Pirates 10, Twins 9: The Twins Keep Finding Ways to Lose

[Steven Trefz]

Image courtesy of © Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

Box Score
SP: Bailey Ober - 4.2 IP, 12 H, 8 ER, 1 BB, 3 K (97 pitches, 72 strikes (74%))
Home Runs: None
Bottom 3 WPA: Ober (-0.51), Austin Martin (-0.17), Orlando Arcia (-0.16)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) 

The Twins watched a victory turn into defeat in the bottom of the ninth on Friday night on the shores of the Allegheny River. On Saturday, Minnesota played the midpoint game of a brutal 17 games in 17 days stretch of this 2026 season. Bailey Ober took the mound in hopes of providing many innings of quality work for a pitching staff in the midst of injury and roster maneuvering. Ober's hopes, and the hopes of Twins fans everywhere got dashed, and resurrected, and dashed again. 

Ober and the Anti-Maddux
On May 12th, Ober threw a "Maddux," meaning that he got a complete game shutout with less than 100 pitches. On Saturday, Ober threw an "Anti-Maddux," meaning he couldn't clear five innings and gave up eight runs in the first two innings, functionally taking his team out of the game from the start. The misplays started right from the first Pirates batter, as Spencer Horwitz pulled a first pitch 89.9 mph fastball foul. With the entire world shouting "Changeup!," Victor Caratini typed in the heater instead, and Ober grooved a 88.7 mph fastball in the same location that would fit Horwitz's swing perfectly for a booming homer into the river. Things only got worse from there for the Twins' battery.

After Kody Clemens doubled to start the second, he came around to tie the game at one on a Caratini blooper into the sun in left (remember that sunshine please). In the bottom of the second inning, Ober tried another high-80's fastball down the heart of the plate after four straight off-speed pitches to the light-hitting Jake Mangum. Mangum now can say he hit a homerun in 2026, and the floodgates began to crack open. With two outs, Horwitz struck again, this time with a lazy fly ball to left field. Trevor Larnach never saw it. Not once. He was wearing his sunglasses. He properly used his glove in an attempt to find it. The ball plopped in front of him, and then the next four batters reached. By the time Oneil Cruz sent his three-run homer into the seats, Ober's day was ruined and things looked bleak with the Pirates leading 7-1 after only two innings.

For Everyone Who Turned Off the Game at This Point...
With the game effectively over before it could barely begin, Byron Buxton led off the top of the third inning with the kind of single that happens when you are a fast human. He found his way to third base after a wild pitch and a groundout. Turns out he could have stayed at first, because Clemens was cycle-hunting and drove a triple over Cruz's head to close the gap to 7-2. At the time, any excitement generated by this moment was sarcastic. In the top of the fourth, the excitement turned ecstatic. Mitch Keller got Caratini to line out to start the inning, but he gave up singles to Orlando Arcia and Luke Keaschall. Tristan Gray took his second chance at RBI's and delivered with a double that made it 7-4! Buxton walked, but Larnach flied out to put the rally on ice again. That is, until Josh Bell cleared the third baseman's glove with a liner that rolled all the way to the wall to clear the bases and make it 7-6!

Remember Clemens? Cycle-hunter? This time it was just a single, but it tied us up at seven apiece!

No Relief in Sight for Twins
With a brand-new ballgame in the fourth inning, but with both starting pitchers laboring early, it was clear that the bullpens would determine the victor yet again on Saturday. Ober and Caratini started the bullpen action off for the Twins in the fifth by allowing a single, committing a catcher interference, and again grooving a center-cut fastball after success on off-speed pitches to Mangum. That single put the Pirates back up 8-7 and sent Ober to the dugout for another early exit. Kody Funderburk came in and escaped the jam that remained in the fifth, and he survived walks and stolen bases and pressure in the sixth. In the bottom of the seventh, Derek Shelton rode the newly returned lefty two batters too many, as a walk and a single put runners at the corners with nobody out. John Klein got his Day 1 assignment after taking Simeon Woods Richardson's place on the roster, and he eventually allowed Funderburk's runs to score via walks, more stolen bases, hits and a sac fly. Just like that, another winnable game was lost by the Twins' bullpen.

For Everyone Who Turned Off the Game at That Point...
The bipolar nature of Saturday's ballgame kept on swinging through the top of the eighth, as Keaschall, Ryan Kreidler, and Buxton loaded the bases with one out against lefty reliever Mason Montgomery. Brooks Lee got the pinch-hit call to do what Brooks Lee does, and he walked. With the score now 10-8, and the bases still loaded, Bell came up with a hero moment in his former stomping grounds. He didn't "fail," but he didn't become a hero. Bell's slow ground-out to first plated Kreidler to pull the Twins to within a run, but now the pressure fell to Cycle-Hunter Clemens. The Pirates brough in lefty fireballer Gregory Soto to wreck the comeback plans. Soto threw a 1-1 sinker ball that left Kody's bat at 100.1 mph, but Tyler Callihan snared the grounder with a sweet backhand to break the Twins faithful's hearts once again.

Soto stayed on for the ninth, but after two rallies the Twins had nothing left in the tank. 10-9 Pirates. You should have just kept the game turned off after all.

What’s Next?
The Twins look to salvage the final game of the series, and a .500 road trip by beating the Pirates on Sunday. Twins righty Zebby Matthews (1-2, 2.37 ERA) looks to deliver what Ober could not, while the Pirates will send righty Braxton Ashcraft (4-2, 2.75 ERA) out in hopes of proving they were right to fire their old manager. First pitch on Sunday afternoon is scheduled for 12:35pm CDT.

Postgame Interviews

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	TOT
Gómez	18	0	17	14	0	71
Orze	0	29	0	23	0	52
Banda	10	0	14	18	0	49
Rogers	16	0	7	12	0	48
Klein	0	0	0	0	39	39
Morris	8	0	29	0	0	37
Funderburk	0	0	0	0	27	27
Laweryson	0	0	0	16	0	16

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[Hunter4848]

Extremely lazy journalism to blame the catcher for the homerun.

[Wedman13]

7 minutes ago, Hunter4848 said:

Extremely lazy journalism to blame the catcher for the homerun.

I thought the same.  Good game, we lost.  It happens.  'The whole world is shouting " changeup"' .....meaning the whole world minus the hitter?  If that statement were true, seems fastball was the right call.  The problem is the 89 MPH, not Caratini.

[Vanimal46]

Entertaining game to watch tonight. That’s been happening more often this season compared to the previous 2 seasons. I figured we are going to lose more than win before the season so I’m brushing off the outcome most days. 

[JD-TWINS]

3 minutes ago, Wedman13 said:

I thought the same.  Good game, we lost.  It happens.  'The whole world is shouting " changeup"' .....meaning the whole world minus the hitter?  If that statement were true, seems fastball was the right call.  The problem is the 89 MPH, not Caratini.

IMO, the PROBLEM was the Sun! 2nd inning - should have been 3 outs on a simple fly ball right at our left fielder …….. unfortunately, as happens 2-3 times per season, the ball got lost in the sun and that gave the Pirates another out to work with & Ober couldn’t make the big pitch to stop the onslaught in the 2nd. 

Then, snake bit Twins get a Catcher’s interference call against Caratini and it pushes a runner to 2B …… he then scores on a single to LF ……… pretty solid play by Larnach but tag was 1/2 second too late.

MARTIN has to have the day off Sunday and they Seriously need to consider DFA for Outman and Gonzales back up to play some corner OF, as needed. Martin is in a spiral and batting 4-5 times per game, mostly against RH pitching is fruitless…….Kreidler/Outman in CF with Clemens in right & Larkin in LF with a right handed starter ……. gotta do it before Martin is mentally broken v. RH pitching.

Funderburk can’t consistently throw strikes. more specifically he walks too many guys! His stuff isn’t good enough to routinely get him out of trouble - not sure he’s got the Major League make-up. Looks frustrated or anxious way too often on the mound. Looks great in spots but if Team needs 4 outs the results need to be better from him!

5 runs from the Sun ball & 1 from the interference - tough to win when those things happen.

[karcherd]

14 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

MARTIN has to have the day off Sunday and they Seriously need to consider DFA for Outman and Gonzales back up to play some corner OF, as needed. Martin is in a spiral and batting 4-5 times per game, mostly against RH pitching is fruitless…….Kreidler/Outman in CF with Clemens in right & Larkin in LF with a right handed starter ……. gotta do it before Martin is mentally broken v. RH pitching.

While I don't disagree about giving Martin a break, any plan that includes regular AB's for Kreidler, Outman, Bell or Gray is not a plan. Playing Clemens any more than 3 to 4 days a week will catch up to them as well.  Call up Fedko, Gonzalez, Culpepper and Sabato.  Cut or option Kreidler, Gray, Bell and Outman.  Gonzalez rotates at the corner OF spots and DH's.  Fedko and Martin can play CF if Buxton can't. 

[krink]

36 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Entertaining game to watch tonight. That’s been happening more often this season compared to the previous 2 seasons. I figured we are going to lose more than win before the season so I’m brushing off the outcome most days. 

Such a good point! The season was never going to be smooth sailing, but we haven't taken on nearly as much water as I feared! The Pirates are .525! We had 'em on the ropes!

I am still licking my wounds...

The compilation of Gardenhire ejections is helping.

[TheLeviathan]

45 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Entertaining game to watch tonight. That’s been happening more often this season compared to the previous 2 seasons. I figured we are going to lose more than win before the season so I’m brushing off the outcome most days. 

Also why "But we're a wildcard team today!" threads needed to chill out last week.