Twins 6, Mariners 3: King Kenta and King Julien Lead Twins to Win (2024)

Box Score
SP: Kenta Maeda - 6.1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 9 K (80 pitches, 56 strikes (70.0%))
Home Runs: Edouard Julien (9), Max Kepler (14), Alex Kirilloff (7)
Top 3 WPA: Max Kepler (0.355), Kenta Maeda (0.231), Edouard Julien (0.191)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

In Game 3 of their four-game series against the Mariners, the Twins found themselves in a highly-competitive game again. They got a fantastic start and added some power in the second half of the game to take back the lead and add on after losing their initial lead. Jhoan Duran thing made things interesting in the bottom of the ninth inning, but finished the job to secure another Twins win.

King Kenta
Kenta Maeda was very good in his first three starts after missing two months on the Injured List. His most recent start in Oakland was more of a struggle. He gave up three runs on four hits and four walks in just three innings. He added six strikeouts, so as you would expect, he used a lot of pitches. He needed 80 pitches to get through those three innings.

On Wednesday in Seattle, he also threw 80 pitches, but this time he was much more efficient and in control of the game. He recorded an out in the seventh inning before leaving the game after giving up his third hit of the game. He was efficient, and yet he mixed and matched pitches and got tremendous movement on his pitches so he was able to record nine strikeouts.

King Julien
Edouard Julien is absolutely on fire right now. And he's doing so in the manner that we have seen him do it the last two seasons in the minor leagues. He has shown a fantastic eye at the plate. In the first inning, he worked a walk after falling behind in the count. And that is against Mariners All-Star Luis Castillo who came into the game with no walks in his past three starts and just one walk in his previous 25 innings. And Castillo was very good in this game. He struck out a season-high 11 batters which is also the most he has had in a game since joining the Mariners about this time last year.

In his second plate appearance, Julien lined a single to right field (99.8 mph). And in his third plate appearance, he crushed a ball 415 feet. It left the bat at 107.8 mph. He came to the plate one more time and worked another walk after falling behind.

In his past seven games, he has gone 15-for-23 with three doubles and three home runs. He has three walks to go with three strikeouts. In that time, he has raised his slash line from .256/.340/.464 (.804) - which is very solid - to .318/.394/.574 (.968).

Mighty Max
Speaking of players that have been really good of late, Max Kepler continues to hit well and provide power when needed. In this game, he had two hits including his 14th home run of the season. He had a little bit of a resurgence before the All-Star break but then went through another slump. However, he has returned from the break and been really good. He has hits in all six games on this West Coast trip. In this series against the Mariners, he is 6-for-13 with two doubles, two homers, and six RBI.

The Correa Catch
He's been hitting well, but in this game, Carlos Correa was 0-for-5. However, his defense at shortstop is tremendous. He seemingly makes all the routine plays, and every once in a while, we get to see this:

Anti-Jacks Jax Allows First Homer of Season
Griffin Jax came into the game with a runner on base and one out in the seventh inning. Maeda got one out in the inning but then gave up a single and was removed from the game. It marked the 42nd time that Jax had come into a game this season. He had not yet allowed a home run, so of course, the powerful Eugenio Suarez took a hanging slider and crushed it into the stands in left center field to tie the game.

As Trevor Plouffe said in the booth, "That's baseball."

How good has Jax been? Before giving up the homer to Suarez, he had not given up a run (earned or unearned) since May 23 when he gave up two unearned runs against the Giants. Since last giving up an earned run (May 19), he had worked in 19 1/3 innings over 20 appearances. He had just one walk to go with 18 strikeouts. Batters hit just .097/.111/.097 (.208) against him.

The last homer that Jax allowed was on September 7, 2022, in Yankees Stadium. That was a two-run homer by Gleyber Torres in the sixth inning. You may recall, he entered the game following the MLB debut of Louie Varland.

Now Griffin Jax can start a new streak.

Pagan Dominates the Eighth
I know how much Twins fans like to see Emilio Pagan come into late-and-close situations, but that's exactly what happened. He responded with a dominant eighth inning to hold a one-run lead.

This was his 38th appearance of the season, and he has given up zero runs in 31 of those outings. Four times, he has given up one run. And yes, he has given up three or more runs in three games (three runs twice, and six runs once).

K is for Kirilloff… Then Klutch
Clinging to a one-run lead going into the ninth inning, Alex Kirilloff came to the plate. Strangely, the Mariners turned to Devin Sweet who made his major-league debut. With a runner on base, Kirilloff came into the ninth inning 0-for-4 with four strikeouts, one would think that Kirilloff would just want to put the ball in play to avoid a fifth strikeout in the game.

Instead, he took two fastballs outside to get ahead 2-0 in the count. He then swung at a curveball that dropped just below the strike zone. He saw that curveball again, but this time it stayed above the knees and on the outer part of the plate. He swung and crushed another opposite field homer. He hit it 104.3 mph. Now that is a good way to end a four-strikeout game.

And it proved to be important when Jhoan Duran started the bottom of the ninth inning with the first two batters reaching base. A three-run lead is much better than a one-run lead.

Like others mentioned above, Alex Kirilloff has been hitting well on this road trip. He has hits in each of his past four games. In those games, he is 8-for-17 with a double, a triple, three homer runs and nine RBI. That's incredible even with the six strikeouts in that time too. In four games, Kirilloff has raised his slash line from .267/.368/.386 (.754) to .285/.377/.456 (.833). And it's so encouraging because he had gone a month without a home run before this road trip.

Duran Makes Things Interesting
Jhoan Duran recorded three saves in three days in Oakland. Fortunately, the team has been able to avoid using him in the first two games in Seattle. However, with a three-run lead, they put him into another save situation.

If we're being honest, Duran almost looked a little sluggish early. His first three pitches where 99 mph "splitters." J.P. Crawford reached on an error, and then on an 0-2 pitch, Duran hit Julio Rodriguez with a fastball at 102.7.

It's almost as if his closer mentality turned on right then and there. Over the final three batters faced, Duran threw nine more four-seam fastballs, and not one of them was as "slow" as that 102.7 mph pitch to Rodriguez.

In the outing, he threw 11 four-seamers. The average was 103.6 mph. The 'slowest' was 102.7 mph, and he topped out at 104.8 mph. Nine of the 11 were at 103.0 or greater. Four pitches were at 104.0 or faster.

Notes
Old Friend Alert: Along with calling up Devin Sweet, the Mariners also recalled right-handed pitcher Prelander Berroa before the game. Both made the flight from Arkansas to Seattle. Both are making the jump from Double-A to the big leagues. Are you looking at that name, and just wondering where you've seen it before? That's because the 23-year-old Dominican signed with the Twins as a 16-year-old in 2016. At the trade deadline in 2019, Berroa was playing with the rookie-league Elizabethton Twins. He was sent to the Giants along with Kai-Wei Teng and Jaylin Davis in exchange for the infamous Sam Dyson. Berroa was traded to Seattle last May. He touches 100 mph with a fastball and now that he's a reliever, he's developed a very good slider. In 46 innings for Arkansas this spring, he has a 2.93 ERA and 69 strikeouts... but also 31 walks.

In case you are wondering, Teng made 12 Double-A starts and has made four Triple-A starts in the Giants organization this year. In 68 1/3 innings, he has 89 strikeouts to go with 35 walks and 13 hit batters. Davis played in 26 games for the Giants between 2019 and 2021. He played in 12 games for the Red Sox in 2022. The 29-year-old has 13 doubles and 13 home runs in 74 games for the Mets Triple-A affiliate in Syracuse.

My Oh Why postgame podcast. Chris Crawford has been a part of the baseball blogosphere for a long time, yes, even longer than me. Interesting to get the Mariners' fan's perspective on the game.

What’s Next?
The Minnesota Twins will finish their four-game series in Seattle on Thursday afternoon (2:40 pm central time). In an All Star matchup, the Twins will send former Mariner Pablo Lopez to the mound to face the Mariners’ George Kirby.

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