Red Sox 8, Twins 5: Red Sox Veterans Spoil Ohl's Debut and Lee's Historic Night

[Steven Trefz]

Image courtesy of © Jordan Johnson-Imagn Images

Box Score
SP: Pierson Ohl 3.0 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 4 K (72 pitches, 45 strikes (63%))
Home Runs: Brooks Lee 2 (9, 10)
Bottom 3 WPA: Ohl (-.246), Willi Castro (-.136), Royce Lewis (-.074)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) 
 

After a late-night walk-off winner against the Boston Red Sox, the Twins turned to a rookie to keep the momentum rolling. With Chris Paddack now a Tiger, a spot in the rotation was open, and young Pierson Ohl completed his meteoric rise from Single-A all the way to Target Field with his first MLB start. The young righty matched up against the wily veteran Lucas Giolito (6-2, 3.94 ERA), who was marking his 196th career MLB game. Who would get the upper hand in the battle of these two right-handers: The rookie or the veteran?

First Start, Great Start
Ohl started out with equal parts brilliance and stress. He registered strikeouts of his first two batters, before surrendering a double to Jarren Duran. With his first runner in scoring position, Ohl then collected a huge strikeout of Trevor Story to retire the side. After the Twins couldn't cash in on a two-on, none-out scenario yet again, Ohl returned to face Wilyer Abreu to start the second inning. Abreu sent one deep to center field in an attempt to put the Sox up 1-0, but Harrison Bader said no.

Twins Miss Opporunities, While Boston Cashes In
The news of Byron Buxton going on the IL before tonight's game was frustrating. The news that Carlos Correa had to exit the game after feeling light-headed following his first-inning single added angst to injury. As the rookie continued to deal, his revolving defense (and offense) continued to flail. Ty France and Christian Vázquez stranded Matt Wallner at second base in the second inning.

After yet another scoring opportunity got thwarted by the Red Sox, Boston speedster Ceddanne Rafaela crushed a triple off of the left field wall to start off the action in the top of the third. As Ohl now journeyed through the second turn through the lineup, the Boston batters were able to lay off the breaking balls and crush strikes in the zone. Roman Anthony quickly delivered a single to officially notch the first earned run against Ohl. Alex Bregman's double scored Anthony, and it was 2-0 Red Sox; Ohl was in trouble. The rookie thought he had fixed the glitch when he struck out Duran for the second out, but a center-cut changeup on the eighth pitch of the at-bat to Story ended up in the bullpen to make it a 4-0 Boston advantage. 

Ohl's night ended after three innings, and Michael Tonkin took over to start the fourth. He celebrated his return to Target Field by plunking the first batter he faced in Abraham Toro, Tonkin settled down and took care of business in the fourth, but in the top of the fifth, Duran took Tonkin deep to increase the lead to 5-0. 

In the bottom of the fifth, the Twins once again got a runner in scoring position with only one out, only to see Trevor Larnach strike out. Luckily for the Twins, last night's hero, Brooks Lee, was now in the game, and he was more than willing to deliver the first run of the day for the home team with a two-out, two-strike single to plate Bader. Vázquez and Lee advanced to third and second base, respectively, giving Willi Castro a chance to make this a ballgame again. Castro almost found the hole on the left side, but Bregman lunged and threw on a dime to keep the game at 5-1.

No Relief in Sight
Kody Funderburk came on to face the bottom of the Boston lineup in the bottom of the sixth inning. It hasn't been going well for Funderburk since his call-up (10.57 ERA over his last seven outings), and tonight was no different. A lead-off single to Carlos Narvaez was followed by a ground-rule double to Toro. The good news is that Funderburk's ERA actually went down, while the bad news is that he did surrender a run back to the Red Sox on a sac fly to make it a five-run deficit at 6-1 again. Giolito, meanwhile, escaped another clogged bases situation in the bottom of the sixth to leave the game having scattered only four hits and allowing only one run, keeping the Twins to just 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

Brooks Lee Continues to Be Him
In the bottom of the seventh inning, the new proud poppa Ryan Jeffers pinch-hit for Larnach with a lefty reliver on the mound. Jeffers laced a single into center field easily enough to make you wish he had started the game, and this put Lee in position to bat from the right side of the box. A Wilson fastball came in, and it went out even faster—104.7 mph and 415 feet to be precise—to close the deficit to 6-3.

Cole Sands held serve in the eighth, and Louis Varland got the ninth inning. A Royce Lewis error, however, gave the Red Sox an extra out, and Story and Abreu hit back-to-back doubles to plate two unearned runs to make it 8-3 Boston.

This extension in the lead put Aroldis Chapman back on the bullpen bench and gave the Red Sox enough breathing room to bring Jorge Alcala in instead. Those unearned runs immediately began to sting, because even though Lee started the night on the bench, he was going to end the night in the Twins record books by hitting a home run from both sides of the plate and knocking in all five runs on the night. 

After a Lewis single, the Red Sox ended the fun and brought in Chapman. The Twins countered with Mickey Gasper instead of Kody Clemens. Three pitches later, no contest. Strike out, ball game. 8-5 Boston.

What’s Next?
The Twins look to rebound to take the series against the Red Sox in a Wednesday matinee. The Twins have yet to name their starting pitcher, while it was assumed that Bailey Ober (4-6, 5.28 ERA) would be called up from his rehab stint at St. Paul to take the hill, Zebby Matthews (2-2, 4.97 ERA) will instead get the task. The Red Sox send righty Brayan Bello (6-5, 3.32 ERA) out to play the role of spoiler of all Twins Territory trade deadline hope. First pitch is scheduled for 12:10 pm CDT.

Postgame Interviews

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	FRI	SAT	SUN	MON	TUE	TOT
Funderburk	0	39	0	0	38	77
Durán	6	0	17	27	0	50
Topa	0	27	0	16	0	43
Jax	25	0	0	13	0	38
Tonkin	0	0	0	0	36	36
Sands	0	0	27	0	8	35
Varland	0	0	11	0	22	33
Coulombe	11	0	20	0	0	31
Stewart	0	0	9	16	0	25

 

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[Vanimal46]

Ohl, Tonkin, Funderburk. It was pre-determined by the spreadsheet that a loss was acceptable tonight. 

[Aggies7]

Hang in there folks, only two months left. It’ll fly by.

[USAFChief]

What kind of dumb-Ass pitching development plan has a pitcher never throw more than 4 innings, or 61 pitches max, as preparation for a big league callup? 

What the heck is the plan here? What are you trying to accomplish?

How is this pitcher supposed to be useful on a major league roster? Three innings once every other series?

Come ON, ferpetesakes. Stop trying to reinvent baseball. Its stupid, and as a bonus removes any joy from watching a MLB starter work his craft. 

 

[Dman]

That was a great first inning by Ohl. You can see the potential with the three K's.  After that it was some pretty hard contact the rest of the way with balls hit hard and traveling deep.  They seemed to easily square up his stuff.

He needs more deception because they didn't fall for many of his out of zone pitches after the first inning.  He had a lot of them at 2 strikes but could not finish them off.   He has that beautiful change, but there is work to be done.  If he can't hack it as a starter there is nice reliever potential there.

The Red Sox look like a good team.  A few pieces away from being a great team.  Looks like there will likely be a power shift in the east if they can find enough pitching.

[Vanimal46]

2 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

Stop trying to reinvent baseball. Its stupid, and as a bonus removes any joy from watching a MLB starter work his craft.

The only sellout at Target Field the entire season was July 11th when the SP matchup was Joe Ryan vs. Paul Skenes. Nelly’s post game concert helped no doubt, but that matchup alone attracts people to spend money to watch it live. Falvey is testing out a world where starting pitching no longer matters, and it’s going to fail spectacularly from a business standpoint. 

[Parfigliano]

8 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

Hang in there folks, only two months left. It’ll fly by.

It would be easier to watch if they get rid of the expiring contracts and see what if anything they have in MiLB players.

[Vanimal46]

13 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

Hang in there folks, only two months left. It’ll fly by.

Preseason football starts on Thursday… Texas at Ohio State on Aug 30. Twins only need to provide some content better than ESPN 8 the Ocho over the next month then I’ll be good 

[USAFChief]

3 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Preseason football starts on Thursday… Texas at Ohio State on Aug 30. Twins only need to provide some content better than ESPN 8 the Ocho over the next month then I’ll be good 

Gopher home opener Thursday August 28.

[Twinsoholic]

The starter-only-throws 65 to 80 pitches is a paradigm in search of a shift of perspective, a perspective inorganic to the game. If a starter averages 15 pitches per inning, then 5 innings equals 75 pitches. If he throws 16 pitches per inning for 5 innings, that is 80 pitches. The team then relies on relievers to pitch 4 innings per game. Yikes!!! In a 6 consecutive game stretch, starters by this model throw, combined, 30 innings and relievers 24. How can you not tear up a lot of your relief pitchers? The Twins are lucky this year because Duran, Jax, Varland, Coulombe, Stewart, and Sands are an above average group. The team overall record, nevertheless, is a losing one for reasons related to terrible hitting with runners in scoring position, lousy team speed, not the best defense, as well as a spate of injuries. Aim for at least 7 innings from starters in the minors as well as the major league. Think of the impact on the relievers. Aim for increasing team speed and defense. We saw some more lackadaisical plays tonight in the outfield. Props to Bader, though, for robbing a potential HR. Draft and develop (and trade for) impact position players (speed is impactful as is being able to put the ball in play). Sounds simple, but some teams manage to do this more consistently than the Twins. 

[TheLeviathan]

1 hour ago, Vanimal46 said:

Ohl, Tonkin, Funderburk. It was pre-determined by the spreadsheet that a loss was acceptable tonight. 

I mean....we've been the worst team in the Majors for almost two months now.  This is likely what we face for the last two months.

A lot of young guys and patched together games.  It isn't great....but nothing other than two weeks in May have been that.

Hopefully the deadline offers something to hope for.

[Vanimal46]

3 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

I mean....we've been the worst team in the Majors for almost two months now.  This is likely what we face for the last two months.

A lot of young guys and patched together games.  It isn't great....but nothing other than two weeks in May have been that.

Hopefully the deadline offers something to hope for.

It’s only gonna get worse when we trade away Bader, Castro, and a pitcher or 2 in the next 2 days. All 3 of those pitchers were in AAA less than a week ago. The season has been over for some time now so whatever. Play the kids and let them get reps. 

[1985Fan]

Looking forward to seeing some young guys get a chance after they unload expiring contracts. Also looking forward to new management when new owners take control. 

[Mike Sixel]

23 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

I mean....we've been the worst team in the Majors for almost two months now.  This is likely what we face for the last two months.

A lot of young guys and patched together games.  It isn't great....but nothing other than two weeks in May have been that.

Hopefully the deadline offers something to hope for.

Complaining they are giving young guys an opportunity, while also calling for them to sell does seem like an odd choice. Agreed. 

[DocBauer]

No matter how devoted a fan as I am, I am ABSOLUTELY in the "keep trying to win to create positive vibes for 2026 and let's take a look at some guys and see if they can be part of 2026" vibe. (Breath).

Agree with me or disagree with me, I'm going to bullet point a few things here. And some of this is about an OP earlier concerning Ohl. So here goes:

1] I've said over and over again, keep playing Lee daily. He's talented and smart and still figuring stuff out. He has a hitting streak, slumps, and then had a couple really good games. Again, your young talent doesn't develop if you don't play them and give them opportunities to fail and rise and grow.

2] STOP with the "no starting pitcher, etc". Lopez is out. Festa is out. Ober is just coming back. They traded Paddack. Morris is out. So what are they supposed to do to have someone start a game? And this goes to....

3] The idea that the FO is experimenting with guys pitching less but more often is blown out of proportion. They have been taking arms that honestly have little chance of being ML SP, and developing them as middle relief arms that could fill the last spot or two in the pen. Imagine a 2026 pen with Duran, Jax, Varland, Stewart, HOPEFULLY a LH option of quality, Sands, MAYBE Coulombe back again, and you have an arm maybe TWO arms who can throw 2-3 IP per week to round out the pen when someone has a bad day. OR, a Festa, SWR, Matthews having that bad day as they're still developing. 

You have 6-7 quality RP arms, but have a guy or a couple of guys that just aren't quite good enough to be MLSP, but could be really solid a couple days a week for 2 IP. Once in a while, they might go 3 IP.

4] I actually like Ohl a bit better than Adams for one of those spots. The only LH option is Rozek, who might get a shot before 2025 is done. But ROOKIE arms like Adams and Ohl should be dismissed after 3 or 1 appearances just isn't right at this point. The same way Jax and Sands shouldn't have been dismissed or discarded. We're talking about rookies getting their feet wet at the ML level because everyone else is injured.

Imagine even better arms like Culpepper, and McLeod who might fit this role even better in the near future? What is wrong with 6 dominate, quality, 1 IP RP, with a pair of quality 2-3 IP guys at the back end of the pen. Tell me how that DOESN'T make sense?

THAT'S what they are attempting to do, maximizing arms. They AREN'T treating ALL arms that way. Just the guys with decent stuff that don't figure to be MLSP in the future.

5] I still think the smart move is to trade Bader for a solid return if possible. Castro as well. And I'd whisper in Coulombe's ear "we want to re-sign you for 2026 right away for around $3-4M but we're giving you a playoff shot right now" and hope that helps for 2026. I want him back for next season to fill the EXACT role he's had this season, while making it a priority to find an even better LHRP option for the 7th-8th inning role.

I don't like betting on Bader for a return in 2026 based on his career, despite having one of his best seasons ever here in 2025. The Buxton injury, unfortunately, might skew the FO perspective. It shouldn’t. 

[Blyleven2011]

 

4 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

The only sellout at Target Field the entire season was July 11th when the SP matchup was Joe Ryan vs. Paul Skenes. Nelly’s post game concert helped no doubt, but that matchup alone attracts people to spend money to watch it live. Falvey is testing out a world where starting pitching no longer matters, and it’s going to fail spectacularly from a business standpoint 

Its reminding me of the movie money ball if you get my drift ...

Billy doing something no one has ever done , in the conference room with scouts and trying to make a roster to replace players they lost to free agency , everyone shaking their heads not understanding Billy's theory on getting on base  , they all thought he'd get fired but it worked out for him , I don't know if it's working so well in baseball anymore but that's another discussion  .....

 

yes falvey is trying something different on this piggybacking  pitchers in development stuff in minors , they're not letting pitchers throw many innings or pitches in the minors  , and I'm not sure it's working at the major league level , i see no stamina in the starters , swr , slim reaper , Matthew's maybe is an exception ...

Ohl threw two innings tonight through the lineup 1 time , got bombed 2nd time through the order ...

Falvey has been a follower of how baseball operates , he and baldelli haven't been good at thinking outside the box , will this be sucessful , so far I don't see any success except in the minors ...

Baseball has always been , develop starters and develop relievers , I don't want a team of all relievers , I want starters that are bulldogs , give me the ball and let me pitch types ...

They haven't had success in developing homegrown starters but have finally had success in developing homegrown relievers ...

You catch my drift ...

[Doctor Gast]

Congratulations to Lee for another great night! Maybe he shouldn't be sent down. Looks like to me that maybe Correa & Lewis could use some extra time off & leave Clemens at 1B & sit France against RHPs & bring up Martin to play 2B. Great play by Bader, Our rotation is battling, & we have no reinforcements in AAA. Welcome back Jeffers.

[umterp23]

The Lee article a couple weeks back hasn’t aged really well that he needed fixed. The kid is a ball player, plain and simple. 

[yeahyabetcha]

53 minutes ago, umterp23 said:

The Lee article a couple weeks back hasn’t aged really well that he needed fixed. The kid is a ball player, plain and simple. 

Or maybe a couple of days on the bench after months of struggling actually helped him……

[Doctor Wu]

7 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

I mean....we've been the worst team in the Majors for almost two months now.  This is likely what we face for the last two months.

A lot of young guys and patched together games.  It isn't great....but nothing other than two weeks in May have been that.

Hopefully the deadline offers something to hope for.

Hey, the young pitchers will take their lumps. Call it growing pains. I was also a big Atlanta Braves fan growing up and recall these two young pitchers they called up one season, two guys named Glavine and Smoltz, and they got clobbered that first year. But then ... good things happened. Not saying that Ohl or someone like Festa will end up being nearly as good, but they should improve with time. We just have to be patient. And these next two months will require a LOT of patience!

[Doctor Wu]

57 minutes ago, umterp23 said:

The Lee article a couple weeks back hasn’t aged really well that he needed fixed. The kid is a ball player, plain and simple. 

Well, it's only one game, but let's hope that Lee is indeed starting to turn things around. More games like today will be very welcome!

[Riverbrian]

7 hours ago, Twinsoholic said:

The starter-only-throws 65 to 80 pitches is a paradigm in search of a shift of perspective, a perspective inorganic to the game. If a starter averages 15 pitches per inning, then 5 innings equals 75 pitches. If he throws 16 pitches per inning for 5 innings, that is 80 pitches. The team then relies on relievers to pitch 4 innings per game. Yikes!!! In a 6 consecutive game stretch, starters by this model throw, combined, 30 innings and relievers 24. How can you not tear up a lot of your relief pitchers? 

How indeed!

The landscape is shifting and spilling outside of the boxes designed by Grandpa back in the 80's. 

The math in your post will go right past a lot of people but It will lead to a better understanding of what it takes to not only get through a game but to get through a season.

1440 innings to be covered during a season. How do you cover them? A redesign is long overdue. Somewhere in the universe there is a way to increase the innings thrown by Duran while lessening the innings thrown by Paddack. That type of adjustment is hard to do under the constraints of starters throw 5 and relievers throw 1 in the face of shrinking pitch counts. 

Change is necessary... gotta find the fit... the next new thing... the solution to the problem. You gotta bust through the constraints set decades ago. 

The cavalry was a military game changer at the time.  You can let the horses run all over you or you can start sharpening really long sticks and adjust. The 5 man rotation, 1 inning at a time reliever model is in need of an update. 

[mnfireman]

Can't put last night's loss totally on the pitchers, the defense, especially in the OF, looked horrible. 

[Jeff K]

7 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

Complaining they are giving young guys an opportunity, while also calling for them to sell does seem like an odd choice. Agreed. 

Funderburk and Tonkin are retreads that won't be on the 40 man next year.  I am good with Ohl getting a chance.

[Whitey333]

I agree that you must let players like Lee play every day.  If he goes 0 for 4 don't bench him for days on end.  Young players must play to develop at the major league level.  IMO the insistence of platonic is hurting player development

[mikelink45]

What a game - one question that many of you could answer for me - what is the record of our young pitchers in their first game in the majors.  Festa and Matthews did not shine in theirs.  Ohl and Adams have not looked good at all so far.  I keep wondering when we will get a minor leaguer who come in and look good from the beginning.  I know we do not have a Skenes or Misiorowski, but the pipeline that has dominated our discussions since Falvey arrived should deliver someone who can come in strong.  

It looks like Matthews might turn a corner, but is it how we prep these players in the minors?

Glad to see love for Lee again - comments about him have been too harsh.  

The team defense really looked bad again and I do worry about that phase of the game.  If you want the rookie pitchers to have a chance someone catching the ball is a good place to start.

[MMMordabito]

Same Ohl Story

Twins rookie pitcher comes up, gets rocked.

[tony&rodney]

The idea that a team can compete with one outfielder is unique to say the least. I'm tired of picking on Wallner and this will be my last comment on his defense. Promise. Big Matt has 43 hits this year and he can really hit shots at times. Last night two balls fell that Kepler catches, a guy who never won a Gold Glove. I don't want Kepler back. Wallner might have allowed more hits than he has hit. This is an astounding detail, one that realistically isn't far off. Late in his career Nelson Cruz rarely played in the outfield (26.1 innings in 2018 and 28 innings in 2017). Cruz never played a single play in the field for the Twins. Cruz didn't have a glove. It is past time to take away Wallner's glove. I believe he can relearn how to hit and potentially rise again as a functional DH. Send big Matt to AAA or even Ft. Myers to rework his swing and retrain his swing decisions. Bring him back when he can hit again. But never allow him back out in the outfield. 

[karcherd]

3 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

Looks like to me that maybe Correa & Lewis could use some extra time off

Lewis is just starting to hit and get his legs under him and you want him to sit.  I don't understand that rationale at all.  What good does that do for the team moving forward.

[TheLeviathan]

8 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

It’s only gonna get worse when we trade away Bader, Castro, and a pitcher or 2 in the next 2 days. All 3 of those pitchers were in AAA less than a week ago. The season has been over for some time now so whatever. Play the kids and let them get reps. 

Yup, just shifting our focus and hoping to see signs of growth and progress.

But hey....at least if we're going to be bad, let's be young and bad and not old and bad.