Twins pitcher Pablo Lopez hopes to add a new pitch — and a new language

FORT MYERS, FLA. — Pablo Lopez speaks four languages and throws five pitches, and is hoping to add to both.

"We have Kenta Maeda, and I've been asking him for phrases to use with him," Lopez said of the chances of adding Japanese to his linguistic palette that already includes Spanish, English, Portuguese and Italian. "I don't know if I can [master Japanese], but I love learning new languages. It's fun."

He doesn't really have time at the moment to focus on it, though, because he's busy trying to establish himself as a reliable starting pitcher for his new team. Lopez took another big step toward that goal on Sunday, retiring the first eight Tigers hitters he faced in the Twins' 6-2 victory at Hammond Stadium, and he did it while test-driving a new way to get hitters out.

Lopez has been tinkering with a new variation on his curveball, and used both versions extensively against Detroit; 20 of his 45 pitches, or 44.4%, were curves, a far higher percentage than his normal fastball-changeup mix.

But these curves were not all the same.

"One was a curveball, and then [one was] — a 'sweeper' is the term I've been hearing a lot," Lopez explained. "I'm just trying to work on spin that goes north-south, and then a little spin that goes east-west. I want [them] spinning different, to have more options."

His changeup remains his best pitch — it produced two of his four strikeouts in his three-inning stint — but Lopez clearly enjoys the challenge of turning data about his pitches into workable weapons. And the sweeper bailed him out of his only stumble on Sunday.

After his streak of eight straight outs was snapped, he allowed a home run to catcher Jake Rogers, a single to Akil Baddoo and a double to Riley Greene. But the new pitch fooled Javier Baez, who ended the inning, and Lopez's day in the laboratory, with a harmless grounder to first.

"It was the perfect preparation start for him. The first eight hitters, he was pretty dominant out there," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "Then he had to work a little bit, obviously, and that's fine. There's nothing wrong with having to go out there in spring training and be forced to work a little bit, to pitch out of the stretch a little bit, sweat a little bit."

Lopez, acquired in a January trade for Luis Arraez, was happy with it, too.

"We saw how batters reacted to the [new] stuff," he said. "My main goal is always to be on the attack, be on the hunt, try to get them to chase. Those 0-1, 0-2, 1-2 counts, you want to be on the attack. We had a good plan."

His plan now is to leave Twins camp and head to West Palm Beach, where Team Venezuela will gather over the next two days before competing in the World Baseball Classic starting next weekend in Miami.

"I'm very excited. My last two games were very good steps toward being ready for those big situations," said Lopez, who figures to start one of Venezuela's first two games, against the Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico. "I've been preparing for this moment. I worked on some stuff and I'm ready."