Hans Birkeland

Image courtesy of © Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images Box Score: Starting Pitcher: Bailey Ober: 5+ IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 3 K (82 Pitches, 59 Strikes, 71.9%) Home Runs: None Bottom 3 WPA: Brooks Lee (0.32), Travis Adams (0.21), Yoendrys Gómez (0.16) Win Probability Chart (Via BaseballSavant): Winners of five of their past six games and four of their past five series, the Twins are somehow a playoff team, were the season to end today. They have taken the first two games at Fenway Park and sought the sweep, with Bailey Ober taking the mound against working-class hero Sonny Gray. The Twins made Gray work after he retired the first two batters. Trevor Larnach worked the count to 3-2 before getting hit on the foot by a curveball. Josh Bell then walked, before Kody Clemens roped a single into right field to put the Twins on the board first. That would be the end of the damage, but Gray was forced to throw 29 pitches. Meanwhile, Ober looked better than his previous outing, in which he stayed poised but lacked command in his five innings against the Brewers last Sunday. His changeup looked sharp, and he breezed through the first inning. He breezed through the second, as well, except for Masataka Yoshida golfing out a 1-2 change 393 feet to tie the game. There was a steady drizzle during the game, and Ober's command would wobble increasingly as the game progressed. No matter, as the Twins began the third with four consecutive hits, jump-started by a Brooks Lee double. It could have really unraveled for Gray, but Victor Caratini grounded into a double play with no outs and the bases loaded. The play resulted in the Twins' third run, but took some wind out of their sails. Maybe that affected Ober, who started leaking a little arm-side in the fourth. He allowed a ringing double from Wilyer Abreu off the green monster in left, a moonshot from Willson Contreras to tie the game, and then another double off the monster from Yoshida. Ober rebounded to retire the next two hitters, but Marcelo Mayer smashed a hard ground ball down the line (just past the outstretched glove of Clemens at first), and the Red Sox took the lead. The Twins would answer in the sixth. Ryan Kreidler singled with two outs and Orlando Arcia on first, prompting Boston to go to their relief ace, Garrett Whitlock. Austin Martin then laced a hanging slider into the left field corner, scoring Arcia. Lee flipped a single the opposite way, scoring Kreidler, with Martin scoring as well when catcher Carlos Narvaez dropped the relay throw. 6-4 Twins. Anthony Banda and Eric Orze pitched effectively in getting the Twins through innings six and seven, allowing zero baserunners while throwing just 10 pitches each. Arcia delivered his third hit of the game, a double, to lead off the eighth inning. The Twins would squander the opportunity, with Martin striking out with Arcia on third and one out and Lee flying out to end the frame. Taylor Rogers was brought on for the eighth and was greeted with a perfect bunt single up the first base line from Jarren Duran. It was certainly hold-on-to-your-butts time, and even more so when Ceddanne Rafaela launched a line drive over a shallow Martin in right field. But Martin made an over-the-shoulder catch that evoked Willie Mays comparisons from the broadcast (not from me, Mays would have taken a much better route). Abreu then hit a ball off the green monster to put runners on second and third with one out. Rogers was done at that point (and good riddance), and new relief star Yoendrys Gomez was brought in to face the hot-hitting Contreras with the game on the line. He struck out Contreras on a nasty sweeper, and got Yoshida to pop out to right on the first pitch. It wouldn't be pretty in the ninth, Nick Sogard led off with a triple to the gap in right center, and catcher Narváez walked. Gomez threw a great slider to strike out Mayer, but Isiah Kiner-Falefa launched a fly ball he thought was out of the park. It hit the monster, but pinch-runner Connor Wong wasn't running hard the entire way, and the relay throw from Kreidler nabbed Wong at home for the second out. It brought to mind this play at Fenway Park from 2019. The job was not done. Gomez slipped on the mound and balked IKF to third. He then hit Duran with a pitch that, had he not hit him, would have been a wild pitch that scored the tying run. Gómez was lifted for Travis Adams, who got Rafaela to fly to Martin yet again to seal the win. Stuff I'm Tracking: -Today's lineup featured no Byron Buxton, no Luke Keaschall, no Ryan Jeffers, no Royce Lewis and no Matt Wallner. Ask a Twins fan circa March 2026 and ask how that would go. But today, it resulted in six runs on 12 hits. Some better situational hitting, and they could have scored several more. -Anthony Banda has been a little better in May after looking rough in his first month with the Twins. He has six straight scoreless appearances, his walks are down, and his strikeouts are up. His settling into being a functional seventh-inning guy would do wonders for the state of this thin but currently overperforming bullpen. -Caratini looks lost at the plate, taking strikes, swinging at balls, and only putting something in play when it's on the ground and could result in a double play (seemingly). And we have him for next year, too! What’s Next: The Twins travel to Chicago to begin a four-game set against the White Sox as Zebby Matthews (1-1, 1.38 ERA) takes on lefty Anthony Kay (3-1, 4.27 ERA). The White Sox have been better this year, led by rookie Munetaka Murakami (17 HR, .922 OPS) and second year shortstop Colson Montgomery (13 HR, .797 OPS). Their pitching has held up, led by Davis Martin who has seven wins and a 2.04 ERA. Postgame Interviews: Coming soon Bullpen Usage Chart: WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT Gómez 36 0 13 0 22 71 Rojas 0 0 0 45 0 45 Morris 10 0 0 32 0 42 Adams 0 0 29 0 1 30 Banda 0 0 14 0 10 24 Orze 0 0 14 0 10 24 Rogers 0 0 0 6 13 19 Woods Richardson 0 0 0 0 0 0 View full article

Image courtesy of Matt Krohn-Imagn Images Box Score: Starting Pitcher: Bailey Ober: 5 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 K (77 Pitches, 46 Strikes, 59.7%) Home Runs: Ryan Jeffers (7) Top 3 WPA: Kody Clemens (0.24), Justin Topa (0.17), Ryan Jeffers (0.17) Win Probability Chart (Via BaseballSavant): Injuries have decimated the Twins of late, with Byron Buxton, Trevor Larnach, Joe Ryan and Taj Bradley all missing time recently. They entered Sunday having lost two consecutive one run games against the Brewers featuring good pitching and anemic hitting with runners in scoring position. Fortunately, the Twins were starting the streaking Bailey Ober, who pitched a "Maddux" his last time out against the Marlins. I'd go as far as to call it a Carlos Silva, since his pitch count in completing the shutout was less than 90 pitches, with the Maddux criteria having the threshold of 100. In any case, Ober has been great this year, with his change-up somehow getting even better as his fastball velocity has settled into the upper 80's at best. Today Ober was a little floaty with his command and had to fight hard to keep the Brewers from putting up crooked numbers against him. He began the second inning by allowing a walk, double, fly out and another walk before getting the next two hitters on lineouts. He began the fourth by allowing a fly out, then a rocket home run to Garrett Mitchell (115.5 MPH). Joey Ortiz then rifled a double past Austin Martin in right. Again, Ober righted the ship, striking out David Hamilton and getting the electric Jackson Chourio to pop out. Meanwhile the Twins were making lefty Robert Gasser work. Austin Martin led off the first with a walk, and with two outs Kody Clemens doubled him home. After Luke Keaschall walked, Victor Caratini was hit by a pitch, loading the bases for Royce Lewis. That is no longer as exciting as it once was, and despite making Gasser throw ten pitches to him, never seemed close to squaring anything up and ended up striking out on a high change-up. Gasser needed 40 pitches to complete the frame but was allowed to continue. Gasser mostly held it together, his only additional blemish occurring in the third. Ryan Jeffers singled to lead off the inning, and Clemens got yet another extra base hit off a lefty, launching just over the head of Chourio in left. Chourio struggled to collect it and the relay from shortstop Joey Ortiz was pretty terrible, allowing both Jeffers and Clemens to score. The fifth began with consecutive great defensive plays from Lewis and Martin. Good thing, too, because Christian Yelich followed with a moonshot off an Ober change-up to tie the game at three. Although that would be Ober's last inning, he left in line for the win thanks to the continued heroics of Jeffers. The catcher/DH got all of a Grant Anderson sweeper and hit it 389 feet to retake the lead. The teams traded zeroes for a few innings before Jake Bauers led off the eighth inning with a double off of Taylor Rogers. After retiring Sal Frelick without Bauers advancing, Justin Topa was brought in, and despite being Justin Topa, got a couple of grounders to escape the jam. The Brewers would rue that missed opportunity to tie the game. Keaschall led off the bottom of the eighth with a fly ball to deep center that Chourio appeared to catch up to, but couldn't close his glove on it, allowing Keaschall to reach third with a leadoff triple. Caratini then popped a ball up to shallow left, but Keaschall challenged the arm of Bauers and scored easily, stretching the lead to two. That was key, because Luis Garcia and his 9.00 ERA would come on to close the game. He got Chourio to start the frame, but walked Turang and allowed an infield hit to Contreras. He got Yelich to swing through three consecutive pitches for the second out, but the hot-hitting Bauers rifled a single past Clemens at first to cut the lead to one. Garcia then got ahead of Frelick 0-2 before retiring him on a pop-up to the catcher Caratini. Things I'm Tracking: -Clemens briefly got his OPS over .800 after his second double of the game. Considering his slow start and unimpressive track record prior to last year's serviceable contributions, it was fair to question if the 30 year-old would revert to being Denny Hocking with late career Joey Gallo swing outcomes rather than reaching his upside of, I don't know, David Murphy? He's been a good find, and if he keeps his OPS over .750 he might even have some trade value this summer. -I was thinking Jeffers might secure a three year, 45M sort of contract this offseason, and not from the Twins. Now it's looking more like 75-80M over four years and it still won't be from the Twins. Hopefully he stays healthy and secures said bag. -Lewis couldn't lay off the high fastball today and struck out three times. If he doesn't figure it out over the summer he might not be offered a contract this offseason. If you think Lewis gives weird quotes now, imagine what he would say in that scenario. -I see the vision with Andrew Morris. He got Anthony Banda out of a jam in the sixth by retiring Chourio on a weak chopper, than buzz-sawed through Brice Turang and William Contreras in the seventh before giving way to Taylor Rogers. He threw mainly fastballs, hit 97 and located well. What’s Next: The Twins welcome the Houston Astros to Target Field for a three game set. Tatsuya Imai (1-1, 9.24 ERA) will pitch the opener Monday against a pitcher-yet-to-be-determined in what was Simeon Woods Richardson's spot. The Astros have struggled this year as their dynastic roster continues to wither under the pressures of aging and injuries. Postgame Interviews: Coming soon Bullpen Usage Chart: WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT Topa 35 0 0 0 11 46 Rojas 0 0 41 0 0 41 Garcia 18 0 0 0 22 40 Morris 0 0 24 0 12 36 Rogers 0 0 23 0 8 31 Adams 29 0 0 0 0 29 Orze 0 0 0 26 0 26 Banda 0 0 8 0 18 26 Gómez 0 0 7 11 0 18 View full article

Image courtesy of © David Dermer-Imagn Images Box Score: Bulk Pitcher: Kendry Rojas: 3 1/3 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K (60 Pitches, 34 Strikes, 56.6%) Home Runs: None Top 3 WPA: Kody Clemens (0.23), Brooks Lee (0.18), Anthony Banda (0.11) Win Probability Chart (Via BaseballSavant): Well, the Twins won a close game in extra innings in Cleveland yesterday. That, alone, was a revelation, given the past four or five years of results. It also gave them a chance to take a series at Progressive Field for the first time since the 1990s (or so it's felt). The starter would be Andrew Morris, but the bulk assignment fell on rookie Kendry Rojas. Morris, for his part, pitched an easy six-pitch scoreless first, with Rojas coming in to face the lefty-heavy Guardians lineup to start the second. Rojas has trouble throwing strikes, and that trend continued today, but he did show some reasons for optimism, including a nice changeup to strike out Angel Martínez in the second. His slider was sliding, and his sinker has some pop to it, so he has the makings of an effective major-league pitcher, but can he deliver on that promise in his rookie year? The Twins lineup had to deal with big Gavin Williams, who has built upon his 2025 breakout. Hes always looked the part of a big-time prospect, but injuries and some poor luck delayed his takeoff for a couple of years. Last year', he was able to make 31 starts, and while he led the league in walks, he was extremely hard to hit, posting a 129 OPS+ with a .211 batting average against. His heavy sinker/four-seam combo kept the Twins off-balance early, but Kody Clemens dunked a ball down the third-base line in the second for a Guardians Double™ and scored on a wild pitch for the game's first run. Ryan Jeffers scalded a ball through the middle that ended up getting all the way to the warning track for a leadoff double. Unfortunately, the Twins now employ Cold Josh Bell™ (not to be confused with the legendary Cool Papa Bell), who struck out in his sixth straight plate appearance to derail that potential rally. Meanwhile, Rojas gave up three singles and a walk in the third, but managed to give up just a single run on a José Ramírez tapper up the middle. He was wobbly with his command, but showed some composure pitching in a tough environment, including striking out All-Star Steven Kwan with two men on to end the third. It was probably the worst swing I've seen Kwan take. The fifth inning was the pivot point. Clemens led off with a more legitimate double, to the gap in right-center field at 105 MPH. Brooks Lee singled to bring home Clemens, and Royce Lewis showed some life by roping a double down the left-field line. Byron Buxton legged out a tapper to third base, and Bell broke out of his slump with a single up the middle to make the score 4-1. Austin Martin then continued his hot streak by staying with a fastball and flipping it to the opposite field to make it a four-run lead. Travis Adams took over for Rojas with one out in the fifth and got the second out pretty quickly. But he walked Kyle Manzardo, fell behind hitters, and allowed two more hits and a walk before striking out new catcher acquisition Patrick Bailey (who looked rough in his Guardians debut) with the bases full. Those bad Giants vibes will follow you, I guess. Adams allowed another run in the sixth, but got Ramírez to pop out as the tying run before giving way to Anthony Banda, who was able to retire pinch-hitter Rhys Hoskins on a fly ball. There was some Guardians Ball in the eighth, with David Fry singling and Bryan Rocchio dumping a broken-bat single into center off of righty Luis García. Kwan then bunted them over (on a 3-1 count, ouch) before Chase DeLauter grounded out to trim the lead to one. García was able to get Hoskins to ground out to preserve the lead. Clemens led off the ninth inning with an opposite-field single, and was bunted to second by Lee (somewhat surprisingly). Clemens then stole third, but was left stranded with Lewis striking out and pinch-hitter Victor Caratini flying out to deep right field. Yoendrys Gómez got the ninth, which speaks to some level of concern for Justin Topa, who hasn't pitched since Wednesday. Gómez, who has not had any sustained major-league success, threw strikes and looked good, working a 1-2-3 inning to secure the victory. Things I'm Tracking: -Brooks Lee looks like he may truly be part of the solution, delivering a couple hits with runners in scoring position. He even stole a base, despite looking like he was pumping his legs through molasses. -Travis Adams made his debut and threw some good changeups, but was largely ineffective in allowing four hits and two walks in 1 1/3 innings. -Jeffers is setting himself up for a big payday this offseason, with his OPS now over .900 and having built a reputation as an elite ABS challenger. -The Guardians may have found yet another demon in their relief corps, with Franco Aleman making his debut and pumping 99 MPH with deception. He allowed two singles but also went two scoreless in relief of Williams. -The Twins' bullpen hierarchy is a mess, with two recent waiver claims taking the eighth and ninth innings protecting a slim lead. The options Derek Shelton has late in games are pretty brutal right now. What’s Next: The Miami Marlins are in town, with electric young righty Eury Perez (2-4, 5.01 ERA) taking the mound against Bailey Ober (3-2, 4.19 ERA). It might be one of the tallest combined pitching matchups ever, with Perez standing 6'8", an inch shorter than Ober. The Marlins are league average on both sides of the ball in contrast to their recent past of being dependent on dominant pitching to sustain a nothing offense. They also are feisty, leading baseball in steals, so it will be an interesting test for the Twins at home. Postgame Interviews: Bullpen Usage Chart: WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT Banda 0 20 22 0 19 61 Funderburk 17 0 22 10 0 49 Garcia 14 0 0 13 20 47 Rogers 0 26 0 17 0 43 Adams 0 0 0 0 43 43 Topa 32 0 0 0 0 32 Orze 0 0 16 15 0 31 Morris 14 0 0 11 6 31 Gómez 0 0 2 5 10 17 View full article

Image courtesy of Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images Box Score Starting Pitcher: Joe Ryan: 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K (9 Pitches, 5 Strikes, 55%) Home Runs: None Top 3 WPA: Andrew Morris (0.22), Victor Caratini (0.11), Luke Keaschall (0.09) Win Probability Chart (Via BaseballSavant): The Twins' slide into irrelevance continues, as they entered Sunday's game against Toronto losers in 13 of their past 16 games. To make matters worse, today's game was shown exclusively on Peacock, a streaming service used by approximately no one and which has lost NBC/Universal half a billion dollars and counting because our media landscape totally makes sense. At least the Twins were trotting out their ace, Joe Ryan. Except he exited with elbow soreness nine pitches into the game, forcing the Twins to turn to their beleaguered young swingman, Andrew Morris, who threw well enough to escape the inning without any damage. Does anyone remember the last time Joe Ryan exited early with injury? I remember. Opposing Morris was postseason hero Trey Yesavage, who still has more playoff innings than regular season. His command was a little wobbly, but his rising fastball and devastating splitter were a big challenge regardless. After retiring Byron Buxton in the first, Yesavage allowed a base hit to Trevor Larnach and Austin Martin drew an impressive walk. Victor Caratini then singled through the right side to bring home the game's first run. Meanwhile Morris was really good, hitting 97 MPH on his fastball and locating his sweeper to keep the Blue Jays honest. He allowed two hits and a walk in 3 ⅔ innings, striking out three. He didn't allow much hard contact and really didn't face any trouble while keeping the Twins in the game. The offense loaded the bases in the third, making Yesavage work and putting him on the ropes before the young righty got Royce Lewis to swing through a fastball in the zone to end the threat. He was done after 81 Pitches and four innings. Braydon Fisher came on for the fifth inning, and the Twins jumped all over him. Caratini walked and scored on a Luke Keaschall double. Keaschall would score on a Kody Clemens double to the same spot in left center. Then, in a moment that surprised everyone, Matt Wallner made contact off of a lefty, and scorched it to the same gap and off the wall to score Clemens. By my unofficial count, this was the first hit by Wallner against a lefty and his first hit to the opposite field since the Biden administration. Aaron Gleeman was then awoken like the undertaker to post some cherry-picked stats (probably). The Jays made some noise in the sixth against the withered husk of Taylor Rogers. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a single off his fists, followed by a deep drive by Jesus Sanchez over Wallner's head in right. Sanchez slipped making the turn around first, making it a long single. Rogers managed to strike out Lenyn Sosa on a backup slider, but Dalton Varsho hit a perfect bunt up the first base line, beating Rogers to the bag and scoring Guerrero for Toronto's first run. Rogers ended up allowing three hits and hitting a batter, but escaped the inning by inducing a pop-up from catcher Taylor Heineman. Things quieted down a bit from there, with the Twins putting up goose eggs against Blue Jays reliever Tommy Nance, while Rogers, Eric Orze and Kody Funderburk did just enough to keep the Jays offense dormant. The ninth inning was handed to Justin Topa, who allowed an infield single before Kazuma Okamoto hit his fourth home run of the series to cut the deficit to one. Guerrero then smashed a single right under Keaschall's glove to put the tying run on base. Sanchez hit one nearly as hard that nearly took out Topa, but Sosa hit a hard grounder to Keaschall that he turned into a game ending double play. Things I'm Tracking: Austin Martin looks unconscious, spitting on anything remotely close to being out of the zone and squaring up everything in it. With him, Larnach and Buxton all scorching hot, its kind of crazy that this team is losing so much. Caratini has cooled off after a fairly competent start to his Twins career, with his OPS below .600. He did reach base a few times today and his OBP is acceptable, but him being a professional hitter was a big reason why the team won eight of nine in that one good stretch that now seems a distant memory. Luke Keaschall is showing signs of life, with three doubles, including two today, in the past two games. Lewis looks pretty cooked, swinging out of his shoes and whiffing against fastballs in the zone What’s Next: The Twins head to the nation's capital to face the Nationals in a three game set. Taj Bradley (3-1, 2.85 ERA) will face Cade Cavalli (1-1, 3.82 ERA) in a matchup of post-hype prospects. Cavalli has been hittable (1.66 WHIP, .772 OPS against) but has a good strikeout rate. Bradley has been great and should have a good matchup provided he can handle Washington's main stars, James Wood and CJ Abrams. Postgame Interviews: Bullpen Usage Chart: WED THUR FRI SAT SUN TOT Orze 28 0 33 0 24 85 Morris 0 19 0 0 57 76 Banda 22 14 0 18 0 54 Rogers 13 0 8 0 32 53 Topa 0 12 0 10 17 39 Garcia 0 0 9 18 0 27 Funderburk 0 0 0 14 3 17 Klein 0 0 0 12 0 12 View full article

Image courtesy of © Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images Box Score: Starting Pitcher: Simeon Woods Richardson: 4 1/3 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 K (78 Pitches, 47 Strikes, 60.3%) Home Runs: Brooks Lee (5) Bottom 3 WPA: Woods Richardson (-0.21), Matt Wallner (-0.13), Josh Bell (-0.10) Win Probability Chart (Via BaseballSavant): Well, the Twins are bad again. The starting pitching has sprung a few leaks, and the opportunistic offense has been silenced by the regression monster. When the team has managed to take a lead, the bullpen has given it right back. Add it all up, and the team is 1-9 in its past 10 games, immediately following an 8-1 stretch that had them at the top of the American League. Today featured Simeon Woods Richardson squaring off against old friend Griffin Jax, who was operating as an opener for bulk pitcher Jesse Scholtens. Woods Richardson has been less than great in 2026, with his encouraging strikeout ability from the second half of 2025 abandoning him. Jax looked good, keeping the Twins off balance and pitching around a few bloopers and infield hits in 2 1/3 innings. Woods Richardson got in trouble early and often, allowing a leadoff base hit to Chandler Simpson, only to be bailed out by a hard ground ball from the dangerous Junior Caminero. It was fielded perfectly at second base by Luke Keaschall, who converted it into an easy double play. A walk and a single brought the heat back up in the second, but Woods Richardson got Taylor Walls looking on a misplaced fastball (Ttrget outside, pitch hit the inside corner) to end that threat. He ran out of magic in the third. Hunter Feduccia led off with a swinging bunt that he beat out. He advanced to second on an errant throw from Woods Richardson. Simpson followed with another hit, then stole second. Woods Richardson fell behind Caminero 3-0, which would have prompted many pitchers to give in and put him on via the intentional walk. Woods Richardson somehow got Caminero to pop out on 3-1, but Jonathan Aranda singled to the gap in right-center field to bring home two runs. Yandy Díaz then rifled a fastball that was nearly in Ryan Jeffers's glove the opposite way for an impressive home run. All of a sudden, the score was 4-0 Rays. The Twins put two runners on in the third and fourth inning, now facing Scholtens, but Josh Bell hit a liner at 107 MPH that was caught to end the third. Royce Lewis popped out weakly to end the fourth. Three more Rays would reach in the fourth. Walls tried to score from second on the third single of the game from Simpson, but was thrown out by Trevor Larnach from left field. Caminero then tapped out to end the threat. A walk to Díaz in the fifth was the end of the line for Woods Richardson. The final line wasn't pretty: eight hits allowed, a homer and more walks (3) than strikeouts (2). His fastball did hit 94 MPH a few times, but he had quite a few in the low 90s and upper 80s. He floated his splitter into hittable locations more than once, though his slider was relatively sharp, Meanwhile, Scholtens was settling in, allowing a few walks but using his slider and splitter to precent the Twins from generating hard contact. He kept cruising until the seventh, when he hung a couple of sliders to the murderer's row of the Twins lineup: James Outman and Brooks Lee. Outman cracked a double, and Lee snuck a liner inside the right-field foul pole for a two-run home run. Cole Sulser came on and got the Rays out of the inning without any further damage, and pitched a quick eighth inning, as well. Minnesota never seriously threatened to get closer than the 4-2 final score. Things I'm Tracking: -Brooks Lee batted leadoff, contributing a home run and a walk. He wouldn't have been my choice for that lineup slot, but sometimes picking a leadoff hitter doesn't need to make sense. Remember when the Royals were perennial World Series contenders with Alcides Escobar hitting first? -Are Woods Richardson's mechanics out of whack? Is he dealing with a physical issue? Is he some kind of right-handed Shaun Marcum (feisty pitcher without a lot of "stuff" who was pretty good for a few years, but when he lost just a tick on his fastball he was basically unplayable)? -Good to have Kody Funderburk back. He pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings to lower his ERA to 1.74. If he keeps this up, he'll have closing opportunities, given the bullpen's lack of talent. What’s Next: The Twins welcome the Mariners to Target Field Monday, as they begin a four-game series. Connor Prielipp (0-0, 4.50 ERA) will face Luis Castillo (0-1, 5.21 ERA) as the Twins look to get off the mat against an underperforming Seattle team. Prielipp was inefficient but solid in his MLB debut against the Mets last time out, pitching four innings, walking none and striking out six. Castillo isn't the ace he once was, and hasn't looked good thus far in 2026, but he has a track record, and the Twins don't have a ton of threats in their lineup. Postgame Interviews: Coming soon Bullpen Usage Chart: WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT Morris 0 37 0 0 0 37 Orze 11 0 10 9 0 30 Topa 17 0 0 0 10 27 Rogers 12 0 0 15 0 27 Banda 0 9 7 0 9 25 Funderburk 0 0 0 0 20 20 Acton 0 0 0 18 0 18 Sands 0 0 0 0 7 7 View full article

Image courtesy of © Matt Blewett-Imagn Images Box Score: Starting Pitcher: Bailey Ober: 6 1/3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER 4 BB, 10 K (102 Pitches, 61 Strikes, 59.8%) Home Runs: None Bottom 3 WPA: Andrew Morris (-0.70), Garret Acton (-0.40), Byron Buxton (-0.14) Win Probability Chart (Via BaseballSavant): Things have leveled off for the Twins following their brief stay at the top of the league table, and they entered Sunday's series finale with the Reds in danger of losing their fourth straight game. Their defense and bullpen, thought to be major weaknesses entering the year, were just that on getaway day. On the positive side, the Twins were facing Brady Singer, who has endured a 9.00-plus ERA in his Target Field career. On the downside, Bailey Ober took the mound for the Twins, and he had paired an 88-MPH fastball with a 5.49 ERA over his four starts in 2026. Things started nicely, as Ober induced extremely weak contact while featuring mainly his changeup and sweeper. He allowed a bloop single in the first and a walk in the second. He finished the second inning with a Javier Báez-esque sword of Rece Hinds, courtesy of a sweeper a foot off the plate. Meanwhile, the Twins squeezed across a Byron Buxton run against Singer in the first. We've seen it many times before: Buxton beats out a squibber, the fielder rushes the throw, allowing Buxton to advance to second, and then two productive outs bring Byron home. The Twins were unable to make anything else happen against Singer and his 91-MPH sinker, though, which he was locating in the middle of the zone. The Twins took advantage in the third. After James Outman's customary easy out, Buxton drew a walk, Trevor Larnach ripped a single to right and Josh Bell followed suit, as did Victor Caratini, making the score 3-0. The Reds would answer in the fourth. The electric Elly De La Cruz led off with a broken-bat double down the right-field line. Outman bobbled the ball, which allowed De La Cruz to reach third. He would score on a grounder up the middle from Sal Stewart. Following a walk to Eugenio Suárez, Ober was then bailed out by former Twins farmhand Spencer Steer, who took strike three on a 3-2 count. The ball was six inches outside, but Steer inexplicably decided not to challenge. Ober retired Tyler Stephenson to minimize the damage. Ober was pretty good, shielding his fastball as much as possible and throwing his typical array of changeups that dart away from lefties and come back into the zone against righties. The sweeper was particularly good, and Ober mixed in some fastballs late in his outing that got key strikeouts against Stewart and Suárez. The velocity was up to 90 MPH at points, but I think Ober is making adjustments to try to be that Mark Buehrle/Jered Weaver type of pitcher who can have success throwing in the 80s. It worked today, as Ober struck out 10, the last of which came on an 87-MPH four-seamer that somehow got past the bat of Stephenson. He also induced 14 whiffs. Andrew Morris pitched the eighth with a 3-1 lead, and his velocity was a little down, sitting 93-96 MPH. It was a little rocky, requiring 28 pitches, but he got a key strikeout against Suárez on a sweeper to end the frame. He came back out for the ninth, and quickly gave up two opposite-field singles to the bottom of the Reds' order. He recorded an out, then walked nine-hole hitter Hinds. The struggling TJ Friedl then roped a middle-middle fastball to the gap in right-center, to clear the bases and turn the game on its head. The Twins were not done, as the alleged corpse of Outman followed up his first hit of the year with a ringing leadoff double in the ninth. Buxton was unable to advance Outman, but Austin Martin smashed a double down the left-field line to tie the game against old friend Emilio Pagán. Bell lined a ball at 102 MPH to deep center, but it held up for Myers. Caratini would fly out to end the threat and send the game to extras. After finishing the ninth, Garret Acton was brought back out for the 10th. He allowed a missile off the bat of Stewart (109 MPH) that Martin made a leaping catch on. Suárez then grounded to third, Tristan Gray booted it, and then Martin bobbled it in left, allowing the speedy "Manfred Man" De La Cruz to score. Hinds would then double in two to put a bow on the game. Things I'm Tracking: The baserunning was pretty good to start, with Buxton and Larnach taking extra bases and then Brooks Lee taking third on a hit (gasp) from James Outman in the fourth. Lee was perhaps feeling himself a bit after that, as he tried to steal home on a throw down to second with Outman running. Lee was out by, uh, a lot. Red Sox fans sometimes describe OF/DH Masataka Yoshida's running style as running as if he were made of LEGOs and I think Lee has the same affliction. I wondered if the Reds had some sort of mandate not to challenge pitches as hitters, as they let two important strike threes go by in the fourth and fifth innings, when both were clear balls. I get the philosophy, as catchers have the better view of pitches, and their challenge percentage is higher than hitters, but it really impacted the Reds from a WPA perspective today. De La Cruz then unsuccessfully challenged a strike call in the sixth, and Dane Myers followed suit in the seventh. It is surprising a Tito Francona-led team would do so much self-inflicted damage. Kody Clemens' walkup song is "Confidence," and for a guy hitting under .150 that seems a little on the nose. The "redundant trade candidate" Trevor Larnach reached base four times today, raising his OBP to .468. He's definitely not useful at all. "Really cool underrated slugger" Matt Wallner sat due to the after-effects of getting hit in the ribs last Monday. His 71 OPS+ and emotion-based ABS challenges were surely missed. The defense is a struggle, man. Outman's bobble allowed the first run to score, and then the play in the tenth involved two separate errors. What’s Next: The Twins travel to Queens to face the Mets, featuring a neat matchup between promising young starters Mick Abel (1-2, 3.98 ERA) and Nolan McClean (1-1, 2.28 ERA). The Mets are currently in the midst of an 11-game losing streak, which is pretty funny considering how big their payroll is. (probably not to them, but.) Postgame Interviews: Bullpen Usage Chart: WED THUR FRI SAT SUN TOT Morris 0 0 0 0 47 47 Topa 13 0 11 10 0 34 Sands 0 0 20 12 0 32 Funderburk 14 0 8 10 0 32 Acton 0 0 0 0 29 29 Orze 12 0 0 15 0 27 Banda 24 0 0 0 0 24 Rogers 0 0 0 0 8 8 View full article

Image courtesy of © John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images Box Score: Starting Pitcher: Taj Bradley: 5 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 7 K (106 Pitches, 62 Strikes, 58.5%) Home Runs: Tristan Gray (2), Kody Clemens (2) Top 3 WPA: Gray (0.25), Matt Wallner (0.10), Josh Bell (0.07) Win Probability Chart (Via BaseballSavant): In a baseball landscape in which no team (other than the Dodgers, perhaps) really looks that impressive, the Twins had mjuddled their way to 8-7 entering Sunday, after sweeping the Tigers and splitting the first two games against the AL Champion Blue Jays. Adding the competent veteran bats of Josh Bell and Victor Caratini has helped, but the starting rotation has been the team's greatest strength—despite the absence of injured ace Pablo López. Chief among the early rotation success stories has been Taj Bradley, who was utterly dominant against Detroit on Tuesday night, striking out 10 and working into the seventh inning. His command of his 91-MPH splitter (in conjunction with his high-octane fastball) has unlocked the long-dormant upside that made him a top-50 prospect just a few years ago. Opposing Bradley was the withered husk of Max Scherzer, who came in seeking strikeout number 3,500 for his career. Scherzer had an MRI on his right forearm after leaving his most recent start. The MRI was "clean," but that's like saying a politician over 80 passed a cognitive test. In any case, Scherzer worked a smooth first inning. That was not the case for Bradley. Ernie Clement led off and roped a double down the left-field line, and Dalton Varsho singled past a diving Luke Keaschall, making the score 1-0 almost instantly. Bradley's command was all over the place, which led to falling behind hitters. He was lucky to get away with a few hanging breaking balls. He did bear down and got Jesús Sánchez to tap into a double play. A walk would follow before Bradley got the strikeout on an elevated fastball to Nathan Lukes to end the frame. That was key, because Tristan Gray was due up in the second. With two runners on, Gray got a cutter to his liking and smashed it over the bullpen in right field to make the score 3-1 Twins. At his peak, Scherzer was ruthlessly efficient, but he did tend to give up a home run or two—making him similar to fellow legends Justin Verlander and Johan Santana. That number has spiked in recent years, however, and Kody Clemens led off the third with a 417-foot moonshot off a Scherzer slider left up in the zone. The damage wouldn't end there. Trevor Larnach and Keaschall singled, followed by a walk to Josh Bell. Matt Wallner then laced a single to right, Caratini hit a sacrifice fly, and Brooks Lee scorched a two-run double down the left-field line. All of a sudden, it was 8-1 Twins. Scherzer was done after 2 1/3 innings; the Lee double came off of reliever Joe Mantiply. Bradley appeared a little rusty after the long layoff, falling behind every hitter he faced in the third, but got Sánchez swinging on what would have been ball four, and Kazuma Okamoto flied out harmlessly on a 3-1 fastball that ended the inning. Bradley just couldn't land strikes with anything but his fastball. Eloy Jiménez sat on the pitch and turned around a 97-MPH heater for a sharp single in the fourth, and Andrés Giménez hit a fastball on the ground that Keaschall made a nice play on to retire the lead runner. Bradley threw fastball after fastball to the nine-hole hitter, Brandon Valenzuela, on 3-2, before throwing a non-competitive curveball high and out of the zone. On the ropes, he threw a couple of cutters in the middle of the zone to get ahead of Clement, before a curveball was laced on a line—right to Gray at third base to end the inning (a .720 expected batting average). The Twins are in the midst of playing quite a few games in a row, which may have played into Derek Shelton allowing Bradley to pitch the fifth. Bradley fell behind Varsho 3-0 before allowing a rocket double down the right-field line to start the frame. He retired Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on a splitter and struck out Sÿnchez on a challenge fastball. He then threw one of his better cutters of the day to strike out the struggling Okamoto. His ERA won't rise much today, but this was Bradley's worst start of the year, by far. His last inning was better, as he at least got the Blue Jays hitters off his fastball a little by landing some cutters for strikes. On one hand, he held a solid Toronto lineup to one run, but on the other hand, different sequencing and more batted-ball luck could have resulted in a brutal outing given his general lack of command. But that's showbiz. Andrew Morris made his debut in the sixth and looked good, hitting 98 MPH on his fastball; staying in the zone (for the most part); and dropping a sharp, slow curveball at 75-76 MPH that kept hitters honest—except for Giménez, who stayed on a curveball and roped it into the corner because he is not an honest man. Morris also seems to come from the Joe Ryan school of reacting to everything that happens in pretty comical ways. He got out of the sixth, but ran into some trouble in the seventh and eighth, with spottier command and some louder contact. He also threw a lot of pitches (67) over his three innings of work. Things to Track: The defense was good, with some nice plays made by Keaschall and Gray on the infield that kept innings from mushrooming. James Outman went hitless again. He still does not have a hit in 2026. Trading Brock Stewart for him was one of the most inconsequential (but still frustrating, somehow?) transactions in recent memory. Gray has 11 RBIs, second on the team to Bell, who has 12. Lee has been hitting well lately, but it seems a little precious, kinda like Bartolo Colón hitting that one home run. We'll see how long it lasts, but if this team somehow remains competitive, Kaelen Culpepper might be the better option, pushing Lee to a utility role. What’s Next: The Twins host the Red Sox as Bailey Ober (1-0, 5.27 ERA) takes on Garrett Crochet (2-1, 3.12 ERA). The Red Sox have been cold to start the year, but have tons of talent, with a lot of hitters with good track records who have yet to get going. The Twins' porous bullpen might be just the thing to warm those bats up—but so far, that pen has been surprisingly competent. Postgame Interviews: Bullpen Usage Chart: WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT Morris 0 0 0 0 67 67 Banda 21 0 36 0 0 57 Funderburk 20 0 0 17 0 37 Acton 0 35 0 0 0 35 Topa 10 0 12 0 12 34 Sands 9 0 0 22 0 31 Rogers 0 0 30 0 0 30 Orze 0 14 0 0 0 14 View full article