Padres 12, Twins 3: Aside From the Seventh Inning, Twins Fans, How Was The Game?

[Eric Blonigen]

Image courtesy of Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

Box Score
Taj Bradley: 5 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K
Home Runs: Byron Buxton (28)
Bottom 3 WPA: Mick Abel (-0.613), Matt Wallner (-0.111), Brooks Kriske (-0.089)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs):

Heartened by yesterday’s exciting win against the very good San Diego Padres, the Twins sought to make it two in a row, and to take their first series in three weeks. They would have gotten away with it, too, if it wasn’t for those pesky Friars (and umps).

The Pitchers
Taj Bradley took the bump for his second start with the Twins. His first start was…not great. Looking to prove he belongs, he entered his second turn hoping it would go better than the first.

The Padres sent staff ace Nick Pivetta to the mound. He has been nails this season, the best year in his nine-year career. Striking out more than a batter per inning, he brought a shiny 13-4 record, and a sparkling 2.90 ERA with a FIP that backs it up.

The Game
The first six innings were enjoyable. The rest? Not so much. Here were the moments that mattered.

1st Inning

The first inning started exactly the way things have gone for the Twins of late. Bradley looked a bit wobbly, walking two of the first three batters he faced. With Fernando Tatis Jr on first, old fiend Luis Arraez hit a sacrifice bunt up out of the zone to advance Tatis to second. Manny Machado also walked, on six pitches. Of course, he should have struck out on pitch five, but the home plate umpire decided that the underdog Padres needed a helping hand. Luckily, Bradley escaped the inning without any damage on a groundout then line out.

In the bottom of the first, Luke Keaschall continued his outsized contributions, reaching on a fielder’s choice, then stealing second, but could not come around to score.

3rd Inning

In the top of the third, Taj Bradley started to round into form. He got both Tatis and Machado to strike out swinging, with James Outman flashing some leather, diving to catch an Arraez liner.

The Twins got on the board first in the bottom of the third, due to their new brand of aggressiveness on the basepaths, and it happened exactly as you would have expected: Outman singled on a curveball that caught the heart of the plate, then stole second. Byron Buxton walked on five pitches, four of which were non-competitive, then Trevor Larnach singled on a sharp dribbler the other way, allowing Outman to not, you know, be out, man. Luke Keaschall and Matt Wallner flew out harmlessly, but the good guys were the lead.

4th Inning

In the top half of the fourth, Bradley got both Ryan O’Hearn and Ramon Laureano to whiff out, and Buxton did Buxton things, laying out to catch a sharp liner off the batt of Gavin Sheets to end the inning.

5th Inning

In the top of the fifth, Elias Diaz decided he didn’t want the Padres to get shut out, so he hammered a first-pitch mistake that Bradley left center cut. The ball flew approximately to Saint Paul, and just like that, tie game.

In the bottom of the fifth, Outman had a nice six-pitch single, and then, Buxton happened. He went opposite field and just knew it was gone as it left his bat. He admired the bomb for a moment, and the Twins were up 3-1.

6th Inning

In the top of the sixth, Rocco Baldelli went to his bullpen, and Mick Abel came into the game. Arraez led off the inning and hit a routine grounder to Brooks Lee…except it wasn’t routine, as Lee bobbled the ball and couldn’t get the throw off in time. Machado grounded out, then Abel struck out O’Hearn. Unfortunately, that routine grounder came back to haunt the Twins as Laureano singled in Arraez, then Gavin Sheets singled in Machado to tie the game. Abel ultimately faced three more batters in the inning, throwing 39 pitches, but avoided any further damage.

7th Inning

Abel came back out for the seventh, and it didn’t go well. After Tatis and Arraez singled with nobody out, Abel battled back from a 3-0 count to Machado, and should have struck him out. Except, you know, the same happened that happened in the first: he should have struck out, but Alex Tosi called a pitch with six inches to spare a ball. He singled, O’Hearn singled, and Abel’s day was done with the Twins down 5-3. Did I mention there was still nobody out? That’s right. Abel needed 59 pitches to get four outs. Not great, folks. Brooks Kriske came in and promptly allowed another single, this time to Sheets to take the score to 6-3. Two batters later, the nightmare inning continued as James Cronenworth just missed a home run to left by about a foot. Outman misread the ball, and it was ruled a double, and the Twins were down by five. Diaz hit his second homer of the day, and it became a seven-run inning. Kriske then walked Tatis and Arraez, before finally getting Machado to ground out. Woof. Twins down 10-3.

Luckily, the Twins came back to score seven to tie it back up in the bottom of the seventh. Just kidding. They went down in order.

8th Inning

In the top of the eighth, Genesis Cabrera came in and the bleeding continued. O’Hearn singled, Laureano homered, and Bryce Johnson singled all with nobody out. Cabrera eventually got out of the inning without any further damage, but the game was truly out of hand with the Twins down 12-3.

9th Inning

Ryan Fitzgerald came in for the ninth, and retired the side in order. Turns out, a position player was the most effective reliever tonight. In the bottom of the ninth, Mickey Gasper popped out in foul territory, Kody Clemens flew out to the warning track, and Lewis popped out to end the game in just under three hours. Flush it!

Game Notes

• Byron Buxton is now tied for his career-high in home runs, and has an outside chance at a 30-30 season. He will need to steal a base every third game or so the rest of the way. As long as he stays healthy, he’s a virtual lock to at least hit 30 bombs.
• This game featured a piggyback of likely 2026 starters. Cory Provus clarified in the broadcast that this isn’t a sign that he’s being converted to relief, but rather, the Twins wanted to get him innings on a regular schedule.
• Aside from his shaky first inning, Bradley looked nasty, and his pitches were working for him. He hit 99 with his heater, and sat 97. His offspeed stuff was working, and he got plenty of swing and miss with 14 whiffs. If this is the version we can see even most of the time, the Twins won the Griffin Jax trade.
• It took 64 pitches to get through the seventh inning, and 12 batters took their turn. It felt like many, many more.
• Speed on the base paths continued, with swiped bags by Keaschall and Outman. The Twins have stolen more this month than any other this year.

Post-Game Interview:

 

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

What’s Next?
The Twins wrap up their series against the Padres in a day game. Ace Joe Ryan will face the ever-mysterious TBD (likely rookie Kyle Hart) at 12:05, and the Twins are well-positioned to take the series on the pitching matchup alone.

 

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[Old Crow]

There was a much better fire works display in Cedar Rapids tonight after the game.

[h2oface]

That Mick Abel is a real prize. Fleeced Philly on that trade. Jhoan who?

[Blyleven2011]

Starting pitching was good and our closer fittsgerald's one inning was good , it was everything else in the middle of the game (the bullpen failed )

[Twins_Fan_For_Life]

Bradley was a really good. Very encouraging

[strumdatjag]

Abel wasn’t.  Kriske was Kremed.   And this was the first time Genesis was after Exodus (of fans leaving the stands).   
 

[insagt1]

problem is..you can't overlook 1 inning, especially when 7 runs score. It changes everything...mostly its usually impossible to come back that far behind so late in the game.

Nice that Buck got his career tying 28th HR and now extends his career high RBI total to 68. He won't be a 30-30 guy because he needs 9 more steals and while he has a lot of speed, he doesnt; steal a lot of bases. Maybe he'll swipe 4 or 5 more. He has yet to get caught, but he also isn't an aggressive base stealer.

[Dman]

Abel had the first four or five hitters at 2 strikes and couldn't put them away.  He had them hitting it on the ground but they all found holes.  Kind of Jax like in some ways.  He's missing something.  I don't know what it is, but it's just too easy for hitters to get contact and when balls find holes it gets ugly fast.

I'm still a believer.  He threw a couple of sweepers and had decent results. Still he can't seem to throw strikes with the breaking stuff when he needs to and with too many fastballs you are bound to get burned eventually. There is work to do.  Hopefully they help him find better control.

Bradley looked really, really good.  Mid rotation good tonight.  He went after guys and had good depth on his pitches.  If he can keep this up he could really help this team.

Hard to believe the position player looked better throwing 55mph than Abel, Kriske and Cabrera.  If you're those guys that has gotta sting.  I know Canbrera has been bad but I still like the arm and delivery.  Hoping they can get him to a better spot.  Would be nice to have another lefty.

[ashbury]

3 hours ago, Eric Blonigen said:

old fiend Luis Arraez 

[Peter]

Padres are loaded!!! Good team!!! Kids aren’t ready yet not ready for big leagues-2028 should be target for contention-next year will be much better with young exciting competitive team.

[mikelink45]

Just another 2025 twins fiasco. At least we got a good start.  

[HarmonK03]

For all of the proponents of piggybacking, this game is the perfect example of why it only works on paper.  You have to take into consideration the game situation when the second pitcher comes in.  Sometimes a starter needs a little time to settle in and Abel was not going to have that with only a 2 run lead.  This was destined to be a disaster from the beginning especially with his command issues.  And Lee's error did not help but all pitchers deal with that.  Stop with this insanity, it doesn't work.  This organization seems to think they are playing Strat-o-Matic, this is real life baseball, give players a role and some continuity.

Either send some starters to the bullpen for the rest of the year or send Abel and others to St. Paul to get regular work.  They are going to have 8 starters when Festa comes back.  They need to make some decisions.  Either move guys permanently to the bullpen or trade some starters.  All these trades did was bring back more starting pitching similar to what we already had.  What happened to trading to strengthen your roster.  Now they have an excess of young pitchers that are all very similar to potential outcomes.

And they need help in the bullpen, if you are going to struggle, do it with players that have a chance to be on the team next year.  Guys like Cabrera and Kriskie should be nowhere a major league mound.

[Whitey333]

Great game Twins.  My goodness a disaster.  But this is what happens when you trade 40% of your roster.  A lot of ugly baseball.  I'd like to think Twins will win with Ryan on Sunday.   But he has pitched poorly his last couple of games.  He needs a rebound game.

[bunsen82]

Abel was hurt by the error. He is struggling to strike out players. His first start his secondary pitches were on, 9 strikeouts. Only 1 strikeout was a fastball. He is not that far off but the consistency of the secondary pitches is what he needs to focus on in the offseason. For Abel who tends to improve a ton in the offseason I am fine with continuing to throw him out and see if he can figure a few things out in the remainder of the season then really tweak in the offseason.  
 

Bradley, that was quite the turnaround. Hopefully we can see more starts of this caliber to end the season.  

[DJL44]

Important to remember that Abel is about where Zebby and Festa were in their development last season. He really needs to fail at the MLB level to make progress.

[DJL44]

Austin Martin is playing like he deserves spot on a big league roster. Still making mistakes but the good has outweighed the bad. Dude gets on base.

[Baumer67]

Send Abel down and waive Kriske.  Maybe give Cabrera a few more chances at this point.  Give Lawyers on a chance

[Baumer67]

Just now, Baumer67 said:

Send Abel down and waive Kriske.  Maybe give Cabrera a few more chances at this point.  Give Lawyers on a chance

Supposed to be Lawyerson

[USAFChief]

55 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

... Abel ... really needs to fail at the MLB level to make progress.

Well, if that's the case, he's certainly on track.

[Linus]

Bradley and Abel are similar in that they both have good stuff but lack command. When they are hitting their spots they will look great (Bradley last night) when they are missing their spots look out (Abel last night). 

[terrydactyls]

tight race

P	Team	W	L	PCT	GB
1	Chicago White Sox	48	88	0.353	-
2	Pittsburgh Pirates	61	76	0.445	12.5
3	Baltimore Orioles	61	75	0.449	13.0
4	Atlanta Braves	61	75	0.449	13.0
5	Minnesota Twins	61	74	0.452	13.5
6	Whatever Athletics	63	74	0.460	14.5
8	Los Angeles Angels	63	72	0.467	15.5
7	Miami Marlins	64	72	0.471	16.0
9	Tampa Bay Rays	66	69	0.489	18.5
10	San Francisco Giants	67	69	0.493	19.0
11	Arizona Diamondbacks	68	69	0.496	19.5
13	St. Louis Cardinals	68	69	0.496	19.5
12	Texas Rangers	70	67	0.511	21.5
14	Cleveland Guardians	68	66	0.507	21.0

[DJL44]

43 minutes ago, Baumer67 said:

Maybe give Cabrera a few more chances at this point.

I have no idea why they're fooling around with Genesis Cabrera. He's an impending free agent. At least Hatch and Kriske still have team control remaining. If they need a lefty to eat innings to finish the season I'd rather they grab Jose Castillo off waivers from the Mets.

[jmlease1]

Abel has plenty of arm talent but the command has to improve. After having a high-stress first inning out there, he really could have used a break, but the offense went down meekly in the bottom half and he got pounded in the 7th. The uncharacteristic error from Lee definitely hurt him. I don't mind the attempt to try the piggyback and get all of our starters innings. I certainly don't want to see most of our bullpen...

Bradley did pretty well. 5 good innings and showed good stuff. Can he deploy it consistently? That's the real question on him, and a reason to track him through september at least.

Twins offense was pretty quiet. Didn't have Outman getting 2 base knocks on my bingo card. Don't like seeing Royce flail; he simply can't find a rhythm from game to game right now. Offense clearly needs more work.

[Parfigliano]

12 hours ago, insagt1 said:

problem is..you can't overlook 1 inning, especially when 7 runs score. It changes everything...mostly its usually impossible to come back that far behind so late in the game.

Nice that Buck got his career tying 28th HR and now extends his career high RBI total to 68. He won't be a 30-30 guy because he needs 9 more steals and while he has a lot of speed, he doesnt; steal a lot of bases. Maybe he'll swipe 4 or 5 more. He has yet to get caught, but he also isn't an aggressive base stealer.

Never has been

[Doctor Gast]

3 hours ago, DJL44 said:

Austin Martin is playing like he deserves spot on a big league roster. Still making mistakes but the good has outweighed the bad. Dude gets on base.

I heard that he wanted to change back to his old swing (again). I was interested in how that'd work out. Pretty much how I thought and IMO, will get better.

[Doctor Gast]

Normally, I like GB pitchers but to really work you need pretty good INFers. For piggy-back to work, you need good pitchers at each stage & the know-how to implement it. Which I think we don't have. Which is too bad because IMO, it could work out really well.

[ashbury]

15 hours ago, strumdatjag said:

Abel wasn’t.  Kriske was Kremed.   And this was the first time Genesis was after Exodus (of fans leaving the stands).   
 

You're touching on the reason it was ill-advised to sign a pitcher named Genesis.  You remember the first words in the Bible: "In the big inning..."

[Doctor Wu]

20 hours ago, terrydactyls said:

tight race

P	Team	W	L	PCT	GB
1	Chicago White Sox	48	88	0.353	-
2	Pittsburgh Pirates	61	76	0.445	12.5
3	Baltimore Orioles	61	75	0.449	13.0
4	Atlanta Braves	61	75	0.449	13.0
5	Minnesota Twins	61	74	0.452	13.5
6	Whatever Athletics	63	74	0.460	14.5
8	Los Angeles Angels	63	72	0.467	15.5
7	Miami Marlins	64	72	0.471	16.0
9	Tampa Bay Rays	66	69	0.489	18.5
10	San Francisco Giants	67	69	0.493	19.0
11	Arizona Diamondbacks	68	69	0.496	19.5
13	St. Louis Cardinals	68	69	0.496	19.5
12	Texas Rangers	70	67	0.511	21.5
14	Cleveland Guardians	68	66	0.507	21.0

What happened to the mighty Rockies?

[terrydactyls]

2 hours ago, Doctor Wu said:

What happened to the mighty Rockies?

They aren't eligible for the lottery this year (nor are the Washington Commanders).

[Doctor Wu]

On 9/1/2025 at 8:42 PM, terrydactyls said:

They aren't eligible for the lottery this year (nor are the Washington Commanders).

I forgot about that no-repeat in the cellar rule. Thanks!