Twins Video
Box Score
SP: Bailey Ober - 7 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 12 K ( 101 pitches, 70 strikes (69% Strikes)
Home Runs: None
Bottom 3 WPA: Ronny Henriquez -.627, Carlos Santana -.281, Trevor Larnach -.206
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)
Baseball is a Game of Momentum
After turning the tables on the Guardians with a late two-run homer last night, the Twins maintained their Wild Card status and evened the series with AL Central-leading Cleveland. In hopes of keeping the good times rolling, the Twins turned to Bailey Ober, who looked to shake off the hard-luck struggles of his past three starts and recapture his lights-out form from August. The Guardians countered with righty Tanner Bibee, who likewise has been looking to regain his earlier elite results, having gone 1-4 over his last six starts to the tune of a 4.40 ERA.
Willi Castro led off the top of the first inning against Bibee, and he laced a double to the gap in left on the very first pitch. From there, the Twins offense discovered that simply putting the ball in play can reap rewards. Matt Wallner hit a swinging bunt toward third, advancing Castro. Carlos Correa followed the example with a high hopper to short that got booted by Brayan Rocchio, extending his pre-All-Star Game hitting streak to 16 games, and allowing Castro to score. With two outs, the Twins still had a chance to build momentum with runners on the corners, but runner Trevor Larnach got thrown out at second on an attempted delayed double-steal with José Miranda at the plate.
Ober needed only seven pitches to take out the Guardians in the bottom of the first, but Bibee responded likewise with an eight-pitch top of the second to snuff out any potential momentum from the Twins' first inning of base traffic. When Ober returned to face Josh Naylor in the bottom of the second, Naylor used the Castro strategy and took the first pitch he saw halfway to the moon, and far enough into the right-field bleachers to tie the game back up at 1-1.
This Game Has No Momentum
The Twins picked up another scoring threat in the top of the third, with Wallner drawing a two-out walk and advancing to third on a single to left off the tip of José Ramírez's glove, by Correa. Once again, the Twins were unable to cash in, after a Carlos Santana grounder to Bibee. The game began to remind Twins fans of Monday night's missed opportunities, but Ober continued to keep the Guardians offense from gaining momentum of their own, allowing only a Ramirez single in the bottom of the fourth.
In the top of the fifth inning, Manuel Margot (getting the outfield start with Byron Buxton sitting again) and Christian Vázquez continued to underwhelm in the bottom of the lineup and contributed the first two outs of the inning. Castro took another one for the team, his Twins single-season record-breaking 20th hit by pitch of 2024, and Wallner and Correa continued to put the ball in play, putting the Twins back on top 2-1 with a pair of singles.
Bad Deja Vü
Once again, Santana failed to bring more ducks home off the pond, as he struck out to end the inning. This continuing issue threatened to derail the squad almost immediately in the bottom of the fifth inning, as Andrés Giménez laced a single and stole second to put a runner in scoring position with nobody out. Ober rose the occasion, however, by striking out the next three Guardians to send the Twins forward still nursing a one-run lead.
Unfortunately, Josh Naylor also chose to spend Wednesday night rising to the occasion. Naylor took Ober's fifth straight changeup of the at-bat to the moon again to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning, and suddenly it was all tied up again, at 2-2. This woke Louie Varland up in the bullpen, and the September Groundhog Day vibe that Ober was hoping to avoid reared its ugly head yet again. Ober struck out the next two batters, but Jhonkensy Noel pummeled a ball toward the left-field corner. It looked like huge trouble, but Margot came up "Buxton" to save the day--for a bit.
This is How It All Ends...
Speaking of rising to the occasion, let's talk about Wallner. In a game of minor pendulum shifts, Wallner swung the bat like clockwork, lacing a double to the corner in right to get the Twins off to an exciting start in the top of the eighth. Correa almost repeated his ball in play heroics, but his sawed off bat couldn't get the ball past the second baseman. Santana once again couldn't deliver, and Larnach struck out to give the advantage and momentum back to Cleveland.
Cue the Varland experience. Long fly ball by Bo Naylor to deep center field...caught by Castro. A strike out and a great defensive play by Correa followed, and to the ninth we journeyed.
That meant the Emmanuel Clase experience for the Twins. Clase entered the ninth with a 0.65 WHIP and 63 strikeouts over 69 appearances. Miranda fell into an 0-2 hole, worked his way back into a full count, before popping up lazily to the shortstop. Brooks Lee got a turn, and went down swinging. Margot the hero came up next, but he walked back to the dugout after a groundout to put the ball in Jhoan Durán's court.
The Twins' close had to face down the heart of the Guardians lineup. Lane Thomas, Ramírez, and the aforementioned bat-flipper Josh Naylor lined up to face the heaters and splinkers and curves of Durán. Thomas and Ramírez grounded out, but Naylor worked the count full to increase blood pressures across Twins Territory. Naylor couldn't resist a shot at being the hero once again, but there was no way he was going to touch the 97 mph splinker that never even got to the plate.
On to extras!
This is How it All Really Ends...
Royce Lewis got the call to pinch-hit to start off the 10th inning off of Hunter Gaddis, and his likewise impressive 0.76 WHIP in 73 appearances. He followed the script of the earlier Twins offensive successes by getting the bat on the ball and chopping a high hopper to third. The ghost runner Margot crawled back safely to second, and the Twins had a threat brewing. Gaddis put Castro even further into the record books with his 21st hit by pitch of the season, and suddenly the bases were loaded with nobody out for none other than Matt Wallner. So of course Wallner worked a full count with laser shot foul balls, but eventually he fell to the high heat. This left Correa to be step into the hero zone once again. Could the All-Star deliver? Yes! He! Can!
A single to center with two strikes sent Margot and Lewis home, to catapult Minnesota back into the lead at 4-2! Santana came up for the fifth time with runners in scoring position tonight, and a double play grounder once again ended the threat, and sent Santana's WPA for the night to places best not typed.
Ronny Henriquez got the call for the bottom of the 10th, and with Josh Naylor playing ghost runner on second base, Monday night's hero Kyle Manzardo pinch-hit to immediately put the pressure on the youngster. The pressure immediately escalated, as Manzardo delivered once again, lining a single up the middle to plate Naylor and tighten the game to 4-3. A four-pitch walk to Giménez with a pitch clock violation included in the disaster followed, and now Henriquez was faced with the tying run at second, the winning run at first, and Will Brennan at the dish. No time for drama, as Brennan swiftly tied the game. A single to right plated pinch runner Miles Straw, and it was 4-4 with runners at the corners and nobody out.
Bo Naylor struck out. Exit Henriquez, enter the Michael Tonkin experience. The Twins elected to play in, and Rocchio made them pay. Rocchio hit a routine ground ball to where Santana would have been, except this one bounced harmfully over the drawn-in first baseman and settled crushingly in the right field grass for a 5-4 loss.
It would be unbelievable if the script hadn't been playing out exactly like this for the past month.
What’s Next?
The Twins play the Guardians for the last time this regular season on Thursday afternoon. The Twins turn to RHP Simeon Woods Richardson (5-5, 4.08 ERA), who has taken a no decision and a hard luck loss against Cleveland so far this season. The Guardians counter with LHP Joey Cantillo (2-3, 4.99 ERA), who has only surrendered one earned run over his past three starts. The must-win train keeps on chugging. First pitch is scheduled for 12:10pm CT.
Postgame Interview
Bullpen Usage Sheet
| SAT | SUN | MON | TUE | WED | TOT | |
| Sands | 0 | 36 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 50 |
| Henríquez | 0 | 17 | 0 | 10 | 21 | 48 |
| Blewett | 41 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 41 |
| Durán | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 11 | 41 |
| Thielbar | 27 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 40 |
| Varland | 29 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 39 |
| Jax | 0 | 0 | 21 | 8 | 0 | 29 |
| Irvin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Tonkin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
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