Sunday’s Matchup Against Milwaukee Had Deep Ties to Wisconsin for Pair of Twins

The Minnesota Twins entered Sunday afternoon’s matinee matchup against the NL Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers with intentions of handing them their first home series loss since late June against the Chicago Cubs. While they fell short of that goal, Sunday’s get-away game held sentimental value for two young Twins.

“Yeah, it’s going to be fun. Connor (Prielipp) and I were talking about it. It’s great,” Alan Roden told reporters Sunday morning. Roden was born in Middleton, Wisconsin, graduating from high school there before committing to play baseball at Creighton University in 2018. 

“(I was a fan of) Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun growing up. I was talking about the ‘08 season earlier. It was a lot of fun, you know, watching baseball as a kid. Fast forward a couple years, Eric Thames comes to mind—Chris Carter and Jesús Aguilar, too.” 

Sunday’s starting pitcher for Minnesota, Connor Prielipp, grew up less than two hours from Roden in Tomah, Wisconsin. “I actually faced Connor in high school. I think it was called regionals, it’s like playoffs. Tomah beat us. I did get a hit off him though. Make sure you tell him that.” remarked a smirking Roden. 

One season after beating Roden’s Middleton club in regionals, Prielipp won 2019 Gatorade Wisconsin Baseball Player of the Year Award, before committing to the University of Alabama. “I would guess (Connor is excited). You know, coming back and pitching close to his to hometown… I would imagine, you know, there’s gonna be some excitement for Connor,” said manager Derek Shelton. 

Despite surrendering a leadoff home run to Jackson Chourio, Prielipp kept pace with impending NL Cy Young Award winner Jacob Misiorowski, netting seven strikeouts and three earned runs over five innings pitched.

Roden grounded out and struck out in two plate appearances against the best starting pitcher in baseball, an outcome one would be hard-pressed to critique much. We can’t all possess world-beating, left-handed swings like Brooks Lee and Kody Clemens. 

“It was awesome. Being a lifelong Brewers fan, it awesome to say I finally pitched here,” said Prielipp during his postgame interview. “But at the end of the day, I was ready to pitch.” Jake Bauers hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the tenth inning, propelling Milwaukee to a one-run victory over Minnesota. Despite the bitter ending, however, this will be a day to remember for the two Wisconsinites.