Twins 5, Astros 4: Twins Ride Dominant Zebby Matthews Outing to Win Over Astros

[Matthew Taylor]

Image courtesy of © Thomas Shea-Imagn Images

Box Score
SP: Zebby Matthews: 7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 7 K, 1 BB
HR: Royce Lewis (8), Victor Caratini (7), Josh Bell (10)
Top 3 WPA: Matthews 0.25, Caratini 0.13, Bell 0.12
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs):

The Minnesota Twins entered Monday night's series opener in Houston knowing the competition was about to get much tougher. After taking a series from the Colorado Rockies, Minnesota kicked off a six-game road trip against an Astros club that had won nine of its previous 12 games, before heading to Yankee Stadium this weekend. The Twins were also without Byron Buxton, who was held out of the lineup after experiencing a recurrence of hip discomfort and undergoing imaging, according to MLB.com's Matthew Leach.

That didn't stop them from taking control of the game early, even if the finish ended up being far more dramatic than it needed to be.

The biggest reason was Zebby Matthews. After recording three quality starts in his previous four outings while pitching at least six innings in each, Matthews built on that momentum with arguably his best start of the 2026 season. The right-hander tossed seven innings of one-run ball, allowing just four hits while striking out seven and walking only one. His only mistake came in the fifth inning, when Cam Smith connected for a solo home run. Outside of that swing, Matthews was in complete control all night.

Matthews gave the Twins exactly the kind of start they needed, and the offense rewarded him with an early cushion. After being held hitless through the first three innings, Minnesota broke through in the fourth when Victor Caratini and Royce Lewis launched back-to-back home runs. Both hitters continued their outstanding months of June, and Josh Bell joined them two innings later. Bell, who entered the night with an .880 OPS this month after his miserable start to the season, crushed a two-run homer to extend the lead to 4-1. Kody Clemens added one more insurance run in the seventh with an RBI groundout, giving the Twins what looked like a comfortable 5-1 advantage.

Matthews's seven frames meant the bullpen only needed to notch the final six outs. Travis Adams looked poised to do just that, retiring the first five batters he faced before Taylor Trammell spoiled the effort with a two-out, full-count, two-run home run in the ninth inning to trim Minnesota's lead to 5-3.

That forced the Twins to turn to Yoendrys Gómez for the final out. Instead, the Astros made things even more interesting when Smith launched a solo homer to make it a one-run game. Gómez settled down, however, retiring the final batter of the night to earn his eighth save of the season as the Twins hung on for the 5-4 victory.

The Twins passed the first test of a challenging road trip. Matthews delivered the best outing of his season, while Lewis, Bell, and Caratini continued their hot stretches at the plate to provide enough offense. It got far more interesting than anyone expected over the final two outs, but the Twins ultimately did enough to open the road trip with a much-needed win.

What's Next
The Twins will look to lock up the series on Tuesday evening at 7:10 p.m. CT. Joe Ryan is scheduled to take the mound for Minnesota against Astros right-hander Mike Burrows, as the Twins try to string together some series victories and position themselves to buy (or at least not sell) at the trade deadline.

Bullpen Usage Chart

	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN	SUN	P
Raya	0	0	40	0	0	40
Banda	0	11	0	14	0	25
Morris	0	6	0	12	0	18
Funderburk	0	20	25	0	0	45
Orze	0	14	0	0	0	14
Gómez	0	0	0	4	7	11
Rogers	0	0	9	0	0	9
Adams	0	0	0	0	35	35

 

View full article

[soyouresayingtheresachance]

Great start from Zebby!

Adams is a 1 inning guy. If they start using him properly, I expect his results would improve. 

Bell, Caratini, Lewis with HRs. All 3 are performing better than earlier in the season. 

With even an average BP, this team would be in MUCH better shape. 

[ashbury]

Quote

Twins 5, Astros 1

[Church of Kreidler]

I’m looking forward to the third game when the Astros start Tatsuya Imai. Saw one of his starts during a rain delay, and oof.

Zebby did fantastically! Honestly, what I’ve found to be so hard about the state of the bullpen is that our starters have been playing so strong! How hard it must be for them to turn their leads over to the pen…

Once again the bullpen had me far more nervous than we needed to be! If we are buying at the trade deadline, it better be relievers! Though, I’m not confident the front office knows how to tell the difference between good and bad anymore…

And I wish we didn’t feel like we had to start Gray at shortstop… Kriedler is so much stronger there defensively. But, with Buxton hurt, I am glad that Kreidler can be just as competent out there as he is in the infield.

Let’s keep it going! Keep showing Texas what we’re about!

(Winning, guys. We’re about winning. Right?)

[Bracky]

The final out to end the game was also a nifty little play from Clemens. I would like to see him stick with the Twins for next season as a utility guy. He has value for the Twins in playing pretty good defense wherever he is at. Ideally we long term get guys that would be starting in place of him but he definitely has value as a utility player for the team.

[Cory Engelhardt]

Came here to say that generally I've really enjoyed how Zebby has been looking this year. It FEELS like you are likely to get 6 or even 7 innings most of his times out.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

The Joe Ryan Experience in today's game will be a  treat for us Twins fans. I really enjoy watching Ryan pitch. I hope he stays a Twin for a long time. My favorite game would be a Joe Ryan complete game shut out with Byron Buxton hitting an inside the park HR to win 1 to 0.

[knothole61]

38 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Dewey Defeats Truman...

[howeda7]

5-1 eh? We finally stopped the count!

[howeda7]

Please get Adams off this roster. Call up both Culpeppers. 

[Peter]

Should’nt have been as close as it was Adams did his best to blow it but thank the lord for back to back home runs as well bells 2 run homer!!! 

[TL]

They get Jeffers and Ober back in a few weeks and Culpepper should get promoted soon (and maybe Jenkins?).

If Buxton can avoid a long term IL stint and the starting pitching continues to develop like it has been this team can stay in contention.

Just maybe Rojas, Abel, CJ Culpepper and Preillip find themselves in the pen and it becomes a strength later in the year. (Both Preillip and Abel are still long term starters, but used out of pen to manage injury risk later this year).

Too far fetched? Downside is Jeffers likely walks for nothing if you go for it this year so they may need to deal him anyway while still trying to contend. 

[DJL44]

You can remove Banda from the bullpen chart and add Laweryson. If Ryan hands the lead over to the bullpen it looks like they won’t have Gomez available tonight.

[big dog]

" Travis Adams looked poised to do just that, retiring the first five batters he faced before Taylor Trammell spoiled the effort with a two-out, full-count, two-run home run in the ninth inning to trim Minnesota's lead to 5-3."

Travis Adams looked poised to blow this game from the moment he took the mound.

You said he retired the first five batters he faced? He walked two of the first five, not including a terrible call to prevent a walk to the sixth hitter..

8th inning

#8 batter: started with a wild pitch Caratini couldn't even touch. Second pitch was over 2" high (inexplicably called a strike, overturned on appeal). Third pitch was at least a foot outside. Fourth pitch was clearly outside, but called a strike. Fifth pitch was an actual strike. Sixth pitch was a foot outside. 

#9 batter: strike one, a hard-hit foul, a pitch several inches outside, then a line drive hit right to the first baseman for an easy double play. Well-hit ball, very fortunate outcome.

#1 batter: Altuve flies out on a high strike.

9th inning

#2 batter: strike one, strike two, bounced one a foot in front of the plate, Alvarez grounded out.

#3 batter: swung and missed at ball one, then three straight balls (two not close), then ball four.

#4 batter: got down 0-2, then a pitch way outside, fouled a pitch off, pitch in the dirt in front of and a foot outside the plate, another pitch just off the ground, then a foul, Then a pitch that was clearly high, but called strike three and no challenge allowed.

#5 batter: strike one, ball one, ball two nearly hit the batter in the foot, threw ball three a few inches off the ground, fouled back a 3-1 pitch down the middle, Then he gave up a rocket of a home run.

So in real life, he walked 3 of the first 6 hitters he faced, then he threw a gopher ball.

[Bangkok Twins Fan]

Zebby looking solid, but that bullpen remains a bit scary. 

[mikelink45]

great - seven innings, how about 8?  Trusting the BP is like putting out the fire with a liquid called gasoline.  Let's change it from bullpen to Heiferpen!

[jmlease1]

37 minutes ago, Bangkok Twins Fan said:

Zebby looking solid, but that bullpen remains a bit scary. 

Pretty much sums up the game in one sentence.

Waiting for someone to pop in and "explain" how Zebby's last 3 games are meaningless because he gave up 7 runs each in starts 4 & 6 "proving" that he's just another Twins prospect that all hype and will never be good in 3...2,,,1...

Could have used a few more baserunners in front of those homers, but any time you put up 5 runs you're giving your team a good chance to win.

Caratini having a scorching June after a poor May; while I don't expect him to keep raking like this it's been nice to see him work out of a real slump. Will definitely take his season average going forward...