{"id":706845,"date":"2026-05-23T19:21:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T19:21:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/706845\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T19:21:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T19:21:20","slug":"game-52-twins-at-red-sox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/706845\/","title":{"rendered":"Game 52: Twins at Red Sox"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"\">First Pitch:\u00a03:10 pm CDT<br \/>TV:\u00a0Twins.TV<br \/>Radio:\u00a0TIBN \/ WCCO 830 \/ The Wolf 102.9 FM \/ Audacy<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">I\u2019m not really sure why I\u2019m more optimistic right now about the 2026 Twins than I have been at any point of the season so far. My best guess is that, by all accounts, the team is not as catastrophically bad as they could be, on pace for a high-70s win total, and holding down a third-place position instead of dwelling in the cellar. Minnesota is only three games below .500 \u2014 a manageable deficit \u2014 and are actually one of only six teams in the American League with a positive run differential (+1, but it counts.)<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">They have an identical record to the reigning league champions, and a better record than recent Wild Card <a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/mlb\/teams\/detroit\/\" data-i13n=\"sec:content-canvas;subsec:anchor_text;elm:context_link\" data-ylk=\"slk:Detroit;sec:content-canvas;subsec:anchor_text;elm:context_link;itc:0\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Detroit&quot;,&quot;ySubModuleName&quot;:&quot;anchor_text&quot;,&quot;yHasCommerce&quot;:false}\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Detroit<\/a>, Wild Card hopeful <a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/mlb\/teams\/kansas-city\/\" data-i13n=\"sec:content-canvas;subsec:anchor_text;elm:context_link\" data-ylk=\"slk:Kansas City;sec:content-canvas;subsec:anchor_text;elm:context_link;itc:0\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Kansas City&quot;,&quot;ySubModuleName&quot;:&quot;anchor_text&quot;,&quot;yHasCommerce&quot;:false}\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kansas City<\/a>, struggling <a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/mlb\/teams\/houston\/\" data-i13n=\"sec:content-canvas;subsec:anchor_text;elm:context_link\" data-ylk=\"slk:Houston;sec:content-canvas;subsec:anchor_text;elm:context_link;itc:0\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Houston&quot;,&quot;ySubModuleName&quot;:&quot;anchor_text&quot;,&quot;yHasCommerce&quot;:false}\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Houston<\/a>, upstart <a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/mlb\/teams\/baltimore\/\" data-i13n=\"sec:content-canvas;subsec:anchor_text;elm:context_link\" data-ylk=\"slk:Baltimore;sec:content-canvas;subsec:anchor_text;elm:context_link;itc:0\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Baltimore&quot;,&quot;ySubModuleName&quot;:&quot;anchor_text&quot;,&quot;yHasCommerce&quot;:false}\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Baltimore<\/a>, and their current opponents in the Boston Red Sox. The prospect pipeline has also begun to kick into gear, and players are being optioned\/DFA\u2019d at a rate relatively commensurate with their on-field performance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">What\u2019s more, the starting pitching has gotten even healthier! As of this morning, <a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/mlb\/players\/12554\/\" data-i13n=\"sec:content-canvas;subsec:anchor_text;elm:context_link\" data-ylk=\"slk:Taj Bradley;sec:content-canvas;subsec:anchor_text;elm:context_link;itc:0\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Taj Bradley&quot;,&quot;ySubModuleName&quot;:&quot;anchor_text&quot;,&quot;yHasCommerce&quot;:false}\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Taj Bradley<\/a> has been reinstated to the active roster, and will take the ball against Boston this afternoon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Bradley is making his first start since May 5th, a six-inning win against the <a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/mlb\/teams\/washington\/\" data-i13n=\"sec:content-canvas;subsec:anchor_text;elm:context_link\" data-ylk=\"slk:Washington Nationals;sec:content-canvas;subsec:anchor_text;elm:context_link;itc:0\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Washington Nationals&quot;,&quot;ySubModuleName&quot;:&quot;anchor_text&quot;,&quot;yHasCommerce&quot;:false}\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Washington Nationals<\/a>, with eight strikeouts. Bradley has probably been the Twins\u2019 best starter statistically, leading the regulars in ERA+, ERA, K\/9, and bWAR, among other fields. His reactivation also bumps another poor performer off the active roster, itself a net positive.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">For the Red Sox, it\u2019s old friend <a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/mlb\/players\/12269\/\" data-i13n=\"sec:content-canvas;subsec:anchor_text;elm:context_link\" data-ylk=\"slk:Jovani Moran;sec:content-canvas;subsec:anchor_text;elm:context_link;itc:0\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Jovani Moran&quot;,&quot;ySubModuleName&quot;:&quot;anchor_text&quot;,&quot;yHasCommerce&quot;:false}\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jovani Moran<\/a> opening the doors for what will presumably be <a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/mlb\/players\/12330\/\" data-i13n=\"sec:content-canvas;subsec:anchor_text;elm:context_link\" data-ylk=\"slk:Brayan Bello;sec:content-canvas;subsec:anchor_text;elm:context_link;itc:0\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Brayan Bello&quot;,&quot;ySubModuleName&quot;:&quot;anchor_text&quot;,&quot;yHasCommerce&quot;:false}\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Brayan Bello<\/a> and his -1.4 bWAR. The fifth-year starter has been absolutely smacked around to start the season, posting a 7.16 ERA with what might be the worst fastball in the American League (-13 run value and league-average velo.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The Twins go for another series win against Boston here this afternoon. GO TWINS GO!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"First Pitch:\u00a03:10 pm CDTTV:\u00a0Twins.TVRadio:\u00a0TIBN \/ WCCO 830 \/ The Wolf 102.9 FM \/ Audacy I\u2019m not really sure&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":706846,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2375],"tags":[152,4992,143,5,141,48,2542,5172,147,50057,139,24530,2123,6133,60,4,89,2543,763,5824,71],"class_list":["post-706845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boston-red-sox","tag-american-league","tag-austin-martin","tag-baltimore","tag-baseball","tag-boston","tag-boston-red-sox","tag-bostonredsox","tag-brayan-bello","tag-detroit","tag-eric-canha-imagn","tag-houston","tag-jovani-moran","tag-kansas-city","tag-massachusetts","tag-minnesota-twins","tag-mlb","tag-red-sox","tag-redsox","tag-taj-bradley","tag-usa","tag-washington-nationals"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116625518355305644","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706845","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=706845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/706846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=706845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=706845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=706845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}