Locked On Twins POSTCAST: FIVE-GAME STREAK For Minnesota Twins, Beat Cubs 3-0

Minnesota Twins bump their winning streak up to five with a three-oh win vers Chicago against the Cubs we're breaking it all down next on the lock on twins [Music] postcast you are locked on twins postcast part of locked on Minnesota on the locked on podcast Network your team every day back of the lab back at it another Minnesota Twins postcast episode right here on the lockdown Sports Minnesota Network it's your team every day you got myself Luke Inman lukor spin that's the man Theo tosson twins expert over at Zone coverage MN he's on X by the way at Theodor toi1 Theo before we jump into all the action from tonight's game quick reminder tonight's episode brought To Us by prize pick the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports go to prize.com lockon MLB use code the all lowercase locked on MLB for a first deposit match up to $100 okay game one in Wrigley tonight twins coming in on this 4 game heater they just scored 29 runs against the white socks in three games they beat them up onto the other Chicago team we go David Festa that young man was fantastic career-high nks two hits zero earned runs and that was just enough for the twins to score a couple runs give them the lead keep bit close thebar Alcala Don Griffin Jack coming in doing the rest of the Dirty Work Mar go had a solo shot tonight Royce LS with a huge sack fly RBI to give them the uh first one- nothing lead and maybe not the offensive surge we saw versus the white socks but they get the job done they start their series off with a win push that win streak now to five games in a row best part is Cleveland lost tonight in Extra Innings so that lead shrinks to three and a half Theo kick us off biggest takeaways eight topics and we'll do a little bit deep dive on David Festa the man of the hour they may things work a lot better with the small ball today than they did I mean yesterday was a high offensive game lot of run scored for both teams but you know making it work the small ball I know I think it was in the top of third where they had a chance to score more than just that first run there um and then Trevor lner kind of ran past third RAV pass through the stop sign and got tagged out at home which was not the best play um and that's just you know one of those things that happened and fortunately that didn't cost later on in the game because Cubs offense didn't show up at all tonight I mean they had their moments but they really were just Stone Cold against everything else uh a topic here David Festa the rookie five innings two hits zero earned runs two walks nine K dude that was just fun to sit down and watch nine strikeouts per Aaron gleeman on Twitter most strikeouts by Minnesota Twins pitcher in one of their first five career games Joe Ryan 11 strikeouts in 21 Pat momes 10 strikeouts in 1992 and now David Festa number three on the list nine strikeouts obviously that happened tonight what a leaderboard that that list kind of speaks massive volumes to me Chicago hitters whiffed on 52% of their swings vers Festa slider and change up per glean so everything apparently working for him tonight how great was that to watch I mean I've Seen It All in St Paul this season so it's not much of a surprise that he finally had both outings yeah um so it was good I mean yeah it's very good to see that from him I mean nine strikeouts through five that's pretty consistent that last ending on the mound where those couple walks really came in that's where things got away from him uh but otherwise I mean he was just cruising had all his stuff working pretty well I mean some of the calls by the Umpire were not like perfect for him but you know that's what happens and he showed what he had he got through five and I know they're probably still going to have him on that shorter leash especially at the major league level they did earlier this season in same Paul he started with like an 80 pitch count limit through the month of April uh but now that's been lifted obviously he got over that hump a little bit tonight so exactly what you needed from him um you know they had the same thing just the one Homer in the last start but this was just an improvement upon that showing everyone in the majors for the first time what the best version of this guy can look like even if it's a shorter start so you gotta just take stride in what you get from him and he's definitely taken stde in this Victory and you know five shot out endings especially after you know really bad outing against Detroit mediocre outing after that you got to take what you can get and TI yeah take what you can get for sure you'll take those five strong Innings every single time you mentioned it though short leash short pitch count 82 pitches I'm just looking at this leaderboard the strikeout list now most by a rookie pitcher I should say or one of a pitcher of his first five stars it'd be interesting to see if he could have at least caught up to momes with 10 had he gone one more inning if not maybe even Joe Ryan with 11 strikeouts but nonetheless thing yeah go ahead first five starts so that was only start number four fifth game in the majors he can still still got one more one opportunity yeah yeah yeah and he's already on the leaderboard at number three but maybe he could appear on that leaderboard one more time you're totally right good point there uh it's only one game right it's only one start but what does an outing like that do for you know your confidence I guess about the future of this twins rotation not right now but like a year or two down the road when you kind of pick you know Envision this rotation big picture in 2025 2026 because why I bring it up Simeon Woods Richardson has just been fantastic as well he looks like a major building block and now you're seeing some shades some glimpses of what could make David Fester so good as well so I guess just really nice to have two good young building blocks back there to kind of build around now isn't it yeah absolutely man I mean they have this pitching pipeline finally paying off after years and years of development I mean there is a good chance that this rotation could be made up of just Joe Ryan Pablo Lopez David Festa bayy oer and Sim Richardson to start off next season uh maybe Louis Vell gets back into that mix as well I think it's safe to say he's going to be one of the two starters for the double header this upcoming Friday um with the 27 man if not he's going to be there for long relief for sure I mean it's all good it's really good to see this esta and that's not without saying you know still a few guys in the minor league system right now zebie Matthews Andrew Morris CJ coper Cory Lewis a guy who can throw a knuckle ball at 88 miles per hour I mean there's still a ton of young guys as options so the future's bright and I think that's the good thing to look forward to of just like having a start like this tonight even if you wanted him to go in one more inning you know you got a glimpse of what fesa can look like at his best and I think twins fans have not seen that at the major league level until tonight uh again this is probably normal for most teams to have this young pitchure kind of in the mix that you're building around that's showing flash it for twins fans though man it it's just so few and far between pitching especially developing these pitching prospects has just been such a sluggish process for the last what feels like decade plus outside of the random Johan Santana and yeah yeah once in a BL you know once every handful of years you get the this Blue Chip stud but just to have two Rock Solid guys back there it feels like back there uh is just a breath of fresh air helps you sleep a little bit easier at night as a twins fan glean remember it was a platoon of four guys after Festa thebar alkala donon and Griffin Jacks here's another uh just fun fact from glean on Twitter Caleb thielbar has a 2.08 erra 15 strikeouts in his last 13 Innings holding his opponents to a 188 batting average I guess I didn't real who's been that kind of Lights Out the past two three weeks because those are some fantastic numbers are they not no they absolutely are and I think yeah it's all been overshadow by you know his lower moments of the season and it's been tough for him I mean coming back battling with that ham streen injury to start the season and then just coming out the gate things were not looking good for him at all and there have been moments where we've been wondering if we've seen the last of Caleb field bar and what's been good with for him and fortunately that's not the case obviously the biggest grab on if you're going to make an upgrade at the trade deadline try to get a lefty relever they didn't they got a righty with good splits against lefties so it just goes to show there needed oer thebar and thunderberg one of the three to step up and we're seeing that now from the veteran from Northfield and fortunately everything's working out a lot better for him this time around he had a great one two three inning in the sixth and that really just helped keep the twins up in the lead all right Rocko report time one of my favorite bits of the night you mentioned the small ball they played tonight you mention mentioned Festa kind of short leash Roco had him on so game one in Wrigley couple options maybe but the Roco report it says what he did everything right for once of no needing to pinch hit for anyone obviously we knew brooksley coming into Theon night's game had a little bit of a sore shoulder they were icing and like we talked about yesterday on this postcast that you know Byron buckon after last night's play the worst case scenario is he's going to sit today just because it's righty on Monday Lefty on Tuesday why not like just to be precautionary it's nothing too serious and obviously the reporters who are in Chicago right now would definitely tweeted something out if they were was something more serious to his injury so again going back to no news is good news and this red with the nine guys they had out there every guy you know when you take a started of the fifth inning every guy was just put in perfectly in the right order and obviously we like to see dong get the save more often because he is the flamethrower but you know having it switch over from Don in the eth Jackson the ninth the combination still worked perfectly I think that's what we got to Comm in yeah Flawless game by Rocco you love to see it plenty more Deep dive from this one plus nerdy stat of the day that's all coming up right after this quick reminder tonight's episode brought to you by E Bay Motors passion Drive patience the formula for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die live and eBay Motors they got everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to the ultimate Peak performance superchargers roof racks exhaust kits LED headlights they literally they got it all in whether you're 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show no no it all comes down to this weekend in Cleveland because they're um 0 five against them but um I know Cleveland is five and five against the Chicago White Socks which means like we have to break because the twins have taken 12 out of 13 against them this season right so have to break away and chip away and that's what this weekend's going to be and you're starting off with a double header it's likely going to be a split that's just how they usually go mathematically speaking so you got to hope for more I think trying to hope for the impossible of winning all the eight games you have left with them it's going to be very tough but you know like you mentioned Cleveland already lost one at home tonight against Arizona and Extra Innings they still go a couple games against them and then they'll meet up on Friday and really just du this thing so I mean confidence is high yeah because you beat the Mets to get away you got a nice clean sweep of the white socks and you get another win tonight I think they're right where they need to be where they won't be overly confident because I think they're all aware looking at the standings and I know players don't do a lot of standing watch but they know who's in front of them and who's behind them in their division and they they just can't be overly confident you know if they come into Chicago and even just take two out of three they got to have a little bit of humbleness to like go in and take on Cleveland yeah yeah they got to clock in and and get serious man I think I think this is crunch time right now when you look at the schedule and and you know I'm glad you brought up Cleveland because we always talk about all year it's been chasing Cleveland catching up to Cleveland Cleveland's got the best record in the AL so the twins being three and a half back from Cleveland means we're talking about the twins being three and a half back from the best record in the American League right now I mean they're 15 games above 500 63 and 4 on the Year this is a darn good ball Club are they not yeah no they are and the thing is like the orios and the Yankees are only half game behind them both so yeah it's going to take a lot and I think if things go into the twins favor as Cleveland drops and probably doesn't have the best American League record either Baltimore and New York's G to come on on top with that and that's just a harsh reality we got to prepare ourselves for that they may not get the best record in the a but I mean at this point you got to try to fight for that buy in the first round of the playoffs and try to get there um because the Wild Card series it it's going to be tough with some of these teams you have to go up against but I know since this new format has come into fruition in the last two seasons the teams that get the buys usually have not had things work out in their favors uh majority of them have lost in that first round in the divisional Series so maybe this is the year especially with a team that had to play through the Wild Card series you know to get to end their postseason and losing streaks right this might work to their favorites but we'll see so three teams get in as wild card teams correct three teams three teams from each each uh division obious or not division uh American League National League obviously so let's just say that the season ended today twins are in fourth right now obviously they wouldn't win the AL Central they'd be one of the top three Wild Card teams when you just look at the teams in the mix right especially the teams above the twins you you already mentioned Cleveland Baltimore New York which team scares you the most going on the road and facing in round one of the playoffs whether it's round one or not but just which of these three teams scares you the most and which one do you think they match up the best with that they could maybe go in and surprise some people I I don't think it's going to be a surprise considering that the most frightening would be playing the Yankees at Yankees stadium for three game playoff series y yeah the history is there they've lost just thinking yeah exactly that's the that is the Absolut worst case scenario you do not want that to happen so yes you got to chase Cleveland to avoid that um and then probably the best matchup right now uh Baltimore's kind of been cooling off a bit I think I mean they lost all three games they played in Baltimore against them but that's like an entirely different point in the season early to mid April where things were that s to 13 stretch that's not even the same team yeah right so I think now especially as Baltimore's you know having some leaks in their cracks with what has not been working well with their team I think that would be a little bit of a more favorable matchup I'm not seeing each other as frequently having things working for them I mean Jon Don was not even in the twins Bullpen when they played Baltimore not even K deal bar right during that Series so like there so much and Royce Lewis was hurt like we can go down the list so I think that match up will look a lot favorable and fortunately they end the series season at home the regular season that is against Baltimore for a three- game weekend Series so I think I mean a lot of fans will P into that for a playoff preview uh how huge has Byron buckton been like like uh correct me if I'm wrong I I think I heard this today he's played the most games in a season this year he has in a long time I guess I don't know how far back W but it's been a while so since 2017 uh he's actually no he had a couple in 2022 I think last year yeah he tied last year he's got 85 games right now um 92 he played in 2020 which was the most he's played since 2017 which was 140 games and yeah zi stays healthy over the next two and a half weeks very likely we're gonna see him finally hit the 100 game Plateau for the first time in seven years and why that's so important obv obviously everybody knows this but you know outside of Carlos kareah who we'll talk about here in a second as well Byron buckson has the highest war on the team correct like like his War has been so impressive he he's arguably the second most important piece to this entire puzzle yeah no uh he does have the second highest B War at three even Carlos cr's got 3.4 and then Jose Miranda surprisingly is number three over Willie Castro at 2.5 W so where's our Guy Roy I would assume if you were to ask people just blindfold test they would throw Roy in the top three they would just assume he would be up there he's still in the top 10 but he's at 1.7 and obviously that's a great place to be for how much time he's missed the season I mean still being in the top 10 and only playing in what how many games we're looking at 34 that's at this point in the season that's huge yeah yeah absolutely so okay once they get kareah back how serious of a team is this like how much damage do you think they could realistically do when this team is fully healthy how much damage could they do in the postseason what's their ceiling what's the potential of this 2024 Minnesota Twins team because it feels like we haven't seen the best baseball yet from this team because they've always dealt with these injuries throughout the year whether it's Rey whether it's buckon whether it's kareah you name it it's been a laundry list but if they're all healthy we've seen flashes man it feels like this is one of the best teams in the AL yeah no it certainly is and I think we will see that here down the stretch because I think it's very safe to say um Korea said he actually wants to go on a rehab assignment this time around after playter fion surprise you it does yeah CU he's not the type to do that so I think and this is me speculating all hypothetical no official word on this yet but I think there is a possibility he is back for the double header on Friday activated so that would mean he gets a couple games of rehab in St Paul Unfortunately they start a six game home stand tomorrow um so there is plenty of opportunity for him to go in I'd say probably Wednesday since they have a day game that day get in for 7A and see how he feels and then go the next night same thing you know maybe DH and if things go well in those two games he will definitely be back in that lineup and I think Justin topa he's not with the team uh in Chicago right now so I think he's definitely in another arm who could be coming back as that trade deadline reinforcement um this upcoming weekend as well so I think healthier and healthier man I mean it's all kind of crescendoing up it feels like right now as we get into crunch time how about a nerdy stat of the day you got any crazy stats or you know fun analytic twins related uh you can share with the class today what do you got well Manuel Marco has not been hitting too well against righties this season as we well know but then he goes ahead and hits his home run off a right-handed pitcher and it's like is this the right guy huh yeah no that's his first one this entire season I mean that raises Ops a lot and now first hmer against ay all year and now this is the third consecutive season where he's hit four home runs exactly so the hope is he can get to number five before the season's over and not make that uh you know a trend for himself of just only hitting four home runs each year yeah awesome love it good stuff there great breakdown per usual don't go anywhere we got a preview game two vers the Cubs with Pablo on the mountain that's all coming up right after this quick reminder tonight's episode also brought To Us by prize picks prize picks America's number one fantasy sports app with more than 3 million members to datting for me and my money by far the easiest and most exciting way to get in on all the action while you watch your favorite sports and you watch your favorite players so simple alls you got to do you pick more or you pick Less on two or more player stats and you watch the winnings roll in baseball season obviously in full swing so whether it's strikeouts RB home runs you name it they got it take your pick on more or less and add them to your price picks entry today plus they now offer Apple pay for quick and easy deposits into your account all season long download the price pick app today use code this is all lower case locked on MLB for first deposit match up to $100 okay game two tomorrow versus the Cubs in Wrigley in League Play twins looking for number six in a row Pablo on the mound he's been super solid lately maybe not 2023 Pablo but but I mean a lot better than what he looked like the first month or two what's the scouting report for this game uh what do you want to see from Pablo and how did the Twins cash in on number six in a row tomorrow night it's not only a matter if Pablo just keep it up this good streak he's had to start off the second half it's you know all these righties is going to be full right-handed lineup to start the game and then we're going to see a lot more platooning tomorrow than we did today with sha imanaga on the mound for the Cubs who's been pretty I mean he hasn't been as great as he was in this first half of the season but he still had a great outing this year I mean he has posted a let's see if I can find it I mean a 309 ER in 116 third Innings 118 strikeouts a whip of 1.09 but the opponent's average is 242 um so hopefully those splits I mean I'm trying to look at them right now let's see yeah those splits are just not looking as great against Ry so I think that's just what you got to hope for hey what else is going on around the league you know we talk obviously as we should it's a twins postcast we talk so much twins maybe a little Cleveland AL Central what else is is worth keeping tabs on right now like what's your favorite non- twins story line or you know race right now or player to watch whatever it may be well the alest is not how we were hoping where Houston was going to have their collapse early in the season they're still just a game out from Seattle I think it's really going to come down to those two teams as Texas is five and a half out and they're six games below 500 so the AL West has become what you know everyone expected the AL Central to be and we still got a tighter race now in the National League East between the Phillies Braves and Mets like we did two years ago but the Phillies have been on a cold streak as we saw when they played the twins dropped two out of three to them now they're leading the Dodgers like I think by two nothing tonight already in the bottom of the third so I mean there's a lot of tight races come down here I think you know when we're talking a Wards races there are some pretty cut and dry ones that are going to come down to one guy or the other American League MVP right now is looking like it's going to be either judge getting his second or Bobby Wood Jr getting his first from the royals and a rookie of the year I think Paul ke with his popularity alone is going to lock that up I mean if you had the vote would you vote for Paulk I think I would to be honest yeah I mean you're you're GNA look like an idiot not doing it um I mean he might have some implosion and he did during his last start um against the Diamondbacks on Sunday so he I mean he's human he's not Unstoppable but yeah I think it' be not to give him that vote um so yeah I think the National League MVP is definitely something that's going to be a little more wide open on who's going to win that skes definitely is not going to win that or the saion I think there are definitely a lot of guys in the league right now in the National League that deserve all those votes more so than he has but like in terms of what he's doing as a rookie and his rookie class it's still going to be him locked up and with the American League I mean the saion it's kind of coming down to like cor M Burns and DK Schoo so the Rookie of the Year is really the awards where everything's just wide open for one of those guys to get and unfortunately Simeon Woods Richardson's last two starts have kind of pushed him back in that but I mean if he can turn things around be dominant down the stretch I mean he's probably goingon to be a top three guy yeah just to be in the conversation is just pretty exciting for twins fans man we'll see it doesn't need to win it obviously that would be obviously great but just to be in the conversation being the mix being that top three top four young rookie pitchers man that that's a fantastic start and something to build off of going into next year you got me intrigued so I just pull up the standings you're right Phillies have been ice cold two and eight in their last 10 Dodgers really haven't been much better four- six in their last 10 meanwhile probably the hottest teams at least in the NL if not the entire league Diamondbacks Padres and Giants all just eight- two in their last 10 all three of them um outside of that yeah the leaders in each division Phillies Dodgers and Brewers kind of been yeah maybe not bad four- six in the last 10 for the Brewers but maybe not great and and maybe you know that Gap is closing for some of these uh division races and yeah things are heating up man August 5th today got about seven weeks of baseball left of the regular season I put that number on it but yeah it's crunch time but then when you get to the point where it's like oh there's only eight seven weeks left it's like uh I don't like that countdown I mean there's still like a month of postseason baseball but it's just like uh no I know it I know it Bittersweet for sure um last one before we get out of here I know the trade deadline is come and gone dust is settled what was one trade you just absolutely loved and one you absolutely hated I I know this year we saw a lot less moves go down at the deadline so a lot less to choose from but who you know which team really got better and which team kind of I don't know their decisions left you scratch in your head so to speak you know there are two teams that because twins are playing one of them right now um you know where they're kind of looking like they're not going to do much in terms terms of postseason hunting but they're definitely retooling themselves better for next season and it kind of was like a perfect swap which was the Rays and cubs trading ESO parades uh for Christopher moral so Paredes is like a dead set corner infielder and Christopher morale they've been the Cubs have been trying out at third base and he really just does not do well he's probably more of a second base type and Tampa they can take a guy and just put him anywhere so it was just the perfect place for him to get traded and then getting someone who's a little more solid as a third baseman for term paradus is under control for the Cubs for the next three seasons after this one so that one just really worked well and I'm trying to think I don't think any of them really stuck out to me as bad maybe one I think the Michael Len into the Royals one was just the frustrating saw some losers like winners losers that was in there that was in the mix well I think the losers were the white socks and I'm no it's just rubbing salt in the wound with their 20 game losing streak which probably is get is a get into 21 tonight let me just double check oh yeah they're already down 3-1 in the top of the fifth to Oakland so oh boy oh boy um yeah they just didn't do as much as they should have just to implode everything and just really just from scratch because I mean I think there are definitely some triaa lineups that could play better than the socks are right now dude so it's it's been atrocious tough time to be a Chicago White Socks fan for sure always fun talking twins with you let's get out of here twins take game one thanks to Festa his career High nine strikeouts three and a half back from Cleveland now first pitch vers the Cubs tomorrow 7:05 start time again Pablo on the mount for game two huge shout out to all the every dayers out there that always make us your first listen rest assured we're going to be back each and every game right here breaking it all down make sure you go check out all Theos work on X at Theodor tff1 plus all the work he's always ripping up over at Zone coverag mn.com as well go like this video subscribe to the channel help us get to 8,000 subscribers that's always much much appreciated all right that'll do it for us Theo Tolson again check them out at Zone coverage mn.com lukem onx lukor spin we'll see you next time but until then signing out