The Twins had two hits in eleven innings and won a baseball game at Progressive Field.
Sure, man.
Good team or no good team, the Buck Truck keeps rolling, as evidenced by Byron’s leadoff blast to left field in a rain-delayed Saturday night game against the Cleveland Guardians. Buxton’s bomb, his 13th of the year, set the tone for a Twins offense that promptly stopped scoring — or hitting at all — leaving Joe Ryan and Derek’s Magical Arm Barn the monumental task of holding it down in a tight game.
As
expected, the first Cleveland run was largely thanks to Jose Ramirez. The future Hall of Famer reached in the fourth on a one-out single, stole second (15) and scored on a game-tying single from Kyle Manzardo.
From there, Joe attempted to take some heat off the bullpen by blowing the game his own damn self. The Guardians’ next two batters reached, with Ryan walking Daniel Schneemann, then plunking newcomer Travis Bazzana. With only one out and the bases loaded, Ryan was able to elicit a called strike three against Angel Martinez, then induce an inning-ending whiff from Austin Hedges.
I wasn’t kidding about the offense shutting down, by the way. After the leadoff homer, the Twins would not record a hit for another ten full innings, as starter Tanner Bibee notched nine strikeouts and walked only two in a six-inning start. Hunter Gaddis and Colin Holderman picked up where Bibee left off, putting well over 100 pitches between the Minnesota lineup and its last base hit.
To his credit, Ryan all but matched Bibee despite the lengthy fourth. The Guardians’ two fourth-inning singles were their only hits off Joe, a stretch that extended through Andrew Morris’ two-out appearance and Taylor Rogers’ getting-of-the-final out in the seventh. (Masterful prose.) Rogers would snag two more outs in the eighth, before handing the ball over to Yoendrys Gomez for his second appearance as a Twin. Gomez retired pinch-hitter Rhys Hoskins to take the ballgame into the ninth, all knotted up at 1-1.
I guess I owe a small apology to Shelton’s Magical Arm Barn for my expectations of their performance tonight. Their reputation preceded them, after all.
Erik Sabrowski struck out two in a quick top of the ninth, leaving the Twins one-hit through regulation, and setting up what should have been one of the most predictable Cleveland walk-offs of all time. The broadcast set up the disproportionate CLE/MIN one-run, walk-off dominance this decade, and almost on cue, Kody Funderburk walked the leadoff hitter to put the winning run aboard, then walked the next guy to move him over just for fun. Then, in the world’s most obvious bunt situation, Funderburk fielded a comeback sacrifice, spent eighteen years thinking about the sure out, then finally recorded the out at first base on a play so close that it had to be overturned by a Shelton challenge.
Funderburk was removed in favor of Eric Orze, who walked pinch-hitter David Fry, and engaged in direct combat with Bryan Rocchio with the bases loaded and one out. Orze forced a 4-2 fielder’s choice, with Luke Keaschall cutting down the winning run at the plate, then induced a sharp groundout from Steven Kwan to send the game into extra innings.
Despite a leadoff walk to Keaschall — you remember him? From the last sentence? — Minnesota couldn’t advance a runner in a 10th inning that ended with Matt Wallner caught looking at curveball, and the lineup caught looking at a box score that still registered one solitary hit.
Orze returned for the home tenth, intentionally walking Jose Ramirez with one out to set up a battle with Hoskins. The battle was underwhelming; he walked Hoskins on four pitches, loading the bases and forcing Shelton to activate the five-man infield for a second consecutive inning. But the defense, so often the downfall of the 2026 Twins, showed up in a major way — first, it was Brooks Lee showing off catlike reflexes to make a full-extension, game-saving grab on a liner for the second out. Then, it was Austin Martin, cradling a sharp flyout while still wearing his infielder’s glove out in left.
So, the Twins were extended another chance to take home the ballgame, and they were finally able to execute. With one out in the 11th, Byron Buxton narrowly missed a second homer on another long fly to left that banged off the high wall; responsible for the only two Twins hits in the ballgame, Byron also ended the night responsible for both runs batted in.
Luis Garcia was given the save opportunity. He got Martinez to fly out on the first pitch, but ghost runner Bazanna stole his way to third and gave Cleveland two chances to bring him home. But David Fry popped weakly to shallow left, and Rocchio grounded out on a web gem that required a slide and spin from Brooks Lee straight up the middle, and a backhand pick by Kody Clemens to seal the deal at first base.
Nice to have one like that in Cleveland.
It’s worth noting that Minnesota was able to hold the Guardians to just two hits themselves, although Cleveland was able to manufacture opportunities on a more consistent basis throughout the night. It was an incredible high-wire performance from all arms tonight.
The Twins will go for the series win tomorrow afternoon. See you then!
STUDS:
CF Byron Buxton (2-for-5, R, 2 RBI, 2B, HR)
SS Brooks Lee (Two game-saving plays)
SP Joe Ryan (6 IP, 2 H, ER, 3 BB, 5 K)
Shelton’s Magical Arm Barn (5 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 2 K) ((lol))
DUDS:
NO DUDS! TWINS WIN! TWINS WIN!
