Week in Review: Rocky Re-entry

[Nick Nelson]

Image courtesy of Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

The Weekly Nutshell:
The Minnesota Twins knew the stakes this past weekend in Colorado. The players knew. Rocco Baldelli knew. The front office certainly knew. In order to build on the momentum that was percolating before the break, and plant themselves in the "buyer" (or at least "non-seller") category with 10 days until the deadline, the Twins needed to win this series, and ideally sweep it. The assignment couldn't have been much easier, going up against a Rockies team those season is in contention for the worst in MLB history.

Despite all this, the Twins came up short. They came up more than short. They got completely outclassed  in the first two games by a Colorado team that's been a laughing stock all year. Minnesota was able to recover and pick up a victory on their way out of town, but the damage was done. The upcoming trade deadline instills a real sense of urgency as the Twins try to save their wayward season.

Weekly Snapshot: Mon, 7/14 through Sun, 7/20
***
Record Last Week: 1-2 (Overall: 48-51)
Run Differential Last Week: +0 (Overall: -8)
Standing: 3rd Place in AL Central (11 GB) 

Last Week's Game Results:

Game 97 | COL 6, MIN 4: Twins Unable to Recover After Rockies Ambush Paddack

• Paddack: 5 IP, 5 ER, 8 H

Game 98 | COL 10, MIN 6: No Signs of Life in Lopsided Loss to League's Biggest Losers 

• Matthews: 4 IP, 5 ER, 8 H

Game 99 | MIN 7, COL 1: Twins Save Face, Escape Colorado with Win Behind Ryan's Gem

• Ryan: 7 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 11 K

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NEWS & NOTES

Zebby Matthews made his return to the Twins rotation on Saturday, following a single rehab start in Triple-A. It did not go well. Travis Adams was optioned to the Saints as the corresponding move. Also arriving on  St. Paul's roster over the weekend: Luke Keaschall and Bailey Ober, who initiated their own rehab stints. Ober tossed four scoreless innings with slightly improved velocity on Friday night. Tough to make much out of that. Keaschall had four hits, three walks and two stolen bases in three games. He's playing DH exclusively, for now. 

Over the All-Star break, the Twins acquired 28-year-old right-hander Noah Davis for cash in a minor trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers (whom they'll now have the displeasure of facing on the road). Davis has an ugly MLB track record (8.95 ERA in 57.1 IP) but there's some intrigue in his arm. The Twins are using their open 40-man spot to stash Davis at Triple-A.

HIGHLIGHTS

Byron Buxton and Joe Ryan both had strong showings in the All-Star Game and followed up by flashing All-Star form in their returns to meaningful action. Buxton belted his 22nd homer on Friday as part of a three-hit night, his fourth multi-hit game in a row. Ryan was flat-out brilliant on Sunday, ensuring the end of a three-game skid by firing seven innings of one-run ball with 11 strikeouts and no walks. Ryan improved to 10-4 with a 2.63 ERA on the season. With Pablo López on the way back, the Twins would have a heck of a co-ace setup atop the rotation if they could find their way into the playoffs. 

The usual suspects made some noise in a largely underwhelming weekend for the offense. Willi Castro drilled a three-run homer in Friday's contest that threatened to make a game out of it. Ryan Jeffers notched four hits on Saturday, while Kody Clemens doubled, tripled and drove in three, continuing to work his way into more playing time, and higher placement in the batting order. Clemens batted cleanup on Sunday, and went 2-for-4 with another triple.

It was shaping up as a rough weekend for Royce Lewis, who was 0-for-3 on Friday when he got subbed out for a pinch-hitter late in a close game. He was on the bench the next day, and on Sunday found himself batting eighth in the lineup — more than justified based on his relapse into lackluster production. Then, in the finale against Colorado, Lewis finally did what we've been waiting to see for nearly a full calendar year: he looked like Royce Lewis.

Granted, it was against low-leverage relievers on the worst team in the league, in the most hitter-friendly environment. But Lewis popped off for two no-doubt home runs, going deep to left-center in the fourth and eighth innings to equal, on two swings, his long-ball output from the past 85 games combined. You could almost physically see the metaphorical weight being lifted off his shoulders.

 

Caveats aside, we'll take whatever signs of progress we can from Royce. It's been said before, but no one on the team (and really, few players around the league) has the ability to individually impact their team's fortunes in the same way as a locked-in Lewis. If he can get going, the Twins aren't dead. This was a much needed boost at the end of a really demoralizing weekend.

LOWLIGHTS

In Minnesota's first inning out of the All-Star break, Chris Paddack took the mound against the worst team in Major League Baseball, and proceeded to allow four runs on four consecutive extra-base hits before recording an out. It set the tone for a disastrous series in Denver that leaves the Twins' contention hopes in a dire state at a pivotal moment.

As Twins pitchers gasped for life in the Rocky Mountain air, the lineup could do little to take advantage of the favorable setting and provide support. On Friday, the top three hitters in the order — Buxton, Jeffers, Castro — combined for eight hits, two homers and four runs scored. The rest of the Twins lineup was 2-for-21 with zero runs scored and zero batted in. 

Saturday somehow unearthed new lows, with the offense flailing away futilely against arguably the worst starting pitcher in baseball, Antonio Senzatela. This was a get-right spot if I've ever seen one, but the Twins got right back to fumbling away their fate. They managed three runs over seven innings against Senzatela — his longest start since 2022 — as the Rockies piled up runs against Twins pitchers. 

It was the same old story for Zebby Matthews on Saturday: visibly good stuff, plenty of swings and misses, but way too many hits, way too much hard contact. The ability is clearly there and, importantly, Matthews looked fully healthy in his first start coming off the shoulder strain. But his consistency in execution continues to falter, leading to mistakes you simply can't afford at the big-league level. 

 

Matthews gave up eight hits in four innings and paired with Brock Stewart, who surrendered a back-breaking three-run bomb in relief, to dig Minnesota a deep hole in this game they desperately needed to win. 

Whatever the Twins aspire to do in the second half, it's going to be dependent on exceptional pitching that makes almost every game winnable, even with an unreliable offense. That was the missing piece in June, but was starting to materialize again in July up until the break. This makes Friday and Saturday's displays, surrendering 16 runs against a lousy Rockies team, so disheartening.

Having said that, offense is clearly what's holding the Twins back. After scoring one run in a crushing 2-1 loss heading into the break, Minnesota's bats couldn't make noise until it was too late in a pair of devastating defeats to open this series. Brooks Lee went 0-for-7 at Coors. Ty France went 1-for-8. We're still waiting for Trevor Larnach and Matt Wallner to heat up, though Wallner did launch a homer on Sunday, his fourth this month. When will some of these guys truly step up? Ever?

TRENDING STORYLINE

The trade deadline is all but upon us. Buzz is going to heat up significantly in the coming week, and the Twins will undoubtedly be receiving relentless calls on their numerous intriguing assets. Even as someone who has been adamantly against the idea of full-on "selling," it's getting harder to make an argument toward clinging to the fading dream of contention in 2025 after what we just saw in Colorado. 

I'm still very opposed to the idea of selling off key parts of the 2026 team, which is why I'm out on the idea of trading Ryan, and unenthused about shopping Jhoan Durán and Griffin Jax (though you've got to listen on relievers overpays at the deadline).

Those players who are due for free agency after this year, however, have a much tougher case for retaining as the suitors come calling. Unless the Twins can rapidly resuscitate themselves in the next week or so — and, the other direction feels more likely given who they're about to face — the front office will probably take what it can get for one or more of Castro, Harrison Bader and Danny Coulombe. 

The coming week might be the last chance for this Twins team to avert a sell-off that strips away the help they need for an unlikely, but not impossible, push to the postseason.

LOOKING AHEAD

The Twins have played nine straight games against National League opponents and will extend that number to 15 with six more lined up against the Senior Circuit. That includes one of the toughest match-ups on the entire schedule to open the week, as the Twins travel to Los Angeles for three games against the high-priced, high-powered Dodgers. The Twins will face Shohei Ohtani as pitcher in the opener, and they'll have to deal with his bat for the whole series, along with plenty of other top-tier arms.

Things theoretically get easier when the Twins return home to face the last-place Nationals, but no opponent can be dismissed based on what we just saw in Colorado (especially with two lefty starters in the queue), and besides, by the time that series rolls around, the meaningfulness might have already been lifted. I sure hope not.

MONDAY, JULY 21: TWINS @ DODGERS — RHP David Festa v. RHP Shohei Ohtani
TUESDAY, JULY 22: TWINS @ DODGERS — RHP Simeon Woods Richardson v. RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto
WEDNESDAY, JULY 23: TWINS @ DODGERS — RHP Chris Paddack v. RHP Tyler Glasnow
FRIDAY, JULY 25: NATIONALS @ TWINS — LHP Mitchell Parker v. RHP Zebby Matthews
SATURDAY, JULY 26: NATIONALS @ TWINS — LHP MacKenzie Gore v. RHP Joe Ryan
SUNDAY, JULY 267: NATIONALS @ TWINS — RHP Jake Irvin v. RHP David Festa

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[Doctor Gast]

Baldelli's getaway games are usually raising the white flag & conceding the loss, but this getaway game was putting out there the A team & try to have some respectability leaving town.

[D.C Twins]

Ryan and controllable pitching stays..... everything else is on the table for the right price. 

[Blyleven2011]

Wasn't much of a week to review ...

Watched Ryan and Buxton in the allstar game which ended in a tie but was decided by a homerun derby ...

Watched the twins in Colorado  , nothing more to say after losing the first 2 games of the series  ...

Off to dodgertown  , wish we were playing Detroit  , they're slumping right now ....

[Otwins]

I didn't think Baldelli managed this series like he knew he had to win it. Why open with Paddack? Everyone fully rested he would have been my last choice.  In fact I was hoping they would move him back to the bullpen and insert Ober back in rotation. Then in the Saturday game he went to the back of the bullpen for the last two innings in a game we had to win. A three run lead is not that safe in Coors. I was thinking Jax and Duran.  Instead Rocco saved them for Sunday when they were not likely needed with Ryan pitching. On the hitting side did we really need to rest bats on Sunday. We just had the All-star break and played 2 games. If Rocco knew how important that series was he sure did not manage like it.

 

[LastOnePicked]

I'm confused by all of the "don't touch Joe Ryan" talk. What exactly is Joe Ryan going to do for a rebuilding team?

His stock is probably never going to be higher. The Twins are going nowhere in 2026. Aren't you supposed to sell high and buy low if you're a mid-market team?

Let the poor guy pitch for a contender. Judging from his comments last week, it sounds like he wouldn't mind being traded one bit. And I don't blame him.

[mikelink45]

I remember teams like the Mets and Indians who won because of pitching.  I hold on to the quality pitchers, find some key hitters to make the lineup better, hold on to Bader and his defense - I am a believer in good defense and promote every prospect until we get a team we like.  

I am not ready to gut the team, but I would certainly recommend some strategic surgery.

[Doctor Wu]

16 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

I hold on to the quality pitchers

That's my philosophy too. We struggled for too many years to find quality starting pitchers, I don't think this is the time to trade them away, even as LastOnePicked noted about Ryan's value being very high. Sure, but I still think we are better off keeping him. The relief pitchers are another matter, Duran and Jax are high quality arms, but I think we COULD afford to trade one of them, at least if we are getting fair value in return. 

[Bodie]

10 hours ago, Blyleven2011 said:

Wasn't much of a week to review ...

Watched Ryan and Buxton in the allstar game which ended in a tie but was decided by a homerun derby ...

Watched the twins in Colorado  , nothing more to say after losing the first 2 games of the series  ...

Off to dodgertown  , wish we were playing Detroit  , they're slumping right now ....

Dodgers have lost 10 of last 12, so...time for someone to get right!

[P Meyer]

11 hours ago, LastOnePicked said:

I'm confused by all of the "don't touch Joe Ryan" talk. What exactly is Joe Ryan going to do for a rebuilding team?

His stock is probably never going to be higher. The Twins are going nowhere in 2026. Aren't you supposed to sell high and buy low if you're a mid-market team?

Let the poor guy pitch for a contender. Judging from his comments last week, it sounds like he wouldn't mind being traded one bit. And I don't blame him.

I think the biggest reason we won't see Ryan dealt is because it would take a haul to get him based on his controllable years and performance. It doesn't seem common for a team to give up a ton of good assets to get a premier player at the deadline. 

[chpettit19]

15 hours ago, D.C Twins said:

Ryan and controllable pitching stays..... everything else is on the table for the right price. 

You're not improving the team that way. What's the point? All you do is end up with an even worse team moving forward. The controllable pitching is the only thing with value the Twins have. Trading all your unvaluable pieces isn't how you improve the team.

I wouldn't trade them all right now, but eventually (this offseason would be my vote) they're going to have to move at least 1 of their starters to get some actual difference making pieces on the position player side. Otherwise, you're just rearranging deck chairs on that big ship that sank.

[Western SD Fan]

I was able to attend the first two games this weekend at Coors Field to finally watch the Twins.  On that note, I think the Twins should start sending me a royalty check to stay away from their games as every game I have gone to in the past few years, the Twins have lost.  If I was a very casual fan that didn't know anything about how the season has gone this year, I would have expected the roles to be reversed.  The Rockies to be a bubble playoff team and the Twins to be the bottom-feeder.  I know this because my friend, who is this type of casual fan, asked me on the way home what happened to the Twins this weekend as when she looked on paper on the matchup, she expected an easy Twins victory.  The Rockies seemed to play faster, take the extra bases, take advantage of pitches in the zone to drive the ball and punish pitchers, and take advantage of errors or sloppy play.  The Twins looked like the same old Twins I've been watching all season.  Starting pitchers give up a few early runs and the offense never catches up.  The worst pitching in MLB collected TWO quality starts (Freeland, 6IP, 1ER; Senzatela, 7IP, 3ER) against us. 

I do need to listen to the Royce Lewis interview over the weekend as I think it opens some eyes.  You almost have to wonder if there is too much information given to these guys and/or too much tinkering with some of these player's mechanics.  Many of them are just looking lost at the plate, missing pitches in the zone, or hitting with weak contact.  There were some great defensive plays by the Rockies, but that accounted for 3-4 AB's in the entire series, certainly not enough to affect the rest of the team or the series.

Finally, you could hear the great contingent of Twins fans that made the trip out to Denver, hoping to prove that there are still fans out here on the fringe High Plains of the Dakotas, Wyoming and Montana.  The series averaged an attendance of 35,895 per ESPN.com's recaps and the Rockies faithful still loudly cheered on their team, even though they are having the year they're having.  It seemed embarrassing as a Twins fan watching the home games on TV the difference in atmosphere between Colorado and Minnesota, and I'm not talking about the less air in elevation or the distinct smells in downtown Denver.  You can blame the Pohlads, the dragging on of the sale of the team, the lack of moves by the FO creating a lackluster fan base.  I would argue that Dick Monfort (owners of the Rockies) is a worse owner than the Pohlads.  Coors Field is still a beautiful ballpark, a seeming dedicated fan base even in the face of consistent losing seasons, bad front offices, and poor development of players.  Now, there are more reports staring to coalesce that an ownership group is gelling and could actually finish a sale of the Twins sometime in the offseason.  I hope all those fans that claim they won't attend a game until ownership changes put their money where their mouth is and support the Twins when a new ownership is announced.

[TheLeviathan]

13 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

I remember teams like the Mets and Indians who won because of pitching.  I hold on to the quality pitchers, find some key hitters to make the lineup better, hold on to Bader and his defense - I am a believer in good defense and promote every prospect until we get a team we like.  

I am not ready to gut the team, but I would certainly recommend some strategic surgery.

Duran, Jax, Ober, Lopez, and Ryan all become free agents the same year.  How many do you think ownership ponies up to retain?

Whatever that answer is.....the rest leave you for nothing in two seasons.  You can deal them or get nothing and the longer you wait to deal them, the more their value diminishes.

It's not ideal, but such is life with a budget/ownership situation like this.