What a cool rookie prank the Twins played on Devin Smeltzer in his MLB debut Tuesday. They hid their pitcher-crushing offense from him until he was done.

Smeltzer, a phenom lefthander who rose from Class AA to the majors in just eight weeks, made one of the most memorable introductions in Twins’ history, shutting out Milwaukee on three hits over six innings. And once he departed to back-slaps and high fives, the Twins battered Milwaukee’s bullpen in their now-typical lightning-strike style. In the span of six batters, the Twins turned a scoreless pitcher’s duel into a five-run lead and eventually a 5-3 victory over the Brewers to split their two-game border battle in Target Field.

Smeltzer, who was languishing as a reliever in the Dodgers’ system until the Twins asked for him in last July’s Brian Dozier trade, became only the fourth Twins rookie ever to announce his presence in the major leagues with six or more shutout innings in his debut, joining Eric Milton, Anthony Swarzak and Andrew Albers. But Smeltzer allowed fewer hits (three), struck out more batters (seven) and issued fewer walks (none) than those rookies.

By Phil Miller

Star Tribune

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