1:43Three extras from a deflating start to a four-game series with Cleveland:
Tyler Duffey pumped his fist as Edwin Encarnacion swung through a 92-mph fastball Monday night, the final out of Duffey's latest impressive bullpen outing. The righthander, a starter his entire major league career until two weeks ago, faced 10 Cleveland batters in the Twins' 3-1 loss and struck out four of them. He gave up a single to Carlos Santana and apparently hit Abraham Almonte with a pitch — though the Twins aren't convinced the ball made contact — but allowed neither runner to move past first base.
That makes four spotless outings for Duffey, who may be pitching himself out of the Twins' rotation — and into their bullpen — for good. He's now pitched 8 2/3 innings on the season, and has given up zilch, pretty much: five hits, one walk and zero runs, while striking out seven.
All of this while mostly waiting for his chance; he had pitched only once in nine days before his outing on Monday.
"I talked to him today. I said, 'It's been a little bit of roller-coaster for you. Sometimes it's length, sometimes it's big outs late,' " Molitor said. "It just kind of worked out tonight. I kind of wanted to get him in there at some point. He hasn't pitched a ton, but when he has, he's been very effective."
XXX
Kyle Gibson's a nice guy, maybe too nice. He's always such a gracious host when the Indians are in town.
The righthander has faced Cleveland at Target Field once in each of his five seasons with the Twins, and he's uniformly generous. Which is a nice way of saying the Twins are 0-5 in those games.
