Festa puts together most complete performance yet

CHICAGO -- David Festa let out a celebratory shout as he walked back to the Twins’ dugout on Monday. The 24-year-old had gotten Ian Happ to swing and miss on a changeup that dove under the strike zone for the final out of the fifth inning.

That punchout put a bow on a solid outing from Festa in the Twins’ 3-0 win over the Cubs at Wrigley Field. In five scoreless innings, he allowed two hits and two walks with nine strikeouts.

“It was big,” Festa said of that moment in the fifth. “I want to go five-plus [innings] every outing and get into that third time around the order. [Happ] was the first batter in the third time around. I thought it was a big spot. There was a little emotion.”

One of the most important takeaways from Festa’s performance on Monday is that he backed up exactly what his manager pointed to as the next step in his progression as a Major League starting pitcher.

“I think putting together complete starts for him is going to be really important,” manager Rocco Baldelli said pregame Monday. “He’s come out very quick in a lot of his starts. First time through, he looks almost dominant; he looks very comfortable. He’s throwing strikes, he’s getting swings and misses.

“And then the challenge gets greater every time through the lineup after that. It’s always the harder test. That’s the test that every pitcher has to deal with. That’s what I think he is going to have to continue to think about and work on and figure out: How he’s going to get through these hitters two or three times.”

Festa entered Monday with a 6.98 ERA in 19 1/3 innings over four appearances (three starts) in the big leagues. But his numbers took a significant jump the second time through a lineup compared to the first time through.

Opponents batting average by time through the order
First: .121 (4-for-33)
Second: .441 (15-for-34)
Third: .308 (4-for-13)

Festa’s ERA by time through the order
First: 0.00 (10 innings)
Second: 17.05 (12 earned runs, 6 1/3 innings)
Third: 9.00 (3 earned runs, 3 innings)

“In the first couple outings, that’s kinda where I ran into trouble,” Festa said. “I don’t know if that was the reason or it was just a bad inning. But it’s tough at this level, and that’s something that I continue to learn.”

Festa struck out five and allowed just one hit (a leadoff single to Dansby Swanson in the third inning) his first time through the Cubs’ order on Monday. Chicago then went just 1-for-7 with one double and two walks against him the second time through. Happ’s at-bat in the fifth was the only batter Festa faced three times.

“He came out really sharp,” Baldelli said. “He missed a bunch of bats today. He had a lot of different things working. Toward the end of the outing, he held it together really well. I couldn’t be more pleased with what we got out of him today.”

Festa’s changeup was a key weapon against the Cubs. He induced eight whiffs on 15 swings with it while throwing it 37 percent of the time -- a significant jump from his previous four outings (22.3 percent). He also mixed in his four-seamer (40 percent) and slider (23 percent).

Festa finished with 14 whiffs, a new career high (previous: 13 on July 3, against the Tigers) on 36 swings.

“We chased more than we normally chase -- down, specifically,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “That’s something I think this offense is good at. That’s something we generally don’t do. But I think Festa’s offspeed pitches gave us some problems. He located them kind of on the zone, below the zone, and we chased it. He made some good pitches, and we obviously weren’t picking the slider and changeup up well. And he took advantage of it.”

The Twins led 2-0 in the fifth, and Festa appeared on his way to a quick inning. He retired Nico Hoerner and Dansby Swanson to start things off, but he then allowed a double to Pete Crow-Armstrong and issued a six-pitch walk to Miguel Amaya.

That set up his matchup with Happ, who laid off an 0-2 changeup and a 1-2 slider before whiffing on a changeup that fell off the table.

“The confidence, the stuff, it really just comes down to execution,” Festa said. “I thought I didn’t execute enough important pitches in the first couple outings. And the past three, there’s been guys on, but I made that important pitch. I’m just happy about that.”