SWR's emergence could be huge for Twins down the stretch

MINNEAPOLIS -- Thus begins the most pivotal stretch of Simeon Woods Richardson's young career.

Life without Joe Ryan -- whose status for the remainder of the season is still unknown due to a Grade 2 right teres major strain -- will involve relying on three youngsters to help carry the rotation burden down the stretch, with the 23-year-old Woods Richardson needing to solidify the No. 3 slot for the Twins to perhaps chase down the Guardians and make their push for the postseason.

When the season began, Woods Richardson was a wild card out of the rotation, the first line of defense in case he needed to be called upon. But on Saturday, here he was, rising to the occasion with a seven-inning gem to do every bit of his job in a pitchers’ duel that ultimately led to a 2-1 loss to the Guardians at Target Field, dropping the Twins to 2 1/2 games back in the AL Central.

"Just doing my job,” Woods Richardson said. "Trying to stay as consistent as possible. I feel pretty happy given where we're at in the season, with how my stuff is playing. Yeah, I'm happy about that. But the job's not finished. One day at a time, one game at a time. We've still got our main goal. We're not done yet.”

Woods Richardson in particular isn’t done yet. If he continues his upward trajectory, he could very well be the pivot point upon which the Twins’ fate could eventually hinge.

Only a pair of solo homers by Steven Kwan and Bo Naylor damaged the right-hander's night, as he set a career high with seven innings of two-run ball, during which he struck out seven Guardians hitters without issuing a walk.

Kwan touched a Woods Richardson fastball for a leadoff homer on the second pitch of the game -- and the rookie right-hander responded by retiring 15 of the next 16 Cleveland batters.

"Kind of let you know, ‘Hey, we're in a ballgame,’” Woods Richardson said. “It's like a boxer -- you get hit once, you kind of want to start fighting again."

David Festa, Louie Varland and the yet-to-debut Zebby Matthews, the Twins’ No. 6 prospect per MLB Pipeline, will have to do their part down the stretch as well. Festa, the club’s No. 4 prospect, has been pushed up to the de facto No. 4 rotation slot only five outings into his career and will start the finale on Sunday, while Matthews could be in line to debut as soon as this coming week.

But Woods Richardson is the one who has been pushed into action most heavily and relied upon most aggressively this season -- and has thrived with his slow heartbeat and the extra 6 mph on his fastball that have seemingly come out of nowhere due to a minor offseason mechanical tweak to drop his arm slot.

"I'd say challenging, but all of us are more than ready for the task,” Woods Richardson said. “I have full trust in our guys. I think we want the challenge. I think we want the series like this. Yeah, it's going to be fun."

It’s more fun for the Twins, too, that Woods Richardson has not only gone from a guy throwing in the high 80s at times with his fastball in Triple-A at the end of last season to hurling 95 in the seventh inning of a career-long outing and even touching 96.4 mph, the third-hardest pitch of his career.

"You’re never going to expect a guy, coming in year over year, seeing pitches that are six or seven miles an hour harder than they were the year before,” manager Rocco Baldelli said.

But there’s the continually improving rookie -- who lowered his ERA to 3.78 for the season -- with his new and improved stuff, who has now allowed three or fewer runs in 17 of his 20 starts this season. There’s no replacing a Joe Ryan-type in a rotation, to be sure, but if the youth movement is to do its best, Woods Richardson has shown he’s capable of leading the charge.

"Seemingly every time he pitches, he gives us as an offense the ability to win a game,” catcher Ryan Jeffers said. “And that's all we can ask from any starting pitcher."

"I give the credit to the front office the way we were built, the way our Minor League system is doing right now and all the great players we have that are coming up and getting the job done,” Carlos Correa said.