Pablo López Pitches Close to Perfection During Win Over the A’s
During the final game of a three-game series against the Oakland Athletics in Oakland Coliseum, the Minnesota Twins looked to end this series on a high note and distance themselves further in the AL Central division, especially from the third-place Kansas City Royals. In a 3-0 win on the road, Twins starting pitcher Pablo López pitched a masterpiece, he was so close to perfection allowing just two hits in eight innings of action. Minnesota is now seven and a half games out of that first-place spot in the AL Central. They’ll look to go on another win streak as from June 12th to June 16th, the Twins went on a five-game win streak.
López pitched eight innings allowing just two hits, and a walk while striking out 14 batters in the win. His 14 strikeouts tied a career-high. This was certainly his best start thus far. In 16 starts, López has put up a 7-6 record. Through 88 innings on the mound, the 28-year-old starter has recorded an ERA of 5.11 while striking out 101 batters. Just over a month ago on May 9th during an 11-1 win over the Seattle Mariners, López pitched six and one third inning allowing one run on four hits while striking out 10 batters. While he does record a ton of strikeouts, the Twins starter has given up a multitude of runs, giving up 51 runs on 84 hits with 19 walks. Hopefully, this start skyrockets López’s confidence. If he can continue to pitch like this, the Twins will certainly contend with the Guardians for first place in the AL Central.
After the game, López said, “It feels really good, but now, it’s like, ‘How can we make it happen again? If I did it once, I can do it again. Just keeping that mentality. Obviously, a game where things went the way they went today allows me to be like, ‘You know what? My confidence should … stay up for most of the time.’” How will the Twins perform during the second half of the 2024 MLB regular season? Can López continue this tremendous effort on the mound during his next start?
