{"id":668077,"date":"2026-04-07T09:40:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T09:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/668077\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T09:40:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T09:40:15","slug":"twins-7-tigers-3-keaschalls-first-homer-sparks-twins-to-much-needed-win-twins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/668077\/","title":{"rendered":"Twins 7, Tigers 3: Keaschall\u2019s First Homer Sparks Twins to Much-Needed Win – Twins"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tBox Score<\/a>
SP: Joe Ryan<\/a> 5 IP, 3 H, 3 R (2 ER), 7 K, 3 BB
HR: Luke Keaschall<\/a> (1)
Top 3 WPA: Keaschall 0.27, Lawyerson 0.17, Caratini 0.16
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs<\/a>):\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\"image.png\"\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe\u00a0Minnesota Twins\u00a0finally gave the home crowd at\u00a0Target Field\u00a0something to warm up about. Coming into the fourth series of the season, the Twins have yet to win a set, dropping each of their first three series two games to one. A frigid week in Minneapolis didn\u2019t make things any easier, and a matchup with the AL Central-favorite Detroit Tigers\u00a0wasn\u2019t exactly a get-right opportunity, on paper.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tBut behind their ace,\u00a0Joe Ryan, and a much-needed offensive response, the Twins flipped a familiar script and came away with a 7-3 win to open the series.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Twins wasted no time generating offense in the third inning.\u00a0Byron Buxton<\/a>\u00a0sparked the rally with a double, followed by a single from\u00a0Trevor Larnach<\/a>\u00a0and a walk by\u00a0Luke Keaschall\u00a0to load the bases with no outs. They capitalized in methodical fashion, starting with a sacrifice fly from\u00a0Victor Caratini<\/a>\u00a0before RBI singles from\u00a0Matt Wallner<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Royce Lewis<\/a>\u00a0gave Minnesota a 3-0 lead.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThen came the moment Twins fans have seen too often. In the top of the fourth, the Tigers answered immediately.\u00a0Colt Keith<\/a>\u00a0roped an RBI double, and\u00a0Zach McKinstry<\/a>\u00a0followed with a two-run single to even the score at 3-3. It had all the signs of another game where early momentum would slip away.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThis time, it didn\u2019t. In the bottom half of the inning, Keaschall delivered the swing of the game. After a slow start to his season, he turned on a pitch and launched his first home run of the year into the left-field bleachers, a two-run shot that immediately swung momentum back in Minnesota\u2019s favor and put the Twins up 5-3.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tFor Ryan, the fourth inning was the lone blemish in an otherwise steady outing. He battled some control issues but limited the damage, finishing with three runs allowed over five innings while keeping the Twins in position to win.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tFrom there, the bullpen took over and slammed the door.\u00a0Anthony Banda<\/a>,\u00a0Eric Orze<\/a>,\u00a0Kody Funderburk<\/a>, and\u00a0Cody Laweryson<\/a>\u00a0combined for four scoreless innings. The Twins added breathing room in the eighth inning, and once again it was Caratini in the middle of it. With the bases loaded, he lined a two-run single to extend the lead to 7-3, giving Minnesota the cushion it had been missing in previous games. The Twins answered adversity, regained control after losing it, and got contributions up and down the roster.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat\u2019s next
The Twins will look to build on the momentum as they continue the series against Detroit. They\u2019ll face a tough test in\u00a0Tarik Skubal<\/a>, the two-time reigning Cy Young<\/a> Award winner, who is set to take the mound for the Tigers. Opposing him will be\u00a0Taj Bradley<\/a>, as the Twins try to secure their first series win of the season at 6:40 PM CT. It will, blessedly, be warmer.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tBullpen Usage Chart\n<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\tLaweryson<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\tBanda<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\tOrze<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\tSands<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\tFunderburk<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\tActon<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Box ScoreSP: Joe Ryan 5 IP, 3 H, 3 R (2 ER), 7 K, 3 BBHR: Luke Keaschall…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":668078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2388],"tags":[5,3758,1455,413,822,60,3190,4,148,3614],"class_list":{"0":"post-668077","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-twins","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-game-recap","10":"tag-joe-ryan","11":"tag-luke-keaschall","12":"tag-minnesota","13":"tag-minnesota-twins","14":"tag-minnesotatwins","15":"tag-mlb","16":"tag-twins","17":"tag-victor-caratini"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116362768711275535","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}