Astros 9, Twins 7: Twins Get to Blanco Early, Astros Chip Away and Pull Away in Extras

[Hans Birkeland]

It started encouragingly, with Chris Paddack dancing through a lot of solid contact and the offense expelling Ronel Blanco before the second inning was through. But the Astros fought back, thanks to some clutch hitting from Isaac Paredes and Yordan Alvarez, and executed in extra innings to secure the win.

Image courtesy of © Jordan Johnson-Imagn Images

Box Score:
Starting Pitcher: Chris Paddack: 4+ IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K (68 Pitches, 44 Strikes, 64.7%)
Home Runs: None
Bottom 3 WPA: Louis Varland (-.419), Griffin Jax (-.294), Paddack (-.140)
Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs):

The Twins had returned to functionality following Chris Paddack's last start, in which he allowed nine earned runs to the White Sox. That newfound competitiveness would be put to the test again Sunday, as Paddack took the mound against the Houston Astros in the rubber match of a three-game set in Minneapolis.

As terrible as Paddack was in Chicago, his stuff appeared a little better than last year, another year removed from his second Tommy John surgery. He started Sunday's tilt with the same poor results. Jose Altuve smacked a single up the middle, the scuffling Isaac Paredes laced a single down the left-field line, and after two pitches, Paddack was facing a first-and-third situation. The fastball was 94-96 MPH, but he was locating it high in the zone, where it looked like it was hanging.

Houston stacked their lineup with right-handed hitters, perhaps to counteract Paddack's changeup, but I'm not sure that was a smart strategy, as the White Sox lefties did damage in Paddack's first start. To Paddack's credit, he retired the fearsome Yordan Alvarez on a sacrifice fly, and after another single from Christian Walker, he retired Jeremy Pena and Yainer Diaz quickly to end the threat.

Facing the impressive Ronel Blanco, who recorded both a sub-3.00 ERA and a no-hitter last year, the Twins responded. Matt Wallner led off with a line-drive single, Carlos Correa walked, and Byron Buxton nearly made the game 3-1, but his fly ball was caught on the warning track in left-center field.

Normally, Twins lineups pack it in after a near miss like that, but Sunday was different. Wallner had advanced to third on Buxton's fly out, and Trevor Larnach tied the game with a sacrifice fly to right. Willi Castro worked an impressive at-bat, fouling off some 3-2 pitches and finally getting one to his liking, rifling a single to right that advanced Correa to third. Ryan Jeffers then worked a 2-2 count and launched an elevated slider off the big wall in right-center to produce a second and third run against Blanco. Blanco ended up throwing 33 pitches in the frame.

I was not overly confident in Paddack throwing a shutdown inning at this point, especially after he left another fastball elevated in the zone that Brendan Rodgers scalded up the middle for another leadoff hit. Fortunately, Zach Dezenzo grounded to Correa's right, and he made a sharp feed to Edouard Julien at second, who completed the relay for an impressive double play. Paddack then dotted a 3-2 breaking ball to Jake Meyers that was clearly a strike, but it was called a ball. Luckily, Altuve did not make Paddack pay and bounced out weakly.

The Twins continued to make Blanco work, as Mickey Gasper worked a 10-pitch walk, and Harrison Bader lined a single to left. Wallner struck out, but Correa delivered a soft liner to left to score Gasper and increase the lead. Buxton then struck out, but Larnach worked a walk. That was the end of the day for Blanco, who had thrown 62 pitches to record five outs.

Paddack allowed a 400-foot foul ball to Paredes before retiring him on a 350-foot fly ball in fair ground. Alvarez then popped out on a fastball at the top of the zone... or did he? Jeffers dropped the pop-up, but Alvarez was called for interference, since Jeffers briefly bumped him on the way to mishandling the play. The call seemed unecessary. Alvarez didn't have much of a chance to get out of the way, and Jeffers still could have gotten to the ball. Besides that, Gasper (at first) could have made the play, as well.

Paddack took the gift and struck out Walker to complete the frame. By that point, Paddack was emphasizing his breaking ball and changeup over his fastball, and locating them well, eliciting swing-and-miss and weak ground balls from the Houston hitters the second time through the lineup. Houston has struggled offensively, so that could be a factor, as well.

Either way, the Twins jumped all over reliever Luis Contreras in the fourth. Wallner stroked another single to right, Correa walked and Buxton hit a missile off the right-field (yes you read that right) wall for a double to score Wallner. Larnach then golfed a low changeup over Walker's glove to score two more.

Paddack's velocity dipped a little as the outing went along, sitting 91-93 MPH in the fifth inning. After Dezenzo walked, Meyers doubled down the left field line and Altuve reached on an error by Castro at third, to cut into the Twins' lead. Rocco Baldelli challenged the play, to no avail, and said after the game that he thought they "had completed the play, but that wasn't the ruling."

That left Paddack staring down the middle of Houston's lineup the third time through, with two on and nobody out.

Paredes hit a sharp single on a Paddack fastball to bring home Meyers, and that caused the Twins' bullpen to stir, with a presumably angry (based on the somewhat bogus interference call) Alvarez up to bat. Paddack induced a pop-up, but the ball fell right between Bader and the third baseman Castro. That prompted Baldelli to come get Paddack.

Cole Sands came in and struck out Walker on a favorable call. Pena then lined out to Bader in left, but because Bader tried to catch the runner on second napping, Altuve read the play and scored from third. Yainer Diaz then popped out to Correa to end the threat. It could have been worse, but the blowout was no longer in order.

Darren McCaughan entered for the sixth, a somewhat surprising choice given it was at that point a three-run game. But Louis Varland and Jorge Alcala had thrown the most of anyone in the past week, Sands was used for the second day in a row, and Baldelli seemed to be prioritizing using Danny Coulombe and Griffin Jax in the late innings. McCaughan also has looked really good in his brief time in the majors this year.

Not so much today. He gave up a leadoff hit to Rodgers, retired Dezenzo on a grounder and walked Meyers on a borderline 3-2 pitch. He made a great pitch to Altuve, inducing a weak pop-up from the future Hall of Famer, but Paredes lofted a single to center to score Rodgers and make it a two-run game. Baldelli made the call for Coulombe to face Alvarez. It was an intense at-bat, and on the eighth pitch, Coulombe got a little too much of the plate and Alvarez lined sharply to left field. This time, though, Bader made a great read and came in to make a diving play and preserve the lead.

After the Twins went down quietly in their half of the sixth, Justin Topa was brought in to protect the two-run lead, his first back-to-back appearance of the season. He hit Pena with a pitch, but otherwise looked effective, striking out the hot-hitting Rodgers on a nice sweeper to end the frame.

The Twins made some decent contact against Houston lefty Bryan King, but didn't produce any baserunners in another scoreless inning.

That led to Jhoan Duran getting the call for the eighth inning. The choice was interesting, because the 8-9-1 spots in the order were coming up, and Griffin Jax hadn't pitched since Tuesday. Duran emphasized his breaking ball and splinker and got the first two outs fairly easily, including a nice strikeout on a curveball to Meyers, dotted at the bottom left corner of the zone. Altuve then swung at the first pitch and grounded back to the pitcher to conclude the easiest Duran inning of 2025 thus far.

Bader led off the eighth with a grounder to short that Pena threw wide to first on, allowing a hustling Bader to reach. Wallner then delivered his fourth hit of the game, and certainly his hardest (112 MPH) up the middle to set up the inning against tough righty Bryan Abreu.

Correa tapped to the right side, and the lead runner Bader was retired. Buxton then flew out weakly to center and Larnach struck out on a ball in the dirt. Would the missed opportunity come back to bite the Twins?

It did, and it didn't take long. Paredes singled sharply, his fourth hit of the game, and Alvarez took out his frustration on a Jax fastball at the top of the zone, tying the game in the blink of an eye.

Walker then doubled off the wall in right-center and questions started to arise:

Why has Jax not been used since Tuesday? Is he hurt? Did he catch the Ober/Julien illness?

He then proceeded to strike out the next three hitters in convincing fashion, so who knows? The velocity and overall stuff still looked great.

"Just matchup-based things," Baldelli said about using Duran before Jax, rather than the other way around. He noted that they've done that many times before, and might do so again. It's possible that, after Duran faced Altuve, Paredes and Alvarez in the ninth inning Saturday, his manager didn't want him to see the latter two on consecutive days. Still, plainly, the strategy didn't work.

Josh Hader made quick work of the Twins in the ninth and Varland took the ball for the top of the 10th. Chas McCormick bunted Rodgers to third, Meyers walked and Altuve rapped a single through the left side to score the "Manfred Man." Altuve then stole second and Jeffers threw through, allowing Meyers to race home from third. On the throw home, the Twins nearly nailed Meyers. The safe call was upheld upon review, but it looked like a 50/50 case. Altuve was then caught off of second and Paredes struck out to end the frame.

The Twins did not fare so well in their half. Miranda grounded out, Bader struck out, and since DeShawn Keirsey Jr. had pinch-run for Wallner, Christian Vazquez was brought in to face Hader. That went well last year but looked pretty pathetic this time around, although the ball that struck him out looked to be low.

Trends:

	Healthy	Hurt
Performing
Contributing
Low Impact/Slumping
IL/Minors
C	Ryan Jeffers ?	Christian Vazquez
1B	Ty France
2B	Mickey Gasper	Brooks Lee ?	Edouard Julien
3B	Royce Lewis	Jose Miranda ?
SS	Carlos Correa ?
LF	Trevor Larnach ?
CF	Byron Buxton	Harrison Bader	DaShawn Keirsey Jr.
RF	Matt Wallner ?
UTIL	Willi Castro
SP1	Pablo Lopez	Bailey Ober ?	Joe Ryan
SP2	Chris Paddack ?	Simeon Woods Richardson
CR	Jhoan Duran ?	Griffin Jax ?
SR	Brock Stewart	Louis Varland	Cole Sands
MR	Danny Coloumbe	Justin Topa ?	Michael Tonkin
LR	Randy Dobnak	Jorge Alcala ?	Darren McCaughan

 

What’s Next: The Twins head to Kansas City for a three game set. Simeon Woods Richardson (0-0, 4.50 ERA) will face Michael Lorenzen (0-1, 5.06 ERA). Wood Richardson was adequate in a windy outing in Chicago last time out. SWR will be looking to maintain velocity deeper into his start against a light-hitting Royals team. Lorenzen is a fungible backend starter who peaked in 2023 when he was a default All-Star for Detroit, got traded to Philadelphia and immediately threw a no-hitter. The mirage has faded since.

Postgame Interviews:

Bullpen Usage Chart:

	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN	TOT
McCaughan	0	32	0	0	22	54
Varland	0	20	0	16	15	51
Alcalá	0	11	0	23	0	34
Durán	12	0	0	8	13	33
Topa	0	0	0	17	10	27
Coulombe	14	0	0	0	8	22
Sands	0	0	0	11	10	21
Jax	0	0	0	0	17	17

 

View full article

[Danchat]

Jax is supposed to be the cornerstone of the "best bullpen in baseball", what gives? 

The sooner Paddack is done starting games, the better. Why not tap into that pitching pipeline I've heard so much about? Festa was arguably the better pitcher last year as a rookie.

[D.C Twins]

1B = Black Hole

Paddack = Pen 

Zebby = MLB

Miranda = Thin Ice

[Vanimal46]

I thought 7-1 was a safe enough lead to turn off the game and go outside. Evidently not. 

[LewFordLives]

They let one get away. These are the ones that stay with you. Plenty of blame to go around, but to me the main takeaway is how long will Paddack's leash be. 

[Aggies7]

Numbers over the last several years don’t support using Jax over Duran for the 9th inning. The 9th inning is different and most people who have ever pitched  competitively will agree. For a team relying on analytics, it’s baffling that they continue to employ this method of getting the last 6 outs.

That being said, it was a dreadful day for almost everyone who pitched today. And that’s not on the manager.

[thelanges5]

Gotta do their best to move on from this one. Will be a fun plane ride to KC. Gotta go 2-2 at Kaufman. 

[OvertheHill]

SWR has to give them 6+ innings tomorrow. The BP is cooked. 

[LA Vikes Fan]

Jax should not be closing. He has a poor save percentage. It may just be psychological but it's real; he doesn't do well in save situations. Bad usage of Duran and Jax by Baldelli.  He should know better - he tried this last year and it didn't work well. Also, time to give up on Paddack as a starter. We have better options in Festa and Matthews. 

Should be interesting to see what they do with the pitching staff given the three short starts in a row and overuse of the bullpen. The Twins need fresh arms bad. My play is Varland is optioned to AAA AND McCaughan goes to DFA. Up come Matthews and maybe Blewett since Dobnak just went 5 good innings today and Festa pitched Friday. Tomorrow is SWR and Matthews on a piggyback that adds up to at least 7 innings after which one of Matthews, SWR or Paddack goes down. I'd love a plan for the lineup but I just don't see that group changing any time soon. 

This could get very ugly very fast. 

 

[h2oface]

Maybe it is selective memory on my part, but our batters seem to love to take first pitch meat right down the middle, then swing at the next pitch out of zone (example Vazquez in the 10th), and our pitchers love to serve first pitch meat to the opponent - but they swing, and do a lot of damage (example Jax to both the first two batters in the 9th). 

Will Buxton ever learn to not swing at pitches a foot out of the zone low and outside?

Castro sure was a liability in the field, today. That 3 play sequence in the 5th where he misses the grounder that turns into a double (instead of a possible double play, not scored an error but a play you expect a third baseman to make), makes a good play like MLB players should on the next grounder but throws it too high to first for a run scoring error, and after a single that scored Meyers who hit the first grounder Castro missed, he doesn’t make the play on the pop up that looked Iike Bader could have made if Castro wasn’t in the way. The sac fly that followed then scored the third run of the players involved in the sequence.  7-4  Castro all over the 3 runs given up.

[Peter]

Unacceptable Crushing devastating season ending loss😡🤬😤🤬😡💩🤮😭😭🤮💩😡🤬😤 twins won’t recover from this.

[thelanges5]

Aside from three months last year, the product on and off the field has been pretty poor since the playoff run in 23.

[thelanges5]

2 minutes ago, Peter said:

Unacceptable Crushing devastating season ending loss😡🤬😤🤬😡💩🤮😭😭🤮💩😡🤬😤 twins won’t recover from this.

Peter, you used to be the most optimistic Twins Daily member. It’s sad to see that the Twins have gotten the best of you.

[Vanimal46]

5 minutes ago, thelanges5 said:

Aside from three months last year, the product on and off the field has been pretty poor since the playoff run in 23.

Since 2021 if we’re being honest. 

[Doctor Gast]

You can't play this loose with a 7-1 lead. What's up with Jax? We need him to be tough!

[GNess]

Questions from today's game.

- Why Duran in the 8th and Jax in the 9th? Hasn't Duran shown he has a closer mentality?

- Why pitch to Altuve in the 10th with runners on 2nd and 3rd and one out? I would think he should have been walked.

 

 

[Whitey333]

Terrible loss today.  Ahead 7-1 at home you must win.  Bullpen looks cooked already after 9 games.  Way too much use.  Bottom line is baldelli can support his overworked bullpen but the bottom line is the Twins are 3-6.  That should be unacceptable to all.  I don't see much difference to the Twins team at the end of last season.  Very sad.

[Blyleven2011]

A dreadful loss allowing Houston to score 8 unanswered runs to win  , I too thought a 7 to 1 lead was a comfortable lead only to watch it evaporate ...

The eye test and the analytics  tell you Jax is not the closer , Duran  is our closer  , it was a Rocco and bench coaches decision blunder to allow this to happen  ...

This team had 4 doubles and 8 singles , they scored 7 runs without a homerun  , this is what they need to continue to do to score more runs  , they are not a homerun hitting team ...

Last , when will the twins ever learn to score the Manfred man in extra innings  ,  at least you close the gap to 1 run in this loss ... 

This was a tough loss to swallow  ... it's another loss in the loss column that could have been a win ...

 

[Doctor Gast]

16 minutes ago, Peter said:

Unacceptable Crushing devastating season ending loss😡🤬😤🤬😡💩🤮😭😭🤮💩😡🤬😤 twins won’t recover from this.

You're being sarcastic, right? If not we're really bad to let you down.

[DocBauer]

So Jax is human after all? While Varland gets the "L" for the game, it was really Jax being non-Jax like. But I'd still trust him in that spot every single time. He's proven what he can do and how good he is time after time.

Even in a loss I try to look at the good things. While Paddack melted down in the 5th, he was still effective for 4 IP, and that's a huge improvement over his first start. There's still some upside with his stuff. As a veteran, he's going to get more than just 2 starts to see what he can do. But if he doesn't show greater length or consistency, it might just be time for a long look at his career and make the move to the pen, as well as make room for Festa or Matthews.

The offense isn't clicking on all cylinders yet for sure. But it's looked better, and Wallner, Correa, and Buxton are heating up. Larnach and Castro have been solid. At some point, Lewis and Lee will be back. That will help. And a little further down the line, Keaschall and Rodriguez will be up to help as well.

I'm not sugar coating a really tough loss that SHOULD have been a win. I'm just trying to look at a few positives on a bad day.

[Peter]

18 minutes ago, thelanges5 said:

Peter, you used to be the most optimistic Twins Daily member. It’s sad to see that the Twins have gotten the best of you.

This loss hurts big time!!! It’s a crushing loss!!! Going to be difficult to make it though season after seeing this 😭asides from twins it wild/wolves/mnufc-vikings can Mexico. This loss will take a long long long time to get over.

[Peter]

4 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

You're being sarcastic, right? If not we're really bad to let you down.

I’m not!!!! This is crushing loss😭not sure I can make though season seeing this

[knothole61]

Wow...realy? Putrid and painful it was! It's just one loss, of course, but this latest pratfall exposes deeper problems, dare I say systemic decay? The pitching was foul, and to that you can add the six goose egg innings, five through ten, that lamely followed a dramatic offensive eruption. The redoubtable Aggies has declared that the pitching breakdown today is "not on the manager," and I think that is correct. But what is on the manager, in my humble opinion, is the creation of an atmosphere where such collapses are allowed to roll off the shoulder as just a part of the long saga that is a baseball season. 

I can't know how Baldelli really feels inside, or what he says to his team in private...but, if I had to guess, I'd say hes a pretty mellow cat; kind of a "what me worry"sort of a guy. And I think that such an attitude, while it may work well in certain professions, is not the key to success in MLB. After today's game I'd like to see some genuine anger, not necessarily bats tossed in the shower, but close. And that, I fear, will never happen with Rocco, and the orgaization is the worse for that. 

Didn't Shakespeare say it best?

"In peace there's nothing so becomes a man as modest stillness and humility; but when the blast of war blows in our ears, then imitate the action of the tiger; stiffen the sines, summon up the blood, disguise fair nature with hard-favor'd rage."       

[William K Johnson]

I know it probably does not matter in the grand scheme of things, but McCaughan struck Rogers out on a pitch that a so called "crew chief" missed.   They tell us that umpires review game film after each game. If Conroy thought he called a good game, then he needs to look for another occupation.    Was at a several spring training games this year and loved the challenge system on balls and strikes.

[Fire Dan Gladden]

There are always a couple of these throughout the season. It feels worse because of the overall poor play so far.

[AceWrigley]

This was a bad loss. A rubber game, Sunday afternoon, at home. Less than 15,000 in the seats. Game doesn't even make the top headlines (at this moment at least) over at ESPN. Not creating a lot of excitement here.

[USAFChief]

Duran, THEN Jax?

Rocco always gotta prove he's the smartest guy in the room. 

 

[Danchat]

38 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Since 2021 if we’re being honest. 

3 of the past 4 years have been big disappointments in my book. The franchise feels like it is stuck in neutral.

1 hour ago, Aggies7 said:

Numbers over the last several years don’t support using Jax over Duran for the 9th inning. The 9th inning is different and most people who have ever pitched  competitively will agree. For a team relying on analytics, it’s baffling that they continue to employ this method of getting the last 6 outs.

I took a look at the 2024 numbers and yes, Duran is way better in the 9th inning. However, he only pitched 12 innings in the 8th so it was a small sample size, though I thought it was more than that.

Conversely, Jax's 'worst' inning was the 8th (39.2 IP) with a 2.27 ERA and .549 OPS against and he was somehow better in the 9th (13.2 IP) with .421 OPS against. Also a small sample size there.

So yes, Duran should be pitching the 9th but there is no reason to expect Jax to suck in the 9th. Especially after Spring Training where Jax looked great and Duran had command issues.

[RpR]

38 minutes ago, Whitey333 said:

Terrible loss today.  Ahead 7-1 at home you must win.  Bullpen looks cooked already after 9 games.  Way too much use.  Bottom line is baldelli can support his overworked bullpen but the bottom line is the Twins are 3-6.  That should be unacceptable to all.  I don't see much difference to the Twins team at the end of last season.  Very sad.

[JD-TWINS]

58 minutes ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

Jax should not be closing. He has a poor save percentage. It may just be psychological but it's real; he doesn't do well in save situations. Bad usage of Duran and Jax by Baldelli.  He should know better - he tried this last year and it didn't work well. Also, time to give up on Paddack as a starter. We have better options in Festa and Matthews. 

Should be interesting to see what they do with the pitching staff given the three short starts in a row and overuse of the bullpen. The Twins need fresh arms bad. My play is Varland is optioned to AAA AND McCaughan goes to DFA. Up come Matthews and maybe Blewett since Dobnak just went 5 good innings today and Festa pitched Friday. Tomorrow is SWR and Matthews on a piggyback that adds up to at least 7 innings after which one of Matthews, SWR or Paddack goes down. I'd love a plan for the lineup but I just don't see that group changing any time soon. 

This could get very ugly very fast. 

 

Paddack has to be out of Options - he can’t be sent down. (I get your point though) I have been a proponent of using him so that he can be his best self - 2 innings at a time or less out of the PEN……… unfortunately, Paddack was better today than last time so he probably “earned” another start. SAD, if the guy’s WHIP is over 2.00!

Zebby seems to be at the top of the AAA heap at the moment. Doubt he would come up until there is a start for him to execute…..like the day before or that day.

From reading other posts here, it seems Duran faced guys in the front end of the Astro line-up yesterday so the thinking (of him missing them today) makes sense to me. He looked great. Jax almost always looks great! ….. to see him throw 2 pitches and give up a base hit & HR is almost unimaginable!! I like there being a rhythm & order in the PEN too but this wasn’t some gross error by Baldelli, it was unfortunate chance contact by the 2 hitters. He struck out the next 3 guys. …. btw, Duran had 9 losses last season - he was far from perfect.

Blewett is a solid choice to bring up and give some innings over the KC series - maybe Funderburk?

The line-up needs somebody to hit his way on to the Big club from AAA! Hopefully, in the next 2-3 weeks somebody jumps out as a guy they need to promote. To me it’s another 10 games of Keaschall and he’s playing somewhere on the right side of IF.