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You could see the anxiousness in the dugout when the Twins had the commanding lead. They were about to be champions. But still must finish the game. A bad pitch by Thielbar after a walk. Tough, but happens. You see why playoff experience is so important to have on a team. Duran ws so into the greatness of the moment, and then almost totally lost it. I guess you could say kudos to Rocco for leaving him out there to deal with it. I would've gone with Jax or Pagan for the 9th, though. Acturally, I would've gone with Floro - I'm not sure how much more time he has with the team - as they might need his 40-man spot. A fantastic home team crowd for so many of the players to experience.

No Correa. No Lewis. No Buxton. Pablo López throws a horrible inning. So does Caleb Thielbar. So does Jhoan Duran. At least thrice the Twins leave runners on both second and third base. And the Twins win, unlike the Astros, Marlins or Reds who badly needed a W to maintain control of their playoff destinies. Great day to get a lot of occasional bugs out of the system, and still claim a major achievement. Division champions.

The Twins have some major 40-man add decisions. Enlow, Williams, Heilman will all be minor league free agents. Any keepers there? What to do with Bechtold and Prato? I was surprised to learn that Luplow wasn't totally removed from the 40-man (although that may be happening shortly). Why not advance Celestino to play the final weeks in a few games, see if he an be a 4th oufielder next year...when he is out of options.

Saint Paul, Minnesota - The Saints had a seven run second inning that included a grand slam from Michael Helman. The Saints have 14 grand slams on the season, and this helped the Saints get past the Toledo Mud Hens 10-6 in front of 7,517. The Saints improved to 41-32 in the second half and 84-63 on the season. In the second, Nick Maton was hit-by-the-pitch and Justice Bigbie singled. Next, Ryan Kreidler hit a 360-foot home run to right field. Toledo had a 3-0 lead. The Saints answered with a seven-run bottom of the second. With one out, Hernan Perez singled to center. Next, Anthony Prato hit his ninth home run of the season. The Saints were not done yet. DaShawn Keirsey Jr. singled followed by a single from Chris Williams. Next, Tony Wolters was hit-by-the-pitch to load the bases. Austin Martin hit a deep sacrifice fly to left field. Nick Solak made the catch, but Keirsey Jr. came in and scored. The game was tied at three. Nick Gordon (MLB Rehab Assignment) walked, and once again the bases were loaded. Michael Helman hit a 419-foot grand slam to straight center field. The ball went off the batters' eye and gave the Saints a 7-3 lead. It was a home run type of night. In the third, Anthony Prato hit a solo home run, which gave the Saints an 8-3 lead. With two outs in the fourth, Michael Helman singled and Yunior Severino hit his 11th home run of the season. The Saints had a 10-3 lead. No more runs were scored until the ninth. Eddys Leonard doubled, and Nick Maton walked. Next, Justice Bigbie hit a home run off the foul pole in right. Toledo trailed 10-6. Blayne Enlow started for St. Paul. Enlow worked three innings while allowing three runs on two hits. He struck out four. Brock Stewart (MLB Rehab Assignment) worked an inning and struck out two. Stewart had a fastball that averaged 96.8 mph and touched 97.6 mph. Jorge Alcala (MLB Rehab Assignment) worked two innings and struck out four. Schulfer and Boyle made pitching appearances for the Saints on Friday night. In total Saints pitchers struck out 13 Mud Hen batters. Nick Gordon went 0-for-3 with a walk, strikeout and run scored. The modern stats era goes back to 2005. No team has hit more grand slams since 2005 than the 2023 St. Paul Saints, who have hit 14 so far this season. There are still two games remaining in the 2023 season. The Toledo Mud Hens and St. Paul Saints meet in game four of a six-game series on Saturday night at CHS Field. First pitch is scheduled for 6:37 p.m. Toledo will send LHP Sean Guenther (2-1, 5.04) while the Saints will counter with RHP Patrick Murphy (6-3, 3.54). The game can be seen on the Saints Broadcast Network, MiLB.TV, and heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM.

The Twins continued to use the final few Triple-A games as a rehab spot, and the Saints launched their 14th grand slam of the season. Although there was only one game on the farm Friday, there was plenty of action. Image courtesy of Rob Thompson - St. Paul Saints TRANSACTIONS OF Jordan Luplow recalled from St. Paul SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 10, Toledo 6 Box Score Lefty Blayne Enlow took the mound Friday night for the Saints last weeknight game of the year. Byron Buxton and Joey Gallo got the night off while Nick Gordon batted second and played second base. Enlow’s final start of the season was just a short three inning outing. He allowed three runs on two hits while striking out four. The lefty out a bow on his season, showing good command with no walks. St. Paul answered the three-run shot in the second inning with a big crooked number. Anthony Prato homered for the ninth time this season, and the two-run blast brought home Hernan Perez. Austin Martin then plated DaShawn Keirsey Jr. on a sacrifice fly. Michael Helman then stepped in with the bases loaded and launched the Saints 14th grand slam of the season. Chris Williams, Tony Wolters, and Nick Gordon all came home making it a 7-3 contest. In the bottom of the third inning, Prato hit his second dinger of the night, and the solo-shot made it an 8-0 game. Not to have his power outdone, Yunior Severino homered in the fourth inning. His 11th big fly at Triple-A pushed the score to 10-3. Brock Stewart worked a scoreless inning of relief striking out two, while Jorge Alcala pitched two scoreless innings and struck out four. Austin Schulfer took over for the next two and was perfect with a pair of strikeouts. Still up 10-3, it was Michael Boyle on to finish out the ninth inning. He allowed a pair of runners and then a big fly to bring them home. Still up 10-6, the lead was enough to hold up. Helman and Prato both had a pair of hits. Gordon was 0-for-3 on the night with a run scored. The 14th grand slam for St. Paul tied the modern era record by a professional team in a season dating back to 2005. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day – St. Paul Middle Relief - 5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, BB, 6 K Hitter of the Day – Anthony Prato (St. Paul) - 2-3, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 HR(10), BB, K PROSPECT SUMMARY We will again keep tabs on the Twins top prospects. You’ll probably read about them in the team sections, but if they aren’t there, you’ll see how they did here. Here’s a look at how the current Twins Daily Top 20 performed: #14 - Yunior Severino (St. Paul) - 1-4, R, 2 RBI, HR(11), K SATURDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Toledo @ St. Paul (6:37PM CST) - RHP Patrick Murphy Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Friday’ game! View full article

Wildcard: Julien to CF. Crazy? Probably. Worth a shot? Maybe. Eddie Rosario spent a lot of MiLB time at 2B but his bat translated to OF. Take the shot.

You go five months perfect and then suddenly think every day is Saturday

Why would any Twins fans expect a "routine" last 4 outs to win a divisional title while holding a 5-run lead? Whew. Way too much late inning drama, but we won! With game on the line--------honestly, how many fans would've predicted Eddie Julien to make a nice game ending play? Time to get our pitchers rested and ready for playoffs. Will be interesting to see what Rocco/Falvey does with rotation over the next 8 games. I see Keuchel getting at least 2 starts. Others likely 1 more each, with a "bullpen" game---maybe a Winder start to account for the last 8 games. Hopefully the reports of Lewis' hamstring issue being minor are accurate. Absolutely need Correa's leadership, defense and bat ready for playoffs.

Congratulations to the team and more importantly the fans. I’m going to enjoy this for a day or two and then come back to reality. Which is we slid into the easiest playoff spot possible. Enjoy the playoffs and then expect our FO to do substantially better next year.

Without having too much info…but it seems like he may not be above average at any position. Kind of like if you have two quarterbacks you actually have no quarterbacks. I like guys to settle in their best defensive position and get good at it.

They’ve been listening to the same song for the last 45 minutes in the clubhouse. Weird

Depth was clearly the modus operandi in the offseason, so it’s appropriate on clinch night we have… Castro, 1-4, plus a walk. Big-time triple. 2 runs scored. Farmer, 2-3, plus 2 walks. Double. Two runs. RBI. Taylor, 1-3, plus a walk. 2 RBIs.

I guess Luplow was actually optioned, something he had to approve, so he was never off the 40-man.

Uh, @Matt Braun, second paragraph = “Saturday”? Have I spotted a trend for you? 🤣 Seriously, thanks for your good and regular work in cranking out these postgames.

Watching the clubhouse interviews makes me wonder … do they drink any of it, or just spray it around and pour it all over each other? Heh

Handshakes all around

Don't stop now boys!

Hey, there are a number of folks here on Twins Daily who kept spirits up, who remained optimistic all season and who saw this division championship coming, even early on. If that's you, this often-pessimist toasts you all tonight. Enjoy this victory, and let it be the first of many toasts this offseason. Go Twins. Good work.

Oh jees mellow out

As closer I mean of course.

Having Duran spells doom for us… just saying, he is not ready for playoff pressure whatsoever

Winnah!

One word: happiness.

It's been a long season and the Twins fans deserved this.