{"id":276091,"date":"2023-09-28T08:38:22","date_gmt":"2023-09-28T13:38:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=276091"},"modified":"2023-09-28T08:38:22","modified_gmt":"2023-09-28T13:38:22","slug":"twins-beat-as-6-to-4-with-four-games-remaining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=276091","title":{"rendered":"Twins Beat A&#8217;s 6 to 4 With Four Games Remaining"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>MINNEAPOLIS &#8212; The next time&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/player\/641154\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Pablo L\u00f3pez<\/a>&nbsp;takes the mound, he\u2019ll likely carry with him the best hopes the Twins have had in some time of busting out of their inglorious and record-setting 18-game playoff losing streak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s because, on Wednesday, L\u00f3pez put the finishing touches on the kind of season not seen from a starting pitcher in Minneapolis in quite some time, wrapping up a second consecutive full season of 32 starts with a shortened outing in the Twins\u2019&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/gameday\/athletics-vs-twins\/2023\/09\/27\/716410\/final\/box\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">6-4 win over the A\u2019s<\/a>&nbsp;at Target Field to keep him fresh for his playoff debut, presumably in Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/twins\/schedule\/2023-09\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Games remaining<\/strong><\/a>&nbsp;(4)<strong>:<\/strong>&nbsp;vs. OAK (1), at COL (3)<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/twins\/standings\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Standings update<\/strong><\/a>: The Twins (85-73)&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/twins\/news\/twins-clinch-2023-american-league-central-title\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">have clinched the American League Central<\/a>&nbsp;and currently hold the AL\u2019s No. 3 seed, meaning they would host a best-of-three Wild Card Series vs. the final Wild Card entrant starting on Oct. 3. Minnesota trails No. 2 seed Texas (89-69) by four games.<\/li><li><strong>Elimination number:<\/strong>&nbsp;1&nbsp;(for No. 2 seed in AL and first-round bye)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Manager Rocco Baldelli hasn\u2019t yet explicitly confirmed that L\u00f3pez will get Game 1, but&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/twins\/news\/pablo-lopez-sonny-gray-to-start-first-two-postseason-games\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">he\u2019s already said<\/a>&nbsp;L\u00f3pez and Sonny Gray will get Games 1 and 2, calling it \u201cpretty obvious\u201d &#8212; and with the way the rest of the schedule lines up, L\u00f3pez would be on the mound for Game 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI take a lot of pride in it,\u201d L\u00f3pez said. \u201cIt makes me really happy, because every single start, I\u2019ve been working really hard to make sure that when I take the mound, I\u2019m giving the team the best opportunity, and I think having that team mentality is what\u2019s been able to keep me looking forward to the next game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That would be a fitting reward for L\u00f3pez\u2019s body of work in his first season with the organization. Following his arrival from the Marlins in a trade that sent fan favorite and reigning AL batting champion Luis Arraez to Miami, the Twins immediately showed their commitment to L\u00f3pez by giving him a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/twins\/news\/pablo-lopez-twins-extension-official\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">four-year, $73.5 million extension<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>L\u00f3pez finished with a 3.66 ERA in 194 innings, the most by a Twins pitcher since Jos\u00e9 Berr\u00edos in 2019. He had 234 strikeouts, most by a Twin since 2007 and tied with Dean Chance\u2019s 1968 season for the most by any Twins pitcher not named Johan Santana or Bert Blyleven. He did that while walking only 48 batters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s that innings total and the full 32-start workload that excite L\u00f3pez most, given how he struggled with injuries for his first four seasons and how much pride he took in finally reaching 32 healthy starts last season for the Marlins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cReally important to me to do it in my first year with the Twins,\u201d L\u00f3pez said. \u201cThat was one of my goals the moment I got traded and showed up to Spring Training. I made it more like a goal. I just wanted to really make sure I was the kind of guy who took the ball every five days, no matter the situation, no matter how the body felt at times.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He did that while also taking meaningful strides forward in just about every way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His ERA, innings and strikeout totals are better than his full-season totals from last year; his walks, FIP and WHIP are lower than last year as well. He arrived in the organization and developed a new sweeping slider, adding an east-west element to what had been a north-south arsenal in order to take his game to the next level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It wasn\u2019t always perfect, but L\u00f3pez gave the Twins consistency and a workhorse level of innings, cementing his status atop the club\u2019s rotation going forward. The Twins were victorious in eight of his final 11 starts, as he posted a 2.76 ERA from the beginning of August to the end of the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And what better way to announce that than by winning a playoff game &#8212; something no Twins pitcher has done since Santana?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEvery time you get the ball handed to you, you know as a player you have the opportunity to make something cool happen,\u201d L\u00f3pez said. \u201cPressure is a privilege. That means a lot of good things can be expected from you and it\u2019s all about embracing the opportunity, embracing the challenge and then at the same time, not trying to do too much.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>L\u00f3pez has not shied away from acknowledging that burden he will soon bear for a fanbase searching for absolution since 2004. He knows what he represents for this franchise, not just this season, but in the years to come.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Twins do, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHe&#8217;s going to be a guy that&#8217;s not just happy or pleased or content or satisfied with being very good or great,\u201d Baldelli said. \u201cHe&#8217;s going to want to take it to different levels. I have a lot of respect for that. That&#8217;s what great players in this game do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MINNEAPOLIS &#8212; The next time&nbsp;Pablo L\u00f3pez&nbsp;takes the mound, he\u2019ll likely carry with him the best hopes the Twins have had in some time of busting out of their inglorious and record-setting 18-game playoff losing streak. That\u2019s because, on Wednesday, L\u00f3pez put the finishing touches on the kind of season not [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":272399,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-276091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=276091"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":276092,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276091\/revisions\/276092"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/272399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=276091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=276091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=276091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}