First Pitch: 6:10 pm CDT
TV: Twins.TV
Radio: TIBN / WCCO 830 / The Wolf 102.9 FM / Audacy
The Minnesota Twins have won three straight with their ragtag group of misfits, which has nearly every online Twins community I frequent positively convinced that Carlos Correa was actually a legendary clubhouse cancer, and his departure from the team — just over a week ago, mind you — is directly responsible for what will now be an unmatched run of success for the 2025 team.
Now, you shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth (unless equestrian orthodonture is how you make your money), but it may be slightly hard to believe that the Twins of the last four days are the Twins we’re going to see for the remainder of the summer. Still, with the club on its first three-game winning streak since June 25th-27th — and just the third such streak since the 13-gamer in a now-distant May — you also can’t deny that the young guns are putting together an entertaining stretch of baseball.
And there are even younger guns on the way! Matt Wallner has been sent to the paternity list, which means that same cadre of reactionary Twins fans will get their wish by seeing Carson McCusker slot into the DH role for this evening’s ballgame. McCusker, the 27-year-old Triple-A slugger, is still looking for his first big-league extra-base hit after striking out in four of six plate appearances earlier this year.
This fun little lineup also includes such highlights as Austin Martin leading off, Mickey Gasper in the starting lineup, Alan “Get to Know Him” Roden rounding out the starting nine, and Ryan Jeffers standing in for “longest tenured Twin.” Roden is now 5-for-23 since joining the team, but four of those knocks have come in the last two games, including the second home run of his brief major-league career.
On the bump is Bailey Ober, who won’t have enough starting opportunities on the rest of the schedule to wipe the stain of “Worst Year of Career” of his ledger. Nor did he particularly impress in his first start back from the injured list, in which he gave up a pair of homers in five innings to the Cleveland Guardians in an eventual loss. But for Ober and so many others on this team, the final eight weeks or so will provide some get-right chances for a group of folks who need a bit of a clean-slate approach heading into 2026. Ober is one such folk(s).
Rookie Noah Cameron will go for the Royals, facing the Twins for the second time this year (they were his third-ever opponent, back on May 23rd.) Cameron has had a promising rookie season for a 26-year-old; the lefty ranks in the 90th percentile or better in both fastball and breaking run value (the later a 99 on Baseball Savant), missing barrels with relative ease and pitching to a 2.68 ERA / 3.69 FIP despite below-average strikeout numbers.