First, the positives: The Twins took three of four games from the West Sacramento A’s, or whatever you want to call them, beating them 10-4, 10-3 and 6-1 before the A’s had had enough and responded with a 14-3 blowout win over the team from Minnesota on Thursday.
So how much trouble does this spell for the Twins moving forward? Well, it’s not good because the only reason David Festa, the Slim Reaper, took the mound on Thursday is because Pablo Lopez injured himself earlier in the week, and now he has been lost for the next 8-12 weeks with the same shoulder injury that ended Joe Ryan’s season in 2024.
So, with Pablo gone, the Twins called up Festa and Festa got rocked. He allowed eight runs on six hits, including three dingers, with two walks and six strikeouts in three-plus innings.
Actually, no one pitched very well.
Jorge Alcala served up three runs, Kody Funderburk allowed one more and then, in an effort not to use up anymore bullpen arms, manager Rocco Baldelli turned to position player Jonah Bride to get the Twins out of the game. Bride allowed two more runs across two innings on four hits. It was one of those games.
The Twins now head home to play the Blue Jays on Friday. Bailey Ober gets the ball.
Extra innings…
–The Twins are 34-28, six games behind the division-leading Detroit Tigers.
–Ex-Twin Brent Rooker of the A’s had a 3-for-4 day with three runs scored, three RBI and a walk.
–The Twins bullpen was sensational in Wednesday’s 6-1 win. Starter Zebby Matthews struck out four across five innings and then the relievers really went to work.
The artist formerly known as Louie Varland struck out the side in the sixth, Griffin Jax did the same in the seventh, Brock Stewart punched out two of his own in the eighth and Jhoan Duran, the AL reliever of the month for May, whiffed two more. That’s 14 total team strikeouts.
–The Twins this season: 0-4 in March, 13-14 in April, 18-8 in May and 3-2 in June.