Maeda hangs tough in Game 1 loss

MINNEAPOLIS -- This isn’t the lights-out, stingy version of Kenta Maeda that the Twins had when he led the Majors with a 0.75 WHIP last season and finished as the Cy Young Award runner-up in the American League behind Cleveland's Shane Bieber.

Even in this form, Maeda has still had the stuff to keep the Twins in all three of his starts this season. But once again, the Minnesota offense fell quiet outside of a two-run single from Jorge Polanco as the Twins dropped their fourth in a row in a 3-2, seven-inning loss to the Red Sox in the first game of a doubleheader at Target Field on Wednesday.

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Maeda, the Twins’ Opening Day starter, allowed 13 hits in his first two starts and was again hit often on Wednesday, when he allowed baserunners in every inning and allowed five hard-hit balls (with an exit velocity of 95 mph or higher).

“I just haven’t had much experience pitching in weather like this,” Maeda said of the temperature, which was 38 degrees at first pitch. “But I think it was just the pitches that I was throwing. They weren’t executed as I should have. I think that was part of the reason why I didn’t get into rhythm.”

Though his slider, fastball and changeup were all hit hard at times, he also generated a season-high 20 whiffs across 4 1/3 innings, the fourth most of any start in his Twins career. His ability to miss bats is certainly trending in the right direction, as he’d generated 11 and 13 whiffs in his first two starts of 2021.

Maeda spoke after his first two starts of not being happy with his mechanics, but he indeed felt his execution continued to improve in Wednesday’s start.

“I had my four-seam today,” Maeda said. “I think I executed that pretty well. Generally, my off-speed pitches didn’t break as much as I wanted to, so that’s something I can work on going into my next outing.”

And though Maeda dealt with traffic throughout his outing, it might still have been a winning effort had he not committed a crucial throwing error in the second inning that led to an unearned run.

After Marwin Gonzalez, Hunter Renfroe and Franchy Cordero all singled to begin the inning, Maeda threw to third on a sacrifice bunt attempt by Kevin Plawecki but sailed the throw into foul territory, allowing a run to score. Christian Arroyo followed with another RBI single. Otherwise, the Red Sox finished 3-for-18 with runners in scoring position.

“I didn’t really get a firm grip of the ball, and I just kind of tossed it without that grip,” Maeda said.