Pirates 10, Twins 9: The Twins Keep Finding Ways to Lose

Box Score
SP: Bailey Ober - 4.2 IP, 12 H, 8 ER, 1 BB, 3 K (97 pitches, 72 strikes (74%))
Home Runs: None
Bottom 3 WPA: Ober (-0.51), Austin Martin (-0.17), Orlando Arcia (-0.16)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) 

The Twins watched a victory turn into defeat in the bottom of the ninth on Friday night on the shores of the Allegheny River. On Saturday, Minnesota played the midpoint game of a brutal 17 games in 17 days stretch of this 2026 season. Bailey Ober took the mound in hopes of providing many innings of quality work for a pitching staff in the midst of injury and roster maneuvering. Ober's hopes, and the hopes of Twins fans everywhere got dashed, and resurrected, and dashed again. 

Ober and the Anti-Maddux
On May 12th, Ober threw a "Maddux," meaning that he got a complete game shutout with less than 100 pitches. On Saturday, Ober threw an "Anti-Maddux," meaning he couldn't clear five innings and gave up eight runs in the first two innings, functionally taking his team out of the game from the start. The misplays started right from the first Pirates batter, as Spencer Horwitz pulled a first pitch 89.9 mph fastball foul. With the entire world shouting "Changeup!," Victor Caratini typed in the heater instead, and Ober grooved a 88.7 mph fastball in the same location that would fit Horwitz's swing perfectly for a booming homer into the river. Things only got worse from there for the Twins' battery.

After Kody Clemens doubled to start the second, he came around to tie the game at one on a Caratini blooper into the sun in left (remember that sunshine please). In the bottom of the second inning, Ober tried another high-80's fastball down the heart of the plate after four straight off-speed pitches to the light-hitting Jake Mangum. Mangum now can say he hit a homerun in 2026, and the floodgates began to crack open. With two outs, Horwitz struck again, this time with a lazy fly ball to left field. Trevor Larnach never saw it. Not once. He was wearing his sunglasses. He properly used his glove in an attempt to find it. The ball plopped in front of him, and then the next four batters reached. By the time Oneil Cruz sent his three-run homer into the seats, Ober's day was ruined and things looked bleak with the Pirates leading 7-1 after only two innings.

For Everyone Who Turned Off the Game at This Point...
With the game effectively over before it could barely begin, Byron Buxton led off the top of the third inning with the kind of single that happens when you are a fast human. He found his way to third base after a wild pitch and a groundout. Turns out he could have stayed at first, because Clemens was cycle-hunting and drove a triple over Cruz's head to close the gap to 7-2. At the time, any excitement generated by this moment was sarcastic. In the top of the fourth, the excitement turned ecstatic. Mitch Keller got Caratini to line out to start the inning, but he gave up singles to Orlando Arcia and Luke Keaschall. Tristan Gray took his second chance at RBI's and delivered with a double that made it 7-4! Buxton walked, but Larnach flied out to put the rally on ice again. That is, until Josh Bell cleared the third baseman's glove with a liner that rolled all the way to the wall to clear the bases and make it 7-6!

Remember Clemens? Cycle-hunter? This time it was just a single, but it tied us up at seven apiece!

No Relief in Sight for Twins
With a brand-new ballgame in the fourth inning, but with both starting pitchers laboring early, it was clear that the bullpens would determine the victor yet again on Saturday. Ober and Caratini started the bullpen action off for the Twins in the fifth by allowing a single, committing a catcher interference, and again grooving a center-cut fastball after success on off-speed pitches to Mangum. That single put the Pirates back up 8-7 and sent Ober to the dugout for another early exit. Kody Funderburk came in and escaped the jam that remained in the fifth, and he survived walks and stolen bases and pressure in the sixth. In the bottom of the seventh, Derek Shelton rode the newly returned lefty two batters too many, as a walk and a single put runners at the corners with nobody out. John Klein got his Day 1 assignment after taking Simeon Woods Richardson's place on the roster, and he eventually allowed Funderburk's runs to score via walks, more stolen bases, hits and a sac fly. Just like that, another winnable game was lost by the Twins' bullpen.

For Everyone Who Turned Off the Game at That Point...
The bipolar nature of Saturday's ballgame kept on swinging through the top of the eighth, as Keaschall, Ryan Kreidler, and Buxton loaded the bases with one out against lefty reliever Mason Montgomery. Brooks Lee got the pinch-hit call to do what Brooks Lee does, and he walked. With the score now 10-8, and the bases still loaded, Bell came up with a hero moment in his former stomping grounds. He didn't "fail," but he didn't become a hero. Bell's slow ground-out to first plated Kreidler to pull the Twins to within a run, but now the pressure fell to Cycle-Hunter Clemens. The Pirates brough in lefty fireballer Gregory Soto to wreck the comeback plans. Soto threw a 1-1 sinker ball that left Kody's bat at 100.1 mph, but Tyler Callihan snared the grounder with a sweet backhand to break the Twins faithful's hearts once again.

Soto stayed on for the ninth, but after two rallies the Twins had nothing left in the tank. 10-9 Pirates. You should have just kept the game turned off after all.

What’s Next?
The Twins look to salvage the final game of the series, and a .500 road trip by beating the Pirates on Sunday. Twins righty Zebby Matthews (1-2, 2.37 ERA) looks to deliver what Ober could not, while the Pirates will send righty Braxton Ashcraft (4-2, 2.75 ERA) out in hopes of proving they were right to fire their old manager. First pitch on Sunday afternoon is scheduled for 12:35pm CDT.

Postgame Interviews

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet