Lefties pose big challenge for Twins early

· Yahoo Sports

Rosters have turned over, players have moved on and new players have reached the majors, but there’s one storyline that seems to have followed the Twins in recent years. The sample size is still particularly small, but in the early going of this season, it doesn’t seem to have gotten better.

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The Twins, yet again, are struggling to hit lefties.

Entering Monday, the Twins were hitting .169/.280/.250 against left-handed pitchers with 38 strikeouts in 124 at-bats.

“We knew coming in that we were a left-handed based team,” manager Derek Shelton said. “We’ve been in every game with the exception of one. … If we’re going to look at a sample size of nine games at any point during the season, then we’re going to overplay a lot of things.”

True.

But to make matters worse, the Twins are scheduled to face two of the best southpaws this week with reigning two-time American League Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal lined up for Tuesday and Framber Valdez, whom the Twins made a run at in free agency, set for the next day.

Through their first nine games, the Twins saw five left-handed starters — Trevor Rogers, Kris Bubic, Noah Cameron, Cole Ragans and Steven Matz. That’s a lot and won’t stop soon — all four rival American League Central rotations have at least one, and most have multiple.

“I think we’re going to turn it around and find a way to get some hits off lefties,” second baseman Luke Keaschall said. “I don’t think we’re just never going to hit a lefty. It’s baseball. It comes in waves.”

The problem is exacerbated by how left-handed heavy the Twins’ current roster is. Of their 13 position players, the Twins have five left-handed bats, as well as three switch hitters, two of whom have been better hitters left-handed in their careers. That leaves at least one left-hander — typically Matt Wallner — in the lineup at all times.

The Twins are 1-4 in games started by lefties thus far this season.

“The fact we’re a little left-handed heavy may be something we have to look at as we get farther down the road,” Shelton said.

Lineup shake-up

Coming off a pair of games in which they collected a combined six hits, Shelton made a change atop the Twins’ lineup for Monday’s game against the Tigers.

Kody Clemens, who has been leading off against right-handers, was out of the lineup with Byron Buxton moved up a spot to leadoff, where he primarily hit last season, followed by Trevor Larnach. Buxton served as the team’s designated hitter for the second straight day after being hit on the arm by a pitch Saturday.

“I think any way we can try to figure out a way to get our offense going consistently is what we’re going to try to do,” Shelton said.

Briefly

The Twins faced Skubal twice last season. In one game, he went seven innings and gave up one hit, striking out 13. He also beat them the second time he faced them. … Taj Bradley, an early bright spot for the Twins, will pitch Tuesday. Bradley has given up one run in 10 1/3 innings this season, and the Twins have won both of his starts.

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