Headrick, Twins bullpen stand tall in shutout

MINNEAPOLIS — A day after the Tigers used a bullpen recreation to restrict the Twins to 1 run, Minnesota had plans for its personal.

The Twins wished so as to add an additional day of relaxation for the rotation throughout a string of 16 straight days with video games. They had outlined Saturday towards Detroit for a designed recreation to make use of a number of relievers, with José De León drawing the opening project after 10 aid appearances for Minnesota this season.

De León, a onetime prospect with the Dodgers, offered the early increase and 5 extra pitchers mixed for a three-hit shutout in the Twins’ 2-0 win.

Brent Headrick, recalled earlier within the day from Triple-A St. Paul, received his first profession MLB win with 2 1/3 scoreless innings. Emilio Pagán, Brock Stewart, Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran added to Minnesota’s string of efficient aid.

“Yeah, just sharp,” Twins supervisor Rocco Baldelli mentioned of his pitching workers’s efficiency. “Just in every single place you regarded, guys got here in very sharp, very ready, executing proper off the bat. Not ready a hitter or two or three to seek out themselves. Really handsome recreation up and down, clearly.

“We turned to a lot of different guys. You don’t know how those games are going to go. You have to react, and players have to be on their toes and ready to go, and they absolutely were. We made the plays behind our guys and played a really nice baseball game right there.”

The pitching was aided by a powerful defensive effort. Willi Castro and Carlos Correa mixed to throw out a runner on the plate within the fifth inning to maintain the shutout alive, and Royce Lewis began a pair of double performs within the closing two innings after leadoff base hits.

After Miguel Cabrera doubled to left subject for the primary hit of the sport with two outs within the fifth, Castro threw the ball to Correa, who made the fast relay to Ryan Jeffers at house plate to narrowly nab Zack Short, who was making an attempt to attain from first on the play after a stroll.

“Our pitchers have been dominant and they help us a ton,” Lewis mentioned. “It’d be nice for us to put up 10 or 12 to help them sometimes. But that’s not always the case. Our defense as a whole since I’ve been here has been executing very well.”

Headrick, the 6-foot-6, 25-year-old left-hander, was the beneficiary of the play on the plate and he struck out two in his fourth Major League recreation. Headrick, who has logged a while as a starter, was third within the line of relievers Saturday after De León and Pagán had saved Detroit off the bases by way of 3 2/3 innings.

“Shutouts are great no matter who’s pitching,” Headrick mentioned. “Definitely, on a day like this, Jeffers had his hands full with a lot of pitchers and stuff, too. Credit to the staff. Everyone came in and did their job, and it’s good to get the win.”

Jeffers loved his day behind the plate because the relievers continued to place up zeros.

“Bullpen days are fun,” Jeffers mentioned. “I think it’s a little bit of a challenge for both teams. [Against] the Tigers, you can’t really fall into a pattern with any guy. You don’t really get two ABs off a single guy. That’s kind of the idea of a bullpen day. I think bullpen days are really effective when guys can go out there and just do their jobs, and throw the ball like they did today.”

De León made his first begin since 2021. Through 11 appearances this season, the right-hander has a 3.38 ERA.

“Mixed feelings because I’ve always been a starter, but I’m getting to enjoy being a reliever,” De León mentioned. “Getting the nod to start today was special.”

And the 30-year-old De León set the tone.

“It’s a challenge for the hitters to go out there and see these different guys,” Baldelli mentioned. “But your pitchers have to execute. Because if your guy doesn’t execute right off the bat, and the game doesn’t start out smoothly, it can become really challenging. … The reason the game went like this today is because the guys who started the game for us, De León and Pagan, they were so sharp and so clean, it actually shortened the game up for us because they were able to do their jobs so well. It’s what you’re hoping to see, and we got it.”