James Paxton To Start As New York Looks To Bounce Back In Opener Against Minnesota
After a nine game trip out west that included winning the series in Anaheim over the Los Angeles Angels, a sweep of San Francisco and being swept by Arizona in a quick two game set New York who is a member of the American League East returns to the Bronx Friday to open a three game series against Minnesota who is a member of the American League Central.
In the opener of the three game series James Paxton who has recently found his groove in the Big Apple will look to continue his dominance. The left-hander comes into the game with a record of 3-2 with a 3.38 earn run average. James Paxton struck out eight and scattered five hits over 5 2/3 solid innings against the Giants for the win in his last outing. He walked two batters in the 106-pitch effort. He will oppose Minnesota right -hander Kyle Gibson who comes into the game with a record of 2-0 with a 4.88 earn run average. Gibson credits his marked improvement in his past two starts to the work he has done on his changeup. After posting a 7.36 ERA through his first three starts, Gibson has allowed three earned runs with 12 strikeouts and no walks over his past two. “according to https://www.mlb.com/yankees/roster/probable-pitchers
New York comes into the opener of the three game series with a record of 17-13 while Minnesota comes into the opener with a record of 19-10.
As for New York’s previous game, they lost to Arizona on Wednesday afternoon.
Masahiro Tanaka, pitched only four innings. Their manager stayed in the game for only a few more frames. The result was a 3-2 loss as the D-backs completed the two-game sweep and sent the Yankees back to New York with a 6-3 record on their nine-game, three-city road trip through Anaheim, San Francisco and Phoenix. “according to https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/yankees-lose-to-d-backs-in-series-finale
The Yankees have still won nine of their last 12 games, and they return home for a three-game series against the Twins that starts Friday. They will play 13 of their next 16 games at Yankee Stadium, where the Yanks have an 8-7 record and have won their last two series, albeit against teams with losing records. “according to https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/yankees-lose-to-d-backs-in-series-finale
Three of their next four opponents during the upcoming stretch -- Twins, Mariners and Rays -- have winning records. The Yankees have struggled against teams with winning records. “according to https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/yankees-lose-to-d-backs-in-series-finale
“I’m excited to get back home,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “It was obviously a long West Coast trip that overall was very successful. We look forward to having the off-day [Thursday], regroup a little bit and get ready for a really tough stretch, I think 30 [games] in 31 days. That will be a challenge for us, but a challenge we welcome.” “according to https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/yankees-lose-to-d-backs-in-series-finale
The first challenge Wednesday was Tanaka’s command. Boone said Tanaka’s split fastball wasn’t as sharp as it has been in the past. The pitcher said the movement on his pitches and his overall command wasn’t as bad as it seemed and his splitter felt fine. “according to https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/yankees-lose-to-d-backs-in-series-finale
“It’s obviously frustrating, but it just comes down to making adjustments,” Tanaka said. “I think the adjustment I needed to make coming into this game is different from the adjustments I’m going to need to make going into the next game. This game is about making adjustments and that’s basically what I’m doing.” “according to https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/yankees-lose-to-d-backs-in-series-finale
Tanaka was charged with three runs on five hits. He struck out six and walked one batter in one of his shortest outings of the season. He also pitched only four innings against the White Sox in his fourth start.
There’s no disputing Ketel Marte’s solo home run, his seventh homer of the season, came on a mistake pitch in the fourth inning. It pushed the home team’s advantage to 3-0, a deficit the Yankees were unable to overcome. “according https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/yankees-lose-to-d-backs-in-series-finale
“He battled,” Boone said. “He hasn’t been his best, certainly, but still made enough pitches to allow us to hang around and give us a chance. These two days, we just haven’t been able to get that hit or really mount anything offensively. We have pitched well enough -- three runs in back-to-back days -- we just haven’t been able to mount enough offensively.” “according to https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/yankees-lose-to-d-backs-in-series-finale
Luke Voit did his part. The first baseman’s solo home run in the top of the sixth cut the D-backs’ lead to 3-1. He later scored the Yankees’ second run of the game on Mike Tauchman's RBI single in the eighth inning to cut Arizona’s lead to 3-2. Voit has reached base in 41 consecutive games dating back to last season. “according to https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/yankees-lose-to-d-backs-in-series-finale
“[Voit’s] a really good hitter. He understands who he is and understands the strike zone, and he’s in a really good groove right now, obviously,” Boone said. “When he walks up there, pitchers better be at your best or you are going to be in some trouble.” “according to https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/yankees-lose-to-d-backs-in-series-finale
The biggest challenge of the game for the Yankees was official in nature. “according to https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/yankees-lose-to-d-backs-in-series-finale
In the fifth inning, the Yankees lost a replay challenge on a close play when it appeared D-backs shortstop Nick Ahmed took his foot off the second-base bag just before catching a throw from Marte to get a forceout on Tauchman. “according to https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/yankees-lose-to-d-backs-in-series-finale
“I went out to ask to make sure it stood. I didn’t argue,” Boone said. “In looking at it, that one was a head-scratcher. We thought it was the right challenge and thought we would have it overturned, but we didn’t get the call.” “according to https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/yankees-lose-to-d-backs-in-series-finale
Boone was later ejected by home-plate umpire Paul Emmel in the top of the seventh inning after the umpires would not review if Tyler Wade was hit on the foot by a pitch from D-backs reliever Yoan Lopez. The manager, who has been ejected twice this season and six times in his career, did not have a replay challenge remaining after losing one in the fifth.”according to https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/yankees-lose-to-d-backs-in-series-finale
After the game, Wade said he felt the ball grazed his foot. “according to https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/yankees-lose-to-d-backs-in-series-finale
“I wasn’t really set off other than we couldn’t look at it based on the call earlier where he’s safe at second base,” Boone said. “I wasn’t that riled up even at that point and I thought it was a very quick ejection, and then I got riled up. It’s just a frustrating day to not finish off the trip in a really good way.” “according to https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/yankees-lose-to-d-backs-in-series-finale
Unlike New York who lost their previous game, Minnesota won their previous game as they beat Houston.
Led by a homer and four RBIs from former Astros catcher Jason Castro and ace José Berríos' sixth quality start of the young season, the Twins’ bats pounded starter Brad Peacock for seven runs in 3 2/3 innings as they claimed three wins in the four-game series by cruising to an 8-2 rout at Target Field on Thursday afternoon. “according to https://www.mlb.com/twins/news/twins-rout-astros-with-berrios-small-ball-offense
"It means a lot,” second baseman Jonathan Schoop said. “If you want to be the best, you've got to beat the best … We're a really good team. We're the best. We believe we're the best team in the league, so we're going to go out there and have fun and compete." “according to https://www.mlb.com/twins/news/twins-rout-astros-with-berrios-small-ball-offense
The Twins have won 10 of their last 13 games and own the AL’s best record, at 19-10, as they enter a tough series in New York against the Yankees. “according to https://www.mlb.com/twins/news/twins-rout-astros-with-berrios-small-ball-offense
The series victory was made all the more impressive by the Twins’ ability to bounce back from an 11-0 loss on Tuesday with a pair of complete wins on Wednesday and Thursday. Minnesota has only lost consecutive games twice this season, and manager Rocco Baldelli and his club have focused on not letting any loss knock the team out of their rhythm this season. “according to https://www.mlb.com/twins/news/twins-rout-astros-with-berrios-small-ball-offense
“We try to keep a loose clubhouse and that kind of plays into it,” Castro said. “When things aren’t going well, we don’t get too down. We just try to bounce back the next day, and we’ve done a nice job of that.”
Here are three takeaways from a big series win at Target Field:
1. Twins' rotation shows high upside against powerful Astros
The eye-popping numbers of the Twins’ offense have garnered much of the attention early this season, but Minnesota’s series victory over the powerful Astros was just as much about dominant starting pitching as it was about continued production from the offense. “according to https://www.mlb.com/twins/news/twins-rout-astros-with-berrios-small-ball-offense
Jake Odorizzi set the tone in Monday’s series opener by besting Justin Verlander, one of the game’s unquestioned elites, in a 1-0 pitchers’ duel. Martin Pérez followed on Wednesday with eight shutout innings, the Twins’ longest start of the season, and Berrios neatly wrapped up the series on Thursday with seven strong innings.”according to https://www.mlb.com/twins/news/twins-rout-astros-with-berrios-small-ball-offense
“It's a great run, and we just played four against what might be one of the best offenses in baseball,” Baldelli said. “Just seeing our guys have that success, go out there and try to attack them and live in the zone, because you're really not going to beat a team like this pitching consistently out of the zone. You have to throw strikes. You have to attack them.” “according to https://www.mlb.com/twins/news/twins-rout-astros-with-berrios-small-ball-offense
The Twins entered the series against the Astros with four starts longer than six innings this season; they added three more of those in just these four games against Houston, which entered the series in MLB’s top three in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.”according to https://www.mlb.com/twins/news/twins-rout-astros-with-berrios-small-ball-offense
Minnesota’s rotation combined for six quality starts during the seven-game homestand against the Orioles and Astros, and, for the most part, aggressively attacked the strike zone, collecting a combined 39 strikeouts and allowing only four walks. “according to https://www.mlb.com/twins/news/twins-rout-astros-with-berrios-small-ball-offense
“That’s something we try to stress -- not necessarily forcing the issues, but in certain situations, it’s, ‘Here’s my good stuff, let’s see how it matches up,’” Castro said when asked about the squad's pitching strategy. “That’s huge. Definitely don’t want to pitch away from contact. We’ve done a nice job trusting ourselves and done a nice job executing what we’ve set forth prior to the game.”
2. This offense doesn’t need homers to get it done
The Twins shattered a club record with 50 homers before May 1 and entered Thursday second in the AL in percentage of runs via homers, having scored 52.4 percent of their runs this season with the long ball. But they showcased a different side of their offense in the final two games of the series, scoring only three of their 14 total runs in those games with homers.”according to https://www.mlb.com/twins/news/twins-rout-astros-with-berrios-small-ball-offense
Notably, Minnesota kept the ball in the yard as it scored six runs in their fourth-inning offensive spree against Peacock on Thursday, sending 10 hitters to the plate and tallying RBI hits from Schoop, Castro, Byron Buxton and Nelson Cruz, plus a sacrifice fly from Max Kepler. “according to https://www.mlb.com/twins/news/twins-rout-astros-with-berrios-small-ball-offense
The Twins made hard contact on pitches in the zone throughout the inning, which has been the primary focus of the team’s aggressive strategy at the plate this season. There were six batted balls that inning classified as hard-hit (greater than a 95 mph exit velocity), including all four run-scoring hits, Jorge Polanco's double and Eddie Rosario's liner into the right-center-field gap that Houston right fielder Josh Reddick snared with a diving grab. “according to https://www.mlb.com/twins/news/twins-rout-astros-with-berrios-small-ball-offense
"Of course, there's been some home runs hit this year already,” Baldelli said. “We know that and we've talked about it a lot. But I think with that we haven't seen some of the other things that our guys are capable of. The at-bats were quality, and I think they kind of added up, and they really came out in that inning and obviously were able to put a few runs on the board."
Moreover, the Twins continued to hit for extra bases, notching four doubles, two triples and a homer among their 10 hits on Thursday. Minnesota entered the game with extra-base hits on 48.1 percent of their hits this season, the highest mark in the Majors.
3. Gonzalez, Castro come through against old team
The two former Astros in the Twins’ lineup both got off to slow starts in 2019, but they both played important roles in Thursday’s series-clinching victory. Marwin Gonzalez reached base three times for the second time in four games and scored two runs. Castro homered and doubled and tied a career high with four RBIs.”according to https://www.mlb.com/twins/news/twins-rout-astros-with-berrios-small-ball-offense
Gonzalez started the season hitting .133/.212/.167 with four hits, nine strikeouts and three walks in his first 10 games, but said that he has felt better over the last two weeks and has been working to improve his plate discipline. Thursday marked his fourth multihit performance in his last 14 games. “according to https://www.mlb.com/twins/news/twins-rout-astros-with-berrios-small-ball-offense
“I wasn't being patient at the plate and swinging at balls out of the zone,” Gonzalez said. “That's a small chance to get a hit, with a ball out of the zone. That's one of the things … That's a combination to do bad if I'm not hitting the breaking balls and I'm not hitting the fastballs, either. I've got to make an adjustment and get better pitches to hit.” “according to https://www.mlb.com/twins/news/twins-rout-astros-with-berrios-small-ball-offense
Castro started the season in a 2-for-14 slump but has collected hits in five of his last seven starts, including all three of his homers. His 426-foot shot to left-center field on Thursday tied the game before the rest of Minnesota’s offense showed up in a big way one inning later. “according to https://www.mlb.com/twins/news/twins-rout-astros-with-berrios-small-ball-offense
“I’m not trying to do too much,” Castro said. “I’m trying to put good swings on it. I’ve done some other things to try to be more consistent with posture at the plate. It’s been feeling good.” “according to https://www.mlb.com/twins/news/twins-rout-astros-with-berrios-small-ball-offense
Thanks to Castro’s improving performance and continued production from Mitch Garver and Willians Astudillo, the Twins lead the Majors with nine homers and a slugging percentage of .695 from their catchers, second to only the Cubs in batting average (.315) and on-base percentage (.404). “according to https://www.mlb.com/twins/news/twins-rout-astros-with-berrios-small-ball-offense
“You don't see your catchers carrying you in games and we have that,” Baldelli said. “We've had our guys, all three of our catchers have led our offense on different nights.” “according to https://www.mlb.com/twins/news/twins-rout-astros-with-berrios-small-ball-offense
First pitch is set for 7:05pm from Yankee Stadium. The game will be televised on Yes and FNO. “according to https://www.mlb.com/gameday/twins-vs-yankees/2019/05/03/567471?#game_state=preview,lock_state=preview,game_tab=,game=567471