López spins historic 14-K gem as Twins can't complete sweep

MINNEAPOLIS -- Pablo López was unhappy with himself after throwing six innings of one-run ball in his last start, to the point where he told manager Rocco Baldelli after that outing, “I’m better than that.”

Boy, is he ever.

Not only did López hit a personal milestone on Sunday by reaching the first 200-strikeout season of his career, but he did so while evoking vivid memories of Johan Santana -- one of his pitching idols and one of the most beloved and dominant figures in recent Twins history.

López dazzled for eight scoreless innings against the Mets while fanning a career-high 14 batters, joining Santana as the only pitchers in Twins history to make a scoreless start with at least 14 strikeouts and no walks. Still, the Twins couldn’t take advantage of López’s historic performance due to a lack of run support, falling short of a sweep with a 2-0 loss to the Mets on Sunday at Target Field.

• Games remaining: vs. TB (3), at CWS (4), at CIN (3), vs. LAA (3), vs. OAK (3), at COL (3)
• Standings update: The Twins (75-68) hold a 7 1/2-game lead on the Guardians (68-75) for the AL Central title. Cleveland clinched the tiebreaker by winning the season series, 7-6. Minnesota is currently the third-best division winner, meaning it would host a best-of-three Wild Card Series vs. the final Wild Card entrant starting on Oct. 3.
• Magic number: 12 (for AL Central)

“Any time my name is next to Santana in any way, any category, anything, it means a lot to me,” López said. “I grew up idolizing him when he was doing his thing. I’m just happy, proud. It means a lot to be a Twin. That’s the uniform he wore for a really long time.”

The Twins had already secured their third consecutive series victory to begin September. And the loss didn't hurt them in terms of the standings, with the second-place Guardians losing to the Angels on Sunday afternoon.

The Twins’ last scoreless start of 14-plus strikeouts and no walks, by the way? Santana’s legendary 17-strikeout outing against the Rangers in 2007 -- often seen as the gold standard in recent Twins history. The last Twins outing of any kind with 14-plus strikeouts had been more than a decade ago, when Francisco Liriano struck out 15 on July 13, 2012.

It’s not just Sunday’s single-game performance that put López’s name next to that of one of his childhood heroes -- it’s the full-season body of work, too. López’s outing pushed him to a career-high 213 strikeouts for the season, the most by any Twins pitcher since Santana fanned 235 in ‘07.

“Not too many guys every given year in Major League Baseball that strike out that many hitters,” Baldelli said. “You have to be out there to do it, first of all, and stay healthy. You have to have the raw stuff and the pitches to get you to that spot. He's having really a hell of a year … and he's at his best right now in September. That's what you really like to see.”

López became the ninth Twins pitcher to reach the 200-strikeout threshold, and the first since José Berríos in 2018.

“To be able to reach the strikeout mark, it means a lot,” López said. “We put a lot of effort into getting to know ourselves. As pitchers: What are my abilities? What do I do good? What are some of my weaknesses? Sometimes, we work on our weaknesses. We also need to work more on our strengths. We are who we are because of our strengths.

“So, it was just like really getting to find my true identity.”

López’s career-long progression has gotten him to this point. Once saddled with arm issues and trouble staying healthy and consistent in the second half, the right-hander finally pitched a full season last year with the Marlins and learned from that experience, growing confident in his preparation to stay on the mound and let loose for a full season.

When he arrived in that offseason deal that sent Luis Arraez to Miami, he worked with the Twins to add the sweeper as a complement to his trademark changeup. When López has all five pitches working in all counts, he can attack opponents in all sorts of ways.

“It’s crazy how in a season we make 32 or more starts, and it’s only a handful of times where you feel like you’ve got a handle on a lot of your stuff,” López said. “So you have to embrace that, and just let stuff fall, let stuff happen.”

So long as López is becoming the first Twins pitcher since Santana to accomplish certain feats, one more big checkbox looms: Santana was the last starter to pitch the Twins to a playoff victory, all the way back in 2004.

Through outings like Sunday, López continues to show that when he’s at his best, it’s really tough to stop him.