Hans Birkeland

It started encouragingly, with Chris Paddack dancing through a lot of solid contact and the offense expelling Ronel Blanco before the second inning was through. But the Astros fought back, thanks to some clutch hitting from Isaac Paredes and Yordan Alvarez, and executed in extra innings to secure the win. Image courtesy of © Jordan Johnson-Imagn Images Box Score: Starting Pitcher: Chris Paddack: 4+ IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K (68 Pitches, 44 Strikes, 64.7%) Home Runs: None Bottom 3 WPA: Louis Varland (-.419), Griffin Jax (-.294), Paddack (-.140) Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs): The Twins had returned to functionality following Chris Paddack's last start, in which he allowed nine earned runs to the White Sox. That newfound competitiveness would be put to the test again Sunday, as Paddack took the mound against the Houston Astros in the rubber match of a three-game set in Minneapolis. As terrible as Paddack was in Chicago, his stuff appeared a little better than last year, another year removed from his second Tommy John surgery. He started Sunday's tilt with the same poor results. Jose Altuve smacked a single up the middle, the scuffling Isaac Paredes laced a single down the left-field line, and after two pitches, Paddack was facing a first-and-third situation. The fastball was 94-96 MPH, but he was locating it high in the zone, where it looked like it was hanging. Houston stacked their lineup with right-handed hitters, perhaps to counteract Paddack's changeup, but I'm not sure that was a smart strategy, as the White Sox lefties did damage in Paddack's first start. To Paddack's credit, he retired the fearsome Yordan Alvarez on a sacrifice fly, and after another single from Christian Walker, he retired Jeremy Pena and Yainer Diaz quickly to end the threat. Facing the impressive Ronel Blanco, who recorded both a sub-3.00 ERA and a no-hitter last year, the Twins responded. Matt Wallner led off with a line-drive single, Carlos Correa walked, and Byron Buxton nearly made the game 3-1, but his fly ball was caught on the warning track in left-center field. Normally, Twins lineups pack it in after a near miss like that, but Sunday was different. Wallner had advanced to third on Buxton's fly out, and Trevor Larnach tied the game with a sacrifice fly to right. Willi Castro worked an impressive at-bat, fouling off some 3-2 pitches and finally getting one to his liking, rifling a single to right that advanced Correa to third. Ryan Jeffers then worked a 2-2 count and launched an elevated slider off the big wall in right-center to produce a second and third run against Blanco. Blanco ended up throwing 33 pitches in the frame. I was not overly confident in Paddack throwing a shutdown inning at this point, especially after he left another fastball elevated in the zone that Brendan Rodgers scalded up the middle for another leadoff hit. Fortunately, Zach Dezenzo grounded to Correa's right, and he made a sharp feed to Edouard Julien at second, who completed the relay for an impressive double play. Paddack then dotted a 3-2 breaking ball to Jake Meyers that was clearly a strike, but it was called a ball. Luckily, Altuve did not make Paddack pay and bounced out weakly. The Twins continued to make Blanco work, as Mickey Gasper worked a 10-pitch walk, and Harrison Bader lined a single to left. Wallner struck out, but Correa delivered a soft liner to left to score Gasper and increase the lead. Buxton then struck out, but Larnach worked a walk. That was the end of the day for Blanco, who had thrown 62 pitches to record five outs. Paddack allowed a 400-foot foul ball to Paredes before retiring him on a 350-foot fly ball in fair ground. Alvarez then popped out on a fastball at the top of the zone... or did he? Jeffers dropped the pop-up, but Alvarez was called for interference, since Jeffers briefly bumped him on the way to mishandling the play. The call seemed unecessary. Alvarez didn't have much of a chance to get out of the way, and Jeffers still could have gotten to the ball. Besides that, Gasper (at first) could have made the play, as well. Paddack took the gift and struck out Walker to complete the frame. By that point, Paddack was emphasizing his breaking ball and changeup over his fastball, and locating them well, eliciting swing-and-miss and weak ground balls from the Houston hitters the second time through the lineup. Houston has struggled offensively, so that could be a factor, as well. Either way, the Twins jumped all over reliever Luis Contreras in the fourth. Wallner stroked another single to right, Correa walked and Buxton hit a missile off the right-field (yes you read that right) wall for a double to score Wallner. Larnach then golfed a low changeup over Walker's glove to score two more. Paddack's velocity dipped a little as the outing went along, sitting 91-93 MPH in the fifth inning. After Dezenzo walked, Meyers doubled down the left field line and Altuve reached on an error by Castro at third, to cut into the Twins' lead. Rocco Baldelli challenged the play, to no avail, and said after the game that he thought they "had completed the play, but that wasn't the ruling." That left Paddack staring down the middle of Houston's lineup the third time through, with two on and nobody out. Paredes hit a sharp single on a Paddack fastball to bring home Meyers, and that caused the Twins' bullpen to stir, with a presumably angry (based on the somewhat bogus interference call) Alvarez up to bat. Paddack induced a pop-up, but the ball fell right between Bader and the third baseman Castro. That prompted Baldelli to come get Paddack. Cole Sands came in and struck out Walker on a favorable call. Pena then lined out to Bader in left, but because Bader tried to catch the runner on second napping, Altuve read the play and scored from third. Yainer Diaz then popped out to Correa to end the threat. It could have been worse, but the blowout was no longer in order. Darren McCaughan entered for the sixth, a somewhat surprising choice given it was at that point a three-run game. But Louis Varland and Jorge Alcala had thrown the most of anyone in the past week, Sands was used for the second day in a row, and Baldelli seemed to be prioritizing using Danny Coulombe and Griffin Jax in the late innings. McCaughan also has looked really good in his brief time in the majors this year. Not so much today. He gave up a leadoff hit to Rodgers, retired Dezenzo on a grounder and walked Meyers on a borderline 3-2 pitch. He made a great pitch to Altuve, inducing a weak pop-up from the future Hall of Famer, but Paredes lofted a single to center to score Rodgers and make it a two-run game. Baldelli made the call for Coulombe to face Alvarez. It was an intense at-bat, and on the eighth pitch, Coulombe got a little too much of the plate and Alvarez lined sharply to left field. This time, though, Bader made a great read and came in to make a diving play and preserve the lead. After the Twins went down quietly in their half of the sixth, Justin Topa was brought in to protect the two-run lead, his first back-to-back appearance of the season. He hit Pena with a pitch, but otherwise looked effective, striking out the hot-hitting Rodgers on a nice sweeper to end the frame. The Twins made some decent contact against Houston lefty Bryan King, but didn't produce any baserunners in another scoreless inning. That led to Jhoan Duran getting the call for the eighth inning. The choice was interesting, because the 8-9-1 spots in the order were coming up, and Griffin Jax hadn't pitched since Tuesday. Duran emphasized his breaking ball and splinker and got the first two outs fairly easily, including a nice strikeout on a curveball to Meyers, dotted at the bottom left corner of the zone. Altuve then swung at the first pitch and grounded back to the pitcher to conclude the easiest Duran inning of 2025 thus far. Bader led off the eighth with a grounder to short that Pena threw wide to first on, allowing a hustling Bader to reach. Wallner then delivered his fourth hit of the game, and certainly his hardest (112 MPH) up the middle to set up the inning against tough righty Bryan Abreu. Correa tapped to the right side, and the lead runner Bader was retired. Buxton then flew out weakly to center and Larnach struck out on a ball in the dirt. Would the missed opportunity come back to bite the Twins? It did, and it didn't take long. Paredes singled sharply, his fourth hit of the game, and Alvarez took out his frustration on a Jax fastball at the top of the zone, tying the game in the blink of an eye. Walker then doubled off the wall in right-center and questions started to arise: Why has Jax not been used since Tuesday? Is he hurt? Did he catch the Ober/Julien illness? He then proceeded to strike out the next three hitters in convincing fashion, so who knows? The velocity and overall stuff still looked great. "Just matchup-based things," Baldelli said about using Duran before Jax, rather than the other way around. He noted that they've done that many times before, and might do so again. It's possible that, after Duran faced Altuve, Paredes and Alvarez in the ninth inning Saturday, his manager didn't want him to see the latter two on consecutive days. Still, plainly, the strategy didn't work. Josh Hader made quick work of the Twins in the ninth and Varland took the ball for the top of the 10th. Chas McCormick bunted Rodgers to third, Meyers walked and Altuve rapped a single through the left side to score the "Manfred Man." Altuve then stole second and Jeffers threw through, allowing Meyers to race home from third. On the throw home, the Twins nearly nailed Meyers. The safe call was upheld upon review, but it looked like a 50/50 case. Altuve was then caught off of second and Paredes struck out to end the frame. The Twins did not fare so well in their half. Miranda grounded out, Bader struck out, and since DeShawn Keirsey Jr. had pinch-run for Wallner, Christian Vazquez was brought in to face Hader. That went well last year but looked pretty pathetic this time around, although the ball that struck him out looked to be low. 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 ? Darren McCaughan What’s Next: The Twins head to Kansas City for a three game set. Simeon Woods Richardson (0-0, 4.50 ERA) will face Michael Lorenzen (0-1, 5.06 ERA). Wood Richardson was adequate in a windy outing in Chicago last time out. SWR will be looking to maintain velocity deeper into his start against a light-hitting Royals team. Lorenzen is a fungible backend starter who peaked in 2023 when he was a default All-Star for Detroit, got traded to Philadelphia and immediately threw a no-hitter. The mirage has faded since. Postgame Interviews: Bullpen Usage Chart: WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT McCaughan 0 32 0 0 22 54 Varland 0 20 0 16 15 51 Alcalá 0 11 0 23 0 34 Durán 12 0 0 8 13 33 Topa 0 0 0 17 10 27 Coulombe 14 0 0 0 8 22 Sands 0 0 0 11 10 21 Jax 0 0 0 0 17 17 View full article

The Twins' miserable start continued Sunday, as the offense stayed cold against Andre Pallante and the Cardinals. Bailey Ober was obliterated, and the only positives were another strong day for Willi Castro and some fine relief work from Randy Dobnak, who entered for Ober in the third and finished the game. Image courtesy of © Tim Vizer-Imagn Images Box Score: Starting Pitcher: Bailey Ober: 2 2/3 IP 8 H, 8 ER, 3 BB, 3 K (77 Pitches, 44 Strikes, 57.1%) Home Runs: Willi Castro (1) Bottom 3 WPA: Ober (-.439), Trevor Larnach (-.079), Ryan Jeffers (-.042) Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs): After a couple of uninspiring games against the supposedly rebuilding Cardinals, the Twins wrapped up their series in St. Louis against the sneakily effective Andre Pallante. An extreme ground-ball pitcher, Pallante posted a sub-4.00 ERA last year in his first year as a starter over 120 innings. He also dominated the Twins last August at Target Field, throwing seven innings of one-run ball. He was pretty good again today. He got ahead of leadoff man Matt Wallner 0-2, before Wallner battled back to draw a walk. Carlos Correa tapped to short to advance Wallner, and Byron Buxton blooped a jam-shot single to score the game's first run (the Twins' first lead of the year). On the mound for the Twins was Bailey Ober—who, outside of a few notable blow-ups, performed as one of the better pitchers in the American League, and even has a little dark-horse Cy Young steam heading into 2025. He didn't look like that in his first start last year, and today was (in some ways) even worse. He began by walking newly-assigned Twins assassin Lars Nootbar. Willson Contreras then lined out sharply (109 MPH) to Harrison Bader in left field, and Brendan Donovan walked on a close pitch. A wild pitch advanced the runners, but Ober managed to strike out the red-hot Nolan Arenado and induced Alec Burleson to pop out to end the threat. It took 28 pitches, but Ober was squeezed on a couple of calls and held his composure. That wasn't the case in the second. Nolan Gorman rifled a single to right, backup catcher Pedro Pages jumped all over a hanging slider and laced a ground-rule double right off the chalk line in left field. Victor Scott II, who has been lethal in the field against the Twins thus far, attacked the first fastball he saw and launched a three-run home run to flip the game on its head. Scott posted a 40 OPS+ last season, indicating he was a 60% worse than an average hitter. However, he hit a game-tying home run against Zebby Matthews in the game now known for Edouard Julien making two misplays in the ninth to lose the series. In retrospect, that was a pretty big loss- the Twins had just come off their road trip to Texas (ending with the Jorge Alcala blow-up game) and San Diego. No one could have been sure the team was cursed yet at that point, but losing a series to the non-contending Cardinals at home was, perhaps, the first sign that something was terribly wrong. And Victor Scott II played a big part in that. Anyway, Scott now has three career home runs. Meanwhile, Pallante was starting to cruise, retiring six consecutive Twins batters on ground-outs. Wallner put an end to that by crushing a fastball (107 MPH) off the wall in right-center field. Correa then drew a walk, but Buxton struck out on a pitch in the dirt and Trevor Larnach grounded out to end whatever threat there was. And then Ober truly fell apart. The Cardinals started taking vicious hacks, the home plate umpire gave Ober nothing on the edges, and the first five Cardinals reached, culminating in a three-run homer run from Pages, the glove-first catcher subbing for the bat-first Ivan Herrera. That shot made it 8-1 Cardinals. The ambush was reminiscent of the Royals in Ober's first start of 2024. Maybe keep him out of Missouri for the first one next time. The velocity sat 90-91 but the main issue was his command. For every fastball he placed at the top of the zone in 2024, it sat thigh-high most of the time today, and his off-speed stuff wasn't sharp enough to keep hitters honest. He was done after recording eight outs. The Twins continued to top Pallante's pitches into the ground, although Willi Castro was able to get ahold of a hanging curveball (Pallante did not command that pitch well for much of the day) for his first home run of the year. Randy Dobnak made his 2025 debut, delivering five and a third innings of one run ball. That was interrupted by a 58 minute rain delay, but Dobnak kept the ball out of the middle of the zone and threw strikes for the most part, despite the layoff. The Twins were then presented with what figures to be the biggest weakness for their hitting group, a bulk left-handed pitcher. Steven Matz came out following the rain delay and carved up the Twins lineup. Matz has had flashes of success around myriad injuries in his career, but a team that is functional against lefties should have been able to make him sweat a bit, at the least. Castro laced an extra base hit against Matz in the seventh, for what it's worth. He, and to a lesser extent Larnach, have been the only bright spots for a lineup that so far looks pretty similar to the end of 2024. 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 Coulombe Justin Topa Michael Tonkin LR Randy Dobnak Jorge Alcala ? What’s Next: Chris Paddack (5-3, 4.99 ERA in 2024) faces off against old friend Martin Perez (5-6, 4.53 ERA in 2024) as the Twins look to get off the mat against the historically bad White Sox. The Sox have actually won a game in 2025- granted it was against the one team that rivals them in terms of organizational messiness, the Angels. Paddack was trending upwards in Spring Training, but no conclusions should be drawn from a start against the White Sox outside his ability to maintain velocity throughout the start. Perez has settled in as a mid-rotation option for teams that don't plan to contend. He is a lefty though, so it will be another test to see what Baldelli cooks up as a counter. Postgame Interviews: Bullpen Usage Chart: TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT Dobnak 0 0 0 0 0 79 79 Varland 0 0 12 0 23 0 35 Topa 0 0 17 0 8 0 25 Durán 0 0 0 0 24 0 24 Jax 0 0 21 0 0 0 21 Coulombe 0 0 0 0 16 0 16 Sands 0 0 14 0 0 0 14 Alcalá 0 0 0 0 12 0 12 View full article

The Twins have plenty of guys who are good hitters. As the Yankees showed by giving themselves an atomic wedgie on baseball's biggest stage, however, sometimes you just need some ballplayers. Here are a few who might makes sense for the Twins. Image courtesy of © Eric Hartline-Imagn Images Welcome to the 2025 Offseason Handbook! This year, we’re offering the format online only through our Caretakers program. The Offseason Handbook is a comprehensive look at what challenges the Twins face in the coming winter to field a competitive team in 2025. To become a Caretaker, visit this page. On top of receiving exclusive access to the Offseason Handbook, Caretakers also receive in-depth analysis from national writers you cannot find anywhere else. You will also receive exclusive access to events and an ad-free browsing option. In celebration of the Offseason Handbook’s release, we’re offering 20% off all Caretaker programs for the next week. Use the code HANDBOOK at checkout to receive 20% off your purchase! In my last piece for Twins Daily, I opined on the downfall of a lineup made up of passive swing technicians, which I summarized as being haunted by the ghost of J.D Drew. While I accept that my premise was hyperbolic to some degree, watching the Twins in 2024 would make any fan mourn for the days of Nick Punto, Carlos Gómez, or heck, even Otis Nixon. There are a few solutions in-house to fix this energy and speed deficit. First there is DaShawn Keirsey Jr, the speedy, tattooed outfielder the Twins have stashed at Triple-A for most of the least two years. Byron Buxton, of course, is an "action guy" for however many games he plays, and Royce Lewis certainly provided a lot of energy prior to his brutal three-month don't-call-it-a-slump to end the year. Today, I want to explore what sorts of external options are out there as the Twins tiptoe into the offseason, without leaving the metaphorical bat on their shoulder. The first group I identified are both realistic (cheap), and perhaps exactly what the Twins need, as in hitters who are under no pressure to hit, but can help the team in other ways, namely with speed and energy. For fun, I listed the average sprint speed of all the players in question, per Baseball Savant. Zach McKinstry IF 28.4 f/s Jonny DeLuca OF 29.8 f/s Garrett Hampson IF/OF 29.8 f/s Amed Rosario IF 29.0 f/s Esteury Ruiz OF 29.4 f/s Edmundo Sosa IF 29.2 f/s Stuart Fairchild OF 29.1 f/s Travis Jankowski OF 28.5 f/s Cristian Pache OF 28.5 f/s Jake Cave OF 27.7 f/s These guys are barely starting-caliber players, evenwith the platoon advantage. McKinstry is an excellent baserunner who led the league in how often, relative to an average baserunner, they tried to take an extra base, taking off 47% of the time when an average runner would have tried 26% of the time. Not only that, he was successful 26 of the 27 times he tried it. He can't hit, at all, but has defensive utility and has been a thorn in the Twins' side a few times for the Tigers. Estuary Ruiz led the league in stolen bases in 2023 and spent time in the minors in 2024, after switching teams a few times as a high-profile prospect who scouts worried wouldn't hit. So far, they've been right, but he is just 25. Amed Rosario had some big moments against the Twins, hit .280 last year and is still just 28. Garrett Hampson had a big clutch hit for the Royals and was 3-3 with three RBIs this postseason. He can run, but couldn’t hit even when he called Coors Field home. A Cave redemption arc where there is no pressure on him to hit, only to play hard and fire the team up would, as they say, feed families. And that’s the appeal of these guys. You won’t expect them to hit, and those are precisely the conditions under which one of these guys can provide a high amount of excess value. My pick: Jankowski is Dan Gladden redux, and after a poor year in Texas, he won’t cost much more than Gladden did in his heyday. Next are the middle ground—guys who had enough established value that their teams won't just give them up for nothing. Some are slightly expensive. Others are cheaper, but with upside far beyond what the cheapest group can provide: View full article

That's a fair point, because as we saw, Josh Donaldson didn't do anything to fire up this team. There is a fine line between energy guy and jackass.

100% agree, they better hope Lewis returns to that version of himself

How bout Doug Mientkiewicz?

The Twins' collapse was shocking, but it shouldn't have been. Their passivity and lack of energy was contagious throughout the lineup, which brought to mind a certain former St. Paul Saint. Image courtesy of © Kim Klement-Imagn Images There once was a player drafted second overall, who produced roughly to expectations over a 14 year career that included MVP votes, an All-Star appearance, and a World Series. His career OPS was .873, and he was a serviceable defender in right field. His career on-base percentage was a robust .384, just a hair under Joe Mauer’s .388. That player was J.D. Drew. Drew was an odd case. He did have just the one All-Star appearance, but twice, he produced an OPS north of 1.000. In fact, in his best season, 2004, he hit 31 home runs in 645 plate appearances and slashed .305/.436/.569. While he finished sixth for the MVP vote that year, he did not make the All-Star team, despite better numbers in the first half. What gives? The reasons and excuses why Drew did not receive the recognition a player of his skill level deserves are abundant, and kind of sad. The first is that he was stoic. He didn’t show a lot of emotion when he played, and was liable to strikeout looking and walk back to the dugout like he was next in line at the DMV. Fans don’t like that; they want players to take every negative outcome as a personal affront. Other players can feel this way, too, and in Drew’s case, even his manager, Tony La Russa, was publicly frustrated with a perceived “lack of passion.” The second issue people had with Drew is that he always seemed to have a nagging injury and wasn’t going to fight his front office on being placed on the injured list. He wanted to play closer to 100%, because anything significantly less than that would hurt his team. He played 104 games in his rookie season, 109 in his third, 100 in his fifth, 72 in his seventh, and 109 in his 10th. He wasn’t exactly Byron Buxton, but he did consistently miss quite a bit of time, in an era where that would get you called 'soft'. Stars of the day would always sprinkle in some outlier seasons marred by an injury they didn’t admit to until the season was over. Drew didn’t, and for that he became the poster boy for the prima donna hitter who made a lot of money and couldn’t post. That leads us to the third thing that made J.D. Drew an underappreciated star: He was a draft holdout and a Scott Boras client, back before Boras was a household name. He demanded $10 million to sign with the Philadelphia Phillies as the second overall pick, and they offered about a quarter of that, leading Drew to play the 1997 season with our very own St. Paul Saints. After signing with the Cardinals the next year, Drew quickly made his way to the majors, but sat out against the Phillies, the team he spurned, with a dubious hand injury. He then got the team’s bullpen catcher to wear his jersey to ward off the battery-throwing masses in Philly, only to be found out and heckled mercilessly. In a way, the heckling never stopped. As Drew got older, his baserunning (which had made him a 30-30 guy in college) became very station-to-station, with him not wanting to risk an injury that he would get mocked and called soft for. He took fewer risks in the outfield, becoming a below-average defender in his later years. He just stood in the batter's box, made good swing decisions, looked tired, and went home when the game was over. As I contemplated the career of J.D. Drew, I started to wonder: What would happen if a baseball team had a lineup composed of nine J.D. Drews? From a sabermetric perspective, the results would be unstoppable. A team with an .873 collective OPS, with each hitter averaging 25 home runs per 162 games while getting on base at a .384 clip would be astounding. Plug those numbers into a ZIPS or PECOTA projection, and surely that team would dominate, with even an average pitching staff. Except that just ain’t the way baseball works. If you want to know the downside of a team full of J.D. Drews, witness the collapse of the 2024 Minnesota Twins. Player after player, leaning into their back leg and waiting for a mistake, going station to station on the bases, being passive not just in their approach but in their overall mentality as competitors, consistently out-executed by opponents that would appear less talented. Sure, that's a lot of conjecture, but I've watched enough Cleveland Guardians games to know the difference. Twenty years ago, even 10 years ago, I would have dismissed this as complete and utter nonsense, but you need sparkplugs to win baseball games over a long season. Just having a bunch of good hitters isn’t enough, not for 162 games. Something needs to light the fire, because odd things happen in baseball. Squibbers ruin good pitching outings and rockets find gloves. You need a hair-on-fire, manic, obnoxious nightmare of a human being who plays crazy over-the-top baseball--whose will to beat the other team exceeds his actual talent level. You might need a couple of those guys. It might help to define what I’m talking about here. I think “Energy guy” might be the best descriptor using established baseball terminology. Energy guys are usually fast (Jarren Duran), but not always (Josh Naylor). They are demonstrative and do not wait for the game to come to them. In other words, their plan at the plate is, “If this pitcher does this, then I am doing this first pitch,” rather than “I hope I get ahead in the count and he throws me a fastball belt-high.” The Twins have one energy guy, in Buxton, and he (ahem) isn't always available. Sure, some guys have tried to fit the mold, but it hasn’t worked. Matt Wallner had some heinous bat flips, stole some crucial bases, and beat out a couple of sure double plays that really got the boys goin’. But as talented as he is, he’s too big, too bland, and too dependent on a pitcher putting a pitch somewhere he can hit it. He’s also a tinkerer, a guy constantly making minor changes to his swing to get it just right. Brooks Lee is similar, constantly fine-tuning his swings from both sides of the plate, and being quite honest about which was working at any point. He does have some passion to his game that we saw in September a few times, but those instances were few and far between. Like Wallner and Lee, Carlos Correa is a technician, not a sparkplug. So is Ryan Jeffers, at a lower level of performance. Same for Trevor Larnach, who had a great year, and tried to act as an energy guy at times, but that isn’t his personality. He drives the ball and takes walks; he isn’t the type to lean out over the plate and flip a down-and-away slider over the third baseman when that kind of result would just kill the opponent. José Miranda can be a clutch bad-ball hitter, but he needs to be healthy to do so, and that just hasn’t happened for any length of time thus far in his career. In 2023, Edouard Julien, Royce Lewis and Willi Castro sparked the team out of its first-half doldrums, but Julien is the definition of passive at the plate; Lewis never got his legs under him in the second half of 2024 (and was kind of whiny about it); and Castro perpetually looked like he needed to sit down for a minute following his All-Star selection, due to back troubles. The departing Max Kepler is J.D. Drew reincarnated, but with less talent. Christian Vázquez and Kyle Farmer were the team’s primary energy guys for various stretches, but they just aren’t good enough hitters for that to matter, nor do they possess anything resembling speed. The fact is, baseball is not played in a vacuum. It’s played between the ears, and certain guys provide value from a mental standpoint that others just don’t. The Mets are in the NLCS because they were sparked by minor league free agent José Iglesias. Keith Law doesn’t think he’s the reason, but every Mets player thinks he is, and that counts (Having Francisco Lindor doesn’t hurt, either. That's an energy guy, too.) The Yankees' whole dynamic changed with the addition of Jazz Chisholm. The Padres had Jackson Merrill, Luis Arraez and Manny Machado, and it seems as though the Guardians entirely consist of energy guys. Maybe momentum isn’t really a thing, but confidence is. If I’m in the on-deck circle down a run, and I see a player who doubles as the team’s mascot bloop a single over the second baseman and go crazy at first base, my mentality is completely shifted. There is blood in the water. The crowd is into it, the dugout is screaming, the opposing manager is pacing and the pitcher is liable to make a mistake. That’s what the Twins didn’t have this year. You can’t quantify upsetting a pitcher’s rhythm or shaking their confidence, but that’s a huge part of baseball. When a pitcher gets rattled, that’s when selective, talented, stationary hitters like Drew do their best work. As the 2023 Guardians showed, you need both types. Now for the Twins, Nick Gordon, Jorge Polanco and Arraez are gone and the pipeline for energy guys is questionable at best. Emmanuel Rodriguez will make his debut next year, but his approach at the plate is ultra-patient and doubters worry he may be too passive. Top ten global prospect Walker Jenkins is a pure hitter who works counts and drives the ball, and J.D. Drew might be a good comp for him if things break right. Given payroll limitations, DaShawn Keirsey Jr. might have a larger role next year regardless of whether the team wants to double down on a lineup full of even-keeled mistake hunters who are skeptical there is such a thing as a “double steal.” Keirsey is fast, aggressive and has tons of tattoos. He’s the closest thing this team has to what they lack. My hope is that the team leaves its pitching alone, especially the top three starters. The big move needs to come from the core (or future core) of its lineup. Lewis, Julien, Jeffers, Wallner and Larnach should all be on the table, as well as Rodriguez and maybe even Jenkins. It’s not that any of those players have a bad future ahead of them, but this team needs to diversify its lineup with speed, athleticism, and most importantly, energy. Otherwise, they are going to continue with months-long hitting slumps and job-insecure hitting coaches, and we'll continue wondering why it doesn't quite work. View full article

The Twins actually took a lead in this one! A couple of bad pitches from Bailey Ober reversed that trend, and the offense went quiet, as the team ended their year on a four-game losing streak, leaving their final record at 82-80. Image courtesy of © Matt Krohn-Imagn Images Box Score: Starting Pitcher: Bailey Ober: 5 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 4 K (74 Pitches, 55 Strikes, 74.3%) Home Runs: Carlos Santana (23), DaShawn Keirsey Jr. (1) Bottom 3 WPA: Royce Lewis (-.150), Scott Blewett (-.143), Ober (-.133) Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs): The season wound itself to a merciful end today, with the announcement that both Rocco Baldelli and Derek Falvey would return for the 2025 season preceding the game action. Why Baldelli or Falvey would want to stick around is another question. Bailey Ober made his 31st start of the year, with the only real goal to keep his ERA below 4.00 for the year (he entered at 3.94). He cruised through an Orioles lineup with nothing to play for with his change-up looking sharp initially, and his fastball back to 91-92 MPH. The Orioles countered with Albert Suarez, who has quietly delivered over 130 innings of above-average pitching for a Baltimore staff beset by injuries. Nothing jumps off the page for Suarez, but he has kept the O's in games, and he did so again. The Twins kept traffic on the bases, but the only runs they scored were on a second-inning home run for Carlos Santana, who wraps his year in Minnesota with 23 home runs; and the first major-league home for DaShawn Keirsey Jr., who stroked a ball into the overhang in right field in the fourth. Ober's change was a little less precise in the fifth inning. Playing with a 2-0 lead, Ober let his offspeed get hit for singles by Ryan O'Hearn and Cedric Mullins, and James McCann, who let two bats slip into his own dugout on swings his first at-bat, held on this time and crushed a change-up 105 MPH to flip the game for the Orioles. The ERA? 3.98. Jorge Alcala pitched a nice sixth inning, and the Twins tried to mount a rally in their half of that inning. Brooks Lee blooped a single to right, and Royce Lewis ripped a line drive up the middle that was speared by Orioles' second baseman Jordan Westburg, who then doubled off Lee. Lewis actually expressed frustration, as he threw his bat down in disgust. Maybe some sincere emotions will do the young star some good as opposed to his typical rendition of "wow this root canal is such a great opportunity!" I could see that being pretty annoying in a clubhouse. Cole Sands was sent out for the seventh, despite everyone knowing his knee wasn't right. He aggravated it and had to leave the game in favor of the overworked Scott Blewett, who tried to gut out his appearance but eventually allowed a bases loaded hit to Westburg as the Orioles expanded their lead to 5-2. Heston Kjerstad homered off of Randy Dobnak in the eighth for the final run of the game. Trends: Healthy Hurt Performing Contributing Low Impact IL/Minors C Ryan Jeffers 📉 Christian Vazquez 📉 1B Carlos Santana 📉 Alex Kirilloff 📉 Jose Miranda 📉 2B Edouard Julien 📉 Kyle Farmer 📈' 3B Royce Lewis 📈 SS Carlos Correa 📈 Brooks Lee 📉 LF Matt Wallner 📉 Trevor Larnach 📈 Austin Martin 📈 CF Byron Buxton 📈 Manuel Margot 📉 DaShawn Keirsey Jr. 📈 RF Max Kepler 📈 UTIL Willi Castro 📈 Michael Helman 📈 SP Pablo Lopez 📉 Bailey Ober 📈 Joe Ryan 📉 Chris Paddack 📈 RSP David Festa 📈 Zebby Matthews 📈 Simeon Woods Richardson 📉 CR Jhoan Duran 📉 Griffin Jax 📉 SR Brock Stewart 📉 Louie Varland 📈 Cole Sands 📈 MR Caleb Thielbar 📉 Scott Blewett 📈 Michael Tonkin 📈 LR Josh Winder 📉 Ronny Henriquez 📈 Brent Headrick 📉 Randy Dobnak 📈 What’s Next: The Twins business side will try to provide cover for the catastrophe they caused. Chris Paddack and Christian Vazquez will be traded for minimal returns so the receiving team will agree to pay their salaries. Tied to a chair with an apple in his mouth, Falvey will acquire Cooper Criswell from Boston to replace Paddack. Marco Raya will have his innings reduced back to four innings per start. Alcala will be hired as Pete Maki's personal butler in exchange for assurances he will be offered arbitration. Lee will figure out his left-handed swing, and proceed to hit .150 from the right side. First base will be manned by Ty France after signing a $4-million deal that represents the largest free agent expenditure of the offseason, and he will make 12-15 outs on the bases for no reason while slugging under .400. The Twins will pick up Will Brennan off waivers from the Guardians and give him a ton of playing time, before DFA'ing him in May. Alex Kirilloff will be traded to the Astros and hit .280/.340/.500. Jomboy Media will give the Pohlads $100 to put Twins games picture-in-picture during their warehouse events, but blackouts will remain. LaVelle E. Neal III will champion this as a smart business decision and remain single. Or..... Postgame Interviews: Bullpen Usage Chart: TUE WED THU FRI SAT TOT Blewett 20 0 39 0 17 76 Tonkin 25 0 18 18 0 61 Alcalá 0 20 17 0 18 55 Varland 0 48 0 0 0 48 Sands 0 16 17 0 13 46 Durán 0 14 31 0 0 45 Jax 0 20 13 0 0 33 Dobnak 0 0 0 0 30 30 Thielbar 3 0 11 15 0 29 Topa 0 8 5 0 0 13 View full article

With their season in the balance, the Twins welcomed the National League's worst team, featuring a manager who knows he won't return for 2025. Of course, they lost easily, driving a stake further into the heart of a depressing season. Image courtesy of © Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images Box Score: Starting Pitcher: Bailey Ober: 5 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 7 K (89 Pitches, 58 Strikes, 65.1%) Home Runs: None Bottom 3 WPA: Ober (-.217), Kyle Farmer (-.110), Ryan Jeffers (-.083) Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs): If the Twins' season was a single game, they fell behind early but bounced back and carried an eight-run lead into the fifth. They allowed two runs in that inning, two more in the sixth, two more in the seventh, and two more in the eighth. Another run scored in the ninth, and they now faced a deficit for the first time since May. Fortunately, they had Bailey Ober pitching on "Bark at the Park" night. Unfortunately, the Miami Marlins have been a trap team their entire existence. Miami started Ryan Weathers, the former San Diego top prospect and son of former Reds closer, David Weathers. He throws hard from the left side and has had some success this year. The Twins rolled out a 100% righty lineup with their season on the line and threatened in the first. Carlos Correa hit a screaming double over the center fielder and Byron Buxton was hit by a pitch. Carlos Santana then popped out and Royce Lewis was retired on a sharp line drive (107 MPH) right to right fielder Jesus Sanchez. Ober was ready to cruise against one of the worst lineups in baseball, but what Miami lacks in star power they make up for in post-hype prospects that really aren't that bad, Weathers included. The second began with a homer from Jonah Bride off a fastball at the top of the zone that Miami's DH got on top of, something you rarely see with Ober's fastball when located well. Oh well, solo home runs won't kill you. Except Ober then hit Derek Hill with a pitch with two outs, allowed a bloop hit to Otto Lopez and then left a pitch up in the zone to light-hitting catcher Nick Fortes, who smacked a single the other way to score the game's second run. Ober was clearly frustrated and threw another mistake to Xavier Edwards, who doubled to left-center to score two more runs. In the blink of an eye, the score was 4-0. Ober's velocity was down a bit, sitting at 90 MPH and dipping into the 80s at points. He also left a few cutters hanging in the middle of the zone (see above), and not all of them were hit, or even swung at. In short, it could have been worse. The Twins put traffic on in most innings, and with one out in the third, Lewis rifled a base hit through the left side to score Buxton, who had reached on an infield hit and advanced on a Santana walk. The trouble was that Kyle Farmer hit into an inning ending double play. It's funny, but Farmer is kind of who you wanted to see in that situation, with his recent hot-hitting and career-long ability to punish left-handed pitching. As the Twins and their fans have learned, when your season is circling the toilet, you can't un-flush. Correa delivered his second hit in the fifth with one out, and Buxton doubled to the corner to put runners on second and third with Santana up facing a lefty. The Twins first baseman was retired on a foul pop up and Lewis tapped to third to waste another opportunity. Ober gutted his way through five innings, but walked Derek Hill to start the sixth and was removed for the Twins new best pitcher, Scott Blewett, who quickly got a double play ball and got through the inning unscathed. Matt Wallner was called upon to pinch hit in the sixth and struck out while being frozen on a breaking ball, He then grabbed his side and was removed from the game. That is one injury this team cannot afford; Wallner has been their only effective and healthy hitter for a while now. Willi Castro led off the seventh with a 3-2 single, but Brooks Lee tapped out, Correa struck out, and Buxton flied out to end whatever threat there was. A last flicker of hope was extinguished in the eighth. Santana led of with a walk against tough righty Anthony Bender. Trevor Larnach, hitting for Wallner, laced a single to center following a lineout from Lewis. Jeffers then popped out for the twelfth time in his last eleven at-bats, and the inning was left to the forgotten Edouard Julien, who hadn't taken a plate appearance in a week. One thing I've noticed about Julien is that his opposite-field fly balls are just about ten feet shorter than last year and right on queue, he flew out short of the warning track to end the inning. Cole Irvin pitched a scoreless inning despite himself (two walks, one wild pitch). Trends: Healthy Hurt Performing Contributing Low Impact IL/Minors C Ryan Jeffers 📉 Christian Vazquez 📉 1B Carlos Santana 📉 Alex Kirilloff 📉 Jose Miranda 📉 2B Edouard Julien 📉 Kyle Farmer 📈' 3B Royce Lewis 📈 SS Carlos Correa 📈 Brooks Lee 📉 LF Matt Wallner 📉 Trevor Larnach 📈 Austin Martin 📉 CF Byron Buxton 📈 Manuel Margot 📉 DaShawn Keirsey Jr. 📈 RF Max Kepler 📈 UTIL Willi Castro 📈 Michael Helman 📈 SP Pablo Lopez 📉 Bailey Ober Joe Ryan 📉 Chris Paddack 📈 RSP David Festa 📈 Zebby Matthews 📈 Simeon Woods Richardson 📉 CR Jhoan Duran 📉 Griffin Jax 📉 SR Brock Stewart 📉 Cole Irvin 📉 Cole Sands 📈 MR Caleb Thielbar 📈 Scott Blewett 📈 Michael Tonkin 📈 Louie Varland 📈 LR Josh Winder 📉 Ronny Henriquez 📈 Brent Headrick 📉 Diego Castillo 📈 What’s Next: Simeon Woods Richardson (5-5, 4.00 ERA) opposes Edward Cabrera (4-8, 5.12 ERA) as the Twins play out the string. Cabrera has great stuff and an incredible change-up, and was the subject of Twitter-based trade speculation last off-season, In reality, he has struggled with injuries and command in his brief career, but also scouts should throw out positive results against the Twins in the past month. Postgame Interviews: (Coming soon) Bullpen Usage Chart: FRI SAT SUN MON TUE TOT Tonkin 14 0 37 0 25 76 Headrick 0 0 60 0 0 60 Irvin 0 0 25 0 19 44 Blewett 12 0 7 0 20 39 Sands 16 0 20 0 0 36 Thielbar 10 0 17 0 3 30 Durán 20 0 0 0 0 20 Varland 13 0 0 0 0 13 Jax 8 0 0 0 0 8 View full article

Coming off a win that has been described as both "gifted" and the "best win of the year," the Twins decided to take game one of today's doubleheader off. Nick Pivetta dominated them on the mound and Triston Casas outscored the Twins by six runs by himself. Image courtesy of © Eric Canha-Imagn Images Box Score: Starting Pitcher: Pablo Lopez: 4 IP, 9 H, 7 ER, 1 BB 3 K (86 Pitches, 56 Strikes, 65.1%) Home Runs: None Bottom 3 WPA: Lopez (-.315), Willi Castro (-.060), Trevor Larnach (-.056) Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs): Following a merciful rainout of Saturday's game, there was a lot on the line in game one of a doubleheader against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Pablo López, who carried a 1.12 ERA over the past month (almost exactly coinciding with the team's freefall), faced a Boston lineup now lacking its $300-million superstar, Rafael Devers, who finally called it quits on the season after playing through injuries in both of his shoulders for the past few months. The Twins got right to work against Red Sox starter, Nick Pivetta, who is as likely to strike out 10 as he is to serve up five home runs in a start. Byron Buxton led off by flipping a single to right field. Trevor Larnach advanced him to second with a hard smash that was expertly gloved by Boston's first baseman, Triston Casas. Carlos Correa walked, and Buxton advanced to third on a curious interference play. Pivetta tried to pick Buxton off of second base, and in catching the ball, shortstop Trevor Story put his knee down to block Buxton's access to the base. The umpiring crew conferred and granted Buxton third base, much to Boston manager Alex Cora's chagrin. Cora made a whole production out of his displeasure and was ejected from the game pretty quickly. That may have given Pivetta the breather he needed, as he struck out Matt Wallner, walked Royce Lewis and induced a popout from Willi Castro to end the threat. That momentum swing was compounded when, after an impressive strikeout of Jarren Duran, López induced a weak dribbler from Romy Gonzalez, which hit first base and popped into Carlos Santana's chest for a gifted single. Looking for a ground-ball double play, Lopez got the grounder off the bat of the slow-footed Masataka Yoshida, but it scooted past the shifted Lewis for another single. Story struck out on a high fastball, but Casas was waiting for a fastball and got one down in the zone that he crushed for a three-run home run. After an uneventful second inning, López got Gonzalez to ground out to start the third. Yoshida and Story both singled on elevated offspeed pitches, which brought up Casas once again. This time, López started him with a changeup, naturally, but with the count 2-2, he tried to sneak a fastball by him up and away. Casas lifted it the other way, over the Green Monster for another three-run bomb. Red Sox 6, Twins 0. López's velocity had been trending up recently, with some of his fastest career pitches coming in the past month. Today, he threw quite a few 93-MPH fastballs and topped out at 95 MPH. The Twins scratched across a run in the fourth, with a Castro infield single, groundout, sacrifice fly and error. Buxton ended the inning with a line shot toward the Pesky Pole, which right fielder Wilyer Abreau made a tremendous catch on as he ran into the wall. What looked like maybe a 6-3 game with Buxton's ball in the air quickly became 7-1. Duran singled and stole second, and Gonzalez hit a five-hopper up the middle to score the speedy leadoff man. López was done after four, and newly recalled Brent Headrick got to make his season debut against... Triston Casas. Headrick's second pitch of his year was a fastball at the top of the zone that Casas pummeled 423 feet, past the triangle in center field for his third home run in five innings. Casas, who tore his rib cage cartilage in April and missed four months, is a big reason why the Red Sox feel confident about their future (in addition to three top-25 global prospects in the high minors). He posted an .856 OPS his rookie year in 2023 and added about 80 points to his 2024 OPS just today. The Twins had traffic in each of their five innings against Pivetta, but went down 1-2-3 against fungible reliever Luis Garcia in the sixth, which prompted Rocco Baldelli to throw in the towel and remove Correa and Buxton from the game. They made nary a whimper the rest of the game as the Boston bullpen, almost 100% responsible for their fall from contention as a team, cruised to victory. Trends: Healthy Hurt Performing Contributing Low Impact IL/Minors C Ryan Jeffers 📉 Christian Vazquez 📈 1B Carlos Santana 📉 Alex Kirilloff 📉 Jose Miranda 📉 2B Edouard Julien 📉 Kyle Farmer 📈' 3B Royce Lewis 📈 SS Carlos Correa 📈 Brooks Lee 📉 LF Matt Wallner 📈 Trevor Larnach 📈 Austin Martin 📉 CF Byron Buxton 📈 Manuel Margot 📉 DaShawn Keirsey Jr. 📈 RF Max Kepler 📈 UTIL Willi Castro 📈 Michael Helman 📈 SP Pablo Lopez 📉 Bailey Ober 📈 Joe Ryan 📉 Chris Paddack 📈 RSP David Festa 📉 Zebby Matthews 📈 Simeon Woods Richardson 📉 CR Jhoan Duran 📉 Griffin Jax 📉 SR Brock Stewart 📉 Cole Irvin 📈 Cole Sands 📈 MR Caleb Thielbar 📈 Scott Blewett 📈 Michael Tonkin 📈 Louie Varland LR Josh Winder 📉 Ronny Henriquez 📈 Brent Headrick 📉 Diego Castillo 📈 What’s Next: Zebby Matthews (1-3, 6.30 ERA) goes against Kutter Crawford (8-15, 4.19 ERA) as the Twins try to salvage a split of the double header. Crawford is a good pitcher despite the inflated surface numbers, as opposing hitters have hit a combined .220 over the past two seasons. He does like to give up home runs, however, allowing a league-leading 33 of them this year in 171 innings pitched. And yes, he does throw a cutter. Postgame Interviews: (Coming soon) Bullpen Usage Chart: WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT Headrick 0 0 0 0 60 60 Varland 10 16 13 0 0 39 Sands 0 17 16 0 0 33 Durán 11 0 20 0 0 31 Irvin 0 30 0 0 0 30 Jax 0 15 8 0 0 23 Thielbar 0 12 10 0 0 22 Blewett 0 0 12 0 7 19 Tonkin 2 0 14 0 0 16 View full article

It wasn't without some scary moments, but the Twins held everything together this time, collecting a much-needed and relatively straightforward win in Cleveland. Image courtesy of © David Richard-USA TODAY Sports Box Score: Starting Pitcher: Zebby Matthews: 4 2/3 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K (76 Pitches, 47 Strikes, 61.8%) Home Runs: Willi Castro (12) Bottom 3 WPA: Matt Wallner (.250), Castro (.205), Matthews (.121) Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs): Full disclosure: I wouldn't have watched this game if I wasn't assigned to report on it. Watching the Guardians is excruciating, worse than any Yankee game, including the playoffs. If I have to watch the Twins carry a one- or two-run lead to the late innings and that godforsaken Will Brennan gets one more bloop hit to set off a rally, I will not be in a healthy place mentally. I would gladly prefer that José Ramírez, whom I dislike personally for the market impacts of his contract (as well as his flagrant assault of Tim Anderson), actually win one of these games for Cleveland, instead of going 0-4 and letting some weird-looking rookie drive home the go-ahead run for the 40th time in three years, after the Twins blew easy scoring chances in each of innings two through six. Just for a change of pace; I expect to lose, just mix it up a little. Sometimes when you lose all hope, that's all you need. Today's game featured two rookies, Zebby Matthews for Minnesota, and Gavin Williams for Cleveland. Williams was much-heralded as a prospect, and watching him pitch with his hammer curve, 94 MPH cutter and 98 MPH fastball, its hard to imagine how he has an ERA over 5.00, but he has given up a lot of hard contact. Matthews is still figuring out how many strikes to throw and when, and if tonight didn't go well, I wouldn't have been surprised if newly signed Cole Irvin takes his final two starts of the year. Matthews certainly looked like he was pitching for his job at the start, hitting 97 MPH with his fastball and retiring the first five hitters he faced. After a walk to Monday night's hero, Kyle Manzardo, Brennan delivered his customary bloop hit, but Matthews struck out Bo Naylor on a sharp slider to end the threat. Williams pitched well against the Twins in August, and cruised through the first few innings, getting a lot of chase from aggressive Twins hitters. Ryan Jeffers broke the seal with a swinging bunt to start the third, and after two outs, Byron Buxton worked a walk. That brought up Matt Wallner, who was in a 0-17 skid. He fell behind 0-2, but took a tough cutter for a ball and then stroked a mistake fastball into right field to score Jeffers. Matthews allowed a runner into scoring position for Ramírez with two outs in the third, but struck out Cleveland's third baseman with a darting slider way out of the zone for the third out. But hey, if these games were won in the first three or four innings, the Twins would be 8-2 in these match-ups, not 2-8. Right on cue, Lane Thomas demolished a fastball 424 feet from Matthews in the bottom of the fourth. Matthews didn't let that snowball, however, and retired the side after the homer, including a challenge strikeout of Brennan on a middle-middle fastball. The Twins responded with two outs in the fifth. Buxton, whom we were all concerned would be rusty and/or limited physically coming back from his hip injury (which is by no means healed), rocketed a ball 107 MPH into the gap and easily turned the hit into a double, despite the ball being cut off by the center fielder. Wallner then fought a ball off his hands over Andrés Giménez's outstretched glove to score Buxton. Matthews allowed a leadoff hit in the fifth, but got a key double play from Brayan Rocchio, who was initially attempting to bunt. Facing the lineup a third time, he allowed a sharp single to Angel Martinez, which prompted Rocco Baldelli to turn to his new acquisition, lefty starter Cole Irvin. Irvin got Giménez on a one-hopper to Royce Lewis, and the game marched on, a slow drumbeat toward the inevitable--or so it seemed. Twins Daily's winning "Make It Official!" game recaps are sponsored by Official Fried Chicken, which you can find in center field of Target Field. With a name like "Official," we know we have to be the best in the game every day, and from your first bite, you'll know that's a promise we make good on. With one out in the top of the seventh, Buxton drew his second walk of the game. Baldelli was then faced with a test: Wallner was due up and the Guardians were bringing in lefty Tim Herrin. Manuel Margot has more range in right field and is employed to hit lefties, but he is 0-28 pinch-hitting this year. Make that 0-29, as he chopped into an inning-ending double play. The drumbeats grew louder. Baldelli made, perhaps, an even more curious decision in the bottom of the frame, with Ronny Henriquez taking over for Sands. This was partially a result of an even stranger decision from the front office: the optioning of Jorge Alcalá. Manzardo bleeds a single up the middle. Myles Straw pinch runs (he's fast). Brennan bats. Henriquez picks to first and... Straw is OUT? Has the curse been broken? With no momentum to capitalize on, Brennan actually makes an out. That brings up Cleveland's no-hit, no-field catcher, Bo Naylor. He grounds out. What is going on here? Is Henriquez an answer? Did the offbeat choice to go to a middle reliever in a high-leverage spot throw off the cruel universe's rhythm? The Guardians then brought in their most flammable reliever, Nick Sandlin. He got Santana to pop out and fooled Lewis so badly on a slider that trainers came out to check on the oft-injured slugger's wrist. But there is a reason Sandlin is the bane of every Cleveland fan's existence: Larnach stroked a single and then the struggling and forgotten Willi Castro murdered a fastball middle-in to change the game and give the Twins a three-run lead. What am I talking about? A three-run lead late against Cleveland is more like a two-run deficit. In any case, Jhoan Durán was brought in to keep them in the game. But he didn't let the leadoff hitter on. He got the next guy, too, with a tremendous diving stop from Santana robbing Martinez of a sure hit. Then Giménez, who exists only to play defense and torment the Twins, struck out on an excellent Durán curveball. This one was really going to hurt. It felt like that scene in the Lord of the Rings when the stupidest hobbit drops the chain down the well. It looked for a bit like the Twins' most hobbit-like reliever, Louie Varland, was coming in to close it out, but this was a clever ruse by Baldelli, who opted to use Durán for another inning. To no one's surprise, Ramírez doubled. The good Naylor struck out. Lane Thomas worked the count to 3-2. Durán's pitch count got to 30. A close pitch was called ball four, and Griffin Jax was summoned with the tying run at home plate. All-Star David Fry was summoned to pinch-hit. Jax manhandled him, striking out Fry on four pitches. But Brennan was next, and despite having little power, you could tell he was trying to tie the game up with one swing. Instead, Jax got him to tap a ball to Brooks Lee, who booted the ball, giving the Guardians life. Visions of the hole in C.J. Cron's glove whirled around my head. But before the moment could sink in and sink the Twins, Bo Naylor swung at the first pitch and tapped back to Jax, who took the ball himself for the game-winning out. Trends: Healthy Hurt Performing Contributing Low Impact IL/Minors C Ryan Jeffers 📉 Christian Vazquez 📈 1B Carlos Santana 📈 Alex Kirilloff 📉 Jose Miranda 📉 2B Edouard Julien 📉 Kyle Farmer 📈' 3B Royce Lewis 📈 SS Carlos Correa 📈 Brooks Lee 📈 LF Matt Wallner 📈 Trevor Larnach 📈 Austin Martin 📉 CF Byron Buxton 📈 Manuel Margot 📉 DaShawn Keirsey Jr. 📈 RF Max Kepler 📉 UTIL Willi Castro 📈 Michael Helman 📈 SP Pablo Lopez 📈 Bailey Ober 📈 Joe Ryan 📉 Chris Paddack 📈 RSP David Festa 📉 Zebby Matthews 📈 Simeon Woods Richardson 📉 CR Jhoan Duran 📉 Griffin Jax 📉 SR Brock Stewart 📉 Cole Irvin 📈 Cole Sands 📈 MR Caleb Thielbar 📈 Scott Blewett 📈 Michael Tonkin 📈 Louie Varland 📉 LR Josh Winder 📉 Ronny Henriquez 📈 Randy Dobnak 📉 Diego Castillo 📈 Stray Notes: -This team has very little speed to work with. With Larnach, who can't run due to a hamstring issue, on first in the eighth, the Twins pinch-running options were Christian Vazquez, Jose Miranda and the footless Carlos Correa. Ouch. -How hurt is Miranda exactly? He hasn't played either of the Cleveland games and Margot was the choice to pinch-hit for Wallner. He had a back issue in July and when he returned got drilled in the head by a fastball. Perhaps it is some combination of those maladies, or perhaps a new issue has surfaced? What’s Next: Bailey Ober (12-7, 3.90 ERA) opposes Tanner Bibee (11-8, 3.60 ERA) in game three of the series. Ober has been pretty great outside of a couple of fluke outings and fluke innings, and dominated the Guardians at Target Field in August. Bibee has been no slouch himself, and is likely the de facto ace of the Guardian's staff. He has had plenty of success against the Twins, with a 2.73 ERA over six starts in his career. Postgame Interviews: Bullpen Usage Chart: FRI SAT SUN MON TUE TOT Sands 0 0 36 0 14 50 Blewett 0 41 0 0 0 41 Thielbar 0 27 0 13 0 40 Durán 0 0 0 0 30 30 Varland 0 29 0 0 0 29 Jax 0 0 0 21 8 29 Tonkin 28 0 0 0 0 28 Henríquez 0 0 17 0 10 27 Irvin 0 0 0 0 3 3 View full article

In a game the Twins had to win, they certainly set things up to mirror their recent losses, with a short start from a rookie pitcher and a sleepy lineup for the first five innings. They turned it on from there, though, with a big RBI single from the struggling Brooks Lee and a huge home run from human security blanket Carlos Santana. Image courtesy of © Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports Box Score: Starting Pitcher: David Festa: 3 2/3 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K (72 Pitches, 40 Strikes, 55.5%) Home Runs: Carlos Santana (22) Top 3 WPA: Santana (.252), Brooks Lee (.224), Ryan Jeffers (.162) Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs): The Twins were teetering once again, following two rough losses to a mediocre Reds team. Their stars, Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa, returned over the weekend, but couldn't overcome major blowups from Jorge Alcalá and Louie Varland. Prime Barry Bonds wouldn't have helped, either. Today, both players were given the day off to get them as fresh as possible for Monday's pivotal series in Cleveland. Early on, it looked like David Festa was going to throw a gem. He was locating, and his stuff looked electric, aside from throwing the first pitch right off of a cyst on Jonathan India's elbow. India quickly pulled a Torii Hunter and stole second and advanced to third on a groundout from Elly De La Cruz. He tried to come home on the contact play, but was gunned down by Royce Lewis for the second out. Festa then struck out TJ Friedl on a nasty changeup to end the frame. He got three more easy grounders in the second, but then struck out Noelvi Marte, India and De La Cruz in convincing fashion in the third. The second time through the lineup, however, was not as crisp as far as location. He left a changeup up to Tyler Stephenson and a slider on a platter to Spencer Steer in the fourth. Stephenson lined a sharp single and Steer lined a triple hard off the scoreboard for the game's first run. Ty France then delivered a sacrifice fly to double the deficit. That looked tragically difficult to overcome, since this lineup has struggled against non-Angels pitching in recent weeks. Opposing Festa was the Reds' first-round pick from last year, Rhett Lowder. The rookie was selected two picks after the Twins took Walker Jenkins, so Reds fans are pretty jazzed about the guy, and he looked great. It is odd to see pitchability be a carrying trait for a young pitcher, but Lowder was as-advertised, pitching to all quadrants of the strike zone with a darting two-seamer, fading change and sweeping slider. The Twins made some hard contact in the first, including a Lewis 108-MPH single, and a Trevor Larnach 112-MPH lineout to end the inning. But that's how the script has been lately. They couldn't get anything going for a while following that promising first inning, and Festa didn't end up getting the final out in the fourth. Determined not to give up the big hit and big inning that has plagued the Twins lately, Festa tried to be too fine and walked his last two batters. He exited with the bases loaded, and ask Zebby Matthews or Simeon Woods Richardson how that has gone lately. Fortunately, in this case, Ronny Henriquez induced India to hit a grounder up the middle that Kyle Farmer made a nice play on, and that I would feel queasy imagining Edouard Julien attempting. The Twins quickly got things going in their half of the fourth. Lewis led off with another sharp single, and Carlos Santana got him to third with a single of his own. With no outs, the Twins could afford to be conservative with their baserunning, but Lewis had no interest in that- Larnach dribbled a ball up the first base line, and first baseman Ty France gloved it, stepped on first and then threw to home to get Lewis in a rundown, a crushing double play. Fortunately, Willi Castro flipped a single on the next pitch, scoring Santana and getting something out of the inning. Twins Daily's winning "Make It Official!" game recaps are sponsored by Official Fried Chicken, which you can find in center field of Target Field. With a name like "Official," we know we have to be the best in the game every day, and from your first bite, you'll know that's a promise we make good on. The Reds greeted Henriquez in the fifth with consecutive singles from De La Cruz and Stephenson. However, De La Cruz got greedy trying to stretch a bleeder up the middle into a double, and was thrown out by Castro, with an athletic, spinning tag from Brooks Lee securing the out. Henriquez was able to turn that good fortune into a scoreless inning, and the Twins were through five with only two runs allowed. The Twins finally chased Lowder in the sixth, as the young righty appeared to tire, allowing a sharp lineout to Lewis and a double to right from Santana, followed by a walk to Larnach. Tony Santillan came in, struck out Willi Castro and got ahead of Ryan Jeffers 0-2. Jeffers hung in against some tough pitches and eventually got hold of a hanging slider, roping it to left for a game-tying double. That brought up the struggling Lee, who looked bad on a couple of swings en route to a 2-2 count against the high-octane Santillan. He ended up getting on top of a high fastball, though, lacing it into center field for a game-breaking two-run single. Cole Sands had entered the game in the sixth and delivered a scoreless frame with two strikeouts. He returned for the seventh, and that inning started forebodingly, as De La Cruz walked and was looking for his 100th career stolen base (he has not played two full seasons yet). Sands did a decent job of varying his delivery and De La Cruz got a mediocre jump. Jeffers threw high, but Farmer tagged the speedy Reds shortstop on the backside, and the out was called after a coach's challenge. Sands then struck out Stephenson (who is a menace when healthy) on a fastball in on his hands, and Steer popped out to end the inning. Santana added some insurance in the seventh. After Lewis drew a two-out walk, the Twins first baseman lifted a Justin Wilson cutter off the facing of the second deck in left field. Larnach followed with a ringing double off the lefty, Castro was hit by a pitch, and Jeffers singled to load the bases back up for Lee, who now has only three hits in his last 28 at-bats. All three have produced multiple RBIs, as Lee cleared the bases from the left side with a line shot down the first base line that ended up a triple. Not since Brandon Inge was still hobbling around for Detroit has a less productive hitter produced so many big hits in such a short time. Jorge Alcalá threw two scoreless innings to seal the victory after bleaching his hair. He did look less tense, although the lead was established by the time he came in. Trends: Healthy Hurt Performing Contributing Low Impact IL/Minors C Ryan Jeffers 📈 Christian Vazquez 📈 1B Carlos Santana 📈 Alex Kirilloff 📉 Jose Miranda 📉 2B Edouard Julien 📉 Kyle Farmer 📈' 3B Royce Lewis 📈 SS Carlos Correa 📈 Brooks Lee 📈 LF Matt Wallner 📈 Trevor Larnach 📈 Austin Martin 📉 CF Byron Buxton 📈 Manuel Margot 📉 DaShawn Keirsey Jr. 📈 RF Max Kepler 📉 UTIL Willi Castro 📉 Michael Helman 📈 SP Pablo Lopez 📈 Bailey Ober 📈 Joe Ryan 📉 Chris Paddack 📈 RSP David Festa 📉 Zebby Matthews 📉 Simeon Woods Richardson 📉 CR Jhoan Duran 📉 Griffin Jax 📈 SR Brock Stewart 📉 Jorge Alcala 📉 Cole Sands 📈 MR Caleb Thielbar 📈 Scott Blewett 📈 Michael Tonkin 📈 Louie Varland 📉 LR Josh Winder 📉 Ronny Henriquez 📈 Randy Dobnak 📉 Diego Castillo 📈 Stray Notes: -Matt Wallner hit leadoff and had some excellent at-bats with nothing to show for it. -The Twins have suffered significant player injuries against the Reds in recent years. In 2020, Buxton was hit in the head by a Lucas Sims pitch and his presence in the postseason that year was depressing as a result. In 2021, Buxton was just returning from a hip injury and got hit on the hand by Tyler Mahle and missed two more months. In 2023, Correa sustained the rupture in his plantar fasciitis in Cincinnati, while Lewis strained his hamstring which put his postseason status in doubt. -Larnach was really laboring around the bases today, with his turf toe injury still lingering. He barely made it to second on his seventh inning double. What’s Next: Pablo Lopez (15-8, 3.88 ERA) faces off against the Guardians' Matthew Boyd (2-1, 2.18 ERA). Teams have thought they could "fix" Boyd for a decade now, and wouldn't you know it, the Guardians may have actually found something in him just in time to prop up their rotation for the stretch run. The Twins need a series win in the four game set in the worst way, not to catch Cleveland, but to maintain their tenuous hold on the sixth wild card spot. Postgame Interviews: (coming soon) Bullpen Usage Chart: WED THU FRI SAT SUN TOT Alcalá 14 0 9 0 31 54 Sands 16 0 0 0 36 52 Thielbar 18 0 0 27 0 45 Blewett 0 0 0 41 0 41 Varland 0 0 0 29 0 29 Tonkin 0 0 28 0 0 28 Durán 22 0 0 0 0 22 Jax 20 0 0 0 0 20 Henríquez 0 0 0 0 17 17 View full article

The Twins uh, haven't been great lately. Fortunately for them, the Angels haven't been a functional team for a decade. Kyle Farmer roused the rally sausage out of retirement with a big three-run home run, and Pablo Lopez survived a mid-game rally to continue his roll as the Twins finally got an easy(ish) win. Image courtesy of © Jordan Johnson-Imagn Images Box Score: Starting Pitcher: Pablo Lopez: 7 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 10 K (105 Pitches, 70 Strikes, 66.6%) Home Runs: Kyle Farmer (5), Matt Wallner (12), Carlos Santana (21) Top 3 WPA: Santana (.236), Farmer (.192), Lopez (0.42) Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs): Following the Twins latest loss, this time to the woeful Angels of Anaheim, it was fair to ask if this was rock bottom. A 6-14 stretch will prompt those kinds of questions, but if Monday was the bottom, that meant Tuesday had to be better by default. Two factors supported that argument: Pablo Lopez has been great in the second half, but unbeknownst to many, so has Kyle Farmer, or at least since his return from the IL in August. He has a .568 slugging percentage since that point, and following a rare series of singles to start the second inning, demolished a three run homer to give the Twins a comfortable lead for the first time since the series finale in San Diego several weeks ago. But Lopez set the tone early, showcasing the increasingly potent raw stuff he has featured lately. He pitched around a double from Zach Neto in the first, and was in control from there, leaning heavily on his fastballs, but also commanding his secondary pitches well, including quite a few curveballs. Hitters that came up with an aggressive approach never got the pitch they were looking for, particularly the Angels' young catcher, Logan O'Hoppe, who struck out twice on a steady diet of offspeed stuff. Hitters that worked the count couldn't get the barrel on the ball, either. Meanwhile the Twins had little trouble getting out of their funk facing Angels righty Griffin Canning, who had a mild amount of hype as a prospect, but hasn't really developed into anything, with a 4.71 career ERA around a multitude of injuries and demotions. Matt Wallner hit a massive home run in the third, a healthy 448 feet, and Ryan Jeffers delivered a sacrifice fly later in the frame to make the game 6-0. But this team is still fighting it, and in the fifth, with Lopez still cruising, Edouard Julien got in front of a hot smash from Angels rookie Bryce Teodosio, picked up the ball and then glitched before firing to first, allowing Teodosio to reach with two outs. The hot-hitting Taylor Ward then hit a long single off the limestone in right field, and Neto then destroyed a Lopez sinker 428 feet to dead center field, quickly making the game 6-4. The pitch Neto hit wasn't terrible, a sinker up and away, but the young shortstop got his arms extended and the outcome was never in doubt. In recent weeks, the Twins MO would be to go down quickly the following inning and hand the ball back to their starter before he can catch his breath from the inning before. It appeared that sequence would come to fruition again, with Wallner and Jose Miranda making quick outs. But Trevor Larnach laid off some tough pitches before drawing a walk, and Carlos Santana made sure that would matter, as he reached out on a Canning change-up and launched a home run over the high right-center field wall to put the Twins back in control of the game. Defensive miscues from young players has been a recurring theme during the Twins recent cold stretch, but not in the sixth, with Lopez looking for a quick inning. Former first overall pick turned fifth outfield Mickey Moniak lined a ball to center that I immediately knew Austin Martin, Manuel Margot and Willi Castro wouldn't get to, but DaShawn Keirsey Jr. was out there tonight, and made an excellent diving catch for the first out of the inning. Brooks Lee has looked listless lately, but ranged to grab a grounder from O'Hoppe deep in the hole, and looked like prime Derek Jeter with a beautiful throw on the run to nab the Angels catcher. Twins Daily's winning "Make It Official!" game recaps are sponsored by Official Fried Chicken, which you can find in center field of Target Field. With a name like "Official," we know we have to be the best in the game every day, and from your first bite, you'll know thats a promise we make good on. The Twins piled on in the sixth. Farmer drew a one out walk, and Julien singled with two outs. Wallner then lifted a double off the wall in right-center for a double to get the lead back to six. The Angels are just a rich man's White Sox, but it was nice to see the Twins add on late in a game they had to win. Trends: Healthy Hurt Performing Contributing Low Impact IL/Minors C Ryan Jeffers 📈 Christian Vazquez 📈 1B Carlos Santana 📈 Alex Kirilloff 📉 Jose Miranda 📈 2B Edouard Julien 📈 Kyle Farmer 📈' 3B Royce Lewis 📉 SS Carlos Correa 📉 Brooks Lee 📉 LF Matt Wallner 📈 Trevor Larnach 📈 Austin Martin 📉 CF Byron Buxton 📉 Manuel Margot 📉 DaShawn Keirsey Jr. 📈 RF Max Kepler 📉 UTIL Willi Castro 📉 Michael Helman 📈 SP Pablo Lopez 📈 Bailey Ober 📈 Joe Ryan 📉 Chris Paddack 📈 RSP David Festa 📈 Zebby Matthews 📉 Simeon Woods Richardson 📉 CR Jhoan Duran 📉 Griffin Jax 📈 SR Brock Stewart 📉 Jorge Alcala 📈 Cole Sands 📈 MR Caleb Thielbar 📈 Scott Blewett 📈 Michael Tonkin 📈 Louie Varland 📈 LR Josh Winder 📈 Ronny Henriquez 📈 Randy Dobnak 📉 Diego Castillo 📈 Stray Notes: -With Christian Vazquez on the paternity list, Jeffers made a rare back-to-back catching appearance and drove in two runs. -Royce Lewis, in the midst of an 0-20 slide, was not in the lineup. Lee is now 0-18 and his at-bats have been dreadful, so he might be the next player to take a breather. -Louie Varland made his 2024 relief debut (not counting bulk appearances) and touched 101 MPH with his fastball as he made mincemeat out of the Angels Quad-A lineup, striking out two and breaking the bat of the other hitter he faced. He came back out for the ninth, but his velocity was down to 95 MPH and the Angels were able to string some hits against him. -Keirsey Jr. got his first big league hit in the eighth, dribbling a ball past the pitcher's mound and beating the feed from the pitcher easily. What’s Next: Zebby Matthews (1-3, 7.36 ERA) tries to justify his spot in the rotation as he faces young Angels righty Jack Kochanowicz (2-4, 4.89 ERA). Kochanowicz was a third round pick in 2019, but hasn't really had much success in the minor leagues and has only twelve strikeouts in 38 2/3 innings thus far for Los Angeles, a ratio which would make Carlos Silva blush. Postgame Interviews: (Coming soon) Bullpen Usage Chart: FRI SAT SUN MON TUE TOT Henríquez 13 0 0 29 0 42 Varland 0 0 0 0 35 35 Blewett 0 0 19 13 0 32 Tonkin 0 0 0 31 0 31 Sands 0 0 30 0 0 30 Thielbar 19 0 0 0 0 19 Durán 0 17 0 0 0 17 Alcalá 0 0 11 0 0 11 Jax 0 8 0 0 0 8 View full article