Image courtesy of Matt Blewett-Imagn Images
The Weekly Nutshell:
As they stumbled through the first month of the season, the Twins had their occasional moments of positivity and progress, but those fleeting bursts of momentum never seemed to sustain. Finally, it is now happening here in May. After winning a couple of close games to take the series in Fenway last weekend, Minnesota returned home and played phenomenal baseball in a 6-0 week that saw them sweep the Orioles and Giants while moving above the .500 mark for the first time all season. The Twins are 15-6 at Target Field and among MLB teams, only the Royals have more wins at their home ballpark. (Now that’s how you get the fans back.)
From the slow start to the streaky sprint back to relevance, this season is so far bearing plenty of resemblance to the last. But one area where the 2025 Twins are looking to differentiate is by proving they can succeed against bad teams and good teams alike. While their sweeping of a beleaguered Baltimore club certainly fits into the former category, Minnesota’s eight-game winning streak also includes five wins against quality opponents in the Red Sox and Giants.
When you pitch extremely well and you score enough runs, you’re going to win a lot of games, no matter who you’re playing. We’re seeing it.
Weekly Snapshot: Mon, 5/5 through Sun, 5/11
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Record Last Week: 6-0 (Overall: 21-20)
Run Differential Last Week: +18 (Overall: +19)
Standing: 4th Place in AL Central (5.0 GB)
Last Week’s Game Results:
Game 36 | MIN 9, BAL 1: Offense Clicks Against Shoddy Orioles Staff
Buxton, Correa: 5-8, 2 HR, 7 RBI
Game 37 | MIN 5, BAL 2: Twins Take Series Behind Bullpen, Bombs
Buxton, Bader: 2 HR, 5 RBIs
Game 38 | MIN 5, BAL 2: Lee’s Clutch Hit Lifts Twins to Sweep Over O’s
Lee: Go-ahead 2-R double in 8th inning
Game 39 | MIN 3, SF 1: Paddack Near-Perfect in Sixth Straight Victory
Paddack: 7.1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 6 K
Game 40 | MIN 2, SF 1: Larnach’s Homer Is Enough for Ryan, Bullpen
Twins pitching: 9 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 9 K
Game 41 | MIN 7, SF 6 (10): Clutch Moments Dictate Another Tightrope Win
Keirsey Jr.: Walk-off single in 10th
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NEWS & NOTES
The Twins opened the week by welcoming back a couple of key reinforcements from the injured list: Willi Castro, out since mid-April with on oblique injury, and Royce Lewis, out since mid-March with a hamstring injury. The two were back in the lineup for Tuesday’s series opener against Baltimore, starting at DH and second base respectively.
Optioned to Triple-A to make room for Lewis and Castro were Mickey Gasper and Edouard Julien. While Gasper was a straightforward choice, the decision to send Julien down tells us a couple things: First, the Twins are finding Jonah Bride and Kody Clemens useful enough as (essentially) early-season waiver claims, and second, they are really down on Julien. Which is understandable given the run he has had.
Back down at Triple-A, Julien went 3-for-23 with eight strikeouts in his first week at St. Paul. Gasper was much more successful, going 11-for-23 with four home runs to lift his Triple-A OPS this year to 1.574. Meanwhile, José Miranda was activated from the IL by the Saints over the weekend. He went 0-for-6 in his first two games back.
HIGHLIGHTS
The vision for making this 2025 Minnesota Twins team a true contender was mainly predicated upon on a pitching staff good enough to carry the freight. We’ve been seeing exactly that. Although the offense has come to life, and that’s been refreshing, the arms are leading this race: Minnesota is receiving high-quality performances from starters day after day, and the bullpen has shaken free of its situational troubles to solidify itself as an overpowering force at Rocco Baldelli‘s disposal.
Over the course of their current eight-game winning streak, Twins pitchers have posted a 2.22 ERA with just four home runs allowed. Among the past week’s many highlights on the mound:
Pablo López struck out 11 over five innings of one-run ball to set a tone in the sweep over Baltimore. He induced 17 swings and misses in the start, his highest total since September 10th of last year. López was a little less sharp in his second start on Sunday (6 IP, 4 ER) but he still gave the team a good chance to win, which they did in extra innings.
Bailey Ober stepped in unexpectedly on Thursday, after Joe Ryan‘s illness forced him to delay his planned start. Ober held Baltimore to one earned run over five frames to lead the charge in a sweep-clinching victory over the hapless O’s. He now has a 1.98 ERA since his first start of the season.
Ryan returned from said illness on Saturday and did his usual thing, with just two hits and one run allowed over six ultra-efficient innings. On the year, he has a more than 10-to-1 K/BB ratio, and his 2.74 ERA ranks as 13th-best in the American League.
Most impressively, Chris Paddack delivered his strongest effort of the year on Friday, carrying a perfect game into the sixth inning and ultimately lasting into the eighth with one run allowed. Facing a very capable lineup, Paddack looked excellent, and his deep outing also served to alleviate a relief corps that threw 12 scoreless innings over the previous three days.
On that note: As good as the starting pitching has been, the rotation has been outshined by a bullpen that is really beginning to meet the hype. Twins relievers allowed one single run over 21 innings, giving up only 14 hits and four walks while striking out 25. The Minnesota bullpen was 4-for-4 on save opportunities (three for Jhoan Durán, one for Danny Coulombe) and locked down every narrow lead without fail.
I’ve harped on this frequently, but it’s kind of an amazing stat: Dating back to last August, the Twins had lost 32 consecutive games in which they scored three or fewer runs, up until they won them back-to-back on Friday and Saturday. The bullpen played an integral role in making that happen, and hopefully they can keep it going because it’s how this team will be able to stay in a winning groove. They’ve got to overcome in low-scoring affairs.
On the offensive side, the lineup shows signs of beginning to click from top to bottom. The Twins have improved their situational hitting and are finding ways to come up big when it counts. Their run-scoring still hasn’t necessarily been explosive for the most part, but the bats are doing what they need to in support of this outstanding pitching staff.
Yet again Byron Buxton was the star of the show. With each passing week the center fielder seems to look more comfortable, more locked in at the plate, more sure of himself while running. Buxton catalyzed victories on Tuesday and Wednesday with seven RBIs; on the week he hit for the cycle with an extra home run, while also tallying his eighth steal. He has reliably been in center field every day.
Trevor Larnach, now regularly appearing in the two-hole against right-handed pitching, is finding his groove as a key difference-maker. He was 8-for-25, mixing in a couple of big home runs. Larnach has an .837 OPS with six homers and 16 RBIs in 23 games since Matt Wallner went down with his hamstring injury in mid-April, and that is what we call rising to the occasion.
Finally it should be noted that all three of the front office’s major offseason acquisitions have been nothing short of brilliant up to this point, and they all featured in the past week. Coulombe picked up his first save and struck out eight over four shutout innings. He still has yet to allow a run through 18 appearances. Harrison Bader went 5-for-11 with three walks and another home run. He’s been simply unbelievable. Ty France chipped in seven hits and has been providing big returns on his $1 million deal.
They were given very little to work with, but at this point it’s looking like the front office turned lemons into lemonade in free agency, and the impact has been crucial in the first quarter of the season.
LOWLIGHTS
Over the years, we’ve grown very accustomed to Royce Lewis returning from the injured list and immediately lighting the world on fire. It’s never seemed to really matter how much time he missed or how he looked on his rehab assignments; once he was back on the big-league stage, Royce was gonna Royce. He was just a freak like that.
This latest re-entry has been a different story. Lewis went hitless through his first 15 at-bats before finally picking up a couple of singles on Sunday, and he looks noticeably out of whack at the plate. His swing is a mechanical mess, with his upper and lower halves on two different pages. Lewis doesn’t look comfortable reading or reacting to pitches, and physically his tentativeness is plain to see. He’s more or less jogging the bases and already we’ve seen him grab at his left hamstring area at least once in the batter’s box.
All of what we are seeing unfortunately jibes with reports that came over from St. Paul, where Lewis went 3-for-23 with six strikeouts and no walks on his rehab, with his form looking rough. Upon being activated, Lewis admitted to reporters that he “might not even be at 100 percent,” and that matches up to what we’ve seen.
If the Twins decided they might as well have him work out the kinks at the big-league level versus the minors, hopefully running into a homer or two along the way, I’m okay with that. The greater concern is that what we are seeing isn’t symptomatic simply of missed time and rust, but rather that something is more deeply amiss with the 25-year-old, who now has four extra-base hits (all doubles) in 117 plate appearances since his last home run on September 1st of 2024.
This past week, with their pitchers leading the way and a few hitters elsewhere stepping up, the Twins were able to rattle off wins despite Lewis’s lack of presence, but if they’re going to hit their stride over the course of this season, they will need him to remember who he is. The same kinda goes for Willi Castro, technically Minnesota’s reigning team MVP, who has yet to show any semblance of his 2024 impact. Castro was 4-for-20 in his first week back with no extra-base hits, two walks and seven strikeouts. Overall on the season he’s been sub-replacement level with poor defense and a .613 OPS.
TRENDING STORYLINE
Keep on winning! Basically the entire AL Central has been scorching hot, which has prevented the Twins from making up much ground at all during this 14-5 run, but they can only control what they can control as they attempt to battle back into the mix. As of now, the division boasts four of the eight AL teams with 21 or more wins, but I’m just glad to be able to call the Twins one of them. Summer is about to get underway in earnest, and the Minnesota Twins are back in business.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Twins will get another shot at the same Baltimore Orioles team that they flattened at Target Field, this time on the road. They’ll hope for a similar result in Camden following Monday’s off day. From there the Twins head to Milwaukee for a border battle against the beatable Brewers.
TUESDAY, MAY 13: TWINS @ ORIOLES — RHP Simeon Woods Richardson v. LHP Cade Povich
WEDNESDAY, MAY 14: TWINS @ ORIOLES — RHP Bailey Ober v. RHP Dean Kremer
THURSDAY, MAY 15: TWINS @ ORIOLES — RHP Chris Paddack v. RHP Tomoyuki Sugano
FRIDAY, MAY 16: TWINS @ BREWERS — RHP Joe Ryan v. RHP Tobias Myers
SATURDAY, MAY 17: TWINS @ BREWERS — RHP Pablo Lopez v. TBD
SUNDAY, MAY 18: TWINS @ BREWERS — RHP Simeon Woods Richardson v. RHP Freddy Peralta