A couple things following the Twins loss to Houston:
Start Stewart?: I don't think the Twins opener is going to give up runs every time he's used, but it doesn't look good when they are 0-2 with six runs scored off them in the first inning the two times they send a reliever out.
It also looks like Kohl Stewart should have started the game. He pitched five shutout innings, his longest outing since being called up, and made a case to open his own darn game.
"That's another very normal question to ask," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "We're kind of measuring up week to week here, who's going to get a chance to open, who's going to get an actual start. All those things we'll continue to consider and sometimes the competition will make a difference."
Stewart, with his one-seamed sinker - it sinks straight down while the two-seamed sinker might have some lateral movement - led to eight ground outs. He looked more comfortable than he has in previous outings. He doesn't had jaw dropping stuff, but he seems to compete well. I know, small sample size.
"I think when he is going to be successful you are going to see a lot of that," Molitor said of Stewart's ground game. "Late movement on the sinker. Off-speed was enough to keep them honest. Changeup he tried to keep in the mix too, but mainly when he had to make pitches he relied on that sinker and he got the ball on the ground the majority of the time which was good to see."
Cheers seemed to come from all points of Minute Maid Park after some of Stewart's outs. He was born in Houston and lives in nearby Tomball, and he had more friends and family members at the game than he could keep up with.
"I could hear them when I came in," Stewart said. "But this is place is so crowded. I could hear them when I came in from the bullpen but once the game got going, it's so loud with the roof closed, you can't hear a thing."
Sano's injury
It looked much worse than it ended up, but Miguel Sano appears to be OK after suffering a lower left leg bruise after sliding into second base in the second inning.
He was carted off the field and to an X-Ray chamber, were tests came back negative. There are no further tests scheduled for now. I thought the man's season was over, but Twins manager Paul Molitor said Sano was smiling a couple innings after the incident.
"He said it hurts," Molitor said. "He was tender to the touch on where the rod was and he had it all the way down toward his ankle too, which probably had to do with the way his leg bent kind of in a suspect fashion.
"I got up here once I think after the second inning, after the x-rays were done. He was smiling. I think he was relieved to know he wasn't facing being shut down here with something major."
We'll see how Sano is tomorrow. Man, that sure looked like trouble.
