stringer bell

The Twins will remain in first for at least one more day. Cleveland gave up a 4-0 lead in the late innings and lost 6-4.

The answer is yes. If it is a "missed catch", the person who throws the ball gets an assist.

I'd put the error about 50-50 on Bell and Kreidler.

Well, that was a real close pitch in a high leverage spot, but Luke should have been protecting the plate.

I don't like Keaschall throwing changeups to first base. Pitchers do the same thing too often and sometimes airmail the ball.

It looked like the Twins made good contact on all three at-bats in the first, but couldn't find the gaps or the seats.

More balaclava weather tonight. The temp is SE Minnesota dropped more than 20 degrees after the thunderstorm passed through.

Twins lineup: hitters H-AB HR RBI SB AVG B. BuxtonCF 16-68 3 4 0 .235 A. MartinLF 12-38 1 3 2 .316 L. Keaschall2B 16-72 1 9 3 .222 R. JeffersDH 13-45 2 10 0 .289 J. Bell1B 15-63 3 14 0 .238 V. CaratiniC 14-54 1 8 0 .259 M. WallnerRF 13-68 3 6 0 .191 B. LeeSS 13-54 3 11 0 .241 R. Kreidler3B 2-11 2 4 0 .182

Sorry for the sad family news C-Gangster.

Coming to this thread late (Friday morning). Completely concur with @MGX that it is too soon to make judgments on Banda and particularly SWR. I read that Banda's velo is down considerably (2-3 mph) and that is a red flag. He was used a lot by the Dodgers last year, but fairly well shielded from facing elite RH hitters. With three left handers in the 'pen and no shut down right handers, Banda has faced more neutral opportunities. If he continues to struggle in his next several appearances, I wouldn't be surprised if he was cut loose or finds his way on the Injured List. Woods Richardson would seem to be the definition of a back-of-the-rotation starter. He doesn't have plus velocity or movement, so his margin for error is pretty small. He has provided value for the Twins in each of the last two years and is still a minimum salary guy who is quite young (25). I doubt anyone else in the organization could step in and be consistently better. He also seems to be a good student of the game and gets a lot out of his ability. Among the position players, the current "darlings" would be Gray and Kreidler. Gray is 30 and had 122 plate appearances coming into this year. So far, he's hit surprisingly well, but I'm skeptical that he will be able to sustain that performance. He does seem to be this year's version of Kody Clemens and my thought is that he continues to hit and Clemens doesn't, that Gray could assume some or all of Kody's current role. Kreidler is undoubtably a very good defensive player on the left side of the infield or in the outfield. However, in about 200 plate appearances, he is a .141 hitter. If he can hit just a little bit, he can help this team. The record says that is unlikely. He's homered twice which make his OPS skyrocket, but it is tough to believe that he can hold his own against big league pitching. Finally, Matt Wallner had hit another dry spell. With it being so early in the season, his numbers went from pretty good to substandard in a short time. He keeps striking out at a Gallo-like pace. I don't know how much runway the new manager has for him, but a straight up switch for either Alan Roden or Emmanuel Rodriguez probably isn't out of the question if the struggle lasts another week. Roden had quite a long snag at St. Paul, but has hit well this week, while Emma has been the most consistent of the Twins' top prospects at St. Paul.

When things go bad….

Keaschall didn’t make the play on IKF’s bouncer. It was a tough play with a fast runner. He didn’t take the easy out (tried to get a force) and things unraveled from there.

His defense and soft contact hits let him down. Probably his worst offense was the four-pitch walk.

Ugh. About as poor a play(s) an infielder can make. And Story made Sim pay the full price.

Twins have 25% of African American starting pitchers at this time. Sim and Bradley.

As expected.

Was misspelling Garrett’s last name a bit of word play? I’ve seen things to like from a few bullpen arms—Orze, Acton and Laweryson come to mind—and a couple of grizzled vets have done all right at St. Paul. I shudder when thinking how these guys will die when the weather warms up.

Lee was disappointing last year, but had a very nice month of June, which somewhat salvaged his stats. We might be seeing similar production for a while, but when he cools off, can he have a better baseline? The surges and ebbs of early season are demonstrated by several guys who have either catapulted or sunk in a couple days. It’s just too early to make final judgments on players. I think there are a lot of things to like about the Twins’ offense. There are red flags on defense and the pitching mound. Enjoy the nice run while it lasts, but remember the Twins had big winning streaks in both 2024 and 2025. Baseball can be humbling.

Pretty much a copy-and-paste lineup: BuxtonCF R 3 4 0 .246 .768 MartinLF R 0 2 2 .294 .842 Keaschall2B R 1 9 3 .232 .593 JeffersC R 2 10 0 .317 .952 Bell1B S 3 14 0 .250 .844 CaratiniDH S 1 8 0 .255 .698 WallnerRF L 3 6 0 .200 .647 Lee, BSS S 3 10 0 .240 .723 Kreidler3B R 1 1 0 .125 .625

Last day of a 15 games in 15 days stretch. The Twins have a relatively rested bullpen and with the day off tomorrow (and another on Monday), just about everyone should be available. Most of the right handed hitters get another start. I wonder if Wallner is the left handed hitter in the lineup. There are often lineup surprises on day games after night games, so I wouldn't count on Shelton putting in a "copy and paste" righty heavy lineup.

The Twins have accomplished more in April of 2026 than I thought they would in the entire season. That is holding first place by themselves, and reaching four games over .500.

Annnnd the Cardinals tied the score in the last of the ninth.

Abel lowered his ERA from 6.08 to 3.98 with the seven scoreless innings.

If he continues to be successful, he could fill in at any of the infield positions vs. right handed pitching and become a platoon player. IMHO, replacing Lewis and Lee a couple times a week and perhaps Keaschall occasionally works. Also, if Clemens continues below the Mendoza Line and Gray keeps hitting, he could be an option at first base.

Through 17 games the Twins have 265 at-bats vs. left handed pitching. Through their first 17 games the Detroit Tigers have 51 at-bats vs. left handed pitching.