Connor Prielipp Wins First MLB Game With Six Curveballs

Connor Prielipp earned his first major-league win Monday night, and he did it with a curveball that was almost new to him. The Twins beat the Seattle Mariners 11-4, snapping a five-game losing streak while Prielipp carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning.

Connor Prielipp and the new curveball

Prielipp struck out five and threw six curveballs against Seattle, getting swinging strikeouts on two of them. He used the pitch six times in 84 pitches, a sharp change from his first two big-league starts, when he leaned hard on his slider.

That slider still did most of the work. Prielipp threw it 36 times Monday after using it 51 percent of the time against the New York Mets, but the curveball gave him another look the Mariners had to honor. He has only been throwing that pitch since January.

Ryan Jeffers behind the plate

Ryan Jeffers said the pitch mix gives Prielipp more room to work through a lineup. “He’s going to go out and have the ability to throw a lot of different pitches,” Jeffers said. “The best starters can do that.”

“We hold those starters to high regards,” Jeffers said. “We ask a lot of them. And we ask him to throw pitches in counts he might not have before.”

Jeffers also said, “(Prielipp) has the ability to do so and he’s showing that.”

Derek Shelton on the adjustment

Derek Shelton said the curveball was the difference from Prielipp’s first major-league start. “He did a better job with the curveball,” Shelton said. “The Mets game, the curveball was basically nonexistent. I think he threw five and I don’t know if he got four of them to the plate.”

“Today, the fact that he was able to come back, execute it,” Shelton said. “I think Jeffers did a really good job of incorporating it in. Because if it’s just one breaking ball, then they’re going to make adjustments on it. But the fact he was able to use the curveball was really, really important.”

Prielipp’s fastball averaged 94.8 mph and touched 97 mph in his debut, while his curveball averaged 82 mph Monday and his changeup averaged 86 mph. After two Tommy John surgeries and a season in which he was the Twins’ minor-league pitcher of the year, the outing gave Minnesota a look at how his mix can play when he has more than one breaking ball working.

The Twins needed it too. Kody Clemens homered and drove in five runs, and Trevor Larnach, Ryan Jeffers, Luke Keaschall and Tristan Gray each had two hits as the club ended its five-game skid with Prielipp’s first win.