Twins 8, Astros 3: Home Runs At Bat and Strikeouts On Mound Propel Twins to Series Victory

[Sam Caulder]

Image courtesy of © Erik Williams-Imagn Images

Box Score
SP: Taj Bradley - 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 11 K (97 pitches, 63 strikes (65% strikes))
Home Runs: Josh Bell, Kody Clemens, Luke Keaschall
Top 3 WPA: Josh Bell (0.17), Kody Clemens (0.14), Trevor Larnach (0.10)
Win Probability Chart

The Twins entered Wednesday night's series finale against the Astros with a chance to secure a series victory. Behind a dominant outing from Taj Bradley and an offense that jumped on Houston's pitching from the very first inning, the Twins did exactly that, cruising to an 8-3 victory and improving to 42-46 on the season.

THE TWINS JUMPED ON TATSUYA IMAI EARLY
Minnesota wasted little time putting pressure on Astros starter Tatsuya Imai, just as they did the first time they faced him earlier this season. Trevor Larnach got things started by ripping a leadoff double off the wall in straightaway center field, and after Brooks Lee and Kody Clemens were retired, Josh Bell made sure the early scoring opportunity didn't go to waste.

Bell got a 2-1 slider left out over the plate and absolutely demolished it, launching a 452-foot two-run homer over the batter's eye in center field to give the Twins a quick 2-0 lead. It was Bell's third home run against Imai this season, after taking him deep twice during their previous meeting. The Twins weren't finished there. Royce Lewis and Ryan Kreidler each drew walks before Victor Caratini singled to load the bases, although Tristan Gray struck out to end the inning.

An inning later, Minnesota delivered an even bigger blow. Luke Keaschall worked a leadoff walk before Lee drew another free pass, bringing Clemens to the plate. On a 3-1 fastball at the top of the strike zone, Clemens unloaded for a three-run homer to right-center, stretching the Twins' advantage to 5-1. Bell followed with another walk, and after recording just five outs, Houston had seen enough of Imai.

TAJ BRADLEY PILES UP THE STRIKEOUTS
While Bradley wasn't especially efficient, he was overpowering whenever the Astros put runners on base. Houston immediately threatened in the first inning, as Jose Altuve walked and Yordan Alvarez singled, eventually scoring a run on an Isaac Paredes double play. Bradley settled down by striking out Christian Walker to end the inning.

The second inning proved even more impressive. Cam Smith doubled, Taylor Trammell walked, and suddenly, the Astros had two runners on with nobody out. Bradley responded by striking out three consecutive hitters to escape the jam untouched. The pattern continued in the third. Alvarez and Paredes both singled, but Bradley once again found another gear, striking out Walker and Smith to strand both runners. By the fourth inning, he was completely locked in, striking out the side in order to reach 11 strikeouts on the night, matching his career high.

Bradley ultimately worked five innings, allowing just one run while striking out 11 Astros. It wasn't the cleanest outing from a pitch-count standpoint—he needed 97 pitches to get through five frames—but one run and 11 strikeouts is a combination the Twins will gladly take every time out.

LARNACH ADDS ON AS MINNESOTA PULLS AWAY
The Twins continued to tack on insurance tallies against Houston's bullpen in the fifth inning. Victor Caratini walked, Keaschall was hit by a pitch, and both runners advanced on a wild pitch to set the table for Larnach.

Larnach smoked a ground ball back through the middle that clipped second base and kicked into center field, allowing both runners to score and extending Minnesota's lead to 7-1.

The Twins added one more insurance run in the eighth, when Keaschall connected on a two-strike fastball from Bryan Abreu, sending it over the wall in left-center field for his third home run of the season and pushing the lead to 8-3.

Larnach finished another outstanding night with three hits, while Bell reached base twice and drove in two runs. Clemens' three-run homer proved to be one of the biggest swings of the game, and Keaschall stayed hot by reaching base twice (including the homer), while also making a terrific sliding catch in right field.

BULLPEN HOLDS OFF HOUSTON'S LATE PUSH
The only real hiccup came after Bradley exited. Cody Laweryson struggled in the sixth inning, allowing two runs while recording just two outs before Andrew Morris was called upon to stop the bleeding. Morris immediately got Altuve to ground out and then delivered perhaps the biggest pitch of the game for the Twins an inning later.

After Alvarez reached for the fourth time and Paredes was hit by a pitch, Houston had runners on first and second with one out. Morris calmly induced Cam Smith to bounce into a 6-4-3 double play, ending the threat and preserving Minnesota's four-run cushion.

Taylor Rogers followed with a perfect eighth inning. Yoendrys Gómez worked around a pair of baserunners in the ninth. Although Paredes reached after a dropped pop-up, Gómez retired Brice Matthews on a fly ball to center to end the game. By the final out, the Twins had secured an impressive series victory in Houston.

Minnesota pounded out timely hits, hit three home runs, received another strong performance from Taj Bradley, and got enough out of the bullpen to close the door. After winning two of three in Houston, the Twins head into the remainder of their road trip with some much-needed momentum and an improved 42-46 record.

What’s Next?
The Twins have tomorrow off, but will be traveling to the Bronx to begin a three-game weekend series against the Yankees on Friday. Mike Paredes will toe the rubber for the good guys. He’ll be facing off against veteran right-hander and 2023 AL Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole. First pitch is set for 6:05 PM. 

Postgame Interviews
Coming Soon!

Bullpen Availability Chart

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[thelanges5]

Great series win!

Laweryson down and Rojas up

Gray down and Roden up

Lets go Twins ⚾️🚀

[Jacksson]

Given the state of the Twins bullpen and it's ability to fritter away win able games, the Twins are lobbying the league to award Gomez a save for his effort tonight in coming in, getting 3 outs and protecting a mere 5 RUN LEAD !!

[Parfigliano]

Taj was a K machine tonight and moved his ERA under 4

[Mike Sixel]

14 minutes ago, Parfigliano said:

Taj was a K machine tonight and moved his ERA under 4

This trade is looking good...

[Western SD Fan]

28 minutes ago, thelanges5 said:

Great series win!

Laweryson down and Rojas up

Gray down and Roden up

Lets go Twins ⚾️🚀

Rojas should absolutely be on his way to New York right now.  If Roden is going to be called up, it will likely be when the Twins come home since they are facing two LHP in Cole and Rodon.  No point in calling up a LH bat when you're likely going to sit him.

Edit:  The good news is, with the LHP going for the Yankees, we shouldn't be seeing Gray much this series.  Hopefully Buxton is back in CF and Kreidler is manning SS.

[soyouresayingtheresachance]

Nice series win on the road! 

Would really like to see Rojas up. And maybe get a look at CJ Culpepper in the pen. I understand theyre trying to stretch out Rojas for starting but we need effective innings for the BP. He gives us a better chance than most of the current BP guys. 

Keaschall with the HR! I was so confused, I didnt realize he still hit those 😂

Short but dominant start from Taj. I'll take it.

Laweryson and the defense tried to get Houston back in the game. Luckily they failed. 

Paredes against Cole on friday. Young man has his work cut out for him against the Yankees. Let's get another series win! 

[howeda7]

1 hour ago, thelanges5 said:

Great series win!

Laweryson down and Rojas up

Gray down and Roden up

Lets go Twins ⚾️🚀

Agreed, but if Gray goes it has to be for Culpepper. Gray, Adams and Fedko out. Culpepper, Rojas and Roden in.

[knothole61]

Nice series win. Bell is looking like less of "a mistake" now-eh? The big man put one in orbit in Astros-land! Also. shout out to Keaschall on a great catch in right center...the kid is a talented athlete. 

[DJL44]

5 hours ago, knothole61 said:

Nice series win. Bell is looking like less of "a mistake" now-eh? The big man put one in orbit in Astros-land! Also. shout out to Keaschall on a great catch in right center...the kid is a talented athlete. 

The season is half over and Bell has a 97 OPS+.
 

Yankees have lost 7 in a row.

[Peter]

Taj was 💪💪💪 11 k tying career high as well with bell hitting moonshot!!! Clemens along with keshell with home run and great catch!!! Great win to take series against Astros!!! Tough one this weekend with Yankees!!! Hate playing teams on long losing streak!!! Let’s see if we can win series against them!!!

[DJL44]

Caratini needs the off day. He got beat up behind the plate. Get some ice and some sleep, Vic.

[DJL44]

7 hours ago, Western SD Fan said:

Rojas should absolutely be on his way to New York right now.  If Roden is going to be called up, it will likely be when the Twins come home since they are facing two LHP in Cole and Rodon.  No point in calling up a LH bat when you're likely going to sit him.

Edit:  The good news is, with the LHP going for the Yankees, we shouldn't be seeing Gray much this series.  Hopefully Buxton is back in CF and Kreidler is manning SS.

Will Keaschall move back to 2B with Clemens to the bench?

If Buxton is not back, they have to give him an IL stint and call someone up. 

[TL]

5 hours ago, howeda7 said:

Agreed, but if Gray goes it has to be for Culpepper. Gray, Adams and Fedko out. Culpepper, Rojas and Roden in.

And Jenkins for Martin

[HarmonK03]

5 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Will Keaschall move back to 2B with Clemens to the bench?

If Buxton is not back, they have to give him an IL stint and call someone up. 

If they call someone up, will they play them.

[DJL44]

Funderburk or Adams would also work. They’re trying to stretch Rojas out as a starter. I expect him to be in the rotation after the trade deadline.

7 hours ago, thelanges5 said:

Laweryson down and Rojas up
 

[DJL44]

Gray is from Texas and played college ball at Rice. He got three games at SS in front of his family and friends. He can sit in New York against the lefty starters. Get Kreidler back to SS.

[jmlease1]

Morris is doing a nice job; starting to look like we've got something there. Still need to get some more help there, but nice to see that he might be a guy who will be cheap, effective and under team control for several seasons.

Liked seeing the offense pile up the walks again; feel like that's been a consistent good sign for them. If they're taking those free passes, making the opposition pitchers really work, get lots of baserunner, and good things will follow. Excellent run support.

I continue to be a Taj Bradley fan. Would like to see him get more efficient to get deeper in games, but he does have dominance in him. He's been a little less consistent since coming off the IL, but might have just needed some games to start getting a rhythm again.

Series win is always good. Road series win is even better.

[Saxophone Joe]

I like Tristan. Keep him up. He’s had a tough stretch lately but everyone does & he’s definitely been a solid addition overall imo. Seems like a good teammate. Is he Ozzie Smith at short? No, of course not. But he’s serviceable and has come up clutch. Those two grand slams won games for us. 

[tony&rodney]

Maybe Joe Ryan can spin a gem and win a game on Sunday. 

The Twins are playing hard and competing. They won a series against a Houston team that had won five series in a row and played themselves back into the conversation in the AL West.

The patience to force opponents to throw strikes set up Bell and Clemens big blasts. Bradley did not have great command but his stuff is very difficult for opposing hitters. Morris shut down fears of another bullpen collapse. 

Good series, all things considered, for Twins. 

[chinmusic]

1 hour ago, DJL44 said:

The season is half over and Bell has a 97 OPS+

He also has 56 RBI; prorated to 103. I'd prioritize that over his OPS+.

[mikelink45]

7 hours ago, knothole61 said:

Nice series win. Bell is looking like less of "a mistake" now-eh? The big man put one in orbit in Astros-land! Also. shout out to Keaschall on a great catch in right center...the kid is a talented athlete. 

We had similar angst with Santana and France - too quick for us commenters to pull the trigger. 

[mikelink45]

Why just 5?  With our BP we need starters to go 7

[Mike Sixel]

4 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

Why just 5?  With our BP we need starters to go 7

Because he threw a ton of pitches. 

[bean5302]

33 minutes ago, chinmusic said:

He also has 56 RBI; prorated to 103. I'd prioritize that over his OPS+.

Glad he's been put into a position to hit where there were a lot of base runners. The point of the stats saying he has a league average bat is to say a good hitter would have 70 RBI instead of 56 right now if they were in Bell's spot in the lineup.

[mikelink45]

16 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Because he threw a ton of pitches. 

That is his job!

[JD-TWINS]

9 hours ago, thelanges5 said:

Great series win!

Laweryson down and Rojas up

Gray down and Roden up

Lets go Twins ⚾️🚀

IF Roden is deemed capable of playing CF as needed to spell Buxton, pull the trigger. Gray is frustratingly spotty at SS ……. he’s in a slump for a fair amount of time at the plate. He did hit a couple balls to the wall on Tuesday night, so…….. Kreidler can’t play SS everyday (or at all) with Buxton down.

Is Arcia still hitting at AAA?

Is Gonzalez hitting at AAA?

They face lefty starters Saturday & Sunday. Not a great starting point for Roden ……. probably will put Martin or Fedko in CF on the weekend, with the other in LF.

Fedko has to start being used or he needs to go down for a guy Team thinks can contribute, and they will use.

Frankly, if he & Team think he’s ready between the ears, I am ready to pull Jenkins up after the Break!

[DJL44]

1 minute ago, mikelink45 said:

That is his job!

Pitching while fatigued inevitably leads to injury. He can’t do his job injured.

[friedbrycenbeans]

2 hours ago, DJL44 said:

The season is half over and Bell has a 97 OPS+.

Bell since June 1st:

.900 OPS
.566 SLG
150 wRC+
24 RBI

He's basically been identical across the board with Buxton since June. 

[friedbrycenbeans]

17 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

Glad he's been put into a position to hit where there were a lot of base runners. The point of the stats saying he has a league average bat is to say a good hitter would have 70 RBI instead of 56 right now if they were in Bell's spot in the lineup.

Bell with RISP this year

.348/.380/.663 with a 183 wRC+