Fastball

Minnesota Twins Fireballer Moving Up the Record Books

The Minnesota Twins beat the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday as closer Jhoan Duran continued to do things rarely seen by major-league pitchers.

Brady Farkas

Minnesota Twins Fireballer Moving Up the Record Books
Minnesota Twins Fireballer Moving Up the Record Books /
In this story:

The Minnesota Twins earned a critical win on Wednesday night, beating the Seattle Mariners, 6-3, at T-Mobile Park.

It was a good character win for Minnesota, getting to Mariners ace Luis Castillo for three runs over six innings. The Twins then blew the 3-0 lead, allowing the M's to tie it at 3-3, but Minnesota scored one in the eighth and two in the ninth to get the win. 

Closing out the victory was Twins reliever Jhoan Duran, who danced around a little trouble in a scoreless ninth. He allowed J.P. Crawford to reach on a ball that didn't leave the infield and then hit Julio Rodriguez before striking out Jarred Kelenic, getting a fielders choice from Eugenio Suarez and then striking out Mike Ford to end the game.

As usual, Duran's fastball velocity was impressive, as he had multiple pitches clocking in at greater than 104 mph.

Per Sarah Langs of MLB.com:

pitchers to throw 104.0+ mph pitches, pitch-tracking era (2008):

Aroldis Chapman: 66 

Jordan Hicks: 13 

Jhoan Duran: 9 ** 4 in today’s game 

Ryan Helsley: 2 

Mauricio Cabrera: 1 

Tayron Guerrero: 1 

Camilo Doval: 1 

Neftali Feliz: 1

Simply put, Duran is doing things that very few people on the planet can do. And as a result, he's extremely difficult to hit.

He's 2-4 this season with 16 saves but has put together a 2.11 ERA and a 1.02 WHIP. He's struck out 49 batters in 38.1 innings.

The 25-year-old owns a lifetime 1.95 ERA and has 24 career saves.

He debuted in 2022.

The Twins have taken two of the first three from the Mariners and will play again on Thursday at 3:40 p.m. ET.

Follow Fastball on FanNation in social media

Continue to follow our Fastball on FanNation coverage on social media by LIKING us on Facebook and by following us on Twitter @FastballFN.

You can also subscribe to "The Payoff Pitch" podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Published
Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

Home/History