Twins 4, Tigers 1: David Festa Cruises; Byron Buxton Blasts in Detroit – Twins

Box Score
David Festa: 5 ⅔ IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K
Home Runs: Byron Buxton (18)
Top 3 WPA:
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Well, it’s time. The Twins have their shot at the kings. The beauty of divisional play is that—no matter how mediocre a team may appear—they’ll always see the best of their competition multiple times a season. Could they be embarrassed in three games? Absolutely. But, they could also shock the team at the top. Does Minnesota have the fight in them to do so? We shall see.

Early returns were inconclusive. Former Twins farmhand Sawyer Gipson-Long held the Twins bats at bay, while David Festa did the same. The two only dealt in efficiency: neither pitcher allowed a run for three innings.

And it seemed that Gipson-Long would extend the streak into the fourth. He needed just five pitches to coax a pair of groundouts. Easy stuff. Breezy. The inning may as well be over. Then, Matt Wallner doubled. Still, no matter: two outs is a lot. It’s almost three, in fact. Strangely, Brooks Lee shot a skimming heater down the first base line just fair to score Wallner. Huh. 

That hit augured three consecutive run-scoring frames. Byron Buxton bazooka-ed a solo shot in the fifth, his 18th of the season. Everyone in Michigan knew it was gone the second his bat hit the ball.

In the sixth, Lee singled in Willi Castro to conclude what had been a clever trip around the bases; with Castro walking, stealing second, and advancing to third on a wild pitch. 

Meanwhile, Festa was in a deep groove. Like, perhaps a Superstition or 1999 type of groove. The sliders were perfectly placed; fully reminiscent of the promise the lanky righty flashed in 2024. He escaped a minor threat in the second and only finally allowed another baserunner with two outs in the sixth. In total, it was likely the best big-league start Festa had pitched in 2025. 

(Matters are always helped when your third baseman pulls off plays like this.)

Danny Coulombe begat Louis Varland, who begat Griffin Jax, who begat Jhoan Durán. Somewhere in the middle, the Twins scored a fourth run off an honest-to-God squeeze bunt. Jax ran into some trouble. A run scored against him. A few Tigers prowled around the bases, hungry to score. An overwhelming barrage of off-speed pitches, and two very confused hitters later, and Jax walked off the mound fired up and successful. 

Notes:

The Twins scored their four runs on just six hits. It helps when half of those hits are for extra bases, but it also helps when aggressive baserunning tacks on a couple of insurance runs. 

A blowout win yesterday helped the cause today. The twins leaned on their bullpen for the last 3-1/3 innings, and three of the four high-leverage relievers they used did not pitch yesterday.

Post-Game Interview:

What’s Next?
The Twins and Tigers match up again on Saturday, as Bailey Ober is scheduled to start opposite Casey Mize. First pitch is at 12:10 PM. 

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet