Twins hopes for playoff turnaround start with Pablo López and Sonny Gray

DENVER – When Pablo López was traded to the Twins on Jan. 20, one of the first text messages he received came from an unfamiliar number.

It was Sonny Gray.

The two pitchers didn't know each other. López isn't even sure how Gray had his number. Gray's message: "Looking forward to working with you."

López and Gray have been linked all season. López pitched 5⅓ shutout innings on Opening Day, and Gray followed with five scoreless frames in the second game of the season. Both pitchers were selected to the American League All-Star team. They both are expected to receive votes on Cy Young ballots.

The latest connection: López will start Game 1 of the wild-card round Tuesday against the Toronto Blue Jays. Gray will pitch in Game 2 on Wednesday.

They are the best hope for a franchise that has lost a North American pro sports record 18 consecutive playoff games.

"Spring training, I show up and Sonny is one of the first people to greet me and then we just started talking about pitching nonstop," López said. "We talk about pitching in between starts, during the game, but not only about pitching — about mentalities, about being a competitor, how to be a better teammate, better person."

Gray trains at Vanderbilt in the offseason, his alma mater, and he spoke with Marlins catcher Jacob Stallings when news started to spread about the blockbuster trade that sent López to Minnesota and Luis Arraez to Miami. Stallings, who caught López for one season, raved about him. He told Gray: "You are going to love him."

"I had just been traded," said Gray, who was dealt to the Twins in March 2022. "Something that made the transition easier for me was people reaching out, especially people that you hope to get to know, and you are going to work closely with. I just remember trading for Pablo and being excited about that."

López and Gray are at different points in their careers. This year was López's most complete season after he struggled in the second half of 2022. He pitched a career-high 194 innings and struck out 234 batters, the most by a Twin since Johan Santana in 2007, a pitcher López idolized while growing up in Venezuela.

Gray, a free agent at the end of the season, threw more than 180 innings for the first time since 2015. He's confident he can be an elite pitcher, but injuries hampered him in recent years. He had the second-lowest ERA among AL starters (2.79).

"There aren't many teams that can feel as good as we should feel with these two," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said.

Tuesday will be López's second career postseason start and his first one with fans in the crowd after starting a playoff game in 2020. The energy from the Target Field crowd when the Twins clinched the division, López said, made him more excited.

López hasn't shied away from talking about the franchise's postseason losing streak. He read about it shortly after he was traded, noting Santana was the last Twins pitcher to earn a playoff victory.

"Pressure is a privilege," López said. "That means a lot of good things can be expected from you. It's all about embracing the opportunity, embracing the challenge."

Gray will make his fifth start in the postseason, his first since 2017. The last time Gray was on a playoff team, with the Cincinnati Reds in 2020, he was scheduled to start Game 3 in the wild-card round against Atlanta. The Reds were swept, which kept Gray from pitching, and he was the last player to leave the dugout after the Game 2 loss.

He nodded as he remembered the missed opportunity.

"This is something I've been looking forward to," Gray said. "It's something I feel prepared for too."

The Twins have a tight-knit group of starting pitchers. They watched each other's bullpen sessions over the last eight months. They play catch daily. They offer feedback in the dugout.

Those relationships start with an offseason text and the first days of spring training. There was a day Gray invited fellow starters to his spring training home for burgers.

"We hit it off," Gray said of López. "For what we do too, we do similar things with the baseball."

The duo learned new pitches. López began throwing a sweepy slider this season. Gray expanded his pitching repertoire with a cutter.

Gray was vocal in spring training about Twins pitchers expecting more from themselves. He sensed the talent and he wanted the group to receive a chance to pitch deeper into games.

Twins starters finished the season with the fourth-most innings pitched (895), the second-lowest ERA (3.82) and the most strikeouts (970) in the majors.

The mindset throughout the year, López says, was thinking, "How can I be better than I was five days ago?"

"Especially with Sonny alongside me," López said, "it's been really fun because we've pushed each other."