In building a seemingly comfortable lead and holding on for an 8-6 win and important series victory Sunday in Toronto, the Twins knocked out Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman in the fourth inning.
Did Twins know what pitches were coming from Toronto ace pitcher Kevin Gausman?
In-game analysis and postgame comments suggest the Twins had picked up on something that helped them lay off Gausman's excellent splitter.
June 6, 2022 at 7:06PM
It was Gausman's shortest start of the year, and he also gave up the most hits (nine) and runs (five) of his 11 outings this season.
Was it merely a matter of the Twins solving a pitcher who had been one of MLB's best in 2022 with a patient and steady approach? Or did they detect something with Gausman's best pitch that helped them gain an edge?
Either way, there is not a suggestion of something nefarious like banging on garbage cans.
But in-game analysis from excellent Blue Jays broadcasters Dan Shulman and Joe Siddall as well as postgame comments from both sides indicate the Twins might have noticed something Gausman was doing when throwing his splitter that helped them lay off his devastating pitch.
The data is sure interesting.
But in the first inning Sunday, when the Twins scored three times, they swung at just three of the 13 splitters Gausman threw. Another was called a strike, but there were nine balls on splitters — helping the Twins get into favorable counts and do damage.
After the first inning, Gausman threw just six splitters the rest of the way — and two of those were stroked for hits in the second inning, when the Twins scored two more times. Perhaps noticing that the Twins were picking up something, Gausman pretty much turned into a fastball-only pitcher in the third and fourth.
Gausman normally throws about 50% fastballs and 36% splitters, but on Sunday those numbers were 64% and 22%.
We already have some video breakdowns that look interesting — albeit subtle — as well.
Gausman after the game didn't sound overly concerned, but he did say it was something he would take a look at to determine if he was tipping his pitches.
"Yes, they did a really good job just laying off some really good splits," Gausman said. "I mean every team going against me is going into the game with some type of plan against the split. So really, it's kind of trying to figure out what their plan is."
When he was hired after the disastrous 2016 season to reshape the Twins, Derek Falvey brought a reputation for identifying and developing pitching talent. It took a while, but the pipeline we were promised is now materializing.
