Astros 10, Twins 3: Chris Paddack Clunker Sinks Return to Texas

[Matt Braun]

Image courtesy of © Thomas Shea-Imagn Images

Box Score
Chris Paddack: 4 IP, 12 H, 8 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Home Runs: Willi Castro (7), Royce Lewis (2), Ty France (5)
Bottom 3 WPA: Chris Paddack (-.378), Ryan Jeffers (-.063), Carlos Correa (-.055), 
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Friday was supposed to be a celebration for Chris Paddack. The native Texan—self-evident in demeanor and appearance—hadn’t pitched in his home state since his relief outing in the 2023 postseason in the same stadium he found himself in today. Friends were here. Family was here. He was on a hot streak. The stage looked set for the righty to showcase his stuff to the people that knew him best.

And the Astros figured him out like he was a half-bit magician’s cheap trick.

The pummeling never stopped; it only lessened. Houston started the carnage with a trio of runs in the first and returned to clock Paddack for a pair in the second. The third? Unrelenting. Three more runs. Score-wise, the fourth served as a break; yet, the lone run plated that frame was a Jose Altuve short-porch shot that would have been an out had he hit it in any other stadium. There’s something akin to gallows humor there. The baseball gods see no need to soften their mockery.  

By itself, the poor pitching outing would be a difficult obstacle to fight. And overcome, the Twins offense did not. In his sixth career MLB start, lefty Colton Gordon baffled Minnesota’s hitters. Some batters are likely still shaking their heads in disbelief. He cruised in a way rookies rarely do—the luxury of being up five runs before facing the other team’s number-nine hitter.

They did get him, though. Willi Castro smoked a laser beam in the fourth to get the Twins on the board, and Royce Lewis cracked a hanging breaking ball 425 feet for the team’s second run. 

 

 

The game crawled through its middle and late stages with dull inevitability. The outcome was never in question. Yet, a cadre of relievers were forced to ignore the futility of their effect on the course of events and throw fastballs and stuff. So, they did. Occasionally a run scored. It's unclear how much anyone cared. Actions only proved critical when Lewis pulled up lame on a single before immediately leaving the game.

Apparently, physical pain needed to match the ego pain Minnesota felt on Friday. 

Notes:

Chris Paddack's 12 allowed hits tied a career-high.

Willi Castro is slashing .314/.402/.549 since returning from the IL on May 6th. 

Danny Coulombe allowed his first earned run of the season. 

Post-Game Interview:

 

What’s Next?
The Twins and Astros return Saturday with an exciting pitching matchup. Two Cy Young contenders, Joe Ryan and Hunter Brown, will take the mound. First pitch is at 3:10 PM. 

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

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[Aerodeliria]

It's clear that the Twins have too much starting pitching and we should trade some away for getting a middle of the order hitter....................................

[Vanimal46]

44 runs given up over the last 4 games. You’re not gonna win many games in that scenario. 

[darwin22]

Another dismal SP performance tonight.  Paddack got rocked early and Stros kept up the carnage without much of any fight from our stagnant offense against a pitcher I've never heard of.

70 runs allowed in last 8 games. Seventy....ooofdah!  Pretty surprising 2 wins achieved in that span of games.

Only good thing is seeing Kansas City continue to play as bad.  

 

 

[knothole61]

54 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

44 runs given up over the last 4 games. You’re not gonna win many games in that scenario. 

And one was a victory!

[David HK]

Maybe this guy's available? 🤔

[knothole61]

Every MLB season is of course "a long, strange trip," filled with peaks and valleys...but the Twins I fear may be heading for Death Valley at this point. In order to salvage 2025, in my humble opinion, the Twins will need to dig in their heels right now and find a way to win 8 of the next 12 before heading into Detroit for 3. And yes, given the pitching implosion and the freshly injured Lewis, etc., that seems impossible--and yet, it is possible. So, I'll pin my hopes on that and take things a day at a time.

Pollyanna  

[h2oface]

Lewis coming up lame again, just running to first base in the ninth, is heartbreaking and disgusting at the same time. He looked like he wasn't close to ready when they activated him, took forever to start hitting, and once he did, injures himself running to first base. Not into anything, not violently swinging, not being run into..... just running to first base. How did you answer the poll?

[Mark G]

And Coulombe lost his 0.00 ERA.  😥

[CRF]

We actually won 13 games in a row? Imagine what our record would be like if that hadn't happened. 

[Craig Arko]

1 hour ago, CRF said:

We actually won 13 games in a row? Imagine what our record would be like if that hadn't happened. 

Different?

[Patzky]

Yet the Guards, Royals, Angels and Jays all refused to win Friday, teasing us with hope. So you're saying there's a chance.

[Patzky]

1 hour ago, CRF said:

We actually won 13 games in a row? Imagine what our record would be like if that hadn't happened. 

Mathy stuff.. baseball eats that up.

[Doctor Gast]

There are 3 time zones from Brazil to MN. I watched Buxton singled, I got excited & waited for him to steal 2B. That never happened. They have quieted down since Wallner came back & settled in their weird analytics. Jeffers grounded into a DP so I went to bed. We needed this game but the way it was going, I wasn't going to stay up to watch it.

[chinmusic]

This ain't no June swoon. More like a June KA-BOOM.

Then again, today's the first day of the rest of the season.

[thelanges5]

Headline is Paddack but don’t let the batters off the hook here. Bases loaded with nothing to show for it. 

“lefty Colton Gordon baffled Minnesota’s hitters”

He’s the most recent but it’s been happening all season. 

[chinmusic]

"What’s Next?
The Twins and Blue Jays return Saturday with an exciting pitching matchup. Two Cy Young contenders, Joe Ryan and Hunter Brown, will take the mound. First pitch is at 3:10 PM."

Hmmm...I think NOT😅

[terrydactyls]

4 minutes ago, chinmusic said:

"What’s Next?
The Twins and Blue Jays return Saturday with an exciting pitching matchup. Two Cy Young contenders, Joe Ryan and Hunter Brown, will take the mound. First pitch is at 3:10 PM."

Hmmm...I think NOT😅

He didn't say they would be contenders this year. 😅

[chinmusic]

13 minutes ago, terrydactyls said:

He didn't say they would be contenders this year. 😅

Ok...clarification.

My "I think not" comment was based on the sentence "What’s Next?
The Twins and BLUE JAYS return Saturday with an exciting pitching matchup."

The Jays are in Philadelphia this weekend, and Brown does not pitch for them.

I hadn't considered whether Ryan or Brown are viable  Cy Young candidates.

 

 

[tony&rodney]

7 hours ago, h2oface said:

Lewis coming up lame again, just running to first base in the ninth, is heartbreaking and disgusting at the same time. He looked like he wasn't close to ready when they activated him, took forever to start hitting, and once he did, injures himself running to first base. Not into anything, not violently swinging, not being run into..... just running to first base. How did you answer the poll?

Can only add this - Lewis was given a 70 score (out of 80) for foot speed when he was a prospect. Now he is struggling to reach 25.6 ft per sec. He is slower than slow due to leg injuries. Can they heal? I don't know but his base seems compromised. 

[mikelink45]

It's more than the story of this game having our two rookies struggling. It really hurts to have Ober and Paddock look terrible. Let's hope Ryan can give us a veteran start and get us looking like a 500 team at least. Festa had a better second game so maybe we can all think positive and look for another 12-game winning streak. 

But in the meantime we have Royce doing what Royce has been doing his entire career- looking great and then going down with an injury. It's really sad. We went through this for so many years with Buxton. What is it with the twins that we have such bad injury luck. I know every team has injuries but boy it seems like we are really plagued with them.

[LambchoP]

I'm starting to wonder if Lewis will ever be a viable starter. With all of his leg injuries, he can't even run to first base without pulling something. If there is any kind of market for him at all, I'd see what we could get for him. Lee seems to be coming around, and with guys like Clemens and Keaschal, I think we have infielders aplenty.

[LewFordLives]

1 hour ago, thelanges5 said:

 

“lefty Colton Gordon baffled Minnesota’s hitters”

He’s the most recent but it’s been happening all season. 

The Twins inability to hit lefties has been a problem for the last few years.

[Blyleven2011]

11 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

44 runs given up over the last 4 games. You’re not gonna win many games in that scenario. 

And we haven't hit the dog days of summer yet , the pitching has hit a lull since Pablo's injury  ... 

When are they ever going to realize that every win is important  , we lost alot of winnable games when pitching was good but lost because hitting and defense is floundering ...

Nothing has really changed since 2024 , inconsistent hitting ...

 

[Blyleven2011]

4 hours ago, CRF said:

We actually won 13 games in a row? Imagine what our record would be like if that hadn't happened. 

If we hadn't won 13 in a row , there definitely should have been some coaching changes , I'm still calling for professional help in the coaching department ...

We have no room for error , but the errors of the twins games just don't seem to be addressed ...

Example , buxton leads off with a single  , he hasn't been thrown out stealing yet this season  , he's healthy and showing great skills this year , he doesn't steal and jeffers hits into double play ...

I rest my case on professional coaching ...

[T.O.]

9 hours ago, h2oface said:

Lewis coming up lame again, just running to first base in the ninth, is heartbreaking and disgusting at the same time. He looked like he wasn't close to ready when they activated him, took forever to start hitting, and once he did, injures himself running to first base. Not into anything, not violently swinging, not being run into..... just running to first base. How did you answer the poll?

Since last year I viewed Lewis as a not even there. I tried my best to forget him rather count on him performing at the brilliant level that most expect from him. It was more difficult when when he played, watching him struggle. His moments of brilliance in the past were too long to be a fluke but overall I don't think he has the temperament to be a MLB player or even a AAA player. He seems like a 7 year old stuck in a mans body. He lacks seriousness He apparently has no sense of what his body can do and not do. It would seem the Twins staff has let him down too.

I would love to see the monster crushing home runs in clutch situations again but I don't expect that, I don't think about that. 

 

[T.O.]

They shot the Sheriff. Now I think they are coming for the Deputy. 

 

[Mike Sixel]

7 minutes ago, T.O. said:

They shot the Sheriff. Now I think they are coming for the Deputy. 

 

Really poor taste given what happened this morning.

[T.O.]

22 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Really poor taste given what happened this morning.

I had not looked at the news yet. Scary. And in Minneapolis even. My bad timing.

[TwinsDr2021]

25 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Really poor taste given what happened this morning.

What happened this morning, was horrible, terrible and every other word imaginable. But Paddack has the nickname sheriff and the rest of it was in reference to a song (I assume), tragic crap happens everyday, if you can't make a clever joke/quip about the damn Twins and a song, which has nothing to do with the events of today then we are done. Mourn today events, and all the events that are happening all over the world, but lighten up when somebody makes a clever comment about something in the entertainment world that may or may not put a smile on somebody's face just for moment. If you didn't like it click the disagree icon or ignore it but don't say it is in poor taste, but other's may think you are in poor taste for conflating the two.