It felt like a big welcoming party to Minnesota at Target Field on Wednesday as Brooks Lee played his first major league game and David Festa made his first home start.
The reactions of those interested in the Twins varied considerably.
Lee got both his first hit, a line-drive single to center in the fourth inning, and his first RBI, a nearly identical liner in the seventh inning that brought home Byron Buxton.
“And also the first strikeout,” he said, laughing.
But the joy of the first-round pick’s arrival – due to Royce Lewis’ recent stay on the injured list – was tempered by Festa’s third-inning outing, a nine-batter, five-run ordeal that handed the Twins a 9-2 loss to the Tigers.
“I felt great. The results, the scorecard, don’t show that, but I feel like I was confident out there,” Festa said after allowing seven runs in a game for the first time in his professional career. “The nerves are OK. Just a frustrating result.”
Hard to comprehend, just like in his debut last week in Arizona. That time, the right-hander went three innings without allowing a single hit, then allowed six hits in the fourth inning, five of them in a row.
This time, he looked composed and commanding for two innings, Detroit’s only hit coming when Buxton dove but couldn’t catch a sinking line drive. Festa threw first-pitch strikes to 17 of the 24 batters he faced and regularly reached 96 mph with his fastball.
But he suddenly ruined his game in the third inning, allowing six hits again, five in a row, including the first grand slam of his career to Tiger catcher Carson Kelly.
“We saw it a couple of times, but I can’t say anything helpful about it. He threw the ball well. He looked good. He was in the zone early and often,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “And then they strung together all those hits, including the big home run.”
Before he could catch his breath, Festa dropped his next pitch, a changeup, in the middle of the box and Wendell Pérez hammered it into the planters above the wall in right-center field.
Two innings later, Festa allowed a triple off the right outfield wall to Colt Keith, and Riley Greene drove him over the seats and into the right outfield plaza.
Festa has pitched 10 innings in his two starts for the Twins, allowing two hits and one run in seven of them. The other three? 14 hits and 11 runs, pushing his ERA up to 10.80. And this time, there were no 13 runs in support to save him, like last week in Arizona.
“The fact that it’s two games in a row with five hits in a row is kind of weird, I guess. It’s just the ups and downs of the game,” Festa said. “But my mind and my focus is on every next pitch, no matter what. Like I said, it’s just frustrating.”
Especially since Tigers right-hander Keider Montero, a rookie the St. Paul Saints have beaten twice this season by seven runs in just 6⅔ innings, had the night – also in his second career start – that they were hoping for. Montero wasn’t as efficient, allowing a baserunner in all but one of the seven innings he pitched, but he kept pitching out of danger.
Only Christian Vázquez, who opened the third inning with his third home run, a fly ball into the bullpen, was able to hit a run home until Lee scored in the seventh inning.
RESULT: Detroit 9, Twins 2
Lee received several long ovations from the 25,053 fans, the first when he stepped to the plate in the second inning. Umpire Alex MacKay, who knew Lee from the minor leagues, took his time leaving the plate so Lee could enjoy the applause.
“It was a very nice moment,” Baldelli said. “We had a nice crowd and we liked that everyone could clap for him.”
“It was great. I didn’t expect it,” Lee said. “I didn’t know how to react.”
Even when Montero delivered, it appeared that Lee would have to fight off five pitches, three of which were strikes, in his first career at-bat.
“Okay, next time we’re going to pull the trigger,” he said to himself as he walked to the dugout. “I’m going to take the bat off my shoulders.”
Two innings later, he did it, catching a high fastball with the score tied at 1-1 and smashing it up the middle and over the infield to thunderous applause. And in the seventh inning, after Buxton hit a double to the bullpen in left center, Lee hit a slider into center with the first pitch to score his first run.
This allowed Lee to repeat his two-hit performance against Montero just 12 days earlier in the Saints’ 4-2 win over Toledo.
