Guardians 5, Twins 4: New Look, Same Struggles as the Twins Lose Again in Cleveland

[Steven Trefz]

Image courtesy of © David Richard-Imagn Images

Box Score
SP: Bailey Ober 5.0 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 4 K (91 pitches, 62 strikes (68%))
Home Runs: Matt Wallner (14)
Bottom 3 WPA: Ober (-.251), DaShawn Kiersey Jr. (-.211), Brooks Lee (-.179)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) 
 

The Twins undertook a complete reshuffling of the deck chairs at the trade deadline, and the remaining and new passengers suffered yet another heart-wrenching walk-off loss to the Guardians in Cleveland on Friday night. Saturday brought a new chance to navigate towards destination "championship-caliber baseball" and Bailey Ober returned from his rehab assignment just in time to captain the ship. Standing in the way was iceberg extraordinaire Tanner Bibee and the curse of Progressive Field.

New Look Opportunities, Same Old Results
New Twins outfielder Alan Roden went hitless on Friday night so, of course, he got penciled in as the lead-off man on Saturday. He struck out on four pitches to start the offense for the visiting Twinkies. After the Guardians wasted an opportunity to score in the bottom of the first, Kody Clemens led off the second inning with a ringing double, and he pirated an extra base on an errant throw back to the infield. With Clemens on third and nobody out, Matt Wallner walked and suddenly the Twins were in business. Then Royce Lewis, Brooks Lee and Edouard Julien popped up, struck out, and weakly bounced out to leave Clemens right where they found him, and the score still 0-0.

As has usually been the case, the opposing team immediately makes the Twins pay for this woeful offensive routine. In the bottom of the second, the Guardians started off with two singles, and then plated the first run of the game on a double play ball. The second run of the came came much faster in the bottom of the third inning, as Daniel Schneemann launched his 10th homer of the year on the third pitch of the inning to make it 2-0 Guardians.

Same Old Opportunities, New Look Results
After a slick catch by Lewis up against the tarp to help keep the damage to a minimum in the third, the Twins' new leader Clemens indeed got on base again to start the fourth, this time with a walk after working a full count. Wallner came up again, and again he started walking. Luckily for Twins fans, it was after he hit a 419-foot majestic blast to tie the game at two apiece!

Ober took care of the Guardians in order to finish the fourth, and the aforementioned Roden decided to get me off his back with a double to start the fifth. Trevor Larnach also knows a thing about criticism, and he singled in Roden to put the Twins up 3-2. Ryan Jeffers singled, and suddenly the offensive ship was beginning to pick up steam again. When Clemens and Wallner failed to advance the runners, the good vibes were starting to fade yet again until the vibe-master himself, Royce "the new man" Lewis doubled down the left field line to plate Larnach and to double up the score on the home team at 4-2. Lee was unable to add to the lead, however, and the tension between coming through and failing miserably was palpable as the Guardians got their turn in the bottom of the fifth.

Wouldn't you know it, Schneemann singled for his third hit of the afternoon, and our old friend Jose Ramirez showed why we should always intentionally walk him by crushing a two-out, game-tying home run to immediately remind the Twins fans yet again of how wasted scoring opportunities got us to this point in the season. 

Bulk Pitchers and Deja Vu
Pierson Ohl got the call to take over for Ober in the bottom of the sixth with the score knotted at four apiece. Ohl spent July attempting to perfect the "one time through the order" bulk role in St. Paul, and today he successfully navigated the sixth and seventh innings. Unfortunately the Twins bats couldn't muster a base runner in the sixth, seventh, or eighth innings against the Cleveland bullpen. When Ohl started the eighth he matched upon against Twin-killer Ramirez, and he flipped a ball off off the dirt and into the outfield for a lead-off single. Ohl struck out Kyle Manzardo, but surrendered a bloop single to Carlos Santana to put Ramirez in scoring position with only one out. What happened next was a mound visit that failed miserably, as a first pitch fastball got sent to the corner by Bo Naylor to score Ramirez and to put the Guardians in position to win yet another one-run game against their divisional foe. After walking Gabriel Arias, Ohl struck out C.J. Kayfus with the bases loaded. Then the rookie bulked up and popped up Brayan Rocchio to keep the deficit at 5-4.

The top of the ninth was too much like the rest of 2025 to be funny. Julien crushed what he thought was a game-tying homer to dead center, but it hit the wall, and because Julien was watching it a bit too long, he could only get two bases out of the blast. DaShawn Keirsey Jr. tried to pick up his teammate by bunting him to third. He couldn't. After the third attempt bounced foul for a strikeout, Roden struck out while swinging hard. Larnach was the last man standing between a tie game and another wasted opportunity with runners in scoring position. Hunter Gaddis took care of Larnach just like he did the others, and the Guardians celebrated the 14th straight one-run win against the Twins and left the team to ponder their next deck chair move.

What’s Next?
The Twins look to avoid the sweep on Sunday afternoon in their thankfully final game at Cleveland on this fateful voyage called 2025. The Twins announced that Simeon Woods Richardson's next start will be pushed back and "new-to-us" righty Jose Urena (0-0, 5.40 ERA) will make his first Twins start. The Guardians will counter with lefty Joey Cantillo (2-1, 4.14 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 12:40pm CDT.

Notes

• The Twins struck out 15 times. That ties their second-highest game total of the year. They also struck out 14 times last night. 

Postgame Interviews

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	TOT
Ohl	0	0	0	0	52	52
Funderburk	38	0	0	11	0	49
Tonkin	36	0	0	11	0	47
Sands	8	13	0	20	0	41
Topa	0	22	0	13	0	35
Davis	0	31	0	0	0	31
Adams	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ramírez	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ureña	0	0	0	0	0	0

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[Aggies7]

100 losses is a very, very real possibility. Where are 12 wins coming from ?

[FlyingFinn]

Bader, Buxton, Kiersey (or maybe Martin) in the OF and those two lazy singles aren't falling against Ohl in the 8th. Just can't have 2 slow (or slow to get a jump) OF's out there.

[Parfigliano]

On the bright side Ohl saved the bullpen for tomorrow's game.🥴

[BH67]

The missed opportunities have been frequent the past two seasons no matter who is wearing a Twins uniform. That strikes me as the root of the team's problems as much as anything else.

So I find it pointless to allocate blame for this among the Pohlads, Derek Falvey and Rocco Baldelli. This rudderless refrain will continue until ALL of them depart the stage. Nothing will change until the club is sold.

[Mike Sixel]

How is Kiersey even on this roster? Or Gasper?

[AceWrigley]

Ohl pitched pretty good. The left hand batters hit pretty bad as they can't lay off the diving curveballs at their feet. The toughest out last night was Austin Martin and he went 3-5. So Rocco sat him today, wasted him as a pinch runner and we had to endure Kiersey trying to do anything but have to swing at a major league pitch. And defensively Clemens should be at 2B and Julien at 1B.

[LastOnePicked]

Tell me how the post Trade Deadline is going without telling me how the post Trade Deadline is going ... 

[USAFChief]

So...we make all these trades. I don't like it but I'm scolded i should LOVE these MLB ready pitchers we brought in--starters no less! Huge upside! One guy has 67 MLB starts! Another was in Philly's rotation! As good as Painter!!! The guy from Toronto is Francisco Liriano before the TJS.

And tomorrow is another bullpen game, kicked off by a 33 year old who's on his 10th team. 

While none of those guys are on the 26 man.

 

 

[mikelink45]

Ober is not the answer but the who are they line up produced more than we are used to. 

[DJL44]

18 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

How is Kiersey even on this roster? Or Gasper?

They’re tanking

[sweetmusicviola16]

I agree it's the same struggles, but at the very least the team has played hard the last two days. They just aren't  good. But imo playing hard is at least an improvement. 

[sweetmusicviola16]

21 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

How is Kiersey even on this roster? Or Gasper?

yeah this is tanking. I do understand the strategy of Julien being up. Try to see if he can improve his game and see if another team will cough up a prospect in November. But the truth is it's too late, that ship sailed and they missed it. Kiersey, Gasper, Fitzgerald etc are the tank crew.

[sweetmusicviola16]

But yeah they could still tank by having Eeles up and playing. At least we'd see what we have if they did. That would be my choice. But they have their own ideas.

[NYCTK]

42 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

100 losses is a very, very real possibility. Where are 12 wins coming from ?

Checking Tankathon every week now to see how badly the Twins have to play to increase their lottery odds. 

[NYCTK]

30 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

How is Kiersey even on this roster? Or Gasper?

Both of these players were on the opening day roster. That's why no one should be surprised how this season went. 

[NYCTK]

22 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

As good as Painter!!!

Weren't you just mocking someone else for building a strawman? Name a single person that's EVER said that. 

[The Great Hambino]

1 minute ago, NYCTK said:

Checking Tankathon every week now to see how badly the Twins have to play to increase their lottery odds. 

All so they can draft a kid underslot that they would've gotten later anyway, just so they can show everyone how smart they are. 

This could be a time spent gathering important information on the young guys on the fringe.  Young hitters learning to adjust to major league pitching.  Hell, use a few rotation slots to piggyback some young starters.  Give them 4 innings each, not like they'd let them throw more than that anyway.  Could be a creative way to lessen the load on the bullpen you don't have.  The ones that show promise can be developed as starters.  The ones that don't can drop their worst pitch and crank up the heater to reinvent themselves as an actual bullpen piece.

But no, more important to improve your chances at the #1 pick by 2.3%

[NYCTK]

Just now, The Great Hambino said:

All so they can draft a kid underslot that they would've gotten later anyway, just so they can show everyone how smart they are. 

This could be a time spent gathering important information on the young guys on the fringe.  Young hitters learning to adjust to major league pitching.  Hell, use a few rotation slots to piggyback some young starters.  Give them 4 innings each, not like they'd let them throw more than that anyway.  Could be a creative way to lessen the load on the bullpen you don't have.  The ones that show promise can be developed as starters.  The ones that don't can drop their worst pitch and crank up the heater to reinvent themselves as an actual bullpen piece.

But no, more important to improve your chances at the #1 pick by 2.3%

I understand the frustration, but were you disappointed in the Cheap Pohalds with the Walker Jenkins pick? Or the Royce Lewis pick? 

This was discussed in a different thread but there is some negative incentives to bring up players that you perceive as your future too. For example Luke Keaschall is better served to stay in AAA through this month for one reason - if he retains rookie status and makes the opening day roster next year and stays on the major league roster the Twins get an additional pick between the 1st and 2nd rounds. That's true for the likes of Rodriguez and any other prospect that hasn't met rookie minimums yet. 

[The Great Hambino]

1 minute ago, NYCTK said:

I understand the frustration, but were you disappointed in the Cheap Pohalds with the Walker Jenkins pick? Or the Royce Lewis pick? 

This was discussed in a different thread but there is some negative incentives to bring up players that you perceive as your future too. For example Luke Keaschall is better served to stay in AAA through this month for one reason - if he retains rookie status and makes the opening day roster next year and stays on the major league roster the Twins get an additional pick between the 1st and 2nd rounds. That's true for the likes of Rodriguez and any other prospect that hasn't met rookie minimums yet. 

Okay, then don't bring up Keaschall.  That doesn't explain the battalion of AAAA young starters wasting their time in St Paul.  Some of them will have to convert to the bullpen at some point.  Sitting on them now in place of giving Erasmo Ramirez a roster spot and delaying their development in the name of marginally better odds at the biggest crapshoot in American sports drafts is shortsighted at best.

And Jenkins was the no brainest of no brainers, they get no credit for that.  And I was disappointed they went with Lewis over Greene and Gore

[shimrod]

28 minutes ago, sweetmusicviola16 said:

but at the very least the team has played hard the last two days

Julien admiring his non-HR instead of legging out a triple? Larnach jogging the bases like it's an NFL walkthrough? 

There are still a few players who need their attitude adjusted, ideally via DFA.

[Doctor Gast]

51 minutes ago, Parfigliano said:

On the bright side Ohl saved the bullpen for tomorrow's game.🥴

Baldelli finally used long relief. Ohl isn't my favorite pitcher, but we really need a long RP, I'd prefer Sands but we are short on higher leverage BP. 

[USAFChief]

22 minutes ago, NYCTK said:

Weren't you just mocking someone else for building a strawman? Name a single person that's EVER said that. 

 Not gonna name names but it rhymes with Munson.

 

[NYCTK]

4 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

 Not gonna name names but it rhymes with Munson.

 

Fair! I'll let them be on their own island lol 

[USAFChief]

I hope to hell they aren't actually tanking. The thought of actively trying to lose is loathsome in the Nth degree. Its literally cheating. Cheating of the WORST kind...actively trying to influence outcomes with other than honest attempts to win.

For those of you promoting this abomination, tell me how it works. The nuts and bolts. Is Rocco in on it? Falvey? Just Falvey? Ownership? The players?

Who is it and what are they doing?

By the way the Twins dont have to tank to get in the draft lottery. Just miss the playoffs. And if they manage to tank all the way to the worst record in MLB their chances of winning the lottery go all the way up to 16.5%. 

Whoopie!

[sweetmusicviola16]

8 minutes ago, shimrod said:

Julien admiring his non-HR instead of legging out a triple? Larnach jogging the bases like it's an NFL walkthrough? 

There are still a few players who need their attitude adjusted, ideally via DFA.

We're seeing the last we're going to of Julien no doubt. As for Larnach hopefully he can play well enough these last two months to have some trade value, at least as an add on in a trade. otherwise he'll be non tendered. I guess I'm choosing to try to get something positive out of the situation we're in. To me this is a little remindful of 1982. Terrible team but the end for that team was a couple of WS.

[Doctor Gast]

Games are won & lost in the margins. You might have OK pitching, even OK offense, but have poor defense & poor fundamentals, forget it. If you don't develop bunting, don't expect your players to bunt. Keirsey should have been sent down to AAA a long time ago so he could have been called up at this time. After sitting for an awful long time & when he finally played, he miraculously had a good game & then he was benched. Why not let him ride his good fortune? Martin had a good game & he sits. Julien isn't a 2Bman & he's not hitting, why is he playing every day?

[mrtwinsfan]

1 hour ago, AceWrigley said:

Ohl pitched pretty good. The left hand batters hit pretty bad as they can't lay off the diving curveballs at their feet. The toughest out last night was Austin Martin and he went 3-5. So Rocco sat him today, wasted him as a pinch runner and we had to endure Kiersey trying to do anything but have to swing at a major league pitch. And defensively Clemens should be at 2B and Julien at 1B.

How about Sabato at 1b -  hit 2 more homers today, and he is a  1b by trade,  And Luke at 2 b  could use some r.h. pop -  and get Abel and Bradley up here both should be in the rotation , if needed 6 man rotatiion    -Bullpen is worthless anyway-   Ryan- Matthews -Abel-Bradley- Ober- S.W.R. FOR NOW !!!Festa and  Pablo later ,   8 starters figure it out , 

[sweetmusicviola16]

2 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

Games are won & lost in the margins. You might have OK pitching, even OK offense, but have poor defense & poor fundamentals. If you don't develop bunting, don't expect your players to bunt. Keirsey should have been sent down to AAA a long time ago so he could have been called up at this time. After sitting for an awful long time & when he finally played, he miraculously had a good game & then he was benched. Why not let him ride his good fortune? Martin had a good game & he sits. Julien isn't a 2Bman & he's not hitting, why is he playing every day?

Martin should be playing the next 50 games. Find out what you have for crying out loud.

[The Great Hambino]

5 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

By the way the Twins dont have to tank to get in the draft lottery. Just miss the playoffs. And if they manage to tank all the way to the worst record in MLB their chances of winning the lottery go all the way up to 16.5%. 

Whoopie!

Exactly.  The odds are incredibly flat in the MLB lottery.

And even if it were worth it, wouldn't playing young players that maybe aren't quite ready accomplish the same goal?