Twins Video
Box Score
David Festa: 3 2/3 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
Home Runs: None
Bottom 3 WPA: David Festa (-.185), Matt Wallner (-.148), Trevor Larnach (-.117)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)
37 years ago, these two teams—the Twins and Cardinals—battled in the grandest of baseball’s stages: the World Series. In one of the sport's more special miracles, Minnesota bested their opponents, claiming 85 regular-season wins and eight playoff victories to finish the season as champions. Winners. An outcome unseen in the franchise’s previous 63 years, dating back to Calvin Coolidge. On Friday, the two squads faced off once again in a matchup likely to stir memories and nostalgia.
David Festa would probably like to hold little thought regarding his start, though. One of Minnesota’s “Opps, (Almost) All Rookies” starting rotation, the Seton Hall product mowed down batters early but ran into second-time-around trouble yet again; the extra exposure stiffened discipline and expanded damage, leading to three hits—but three runs—against the youngster across four frames. So it goes.
One of St. Louis’ main poisons? Stolen bases. As it has been said, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
On the opposite end, Twins’ hitters found no such fortune against their opponent. Andre Pallante was too strange, too weird for them. His heater confounded all night long; even the swings that resulted in a ball in play typically found a glove. Perhaps it’s fitting that the only run scored against him was a well-placed dribbler by Austin Martin, just outside of Nolan Arenado’s range.
That was it. Pallante settled into an unshakable groove—the kind of pitch-to-contact brilliance unseen in a decade—and bled the Twins dry with seven gorgeous innings. He allowed just five hits, none for extra bases.
Minnesota’s relievers offered no peace of mind: Jorge Alcalá allowed another run amidst a terrible span of pitching in August, and Trevor Richards continued his expressionist and experimental waltz with the strike zone, or anything close to it. He tried to court but could never quite seal the deal. The result was a suffocating 6-1 lead, far too much to overcome as even finally breaking into the St. Louis bullpen couldn’t alter the Twins' fortunes on Friday; the wells ran dry no matter who took the mound.
The game finally ended when Max Kepler lined out, ironically, on one of the few hard-hit balls of the night.
Notes:
Caleb Thielbar appeared in his 333th game as a Twin, the 8th-most in franchise history for a relief pitcher. He is 32 games away from tying Glen Perkins for 7th place.
Ryan Jeffers is slashing .300/.341/.675 in August.
David Festa earned his 44th strikeout of the season, the 15th-most amongst AL Rookies in 2024.
Post-Game Interview:
What’s Next?
The Twins and Cardinals play the second game of their series on Saturday. Pablo López will face off against his playoff partner-in-crime, Sonny Gray. First pitch is at 6:10 PM.
Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet







Recommended Comments
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now