First Pitch: 6:10p Central

TV: Bally Sports North

Radio: WCCO 830 / The Wolf 102.9 FM

An off-day after Opening Day — the perfect offering of calendrical Listerine.

After something of a disappointing finish on Thursday, the Twins and Brewers are back at it to continue this series on a Saturday evening. They’ll be led by Jose Berrios, who’s taking the ball as our number-two guy after consecutive Opening Day starts.

La Maquina is coming off a solid, if unspectacular season; the two-time All-Star begins this year a few weeks shy of 27 years old, with sights set on something of a breakout campaign ahead of a free agency status that could be here sooner than we know it.

His opponent this evening will be Corbin Burnes, who notably did not play Roger Dorn in 1989’s Major League. Milwaukee’s young right-hander is steadily stretching out into a starting pitcher, and he does so with a ton of ceiling to grow into.

In 2020, Burnes struck out 88 hitters in under 60 innings, on the back of some of the best spin rates in Major League Baseball. After throwing his fastball for over 50% of his pitches in 2019 — which proved a dismal year — Burnes largely phased out the pitch in favor of a devastating sinker/cutter-dominant mix.

The cutter, in particular, has been his best weapon; it clocked a Run Value of -11 (BaseballSavant) which sounds great even if you don’t know the math behind the stat. That same pitch was generating spin in the 2900-range and produced 36 of those aforementioned punchouts during the shortened season.

We’ll see free agent pickup Jackie Bradley, Jr. patrolling right field today, as well as old-friend’s-younger-brother Orlando Arcia out at shortstop.

No Josh Donaldson tonight, as Luis Arraez is back at third, Jake Cave resumes his stint in left field, and Ryan Jeffers takes catching duties.

GO TWINS GO!