Game 4: Mariners at Twins

First Pitch: 6:40 PM CDT
TV: Bally Sports North
Radio: WCCO 830, Audacy, TIBN, 102.9 The Wolf
Know Thine Enemy: Lookout Landing

The Twins’ bats slept through Friday and Saturday’s games before awakening in impressive fashion on Sunday afternoon. The challenge now is to keep that momentum in the first night game of 2022, facing the same opponent for the fourth consecutive game.

To date, every single Twins run has scored via the home run. Which is, of course, equal parts fun and a bit worrisome. Okay, so ‘worrisome’ may be a strong word, but at the risk of sounding too much like T.K. or Gardy, here’s hoping the Twins can string a few knocks together in this one.

Dylan Bundy is on the bump, making his Twins debut. Put simply, if Bundy is more like the 2020 version of himself (3.29 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 9.9 K/9) than the 2021 version (6.06 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 8.3 K/9), then the Twins will have themselves a steal and a legitimate No. 3 starter.

If not ... well, it’ll be ugly, to say the least.

The Twins will take on righthander Chris Flexen, the former New York Met who had a breakout season in Seattle last year, going 14-6 with a 3.61 ERA.

The Twins will put Luis Arraez back out there at third base against the righty, with Gio Urshela sliding to the designated hitter spot and Gary Sanchez remaining at catcher. Ryan Jeffers will receive his first day off of the young season.

Enjoy evening baseball, and here’s to the first of many winning streaks in 2022!