Twins 5, Angels 3: Eleven Angels Left On Base

[Cory Moen]

Image courtesy of © Matt Blewett-Imagn Images

Box Score
SP: Joe Ryan - 6 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K (94 pitches, 61 strikes (64.9% strikes))
Home Runs: Royce Lewis (10)
Top 3 WPA (via Fangraphs): Royce Lewis (0.25), Joe Ryan (0.19), Victor Caratini (0.16)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

After dropping Friday night's opener to the Angels, the Twins needed a response before heading into the All-Star break. They got one.

Powered by another big afternoon from Royce Lewis and six steady innings from Joe Ryan, Minnesota knocked off Los Angeles 5-3 to even the series and set up a rubber match on Sunday.

The afternoon started with a celebration as longtime Twins television voice Dick Bremer was inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame before first pitch.

Cheers to 40 years! Welcome to the Twins Hall of Fame, Dick Bremer! pic.twitter.com/qE5hihzwAv

— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) July 11, 2026

Today's broadcast celebrates the career of Dick Bremer and his Twins Hall of Fame induction! pic.twitter.com/gxFMpwPrS9

— Twins.TV (@twinstv) July 11, 2026

Once the game got underway, Joe Ryan had to work around immediate trouble. The Angels put two runners aboard in the opening inning, but Ryan stranded both and never let the early traffic snowball.

The Twins wasted little time providing him with some run support.

Kody Clemens drew a four-pitch walk to open the second inning, bringing Royce Lewis to the plate. One pitch later, Lewis launched his 10th home run of the season, giving Minnesota an early 2-0 lead.

Luke Keaschall added another run later in the inning with a sacrifice fly that scored Victor Caratini, extending the lead to 3-0.

Luke Keaschall added another run later in the inning with a sacrifice fly that scored Victor Caratini, extending the lead to 3-0.

The Angels answered in the third when Jorge Soler ripped an RBI double to cut the deficit to one, but Ryan settled right back in.

Over his final three innings, Ryan allowed just two baserunners while continuing to attack the strike zone. It wasn't his most overpowering outing, but it was another example of why he's been one of the American League's most dependable starters this season.

The only blemish after Ryan departed came in the seventh.

Making his Twins debut after arriving from Toronto earlier this week, Tommy Nance surrendered a two-out RBI single to Nolan Schanuel after Zach Neto stole second, allowing the Angels to tie the game at three. Nance also recorded a pair of strikeouts in the inning.

The tie lasted only a few minutes.

Royce Lewis opened the bottom of the seventh with a double before Victor Caratini followed with another double into the gap, putting the Twins back in front 4-3.

Alan Roden kept the line moving with an RBI single one batter later, giving Minnesota an important insurance run.

That was all the bullpen needed.

Woo-Suk Go handled the eighth, and Yoendrys Gómez closed things out in the ninth for his 11th save of the season and 10th since joining the Twins.

One number that stood out when the afternoon ended: 11.

That's how many runners the Angels left on base. Ryan and the bullpen bent more than a few times, but they consistently made pitches when traffic mounted. That's often the difference between winning and losing games like this.

What's Next?

The Twins will try to secure the series win Sunday before the All-Star break.

Taj Bradley (8-3, 3.67 ERA) gets the ball for Minnesota against José Soriano (8-5, 3.40 ERA).

Bradley enters the finale throwing some of his best baseball of the season. He has allowed two earned runs or fewer in four consecutive starts and is coming off a dominant seven-inning, 10-strikeout performance against Cleveland.

After Sunday's finale, Joe Ryan and Byron Buxton will head to Philadelphia for the All-Star Game while the rest of the Twins get a much-needed breather before opening the second half with a road series against Pete Crow-Armstrong and the Cubs.

	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	TOT
Rojas	0	0	47	0	0	47
Morris	13	0	0	25	0	38
Rogers	17	15	0	0	0	32
Adams	0	20	0	12	0	32
Funderburk	0	20	10	0	0	30
Gómez	3	19	0	0	18	40
Go	0	0	18	0	21	18
Nance	0	0	0	0	27	27

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[Mike Sixel]

Nice. Also, definitely have hope for Roden....

[Saxophone Joe]

- Absolutely incredible that Taylor Rogers is the only reliever who’s been in the bullpen the whole season and here we are, just outside the third wild card spot while patching together a new bullpen on the fly.

- Said it in the game thread, but Bremer’s speech was very moving. 

- Good win. The late innings simply never fail to bring drama. 

 

[soyouresayingtheresachance]

A bit of the opposite from yesterday's game. This time the Angels wasted the opportunities. 

Oh man was it rough watching Keaschall in CF today. Yikes. His bat is doing well, so I assume he's up to stay, but he needs to figure out how to play defense somewhere. 

Let's get the series win tomorrow!

[Colbeh]

Man its so awesome to see Royce doing well, I'll always cheer for him!

Correct me if im wrong, but he's reached base in 29/31 games since he came back. 

[HarmonK03]

1 hour ago, soyouresayingtheresachance said:

Oh man was it rough watching Keaschall in CF today. Yikes. His bat is doing well, so I assume he's up to stay, but he needs to figure out how to play defense somewhere

He has played 3 games in CF, are you expecting a Gold Glove. Oh and started another 19 games in CF in the minors and college.  The Twins are playing musical chairs with the defensive positions, you are going to have days like today. When actually he misplayed one ball but he also bailed out Larnach when he couldn't see the ball.

How many games do you want him out there for before you determine he has figured it out.

[Cory Moen]

1 hour ago, Mike Sixel said:

Nice. Also, definitely have hope for Roden....

Agreed. Roden should get a run for a bit in a corner outfield spot. I like him as an option there! 

[Peter]

Nervous moments but twins dug deep

and got huge bounce back win!!! Props to bullpen!!! With nance and go in their 1st and 2nd time with twins!!! Gomez is 🔥🔥🔥💪💪💪Royce with big home run!!! Let’s end first half with series win tomorrow!!! Go Twins!!!

[jmlease1]

Good win. Needed that, and if they can get another good start from Taj and some quality offense again, we could go into the all-star break with 5 series wins in a row, and that's what you want to see. 

Was a little bummed how few people were in the stands for Bremer's induction (it looked really sparse on tv); he deserved a big, rowdy crowd. 

Royce ripping the big fly was great. He's wobbled a little in July, so you like seeing him rip one. Roden's been doing reasonably well since coming up, looks much more comfortable than last season for sure.

Glad Keaschall's flub didn't have any real impact. But good grief that looked...bad.

[GNess]

With a W in the series finale the Twins would be no worse than 3 GB in the division at the AS Break.

Count me as pleasantly surprised.

[stringer bell]

The Angels have made all the plays for two games, but they allowed noted speedster Victor Caratini to score twice without a throw on plays where I thought they had a good chance to throw him out.

Is Trout diminished or just not quite 100%? He didn't make a play on Gray's shallow fly ball and earlier didn't make a throw on Caratini.

I don't question official scorer's decisions much, but how can Keaschall's oopsie in the first inning not be called an error?

[Blyleven2011]

Eleven angels left on base  , id say that's a good thing ...

Twins win today  , Taj goes tomorrow  ...  

[knothole61]

7 hours ago, HarmonK03 said:

He has played 3 games in CF, are you expecting a Gold Glove. Oh and started another 19 games in CF in the minors and college.  The Twins are playing musical chairs with the defensive positions, you are going to have days like today. When actually he misplayed one ball but he also bailed out Larnach when he couldn't see the ball.

How many games do you want him out there for before you determine he has figured it out.

He's made some very good catches going back and to the side already. It's been my experience that hard, rising liners hit right at you in center can be a problem...and that one played him like a fiddle. He's a talented athlete and I'm sure he'll improve if they choose to keep him in the outfield. Larnach, on the other hand, may never overcome his difficulty on balls dipping only slightly in front of him, but we do need his bat in the lineup. 

[knothole61]

5 hours ago, stringer bell said:

The Angels have made all the plays for two games, but they allowed noted speedster Victor Caratini to score twice without a throw on plays where I thought they had a good chance to throw him out.

Is Trout diminished or just not quite 100%? He didn't make a play on Gray's shallow fly ball and earlier didn't make a throw on Caratini.

I don't question official scorer's decisions much, but how can Keaschall's oopsie in the first inning not be called an error?

Yeah, I'm not sure what an outfielder has to do to get an error...letting a ground ball single roll between his legs, maybe? Did you catch Caratini's little dance after that inning-ending strikeout? He, for lack of a better word, is an enigmatic character. 

[knothole61]

Nice win! Big game tomorrow to keep the series win-streak intact and build some momentum going into the break. This team is getting better as the weeks pass and with some trading acumen before the deadline they could easily make a run at the ALC crown. Finally, a word of praise for my favorite big man, Josh Bell...a wonderful addition to the team and an absolute inspiration on the base paths. I will  never tire of watching that giant motor around first base and belly slide into second for a double...fantastic!

[Western SD Fan]

Hunt the good!  We are currently tied for the last for the last wild card spot!

[JD-TWINS]

Lewis has been back up since June 6th ……. he’s got 7 HR over 31 games. He’s got a very respectable .270 BA & .328 OBP….508 slug%.
 

I realize people don’t want to overreact and “jinx him”! He’s still got a really loooong swing and doesn’t manage pitches away very well but there have been All-stars with same issues. Hope he continues to get better plate discipline……..oh, and he’s moved to 1B on the fly and played as well as anyone could have hoped for at a new position!

A BIG, big plus for a Team trying to be competitive!

[JD-TWINS]

21 minutes ago, Western SD Fan said:

Hunt the good!  We are currently tied for the last for the last wild card spot!

Not as prominent in Twin’s fans view ……. the AL West is arguably worse than the AL Central………& the Tigers are coming.

Twins can stay in this & with some positive back from a Jeffers trade in a couple weeks or less, things keep improving.

An aside, normally a Ryan Jeffers trade would sink morale but Caratini & Jackson started daily for 60 games (recently) & winning % improved. I think ALL the guys know it’s just a matter of time. IF Bell was not hitting as he has last 6 weeks, they may keep him to push into Playoffs but Bell is going to get a long runway at DH for rest of the season.

[Western SD Fan]

33 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

Lewis has been back up since June 6th ……. he’s got 7 HR over 31 games. He’s got a very respectable .270 BA & .328 OBP….508 slug%.
 

I realize people don’t want to overreact and “jinx him”! He’s still got a really loooong swing and doesn’t manage pitches away very well but there have been All-stars with same issues. Hope he continues to get better plate discipline……..oh, and he’s moved to 1B on the fly and played as well as anyone could have hoped for at a new position!

A BIG, big plus for a Team trying to be competitive!

I'm hoping as Lewis gets more comfortable with playing 1B that he can spend more time on his batting and tighten up his swing again.  It was pretty good when he came back up from St Paul, but as you have pointed out, it is starting to get a bit long and chasing that low and away pitch again.  I know it's frustrating to watch at times.  If he can't reach the pitch, just let it go and make the pitcher throw a pitch on the black to strike you out.

30 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

Not as prominent in Twin’s fans view ……. the AL West is arguably worse than the AL Central………& the Tigers are coming.

Twins can stay in this & with some positive back from a Jeffers trade in a couple weeks or less, things keep improving.

An aside, normally a Ryan Jeffers trade would sink morale but Caratini & Jackson started daily for 60 games (recently) & winning % improved. I think ALL the guys know it’s just a matter of time. IF Bell was not hitting as he has last 6 weeks, they may keep him to push into Playoffs but Bell is going to get a long runway at DH for rest of the season.

It's been important that the Twins are leading or have won season series over many of the teams that surround them in the playoff race.  Leading the series against the Cleveland and Detroit.  Won the series against Houston and Toronto.  I'm not sure the Tigers are selling as they have been on fire lately.  

[bean5302]

16 hours ago, Colbeh said:

Man its so awesome to see Royce doing well, I'll always cheer for him!

Correct me if im wrong, but he's reached base in 29/31 games since he came back. 

The thing which is pretty exciting to me is the speed. Now up to 27.7 ft/sec, right on the cusp of 60 grade. Considering it's dragged down still from early season, Lewis is probably a little quicker than that right now.

I think he's still a plate approach work in progress. the expected BA and xwOBA is low because he's still not taking walks and his line drive rate is very poor, but he's made a lot of adjustments in the last couple years. I'm hoping to see him catch up to 4 seam fastballs as the year goes on.

If Royce can return to form, it'll be huge for the Twins.

[Larry Janisewski]

19 hours ago, Colbeh said:

Man its so awesome to see Royce doing well, I'll always cheer for him!

Correct me if im wrong, but he's reached base in 29/31 games since he came back. 

Including 7 home runs.