Blue Jays 11, Twins 4: Yuck. Twins Bullpen Surrenders Eight in the Eighth to Lose Yet Again

Box Score
SP: Connor Prielipp 5 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K (91 pitches, 59 strikes (65%))
Home Runs: Byron Buxton (10)
Bottom 3 WPA (via FanGraphs): Luis Garcia (-0.58), Anthony Banda (-0.17), Ryan Jeffers (-0.09)

Win Probability Chart (via BaseballSavant) 

The Twins took one in the chin Friday evening against the visiting Blue Jays, but Saturday afternoon was a beautiful day for baseball and for some revenge. Minnesota sent their young southpaw Connor Prielipp out to silence the Toronto bats, while Toronto relied on the "familiar to Target Field" mustache of Dylan Cease. Neither pitcher had allowed a homerun in 2026, but with the sun out and the launch pad open for summer business, finally, a pitchers' duel was not going to happen.

Buck Truck First to Launch
After Prielipp took care of the Blue Jays in order in the top of the first, Cease tried to sneak a 1-2 fastball up and over Byron Buxton's leadoff bat. Buxton instead sent the ball up and over the right field limestone for his 10th home run of the season!

Rough Second for Prielipp...and Guerrero Jr.
Prielipp found himself with an early advantage, but that wouldn't last long. Connor surrendered the first home run of his career on a changeup to Lenyn Sosa to knot the game at one apiece. Just a few batters later, Miles Straw launched a 3-2 fastball even higher and deeper to left to put the Blue Jays out in front by a run.

Kody Clemens laced a single to right to lead off the bottom of the second inning, and he advanced to second on a walk to Luke Keaschall. With two on and nobody out, Matt Wallner stepped up to the plate for the first time since Wednesday in hopes of at a minimum advancing the runners. Wallner indeed accomplished the minimum, with a dribbling grounder to the right side of the diamond. Now with runners at second and third and one out, Brooks Lee found himself looking down the barrel of a 1-2 count. Contact of any kind would probably score a run, and Lee managed to make the minimal contact needed yet again with a slow grounder to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at first base. Guerrero couldn't catch Clemens at home, so he instead tried to feed Cease at first to nab Lee. Instead, the ball scooted by everyone and into foul territory far enough to allow Keaschall to score and to put the Twins back on top at 3-2!

Prielipp took care of business through five innings, as he continues to navigate his restricted pitch count in his rookie season. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Tristan Gray led things off with a single. After advancing to second, Trevor Larnach stayed hot and singled in some insurance to make it 4-2.

No Lead is Safe for the Twinkies
In previous seasons, an insurance run might have helped. With four innings of bullpen work ahead of them, Twins fans knew it wouldn't be enough. Boy were they correct.

Today's implosion began immediately when the unstoppable force that is Kazuma Okamoto took Justin Topa deep, pulling within one. Kody Funderburk came in, and despite the inexcusable walk to a 0-28 Davis Schneider, he managed to get the Twins into the eighth inning still nursing a 4-3 lead.

Luis Garcia got the call for the top of the eighth, and he didn't retire a batter. A walk and three singles later and Garcia and the lead were both gone. Anthony Banda came in next, and with runners on first and second, Banda misplayed a bad hop through his wickets for a single up the middle. With the bases loaded, a rattled Banda walked Straw on four pitches to make it 6-4. Schneider came up with the bases still loaded, and Banda did what pitchers haven't been able to do for weeks...get Schneider a hit. Schneider's double scored two more, and then Brandon Valenzuela took the first pitch he saw deep into the bullpen to make it 11-4 with still no outs in the eighth inning. What else can you say? This is the 2026 Minnesota Twins.  

The blown lead allowed John Klein to come in and throw a perfect ninth inning in his major league debut, leaving 30,000 of his hometown fans wondering why he didn't pitch the eighth. Congrats to Klein, and may he be a part of the solution before it's too late.

What’s Next?
The Twins look to salvage a series split and a season one-up over Toronto on Sunday. Twins righty Joe Ryan (2-3, 3.76 ERA) aims to keep the Twins bullpen off of the field as long as possible in hopes of securing a victory. The Blue Jays will counter with young righty Trey Yesavage (1-0, 0.00 ERA) who will be making his fifth career start. George Springer had to leave Saturday's ballgame early when a Prielipp slider hit him directly on his previously broken left big toe, so he is likely to miss the finale. First pitch is scheduled for a somewhat odd home morning start at 11:45am CDT.

Postgame Interviews

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet