PHILADELPHIA — Mick Abel gave the Philadelphia Phillies and their fans a good, long look at what could have been on Saturday night.
The rookie starter, acquired in July in exchange for closer Jhoan Duran, turned in, perhaps, the best start of his career on Saturday night, finishing off his season on a high note. Abel, whom the Phillies drafted in the first-round in 2020, is one of the highest-touted young arms in the Twins’ organization, and he showed why on Saturday, leading the Twins to a 5-0 win at Citizens Bank Park.
Against his former teammates — he made six starts for the Phillies earlier this season, debuting in May — Abel threw six scoreless innings, tying his career high with nine strikeouts.
He began his night by striking out former Twin Harrison Bader, as well as all-star Kyle Schwarber and two-time Most Valuable Player Bryce Harper in his first inning of work, touching 98.9 miles per hour that inning. He averaged 97.5 mph on his four-seam fastball, up 1.2 mph from his season average.
The rookie faced little trouble all night, allowing just three hits in his start. The Phillies put a pair of runners on in the fourth inning, the only time they had a runner reach second off Abel, but he got catcher J.T. Realmuto to pop up to strand a pair in scoring position.
It was a positive development for the 24-year-old, who endured a tough start to his Twins career. Abel gave up six runs in each of his first two outings with the Twins, after which they sent him back to Triple-A for much of September.
Abel, who will be in the mix for a rotation spot next year, pitched with a lead for the entirety of his outing after Byron Buxton blasted his third leadoff home run in four days. Buxton now has 11 this season, tying Jacque Jones for the all-time club record.
James Outman and Ryan Fitzgerald also hit solo home runs in the win, and the Twins added another pair of runs to oust the Phillies in their penultimate game of the season.
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