MINNEAPOLIS -- Simeon Woods Richardson wasn’t the first young pitcher given the chance to stick in the final spot in the Minnesota starting rotation this season, and it took Louie Varland struggling mightily to open the campaign for Woods Richardson to finally get an extended look in the Major Leagues.

He’s pitching like someone who will be around for a while -- and someone who’s taking his game to a new level.

Making just his fifth MLB start, Woods Richardson not only went toe to toe with one of the most dominant pitchers of the game in Seattle’s Luis Castillo, but also set a new career high in strikeouts with eight and exited in position for the win. Though he didn’t ultimately get that, the Minnesota offense did come through late for a 3-1 win that rewarded Woods Richardson’s effort.

“Can't really hope to send a guy out there and hand him the ball and get more than what he's given us right now,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He's stepped into a role where we needed someone in that spot to go out there and give us a chance to win every night, and he's given us a chance to win.”

SWR, 2024 starts
April 13 at DET: 6 IP, 2 H, 1 ER
April 25 vs. CWS: 5 IP, 7 H, 2 ER
April 30 at CWS: 3 2/3 IP, 7 H, 2 ER
May 6 vs. SEA: 6 IP, 1 H, 0 ER

And with the youngster rising to the occasion against the ace of one of the game’s most successful pitching staffs, a Twins team that had its 12-game winning streak snapped with a loss to the Red Sox on Sunday found a way to get right back in the win column.

It’s true that the Seattle offense hasn’t done much this season, but the opening statement Woods Richardson made by striking out seven of the first 10 batters he faced on Monday was particularly striking in that he’s never been considered a strikeout pitcher -- and he’d already surpassed his previous career-high of six strikeouts by the end of the third inning.

Woods Richardson allowed only a Mitch Garver single and Cal Raleigh walk as he completed six shutout innings for the first time in his career, racking up a relatively even mix of swings and misses with his fastball (three), changeup (three) and slider (four).

“Execution. It’s going to be as vanilla as possible, but [it’s] execution,” Woods Richardson said of his newfound strikeout ability. “I feel like that’s the name of the game, and when you have Christian [Vázquez] and great guys behind you, you want to play and are hungry and want to succeed, just like they want to succeed. That helps.”

Castillo took a perfect game bid into the fifth inning, but the Twins got to him on a pair of doubles by Max Kepler and Carlos Correa -- and knocked him out of the game with their go-ahead rally in the seventh, plating runs on a Vázquez sacrifice fly and Manuel Margot single.

By then, Woods Richardson had already been on the bench following his six shutout innings, having watched Griffin Jax limit the damage to one run in the seventh after loading the bases with none out before the offense got to Castillo late.

“Yeah, it’s always fun to pitch against a guy like that,” Woods Richardson said. “I mean, he has a great name in this league. He’s a competitor, throws strikes, gives his team the best chance to win. So, it’s always fun to go toe to toe with somebody like that.”

It’s easy to forget that Woods Richardson is still only 23 as he gets this first extended look in the Minnesota rotation.

That’s partly because this is the third season in which he’s seen action following his arrival as a 20-year-old in the José Berríos deal with the Blue Jays at the 2021 Trade Deadline.

It’s partly because he’s had advanced feel for his entire arsenal and non-fastball offerings -- especially as he struggled with fastball velocity until he tweaked his mechanics this spring for changes that have clearly sustained into the regular season, with his fastball averaging 92.8 mph on Monday, harder than all but one of the individual pitches he threw in MLB in 2022 or ‘23.

Monday offered a glimpse of what all that hard work and maturing have brought him.

“The feel he’s showing for his offspeed pitches has been excellent,” Baldelli said. “The ability to finish up in the zone with the fastball when he needs it has been excellent. He’s done a lot of really positive things. It’s just a pretty incredible start.”

That excellence is giving him more and more opportunities -- and he shone in his toughest test yet.