Make It Official! Twins 8, Mets 3: What This Team's Capable Of

Box Score
Starting Pitcher: Pablo López: 6 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 7 K (103 pitches, 66 strikes (64% strikes))
Home Runs: Byron Buxton (13), Matt Wallner (6) 
Top 3 WPA: Royce Lewis .100, Trevor Larnach .099, Byron Buxton .096

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Racking Up Runs in the Third
The Twins offense had been mostly absent in the first two games against the Mets, supplying only two runs in 18 innings. Fortunately, the bats woke up against Luis Severino Wednesday afternoon. It all kicked off with a solo home run from Byron Buxton in the second inning. Carlos Santana and Ryan Jeffers followed Buxton in the batting order, and both of them drew walks to try and get a rally going. Unfortunately, Brooks Lee grounded into a double play to end the frame, but unlike other days, the Twins would make up for the lost opportunity later. 

The top of the third was all about passing the baton to the next guy in the order. Austin Martin, Trevor Larnach, and Max Kepler hit back-to-back-to-back singles to start the inning, and put the Twins back in the lead 3-2. Royce Lewis kept things going, hitting an RBI double that scored Kepler, and Matt Wallner crushed a two-run homer, extending the lead 6-2. 

The six runs in the second and third combined were more than the Twins had scored since the fourth inning of their 5-0 victory over Detroit. 

López’s Composure Continues
Pablo López made his 22nd start of the year for the Twins on Wednesday. The first inning started out scary, as Francisco Lindor crushed a 97-MPH fastball to left field, but Larnach reached up for a catch that prevented Lindor from extra bases to start the game. López walked J.D. Martinez with two outs, but then got Pete Alonso on a groundout to avoid further damage. 

The second inning was the only portion of López’s start where the Mets got the better of him. With the Twins holding a 1-0 lead thanks to Buxton’s homer, Mets second baseman Jeff McNeil hit a bloop infield single over the head of Lewis at third. Then came red-hot third baseman Mark Vientos, who crushed a two-run homer off López to right field to give the Mets a 2-1 lead. 

Following the two-run shot from Vientos, however, López would go on to dominate over the next five innings, allowing only three baserunners on two walks and a hit and tallying six of his seven strikeouts.

This marks López’s fourth consecutive start of allowing two runs or fewer. The ace is dealing again. 

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The Dobnak Report
It took a few injuries, 267 ⅔ innings of work across 69 minor-league games and a grand total of 1,062 days, but Randy Dobank finally made his return to a major-league mound with the Twins in the eighth inning of Wednesday’s game. Dobnak retired the first batter he faced, Tyrone Taylor, on a slider that Taylor hit to Lewis for a groundout. Lindor was up next and hit a single up the middle, but Dobnak was able to bounce back and strike out Ben Gamel.

Unfortunately, Dobnak then did his least favorite thing on the mound: he allowed a walk to Martinez. But he got out of the inning unscathed, retiring Alonso on a groundout to Lee at short, and completed his first full inning of work in the majors in nearly three years.

Dobnak would not return for the ninth, as Jhoan Durán closed this one out, but the former undrafted free agent's scoreless frame brought his MLB career ERA down from 4.94 to 4.90. 

Other Notes
Kepler left the game in the bottom of the fifth, following an odd strikeout in the top of the fourth where he landed in front of home plate as he struck out swinging and was then hit in the back of the head by a throw from Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez, who threw out Lee attempting to steal second.

Kepler remained in the game for an inning but was taken out for precaution. It was later announced Kepler was removed due to a head injury on that throw, with more details to come on concussion tests and protocol.

The Twins hitters also keep getting hit by at least one pitch per game, of late. This afternoon, it was Buxton leading off the top of the eighth. He was nailed by an 83.7 MPH sinker from Phil Maton and gave the Twins their MLB-leading 75th hit-by-pitch on the season. 

What’s Next?
The Twins are off on Thursday but will return home for a quick three-game series against the Chicago White Sox this weekend. Joe Ryan will start for the Twins against Davis Martin of the White Sox, who will be making his first start in MLB since 2022. 
 

Postgame Interview 
Coming soon.

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet