Rockies 8, Twins 5: Rockies Outlast Twins Behind Hunter Goodman's 3-Homer Night

[Steven Trefz]

Image courtesy of © Matt Blewett-Imagn Images

Box Score
SP: Mike Paredes 5.1 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 2 K (74 pitches, 51 strikes (69%))
Home Runs: N/A
Bottom 3 WPA: Kody Funderburk (-0.24), Paredes (-0.15), Royce Lewis (-0.13)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) 

After a ludicrous blown lead and extra inning comeback victory on Friday night, the Twins looked to take further advantage of a 50-loss Colorado Rockies club. Standing in their way was a familiar starter named Michael Lorenzen, who hadn't won a game since April with a 6.40 ERA in his last seven games. Standing on the mound for the Twins was the rookie Mike Paredes and his 4-6 innings of opener energy. On paper this game looked to be another offensive slugfest. In reality it was just plain offensive for the home team.

Hunter Goodman is a Bad Man
Goodman tried to ruin the night with a ninth inning blast on Friday night to give the Rockies the momentary lead. He tried to ruin the night from the start on Saturday night with a first inning moonshot against Paredes' non-sweeping sweeper. The Twins manufactured a run in the bottom of the first to tie the game back up as Trevor Larnach singled, Byron Buxton took one for the team, and then Kody Clemens notched his 33rd RBI with a single to plate Larnach with nobody out. Just when you thought Lorenzen's track record was going to keep on spinning, he fooled Josh Bell on a first pitch changeup and then got Victor Caratini and Royce Lewis to ground out to end the threat.

Paredes escaped some base clutter in the top of the second, but he couldn't escape Goodwin in the top of the third. His 24th home run of the year was less majestic, but just as damaging as the Rockies retook the lead at 2-1. 

Bending But Not Breaking...
The Twins couldn't muster anything in the early innings against Lorenzen, as he effectively mixed speeds and kept the Minnesota bats away from solid contact. Paredes held his own through the majority of his outing, but another big blast by Jake McCarthy in the top of the fifth led to the third Rockies run. With two runners on in the top of the sixth and only one out, Derek Shelton went to his trusty bullpen and veteran lefty Taylor Rogers. Rogers had been struggling of late, but he looked like the Rogers of old and got his team out of the jam tonight.

With Lorenzen still throwing in the bottom of the sixth, Bell got the Twins back on the board with a booming triple!

Caratini drove a ball deep into the left field corner for a sacrifice fly to immediately score Bell to cut the gap to 3-2. Brooks Lee tried to facilitate the completion of the rally with a ringing two-out double, but Tristan Gray kept his 30 percent strikeout percentage alive and well to end the threat.

Bullpens Beyond Broken
Goodman hit his third home run of the night, and it was a three-run shot. Rogers only needed nine pitches in the sixth, but Shelton inexplicably brought in the least-rested member of the bullpen to face a lead-off lefty in the top of the seventh. Kody Funderburk was that man, and he pitched poorly yet again tonight. The aforementioned lefty McCarthy ripped a single, and then Funderburk walked the pinch-hitting righty, Ezequiel Tovar. McCarthy and Tovar pulled off a double steal while Funderburk was focusing in on Goodman. With a full count staring him in the face, Funderburk decided that a center-cut 90 mph sinker was the best plan of action against the hottest hitter in the league. It left at 113 mph and the Rockies lead was jacked up to 6-2.

The Twins continued to flounder at the plate as the game reached its disappointing conclusion, but there was a moment of hope for the Twins in the midst of their league-worst bullpen 5.30 ERA in the month of June. Marco Raya made his long-awaited major league debut in the top of the eighth. He fit right in, as he promptly walked the lead-off man and gave up a gopher ball to Kyle Karros after falling behind to him as well. 8-2 Rockies. Raya did notch his first career strikeout to end the frame, against Goodman no less! Raya pitched a scoreless ninth to end his debut outing.

The Rockies sent the literal worst bullpen pitcher in the majors out on the mound for the bottom of the ninth, and his name is Zach Agnos. He promptly made Royce Lewis look foolish on an undisciplined swinging strike out. Lewis' lack of effort looked even worse given what came next. Lee refused to swing at balls out of the zone, and he was rewarded with a single. Even Gray got a single because he laid off the pitches Royce couldn't, and then Luke Keaschall worked a walk to load the bases with one out. Larnach refused to swing at non-strikes, cleared the bases with a double to creep the Twins within three at 8-5 and to chase Agnos from the game!

The next man up for the Rockies was Friday night's losing pitcher Jimmy Herget and his sidearm craftiness. Buxton got ahead 2-0 but popped up a hanging sweeper to leave the rally to pinch-hitting Austin Martin who entered the game in the top of the ninth as a defensive replacement for Kody Clemens. Why did Shelton make that move down six runs while he left in Buxton and others? Your guess is as good as mine, but it meant the left-handed Clemens was watching from the bench as Martin flew out to end the rally. It's too bad FanGraphs hasn't figured out how to measure WPA for managers, because Shelton was on fire tonight.

What’s Next?
The Twins hope to salvage their 12th series win in 2026 against the hapless but pesky Rockies on Sunday afternoon. Lefty Connor Prielipp (2-5, 5.17 ERA) will look to get his season back on track before he reaches his Twins-mandated load limit. The Rockies will send young righty Ryan Feltner (2-2, 4.79 ERA) in hopes of winning only their ninth series in 2026.  First pitch is scheduled for 1:10pm CDT.

Postgame Interviews

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	TOT
Rogers	38	0	0	0	9	47
Raya	0	0	0	0	40	40
Banda	0	25	0	11	0	35
Adams	30	0	0	0	0	30
Funderburk	0	0	0	20	25	20
Orze	0	0	0	14	0	14
Morris	0	7	0	6	0	13
Gómez	0	10	0	0	0	10

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[thelanges5]

Twins went 5-1 last week and are about to go 1-5 this week. 🎢

[mark allen]

why funderburk. bad decision on Sheltons part think we win that game 

[Linus]

Anybody ready to be done with Fundy?  I was last June but apparently Falvey knew better. 

[mrguy]

I pointed this out in the game thread, but I think Paredes has a sequencing issue happening. A lot of opportunities where he found himself way ahead in the count but couldn't close it out. His stuff profiled better than normal looking at the statcast data, but some questionable choices ahead in the count led to multiple times where he got punished hard for it. He knows how to get ahead, he has been able to throw quality stuff, but they need to fix the way he approaches some of those at bats and then you'll have a solid guy.

[mikelink45]

Yuck. We lack bulls in the pen!

[Danchat]

Even with the bullpen being as weak as it is, the issue is compounded seeing Morris and Gomez throw only 6 combined pitches the past two days. It's going to stink when you don't use your few best options.

[ashbury]

Quote

Hunter Goodman is a Bad Man

But he is not an Out man.

[ashbury]

From the post-game: "yeah, thought about [bringing in Rogers] a little bit but just decided we're going to go with Fundy there and, obviously, it didn't work out."

Story of the '26 bullpen.  No good options.

[Mike Sixel]

45 minutes ago, mark allen said:

why funderburk. bad decision on Sheltons part think we win that game 

Why is he still on the roster?

[wesnewy]

Funderburk needs to be put on a list... I don't know which one, but he needs to be on one

[Aggies7]

“Outlast” is an interesting way to describe what the Rockies did tonight 😂 

[1985Fan]

Funderburk hasn’t shown he can throw strikes (ever) and that’s not someone for the BP. He falls behind every batter and then has to come into the zone with his weak stuff. Frustrating to watch him pitch. Grooves a meatball middle middle to the hottest hitter in baseball. Send him down to St. Paul and leave him there please. 

[Sampson5]

I can't see why in a close game funderberk is the guy they decide to put in the game so many better options in that spot honestly there's a real argument he shouldn't be on the twins roster right now with how bad he's looked even with limited options in St Paul . Shelton makes some insane decisions been far to many losses this year where his choices have been a key reason for the loss that's why I don't think he's long for the job and really shouldn't even of been the hire in the first place. Replacing Clemens is even worse taking your 2nd best bat out of the lineup for Austin Martin is wild when you leave Buxton in so wasn't the white flag . Maybe they should just walk Goodman going forward it's clear none of our pitchers can handle him . Allowing him to hit 4 homers in 2 games is crazy 

[Jacksson]

Shelton is a chicken ****.  After Goodman unloads 2 bombs, when Goodman came up to bat in the 5th, all he sees is heat on the inside and if he should get hit by the pitch, so much the better.  Shelton should have ordered that Goodman get plunked.  If not for the 2 homeruns, then as payback for Buxton getting plunked in the 1st.

Shelton is an idiot.  Lefthander on the mound, runners on 3rd and 2nd = FIRST BASE OPEN and a guy that has gone yard twice already this game.  Either walk him or plunk him.

Funderburk needs to be optioned to St Paul and remain there for the rest of the season.  Clearly, his mind is on his new kid and his wife's health.  With those things paramount on his mind, he is no use to the team at the major league level.  All Kody has to do is get 3 outs.  Instead, he digs himself into a hole from the get-go = single, walk, homerun.  And that homer was on a hanging sinker, up in the zone and right down the middle.

All Raya has to do is to get 3 outs. And yet, the first batter he faces sees ONE strike out of the six pitches he sees; the FIVE that missed were not even close.  Having walked that guy, Raya misses badly on 3 out of 4 pitches before grooving pitch #5 which promptly left the yard.  Question: What is Hawkins being paid for?  To send in relief pitchers  that: can't throw strikes, pitch behind in the count, give up walks, give up hits, and serve up homerun balls??  Hawkins is supposed to have a handle on the performance of the members of his bullpen and despite the dubious abilities of the bullpen pitchers; he is supposed to be making them BETTER !! Marco, Keep your ticket to St Paul handy!!

Let's not fail to point out the misplay in RF by Keaschall where he completely misplayed a ball of the wall in RF that the charitable, hometown scorer scored as triple as opposed to the correct call which should have been a single and a 2 base error on Keaschall. 

The Twins pitchers need to take this so-called "Official Scorer" out behind the woodshed and knock some sense into him as to what is exactly a hit and what is an error.  ANYBODY who plays RF at Target Field needs a few hours EACH AND EVERY DAY to learn how to play the caroms off the wall on balls hit over their heads (as well as work for the pitchers, and catchers to not call and throw pitches that are not going to end up being hit over the heads of the outfielders - who are hopefully positioned correctly.

[mrguy]

I want to know who was telling the pitchers to pitch up against Goodman, Maki? Caratini? The pitchers themselves making that decision? All of the three home runs came from pitching up against him, even outside of the zone he managed to launch it but then the two times they pitched down against him, Paredes got a first pitch ground out and Raya struck him out. Granted Funderburk's was a middle middle 90 MPH sinker that anyone would've blasted, but who's scouting told them pitching up was the answer against him?

[David HK]

3 hours ago, ashbury said:

From the post-game: "yeah, thought about [bringing in Rogers] a little bit but just decided we're going to go with Fundy there and, obviously, it didn't work out."

Story of the '26 bullpen.  No good options.

Crabs in a bucket. Just pick one and get shelled.

[David HK]

I wonder if fans can bring a class action suit for malpractice against the pohlads and the FO.  What inglorious incompetence.  Why in the H did they have to completely tear down the BP- and then do less than nothing to build it back over the off-season, when there were a handful of decent options available? Did they really think a couple of retreads and Stiff of the Week candidates would be in any way effective?  

Screw you, joe pohlad. Right-size this 👎 Same for you, Falvey and especially Zoll, for inflicting this stream of the lame, the halt, and the incapable upon us. 

And while I'm at it- hey Sheltie, and your all-star coaching staff- you wanna get a handle on the bone-head brand of baseball your troops are displaying anytime soon?

Sheesh, what mess.