ANAHEIM -- If Thursday night at Angel Stadium was about Walker Jenkins proving his raw power belongs in the Major Leagues, Friday demonstrated what happens when Minnesota’s rookie pitching matches that potential.
Left-hander Connor Prielipp -- who made his debut back on April 22 -- delivered the most polished start of his career, tossing seven scoreless innings to anchor a 3-0 victory over the Angels. Combined with Jenkins’ second home run in as many nights, the win offered a compelling look at Minnesota’s next generation of talent.
But before Prielipp even stepped on the mound, the offense got rolling with a milestone that required a little sacrifice. Luke Keaschall stepped up to the plate for his leadoff at-bat and absorbed his 22nd hit-by-pitch of the season -- the most by a player in a single season since the franchise moved to Minnesota in 1961.
"In Keasch's case, that's the wrestler in him -- he's not going to move," manager Derek Shelton said. "There's records that are made to be broken, and I love the fact that he holds a team record now."
Though Keaschall didn't come around to score himself, the Twins made sure that sacrifice was not in vain. His leadoff hit-by-pitch kick-started the rally, setting up Brooks Lee to advance and score on a Ryan Jeffers sacrifice fly before Josh Bell added an RBI single to spot an early 2-0 cushion.
That early support was all Prielipp needed. Dictating the tempo from the opening pitch, the 25-year-old southpaw struck out the side in the bottom of the first -- including freezing Mike Trout looking on an 85.5 mph curveball. Prielipp efficiently scattered two hits and two walks while striking out eight over 92 pitches.
"The story of the night is Connor," Shelton said. "With our bullpen in the situation it was, it was really depleted. ... Connor Prielipp had a big-kid start tonight. He put an entire bullpen on his shoulders, and that was fun to watch. You learn something about your players, and we learned about Connor tonight."
"With my injury history, being able to stay healthy and pitch this deep into games this late in the season has just been awesome," Prielipp added. "My curveball was working really well, and Ryan called a great game."
Prielipp's night was also backed by sharp defense, highlighted in the bottom of the sixth when left fielder Emmanuel Rodriguez made an impressive home-run-robbing catch at the wall to preserve the shutout.
"That was one of the best catches I've ever seen," Prielipp said. "He's just been a spark ever since he got up here."
Shelton echoed that sentiment, pointing to Rodriguez’s overall defensive presence since his callup.
"Since he's been here, Emma's explosiveness ... he made the great play on the home run," Shelton said. "First-step quickness -- big play in the game."
Prielipp provided the control on the mound, but the lineup once again saw Jenkins build on his breakthrough -- a growth curve his manager has watched closely.
"The one thing we've seen with Walker early on is he does not change at all, and that's very admirable for a 21-year-old kid," Shelton said postgame. "I know at 21, I wasn't mentally strong enough to go through what he went through in his first 35 at-bats. But we're seeing the talent come out. Sometimes it takes a hit or two. He hits the homer last night, he gets another one today -- I don't know, maybe he likes hitting in California, but overall it's been really impressive."
With Minnesota holding a 2-0 lead in the top of the seventh, Jenkins stepped in and launched his second home run in 24 hours to right field, putting the finishing touches on a 3-for-4 performance and giving him six hits over his last two games.
Tommy Nance and Travis Adams shut the door over the final two frames to pull Minnesota back to even in the four-game series. For a Twins organization closing out September, seeing its young core come into its own offers a promising sign of where the roster is headed.
"[It’s] very exciting. You look at our outfield and it's [players who are] 23, 24, 21. Ben Ross is a young player. Brooks is still a young player at 25. Connor's a young player," Shelton said. "Over the next seven games, eight games, whatever we have left, it's really exciting to be able to watch these guys go about it."