Twins 9, Marlins 1: Zebby Matthews Dominates in Season Debut and Twins Secure Series-Victory

Box Score

SP: Zebby Matthews - 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K (83 pitches, 56 strikes (67% strikes))

Home Runs: None

Top 3 WPA: Zebby Matthews (0.18), Austin Martin (0.18), James Outman (0.09)

The Twins entered Thursday’s rubber match against Miami looking to secure the series after splitting the first two games. Behind a brilliant season debut from Zebby Matthews and a much more opportunistic offensive performance, they did exactly that.

Minnesota jumped on the Marlins early, backed Matthews with plenty of run support, and cruised to a comfortable 9-1 victory at Target Field. The win secured the series for the Twins and improved them to 20-24 on the season.

ZEBBY MATTHEWS SHINES IN SEASON DEBUT
Making his first major league start of the season after being called up earlier in the day to replace Travis Adams, Zebby Matthews looked completely in control for most of the afternoon.

Miami put a pair of runners on base in the opening inning after singles from Liam Hicks and Otto Lopez, but Matthews stayed composed and escaped the frame without damage. He needed just 12 pitches to get through the inning, throwing nine strikes and immediately showing an aggressive approach in the zone.

From there, he only got sharper.

Matthews struck out Jakob Marsee and Owen Caissie in a dominant second inning, and through two frames had thrown only 25 pitches, 19 of them for strikes. He continued to pound the zone throughout the afternoon, mixing his fastball and changeup effectively while consistently getting ahead in counts.

By the middle innings, Miami had no answers. Matthews retired the side in order in the third, worked around a two-out double from Christopher Morel in the fourth, and erased a fifth-inning single with an inning-ending double play. Through six innings, the Marlins still hadn’t had a leadoff hitter reach base.

The only bit of trouble came in the seventh, when Kyle Stowers drew a leadoff walk, but Matthews calmly worked around it to finish off seven scoreless innings.

In total, Matthews allowed just three hits across seven shutout innings while striking out five. He threw 83 pitches in the outing and looked every bit like a pitcher capable of giving the Twins rotation a significant boost moving forward.

THE TWINS CAPITALIZE AFTER EARLY FRUSTRATION
Minnesota threatened immediately against Miami left-hander Braxton Garrett, but nearly let a golden opportunity slip away.

Austin Martin opened the bottom of the first with a four-pitch walk and quickly stole second base. Brooks Lee followed with a double off the wall in left field, and Ryan Jeffers worked a walk to load the bases with nobody out. What followed felt painfully familiar.

Josh Bell, Victor Caratini, and Luke Keaschall all struck out swinging, allowing Garrett to escape the inning completely unscathed despite needing 34 pitches to get through it. This time, though, the Twins responded instead of spiraling.

Royce Lewis opened the second inning with a walk, Ryan Kreidler singled in his first start since being called up earlier in the day, and James Outman drew another walk to once again load the bases with nobody out.

Martin made sure this opportunity didn’t go to waste.

The Twins outfielder ripped a two-run double down the left field line to give Minnesota a 2-0 lead, and after Brooks Lee grounded out, Bell delivered a huge bounce-back moment. The veteran first baseman chopped a ball off third base that brought home two more runs and gave the Twins a 4-0 advantage, while also recording the 700th RBI of his career.

Caratini later added an RBI groundout, and just like that, the Twins had turned an inning of frustration into a five-run outburst.

THE OFFENSE KEEPS ADDING ON
The Twins didn’t stop there.

In the third inning, Kreidler reached again on a sharply hit ball that deflected off Otto Lopez’s glove, then advanced to second after a throwing error from reliever Calvin Faucher on a pickoff attempt. Moments later, Outman lined a two-strike single into right field to score Kreidler and extend the lead to 6-0. Outman wasn’t done contributing.

After Miami finally broke through for its first run against Kendry Rojas in the eighth inning, the Twins immediately answered in the bottom half. Keaschall singled through the right side and later stole second base, his tenth stolen base of the season, before Kreidler worked a walk.

Outman then ripped a double into the left-center field gap, scoring both runners and pushing the lead to 8-1. Martin followed with another RBI single to cap off the scoring and finish off a huge afternoon offensively for the Twins lineup.

After entering the game without an RBI on the season, Outman finished with three RBIs, while Martin reached base three times and drove in three runs of his own.

A MUCH-NEEDED COMPLETE PERFORMANCE
For a team that’s struggled to put together complete games this season consistently, Thursday looked much closer to the formula the Twins envisioned coming into the year.

The offense capitalized with runners on base after an ugly first inning, the defense played clean baseball throughout most of the afternoon, and Matthews gave Minnesota exactly the efficient, stabilizing start the rotation desperately needed.

Even with another shaky inning from Kendry Rojas in relief, the outcome never truly felt in doubt. The Twins controlled the game from the second inning on and closed out an emphatic 9-1 win to take the series from Miami.

What’s Next?
The Twins will kick off a three-game weekend series at Target Field against the Brewers, starting tomorrow. Neither pitcher for the series opener has been announced. First pitch is scheduled for 6:10 PM.

Postgame Interviews
Coming Soon!

Bullpen Availability Chart