Minnesota goes for four in a row as the ship-righting efforts recommence.

First Pitch: 12:10 pm CDT

TV: Twins.TV / ~ / Radio: TIBN, WCCO 830, The Wolf 102.9 FM

The Twins are being annoying again.

Winners of three straight, Minnesota seems to have snapped back to reality with back-to-back series-salvaging wins against the Seattle Mariners, then a series-opening victory over the American League-leading Detroit Tigers.

It takes a village with these Twinkies; last night, outstanding pitching from David Festa rolled over into the usage of Danny Coulombe, Louis Varland, Griffin Jax, and Jhoan Duran, meaning that bullpen management of the staff’s top arms will be a key point for the remainder of the series.

This is especially true given starting pitcher Bailey Ober’s suspect June. In four starts this month, Ober has racked up an 8.51 ERA against a 7.97 FIP, ballooning those numbers from 3.48 / 3.71 at the end of March. In fact, the only reason those figures aren’t any worse is because he valiantly stretched out to seven innings while giving up seven runs (including three homers) to the Seattle Mariners on Monday.

Bailey hasn’t had what I’d consider a “good” start since May 25th against the Kansas City Royals; the Twins have lost his last six consecutive outings after winning seven in a row (and eight of ten total) prior to his hardcore June slump.

On Detroit’s side of things, starter Casey Mize — well familiar to Twins fans by this point — is enjoying his best season since 2021. Still only 28 years old, Mize is coming off three decent starts in a row; a lot of the former first-rounder’s Savant sliders are middle-of-the-pack in 2025, but a solid breaking arsenal and the lowest walk rate of his career have produced good numbers in the first half of the season.

The Detroit Tigers remain 10.5 games above the Twins, who are not likely to be in contention for the American League Central this season. However, at 40-42, the Twins are still just a game behind the second-place Cleveland Guardians, and two games better than the also-sub-.500 Kansas City Royals, both of whom probably expected to be better at this point in the season like the Twins did.

(The 2023 Twins also sported a losing record at the All-Star Break, before playing deeper into the postseason than any Twins team had since 2004. Food for thought!)

At this stage in the game, the Twins are also only 2.5 games back of the final Wild Card spot, which is probably going to be their destination for the rest of the year. The Seattle Mariners occupy the #6 seed at the moment, with only the Guards and the Los Angeles Angels the only clubs ahead of Minnesota.

As long as the team is able to hang around .500, the expanded (if we can still call it that) postseason bracket will offer them a chance for the rest of the year, and it may only take one or two solid stretches to move the needle.

With three wins in the pocket since Wednesday, we may already be in the middle of one such solid stretch.

GO TWINS GO!