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I'm going to start calling Martin Perez "The Feather" because he's starting to feel like he's becoming a huge feather at the front office and the Twins coaching staff. Perez 2.0, the new improved version, is making its way. He played in a declaration game tonight, beating Houston scoreless in eight innings.
Image courtesy of © Marilyn Indahl-USA TODAY Sports
The score of the box
Perez: 8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 67.0% hits (66 of 100 throws)
Home Races: Schoop (5)
Multi-shot games: Polanco (2 for 4), Cruz (2 for 4, 2B)
WPA of +0.1: Perez .347, Schoop .157
WPA of -0.1: No
(graph via FanGraphs)
Perez continued to present the cutter tonight, he launched 45 of his 100 shots. He limited the Astros to four hits, beat two batters and removed seven, but things started badly.
Perez walked on four fields of leader George Springer, then gave a single to Jose Altuve. He got Alex Bregman to fly, then induced a double play ending in the heat. It was all Martin Perez from there. Here is the complete picture of tonight's release via Baseball Savant:
Perez now has a 2.08 ERA at his four starts this season. Rangers fans must be very confused right now. He had an average of 6.78 in 15 starts with Texas last season. It is still very early, but Houston has entered this match with a ridiculous .300 / .379 / .540 line against left-handed pitchers so far this season (.919 OPS). So I'm not sure you could have imagined Perez's encouraging departure.
Jonathan Schoop scored the Twins on the board with a huge two-run home run in the third inning. The Twins have added another essay on a single by Jorge Polanco, thanks to a pitcher error committed by the star of the Astros, Collin McHugh.
Nelson Cruz added a single RBI in fifth place, then a doubled in the eighth. Cron added a sacrificial fly to give the Twins a 6-0 lead.
Trevor Hildenberger allowed two points in the ninth, but with that big lead, his most important job was just to launch strikes. He did a great job of throwing 15 strikes on his 20 shots.
Here's what's best about this eleven-point eruption last night: it proves that it's not just a weak team of Astros that the Twins caught at the right time. It's a dangerous team we've seen, but even the best teams are in free fall. These exceptional outings of Jake Odorizzi and Perez sandwiched between this clunker are obviously very encouraging.
It's José Day tomorrow. To be excited.
Using Bullpen
Here is an overview of the number of casts launched by the editor over the past five days:
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Next three games
Thu. Vs. HOU, 12h10 (CT) (Berrios-Peacock)
Friday in New York, 6:05 pm CT (Gibson-Paxton)
Saturday in New York, 12:05 (CT) (Odorizzi-Happ)
Last match
HOU 11, MIN 0: Completely dominated
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