Hughes goes deep and Hendriks picks up his 2nd win
Hendriks yields two runs in four innings
In another good spring start, Liam Hendriks gave up two runs on four hits over four innings. Competing for a rotation spot if Scott Baker isn’t ready to go, Hendriks struck out two and didn’t issue a walk. His winning cause was helped by fellow Aussie Luke Hughes with a three-run homer in his 1st at bat.
The organization’s minor league pitcher of the year in 2011, Hendriks is 2-0 with a 1.64 earned-run average in five appearances, three of them starts. In four innings against Detroit, he gave up two earned runs on four hits, including Delmon Young’s solo home run. He struck out two, getting Alex Avila looking in the second, and Brennan Boesch swinging in the third.
Tigers’ Andy Oliver needed just 11 pitches to retire the Twins in order in the first inning, but a Danny Valencia single leading off the second and a four-pitch walk to Ryan Doumit set up Hughes’ opportunity. Oliver had thrown six straight pitches out of the strike zone with a 2-0 count to Hughes, drawing pitching coach Jeff Jones out of the dugout for a visit.
Oliver recovered to get the count full, then left a slider in the zone for Luke to drive over the left-field fence for his second spring home run.
Luke finished with 2-3 for 3RBIs and a stolen base and is currently hitting .286.
Watch Liam Hendriks pitch four innings of two-run ball in Twins’ win … http://atmlb.com/GINGfp
Liam Hendriks proves that the baseball player with the most potential to develop makes the fastest transitions. Proof of this assertion is that Hendriks went from High A Ball to Major League Baseball within two seasons from 2010 – 2011, which is clearly a cracking pace!