MINNEAPOLIS — So Dylan Bundy can pitch successfully at Target Field after all.
Bundy, whose three previous appearances in Minnesota before signing with the Twins last winter were all disastrous, made a positive first impression on his new employers Monday, pitching five shutout innings to help the Twins defeat Seattle 4-0 and earn a split of their season-opening series with the Mariners.
Byron Buxton doubled twice, Jorge Polanco drove in two runs with a double and a single, and relievers Caleb Thielbar, Tyler Duffey, Joe Smith and Jhoan Duran combined with Bundy for a two-hit shutout.
But it was Bundy, a fading former top prospect with a career 10.13 ERA in Minneapolis who signed for only one year at $5 million, who made the biggest statement about his, and perhaps his team's, future.
He relied on a slider and changeup to supplement a fastball that never reached 92 mph, and kept Seattle's lineup off-balance all night. Bundy only got six swing-and-misses in his 67-pitch outing, but two of them finished off strikeouts. Only one Mariners hitter, third baseman Eugenio Suarez, hit the ball hard, driving a second-inning double to left-center, one of only two Seattle hits on the night.
Bundy's effort was the strongest of four short-but-solid starts by the Twins this weekend. Though no starter pitched more than five innings, only Bailey Ober on Sunday allowed more than two runs, bringing the starters' ERA to 3.86 for the series.
The Twins' offense, meanwhile, chugged along, this time without a home run, but with their second straight 10-hit game. Polanco followed a walk to Buxton and a Luis Arraez single with a double into the right-field corner off Seattle starter Chris Flexen, giving the Twins a first-inning lead.
They tacked on three more in the fifth inning against Flexen and reliever Anthony Misiewicz, with five hits in six at-bats. Arraez, Polanco and Gio Urshela each lobbed consecutive line drives into the outfield, scoring runners from second base, giving Bundy more than enough cushion to work with.
And the Twins could have widened that lead, but two runners were thrown out at the plate. Miguel Sano, who walked, was thrown out by several feet out as he tried to score from first base on Buxton's first double of the night, and Alex Kirilloff was cut down trying to score on Carlos Correa's ground ball to shortstop in the fifth inning.
