Diamondbacks 5, Twins 2: Twins Rally Back, but Stumble in Extras in Another Tough Loss

[Steven Trefz]

Image courtesy of Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

Box Score
SP: Joe Ryan 4.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K (93 pitches, 56 strikes (60%))
Home Runs: N/A
Bottom 3 WPA: Cole Sands (-.407), Brooks Lee (-.196), Luke Keaschall (-.151)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) 
 

After a dramatic win Friday night, the Twins looked to keep the good times rolling against the visiting Diamondbacks. Joe Ryan looked to find some redemption after his worst start of the season, but the Twins had to find some offense against the young righty Ryne Nelson. What version of Ryan and the Twins would show up live on Saturday night?

Ryan Escapes Danger, but Twins Can't Capitalize
Ryan cruised through the first inning, but ran his pitch count up in the top of the second. Gabrie Moreno got things started with a single, and with one out Blaze Alexander also singled. A two-out Tim Tawa walk put Ryan on the ropes with the bases loaded, but he struck out Jake McCarthy to end the threat.

Meanwhile, the Twins built a second inning bases loaded threat of their own. Luke Keaschall singled to lead things off, then Royce Lewis and Kody Clemens followed suit to load things with nobody out. In typical 2025 Twins fashion, that's where the threat ended. Brooks Lee and Jhonny Pereda struck out, and James Outman grounded out to keep things scoreless.

Ryan Doesn't Escape Danger, Twins Still Can't Capitalize
In the top of the fourth, Adrian Del Castillo doubled to start the inning. Ryan got Alexander this time, but not Alex Thomas, who took Ryan deep to stake the Diamondbacks to a 2-0 lead. With his pitch count already to 93, the fourth would be the last inning for Ryan and it was up to the bullpen to hold the game within reach. Pierson Ohl was the first man up, and he immediately loaded the bases with nobody out in the top of the fifth. Luckily, Arizona kept finding infielders as the next two batters grounded into fielder's choices, with the Twins nabbing the runners at the plate. Ohl escaped, and the Twins were left to fight another inning.

The Twins thought they had finally gotten to Nelson in the bottom of the sixth, when Austin Martin and Trevor Larnach walked to start the inning. Luke Keaschall grounded into a 6-4-3, however, and Lewis grounded out to end yet another scoring chance. In the bottom of the seventh, the Twins once again got a couple of runners on with one-out singles by Lee and Pereda. Carson McCusker got a pinch hit opportunity to hit that first home run of his career. Off the bat, he thought he had it, but the warning track power landed in Thomas' glove at the wall for the second out of the inning. Byron Buxton's fly out ended yet another opporunity for the home team.

Bullpen Keeps Holding Serve, Offense Finally Capitalizes
Rookie Cody Laweryson made the most of his first major league outing, taking care of business in the seventh and eighth innings. Taylor Rashi got the ball for Arizona in the bottom of the eighth, and Martin jumped all over him to start yet another threat with a lead-off double. Larnach went down swinging, but Keaschall walked, and then Lewis singled to load the bases yet again. Last night, Kody Clemens achieved home run hero status. Tonight, it just took a single to tie up the game.

After Clemens stole second, the Twins had a chance to take the lead, but Pereda popped up and the game headed to the ninth all square at two apiece.

Another Crazy Ninth? Or Tenth?
Kody Funderburk got the call for the top of the ninth, and he did his job swimmingly. Three up, three down. John Curtiss came in to neutralize the Twins, and he did the same. Time for extras!

Cole Sands threw the tenth, hoping not to face the same struggles as he did Friday night. A sacrifice bunt got the ghost runner, Jorge Barrosa to third base, and Sands caught Ketel Marte looking for the second out. The Twins decided to intentionally walk Corbin Carrol, who promptly stole second base. Moreno then hit one into the hole at short, and Lee was unable to throw him out while Barrosa scampered home to put Arizona up 3-2. A stronger arm could have ended the inning, but that arm now plays in Houston. Sands then walked Adrian Del Castillo to load the bases yet again, and needed to get Alexander to stop the bleeding. He didn't. Alexander hit a gusher, a double to right, scoring Carroll and Moreno to continue Sands' rough weekend. The Twins couldn't move their ghost runner an inch, and the game ended with a whimper at 5-2.

What’s Next?
The Twins look to recover and win the series on Sunday afternoon. Bailey Ober (5-7, 5.08 ERA) looks to finish his season trending upward in wins, not ERA. Opposing him will be young righty Nabil Crismatt (2-0, 3.24 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 1:10pm CDT.

Postgame Interviews

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	TOT
Ohl	43	0	0	0	35	78
Sands	0	18	0	21	26	65
Hatch	24	0	0	0	0	24
Funderburk	0	0	0	7	15	22
Tonkin	0	0	0	20	0	20
Laweryson	0	0	0	0	20	20
Adams	0	0	0	17	0	17
Cabrera	0	0	0	0	0	0

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[mikelink45]

No comment seems to be the most appropriate response.

[terrydactyls]

P	Team	W	L	PCT	GB
1	Chicago White Sox	57	92	0.383	-
2	Pittsburgh Pirates	65	84	0.436	8.0
3	Minnesota Twins	65	83	0.439	8.5
4	Atlanta Braves	65	83	0.439	8.5
5	Whatever Athletics	69	80	0.463	12.0
6	Los Angeles Angels	69	80	0.463	12.0
8	Baltimore Orioles	69	79	0.466	12.5
7	Miami Marlins	70	79	0.470	13.0
11	St. Louis Cardinals	72	77	0.483	15.0
10	Tampa Bay Rays	73	75	0.493	16.5
9	Arizona Diamondbacks	74	75	0.497	17.0
13	San Francisco Giants	75	73	0.507	18.5
12	Cleveland Guardians	77	71	0.520	20.5
14	Texas Rangers	79	70	0.530	22.0

[knothole61]

The Twins are now officially eliminated from the 2025 playoffs...so it goes.

[TWTwinsFan]

should have Martin stole 2nd base in the 9th, Rocco completely lost it, he doesn't know to manage to win games

[William K Johnson]

Our closer is not very good.

[BrokenCompass]

Pretty sad state of affairs. 

Rocco has completely lost this team and should be fired at season's end. His style of managing is not a good match for a young, bad, rebuilding franchise. Thanks for your service Rocco and good luck wherever you land. 

[CRF]

Bad...just bad. 

[Doctor Wu]

On a possibly positive note, have the Twins found a possible backup catcher next season with Pereda? Sure, he's older and we're dealing with a small sample size for this season, but he seems reasonably competent so far. 

[Whitey333]

Just another in a long line of bad baseball games played by the Twins.  I take issue though with your analysis of Lee's play at short on that throw.  First he had to make a good play very deep in the hole just to get to the ball.  His throw was very strong and accurate.  The base runner just did something most Twins players don't do.  That is hustle to first base.  Correa probably doesn't make that play but you never know.  Fortunately he was traded.  Also where was Royce Lewis on that play?  He could perhaps have cut it off in front of Lee.  Of all the dumb trade moves the Twins made trading Correa was by far their best move.  

[thelanges5]

3 for 16 RISP; 11 LOB. Twins now 29th in OPS w/RISP. So sick of the offense, just terrible. 

[Blyleven2011]

9 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

No comment seems to be the most appropriate response.

Mama said there would be days like this  ...

But with Rocco as manager , we have to many days like this ...

[tony&rodney]

They did their best.

[jmlease1]

Kind of weird to see a bunch of "fire Rocco" type comments after a game this this; you have to look pretty hard to find ways to blame this loss on the manager. I mean, Sands imploded the second time in a row, but what do we have in the bullpen to work with? Is he supposed to send out Adams there? Isn't going 3-16 with RISP more on the hitters not getting it done? These are professionals and only 3 hitters that played last night should be feeling confident of their status for next season. If they're not getting it done at the dregs of a rotten season, it says more about them than the manager. I'm ready to move on from Rocco because there needs to be some changes made, but games like this aren't really the issue.

Nice job by Laweryson and Funderburk has settled in as well. Much rather see what guys like this can do in the bullpen then more of the waiver wire dudes.

It's still a pretty small sample, but Martin is playing like a guy who wants a job next season. I like the way he's making himself a hard out and if he can keep doing damage against LHP he should get a lot of playing time next season.

[JBK]

4 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

Kind of weird to see a bunch of "fire Rocco" type comments after a game this this; you have to look pretty hard to find ways to blame this loss on the manager. I mean, Sands imploded the second time in a row, but what do we have in the bullpen to work with? Is he supposed to send out Adams there? Isn't going 3-16 with RISP more on the hitters not getting it done? These are professionals and only 3 hitters that played last night should be feeling confident of their status for next season. If they're not getting it done at the dregs of a rotten season, it says more about them than the manager. I'm ready to move on from Rocco because there needs to be some changes made, but games like this aren't really the issue.

Nice job by Laweryson and Funderburk has settled in as well. Much rather see what guys like this can do in the bullpen then more of the waiver wire dudes.

It's still a pretty small sample, but Martin is playing like a guy who wants a job next season. I like the way he's making himself a hard out and if he can keep doing damage against LHP he should get a lot of playing time next season.

Fire Rocco

[PDX Twin]

4 hours ago, William K Johnson said:

Our closer is not very good.

Said another way: Sands is what we thought he was until he fooled us with a couple of good months.

[USAFChief]

The incessant need by some to shield Rocco from any and all blame is as predictable as sunrise. 

Sunrises aren't nauseating though.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

3 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

It's still a pretty small sample, but Martin is playing like a guy who wants a job next season. I like the way he's making himself a hard out and if he can keep doing damage against LHP he should get a lot of playing time next season.

We don’t need to see any more of Martin. Strictly a backup (nothing wrong with that), dont get lost in the banter. Martin can get on base and could be a 26th man off the bench but he is not good enough with the glove to field any position on a regular basis.

[jmlease1]

3 hours ago, USAFChief said:

The incessant need by some to shield Rocco from any and all blame is as predictable as sunrise. 

Sunrises aren't nauseating though.

so are your constant attacks, but whatever.