Twins roll past Royals 13-3 in Zebby Matthews’ major league debut

Zebby Matthews didn’t show any outward emotion when he struck out Bobby Witt Jr. for his first career strikeout. He watched catcher Christian Vázquez roll the ball to the dugout for a memento, then he completed his circular walk behind the mound.

“The first strikeout,” Matthews said, “definitely helped calm the nerves.”

Four months ago, Matthews made his season debut at Class A-Advanced Cedar Rapids in front of an announced crowd of 663. Now here he was pitching in a playoff race and striking out the hottest hitter in the league.

Matthews, 24, introduced himself to the big leagues with a solid outing, giving up five hits and two runs in five innings during the Twins’ 13-3 victory over Kansas City at Target Field on Tuesday night. The Twins offense seemed determined to make it a celebratory debut, knocking around Royals starter Seth Lugo into his worst outing of the year and securing a series victory.

The Twins, who remain 3 ½ games behind first-place Cleveland in the division, have a 2 ½-game lead over the Royals in the wild-card standings.

“From where I started in High-A, to be here right now, it’s definitely special,” said Matthews, who totaled five strikeouts and zero walks. “But you don’t quit working just because you made it here. There is a lot of stuff to keep doing, keep improving on.”

Matthews, a 6-5, 225-pound righthander, is known for his strike-throwing ability — he walked seven batters in 97 minor league innings — but his quick rise to the big leagues was a result of his swing-and-miss pitches. Hitters know they will see strikes, and he’s still difficult to hit.

Royals second baseman Michael Massey drove the second pitch of Matthews’ debut to the wall in left field where Matt Wallner made a leaping catch. A nervous moment, Matthews admitted. He struck out Witt and induced a flyout to complete his first inning, drawing applause from the announced crowd of 25,885.

“If he can strike out Witt, he’s got good stuff,” said Vázquez, who hit a solo homer in the fourth inning. “You could see it there. He worked quick, too. His timing is very quick. That’s very good for him, so the hitters don’t time him. Very impressed.”

The Twins gifted Matthews a three-run lead in the first inning, and that gave him further freedom to remain on the attack. He surrendered a solo homer to MJ Melendez in the second inning, then retired 11 of his next 13 batters. He had a stretch where he struck out four of five batters.

“The home run, I got knocked in the teeth there a little bit,” Matthews said. “Bounced back and got through the next couple innings. That home run wasn’t necessarily like a wake-up call — not that I needed it — but it was definitely like, ‘OK, let’s lock back in here.’”

Matthews received his first big-league win after completing five innings and 77 pitches, allowing an RBI double to Massey in the fifth inning. Manager Rocco Baldelli noted it was the first time he pitched with four days between starts this year.

“What we’re seeing now is a good symbol of the organization that we want to be,” Baldelli said. “We need to develop young players, not just starting pitchers, but young players at a high rate.”

Lugo entered with the fourth-lowest ERA (2.72) in the majors, but he gave up nine hits and eight runs (seven earned) in four innings. It was his shortest start of the season.

Wallner and Jose Miranda combined for five hits and five runs. Max Kepler hit a three-run homer off lefty reliever Will Smith in the sixth inning and Kyle Farmer followed an inning later with a two-run home run to the second deck in left field, his first homer of the season.

Farmer, the eight-year veteran, received the silent treatment when he returned to the dugout. He realized it when a bat boy ignored his high-five, breaking into a laugh as he walked through the dugout. After about 15 seconds, teammates finally mobbed him in celebration.