Box Score
SP: Zebby Matthews 4.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 6 K (92 pitches, 51 strikes (56%))
Home Runs: N/A
Bottom 3 WPA: Brooks Kriske (-.164), Austin Martin (-.163), Byron Buxton (-.158)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) 
After a crushing extra-inning loss to the Tigers on Thursday night, and a blowout loss to them again on Friday night, the new-look Twins were reeling to say the least. Young hurler Zebby Matthews continued his quest to become a part of Minnesota’s future, and he faced off against former top pick Casey Mize in the Saturday night matchup. On a night in which several Twins greats had gathered in anticipation of Corey Koskie‘s induction into the Twins Hall of Fame on Sunday, the future and past collided into a memorable and stressful ballgame.
21 Innings Without a Run, and Danger All Around
Matthews struggled out of the gate, walking Colt Keith to start the game and Kerry Carpenter with one out. Facing the first runner in scoring position, Matthews struck out Riley Greene but couldn’t escape Spencer Torkelson. Tokelson’s single plated Keith, and the Tigers had another early lead at 1-0. Matthews went on to walk another two batters, but his six total strikeouts got him out of jams. Carpenter’s solo homerun to lead off the third inning was the only other damage to Matthew’s night, but it took him 91 pitches to survive just four innings.
Meanwhile, the Twins offense continued to give a new meaning to anemic. Mize struck out seven Twins over his first four innings of work, while only allowing a lead off Austin Martin single (who immediately erased himself on a caught stealing). The 21 consecutive innings without a run echoed off of the empty seats at Target Field.
Travis Adams came in to replace the pitched-out Matthews for the top of the fifth, and he immediately started clogging the bases. After two walks and a single the Tigers had the bases loaded with nobody out and it looked like deja vu from Friday night. The Twins played the infield in, and against all odds…it worked! The Rocket’s son caught a rocket of his own at first for an unassisted double-play! Adams retired Dillon Dingler to end the threat, and hope started bubbling up again in Twins Territory. Even announcer John Smoltz recognized that if he was in Mize’s shoes, you never want to wait that long in the dugout without any runs to show for it. After five innings the Tigers were 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position, and Mize went out to pitch the bottom of the fifth with only a two run lead.
If You Give the Twins a Chance…
Reigning hitter of the week Luke Keaschall put Smoltz’s words into existence with a lead off walk. Ryan Jeffers “ripped” a 66 mph bloop to the outfield grass for the Twins’ second hit of the night, and suddenly a rally was underway. Mize got Matt Wallner swinging and it looked as if another threat would go by the wayside, however Brooks Lee put a charge into a 2-0 slider with his pencil bat, and after the ball richocheted off the right field wall and back towards second base the Twins had tied the game and Lee was celebrating on third base.
The rally didn’t stop there, as Royce Lewis took the first pitch he saw deep enough to become a lead-taking sacrifice fly. 3-2 Twins!
And the Twins’ New Bullpen Still _____
Adams took his newfound lead and immediately wasted it. A leadoff double and two walks immediately filled the bases yet again for the Tigers, and after only achieving four outs on his 47 pitches, Adams night was over and newcomer Brooks Kriske came in to try to escape yet another threat. Kriske got Greene to fly out, but it was deep enough to score the tying run to make it 3-3.
After the Twins went back to their struggling ways against Mize in the bottom of the sixth (apparently some starting pitchers go longer than four innings?), the Tigers went right back to work against Kriske in the top of the seventh and got a leadoff double from Wenceel Perez. Perez advanced on a groundout, and Kriske gifted the Tigers their ninth walk of the night to put runners on the corners with one out. Lewis booted a grounder while trying to make a play at the plate to surrender the lead, and then it was Kody Funderburk‘s turn to enter a pressure cooker of a situation. Jahmai Jones made Funderburk pay, and after another double it was 5-3 Tigers. To add injury to insult, Funderburk uncorked a wild pitch to make it 6-3. Make it stop…
Ding Dong, Mize is Gone. But Can the Twins Rally Again?
Well, the Twins do have Keaschall. As Twins fans prepared for Luke’s eventual Twins Hall of Fame ceremony in their hearts, he just hit another single to put MIze on the ropes. After a Jeffers fly out, the Tigers went to their bullpen and lefty Tyler Holton. Wallner dealt out some lefty on lefty crime, and laced a double down the right field line to advance Keaschall to third. Lee hit a ground out, but it scored Keaschall and advanced Jeffers to make it 6-4. After a Lewis walk, James Outman looked to make his first hero moment in a Twins uniform but was robbed of an extra base hit by a diving first baseman Torkelson. Torkelson’s toss to Holton, however, got dropped and a hustling Jeffers came all the way home to pull the Twins within one at 6-5! After another pitching change, Will Vest got Martin to line out to right to end the rally before another tie could be found.
After Michael Tonkin took care of business in the top of the eighth, the Twins relied on Clemens and Keaschall to once again spark the offense, and they did by hitting back to back singles off of Vest with one out. After Jeffers got froze looking for the second out, Wallner didn’t get thrown much and he took his walk to load the bases. It was again Lee in the batters box with runners in scoring position, but this time Vest took advantage of the youngster with a three pitch “no contest” strike out to end the threat.
With the Tigers being 60-0 when leading after the eighth inning in 2025, things looked dire for the home team. By the time Justin Topa yeeted a ball off of the netting behind first base allowing a runner from second to score and the batter to reach third base, 61-0 was inevitable. The only question was how bad could it get, and the answer was 8-5.
What’s Next?
The Twins look to salvage at least one game in this series, and due to a completely bunk roster they have yet to name a starter. The Tigers will send out former Twin and current “only hope for a Twins victory” RHP Chris Paddack (4-10, 4.76 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 1:10pm CDT. Hopefully the Corey Koskie extravaganza will light a fire under the team, but expect those events to potentially delay the start time as well.
Postgame Interviews
Coming Soon
Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet
TUE
WED
THU
FRI
SAT
TOT
Adams
70
0
0
0
47
117
Hatch
99
0
0
0
0
99
Ureña
0
0
0
76
0
76
Topa
0
26
0
0
27
53
Funderburk
13
6
13
0
10
42
Sands
16
0
25
0
0
41
Kriske
0
0
11
0
29
40
Tonkin
0
0
9
0
15
24
Ramírez
0
0
11
8
0
19
