Twins 9, Orioles 1: Superstars Deliver for Twins in Series Opener

[Steven Trefz]

Image courtesy of © Brad Rempel-Imagn Images

Box Score
SP: Pablo López 5.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 11 K (98 pitches, 58 strikes (59%))
Home Runs: Carlos Correa (2), Byron Buxton (8)
Top 3 WPA: Lopez (.175), Buxton (.148), Correa (.131)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) 
 
The Twins started their homestand against a familiar face, in left-handed starter Cade Povich. Minnesota's 2021 third-round draft pick came into the game struggling to a 1-2 mark with a 5.16 ERA, after going 3-9 in his 2024 rookie campaign with the Baltimore Orioles. Sent away in the ill-fated trade for Jorge López in August of 2022, the southpaw never shared a team in the minor leagues with any of the Twins' current lineup, but he did share a mound with David Festa and Louis Varland in 2021 and 2022. Despite his struggles overall at the big-league level, Povich dominated the Twins in late September of last year, going five innings and surrendering only two hits and zero runs in an Orioles victory.

Standing in opposition of Povich and the reeling Orioles was Twins veteran and ace Pablo López. Joining him in this kickoff to the homestand were hopeful superstar Royce Lewis and last year's All-Star Willi Castro, fresh off of the injured list. Lewis had yet to take an at-bat in 2025, and the Twins desperately hoped he could provide an instant spark to a woeful offense. Castro hadn't experienced a repeat of last year's success before he went down, but fans and leadership alike hoped for some ignition from him, too, as the homestand began.

Lights-Out López and Lit Up Povich
A casual observer of tonight's game into the third inning might argue that the starting pitching was excellent. López struck out seven Orioles in the first three innings alone, surrendering a meaningless single and zero runs across that span. Povich set the Twins down in order in the first and second innings, but ran into an unlikely obstacle in the bottom of the third inning named Trevor Larnach. With Harrison Bader out with illness, the lefty Larnach ended up getting the same-side start, and responded with a single up the middle to collect the first hit and baserunner of the game for the home team. Castro followed suit, and suddenly there were runners at first and second for Byron Buxton. Buxton had struck out in the first, but this time, he struck the fence in left field for a double to put the Twins up 1-0.

Ryan Jeffers came up next with two runners in scoring position and a torpedo bat. One opposite-field single (with english) later, it was 3-0 good guys.

Povich was obviously in trouble, and Ty France tried to officially ruin his evening. France's booming 105+ mph blast to center field traveled 410 feet... for an out. Carlos Correa came up next, altered the launch angle from 29 degrees to 26 degrees, and upped the exit velocity to 109 mph. The result was a 5-0 lead.

Before we left the bottom of the third inning, Twins fans had one last opportunity to hold their collective breath. Lewis beat a slow grounder toward third base, and tested that hamstring with a full-out sprint down the line. He was safe, and smiling, and for now, everyone in Twins Territory could relax and enjoy the 5-0 lead.

The Lights Flicker for López, and He Goes Out Early
In the top of the fourth inning, Gunnar Henderson worked a leadoff walk, and advanced to third base on consecutive ground outs. As López attempted to escape the jam, Ryan Mountcastle attempted to raise his OPS. Mountcastle's double scored Henderson, and brought up the dangerous Jackson Holliday. López added yet another strikeout to his tally, and the rally stopped with only one run. López managed to go another inning, but with his pitch count mounting to 98 after only five innings, the bullpen was going to have to deliver to seal this series-opening victory.

Povich Holds the Line, but the Orioles Bullpen Lets it Go
Povich recovered and managed to complete six innings, five of which were outstanding. The Orioles bullpen entered in the bottom of the seventh, and immediately booted Jonah Bride to first base with an error. A Castro walk chased Cionel Pérez, and Buxton rudely welcomed lefty reliever Matt Bowman on the second pitch he saw. Buck Truck, engaged. It was 8-1 Twins.

After a France opposite-field double, Correa continued his hot night with an RBI single to make it 9-1 Minnesota. The rout was on, and the Target Field faithful felt just fine.

Turns the Lights Off on Your Way Out
Danny Coulombe, Louis Varland, Cole Sands, and Jorge Alcala took the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth respectively. The Orioles couldn't touch Coulombe, Varland, or Sands. Alcala couldn't touch the strike zone for most of the ninth, but neither of his two walks scored either to finalize a great way to open the homestand.

What’s Next?
Twins righty Simeon Woods Richardson (2-2, 4.03 ERA) will take the mound in hopes of giving the home team a quality start, and not taxing the bullpen in the process. The Orioles have yet to name their starter for Wednesday night's game. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40pm CDT.

Postgame Interviews

	FRI	SAT	SUN	MON	TUE	TOT
Alcalá	23	0	0	0	20	43
Stewart	0	13	16	0	0	29
Coulombe	18	0	0	0	11	29
Durán	0	16	9	0	0	25
Varland	5	0	7	0	12	24
Sands	0	12	0	0	10	22
Jax	0	7	14	0	0	21
Topa	0	0	0	0	0	0

 

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[Vanimal46]

I’ll take that as a birthday present today. It’s time to add to that column of games played with all 3 of Buxton, Lewis, and Correa in the lineup. Going off of memory, I think it’s the 40th game out of something like 350 games with all 3 healthy and playing for the Twins. 

[Blyleven2011]

The twins clicked tonight in team effort  ....

Starting Pitching , hitting , defense and bullpen all did their jobs ...

A nice win , 3 in a row actually makes it a winning streak  ...

[The Great Hambino]

Correa, that poor ball had a family!  I could feel the catharsis coming through the TV screen.

Great win.  Hopefully we didn't just witness 90% of the runs they'll score this series

[FlyingFinn]

48 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

I think it’s the 40th game out of something like 350 games with all 3 healthy and playing for the Twins. 

Healthy as they actually played in a game. Oof, Lewis looked anything but healthy, like he was going to fall apart with the next swing. Everyone else was great tonight though. Keep up the win streak.

[knothole61]

Impressive win...now 4 games below .500. 

Small steps...

 

 

 

[UK Twin]

Buxton is now top 10 in the AL in HR's, RBI's and SB, plus top 20 in OPS. Please, please stay healthy Buck as it's so much fun watching him right now. Judge has 12 HR's, Ohtani 10. Buxton 8. Only criticism is his walk to strikeout rate is not good. But he's clearly the top CF in baseball right now for me now Judge has moved back to RF. 

Correa absolutely demolished that baseball! Good signs from him as well. Great to see Lewis back playing if only as DH right now. Pablo doing Pablo things - too many deep counts to pitch longer into the game but had great stuff. 

[jmlease1]

Boy, Balto looked bad. As much as the Twins are struggling, you can see why the O's are below us in the standings. Here's hoping they can't get well against us; if this series goes like the Cleveland one (where we outscored them for the series but lost it) it'll be maddening.

Great to see the power surge: life gets easier when you have some big bopper crushing some homers. Buxton is on a roll right now, hope he stays healthy for it. Jeffers is hitting great. Correa seems to be out of his funk. Just need 1-2 others to get going as well while we wait for Wallner to come back.

Pablo wasn't efficient, but he was effective. Nice job by the bullpen finishing things off, even if Alcala still looks wobbly. O's made it easier by swinging through everything, for sure. (Varland definitely got away with one, as noted by Morneau. His curve is pretty good, but not good enough to hang up in the middle of the zone...)

Just keep it up, Twins. Throw these guys an anchor and keep climbing out of the hole you made for yourselves.

[Doctor Wu]

9 hours ago, Blyleven2011 said:

Starting Pitching , hitting , defense and bullpen all did their jobs ...

That's been a very rare combination so far this season. Hope we see more of this good stuff in the coming weeks and months.

[Doctor Wu]

8 hours ago, FlyingFinn said:

Healthy as they actually played in a game. Oof, Lewis looked anything but healthy, like he was going to fall apart with the next swing. Everyone else was great tonight though. Keep up the win streak.

Not an encouraging first game back for Lewis. No hits is one thing, but if he looks like he will "fall apart" at the plate, as you noted, that's a much bigger concern.

[Whitey333]

Nice game Twins.  A thorough win in all areas.  A little worried about Lewis.  Not his 0 for 3 but he looked fragile running.  One time he quickly grabbed his hamstring.  To me he didn't look healthy.  I hope he is truly ok.

[Doctor Gast]

Lewis went 0-4, even so, his & Castro's presences had a big impact on last night's game. As of late, recently quiet, captain of the team Correa spoke up, & said "the team now seems complete". It just goes to show that personal stats are often a small part of the equation. While I'm speaking on this subject, after deciding to give Bader a rest, why wasn't Keirsey used to sub him? Twins always win their games when he starts & he desperately needs regular ABs. Castro is better at 2B or 3B. Priority should always be to develop our in-house players. Keirsey should sub Buck, Bader & Larnach more often to get enough regular ABs for him to adapt to MLB. And no, I'm not his father.

Unlike the CLE blowout, they should have swept them, but didn't have enough chemistry to sustain it; Twins should sweep BAL (pending any really bad managerial bonehead moves). And enter with a red-hot Giants series in a better situation than the red-hot NYM series (Keirsey started in both our wins). We still have a long way to catch DET or even qualify for the playoffs, but now there's tangible hope.

[mikelink45]

I love the victory. My only complaint is the use of Superstar. I don't think we have any Superstars. I think we have stars. Excellent players but the hyperbole for Superstar is something that should be controlled. And that's not to pick on the writer because it's done all over Major League baseball. But if you say Superstar we can picture the ones who really are. 

[Doctor Gast]

I looked at the highlights, Pregame, Lewis was all smiles & Wallner was down in the dump. I was wondering about Correa's wrist, but looking at that HR, if he had problems, they didn't seem so with that AB.

[bean5302]

1 hour ago, Doctor Wu said:

Not an encouraging first game back for Lewis. No hits is one thing, but if he looks like he will "fall apart" at the plate, as you noted, that's a much bigger concern.

He's super rusty. Missed a lot of ST, he wasn't hitting in AAA, but the Twins called him up anyway. We'll have to see how he gets everything put together, but if the organization is committed to keeping him up, it'll likely be a week or two.

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, Doctor Gast said:

While I'm speaking on this subject, after deciding to give Bader a rest, why wasn't Keirsey used to sub him?

Willi Castro is a much better baseball player than Dashawn Keirsey. Castro went 1 for 3 with a walk which means Castro reached base as many times last night as Keirsey has the entire season. Starting Castro was the better decision before the game started and proven correct with game results.

1 hour ago, Doctor Gast said:

Priority should always be to develop our in-house players.

That's the priority for the Saints, not for the Twins. Priority for the Twins is winning baseball games.

[DJL44]

7 hours ago, UK Twin said:

Buxton is now top 10 in the AL in HR's, RBI's and SB, plus top 20 in OPS. Please, please stay healthy Buck as it's so much fun watching him right now. Judge has 12 HR's, Ohtani 10. Buxton 8. Only criticism is his walk to strikeout rate is not good. But he's clearly the top CF in baseball right now for me now Judge has moved back to RF. 

I am rooting for him to get to play in the All-Star Game in Atlanta.

[bean5302]

6 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Willi Castro is a much better baseball player than Dashawn Keirsey. Castro went 1 for 3 with a walk which means Castro reached base as many times last night as Keirsey has the entire season. Starting Castro was the better decision before the game started and proven correct with game results.

That's the priority for the Saints, not for the Twins. Priority for the Twins is winning baseball games.

I'd be surprised if Keirsey was on the 26 man at the end of the month. Dedicating a roster spot to a good, but not great, pinch runner and defensive replacement isn't optimal.

[bean5302]

Hopefully, Correa is figuring things out. His line is improving, but it's been mostly singles on high BABIP, and he hasn't taken a single walk in the past 10 games. Barreling up that home run was definitely nice to see.

[Mike Sixel]

18 replies after a win. I think some people just have nothing to say if things go well.....

If, and it's a big if, Buxton and CC play like the stars they are, this team can win a lot of games. 

[NYCTK]

Is there any story for that stupid Roman helmet? I hate it. But I hate most of the HR celebrations around the league. 

The rally sausage was organic so it was allowed (until it and the Twins form went bad). 

 

[DJL44]

13 minutes ago, NYCTK said:

Is there any story for that stupid Roman helmet? I hate it. But I hate most of the HR celebrations around the league. 

I think Vazquez found it in a store in Fort Myers and thought it looked stupid enough for a HR celebration.

[ryanking61]

Can I just watch THAT Minnesota Twins team the rest of the season? It was so fun! 

[KirbyDome89]

3 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

18 replies after a win. I think some people just have nothing to say if things go well.....

If, and it's a big if, Buxton and CC play like the stars they are, this team can win a lot of games. 

Beautiful weather for early May and a Wolves playoff game (plus a disappointing Twins team) definitely play a part here...

[TheLeviathan]

36 minutes ago, KirbyDome89 said:

Beautiful weather for early May and a Wolves playoff game (plus a disappointing Twins team) definitely play a part here...

All true, but all definitely not why there are only a handful of replies, :)

[MMMordabito]

Top 3 WPA: Lopez (.175), Buxton (.148), Correa (.131)

Hard to grumble when you see that.

[Aggies7]

The GDT was pretty dead too.

[jkcarew]

12-9 in last 21 games. 571, albeit against a pretty soft schedule. I think this is who they are. Will be interesting to see if they can come close to that pace over the next 21 which includes a firmer schedule.

[jkcarew]

1 hour ago, MMMordabito said:

Top 3 WPA: Lopez (.175), Buxton (.148), Correa (.131)

Hard to grumble when you see that.

Yep. Buxton has been his best version of himself. Healthy, inconsistent at-bats, but excellent power/ISO, and running the bases aggressively. Correa, if remotely healthy, will ultimately be the least of the clubs worries.

[Mike Sixel]

4 hours ago, KirbyDome89 said:

Beautiful weather for early May and a Wolves playoff game (plus a disappointing Twins team) definitely play a part here...

It was like that last win also ...