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00:00baseball is presented by progressive insurance a grand slam for your budget visit progressive.com
00:06by ford visit local ford.com or your local northland ford dealer today
00:12and by delta from twins territory to the world delta official airline of the minnesota twins
00:21after an off day good to be back at this beautiful ballpark opening up in 1992 it has cooled down
00:28considerably still bright and sunny game two twins and the orioles coming up welcome back to the
00:33ballpark and to the booth alongside glenn perkins and justin morno i'm cory provis taj bradley perc
00:38goes today and hopefully can follow what joe ryan did on opening day and i tell you what i know
00:43that
00:43these guys don't put too much stock into what the guy before them did just because they're all
00:47different pitchers i think if there was one thing that i'd watch for today if i'm taj bradley it's
00:51that curveball joe ryan used it so effectively against this orioles lineup a lot of the same
00:55guys in there today and we'll see if if taj kind of takes that that was his best pitch last
00:59year
01:00and so see if taj leans into the curveball the same way that joe ryan did on opening day
01:04and offensively tons of base runners unfortunately one for 12 with runners in scoring position good
01:09sign you had all the traffic out there and a little different look with the righty on the
01:12mound clemens in the leadoff spot buxton keeschel walter bell dh and jeffers behind the plate again
01:18larnick lewis and lee at the bottom first career leadoff assignment for cody clemens in a
01:24major league game and kyle bradish healthy and his first fastball is high at 94 with that we're
01:30underway here from baltimore and bradish he hasn't been healthy in a couple of years his last fully
01:36healthy season was 2023 and perky was fantastic that year finished fourth in the cy young that season
01:42incredible year for him in the last two years dealing with the elbow stuff
01:46missed a bunch of time in 2024 first part of 2025 came back last year he was really good as
01:53well when
01:53he's been healthy he's been great one of the better right-handed pitchers uh starting pitchers in the
01:58game keep an eye on that slider that was a great pitch and limited action last year there's a high
02:04strike a sinker on clemens and now a 2-1 count on cody so we saw austin martin bat lead
02:11off against the
02:12lefty rogers on thursday now with the righty bradish it's clemens from the left side batting first today
02:19and that'll get fouled and morning we kind of got a taste and a hint that this was going to
02:24be how it
02:24was going to look at the end of camp with martin batting lead off against lefties and now cody getting
02:29a chance against righties and you wondering if you're sitting at home wondering is this going to stick
02:33like this for a while shelty said yes i'd like clemens at the top we're going to leave him in
02:38the lead
02:38off spot for a little while see how the offense is doing as he strikes out on a high sinker
02:43at 95 so
02:45clemens a 2-0 count three straight strikes and one away
02:52bradish with that straight over the top delivery gets a little bit of arm side run but he likes to
02:56pitch up with the four seamer and the sinker he'll get a little bit more cut
03:00with the four seamer you see that arm side run
03:03with the sinker and then the slider as well wipeout type of pitch really really good against right as
03:09we'll see if he goes there two strikes if he gets it two strikes with buck almost a guarantee you're
03:15going to see one slider yeah last year he actually threw more sliders to the righties than he did that
03:19fastball so he's got a ton of confidence in it talk about how it moves you're not really expecting the
03:25way it does this one queued out to first and routine for pete alonzo and quickly two down the keys
03:32of the
03:33game are presented as always by toyota you got a couple of keys first one taj 2.0 uh we
03:41saw taj
03:42last year when he came up after the trade that they were kind of hands off with him just let
03:46him get
03:46comfortable in a new uniform with a new team they got his hands on him this winter kind of revamped
03:51his
03:52that's viewpoint or or the mental side of pitching and and i think we're i'm curious to see as this
03:57season unfolds what what sort of differences we see and maybe we'll pick up on a little bit of that
04:02today i i don't know but new version of taj new commitment uh to the game so we'll see how
04:07that
04:08plays out today and uh moving forward the second one take advantage of the opportunities talk about
04:12that when the lineup was up there one for 12 with runners in scoring position keep putting them out
04:16there eventually they'll come around one and one on luke kishaw one for three with a sack fly rbi
04:23on thursday close pitch and kishaw did not challenge twins went three for four challenging balls and
04:32strikes on thursday the one won it well to left center but plenty of room for colton cowser and a
04:41low two three start for powell bradish and hopefully taj bradley has the same he's on the mound in a
04:46moment
04:54welcome back to baltimore orioles will bat here momentarily for the first time today let's take a
04:59look at the orioles starting lineup here for game two of the season brought to you by ford
05:04ward henderson alonzo at the top madley rutschman at a two-hit day
05:08and the win on thursday dylan beavers gets a start in right same for jeremiah jackson
05:14at second base has a strong arm had a good camp an old bad ninth for baltimore today and taj
05:21bradley
05:22is on the mound for the twins taylor ward 0 for 4 in his baltimore debut as bradley at 97
05:28misses high
05:29ball one the key for taj today is to get ahead he's got the stuff to get
05:34out in the zone challenge these orioles hitters see the numbers for bradley brought to you by car
05:40shield another fastball at 97 1 and 1
05:47bradley after the trade
05:50sent griffin jacks to the rays he began in the minor leagues ended up having six starts with the twins
05:56and stumbled there with that sinker and now 2-1 count and much like mick abel taj bradley's last
06:03start of the season was something to build off of entering the year his final start came in texas on
06:10september 24th he went six innings he struck out nine he's got the ability to miss bats with multiple
06:17pitches we've seen the fastball velocity i talked about the curveball and what about gripping that
06:23curveball today for bradley cooler weather compared to what joe ryan dealt with on thursday well yeah
06:28the weather makes a difference and we'll see if that affects his pitch picks maybe it is more
06:33fastball sinker cutter from bradley but you can't look away from what joe was able to do with his
06:40curveball and taj has to have that in the back of his mind there's the first one there
06:51what do you think perk does he throw it again 3-2 i i like 2-2 throw it on
06:563-2
06:59and that strike three call dropped by jeffers so a fastball no challenge from ward
07:05so taj with good velo to start and retires ward one away i think ward was thinking right along with
07:11me
07:12taj got that fastball low inside corner
07:18i think as hitters get more comfortable knowing exactly especially guys that have been in the big
07:22leagues for a while knowing exactly where that box is box is i think we're going to see a lot
07:25more
07:26challenges than what we're seeing what we saw over the first game and then beginning of this game
07:32there's one in quichels at bat i think as guys go back and learn exactly where the zone is going
07:38to end
07:38up and it's going to be the same every single time you almost have to believe at some point too
07:46and it
07:46might be weekly might be monthly that that guys are going to get individual reports about calls they
07:53could have challenged or ones that they they should have or didn't um just to give them a better
08:00idea because it's it's a whole new element to having an at-bat i think in my mind every pitch
08:08would
08:08have been the pitch to challenge every pitch that's wrong they'd have had to hit you ninth just so other
08:14guys
08:14would have gotten a chance to challenge
08:18oh two on gutter henderson the former rookie of the year and a splitter at 92 erases henderson
08:26great start for taj back-to-back strikeouts two down here comes pete alonzo
08:31it's going to be interesting to hear the thoughts from these orioles hitters
08:35most of them have at-bats and some significant amount of at-bats off of taj
08:40and that he was in tampa in the same division a lot of these hitters for a long time is
08:44it going to
08:44be a different version than what they've seen in the past
08:49alonzo on the first pitch fastball at 98
08:52fouls it back alonzo all for three in his oriol debut
08:56the five-time all-star side a five-year contract in the offseason
09:02if 38 home runs with the mets a year ago
09:08and hit for about 38 minutes before before anyone took bp when we got here we're
09:14up here in the booth filling out our scorebooks doing our research and all the other things that
09:18we do to get ready for a game and every time you looked up he was still hitting on the
09:22field he was
09:23still hitting off that machine he's a guy who likes to work wants to find his swing quickly
09:29out of curveball and alonzo lines it up the middle for a two-out single i was just going to
09:35ask you
09:35perk because thursday joe ryan he attacked alonzo with two strikes with the breaking ball if bradley
09:42was going to perhaps attack it with two strikes the same way it's a matter of location and that's
09:47the difference i think joe ryan got pete alonzo to swing over the curveball in the dirt that one you
09:52see where that ended up about belt high and where that pitch location was i think tosh bradley is
10:00fine that that was only a single you see alonzo he wants to keep that ball his first base hit
10:05with
10:06the orioles so a souvenir for alonzo and now adley rutschman had a good game on thursday a couple of
10:12hits as the cutter misses down low for ball one it was a down year offensively for rutschman he battled
10:18oblique injuries and the former number one overall pick is looking to bounce back in a big way
10:25for baltimore here in 2026
10:33the 1-0 and that's inside ball two it's funny i think i traded to pittsburgh and they got the
10:39ball for
10:40me it felt kind of awkward it's not my first kid do i really want this ball something i really
10:45need
10:46do you still have it he has probably a plastic ziploc bag somewhere who knows
10:52but pete's gonna be here a while
10:55the pitch at 96 for strike one
11:01for bradley it occurred again last year get it get out of the first inning
11:09bradley's era that first time through the lineup is high
11:17well and we saw his last out again spring training
11:21struggled in that first inning and with the spring training rules they could get him out
11:26finished the inning with a reliever and then sent him back out he made the adjustment so if he can
11:29get
11:30through this get out of this inning on skates
11:34and just focus on getting back out there again next inning
11:38three and two on rutschman
11:41the pitch here from bradley and alonzo he'll be off
11:47he's going to be off
11:51so clemens now will play behind alonzo guarding the line at first
11:58runner goes 3-2 and that is low for ball four
12:02so back-to-back strikeouts the single and now the walk
12:06and here comes left-handed batting dh samuel besayo
12:10the number one prospect in baltimore system entering the year did debut last year
12:15at a small sample hit four four home runs after an incredible year at triple-a norfolk
12:2623 home runs in 76 games in the minors before his promotion
12:35he's a catcher but rutschman is behind the plate back-to-back games we'll see if it's basayo behind the
12:41plate
12:42for the series finale tomorrow
12:44kind of weird this time of year a lot of day games
12:47that weather day built in have another one of kansas city coming up
12:51trying to get all the guys in the lineup but also trying to put your best lineup out there because
12:55you want to get off to a good start as a team
12:58tough balance for these managers early and every manager has a different take on them morning right
13:03some guys will be like yeah i want to play my bench i want to play my entire team early
13:09take a look at the perky we're talking about the relievers it's been four days since they've been on the
13:14mound in the game
13:15well you have the off day after spring training before opening day and then you
13:18usually have the off day after opening day and you blink and it can all of a sudden be
13:22four or five six days and a guy hasn't been on the field on the mound in the batter's box
13:27come in eighth inning okay second and third how are you going to get us out of it you have
13:31it's your first out and your heartbeats already going you get a little bit of extra general
13:36you're trying to flip that switch from spring training to the regular season and it's it's not a
13:41flip of a switch it's it's a gradual transition and managers have to be aware of that
13:47to one is a strike and the sio lost a challenge on thursday thought about it no challenge and this
13:54one did clip the outside corner yep
14:02sio one for four scored a run on thursday two on two out bradley's 24th pitch of the inning
14:11curveball rolled foul
14:17you wonder what a hitter says to an umpire on a call they disagree
14:21saw the sio look back and brian onora what do you say i think that ball was outside well
14:29challenging it's not no it's usually you got that on the corner you're not going to directly question
14:33them most of the time okay sometimes it'll be is that as far as you're going to go is that
14:38the edge
14:38of the zone so you're trying to as a hitter you're inferring something you're trying to gauge where is
14:43this umpire going to call yeah what's he gonna call today and sometimes they'll say well no i got
14:47a little bit more than that sometimes they'll say no that's not the top and that's not the bottom of
14:51the zone it's more you're trying to figure out where the parameters are and now it's so well defined
14:56you're right what are those questions going to be again the 2-2 pitch foul back
15:01best velocity so far from bradley that one 99
15:11samuel bisayo dominican born
15:18alonzo at second rutschmidt at first
15:24here's the 2-2
15:31here's the 2-3
15:37sile did not walk much a year ago dylan beavers on deck if this inning continues
15:44runners go 3-2 in the dirt and the bases are low
15:52so a single with two outs for alonzo now back-to-back walks
15:57and pete mackey will leave the third base dugout the twins pitching coach will chat here with
16:04bradley and trying to work out of this jab here and early traffic perk and he scored his first inning
16:10yeah pete mackey out probably just to help to slow the game down a little bit here
16:15remind him you're one pitch away make one good pitch
16:19and you're out of this inning get the boys back in the dugout to hit
16:23and this is where the game can speed up on you there's so many
16:27that factor in nowadays with the pitch clock and mount visits you don't have the opportunities to
16:32slow yourself down and so visit here quick visit but just give him a brief it's amazing how fast it
16:38happens and went from back-to-back strikeouts and then just a curveball that kind of rolled up in the
16:43zone
16:44but alonzo would have seen pop out of the hand and all of a sudden
16:50one ball in play two walks and you got trouble
16:53find your way out of it 12 pitches in two outs and an 0-2 count
16:58see that number from dylan beavers at the bottom he was the international league mvp
17:03a triple-a a year ago a small sample with the orioles and he swings and fouls it back
17:09and beavers good fastball hitter last year a good pass to the first offering from bradley
17:17beavers can fly he's the second ranked prospect in baltimore's system for mlb.com with besayo number one
17:25he's at first rutschman and alonzo 0-2
17:37good split there right off the fastball in the zone too yep fastball at 97 split at 92 and that's
17:43what i'm talking about he can be in the zone he gets swing and misses he's got the stuff
17:47multiple pitches to attack hitters within the strike zone the 0-2
17:55catch number 31 this is down and away on beavers
18:01beavers drew 23 walks in his first 30 major league games last year
18:10see the eyes of bradley a couple of shakes a few times
18:14and now time called
18:18a good look there it did look like perky did shake
18:22a couple of shakes a couple of times you never know how many of those are an intentional shake just
18:28trying to throw the hitters timing and rhythm off make him second guess is that something mori that
18:34you would ever pay attention to as a hitter did you watch a pitcher shake and try to go along
18:38with him
18:39the problem is every hitter had a different theory if he shakes more than twice or if he says yes
18:43and then
18:43know it's a fastball in a different location or there's different ways of looking at it i think
18:48the more you try and pay attention to it the more it just messes with you
18:53swing and a miss he struck him out at 98.
18:57so taj bradley the pitch count on the high side but does not give up a run he strikes out
19:04three
19:04baltimore leaves three and we're scoreless
19:12he is brought to you by vanguard now the final 37 games of last season the twins stole a league
19:19high
19:1953 bases begging the question will we see that aggressiveness again this season and the answer
19:25is yes now derek sheldon acknowledged that with this lineup not every guy one through nine is built
19:30to move in the same capacity but even guys like matt walner or josh bell need to be ready if
19:36the
19:37opportunity is there because it is there's a chance you will see some of those guys run now how about
19:41guys
19:42like royce lewis who has dealt with injuries in the past the shelton says he needs to run too we
19:47cannot in
19:48any stretch of the season we cannot not do certain things because we're trying to avoid injuries the twins
19:55are already out of the books with a stolen base in the books because austin martin grabbed one on
20:00thursday so guys will be interesting to see how they continue to add to it but sounds like derek
20:05sheldon came into the season knowing he wants his team to continue that aggressive mindset audrey thanks
20:10as walner grounds out we see josh bell interesting that shelty mentioned hey even josh bell be ready to run
20:16well bell in his career has four stolen bases none since 2018.
20:23but if we learn anything across the game last year and we brought up this name a lot josh naylor
20:29with
20:30seattle sprint speed not his strength and it did not matter he ran a ton bell with a blast to
20:37right but
20:38that will go foul
20:43take what the game gives you if a guy's one six one seven not paying attention to your first base
20:48and
20:48that's what it that's the number you know you need a pitcher to be to home plate to be able
20:53to
20:53steal a bag and find those guys because they're they are there every once in a while
20:59but the twins success or not isn't going to depend on josh bell's ability to steal bases but it will
21:06have an impact if royce lewis is able to run like he did in september and a lot of these
21:11guys that
21:12were way more aggressive as they took the reins off and just let them go
21:18that can help you win ball games
21:22those days when you're not hitting that three-run homer it's cold or the wind's blowing in or that
21:27pitcher's on how are you going to find a way to manufacture them and you know the game tells you
21:31now
21:31with the rules that were put in place aggression and base running is part of it and it's something that
21:37we loved what we saw in the last part of last year and they continued in the spring so hopefully
21:41it's something that we'll see have an impact on the field as the year goes on
21:44brian jefferson deck and bradish deals 2-2
21:49and now full count on bell who went 0 for 3 with a walk
21:53in his twins debut on thursday dh-ing with a second straight game
22:01with cody clemens at first today and trevor larnik starting in left
22:06and now time
22:26the payoff from bradish to bell do it again
22:37shelty mentioned pregame today that you know josh bell and while he can play first and will play first base
22:44he's going to be in this dh spot often
22:51line to rights and a foul ball
22:55it's a guy you brought in for offense hits from both sides of the plate can hit for power from
23:00both sides of the plate
23:02so steady calming presence has a reputation of being a very good teammate
23:09working good with young players it's interesting seeing him standing next to walter on deck
23:14thinking the impact he could potentially have with walters another power guy
23:19what a secret 95
23:21strikes out bell so two strikeouts for bradish both swinging and it's up to jefferson
23:27a little front door come back two seamer 95 miles an hour he just tied bell up
23:40so five up five down for bradish and now jeffers with one for four on thursday
23:49take a look at the bat for ryan jeffers remember early on when
23:53that torpedo bat was the talk of the game right in april last year
23:57and jeffers did use a torpedo bat not right now
24:03they work it back in as the season continues but he was telling me that he saw some numbers during
24:07spring
24:08training that his bat speed is up almost six miles an hour
24:12from where it was a year ago and it was up not that much in game one
24:25but i think the fast swing swinging hard you got to maintain control right morning
24:30just the balance but the harder you swing the harder you're going to hit it but
24:34at some point if it causes your eyes to move your head to move it causes you to start a
24:39little bit earlier
24:42what is that line what's that trade off what are you willing to trade off
24:47for a guy as big and strong as he is he knows
24:51he should at least be in double digits in homers
24:54it can impact the baseball
24:57unlocking a little more bat speed is able to help him do that i think that'll have a big impact
25:02hit nine home runs last year 21 the year before the count three one and now it's four
25:16trevor lardigan on deck jeffers reaches
25:30the two out walk and the twins have their first baserunner and here comes larnick
25:40his first start of the season larnick on the bench for game one then was asked to pitch it for
25:46royce lewis late
25:48on thursday struck out to win the game and he's in left field today let the team in games played
25:54last year with 142
26:0017 home runs
26:02side a drop by rutschman
26:05what was nice on a day like this
26:07to be in the field i'm sure he appreciates that sometimes these these cooler days when your designated hitter earlier
26:12in the year
26:13it's really hard to get the flow of the game you go up there take that at bat
26:16you're not sure how you're going to feel you end up hitting the ball in the gap and you got
26:20to
26:21turn it on but you're able to go out there play the field and stay loose i think it helps
26:27jeffers stays as larnick launches
26:30that will go foul
26:33larnick certainly has the strength to reach utah street
26:37it's the road between the ballpark and the warehouse and right
26:41and still in minnesota twins history only one twin
26:46has ever put a ball out onto utah street
26:51and i'm working with that person today and it wasn't glenn perkins what hard to believe
26:58it's just a mortal the only twin to ever
27:02hit a home run onto utah street july 25 2004 off daniel cabrera the coolest part about that whole
27:09thing is that it's on my dad's birthday that's fantastic
27:17the one two to the right side and jeremiah jackson goes out larnick
27:24and the twins get a walk and do not score
27:27and the orioles coming up here bottom two but first we keep it here for today's twins insider we focus
27:33on a year of new players new coaches and with that comes a chance at new relationships that holds true
27:40for 25 year old pitcher toj bradley and his new bullpen coach latroy hawkins
27:47i just think the connection alone like just being able to bounce ideas off of without
27:54feeling like there's a hierarchy or like a a coaching mindset which it is but it's just somebody you can
28:02feed off of throw ideas at he'll give you some instruction and you run with it
28:06and it's not as tedious it just feels easy you know it feels simple enough to where you can digest
28:11what he gives to you and then just put it into effect on the mound so i just think that
28:19kind of
28:19relationship is good
28:22it makes a lot of sense because and that is a point that derek shelton mentioned building this staff
28:29is to have a guy like latroy hawkins but also a guy perk that pitched in the big leagues for
28:34more
28:35than 20. experience matters and and what you've experienced as a player matters and i think what
28:40taj was trying to say right there is latroy hawkins speaks player he doesn't speak coach even though he's
28:45a coach he speaks like a player he's speaking from the experience that he has and the knowledge that he
28:51gained from his career and from the guys that came before him it's unique to baseball in the way that
28:57knowledge and experience gets passed down every guy that has played major league baseball has
29:03experienced something that the most of the population hasn't and they're able to share that
29:07and relay that to help the next generation of player that's why latroy took that job he wanted
29:13to impact these guys in a positive way and he's he's leaving his fingerprints on these guys already this
29:21early in the season but i think a lot of times when players become coaches you remember the things you
29:26liked you you pull stuff from all the different coaches you had with latroy being you know been
29:31around the league for so long and being around so many different coaches all right if i get a
29:35chance to do this what's it going to look like and how do i want to be able to simplify
29:40the message
29:40now we have so much information how can we make that so number one it makes sense to the players
29:45and
29:45so they can take advantage of it because the information is essential to help guys take their next
29:50step in their career we need all of it when you have somebody like latroy who understands that side of
29:56it but also understands what it was like to pitch in the big league game over a thousand times there's
30:00there's something to that as well that okay yes i can i can help you with the feel for your
30:05slider
30:05but i can also remember what it feels like to be on that mound
30:08going to be mayo with a line drive to left and trevor lardic with a leaping catch and mayo had
30:15a great
30:16game defensively that's not been an area of strength for mayo in his brief big league career had a really
30:22good game defensively on thursday lines out here to begin the second
30:28good swing hard contact
30:31hang with him go down is it out hang with him
30:35in the middle of the game colton cowser back in center field here today 0 for 2 with an rbi
30:41back on thursday this guy has tremendous power
30:45empty cut on a fastball at 97 and it's an 0-1 count
30:51it's about as hard a time to be a hitter as it is right now that shadow the way it
30:57is
30:59standing in the dark looking out at the light
31:03ball disappears as soon as he gets in that shadow your eyes just don't adjust quickly enough
31:09so you're hoping to pick it up as early as you can out of that hand
31:16curveball is fouled back by cowser i just know that your blood blood pressure slowly rises as that
31:22shadow creeps and all i'm thinking is get that thing out in front of home plate man i can't wait
31:26until the hitter can't see it's true all right it's it's you know difficult but we can make this game
31:33no problem with the one o'clock game it's april and september mid-afternoon games you know
31:43the shadows are going to create some havoc well taj had a 33 pitch first inning that's a foul ball
31:55so looking to have a much more efficient second you know bradley as he was working his way through the
32:02first inning the at bat with dylan beavers the twins bullpen did begin to move a couple of guys were
32:08out of their seat bullpen quiet
32:14as bradley deals one two on cowser to the gap in right center field buxton over and that will land
32:24it's a one-out double for colton cowser and the orleans have their second hit today
32:36well more pretty solid contact here at the bottom of the zone it's appeared to me like the orioles as
32:45a team have had a two-strike approach kind of going in this game whether that's related to
32:49the pitcher on the mound whether it's related to their approach as a group
32:54or the shadows but it seems like when they've gotten to two strikes the goal has been to foul off
32:58the tough pitches keep the at bats alive and then look for something
33:01over the plate like he got there and see if you can still hit it hard
33:06base hit to left field for jeremiah jackson here comes cowser heading home and larynx throw is
33:12caught by lewis and the orioles take a one-nothing lead on a one-scoring base hit from jeremiah jackson
33:24now jackson he won a spot on this roster with jackson holiday dealing with a broken handmade bone
33:31for spring trading numbers were important for jackson he thrived at a great camp
33:35and wastes little time to put his team on top first pitch cutter from taj left at middle off
33:46and they've been aggressive early in counts we've seen some first pitch swings
33:49see it again speared by lewis
33:53and so morning talking about the approach and the game plan against taj bradley
33:58if you get something straight and hard early in that bat take a rip
34:02as you settle in then try to follow make him throw pitches try to get his pitch count up nice
34:07play
34:08coming out of the shadow by royce at third there
34:13so another first pitch swing two down here's gunner henderson
34:1817 home runs last year
34:23another first pitch cut so now you you must sense this and see this if you're the battery of bradley
34:29and jeffers what adjustment needs to be made here as the orioles are being aggressive early on
34:34well i think you'll end up seeing more off speed you'll see first pitch splits you'll see
34:39maybe a getting you over type breaking ball for a strike
34:47and i don't i don't hate that approach from taj either land a breaking ball early
34:53work through the middle of the at bat the count
34:56with the fastball and then try to bury that good breaking ball you have down to get a strikeout
35:06two and one on the 2023 american league rookie of the year gunder henderson was an all-star in 2024
35:16numbers dipped down a bit last year
35:19talented young orioles shortstop
35:23splitter from bradley two and two
35:33he's just not picking that ball up out of his hand in the morning no
35:36and i think it's so hard arm action's good on it
35:40he doesn't have to start it below the zone he starts it close to the zone it's good
35:44runner goes swing and a miss strike three on a sinker
35:48so bradley strikes out henderson to end the inning the orioles get one twins down one early
35:58tv redeem at t-mobile.com
36:01slash mlb rbi single from jeremiah jackson twins down by one as we start the third
36:088-9-1 lewis lee and clemens against righty kyle bradish
36:13royce 0 for 2 on thursday and did not get the chance morning to bat in the ninth inning and
36:19opening day
36:20it was a move we haven't really seen in the past where he's got pinch hit for
36:24tough finish to the spring
36:31shelty said you know
36:33a lot of things going to happen early and if guys
36:36earn their playing time but
36:39so nothing is guaranteed at this point
36:41royce obviously looking to bounce back came on the scene
36:47it's so exciting of a young player when he came up
36:50it's a great breaking ball hitter last year
36:52got the slider there
36:54from bradish and now one and two and royce had a 532 slug against breaking balls a season ago but
37:01then
37:01again the slider from bradish is a weapon at a 44 swing and miss rate which is excellent
37:08off that breaking ball last season
37:11royce pops it up on the infield right behind the mound it's henderson
37:22so one away and here comes brooks lee
37:25batting ninth for the second
37:28straight game we're talking back in the first inning and it's been fun chatting with the players so far
37:34about abs what do you challenge what do you not challenge
37:38and brooks he says i feel really comfortable about the outside corner
37:44whether i'm hitting right-handed or left-handed in terms of challenging pitches and certain locations
37:49he was saying anything of the outside corner that is one that i feel pretty confident about whether
37:56it was in the zone or wasn't in the zone
37:59i think something that will be interesting as the season goes along is the guys with good play
38:04discipline are they going to be better at challenging are they does is it truly a skill
38:11brooks lee is known as a guy with pretty good play discipline
38:16even even early in his career here but that's kind of been one of the hallmarks for him and so
38:21i
38:21think we're going to find out so much the more data that's gathered with the abs and that's something
38:28that i'm curious about if if these guys that the plate discipline type of guys the guys that know the
38:34strength zone are they going to challenge more less are they going to be more successful
38:45for one on lee with clemens on deck how are they going to react now that it matters in spring
38:51training
38:51it was just sort of a no not novelty that's probably not the right word but it didn't matter if
38:57you got
38:57it wrong right and it didn't cost your teammates or it did but most of the guys were out of
39:00the game by
39:01the fifth or the sixth inning anyway it was kind of just let's see if i can get a feel
39:05for this thing now it matters
39:11we lost it to shallow right and beavers makes the play and there are two down check out the baseball
39:20is back auction for autographed items game used gear and exclusive experiences all proceeds from the
39:27auction benefit the twins community fund bid right now at twins.com slash community auction
39:34see the twins have better success and better swings off kyle bradish now second time through
39:48all one to cody clemens
39:52clemens a season ago really cut down on his swing and miss rate did not chase as much as he
39:58did prior
39:59i think so much of that you kind of connect with the fact he had regular playing time
40:05and we'll go foul
40:08it's a it's amazing and not surprising morning how those numbers look and you
40:12kind of learn about a guy's profile when he's given the playing time the at-bats that cody had a
40:17season ago
40:18yeah just we're not there in philly superstars up and down the lineup and all of a sudden you give
40:24a guy a little runway and gets a little confidence and you never know where you could end up but
40:29i'm sure at the beginning of the year when he was in philly there was not a whole lot of
40:33thought of i
40:33have a chance to hit 20 homers this year and it's going to be in minnesota but he will present
40:38you with
40:39opportunities and he did a great job of taking advantage of the opportunity that was in front of him
40:43he earned every bit of playing time and he just couldn't take his bat out of the lineup and
40:47now he's he's hitting lead off his first game of the year
40:52two and two
40:55there was always there's always been talent there it's just
40:59where what position is he going to play well now we've learned that he's
41:02pretty good wherever you put him he's a baseball player he'll do whatever you ask of him
41:07see if he kind of get on a roll like he did and provide a little power for this offense
41:13it's going to
41:13need it bradish in the sunshine clemens in the shadows and slings and misses on the slider
41:22and a one two three third for kyle bradish speaking of pitching joe ryan was magnificent
41:29on thursday we get a taste of the joe ryan experience live from the dugout when we come back on
41:34twins tv
41:38back to work here home half of the third baltimore on top one to nothing three four five due up
41:44for
41:44the orioles and pete alonzo leads off against taj bradley off speed and a swinging strike
41:51to begin the home third cory provost glenn perkins justin morno and live from the twins dugout a guy
41:56that faced pete alonzo a few times there he is the joe ryan experience is back sunglasses on
42:03and he joins us live here in this half inning joe thanks for doing this and job well done on
42:07thursday
42:09ah thank you good to be here good to hear from you guys well you sound so excited and so
42:16passionate and sincere with that with that greeting yes always always you got some nerves right now
42:23what's going on it's uh it's a little shady here and a little windy um i don't know i mean
42:31i i said
42:31i said watch out for the heater or something and um i'm just locked in on the game that's about
42:36it
42:39so curveball was really good the other day was that something i know perk and i talked about it as
42:44the game was going along was that something you wanted to get better at this off season that was
42:48that something that you were hoping was going to show up early in the year um it was actually it's
42:54a
42:54fun pitch i mean that's kind of some dodger scout when i was in college was like you should throw
43:00a curveball more and i was like all right and then uh so i just kind of like flicked it
43:04in there for
43:04fun and um and then i threw that with the rays for a while in the minors and then uh
43:09there's a good
43:10curveball and then um yeah we kind of like banged it for a little bit and then last year matt
43:17daniels had
43:18the suggestion just to help out with forcing during spring training for like a training tool kind of
43:22thing and um just started was able to throw it a lot harder and movement was good and so
43:28we threw it in some games and it just became a pretty viable pitch and um yeah it's been fun
43:34to
43:34throw and we're just going to use it when we need it and yes the other day we needed it
43:39and uh it worked
43:40out well so i was happy with it well so i i asked you when i first saw you in
43:43spring training what did you
43:44work on this winter and your quote was i tried to tighten up my off-speed stuff i tried to
43:49tighten
43:49up my split in the breaking ball and i i honestly feel like you undersold it because that was a
43:53curveball that we haven't seen from you in the years that you pitch i feel like that was
43:58correct me if i'm wrong the best curveball that i that i've seen you throw in a twins uniform
44:03yeah definitely the most i've thrown it um i think it's it's sweet like kind of blend with the sweeper
44:08sometimes a little bit last year but yeah i mean it felt really good coming out of the hand and
44:12i
44:13think jeffers just did a really good job like calling it and throwing in good situations and
44:17uh situations where i was just really convicted in it so just extra reps and all that and i think
44:22he did a really good job just um putting that together and letting me throw it in good spots
44:27and just keeping that hand speed through there so it's one of those pitches the more you throw it
44:30the better it feels so um yeah good to get some reps in there did it did it feel like
44:34the weather
44:35had anything to do with it you know 75 degrees your first start of the year coming out of florida
44:39you know for it's probably maybe a little harder pitch to throw if it's 42 degrees do you think
44:43that had any impact on it that's a that's definitely a veteran veteran read right there i uh i didn't
44:49think about it too much but uh it felt good you know the weather was nice we had a couple
44:55nice days and
44:56uh maybe if it was a day like today i wouldn't be relying on it so much but who knows
45:00i mean it's
45:00it's a curveball you just gotta throw it let it ride two and two on rutschman as bradley misses high
45:08full count you held baltimore hit list for three and two thirds innings marking the longest for a twin
45:14to carry no hitter on opening day since jerry kuzman did the same thing back in 1981 against oakland
45:23strike three called on rutschman at 100 miles an hour 100 tv 100
45:34sixth strikeout for bradley and that is a perfect pitch outside corner knee height and triple digits
45:41on the radar there's some conviction in that pitch and joe you talked about that a little bit with
45:47your curveball throwing it with conviction and being able to commit to it trusting that it's going to go
45:53where you need it to go and i feel like we've seen you do that a lot especially with the
45:57fastball
45:57but having an off-speed pitch like you had with that curveball and talking through your outing the
46:04other day a lot of times it's a different secondary pitch each time out do you feel like you'll get
46:11to
46:11a point where and maybe it's with that curveball that it's something that you can just count on being
46:16in your back pocket um yeah good question i i think it's uh i don't know i mean it's just
46:24day
46:24to day i think it's whatever's whatever's feeling right and i i i feel like i had really good options
46:29with with all my pictures the other day so um yeah i felt i felt really good about that so
46:34i think just
46:35like whatever's working whatever the hitters are telling you we can go off that and then keep them on
46:39their toes if we do some really good splitters we got some sweepers in there we got some cutters in
46:43there sinkers and so it's like yeah you're always gonna the force seems gonna show up at some point
46:48but yeah it's good it's good to keep them on their toes curveball strikes out masayo and that
46:53was one heck of an inning from tosh bradley striking out the side hey joe thanks for doing
46:58this great job on thursday thank you guys great to see you thank you
47:06at twins.com slash tickets twins fans here all bundled up
47:12one nothing orioles out of the fourth inning and a milestone day for byron buxton once this game
47:19becomes official this is career game number 900 for byron buxton the 22nd player to reach that number
47:29in minnesota twins history the last twin to do so was max kepler
47:37long way to go to catch harman 1939
47:501 0 from bradish spelled back on a slider good swing there
47:56now bradish was drafted by the angels in 2018 then 2019 as a prospect came to the orioles in the
48:04deal
48:05for dylan bundy former twin sent him west
48:12up the middle jackson from the shortstop side close play got him
48:18and grady sizemore twins first base coach is
48:22telling the dugout to challenge
48:25this stands this is an incredible play my thought initially was just put in your pocket there's no way
48:30you're throwing buck on this ball but
48:32end up really close at first base
48:35twins will challenge
48:39grady sizemore looking like he's one for one from the first base coaches mocks so far in his twins
48:45first base coaching career
48:47may jackson has an outstanding arm and a small sample last year he was in the 91st percentile
48:53in arm strength
48:58well byron buxton in the 100th percentile of sprint speed that's really close and now
49:03the catch is determined when the ball hits the back of the first baseman's club
49:09i don't know if there's going to be enough to overturn it i think if the initial call is safe
49:13it stands
49:14i think the initial call here is out see if it stands but i don't know
49:21i'm hopeful
49:30and by the way speaking of the rule book there is nothing in the rule book that says
49:34ty goes to the runner
49:40that's going to stand after view the goal has been overturned the runner is safe minnesota
49:45for the case until all right so buxton picks up his second hit brady sizemore good challenge
49:51the twins have the tying run on some speed on here now one here in the fourth
49:59if i started 10 feet in front of home plate if i would have won that race no
50:04it's incredible i mean when he smells a hit
50:09it's it's amazing to watch him run 24 for 24 stealing bases last year key shawl to left center
50:17cows are in now going back buxton will he tag he will on his way to second base
50:22hauser's throw pulls jackson off the bag love it absolutely love it
50:32he recognized this almost immediately he was watching where that ball was going he's watching
50:36to see if the center fielder was going to be able to get get back to it and then
50:39made the decision that he was going to go back and tag that's his call
50:43you're not waiting for a base coach if you have buck speed you have his athleticism you're on that
50:47baseball field if you feel like you can get yourself to second base he's going to go ahead
50:51do it that's what he did there now matt walter looking to improve considerably in this area
51:02in 2026 walner a year ago runners his scoring position hit just 177 compared to a 260 career average with
51:11runners and scoring
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