DETROIT – Devin Smeltzer and Gary Sanchez have just clicked since they met in spring training.
The pitcher-catcher dynamic can be a tricky one to navigate, especially when the pitcher is up and down from Class AAA and the catcher is a new arrival from the Yankees. It often takes time to build rapport on the field. But even with a shortened time in Fort Myers and just a handful of spring games with Smeltzer on the mound and Sanchez behind the plate, the vibe the two shared was apparent.
Smeltzer didn't give up a run in spring training. And on Tuesday in Detroit, he earned his second win as the Twins beat the Tigers 8-2 in the first game of a split doubleheader.
With Class AAA spot starter Cole Sands giving up four runs in the first two innings of Game 2, the Twins fell 4-0.
In Game 1, Smeltzer gave the Twins the kind of innings-eating start they were hoping for, with eight games this week on a seven-day road swing.
"He's an awesome leader," Smeltzer said of Sanchez. "… From my first spring training start, haven't had to shake [off pitch selections] much. When I get a weird hunch on a pitch to throw, it's usually called. I didn't actually shake today until the sixth inning, one out. So it's that trust aspect, that chemistry. … It's really good to throw to him."
Smeltzer (2-0) has a 1. 50 ERA in four big league starts this season. Through his 6⅔ innings at Comerica Park, he allowed six hits and two runs with four strikeouts. And of his 101 pitches, 71 were strikes.
While Sanchez agreed he and Smeltzer shared an immediate connection, he gave the pitcher more credit for that.
"Every catcher can catch Devin," Sanchez said in Spanish through an interpreter. "He throws a lot of strikes. He has good command, and he did that [this game]. We understand each other."
What helped both of them, though, was the run support, to which Sanchez contributed.
Trevor Larnach started that off with a two-run double in the first inning. Max Kepler added an RBI double in the third ahead of Sanchez's three-run home run. Two Tigers fielding errors preceded Kepler's two-run single in the seventh.
That afternoon was actually Kepler's first game back since this past Saturday after suffering a quad injury. If this designated hitter outing was any indication, he seems pretty well recovered.
Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said he contemplated sending Kepler out to his usual spot in right field in the second game, but decided not to push it.
"He could have gone in the game late if it was tight, and there was maybe a difference-making situation," Baldelli said. "… We weren't going to use him in the second game unless it was something like that that came up. But he's going to play another game in this series."
That game will likely not be Wednesday's, though, as Baldelli confirmed Kepler would not start the third game against Detroit and instead be an option off the bench.
In the second game, Sands struggled early. Willi Castro hit a leadoff single before Jonathan Schoop blasted a two-run homer.
Detroit doubled its score in the second after Sands walked Jeimer Candelario and Daz Cameron singled to left. After the runners moved up to second and third on Tucker Barnhart's groundout, Schoop drove them in with a single to right-center.
Sands cleaned up in his final two innings, finishing with four strikeouts and four walks. He admitted he "got away from" his game plan early. That might be because he had a bit of a rush to be available for this start. He went on the injured list May 13 because of a groin strain. He threw about 40 pitches in three innings after coming off the IL a week ago and then had his Class AAA start this past Sunday scratched in anticipation of the Twins' needs.
"From the get-go, I was a little off-speed heavy and not necessarily attacking guys," Sands said. "Just [need to] try to throw things with a little more conviction, too."
The Twins had only three hits off five Detroit pitchers in a game that raced past in 2:29. At 30-21, they are five games ahead of second-place Chicago in the American League Central.
