Ortiz gave up just three hits, struck out five and only handed out a pair of free passes. He wasn’t exactly overpowering, generating just 10 swinging strikes. However, he managed to throw enough strikes with his five-pitch mix to keep the Twins off-balance, allowing just four hard-hit batted balls with exit velocities over 95 mph. He’ll bring a respectable 4.78 ERA, 1.41 WHIP and 36/16 K/BB ratio across 32 innings (six starts) into a road tilt on Monday against the Nationals.

It looked like this could be a very early exit for Ortiz, but he managed to quiet the Yankees after giving up four runs in the first two frames, and he wound up with eight strikeouts. That brings his total to 26 over 15 innings in his last three starts. He’s 2-3 with a 5.96 ERA overall, so this isn’t yet the time to pick him up in mixed leagues. Still, if he keeps missing bats like this, the results will come. He’ll face the Twins next.

As might have been expected after the Pirates traded him in the offseason, Ortiz had a little something extra on his pitches tonight; his 96.8 mph average on his fastball topped his previous season high of 96.2. He bettered it just once in his 15 starts last year. He struck out eight, his second highest total in 38 career starts. The high of 10 was established in his previous start versus the Royals. Ortiz struggled all spring and had an 8.44 ERA in his first two regular-season starts, but maybe he’s figured a little something out now? Or maybe he’s just faced two of MLB’s coldest offenses in his last two starts. Let’s see how he fares against the Yankees next week before considering him in mixed leagues.

He gave up just one hit, a Vinnie Pasquantino solo shot in the fourth. Ortiz very nearly threw away his spot in the Guardians rotation with a 10.13 ERA and 14 walks allowed in 18 2/3 innings this spring, and he had an 8.44 ERA through his first two regular-season starts, so he definitely needed this. He’ll still need to do it a couple of more times before he’ll again be someone to consider in mixed leagues. He’s due to face his old teammates in Pittsburgh next time out.