Gibson looks to stay locked in as Twins face the Cardinals

The Twins are in Jupiter today to play St. Louis as the teams complete a rare home-and-home series.

March 16, 2017 at 4:59PM
Pitcher Kyle Gibson lost 4-1 in his first Class AAA start since being demoted last week.
Twins pitcher Kyle Gibson threw the ball over protective netting while pitching during live batting practice (Brian Stensaas — STAR TRIBUNE/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

One day after Adalberto Mejia made his pitch to be part of the rotation, Kyle Gibson - with his new delivery - will try to show why he should be counted on this season.

Gibson, making his fourth start of spring training, gave up just one run in four innings his last time out. Today's he's facing a Cardinals lineup with several regulars in it. So it will be a good challenge for him. Gibson has tweaked his delivery and has spent time in camp regaining the feel and movement for his pitches. So far, he's been pleased with the results. One example is his sinker. He's able to throw it at the hip of lefthanded hitters and watch it break over the plate again.

Ryan O'Rourke, Jake Reed, Michael Tonkin, Raul Fernandez and Drew Rucinski are also on the list to pitch. Tonkin, in particular, needs to get going. From talking with folks in the clubhouse, he's clearly on the bubble to break camp with the team. And it might not matter this time that he's out of options and would need to clear waivers to be sent to the minors.

So far, the Twins have cut just six players - all pitchers - from camp, but another round of cuts are coming by the end of the weekend.

Sorry this is late. There were production problems here with the pre-game materials.

Twins

Zack Granite, RF
Danny Santana, Lf
Ben Paulsen, 1B
Matt Hague, DH
J.B. Shuck, CF
Tommy Field, 2B
Eduardo Escobar, SS
John Ryan Murphy, 2
Ehire Adrianza, 3B

Kyle Gibson, RHP


Dexter Fowler, CF
Kolten Wong, 2B
Jhonny Peralta, 3B
Jedd Gyorko, DH
Randal Grichuk, LF
Jose Martinez, 1B
Harrison Bader, RF
Paul Dejong, SS
Carson Kelly, C

Trevor Rosenthal, RHP

about the writer

about the writer

La Velle E. Neal III

Columnist

La Velle E. Neal III is a sports columnist for the Minnesota Star Tribune who previously covered the Twins for more than 20 years.

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