenter had some good takes in that first at-bat when he drew the walk. As much as you’d like to pin it on one thing, lots of things go into it.”
More adventures followed in the third inning. After Carpenter led off with a home run, Greene roped a long single off the wall in right field. Torkelson then drew the fourth walk of the evening before Matthews settled down and retired six of the last seven batters he faced.
“He’s coming off of his longest outing of the year in New York, and he pitched very well in that outing,” manager Rocco Baldelli said, trying to pinpoint Matthews’ command issue. “He's coming back on a normal five-day cycle. I don't see any reason why that should lead to the command being spotty, but we'll talk about it tomorrow, and I'm sure [pitching coach] Pete [Maki] will investigate and spend some time on that. But that's probably the most you will ever see Zebby pitch out of the zone.”
It was the third time this week that Twins pitchers have walked at least eight batters in a game, after they issued eight free passes against Kansas City on Sunday and a season-high 11 on Tuesday against the Yankees. Cause for concern or just a blip on the radar?
“It’s not something we should ignore and think that it just happens. But I'm not going to sit here and freak out about a week of strike throwing being less than ideal,” Baldelli said. “No matter what the circumstances are, that will always be way too many walks. So we'll start there and work forward from there.”