Hans Birkeland

Image courtesy of © Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images Box Score: Starting Pitcher: Chris Paddack: 4 2/3 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 0 BB 3 K (91 Pitches, 59 Strikes, 64.8%) Home Runs: None Bottom 3 WPA: Brooks Lee (-.128), Paddack (-.114), Byron Buxton (-.089) Win Probability Chart (Via FanGraphs): The Twins somehow had a chance to take a road series against one of the league's best teams, who also happen to lead the AL Central. Standing in their way was defending Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, and he was in no mood to make this game seem winnable at any point, finishing with 13 strikeouts across seven scoreless innings. Byron Buxton began the game by striking out on a filthy changeup from Skubal. Ryan Jeffers followed with a routine fly out, and from there, Skubal went scorched-earth, striking out the next seven batters by locating his 98-MPH fastball wherever he wanted, and keeping the Twins off balance with his disappearing changeup, unreachable to any right-handed batter. Chris Paddack was on the mound for the Twins and was amped, hitting 98 MPH with his fastball in the first inning. The Tigers had some trouble squaring up the fastball, but seemed content to wait for his other offerings—highlighted by Kerry Carpenter launching his 16th home run off a sloppy changeup from Paddack. Paddack continued allowing hard contact, but was bailed out by his defense, most notably on an over-the-shoulder catch at the wall by Willi Castro that saved a sure run in the third. However, Riley Green sat on another changeup in the fourth, and launched it 381 feet to double Detroit's lead. Meanwhile, Skubal took a perfect game into the fifth before he gave up a one-out gapper off the bat of Ty France. That proved inconsequential, as Skubal struck out Harrison Bader on yet another filthy changeup, and got Brooks Lee swinging at 99 MPH at his eyes to end it. The Tigers pounced on that missed opportunity in the fifth. Following a hit-by-pitch of Colt Keith, Carpenter slammed a Paddack fastball up in the zone down the right-field line with two outs. Castro tried to chase it down, but it ping-ponged in the corner, which allowed Keith to score the game's third run. That was the end of the road for Paddack, as Danny Coulombe came in to retire Greene. Skubal coasted from there, walking Christian Vázquez at one point but otherwise completely shutting down the Twins lineup. The Twins seemed to be starting a mini-rally in the eighth against Tommy Kahnle, with Bader singling to start the inning and Lee hitting a sharp grounder to the hole between first and second. But Spencer Torkelson made an excellent play, spearing the ball and making a great feed to second, with Lee unable to beat out the twin-killing. Stray Observations: -Skubal is the best left-handed starter in the game, with all due respect to Max Fried and Garret Crochet. He throws harder, has better mound presence, and goes deeper in games. He's an absolute menace. -I wonder if Paddack has any trade value left, now that his ERA has settled back into the mid-4s. The problem is that you can't market him as an innings-eater, as he has been one of the least durable pitchers in baseball, and you can't say he'd be a difference-maker, since he's never been that effective. Maybe other teams are interested in a really nice guy who never backs down from a challenge, even though he will almost always lose said challenge. "Who will save us from the alien invasion?!" Paddack: "I'll do it." "Chris Paddack? Wasn't he sort of good in 2019, but spent the last six years hurt and ineffective?" "I'm gonna save the day. I'm a sheriff." "Wow he's so loyal and nice! Hopefully the aliens won't sit on his offspeed and breaking pitches." "Oh, he's dead." What’s Next: The Twins head to Miami for an off day Monday, before beginning a series against the Marlins. Joe Ryan (8-3, 2.86 ERA) opposes Edward Cabrera (2-2, 3.78 ERA) as the Twins try to start salvaging their season with the trade deadline getting closer and reinforcements on the way—either in or out. Postgame Interviews: Coming soon Bullpen Usage Chart: WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT Wentz 0 0 0 48 0 48 Sands 0 31 0 12 0 43 Topa 0 8 0 0 30 38 Jax 9 0 23 0 0 32 Varland 17 0 15 0 0 32 Stewart 0 13 0 0 14 27 Coulombe 0 16 6 0 1 23 Durán 9 0 9 0 0 18 View full article

Image courtesy of © Brad Rempel- Imagn Images Box Score: Bulk Pitcher: David Festa: 4 2/3, 12 H, 8 ER, 3 BB, 3 K (96 Pitches, 65 Strikes, 67.7%) Home Runs: Byron Buxton 2 (17), Ryan Jeffers (6), Ty France (6) Bottom 3 WPA: Festa (-.498), Matt Wallner (-.204), Trevor Larnach (-.180) Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs): Another day, a new rock bottom for the Minnesota Twins. With their pitching in a slump, and their lineup cooling off after a decent start to June, it was the defense's turn to revert to early-April levels of performance ,as the Twins lost the first two games of the series against Milwaukee 26-6. It marks the longest stretch of losing baseball with Byron Buxton available and hitting well that I can remember. The day began with Danny Coulombe acting as an opener for David Festa. After two quick outs to begin the day, the red-hot Christian Yelich got on top of a hanging cutter from the lefty and laced it into the right field corner. He would score on a bloop single from William Contreras. The Twins would answer this time! First, Buxton rammed a sinker 411 feet into the bleachers in left-center to get the offense going. And it did, with four consecutive singles off of fungible Milwaukee starter Quinn Priester. That left the bases loaded with one out and two runs in, but Kody Clemens lined out hard to second baseman Brice Turang, and Ryan Jeffers tapped out, limiting the damage. With Festa starting his day, he was greeted by a home run from Rhys Hoskins, tying the game and flipping the momentum of the ballgame. Festa would stop the bleeding there, but would not be so fortunate in the third inning. Sal Frelick began the inning with a dribbler that Brooks Lee bobbled, and was scored an error (but later reconsidered and called a dubious infield single). Jackson Chourio, fully capable of crushing 450-foot home runs, bunted right to Lee, who missed the barehand play, putting a second runner on base. Yelich then hit a chopper that bounced over Lee's outstretched glove to score Frelick and regain the lead. Chourio also took the extra base on said single, which would prove crucial as he scored on Hoskins' sacrifice fly. So two ground balls, a bunt and a fly ball led to two runs for the Brewers. Were it the Twins, that sequence would lead to zero runs and a 6-8 week injury. The Brewers weren't done with Festa. Caleb Durbin legged out an infield single, and Joey Ortiz poked a single through the right side, with Durbin taking third on the play. Once again, Festa made his pitches, but the Brewers had a game plan and they executed it. Festa even managed to strike out both Chourio (great slider) and Yelich (excellent changeup) to end the inning, but a wild pitch during the Yelich at-bat scored Durbin, and the Brewers were suddenly up three. Jeffers did manage a long home run off a fat cutter from Priester, who was not impressive and ended up going 3 1/3 innings with three runs allowed, two home runs and four strikeouts. Festa finally caved in the fifth. He walked Contreras on four pitches, but then induced a ground ball from Isaac Collins to Carlos Correa, who nimbly tagged second for a forceout. Festa got another grounder, although a hard-hit one-hopped, from Hoskins, right to Lee. However Lee, perhaps ruminating over the numerous close calls and misplays he had already made, didn't get his glove down and the ball deflected off his body and under the tarp, allowing Hoskins what was technically a double. Festa then grooved a changeup to the nitro zone (down and in) of Turang, who smacked it 412 feet for a three-run home run that effectively ended the series. Three more singles would follow, and before you could blink the score was 9-3 and Jonah Bride was probably starting to get his arm loose again. Buxton would deliver another home run as part of a 3-5 day with a steal that raised his OPS above .900 (.928 to be exact). That made the score 9-4, and the Twins would threaten again in the seventh. Facing lefty D.L. Hall, Ty France drew a walk in front of Lee's third single of the game. Correa singled, and Bride came in to draw a gutty walk. All of a sudden, the tying run was at the plate in Jeffers. Nick Mears was brought in to face the Twins' catcher, and fell behind 3-1. He did induce a run scoring dribbler that made the score 9-6. Harrison Bader was then brought in to pinch hit for DaShawn Keirsey Jr. and flied out to right field. The Twins would add in the eighth, facing lefty Jared Koenig. After Buxton struck out, Wallner beat out an infield hit. Larnach popped out, and Ty France fell behind in the count before leaning out and flicking a curveball inside the left field foul pole for a home run to make the score 9-8. Lee and Correa each delivered their fourth singles of the game, bringing up Bride with the tying run 90 feet away. That prompted the Brewers to insert their closer, our old dopey friend Trevor Megill, who has flourished in Milwaukee. He made mincemeat out of Bride, dotting a 98 MPH fastball on the outside corner for a called strikeout to end the frame. Megill was brought out for the ninth, an unfamiliar position for him, and gave up a screaming double to Bader with one out. Buxton was intentionally walked, and Wallner came to the plate with the winning run on first base. He would pop out, leaving the game for Larnach, who was caught looking after grimacing on some swings early in the at-bat, his hand appearing to still affect him after sitting the past few games. Stray Observations: -Maybe the Brewers, Rays and Guardians are onto something with the way they approach hitting. The way I view it is that those teams will do anything possible to score one run, even if that means sacrificing individual at-bats. Once they have put pressure on the pitcher, that is when they start waiting for mistakes. Those teams are the most analytically-driven in the game, and maybe its time to throw away the dinosaur stats of mid-2010's sabermetrics and approach the game more in the moment, rather than big-picture. At least some of the time. It's similar to how the most efficient way to score in basketball is to shoot three pointers. But if the other team completely sells out to stop you from taking them, you have to make an adjustment. I just don't understand why that is so easy to understand in the NBA while being mocked mercilessly in MLB as backward and anti-intellectual. I would say the strict adherence to stuff we figured out in 2005 is far more anti-intellectual. -Buxton is about to have the most trade value he has had since he was the number one prospect in baseball. Despite certain fan ignorance surrounding his contract, he is on an extremely (and I can't stress this enough) cheap deal while performing as the best center fielder in baseball. Seriously he makes the 106th most money per year, right in front of Alex Cobb. Buxton wants to be here, and surely the front office wants him here, but if they are approached with a trade proposal of multiple top-50 prospects and some major league ready talent, they would have to at least entertain it. -Lee had four or five plays that he didn't make. Most were difficult, but with each successive play not made, it looked like Lee was affected mentally. He did have four hits, though. What’s Next: Bailey Ober (4-4, 4.54 ERA) faces Brian Woo (6-4, 3.12 ERA) as the Twins continue their homestand against the Seattle Mariners. The Mariners have been struggling, though not to the level of the Twins, with their offense crashing back to Earth after a strong start. Ober has been piecing it together, but is clearly not 100% physically and will need to out-smart the Mariners (not that difficult) if he wants to pitch deep into the game. Postgame Interviews: Bullpen Usage Chart: WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT Sands 0 13 0 31 0 44 Topa 0 17 22 0 5 44 Wentz 0 0 43 0 0 43 Coulombe 0 15 3 0 21 39 Stewart 0 0 0 11 18 29 Durán 0 0 3 0 18 21 Varland 0 13 0 4 0 17 Jax 0 15 0 0 1 16 View full article

Image courtesy of © Erik Williams-Imagn Images Box Score: Starting Pitcher: Simeon Woods Richardson: 5 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K (53 Pitches, 38 Strikes, 71.7%) Home Runs: Brooks Lee (7) Bottom 3 WPA: Jhoan Duran (-.309), Christian Vázquez (-.203), Cole Sands (-.194) Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs): You would be well within your rights to avoid watching Sunday's game in favor of celebrating Father's Day, watching the US Open, or drinking yourself into oblivion—maybe even all three! Nevertheless, there was a game to play, despite the Twins losing Pablo López, Zebby Matthews, Royce Lewis and (maybe) Byron Buxton in the past two weeks to injury, while losing games at an accelerating pace. Today was definitely a game to avoid, but the Twins themselves didn't have that privilege. To try and salvage a win from this series against the Houston Astros, the Twins turned to Houston native Simeon Woods Richardson, who was obliterated his last time out, returning from the minor leagues to allow seven runs to the Texas Rangers—until then, a struggling offense. Woods Richardson either made some adjustments, or was pitching angry, as his velocity was up and both his breaking balls looked sharp. He breezed through the first four innings on 31 pitches, without allowing a baserunner. If you've watched him at all, you know he tends to struggle to end at-bats and can be inefficient, even on a good day, so this was a welcome change of pace. Meanwhile, the Twins were up against journeyman lefty Brandon Walter, making his third career start. Walter moved around his cutter pretty well with good command, but the Twins made pretty good contact against him. Brooks Lee extended his hitting streak to 15 games by smacking a hanging cutter into the Crawford Boxes for the game's first run in the third. Lee then began the fifth inning with a sharp single to center field. After Ryan Jeffers was hit by a pitch and Carlos Correa advanced the runners, Willi Castro (already with two hits on the day) came up with two outs and ran the count full—before taking a sinker right down the middle to end the inning. The Astros finally got a baserunner in the fifth, as Jake Meyers hit a one-out grounder up the middle that deflected off Correa's glove. Woods Richardson then ran the count full against Saturday's walkoff hero, Cam Smith. All of a sudden, the game seemed to be in the balance, as this would not be the first time Woods Richardson looked great over the first three or four innings before giving it all up in the fifth. Smith did walk, which brought up the recently recalled Cooper Hummel for his fourth at-bat of the year. The Twins starter won that matchup, though, with a nasty changeup (allegedly a new split-change) darting away that got Hummel swinging. Mauricio Dubón did make decent contact with a Woods RIchardson fastball, but lined out to Harrison Bader in center to end the threat. With the bullpen fairly fresh and Woods Richardson in need of some confidence, Brock Stewart was summoned to begin the sixth inning. This, despite the starter being at just 53 pitches and not through the lineup a second time. Perhaps if the Twins had extended the lead in the fifth or sixth, instead of going down 1-2-3 in quick fashion, Rocco Baldelli may have given his young righty more leash. Conversely, Walter was allowed to begin the seventh inning. He allowed a one-out hit to Lee (his third), and was lifted after striking out Christian Vázquez for the second out. Credit to Walter: he showed some gumption, and has now delivered the injury-ravaged Astros rotation three solid starts. Whether he is actually part of the solution for Houston, or whether his good day was just a product of the Twins' offensive struggles, is hard to ascertain. The bottom half of the inning began ominously, as Louis Varland hit Jose Altuve with a pitch on his right forearm. However, Victor Caratini immediately grounded to Lee at second, who began a fairly easy double play before Jake Meyers grounded out to end the inning, the lead still intact. Varland was asked to start the eighth inning, as well, and he was greeted with a laser off the bat of Smith that nearly tied to game. It was hit so hard that Smith couldn't advance to second, however, as Castro made a nice play on the ball. A questionable sacrifice bunt call and two groundouts later, Varland escaped unscathed yet again. Jhoan Duran was summoned to close out the game, after throwing 20 pitches and taking the loss on Saturday. He was tasked with the top of the Houston lineup and began Jeremy Peña with four straight balls. He recovered to strike out Yainer Diaz on a devastating splinker, but Peña stole second on the first pitch to Altuve the following at-bat. After running the count full, Altuve reached out (on ball four) and tapped a ground ball to Correa, who was playing back and wasn't able to retire Altuve, Altuve not taking the walk proved costly, as Caratini swung at the first pitch from Duran and lifted a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 1-1. Extra innings ensued, and the Twins executed their half of the inning about as poorly as humanly possible. The first hitter was Vázquez, who failed to advance the runners and popped out. Jeffers then struck out, and Correa popped out. Cole Sands did his part, not allowing the advance on the first hitter, as Smith tapped out to the left side and Hummel struck out swinging. Dubón then lifted a fly ball to deep left-center that Castro appeared to get a glove on, but the ball dropped, allowing Houston to win and sweep the series. Stray Observations: -Lee isn't just producing, but it looks somewhat sustainable, as he appears to be swinging less and waiting for the pitcher to come to him before making better contact; he's not getting popped up as often. His OPS has eclipsed the .700 mark for the first time in quite a while. -Castro picked up two more hits batting right-handed, moving his OPS from that side of the plate over .800, a far cry from the hopeless at-bats Castro took against lefties the second half of 2024. -Jonah Bride looks cooked, missing hittable pitches and running his hitless streak to 24 at-bats. There's a good hitter somewhere in there, but the Twins could use his roster spot a lot more efficiently right now. The combination of Edouard Julien and Jose Miranda being ineffective with Lewis and Luke Keaschall getting hurt have all conspired to keep Bride's spot on the team. What’s Next: David Festa (1-1, 4.76 ERA) takes on the Reds and Andrew Abbott (6-1, 1.87 ERA) in the bandbox known as Great American Ballpark. The Reds have been playing well lately and Abbott is trying to strengthen his case for his first All-Star appearance. By the way, Abbott is a lefty. Festa looked great his last time out against the Rangers, pitching deep (for him) into the game in the one win they had in that Texas series. Festa establishing himself as a reliable starter every fifth day would go a long ways towards the Twins surviving the next 90 days without Lopez. Postgame Interviews: Bullpen Usage Chart: WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT Durán 13 0 0 20 21 54 Wentz 0 38 0 0 0 38 Varland 16 0 0 0 22 38 Sands 0 26 0 0 12 38 Jax 0 0 17 13 0 30 Stewart 13 0 0 0 10 23 Coulombe 0 1 19 0 0 20 Topa 0 0 16 0 0 16 View full article

Image courtesy of © Jordan Johnson-Imagn Images Box Score: Starting Pitcher: Joe Ryan: 5 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K (89 Pitches, 47 Strikes, 52.8%) Home Runs: Brooks Lee (5), Christian Vazquez (2) Bottom 3 WPA: Brooks Lee (.169), Christian Vazquez (.165), Willi Castro (.101) Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs): The Toronto Blue Jays are on a charmed streak right now, taking the first two games of the series at Target Field, with the second game particularly impressive as they scored against both Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran in high-leverage moments en route to a 5-4 victory. To salvage the final game of the series, the Twins turned to Joe Ryan, their starter most prone to being bitten by "bad luck." As Twins fans, we know this to be partially self-inflicted, as the scouting report on Ryan is clearly to rattle him, with him having the tendency to lose focus after missed strike calls, infield hits and misplays. Ryan's stuff looked crisp to start, as he dotted the edges of the zone while sitting 95-96 MPH with his fastball, even striking out the extremely contact-oriented Alejandro Kirk to end the first. The Twins took a patient approach against scuffling Jays starter Bowden Francis. Francis was a revelation for the Jays down the stretch in 2024, taking multiple no-hitters into the ninth inning and looking like a building block for a team looking to synchronize the twilight of one core group of stars with the next generation. Byron Buxton led off with a walk, and Matt Wallner drew one as well later in the inning. Francis was having trouble locating his breaking ball for strikes, and the Twins did a pretty good job of forcing him into the zone with hard stuff, but were ultimately unable to capitalize in a scoreless first. The Jays looked to go quietly in the second, with second baseman Ernie Clement looking overmatched in the box against Ryan before slapping a two-out single the other way. Rookie Alan Roden then lifted a medium-depth fly ball that Wallner got a so-so break on, diving for a ball that scooted past and allowed Clement to score from first. The Twins would answer, though not to the extent they would have liked. Willi Castro led off with another walk, followed by singles from Ty France and Brooks Lee. Christian Vazquez got the run home with a ground out, and after another Buxton walk (you read that right) Trevor Larnach just missed his pitch and settled for a sacrifice fly to center. Wallner hit a liner ticketed for the right field corner, but Vladimir Guerrero Jr. made a leaping catch to end the threat. The third inning felt like a basketball game where a team shot 65% but gave up so many turnovers and rebounds they lost in a blowout. Bo Bichette drew a tough walk wherein Ryan was visibly frustrated with some of the calls. The home plate umpire even shouted out to Ryan, "You think everything is a strike!" Nevermind, Ryan then induced a grounder from Guerrero to Carlos Correa. What could go wrong? Well Correa's shovel pass to second base was way off the mark, and both runners were safe. No problem. Ryan retired the hot-hitting Addison Barger on a looper to left field. He then got a ground ball from Kirk, a catcher who can't outrun Willian Astudillo—an inning-ending double play was sure to follow. However, the ball found a hole just by the outstretched glove of Lee, allowing Bichette to tie the game. Feeling snakebit, Ryan decided to challenge George Springer, and that has just never been a good idea/ Springer lashed a double down the left field line. 3-2 Blue Jays. After throwing over 50 pitches over the first two innings, Francis got into trouble again in the third. Castro flipped a two-out single to left and France drew a walk. But Kirk, with a sterling defensive reputation, caught France napping off of first base to end the inning. France, who is so slow he was recently pinch-run for by Jonah Bride, probably didn't need to be straying that far off the bag as the trail runner. It was a TOOTBLAN. After an uneventful top of the fourth inning, the Twins decided to strike with the very bottom of their lineup, getting back to back home runs from Lee and Vazquez to retake the lead. The Twins looked to continue the momentum with Buxton hitting a hot shot down the third base line, but Barger made a great pick with even better "pop time" as his strong throw retired the speedy Buxton. The Twins would add on in the fifth. With one out, Royce Lewis pinch hit for Clemens against lefty Mason Fluharty, who has flashed pretty good stuff in this series. Lewis worked a hard-fought walk and Castro, who has shown more life against lefties lately, smacked a single. That prompted the Jays to insert righty Erik Swanson, whose elbow is hanging by a thread and just returned from the IL. France greeted him with a double the opposite way, scoring Lewis. Lee then continued his great day at the plate with a walk on 3-2 to load the bases. An out later Buxton drew his third walk of the game to buff the lead to three runs. Ryan was done after five innings, recovering from his rough third inning to post two scoreless frames, capping off his outing by inducing a double play from Kirk. Ryan threw only 53% of his pitches for strikes but his stuff was good and he spiraled less than he could have. Brock Stewart, Cole Sands and Jax spun uneventful, scoreless innings, all facing the minimum. Jhoan Duran pitched the ninth with a three-run lead, and while he did allow a baserunner, it didn't get dramatic. Game over. Stray Observations: -Lee reminds me a little of Larnach last year, never getting super hot, but also not slumping for extended periods of time. His process has been decent and as a fan you don't feel defeated when he comes to the plate in a clutch spot, despite middling offensive numbers. -Buxton is up to 17 walks on the year, after drawing a total of 20 walks in 2024. His chase rate is down about five percent in the early going, so it is fair to wonder if, in his age 30 season, Buxton is starting to develop an additional "old player skill." -Lewis looks playable these days (he went 2-2 with a walk today). He may never be the .900 OPS superstar he was in 2023, but if he can be a .775 OPS guy with a good feel for clutch moments and average defense, I think I would take that if he can play 120 games a year. However, after seeing the resurgence of Giancarlo Stanton in the playoffs, there is precedent for a guy who runs like the tin man turning himself back into an offensive force (and Lewis is ten years younger). -Castro is now sporting a .353 OBP after reaching four times today. This is the version of Castro that made the All-Star team last year while hitting a lot of leadoff. It is likely tempting to put him back there, but I kind of like the wild card element he brings to the bottom of the lineup. -The Blue Jays managed just one hit after the third inning, with the bullpen bouncing back after a rough day on Saturday. What’s Next: The likely starter on Tuesday will be Simeon Woods Richardson (2-2, 5.02 ERA), going against old friend Tyler Mahle (5-3, 2.02 ERA) as the Twins finish up the home stand against the Texas Rangers. Mahle has been resurgent in his first full season following Tommy John surgery in 2023 while still with the Twins. His fastball velocity has not fully returned, as he has averaged 92 MPH on the heater. However, the run value of both his fastball and changeup both exceed the 90th percentile, so his success has been legitimate so far. Wood Richardson has been decent in Triple A since his demotion, and will need to remain decent to help keep this starting rotation humming following the losses of Pablo Lopez and Zebby Matthews, Postgame Interviews: Bullpen Usage Chart: WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT Durán 12 0 0 20 16 48 Jax 13 0 0 18 9 40 Varland 22 0 0 17 0 39 Stewart 15 0 0 0 14 29 Alcalá 0 26 0 0 0 26 Sands 0 0 9 0 17 26 Topa 0 0 15 0 0 15 Adams 0 0 0 0 0 0 View full article

Image courtesy of © John Froschauer-Imagn Images Box Score: Starting Pitcher: Chris Paddack: 8 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 10 K (110 Pitches, 75 Strikes, 68.1%) Home Runs: None Bottom 3 WPA: Griffin Jax (-.378), Carlos Correa (-.201), Ryan Jeffers (-.141) Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs): The gang finally got fully back together this weekend with the returns of Byron Buxton and Matt Wallner, and the results have been pretty wild. On Friday, an incredible comeback against the untouchable Andrés Muñoz (though not really untouchable for the Twins, historically) led to an extra-innings win. On Saturday they made their comeback against Muñoz's backup, Carlos Vargas, but the extra-innings execution was not along for the ride, and the Twins were walked off on a ground ball by Cole Young, the Mariners rookie making his debut. On Sunday, the Twins turned to Chris Paddack, who has been the best he has ever been in his seven-year career, despite a woeful six strikeouts per nine innings. Turning that piece of data on its head, Paddack struck out two in a nearly immaculate inning in the first, putting emphasis on his breaking stuff and making the M's look foolish. Luis Castillo took the ball for Seattle, and has been a nearly elite pitcher for quite a while now. Early in his career, he featured an unhittable changeup. When he arrived in Seattle a few years ago, his changeup became far less prominent, as well as less effective—but his slider took off and became elite, still complementing a riding four-seam fastball in the upper 90s. Last year, some of his fastball characteristics backed up, and Seattle even explored trading him this offseason. This year, his slider hasn't been effective at all. All the while, though, his results have never been anything but great. He looked it today, allowing lone baserunners in each of the first five innings but getting key strikeouts when he needed them, with both his changeup and slider looking plus-plus. He nearly hit Willi Castro with three separate sliders, all resulting in swinging strikes, and his fastball velocity sat 95-97 MPH. He would go on to complete six shutout innings. Paddack cruised through the first three innings, but started to struggle the second time through the lineup. In the fourth. JP Crawford singled sharply to begin the frame and dear friend Jorge Polanco roped a line drive to the deepest part of center field that Harrison Bader tracked down for the first out. Julio Rodríguez walked, and Paddack then got all-world catcher Cal Raleigh to strike out swinging on a backup slider in the middle of the zone. Randy Arozarena then laced a fastball right back up the middle, but Kody Clemens made a good stab on it to retire the side. He made an even better play in the fifth: That allowed Paddack to remain efficient, and he only needed 72 pitches to complete his first six, scoreless innings. However, after an impressive strikeout of Rodríguez on a sharp slider to begin the seventh, Raleigh got his revenge and slaughtered a first-pitch curveball below the zone for a game-changing home run. Paddack would stay on for the eighth. His velocity held up better than in some of his previous outings, hitting 96 MPH in the seventh and 95 MPH in the eighth. On his 103rd pitch, he struck out Ben Williamson on a filthy changeup. On his 104th pitch, he allowed a double to Crawford, but was allowed to stay on to face Polanco, whom he retired on a grounder to Correa. Is there a term for road loss complete game? There would be no need to pin one down. Facing Muñoz in the 9th, Clemens drew a one-out walk, and Ty France grounded a ball through the five-hole for a single. A wild pitch advanced the runners, and Harrison Bader lifted a fly ball deep enough to score Clemens, giving Muñoz his second blown save of the year against the Twins. He also had one in 2023 thanks to Max Kepler, and in 2022 courtesy of Byron Buxton. Some Griffin Jax Luck™ began the bottom half of the ninth, with Rodríguez bouncing a ball up the middle that Clemens couldn't make a play on. Jax managed to strike out the magma-hot Raleigh on a devastating sweeper. Rodríguez, who wasn't running in the Raleigh at-bat, did run with Arozarena at the plate, and Jeffers airmailed the throw, allowing Rodríguez to scamper to third. Arozarena made it a moot point, as he singled up the middle for a second straight walkoff Seattle win. Stray Observations: -Trevor Larnach seems to love hitting against Castillo. I remember the Twins facing the right-hander in 2023, while he was riding a hot stretch in which no one could touch him. Larnach hit a huge triple that opened the floodgates in a key Twins win. Today he was 2-for-3 against Castillo, and looked quite comfortable in each at-bat. -Wallner looked pretty good, as well. He looked silly swinging a sword at a Castillo changeup in the first, but rebounded to draw a tough walk. He roped a 113-MPH single in his second at-bat, and nearly homered in his third. -The Mariners look a lot different when their offense is being carried by a superstar. I didn't expect it would be Raleigh, who has been the equivalent of Ryan Jeffers with more slug and less contact thus far in his career. With him now the league leader in homers, pairing him with one of Rodríguez's customary summer hot streaks could make the Mariners legitimate contenders, given their elite pitching. What’s Next: Joe Ryan (5-2, 2.57 ERA) opposes the A's big free-agent acquisition, Luis Severino (1-4, 3.89 ERA), as the Twins conclude their trip through two minor-league ballparks and Seattle with a set in Sacramento. Ryan looks to build on his All-Star case (just like around this time in 2022, 2023 and 2024), while Severino looks to end his team's current six-game losing streak. Postgame Interviews: Coming soon. Bullpen Usage Chart: WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT Jax 15 0 0 18 15 48 Sands 15 0 21 6 0 42 Alcalá 11 0 0 28 0 39 Stewart 0 0 17 11 0 28 Durán 0 0 13 14 0 27 Funderburk 19 0 0 0 0 19 Varland 0 0 0 18 0 18 Topa 0 0 0 10 0 10 View full article

Image courtesy of Matt Krohn- Imagn Images Box Score: Starting Pitcher: Bailey Ober: 6 2/3 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K (89 Pitches, 65 Strikes, 73%) Home Runs: None Bottom 3 WPA: Brooks Lee (-.323), Royce Lewis (-.190), Harrison Bader (-.153) Win Probability Chart (Via FanGraphs): The Twins just keep winning, with all the situations that spelled doom for them over the first few weeks of the season flipping on their head, and in this series, resulting in two walk-off wins thus far. Today, however, the Royals turned to the surging Kris Bubic, who has been one of the better pitchers in baseball this year, with a 1.47 ERA and league-leading 2.8 bWAR. The Twins countered with Bailey Ober, who has been slowly Animorphing into his height-mate, Chris Young, former Royals starter and current Texas executive. Young could never crack 90 MPH on his fastball, but used his supreme baseball IQ and assortment of offspeed and breaking pitches to dance through enough raindrops to forge a successful major-league career. This all alludes to Ober's iffy peripheral stats in 2025, resulting from a decline in fastball velocity of roughly 1.5 MPH. He has allowed a lot of hits and loud contact, but has been able to pitch around heavy traffic to post an Ober-like 3.68 ERA, despite a decrease in strikeout rate from nearly 27% in 2024 to under 20% this year. This was all on full display Sunday, as Ober allowed traffic in each of the first four innings—particularly in the third, when Maikel García walked with one out and Bobby Witt Jr. followed with a scorching double to left. Vinnie Pasquantino softly lined out on a well-executed changeup, with Carlos Correa making the sprawling play at short with the infield playing back, and Salvador Perez lined out right to Willi Castro in left field. All of these outs were early in counts, a trend that continued throughout the outing, as Ober needed just 67 pitches to complete five scoreless innings. Bubic was greeted in the first with a sharp double to the opposite field from Ryan Jeffers. Ty France then blooped a single over second base, which Jeffers read well, and it was 1-0 Twins before Bubic had recorded an out. Unfortunately, that's when Bubic remembered how good he was, and started dotting his impressive changeup and sweeper combination whenever he wanted. After Royce Lewis drew a walk later in the frame, Bubic retired the next 14 Twins in order, with high efficiency, matching Ober with 67 pitches through five innings. That ended in the sixth, when Jeffers drew a leadoff walk. Just as I uttered the phrase, "This looks like a double play waiting to happen," Ty France grounded to first base on a changeup painted on the outside edge, and Pasquantino made the twin killing look easy. The Royals rode that momentum swing into the seventh, with the light-hitting Drew Waters getting on top of an Ober fastball and lining it down the right-field line for a leadoff double. Playing in on the grass, France made a nice pick on a sharp grounder from Nick Loftin, recording the out without allowing Waters to advance. For some reason, the Royals still believe in second baseman Michael Massey (.664 OPS in over 1,100 career at-bats), and he popped out quickly. Freddy Fermin was next, however, and he golfed a low 0-2 changeup (right where Ober wanted it) into the gap in left-center field to score Waters and tie the game. That spelled the end of the day for Ober, but Louis Varland was able to retire García to end the threat. Varland stayed in to face the only truly threatening portion of the Royals lineup, and retired Witt, Pasquantino and Perez easily. He struck out Witt on a curveball in the dirt, no easy feat, and got the other two stars on weak groundouts. The Twins went down quietly in their half of the inning, with Trevor Larnach pinch-hitting and at least ending the Twins' hitless streak, which had dated back to the first inning. Waters reached on an infield single against Cole Sands in the ninth, and despite having plus speed, he was pinch-run for with the ultra-speedy Dairon Blanco. That was a blunder on the Royals' part, because Jeffers threw out Blanco on the first pitch of the next at-bat. Maybe they should call Terrance Gore and see what he's up to these days. Larnach then made an awesome catch to end the frame, diving toward the infield to rob a hit from Loftin (.650 expected batting average). After going quietly against Royals closer Carlos Estevez in the ninth, Jhoan Duran took over for the tenth inning and recorded the first two outs without Loftin (the Manfred Man) advancing off of second base. García, who has really improved offensively this year, then lined an 0-2 curveball into left field, Loftin scored and the Royals had their first lead of the day. Duran then retired Witt to end the threat. Lewis popped up a slider in the middle of the zone to start the bottom of the 10th. Kody Clemens did draw a walk, and Brooks Lee, hero of Saturday's game, did come up with the winning run on second, but grounded out to end the game. Stray Observations: -Ober's ERA is down to 3.41. Can he keep this up or are we about to see the regression monster rear its ugly head? -Carson McCusker was removed for defense in the seventh in favor of DaShawn Keirsey Jr., which seemed reasonable. Then with the game tied in the eighth, Keirsey Jr. was removed in favor of pinch-hitter Trevor Larnach. To Baldelli's credit, Larnach did produce the first hit since the first inning against reliever Jonathan Bowlan, but the decision was curious, nonetheless. Of course, Larnach then made an impressive diving catch to end the top of the ninth inning. I guess even managers can have hot streaks. -Castro fouled another ball off his body, and for the 647th time this season, was evaluated by trainer Nick Paparesta. It's hard to keep track of where Castro is banged up at this point, but he has not looked good in quite a while. Kody Clemens can provide almost as much defensively as Castro and has been scorching hot at the plate, so the loyalty to Castro seems misplaced at this point. Clemens is a lefty hitter, but Castro has been so bad from the right side (.591 OPS) I don't feel that distinction matters. -Royce Lewis is back to struggling. Has there ever been a more cursed quote than Lewis's declaration that he doesn't slump? Following that quote on June 19th, 2024, Lewis finished the year with a .202/.265/.360 line and has begun this year .158/.226/.246. I'm not superstitious but I don't follow up a good golf game by saying my swing will always be good. What’s Next: The Twins head to Florida to take on the Tampa Bay Rays at George Steinbrenner Field. Chris Paddack (2-4, 3.98 ERA) takes on former Twin Zack Littell (3-5, 4.25 ERA) at the converted Yankees' spring training site. Paddack has posted 2.59 ERA since his first outing in Chicago that we would all rather forget. Littell has been solid since a rough start to the year, as well. The Rays are also riding a five game winning streak that has them back to .500, so despite a rather anemic offense, they will come to play. Postgame Interviews: Bullpen Usage Chart: WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT Durán 23 0 0 23 18 64 Sands 20 0 14 0 12 46 Jax 20 0 11 12 0 43 Varland 14 0 9 0 12 35 Topa 0 0 0 34 0 34 Alcalá 0 0 0 26 0 26 Funderburk 11 0 0 0 0 17 Stewart 0 0 3 7 0 10 View full article

Image courtesy of © Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images Box Score: Starting Pitcher: Zebby Matthews: 3 IP 5 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 5 K (71 Pitches, 42 Strikes, 59.2%) Home Runs: Royce Lewis (1) Bottom 3 WPA: Matthews (-0.225), Ryan Jeffers (-0.110), Harrison Bader (-0.060) Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs): Following another win coupled with another key injury, (Danny Coulombe with a forearm strain) the Twins turned to Zebby Matthews to continue their outlandish winning streak (and nearly as outlandish scoreless inning streak) Sunday. It wouldn't be easy, as Milwaukee was running out their ace, Freddy Peralta. Peralta has been nails this year, the last remnant of the Brewers former three-headed monster that once included Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff (Woodruff resigned, but was only available because his shoulder was toast). The first two innings featured a Twins catcher hitting a sharp single as well as a hit by pitch, but Peralta worked out of trouble each time by making Twins hitters swing at exactly what he wanted them to, generally a fastball at the top of the zone. Matthews started almost immaculately, causing Brewer's hitters fits, as if they were not aware Matthews throws a slider (the contact oriented Brice Turang swung at a slider for strike three that landed a foot in front of home plate). Two called strike threes followed, with a 98 MPH dart that caught William Contreras looking punctuating the inning. The Brewers were not so accommodating in the second. They jumped on Matthews early in the count, allowing singles to Christian Yelich, Rhys Hoskins and Sal Frelick that ended the scoreless streak at 34 innings. It was up to Matthews to make the adjustment. He threw some better pitches in retiring Caleb Durbin and Joey Ortiz, but those guys weren't exactly lighting the world on fire. He struck out Turang again in the third but walked Contreras and was robbed of a call against Yelich on 3-1, with a cutter clearly hitting the edge of the zone. He then walked Hoskins on four pitches, bringing up Isaac Collins with the bases loaded. Matthews started Collins with a fastball at 96 MPH middle-in, and Collins laced it into center field for a two-run single. After Matthews fell behind Frelick, the Brewers right fielder sat fastball and got it, and Matthews was lucky the ball wasn't deposited in the seats, with Frelick instead settling for an RBI single. After recording the final out, Matthews' day was done. He did nibble, and was not granted several borderline calls, but similar to last year, was too predictable. The opposing hitters knew he would throw a lot of strikes with a fairly straight fastball, and they were aggressive. Once Matthews adjusted to throwing around the periphery of the zone, they became patient and waited him out. At that point, Matthews had also scrapped his breaking ball- his last 20 pitches of the inning were all fastballs and cutters. His stuff is better than last year, but his plan of attack still needs work. Royce Lewis cut the deficit in the Twins half of the fourth, slamming a 417 foot home run off a Peralta fastball. That was a good sign, as the lineup needs Lewis to step up minus Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton. The two catchers and Kody Clemens have done an admirable job carrying the offense lately, but Lewis joining the party offers a tad more sustainability. He then added a phenomenal play at third base in the fourth. The speedy Turang hit a swinging bunt that Lewis fielded bare-handed and threw a seed to first, beating Turang by half a step as part of a stabilizing 1-2-3 fourth inning from Cole Sands. Unfortunately that was all Peralta was going to allow. He breezed through his fifth inning (although Clemens did hit a 390 foot fly ball as Peralta's final batter) and then gave way to the strength of the Brewers- their high leverage relief arms. Abner Uribe knifed through the bottom of the Twins order in the sixth on the back of his 101 MPH turbo-sinker. The Twins did make some noise in the seventh, with Trevor Larnach roping a double off of Brewers lefty Jared Koenig and scoring off a clean single from Brooks Lee, making the score 4-2. Facing Nick Mears and his 0.42 WHIP in the eighth, Clemens began the frame with a sharp double down the right field line. Lewis then launched again, but this time to a deeper part of the park and Jackson Chourio pulled the ball back from being a sure home run, an amazing catch that saved the tying run. After Harrison Bader popped out, Carson McCusker made his debut, hitting for DaShawn Keirsey Jr, He would tap out to the pitcher to end the threat. Old friend Trevor Megill closed the door in the ninth for his sixth save. Trends: Bader doesn't look comfortable as he tries to play through a groin injury, and isn't playing center field as a result. Seems like an IL stint might be better, as Bader has gone 0-8 the past two days. Cole Sands looks to have righted the ship, pitching two scoreless innings that were fairly uneventful. Lewis made two great fielding plays, and if not for Chourio's incredible catch, would have two home runs. He may be, as they say, back. Clemens keeps contributing with his near-home run and clutch leadoff double against Mears in the eighth. Willi who? Jorge Alcala struggled again, walking the leadoff hitter in the eighth, throwing a wild pitch to advance the runner, and then allowing a deep sacrifice fly to score a key insurance run. What’s Next: Bailey Ober (4-1, 3.72 ERA) faces Logan Allen (2-2, 3.70 ERA) as the Twins try to begin a new streak against the devil-magic wielding Guardians at Target Field. Ober's strikeouts have been down, and the hard contact has been up as the righthander works through pitching with slightly diminished velocity. Allen was good in 2023, but pretty terrible last year and his 31/20 strikeout to walk ratio doesn't scream dominance. He is a lefty, though, so perhaps we see the first start of the year for McCusker. Postgame Interviews: Bullpen Usage Chart: WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT Stewart 29 0 17 0 15 61 Varland 24 17 0 0 0 41 Durán 11 27 0 0 0 38 Alcalá 22 0 0 15 12 49 Topa 11 0 0 23 5 39 Jax 20 0 13 0 0 33 Sands 8 0 11 0 21 40 Funderburk 17 0 0 10 0 17 Coulombe 11 0 0 0 0 11 View full article

I think its time to put it out of its misery. RIP

Image courtesy of © Matt Krohn-Imagn Images Box Score: Starting Pitcher: Pablo López: 6 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 6 K (91 Pitches, 55 Strikes, 60.4%) Home Runs: Brooks Lee (3) Top 3 WPA: Brooks Lee (.412), DaShawn Keirsey Jr. (.311), Danny Coulombe (.134) Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs): The Twins haven't lost in a while, and were set up to sweep what was a hot Giants team. The key factor there was that Pablo López got the ball for Minnesota, while San Francisco turned to Landen Roupp, who exhausted his rookie eligibility by a third of an inning last year and carried a 4.89 ERA into the day. The Giants must think highly of Roupp, because he holds a rotation spot over recent top prospect Kyle Harrison—as well as Hayden Birdsong, who struck out 28% of hitters in his rookie campaign last year. Roupp, a sinkerballer, has been excellent at inducing soft contact, ranking at the 94th percentile for exit velocity and 98th percentile for hard hit percentage. He made quick work of the Twins over the first two innings, using only 23 pitches. Trevor Larnach's medium-deep fly ball was the closest thing to a loud out. Meanwhile ,López started a little shakily, giving up a leadoff single on a fat fastball to Mike Yastrzemski, who was then put in motion while Jung-Hoo Lee leaned over and flipped a changeup the other way. Willi Castro saved a big inning by making a sliding grab on a liner from Heliot Ramos. Still, that did result in a sacrifice fly and the game's first run. Ramos has been hot, going 10-for-28 in May coming into today's game, and he continued his tear in the fourth. After Matt Chapman smoked a ball off the high wall in right-center field, Ramos took a first-pitch curveball located fairly well down and in, and launched it over the same wall. Personally, I can't remember a right-handed hitter outside of Aaron Judge hitting a home run to that spot, and definitely not on a breaking ball on the inner half of the plate. It wasn't a fluke, though. This is the same guy who became the first right-handed hitter to hit a ball into McCovey Cove, last year at the Giants' home park in San Francisco. Maybe he did deserve that All-Star nod last year. Just when things seemed headed for a sluggish getaway day loss, Brooks Lee provided one of the more encouraging swings of his young career, launching a hanging curveball from Roupp 390 feet to his pull side, and with Larnach on base to boot after a sloppy play at first from Lamonte Wade Jr. Yastrzemski curtailed any positive momentum by lacing a first-pitch changeup from Lopez into right field to start the fifth. He stole second and advanced to third on a balk, with López appearing rattled by the calls from the dugout to step off. That proved important, because Lee (the Giants one) lifted a medium-depth fly ball to score Yastrzemski. On the play, Castro took a weird route to the ball and needed to jump to grab it. He then delivered a throw so weak I had to double-check that it was him out there, and not Johnny Damon. The Twins answered again in their half. Kody Clemens turned on a pitch and doubled past Wade, down the right-field line. Harrison Bader then legged out an infield single, and Buxton appeared to square up a curveball, lining it to the left-field corner. Alas, Ramos made a diving catch (his second of the day) to hold Buxton to a sacrifice fly, scoring Clemens. After a key pickoff from Christian Vázquez swung yesterday's game, Ryan Jeffers delivered his version in the sixth. After Ramos was hit by a pitch to start the frame, Jeffers threw a seed to Clemens at second, and his quick tag recorded the first out of the inning. López cruised through the next two batters to finish off his day. The Twins' ace had shakier command than usual, but his stuff and velocity were good. Maybe he'll pitch around Heliot Ramos next time. Lee led off the Twins half of the sixth with a sharp single off a lefty, Erik Miller. Jeffers worked a walk, and with the infield drawn in expecting a bunt, Castro lined a single over the shortstop to load the bases for the struggling Royce Lewis. It felt a little like 2023 again, as Lewis lined a single up the middle to tie the game 4-4 and keep the line moving. That prompted Giants manager Bob Melvin to turn to his former closer, Camillo Doval. Although he no longer closes games for them, Doval still possesses excellent, high-octane stuff. He induced a quick groundout from Jonah Bride, pinch-hitting for Clemens. Bader then worked the count full, and eventually hit a dribbler that shortstop Willy Adames couldn't come home on, settling for an out at second and allowing Castro to score. Buxton struck out to end the rally, but the Twins had the lead. Louis Varland worked a quick top of the seventh, which exposed the weakness of this otherwise quality Giants team: the bottom of their lineup looks rough, and the only player they're missing is young shortstop Tyler Fitzgerald, who impressed last year but has little in the way of track record. Trevor Larnach led off the bottom of the seventh with a rocket off of the aforementioned Birdsong, hitting halfway up the wall in right-center for a leadoff double. Ominously, the next three hitters went down without much fight, stranding Larnach at second. Griffin Jax took the ball for the eighth, and immediately surrendered a hit to Adames that Buxton did not get a great read on. After Jax retired Lee, Chapman singled up the middle, bringing up Ramos with the game on the line. Naturally, Ramos hit a grounder off of Jax, with the deflection redirecting the ball away from being an inning-ending double play to a game-tying single. Jax did recover to strike out Wade, but walked pinch-hitter Wilmer Flores to load the bases. He fell behind another pinch-hitter, the starting catcher Patrick Bailey, 3-0 before getting Bailey to tap to Lee at shortstop for the final out. Three scoreless half innings would follow, with Danny Coulombe extending his scoreless streak to 26 1/3 frames. Facing the heart of the Giants order in the 10th, Jhoan Duran allowed two topped ground ball outs, but that was enough for the Giants to score the go-ahead run. Lee started the Twins half of the tenth by flipping a single the other way against the nasty Ryan Walker. Jeffers then made good contact on a slider, but on the ground. It popped up and hit the Platinum Glove-winning Chapman in the chest, allowing France to score the tying run; Jeffers was retired on the play. After Lewis grounded out, Dashawn Keirsey Jr. was forced to bat, despite being mired in an 0-17 drought and rarely getting at-bats. To everyone's surprise, Keirsey slashed a single past Chapman down the left-field line to win the game and sweep the series. Trends: C Ryan Jeffers ? Christian Vazquez 1B Ty France ? 2B Mickey Gasper Brooks Lee ? Edouard Julien ? 3B Royce Lewis Jose Miranda Jonah Bride ? SS Carlos Correa LF Trevor Larnach CF Byron Buxton Harrison Bader ? DaShawn Keirsey Jr. RF Matt Wallner UTIL Willi Castro ? Luke Keaschall Kody Clemens SP1 Pablo Lopez Bailey Ober ? Joe Ryan SP2 Chris Paddack ? Simeon Woods Richardson CR Jhoan Duran ? Griffin Jax SR Brock Stewart Louis Varland Cole Sands MR Danny Coloumbe ? Justin Topa Michael Tonkin LR Randy Dobnak Jorge Alcala ? Kody Funderburk Healthy Hurt Performing Contributing Low Impact/Slumping IL/Minors What’s Next: The Twins are off Monday, as they travel to Baltimore for a three-game set beginning Tuesday against the scuffling Orioles, whom they swept last week. Simeon Woods Richardson (2-2, 4.01 ERA) takes the hill opposing Cade Povich (1-3, 5.55 ERA), who just surrendered five runs in his start at Target Field this past Tuesday. Woods Richardson has been bending, not breaking thus far, but hasn't been given many opportunities to extend himself the third time through the lineup. Postgame Interviews: Bullpen Usage Chart: WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT Coulombe 17 0 9 0 20 37 Jax 17 16 0 14 29 33 Varland 10 0 7 0 8 29 Sands 0 13 0 15 0 23 Durán 14 6 0 10 14 20 Stewart 17 0 0 0 0 17 Topa 0 7 0 0 0 7 Alcalá 0 0 0 0 0 0 View full article

Image courtesy of Paul Rutherford-Imagn Images Box Score Starting Pitcher: Chris Paddack: 5 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K (94 Pitches, 58 Strikes, 61.7%) Home Runs: Byron Buxton (7) Top 3 WPA: Harrison Bader (.296), Jhoan Duran (.215), Trevor Larnach (.124) Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs): It's been another rocky week. Like a struggling reliever, the Twins seemed to get back on track against the low-leverage White Sox and Angels. That even carried over into winning their opening game in Cleveland. But when facing more competent pitching, the Twins once again struggled to score, losing four straight. However, after somehow winning a pressure-packed one-run game yesterday at Fenway Park, they found themselves with a chance to take a road series against a quality opponent while salvaging a 3-4 road trip that, going into it, would have seemed an acceptable result. Trouble was, the Twins were starting the mercurial Chris Paddack and the Red Sox Garrett Crochet, who's left-handed stuff rivals that of any pitcher in the game. It started off well, with Byron Buxton launching a leadoff home run over the green monster off a Crochet fastball. Some good swings followed, with Twins hitters clearly trying to capitalize on the first fastball strike in each at-bat, in theory mitigating the effect of Crochet's excellent breaking ball, cutter and changeup. Paddack's stuff looked good to start, but you got the feeling he needed to be perfect against the patient, powerful and deep Red Sox lineup. The velocity was good, and he didn't give in, walking Rafael Devers who clearly wasn't going to swing through anything Paddack had for him. Two lineouts and a strikeout of Alex Bregman resulted in a scoreless frame, but it took Paddack over 20 pitches and none of it looked easy. The Twins then started making some dumb mistakes. After Trevor Larnach reached on an error, he tried to steal second and was thrown out fairly easily. Had he stayed at first and let Christian Vazquez, hitting ninth, get himself out, Buxton would have led off the next inning. But by then the lead was gone. Wilyer Abreau led off the bottom of the second with a pop up to left, but Larnach and Jonah Bride couldn't decide whose ball it was and it landed right between them. You could tell on Paddack's face he knew he was in trouble. Romy Gonzalez then laced a single to right, David Hamilton bunted the runners over, and backup catcher Carlos Narvaez hit a chopper over a drawn in infield to score two runs. To Paddack's credit, he induced a jam-shot blooper from Jarren Duran that Carlos Correa made an amazing over the head catch on, and got Devers to fly out harmlessly to left to end the threat. His pitch count was over 50, but the damage was minimized. After a quick top of the third, Paddack began the bottom half by walking Bregman. He got the phenomenal rookie Kristian Campbell to line out to center, but Abreau golfed a decent looking changeup into right center for a single, allowing Bregman to reach third. A Romy Gonzalez fly ball would score Bregman to increase the deficit to 3-1. I shudder to think how bad this would have been if Paddack didn't have some of his better stuff. Correa tried to make something happen in the fourth, and lined a ball off of Crochet's face. Unfortunately, it bounced right to the shortstop. It was also unfortunate that despite taking the comebacker and appearing pretty shaken up, Crochet stayed in the game. He would go on to retire the side without much fanfare. Somehow, Paddack responded with one of his easiest innings of the year, needing just eight pitches to retire the 8-9-1 hitters, with no hard contact to speak of. It also allowed him to start the fifth inning. Without much time to recoup, Crochet responded by walking Larnach and Vazquez. Buxton worked an excellent at-bat and made good contact, but lined out to Duran in deep left, Ryan Jeffers popped out and Ty France tapped out to third to end the threat. His velocity down, Paddack continued to show solid command, getting Devers to pop up and Bregman to ground out before inducing a fly out from Campbell. The line won't look great, but this was one of the best Chris Paddack outings of 2025. While Crochet was lifted after five innings, he was relieved by the talented but oft-injured Garrett Whitlock, who looked filthy, retiring Correa on a pop up and striking out Jonah Bride and Brooks Lee in dominant fashion using his high octane sinker-slider mix. He ran into some trouble in the seventh, walking the not-very-patient Harrison Bader and allowing a gapper single to Vazquez. Buxton then jumped on a first pitch slider, tapping to the shortstop Hamilton, who made a great play to retire Buxton. That did advance the runners, and Jeffers made Whitlock pay, crushing a hanging sweeper over Duran's head in left to tie the game. That score summoned Louis Varland to face the 9-1-2 portion of Boston's lineup, and in contrast to Friday's outing, it went quite well, including a nasty curveball that struck out Devers to end the frame. Correa then led off the eighth against righty Justin Slaten by singling off of Hamilton glove. Two quick outs followed, but the hot-hitting Harrison Bader demolished a Slaten fastball off the green monster, scoring Correa from first. The hot and cold season of Larnach continued afterward, with the Twins left fielder dribbling a single through the right side of the infield to score Bader for a crucial insurance run. Of course, Boston wouldn't go down quietly- Wilyer Abreu launched a mammoth solo home run off of Griffin Jax in the eighth to make it a one run game. It was a challenge fastball that wasn't far enough inside to avoid the barrel of Abreu, who has impressed with an .808 OPS and good defense in right field during parts of three seasons in Boston. Jhoan Duran came in for the save and induced two easy groundouts to start the frame. A third grounder forced third baseman Lee to his knees, which despite a good effort, allowed the speedy Cedane Rafaela to reach. A Duran-Duran matchup followed and it was Jarren who came undone, striking out on a disgusting curveball to end the game. Trends: C Ryan Jeffers ? Christian Vazquez ? 1B Ty France 2B Mickey Gasper Brooks Lee ? Edouard Julien ? 3B Royce Lewis Jose Miranda Jonah Bride ? SS Carlos Correa LF Trevor Larnach CF Byron Buxton Harrison Bader ? DaShawn Keirsey Jr. ? RF Matt Wallner UTIL Willi Castro Luke Keaschall SP1 Pablo Lopez Bailey Ober ? Joe Ryan SP2 Chris Paddack ? Simeon Woods Richardson CR Jhoan Duran ? Griffin Jax ? SR Brock Stewart Louis Varland Cole Sands MR Danny Coloumbe ? Justin Topa Michael Tonkin LR Randy Dobnak Jorge Alcala ? Kody Funderburk Healthy Hurt Performing Contributing Low Impact/Slumping IL/Minors What’s Next: The Twins are off Monday before beginning a three game set at Target Field Tuesday against the struggling Baltimore Orioles. Pablo Lopez (2-2, 2.25 ERA) will take the ball opposing former Twins farmhand Cade Povich (1-2, 5.16 ERA), a casualty of the ill-fated Jorge Lopez trade. Povich has mostly struggled this year, but he is a lefty- maybe a Royce Lewis return will help? Postgame Interviews: Bullpen Usage Chart: WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT Stewart 21 0 0 13 16 50 Durán 0 24 0 16 9 49 Jax 0 14 0 7 14 35 Coulombe 16 0 18 0 0 34 Sands 0 18 0 12 0 30 Varland 0 12 5 0 7 24 Alcalá 0 0 23 0 0 23 Topa 0 12 0 0 0 12 View full article

As terrible, no good, and very bad as this season has started, the Twins have shown life lately and perhaps those who called for Rocco Baldelli's job can touch some grass. Joe Ryan was incredible and the offense did just enough against a decent pitcher who threw well, Jose Soriano, to complete the sweep of the struggling Angels. Image courtesy of © Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images Box Score: Starting Pitcher: Joe Ryan: 7 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 11 K (98 Pitches, 67 Strikes, 68.3%) Home Runs: None Top 3 WPA: Ryan (.391), Carlos Correa (.141), Ty France (.051) Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs): In each of the last two years, series sweeps at the hands of the Atlanta Braves have served as demarcation lines of the Twins' season. In 2023, a brutal sweep dropped the Twins to a 40-42 record on June 28th. They would go 47-33 the rest of the way, en route to breaking their playoff curse. In 2024, a sweep in late August etched in stone the fact that the Twins were in big trouble. That series at Target Field dropped the team to 72-61, and they would go 10-19 the rest of the way against a fairly easy portion of their schedule. Well, the Twins are 5-1 since yet another Braves sweep. Granted, the White Sox and Angels are dysfunctional at best (historically bad at worst), but wins are wins. Moreover, the Twins have shown the ability to produce a winning formula—some sort of identity. They've been scoring early and the foundation of a good hitting core has started to emerge with Trevor Larnach, Byron Buxton, Luke Keaschall, Ryan Jeffers and even Carlos Correa rounding into form. Brooks Lee looks more playable at the plate, and Royce Lewis has been the MVP of the first week off the injured list in his career; he's coming back soon. Matt Wallner could follow soon after. The pitching that was supposed to be the strength of the team has started to perform like it, and Griffin Jax no longer looks like a complete head case. But again, these are the White Sox and Angels. Sunday, Joe Ryan looked to redeem himself after being rattled into giving up three home runs against the Braves last Sunday. His breaking stuff looked as good as I've seen it, as he induced three pop-ups in a quick first inning. He then struck out the side in the second, two in well-placed fastballs up in the zone. His third inning may have been even better, recording all three outs on fastballs the Angels hitters simply couldn't pick up. Opposing Ryan was Jose Soriano, a sinker/slider pitcher who has had a couple of really nice outings thus far. He also boasts the highest ground ball rate among starters in baseball. Leaning more on his curveball in the first, Soriano walked Edouard Julien (including some impressive takes) before Correa ripped a double to left. Larnach then struck out before Ty France looped a fly ball the other way that the typically transcendent Mike Trout threw to third base on, allowing Julien, who didn't even get a good break on the play, to score from third. Correa delivered his second hit, a two-out single in the third. Larnach followed with a single to right that drew a throw from Trout to third base, allowing the Twins to put two runners in scoring position, but France tapped out to the pitcher to end the threat. Ryan ran into a little trouble in the fourth, allowing a booming 107 MPH double to the hot-hitting Zach Neto with one out. After inducing a fly out to Taylor Ward, Logan O'Hoppe worked an impressive at-bat and appeared to be close to squaring up Ryan's fastball on a series of foul balls. He didn't offer at the eighth pitch, a fastball that hit the bottom of the zone, but the pitch was called a ball. Rather than allowing the tough luck to affect him, Ryan struck out Travis D'Arnaud looking to end the frame. Meanwhile, Soriano was in a groove, as well. He was spotting his sinker extremely well and getting ahead of nearly every hitter. The Twins were also featuring one of their lightest-hitting lineups of the year, the day before they travel to Cleveland to face the Guardians in a pivotal (for April) four-game set. Mickey Gasper was DH'ing and DeShawn Keirsey Jr. was inserted to give Byron Buxton the day off. It sure would have been nice if Emmanuel Rodriguez was healthy and lighting it up at Triple-A. Through no fault of Soriano, the Twins added insurance in the sixth. Correa bounced a hard grounder past Kyren Paris for an error to start the frame. Larnach then squibbed a ball under Luis Rengifo's glove for another error (I sure want to like Rengifo as a player, but his glove is just terrible). France then got one of the first mistakes of Soriano's outing (an elevated breaking ball) and laced it into the left-field corner for a double to score Correa. That spelled the end of the day for Soriano. Gasper was lifted in favor of Jonah Bride to face lefty Brock Burke, and popped out weakly for the first out, which evoked memories of yesterday's bases loaded, no out situation that yielded nothing off Angels reliever Ryan Johnson. However, Jeffers then pounced on a Burke breaking ball and roped it into the corner to score both runners. The scoring would end there. The Angels tried to answer right back- Ward hit a laser to center field off a Ryan fastball, but Harrison Bader make a sprawling catch with his back to the infield to record the first out. A pop-out and a d'Arnaud double followed. Rengifo then hit a chopper off Ryan's glove that Julien couldn't flip to first in time on, putting runners on the corners for J.D Davis. But Ryan struck out Davis (for the third time) on an elevated fastball for his 11th strikeout, putting the finishing touches on one of his best outings in recent memory. Larnach added an RBI single to the opposite field in the seventh for the game's fifth run. Justin Topa pitched two scoreless innings to finish off the win. Trends: Healthy Hurt Performing Contributing Low Impact/Slumping IL/Minors C Ryan Jeffers ? Christian Vazquez 1B Ty France ? 2B Mickey Gasper Brooks Lee ? Edouard Julien 3B Royce Lewis Jose Miranda Jonah Bride SS Carlos Correa ? LF Trevor Larnach CF Byron Buxton Harrison Bader DaShawn Keirsey Jr. ? RF Matt Wallner UTIL Willi Castro Luke Keaschall SP1 Pablo Lopez Bailey Ober ? Joe Ryan ? SP2 Chris Paddack ? Simeon Woods Richardson CR Jhoan Duran ? Griffin Jax ? SR Brock Stewart Louis Varland ? Cole Sands ? MR Danny Coloumbe Justin Topa Michael Tonkin LR Randy Dobnak Jorge Alcala ? Kody Funderburk What’s Next: Bailey Ober (2-1, 5.04 ERA) goes against Gavin Williams (2-1, 4.15 ERA) as the Twins return to the Major League portion of their schedule against the devil-magic-wielding Cleveland Guardians. Williams has been mercurial in his brief career, missing time with injury and mixing dominance with mediocrity. He struck out eight Yankees in 6 1/3 innings his last time out to record a win, however. Ober has been rounding into form, but did allow a lot of hard contact to the White Sox his last time out. Postgame Interviews: Bullpen Usage Chart: WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT Topa 6 0 15 0 27 48 Alcalá 0 41 0 0 0 41 Varland 0 0 20 19 0 39 Jax 14 0 0 19 0 33 Sands 17 0 13 0 0 30 Stewart 20 0 0 6 0 26 Coulombe 13 0 12 0 0 25 Durán 0 0 0 7 0 7 View full article

The Braves wore Joe Ryan out, then capitalized on his mistakes, while the Twins offense was again dormant—against a pitcher without his best stuff. This might be a long season, folks. Image courtesy of © Dale Zanine-Imagn Images Box Score: Starting Pitcher: Joe Ryan: 5 IP, 8 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 5 K (93 Pitches, 65 Strikes, 69.9%) Home Runs: Byron Buxton (4) Bottom 3 WPA: Ryan (-.286), Edouard Julien (-.097), Brooks Lee (-.093) Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs): The Twins wrapped up their series in Atlanta today after gifting the Braves two winnable games and awakening the perennial contender from its early season doldrums. Joe Ryan got the start for Minnesota, coming off an outing against the Mets in which he labored but gave the Twins five strong innings. As a California "Deadhead" laboring isn't Ryan's favorite vibe. Teams know that when the righthander is healthy and throwing well, the only way to counter him is to work long at-bats and hope to wear Ryan down, with a solo home run or two thrown in. Unfortunately for Ryan today, the home plate umpire called two clear strikes as balls to second place hitter Austin Riley, extending Ryan's pitch count and turning what looked like a quick inning, into a much longer affair. The horrid Marcell Ozuna worked a walk and Matt Olson finally caught up with a mistake fastball and rocketed a two-run home run to give the Braves a 2-0 lead. Ryan threw 32 pitches in the frame. That could have been workable except the Twins anemic offense offered no early fight against Braves journeyman starter Kenny Powers Grant Holmes. Following the long inning for Ryan, the Twins went down in order on eight pitches, forcing Ryan back out with hardly a chance to sit down. He retired the first two hitters of the second fairly easily, but then a barrage of singles scored a third run. The third was similar- after two outs, Michael Harris turned on a hanging splitter and roped it for a double, and then the highly touted rookie Drake Baldwin pounced on a 92 MPH fastball not quite high enough in the zone, and pummeled it the other way for a two-run home run. The Twins at least made Holmes work in the fourth. After Trevor Larnach ripped a one out single, so did Carlos Correa. Ryan Jeffers was hit by a pitch on his wrist and stayed in the game. After Luke Keaschall popped out, Holmes spiked a slider that Baldwin couldn't handle, allowing Larnach to score the first Twins run. Brooks Lee made good contact in his at-bat, but Harris tracked down the liner in the gap to record the final out. As expected, a rejuvenated Ryan then had his easiest inning, setting down the Braves 1-2-3. Holmes continued to struggle with his command, walking the free-swinging Harrison Bader to lead off the fifth before leaving a cutter up for Buxton to lace into the gap for a double. Holmes then walked Ty France, perhaps equal to Bader in free-swingedness, to load the bases. But Larnach struck out looking on the juiciest pitch of the at-bat, a fastball middle-in, and Correa tapped out to get Holmes off the hook. Ozuna, sadly still not incarcerated, jumped on an inside sinker from Ryan and delivered it into the left field bleachers. The Twins put two more runners on in the sixth, but Julien tapped out to strand the Twins' eighth runner in a span of three innings. Buxton did launch a no-doubt home run in the seventh to continue his strong stretch of games. Louis Varland, Jhoan Duran and Danny Coulombe pitched scoreless innings. All three are having nice years, at least. Trends: Healthy Hurt Performing Contributing Low Impact/Slumping IL/Minors C Ryan Jeffers Christian Vazquez 1B Ty France 2B Mickey Gasper ? Brooks Lee Edouard Julien 3B Royce Lewis Jose Miranda Jonah Bride SS Carlos Correa ? LF Trevor Larnach CF Byron Buxton ? Harrison Bader DaShawn Keirsey Jr. RF Matt Wallner UTIL Willi Castro ? Luke Keaschall ? SP1 Pablo Lopez Bailey Ober ? Joe Ryan SP2 Chris Paddack Simeon Woods Richardson CR Jhoan Duran ? Griffin Jax ? SR Brock Stewart Louis Varland ? Cole Sands MR Danny Coloumbe Justin Topa Michael Tonkin LR Randy Dobnak Jorge Alcala Kody Funderburk What’s Next: Bailey Ober (1-1, 6.16 ERA) takes on Davis Martin (1-2, 4.84 ERA) as the Twins open a series at Target Field against the White Sox. Martin has been functional thus, far, but his peripheral numbers are rough. Ober has been pretty good since his opening clunker in St. Louis and will look to continue to have success against a White Sox lineup against whom statistics do count. Postgame Interviews: (Coming soon) Bullpen Usage Chart: WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT Jax 22 0 26 0 0 48 Varland 19 0 18 0 6 43 Topa 0 0 17 24 0 41 Alcalá 0 0 0 39 0 39 Coulombe 9 0 17 0 8 34 Durán 19 0 0 0 11 30 Sands 7 0 13 0 0 20 Stewart 0 0 0 13 0 13 View full article

The Twins entered Sunday's tilt against the Tigers needing something—anything—to jumpstart their season. Fortunately, Byron Buxton was happy to oblige with two extra-base hits; the newly recalled Brooks Lee delivered a key RBI single; and the pitching bent but didn't break in a lovely little win. Image courtesy of © Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images Box Score: Starting Pitcher: Simeon Woods Richardson: 5 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K (78 Pitches, 54 Strikes, 69.2%) Home Runs: Byron Buxton (3), Edouard Julien (1) Top 3 WPA: Woods Richardson (.171), Buxton (.126), Louis Varland (.079) Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs): What a week, huh? When I was recapping last Sunday's game, the Twins were three outs away from taking a series against a decent Houston team and moving to 4-5 on the year. Since then, the Twins have collapsed in on themselves, losing that rubber match against the Astros, dropping three of four from the Royals and losing the first two against Detroit—in, uh, less than impressive fashion. The face of the team's failures ended up being Jose Miranda, the jumpy third baseman who forgot first how to identify a strike, and later how to perceive a safe call. He was sent to St. Paul after yesterday's game in favor of a rehabbed Brooks Lee. Other changes included giving Carlos Correa the day off after playing every game thus far. Somewhat surprisingly, Willi Castro started at shortstop instead of the more natural fit, in Lee. Then again, Castro hasn't looked great at third, and perhaps that played into the decision. Matt Wallner was also moved out of the leadoff spot in favor of Edouard Julien, who earned the spot by quietly hitting .380 over the last seven games. On the mound was Simeon Woods Richardson, who has been hard to get a feel for thus far. His stuff hasn't looked amazing, but he has hung in and given the Twins a chance to win in each of his starts. He has emphasized his slider and curveball over his change-up in the early going and his fastball has lived in the 90-94 MPH range. The jury is out if his career trajectory is going to look like Boof Bonser or someone like Chris Bassitt. He hung a couple of sliders in the first. The first was smacked off the wall by Kerry Carpenter, the second got All-Star Riley Greene rung up for the third out of the inning. Opposing Woods Richardson was former number one overall pick Casey Mize. Mize sat 96 with his fastball but struck Julien out on four pitches to start his outing, all sliders and splitters. Byron Buxton hit next, and worked the count to 3-2 before pouncing on a mistake fastball that leaked over the heart of the plate and depositing it in the left field bleachers. The second inning may have been even more encouraging. After Ty France led off with a duck snort single, he was advanced to second by a Ryan Jeffers groundout, and to third on a wild pitch. Brooks Lee then fought off a splitter and grounded it back up the middle to score France. Maybe Lee just likes facing the Tigers? SWR kept dancing through raindrops, taking advantage of the bottom of the Tigers lineup and minimizing the damage done by the meat of the order. He struck out Greene to end the third on a 95 MPH fastball on the outer edge, stranding two runners in the process. Mize was in a groove by this point, not allowing any solid contact and locating his splitter well. He retired ten Twins in a row at one point in the middle innings. SWR allowed a fourth inning home run to the red hot Spencer Torkelson on a fat fastball but continued to compete well. He gave up a two out hit to Gleyber Torres before hitting Carpenter with a pitch in the fifth, but recovered to get Greene to pop out to right. SWR was removed after 78 Pitches and five innings. Some may have questioned that move, but Torkelson was leading off the inning and Woods Richardson threw a career high 107 pitches in his last outing. Louis Varland was the choice to replace him, and he looked the best he has in quite a while, locking up Torkelson on a nasty curveball, and striking out the side in order. That choice looked even smarter when Julien led off the bottom of the inning with an opposite field homer off a high splitter from Mize. Buxton followed with a single that he stretched into a double by virtue of his being Byron Buxton, and Castro hit a dribbler that became an infield single. After Wallner struck out, the best Twins' best hitter™ Ty France hit a chopper upon the middle that Torres tried to flip to second, only shortstop Trey Sweeney was not covering, allowing everyone to be safe. After a Jeffers fly out, Mize was done and threw a tantrum in the dugout, a sight for sore eyes. Everything was lined up for Cole Sands, Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran to pitch the final three innings. That should have inspired confidence, but these are the 2025 Twins we're talking about. Harrison Bader did his part to make sure that Sands kept his inning scoreless: Jax looked locked in, 2024-style. He struck out Carpenter, Greene and Torkelson in order, mixing his assortment of pitches to perfection. Then in the eighth, to everyone's surprise, Wallner laced a double the opposite way (against a lefty with an 0-2 count), to score Castro and provide a crucial insurance run. Duran pitched an uneventful ninth to seal the win. Trends: Healthy Hurt Performing Contributing Low Impact/Slumping IL/Minors C Ryan Jeffers Christian Vazquez 1B Ty France ? 2B Mickey Gasper ? Brooks Lee ? Edouard Julien ? 3B Royce Lewis Jose Miranda ? SS Carlos Correa LF Trevor Larnach ? CF Byron Buxton ? Harrison Bader ? DaShawn Keirsey Jr. RF Matt Wallner UTIL Willi Castro ? SP1 Pablo Lopez Bailey Ober ? Joe Ryan ? SP2 Chris Paddack Simeon Woods Richardson CR Jhoan Duran ? Griffin Jax SR Brock Stewart Louis Varland Cole Sands MR Danny Coloumbe Justin Topa ? Michael Tonkin LR Randy Dobnak Jorge Alcala Kody Funderburk What’s Next: Joe Ryan (1-1, 2.65 ERA) takes on Clay Holmes (1-1, 4.30 ERA) as the Twins begin a three game set with the New York Mets. The Mets made it to the NLCS last year and added Juan Soto to their lineup, which so far has them leading the NL East. Holmes has spent the past three years as the Yankee's closer, but joined the Mets as a starting pitcher. His early results have been pretty uninspiring but there's nothing like facing the Twins to cure what ails a pitcher. Postgame Interviews: (coming soon) Bullpen Usage Chart: TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT Sands 15 0 24 0 0 17 56 Alcalá 16 0 0 23 10 0 49 Funderburk 0 0 0 0 43 0 43 Jax 12 10 0 0 0 17 39 Topa 0 0 0 37 0 0 37 Durán 0 15 0 0 12 10 37 Varland 0 0 18 0 0 12 30 Coulombe 13 0 4 6 0 0 23 View full article