\t\tRojas: 4 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 1 BB, 3 K<\/p>\n
\n\tGame 49 | HOU 2, MIN 1: Offense Strands Nine Runners in Another One-Run Loss<\/a>\n<\/p>\n \t\tMatthews: 6 IP, 2 R, 5 H, 0 BB, 6 K<\/p>\n \n\tGame 50 | MIN 4, HOU 1: Ryan Deals, Kreidler Delivers Key Homer in Series Clincher<\/a>\n<\/p>\n \n\tGame 51 | MIN 8, BOS 6: Twins Battle Back from Early Deficit Powered by Buxton, Martin<\/a>\n<\/p>\n \n\tGame 52 | MIN 4, BOS 2: Bradley Brings the Heat in Return, Bullpen Backs Him Up<\/a>\n<\/p>\n \t\tBradley: 5 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 2 BB, 7 K<\/p>\n \n\tGame 53 | MIN 6, BOS 5: Martin, Lee Deliver Key Hits in Sweep-Clinching Comeback Win<\/a>\n<\/p>\n \t\tTwins bullpen: 3 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 BB, 3 K<\/p>\n \n\tNEWS & NOTES\n<\/p>\n \n\tFollowing the resumption of Monday’s rain-disrupted game against Houston, Ryan Jeffers<\/a> swung at the first offering from Astros pitcher AJ Blubaugh<\/a> in an eighth-inning plate appearance and shattered his bat on a foul ball. He strolled over to grab a new stick, stepped back into the box, and took the next two pitches. Nothing seemed amiss. But something was.\n<\/p>\n \n\tOnce the count reached 2-1, Jeffers waved to the dugout for trainers and quickly came out of the game. He was initially diagnosed with left wrist sprain but on Tuesday were learned the news was much worse: a fractured hamate bone, requiring surgery with a recovery timeline in the two-month range.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n\tIt’s a crushing development for both the team and Jeffers, who’s been exceptional in his final year under contract. He expressed some hope that he can come back sooner than is generally expected, but for the foreseeable future, the Twins will have to proceed without arguably their most valuable player.\n<\/p>\n \n\tAlex Jackson<\/a> replaces Jeffers on the roster, and as Victor Caratini<\/a>‘s timeshare partner behind the plate. The Twins are swapping out one of the best-hitting catchers in baseball for one of the worst, but Jackson at least brings MLB experience and strong defensive chops. He’ll try and play his way into the team’s post-Jeffers catching plans in 2027, but his lack of option is a complicating factor.\n<\/p>\n \n\tIn addition to Jeffers, the Twins also lost another key component of what they hoped would be their lineup core, sending Royce Lewis<\/a> down to Triple-A for a reset less than a week after taking the same action with Matt Wallner<\/a>. As with Wallner, Lewis’ continually spiraling performance left the front office with little choice but to make a bold change. Replaced by Orlando Arcia<\/a> on the MLB roster for the time being, Lewis homered in his first at-bat back in Triple-A, and then went deep twice on Saturday. So far, so good.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n\tThe tough injury news didn’t stop with Jeffers. Top prospect Emmanuel Rodriguez<\/a> was tabbed for surgery after a ligament tear was discovered upon further examination of his thumb. Any hope that this would be a short-term injury is dashed by this grim development. If not for getting hurt, Rodriguez probably would already be up in the majors, with both Lewis and Wallner sent down, but now we’ll need to wait until the second half to see him back in action.\n<\/p>\n \n\tOne chapter from the Jorge Polanco<\/a> trade closed last week while another one opened up. Reliever Justin Topa<\/a> was designated for assignment with an 8.05 ERA on Tuesday after being used as much as any reliever in the majors during the first two months, replaced by Travis Adams<\/a>. Days later, outfield prospect Gabriel Gonzalez<\/a> got the call to the big leagues with Tristan Gray<\/a> taking a short paternity leave.\n<\/p>\n \n\tLike Anthony DeSclafani<\/a> before him, Topa didn’t amount to much in a Twins uniform but Gonzalez was always the player upon whom the Polanco package was likely to be judged. He started in left field and batted fifth on Friday night in his major-league debut, drawing walks in his first two plate appearances before notching his first MLB hit on a dribbler to third. He’ll return to the minors within a day or two, but Gonzalez made a nice first impression and will be back before long.\n<\/p>\n \n\tAhead of Saturday’s game, the Twins activated Taj Bradley<\/a> and designated Luis Garc\u00eda for assignment. Garc\u00eda’s tenure in Minnesota is one we’d all like to forget: 8.2 IP, 10 ER, 12 H, 4 BB, 2 K.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\tA final bullpen note: Saints relievers Matt Bowman<\/a> and John Brebbia<\/a> exercised opt-out clauses in their contracts and became free agents.\n<\/p>\n \n\tHIGHLIGHTS\n<\/p>\n \n\tAs usual, the offense ran through Byron Buxton<\/a>. He returned from missing several games due to hip soreness, and while clearly still not 100%, Buck got right back to business at the plate. He doubled twice in his return to action against Houston on Tuesday, and crushed a two-run homer over the Green Monster on Friday to fuel Minnesota’s comeback win.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n\tStill showing signs of discomfort, Buxton was eased back into action, starting at DH three times before returning to center field on Saturday and then getting the day off Sunday.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\tAustin Martin<\/a> had cooled off substantially after taking over the everyday right field job from Matt Wallner, entering the weekend series in Boston in an 0-for-14 slump. He broke out of the funk at Fenway, launching a key go-ahead two-run homer right to back up Buxton’s. He then doubled in the first run on Saturday as part of a two-hit game, and delivered a game-tying double on Sunday.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\tTrevor Larnach<\/a> was batting .172 in his past 10 games before breaking through with four hits on Saturday and notched an RBI single on Sunday. He and Martin have been two of the team’s best stories in the first third of the season, but had been lapsing into possible regression, so it’s great to see them get back on track as surprising lineup cornerstones.\n<\/p>\n \n\tJosh Bell<\/a> shook out of a much deeper slump against Houston, homering twice with four RBIs in the series opener and then adding three more knocks on Tuesday. He had a sub-.400 OPS in his past 20 games heading into the week, but shows signs of at least stabilizing. Fellow free-agent signing Caratini, who’s also been mired in a lengthy drought, homered in the finale against Houston, his first extra-base hit in over a month. In both cases, these are hopefully sign of things to come, especially for Caratini who will be starting regularly behind the plate in Jeffers’ absence and looking to keep the catcher position afloat offensively.\n<\/p>\n \n\tThe pitching staff was nothing short of brilliant against the Astros and Red Sox, allowing 18 total earned runs on 40 hits (three home runs) over six games.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\tJoe Ryan<\/a> put up his third consecutive start with six innings of one-run ball, striking out a season-high nine. Zebby Matthews<\/a> struck out six with no walks in holding Houston to two runs over six frames. Kendry Rojas<\/a> impressed in his first major-league start, allowing two hits and a walk over four scoreless innings on Monday. Bradley was fully healthy in his return from the injured list, posting his best velocity of the season in a winning effort against Boston.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n\tMeanwhile, the bullpen was on point yet again. Twins relievers are fourth in the majors in ERA and third in FIP over the past two weeks. Only five teams have a better bullpen WPA in May. Yoendrys G\u00f3mez<\/a> is looking like a legitimate addition, delivering important scoreless outings in his first three appearances, all victories, before running into a bit of trouble in sloppy, wet conditions in Sunday’s finale (but still making some big pitches). His performance against Houston on Wednesday, striking out five of the seven batters he faced in two shutout innings, felt like a statement.\n<\/p>\n \n\tG\u00f3mez combined with Taylor Rogers<\/a>, Anthony Banda<\/a>, Eric Orze<\/a>, Adams, Rojas and Andrew Morris<\/a> to allow two run on seven hits over 23 \u2153 innings. Morris walked in a run during an erratic save attempt on Saturday, but aside from that, the only Twins reliever to allow a run was Topa. He surrendered three while recording just two outs on Monday, and he was jettisoned soon after. Everyone remaining in the bullpen is trending in a pretty good direction.\n<\/p>\n \n\tLOWLIGHTS\n<\/p>\n \n\tBefore they were sent to the minors, Wallner and Lewis found themselves being benched more frequently, and when they played, hitting lower in the order than ever before. I’m not saying he’s necessarily close to being optioned, but it’s notable that Luke Keaschall<\/a> is now following a similar path.\n<\/p>\n \n\tAfter sitting the middle game in the previous Milwaukee series, Keaschall was again out of the lineup for the middle game of the Houston series. He then went 0-for-4 in the finale, and on Friday night in Boston found himself batting eighth in the lineup, the lowest he’s hit since his MLB debut more than a year ago. He did come through with a pair of hits and an RBI in Friday’s game, but also committed a pretty ugly error at second \u2014 number five, tied for the team lead with the now-demoted Lewis.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\tKeaschall didn’t play on Saturday or Sunday, although it seemed to have more to do with residual soreness from an HBP on Friday than anything performance-related. That aside, the Twins have been showing clear signs of eroding confidence in their Opening Day #3 hitter.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\tThe defense is a big factor in that. Even in a very brief glimpse, Arcia’s superiority with the glove has been apparent. On the offensive side, Keaschall is taking good ABs and getting on base \u2014 he’s hitting .268 with a .414 OBP this month, walking as much as he’s striking out \u2014 but the quality of contact has been just abysmal. Keaschall hasn’t homered since April 6th and has just one extra-base hit in his past 50 plate appearances.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\t \n\tIn terms of on-field performance, there weren’t many nits to pick for the Twins in a pair of series wins that featured great pitching and productive showings from the offense. The big lowlights of the week really centered on the injury developments. Losing Jeffers is gut-punch that detracts from enthusiasm around Minnesota’s current ascent toward the .500 mark. Same goes for Rodriguez, who was looking like a major X-factor as a potential rookie difference-maker this summer; now his name will be X’ed out for the foreseeable future.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\tYou enjoy the wins as they come, but it grows far more difficult to see the success sustaining through setbacks like these.\n<\/p>\n \n\tLewis joining Wallner in Triple-A is a sad reflection of where things stand with the “post-hype prospect” group, but maybe it’s the beginning of a turnaround toward better days and career rejuvenations. Something needed to change and it’s good to at least see the Twins take action and enact a plan with these two floundering vets, even if it feels a little demoralizing.\n<\/p>\n \n\tIf the Twins want to remain in the competitive mix into the second half of the season, they’ve got to get at least one of these guys going, not to mention Keaschall. Lewis’ dominant start with the Saints bodes well, at least.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\tTRENDING STORYLINE\n<\/p>\n \n\tOn Friday night, we saw Brooks Lee<\/a> start at a position other than shortstop for the first time all year, sliding over to third with Ryan Kreidler<\/a> taking over at short. The rest of the series featured the same alignment. Derek Shelton<\/a> and the Twins are expressing a preference, and it’s one that makes sense to me.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\tLee is best suited for third base, and that’s been evident in seeing his shortcomings exposed at shortstop this year. Kreidler, conversely, is very good at the position, which is a big part of his value proposition. The Twins need to get better defensively in the infield, and this is a meaningful step in that direction.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\tThe future implications of this shift are interesting to consider. Mainly: If Lee takes to third, what does that mean for Lewis if and when he is ready to return? Is there a place for him? And if Kreidler can excel defensively while sustaining some level of production at the plate, could he stick as the starting shortstop for a while? It’s all on the table right now.\n<\/p>\n \n\tLOOKING AHEAD\n<\/p>\n \n\tThe Twins are on the early end of their longest stretch of games all season without a break. They’ll play seven in the coming week, wrapping up a 10-game road trip with expeditions to Chicago and Pittsburgh. Under normal circumstances, the White Sox and Pirates would represent soft matchups, but they’ve actually both been playing pretty well. This should be a good test against two franchises that are in a similar place to the Twins, looking ahead but trying to stay in the fight while they’re at it.\n<\/p>\n \n\tMONDAY, MAY 25: TWINS @ WHITE SOX \u2014 RHP Zebby Matthews v. LHP Anthony Kay<\/a> \n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Weekly Nutshell:The Twins have their problems, as we all know. But this past week was a good…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":708016,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2388],"tags":[4992,5,1391,413,822,60,3190,4,408,1252,148],"class_list":["post-708015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-minnesota-twins","tag-austin-martin","tag-baseball","tag-brooks-lee","tag-luke-keaschall","tag-minnesota","tag-minnesota-twins","tag-minnesotatwins","tag-mlb","tag-royce-lewis","tag-ryan-jeffers","tag-twins"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116632997367357574","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708015","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=708015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/708016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=708015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=708015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=708015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"keaschallsc524.png\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/keaschallsc524.png.a337ce02b3db172615497fa74562d6f6.png\"\/)
[keaschallsc524]\n<\/p>\n
TUESDAY, MAY 26: TWINS @ WHITE SOX \u2014 RHP Joe Ryan v. RHP Sean Burke<\/a>
WEDNESDAY, MAY 27: TWINS @ WHITE SOX \u2014 LHP Connor Prielipp<\/a> v. RHP Davis Martin<\/a>
THURSDAY, MAY 28: TWINS @ WHITE SOX \u2014 RHP Taj Bradley v. RHP Erick Fedde<\/a>
FRIDAY, MAY 29: TWINS @ PIRATES \u2014 RHP Bailey Ober<\/a> v. RHP Mitch Keller<\/a>
SATURDAY, MAY 30: TWINS @ PIRATES \u2014 RHP Zebby Matthews v. RHP Carmen Mlodzinski<\/a>
SUNDAY, MAY 31: TWINS @ PIRATES \u2014 RHP Joe Ryan v. RHP Braxton Ashcraft<\/a>\n<\/p>\n