Contemplating Tommy Milone

Tommy Milone in the first inning Thursday
night in Kansas City.

Tommy Milone, in some ways, was better Thursday night than his line score, which showed him allowing four runs, all earned, in 5.1 innings.

And in some ways he was just as ineffective as that line score indicated.

The Twins defense didn't help the lefty much. Milone picked Lorenzo Cain off in the fourth inning, but Brian Dozier dropped the throw from first baseman Chris Parmelee. No error was charged, and Cain scored on a following single. Earned run, but it shouldn't have happened,

Oswaldo Arcia played a leadoff single in the fifth into a leadoff triple. One out later, another single, another run.

Take either or both of those runs away, and Milone's line looks better.

On the other hand, he faced 26 hitters and gave up nine hits and two walks (.423 on-base percentage), and he didn't strike out a batter. He did throw strikes (55 strikes in 88 pitches) and get ahead of hitters (20 first-pitch strikes), but he had trouble putting hitters away.

Milone came to the Twins from Oakland with a reputation as a low-velocity pitcher who kept the ball off the sweet spot of the bat. So far we've only seen the lack of velocity.