Twins 4, Tigers 1: David Festa Cruises; Byron Buxton Blasts in Detroit

[Matt Braun]

Image courtesy of © Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images

Box Score
David Festa: 5 ⅔ IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K
Home Runs: Byron Buxton (18)
Top 3 WPA: David Festa (.309), Brooks Lee (.184), Byron Buxton (.083)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

 

Well, it’s time. The Twins have their shot at the kings. The beauty of divisional play is that—no matter how mediocre a team may appear—they’ll always see the best of their competition multiple times a season. Could they be embarrassed in three games? Absolutely. But, they could also shock the team at the top. Does Minnesota have the fight in them to do so? We shall see.

Early returns were inconclusive. Former Twins farmhand Sawyer Gipson-Long held the Twins bats at bay, while David Festa did the same. The two only dealt in efficiency: neither pitcher allowed a run for three innings.

And it seemed that Gipson-Long would extend the streak into the fourth. He needed just five pitches to coax a pair of groundouts. Easy stuff. Breezy. The inning may as well be over. Then, Matt Wallner doubled. Still, no matter: two outs is a lot. It’s almost three, in fact. Strangely, Brooks Lee shot a skimming heater down the first base line just fair to score Wallner. Huh. 

 

That hit augured three consecutive run-scoring frames. Byron Buxton bazooka-ed a solo shot in the fifth, his 18th of the season. Everyone in Michigan knew it was gone the second his bat hit the ball.

 

In the sixth, Lee singled in Willi Castro to conclude what had been a clever trip around the bases; with Castro walking, stealing second, and advancing to third on a wild pitch. 

Meanwhile, Festa was in a deep groove. Like, a Superstition or 1999 type of groove. The sliders were perfectly placed; fully reminiscent of the promise the lanky righty flashed in 2024. He escaped a minor threat in the second and only finally allowed another baserunner with two outs in the sixth. In total, it was likely the best big-league start Festa had pitched in 2025. 

(Matters are always helped when your third baseman pulls off plays like this.)

 

 

Danny Coulombe begat Louis Varland, who begat Griffin Jax, who begat Jhoan Durán. Somewhere in the middle, the Twins scored a fourth run off an honest-to-God squeeze bunt. Jax ran into some trouble. A run scored against him. A few Tigers prowled around the bases, hungry to score. An overwhelming barrage of off-speed pitches, and two very confused hitters later, and Jax walked off the mound fired up and successful. 

Notes:

• The Twins scored their four runs on just six hits. It helps when half of those hits are for extra bases, but it also helps when aggressive baserunning tacks on a couple of insurance runs. 
• A blowout win yesterday helped the cause today. The Twins leaned on their bullpen for the last 3-1/3 innings, and three of the four high-leverage relievers they used did not pitch yesterday.

•   Byron Buxton hit his 151st career home run, the 13th-most in Twins history. He's 10 away from tying Max Kepler. 
• Danny Coulombe pitched in his 316th career MLB game on Friday, 

Post-Game Interview:

 

 

What’s Next?
The Twins and Tigers match up again on Saturday, as Bailey Ober is scheduled to start opposite Casey Mize. First pitch is at 12:10 PM. 

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

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[USAFChief]

Pretty sporty there, Mr Festa.

[jmlease1]

Very fun game to watch. Thought Festa pitched quite well. Would not mind seeing him get a little more rope when he's throwing this well to go a little deeper, but can't argue with the results. He had a nice rhythm going (and it was nice to hear the announcing team picking up on that as well). When the Twins starting pitching is going well, everything goes easier.

Brooks Lee's play at 3B is one of the better ones I've seen all season, really looked great. Baez thought he had a hit and ended up out by 4 feet. That's pretty fun.

All good to see a Buxton Bomb fly out of the park! He got all of it, for sure.

keep it going, boys!

[TheLeviathan]

I really liked the aggression the Twins showed on the basepaths tonight.  At least one of the runs, if not two, happened because they made Detroit's defense work.

[Linus]

Strong game by Brooks Lee at third. He looks  like our best fielder there. If he can get an extended run there we might have a solid left side of the infield. 

[Parfigliano]

Pitching, defense and XBHs.  Nice win.

[DJL44]

Fun game to watch. Tomorrow should be good, too. Ober has always done well against the Tigers.

[blindeke]

Great recap, Matt!

[VivaBomboRivera!]

Now that's baseball. Take two more and a lot of minds change.

[BH67]

So the Twins are the Manchurian Candidate of baseball -- prone to brilliance until "Angela Lansbury" chooses them to crash and burn. I hope we find her whereabouts soon. (And I suppose that Twins Daily commenters therefore are portrayed by Frank Sinatra. I'm fine with that.)

[1985Fan]

Well played game. Festa looked good, had some good defensive plays to back up the pitching (except for Castro’s mistake in right field), good base running, and timely hitting. There was even a safety squeeze bunt to score the 4th run. 
Only complaint is taking Festa out when he was cruising. He only threw 75 pitches. Should have left him out there for another inning to save a BP arm for the rest of the series. 

[David HK]

Festa was festive today.  But he's kind of quizzical to me- tall, lean, long limbs, but in his delivery he gets so scrunched up he seems closer to 5'10" than 6'6".

[Peter]

Festa stepped up big time!!! Huge win to start road trip!!!

[CRF]

Very nice win against a good team. Excellent job by Festa. Rocco should've left him in to at least finish the 6th, but it worked out ok. Gotta start giving these pitchers a little more rope...especially since he pitched great and had a low pitch count...but like I said, it worked out ok. We need to see more of that from Festa. We'll need him going forward. We need Ober to get back on track today. GO TWINS. 

[tarheeltwinsfan]

9 hours ago, Linus said:

Strong game by Brooks Lee at third. He looks  like our best fielder there. If he can get an extended run there we might have a solid left side of the infield. 

Especially if Luke K can produce at 2B when he returns. Lee, LK, Bader, Vasquez and Royce Lewis bring special extrovert energy to the game. Buck brings a quiet, thoughtful energy that is similar to the introvert energy of Morneau and Mauer and Pablo. Ryan's energy is in a class by himself. He is a different cat. Bottom line, energy fuels the team. Defense, base running and pitching win games. 

[Doctor Gast]

Well played game against the currently best AL team. Everything lined up; a rested BP, a rested Festa after having 2 short outings prior. Good pitching, good defense, good baserunning & clutch hitting, kept DET at bay. If the Twins can maintain this formula with good managing, we can come out well against this series.

[Old Twins Hat]

With Skubal pitching on Sunday night, if the Twins want to win the series, today is the day to stake that claim.

[jmlease1]

48 minutes ago, CRF said:

Very nice win against a good team. Excellent job by Festa. Rocco should've left him in to at least finish the 6th, but it worked out ok. Gotta start giving these pitchers a little more rope...especially since he pitched great and had a low pitch count...but like I said, it worked out ok. We need to see more of that from Festa. We'll need him going forward. We need Ober to get back on track today. GO TWINS. 

Maybe if it was already 4-0 Festa gets a little more rope? I'm guessing Rocco wanted to get him the win, have him leave with that in play and maybe boost his confidence. But also with the team having gone through such a bad patch, you're trying to do everything you can to get the win. I would like to see Festa given more of a chance when his pitch count is low and he seems to be cruising pretty well, but coming off a rotten start against MKE and an inefficient start against Cincy I don't think this was a bad call.

He threw a very nice game, the slider was effective in getting outs, and the sinker he's been working on showed effectiveness. Hopefully, he's back on track.

[DJL44]

That HBP for Vazquez must have hurt like hell.

[mikelink45]

I love this game and the way the Twins played.  My Nitpick of the day is that Festa should have been extended until he showed he was losing it.  They could have saved one of their principal RP for another game. 

[JD-TWINS]

9 hours ago, DJL44 said:

Fun game to watch. Tomorrow should be good, too. Ober has always done well against the Tigers.

These Tigers are a little different - Since last August they’re as good as it gets. 🤞

[JD-TWINS]

11 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

I love this game and the way the Twins played.  My Nitpick of the day is that Festa should have been extended until he showed he was losing it.  They could have saved one of their principal RP for another game. 

Yes, Nitpicking hindsight. 5 2/3 of zero runs is enough for a guy trying to build confidence. He couldn’t get the last guy out - Numerous pitches with 2 strikes and 2 outs, guy hit a hit……….don’t need a fatigue HR there. to the next guy. Lefty comes in & gets them to PH and gets them to the 7th. Hoping Festa could have gotten out of that in 6th AND pitched another inning is a real stretch …….MORE could be “hoped for” from every starter in every game.

[jorgenswest]

I thought Festa was pulled at the right time. Really a good move by Baldelli. Kerry Carpenter had already seen 16 pitches from Festa in his first two at bats. 

As a result…

• Kerry Carpenter is removed for a pinch hitter mid game
• The end up using three hitters in that DH spot and don’t have a pinch hitter for the bottom of the ninth ending the game with the weak hitting Meadows.
• Coulombe does the job and gets the out to close the 6th.
• Festa ends the night with a win and a solid outing.

How many times have we seen the other manager get Baldelli to remove a good left handed bat mid game only to need him in that spot later in the game? Nice to see it work out the other way.

[JD-TWINS]

LEE - I was not a real promoter of him 6 weeks ago - too much soft contact, no power, slow, etc. - have been disappointed after all the hype.

His defense shines at times - certainly good enough for every day player going forward. His HR potential is showing with experience but more importantly he’s hitting line drives. His average is up to .280. Gotta give him credit, he seems to be figuring it out and from both sides of the plate!!

That said, he should be fined and the 1B coach should too for the ridiculous base running after his line drive to Right Center - France (probably slowest starter) went first to third and the throw was made there………when the CF is making a play there Lee has to at least be 3/4 steps around 1B…..at least. The ball rolls away from third baseman, slowly, maybe 20 feet. Lee should have back pedaled into 2B - I was astonished he was still at 1B. Broad angle replay shows him heading back to the bag at 1B as the ball is in the air to 3B. What is the coach doing/watching? Terrible baseball by them both!!! Clemens gets HBP so it’s never an issue - doesn’t make it right.

Castro walk, stolen base, advance on wild pitch in same game…….

Buxton walk, stolen base, advance on FC, scores on sac bunt in same game……

It’s not the Manager’s fault Lee didn’t get to 2B it’s guys doing there job right whether they have speed or not - base coaching with some awareness and energy - do your jobs

[Jeff K]

37 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

Maybe if it was already 4-0 Festa gets a little more rope? I'm guessing Rocco wanted to get him the win, have him leave with that in play and maybe boost his confidence. But also with the team having gone through such a bad patch, you're trying to do everything you can to get the win. I would like to see Festa given more of a chance when his pitch count is low and he seems to be cruising pretty well, but coming off a rotten start against MKE and an inefficient start against Cincy I don't think this was a bad call.

He threw a very nice game, the slider was effective in getting outs, and the sinker he's been working on showed effectiveness. Hopefully, he's back on track.

You beat me to it.  I normally agree that our starters ought to go deeper when their pitch count is in order.  But Festa needed a good outing and outcome.  A couple more of those and he can start going deeper.

[Blyleven2011]

Can you believe it ...

What I like the best was the clutch sac bunt , willi layed down a beauty for buxton to score  ...

I like the win but the bunt was perfect ...

Gotta play more small ball it was exciting  ...

[FlyingFinn]

1 hour ago, DJL44 said:

That HBP for Vazquez must have hurt like hell.

Yes, and if we aren't pinch running Keirsey there (even if Vazquez wasn't hit), why is he on the team?

[FlyingFinn]

2 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

good baserunning

My nitpick is Lee not going to 2nd when France took 3rd on his single, with the ball getting past the 3rd baseman. Didn't seem like he was even watching the play. Watkins was even waving Lee to 2nd.

[karcherd]

20 minutes ago, FlyingFinn said:

My nitpick is Lee not going to 2nd when France took 3rd on his single, with the ball getting past the 3rd baseman. Didn't seem like he was even watching the play. Watkins was even waving Lee to 2nd.

Yes I thought Lee should have been on second and was surprised he wasn't.  France did this against Seattle where he didn't go to third on a ball hit to right center, everyone thought he should have gone.  But this team has played station to station for the last 6 years and the philosophy starts with the manager.  He says he wants the team to be more aggressive but they have not been an aggressive base running team.  I hope it will start taking hold, I am willing to not be upset with Lee for last night as long as he doesn't continue to do that when the opportunities are there.

[LambchoP]

Why is Keirsey using up a valuable roster spot. He's an automatic out at the plate so he's basically just a pinch runner and defensive sub. They didn't even have him run for Vasquez late in the game though. If Austin Martin shows he's healthy I'd much rather see him as our 4rth OF, or even give Mccusker a true shot this time platooning with Wallner. The fact Keirsey and Bride are on a major league team that is supposedly trying to compete is laughable:(