Rangers 16, Twins 4: Twins Embarassed at Home Against Weak-Hitting Rangers

Box Score
Starting Pitcher: Simeon Woods Richardson 4.2 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 4 K (98 pitches, 53 strikes (54%))
Home Runs: Matt Wallner (5)
Bottom 3 WPA: Woods Richardson (-.350), Justin Topa (-.138), Wallner (-.075)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) 

If a team makes noise in a mostly empty Target Field, does it make a sound? The Twins hoped to find out Tuesday night. After an off day, the Twins looked to build on the momentum of Sunday's victory against Toronto by making some noise against a former home-team twirler. Tyler Mahle has been dealing as the ace the Twins thought they traded for in 2022 for the Rangers, adding insult to the injury of seeing a pair of former Twins infield prospects contributing for the Reds over the past few seasons. Opposing Mahle was recently recalled Simeon Woods Richardson, who looked to remain in the Twins' rotation after a brief three-game stint at St. Paul. 

Early Traffic and Early Zeros
Woods Richardson surrendered a leadoff single to Josh Smith, and a one-out walk to Corey Seager made for some cluttered bases early against the young righty. The crafty righty escaped the jam, however, and went on to put up nothing but zeros across the first three innings against a struggling Rangers lineup averaging roughly two runs per game over the past week and change.

Mahle also surrendered a leadoff hit, this time a first-pitch double off of the right field wall to Byron Buxton. However, the Buck Truck stayed in park at second base as three straight fly ball outs failed to advance him, let alone score him. The Twins failed to do anything against Mahle until Buxton came up again in the bottom of the third, and again stroked a line drive for a single. Three innings, 28 pitches, and utter dominance with the fastball against Mahle's former squad.

No More Zeros
The top of the fourth inning saw Buxton's elite defense take a swerve, as a leadoff line drive to center by Jake Burger knuckled on him, and deflected off of his glove for a two-base error. Woods Richardson wobbled next, walking Evan Carter to fill first and second bases yet again, this time with nobody out. After a Josh Jung strikeout, the Twins thought escape might once again be in order. Adolis Garcia erased that thought with a double down the right field line to plate Burger and make it 1-0 Texas. Three pitches later, Kyle HIgashioka laced a single to score two more Ranger runs to make it 3-0.

In the bottom of the fourth, Minnesota hoped that Mahle's fastball would lose some of its mystery in the second trip through the lineup. Ryan Jeffers worked a walk, and Carlos Correa straightened out said fastball for a booming double off of the right-center wall to put runners at second and third with nobody out. Matt Wallner struck out swinging, but Ty France picked up his teammate... sort of. France rocketed another ball off of the wall in right, but Garcia deked Correa and France, as Correa could only make third and France got thrown out trying to advance to second. Suddenly, it was a 3-1 game, but the rally was at risk of being cut short before its time. Luckily, Royce Lewis is hitting the ball with authority again, and he had his teammates' proverbial backs with an RBI single to make it 3-2.

A Baseball Game Unravels
With the Twins right back in the ballgame, Woods Richardson took the hill in the top of the fifth inning aiming to get his team back in the dugout as quickly as possible. Instead, he would enter the dugout before any of his teammates were allowed to.

With a full count, leadoff man Seager walked on what will be called a strike when the electronic ump comes into existence. The next two Rangers batters got out, but instead of a one-two-three inning, Seager was still at first, and all heck broke loose. A Carter single, a wild pitch, and a Jung single plated two and made it 5-2 just like that. Garcia doubled to put runners at second and third with two out, and that ended Woods Richardson's day at 98 pitches with only a 54% strike rate.

Justin Topa came in to stop the bleeding, and one pitch later, we had a gusher, thanks to another Higashioka hit—this time a two-run double to make it 7-2. Tack on another Smith hit, this time plating HIgashioka, and it was 8-2 in a laugher.

More Noise, Mostly in a Texas Accent
The Twins attempted to crawl their way back toward making it a ballgame in the bottom of the fifth, when Trevor Larnach doubled and scored on a Jeffers single to make it 8-3. That momentum lasted all of four batters, as Topa gave up a two-run gopher ball to Carter in the top of the sixth inning to make it 10-3.

Mahle was still dealing in the bottom of the sixth when Wallner did his best to keep the fans excited by launching his fifth home run of the year to change the score to 10-4.

A couple of singles, with a Lewis double play ball in between, chased Mahle before he could complete six innings despite the insurmountable lead. The Rangers bullpen has been spotty, but it couldn't possibly be bad enough to give up this six-run lead... could it?

All Ballgames Must Come to an End
Jorge Alcala came in and took care of business in the top of the seventh. Unfortunately, he got destroyed in the top of the eighth. Wyatt Langford led off with a home run, and four hits and a few sacrifices later, it was 16-4. I kid you not: 16-4. Unfortunately for Twins fans, this isn't Tuesday night beer league, and MLB makes the teams finish the game, mercy rule be darned. The good news was Jonah Bride made it into a game, but unfortunately, it was to pitch the ninth inning. Zero runs scored against Bride! But a 16-4 loss was definitely not what the home team needed to start this series.

What’s Next?
The Twins look to avenge this walloping on Wednesday night. Twins righty David Festa looks to redeem himself after laying a 3.2 inning/8 run egg against the Athletics on June 5th. The Rangers counter with righty Jack Leiter (4-2, 3.48 ERA, and yes, he's the son of Al Leiter). First pitch is scheduled for 6:40pm CDT, hopefully after the rain has come and gone and left nothing but 70 degrees of beautiful baseball weather.

Postgame Interviews

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