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MIAMI, FL - Last season when the New York Mets were fighting for their playoff lives, the Miami Marlins took two out of three games, eliminating the Mets from the 2025 postseason. One year later, the Marlins, six games back of the final National League Wild Card, are swept by the Mets in one of the craziest games ever played at loanDepot park, a 15-14 Mets win. "Disappointing how this homestand has gone to this point," Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. "You could say you saw some dejection in there. It's 8-0 early like that, not the the hand that we wanted, but it was the one that we were dealt. You saw how they they finished last night and again tonight. No one can question this group's willingness to hang in there and continue to go until it's done because they just continually show that. Unfortunately, we were down big early, tied it, got down again, and continued to go." According to FanGraphs, the Marlins postseason chances are at zero. They aren't officially eliminated, sitting 6.5 games out of the final National League Wild Card spot, but with games against the Los Angeles Dodgers (88-57), Arizona Diamondbacks (78-68), San Diego Padres (78-68) and the Atlanta Braves (85-61), it is highly unlikely that the Marlins make the playoffs in 2026. Janson Junk, who started for the Marlins, surrendered all eight runs on Wednesday night. The Mets scored six in the top of the second and former Marlin Christopher Morel hit his first home run of the season in the ensuing inning. "I didn't do a good job setting the tone today," Junk said. "I was competing out there, making good pitches and they just put balls where guys weren't at, and it was unfortunate, kind of frustrating on my end." The Marlins scored three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning and five in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game. Back-to-back RBI singles from Graham Pauley and Joe Mack got Miami on the board in the fourth. Then in the sixth, Owen Caissie hit his 14th home run of the season along with RBI from Griffin Conine, Otto Lopez and Jakob Marsee to even things up. The Mets countered right away with a six-run top of the seventh inning. Francisco Lindor, who hit a home run in game two of the series, went deep in what ended up being a 14-8 lead for the Mets. Joe Mack hit his 13th home run of the season in the bottom of the frame and RBI from both Owen Caissie and Graham Pauley in the eighth made it a 15-11 game. Going into Wednesday's game, the Marlins bullpen had tossed 179 1/3 innings since the All-Star break, 18th most in baseball. After having one of the lowest bullpen ERAs in baseball during the first half of the season, it now sits at 4.62 since July 17. On Wednesday, the Marlins went with seven relievers who combined to throw 124 pitches. Of those seven pitchers, only three of them threw over 20 pitches and one threw under 10 pitches. The Marlins won't have the services of Sandy Alcantara and Eury Pérez during the upcoming series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, but an off day on Thursday should somewhat help. In the bottom of the ninth inning, the Marlins tacked on three more runs, but it wouldn't be enough as the Fish fell by a final score of 15-14. Both teams combined for 35 hits and 29 runs. This marked the third time in team history the Marlins have lost when scoring 14 or more runs. Both other occasions happened in 2008. The Marlins have an off day on Thursday before welcoming the LA Dodgers. Ryan Gusto will take the mound opposite of Blake Snell on Friday at 7:10 pm. View the full article

TRANSACTIONS No moves were made on Wednesday. Saints Sentinel St. Paul 5, Syracuse 4 Box Score Germán Márquez: 4 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 K HR: Cody Morissette (16) Multi-hit games: Austin Martin (2-for-4, 3B, R, 2 RBI), Alan Roden (2-for-4, BB), Matt Wallner (2-for-4, 2B, RBI, BB) The Saints won on a walk-off on Wednesday. Matters that begin poorly may not always end so; just ask the Saints. Germán Márquez didn’t have it. His 2018 version a distant memory. The Mets struck for two in the second, and returned for a duplicate pair in the third, dropping a flurry of hits on the starter, as he exited the fourth ragged, tattered, and out of the game. But the Saints had some rally in them—and it all started with one swing. Cody Morissette, unrelated to Alanis, presumably. Though the owner of a swing far twitchier than his more famous surnamed Canadian. He’s slashing .357/.419/.857 in September thanks to hacks like this, in which he swatted a high fastball the other way for a solo homer. A Matt Wallner fielder’s choice in the sixth added a second run. Then, a critical hit from a familiar face. Austin Martin stepped to the plate with two on in the seventh, and delivered the goods with a well-placed gapper, splitting the center and left fielder with precision, scoring two as he dashed into third. An assist goes to Syracuse’s Jose Ramos and his alligator arms. Well, the “walk-off” hint was more literal than you may have thought it was. St. Paul started the ninth with two hits and an intentional walk, putting them in a perfect place for a potential poaching of a win. Aaron Sabato struck out. So it goes. Matt Wallner worked the count full. The 3-2 fastball thudded dully in the dirt. Hey, anti-climaticism counts all the same. Trent Baker, Garrett Acton, and Eric Orze combined to pitch five shutout innings out of the bullpen. They struck out three and allowed a trio of hits. Rehabbing big leaguer Austin Martin went 2-for-4 with a triple, a run scored, and two RBIs. It was his second game played in his rehab assignment. The Mets are the Mets. Their second-ranked prospect, pitcher Jonathan Santucci, tossed five innings with one earned run, striking out six. Wind Surge Wisdom Wichita 5, Frisco 7 Box Score Preston Johnson: 4 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K HR: Graham Brown (5) Multi-hit games: Kyle DeBarge (2-for-3, R, BB), Graham Brown (2-for-4, HR, 2B, 2 R, 3 RBI) The Wind Surge came up short on Wednesday. Matters that start well may not always end so; just ask the Wind Surge. Wichita loaded the bases in the first and pushed a run across with a Jaime Ferrer walk. The lead held for the three innings—the best frames pitched by Preston Johnson on the day. He struck out two and navigated minor trouble in the third. Then, trouble brewed. Two quick outs in the fourth portended runs. Two scored to swallow what would turn out to be Wichita’s only lead of the day. A Graham Brown blast in the bottom of the frame knotted things, yet the respite turned sour quickly. Darren Bowen replaced Johnson and couldn’t escape the fifth: he surrendered a menagerie of action, totaling four hits, a hit by pitch, a steal of home, and a wild pitch. Four runs scored. Frisco added one more in the seventh, an unnecessary luxury, as Wichita’s three-run volley in the eighth left the team two runs short of a tie. Brown brought in a pair with a double, his second extra-base hit of the day, and Quinn McDaniel singled in one more. Garrett Spain, Caden Kendle, and Brandon Winokur went down 1-2-3 in the ninth to end the game. MLB’s ninth-ranked prospect, infielder Sebastian Walcott, DH’d for the RoughRiders on Wednesday. He went 1-5, with two strikeouts. Kernels Nuggets The Kernels season has ended. Come back in 2027 to read more about them. Mussel Matters The Mighty Mussels season has ended. Come back in 2027 to read more about them. TWINS DAILY PLAYERS OF THE DAY Twins Daily Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Trent Baker Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Day – Graham Brown PROSPECT SUMMARY Here’s a look at how the Twins Daily Top 20 Twins Prospects performed: #1 – Walker Jenkins (Twins) - 0-2, BB, 2 K #3 – Kaelen Culpepper (Twins) - 0-4 #4 – Marek Houston (Wichita) - 1-3, R, 2 BB, K #6 – Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul) - 1-4, 2 R, BB, 2 K #7 – Hendry Mendez (St. Paul) - 1-1 #12 – Brandon Winokur (Wichita) - 0-5, 2 K THURSDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Syracuse @ St. Paul (6:37 PM) - RHP Jack Anderson Frisco @ Wichita (6:35 PM) - RHP Ty Langenberg View the full article

As the Twins close out another disappointing season (though, at least, one that raised expectations and began cementing the cornerstones for the next generation), there will be plenty of blame to go around. As the team decides on its future, there's one gigantic question they will have to answer: Should manager Derek Shelton return for a second year? The Twins changed operations over the offseason at the levels of ownership (sort of), general manager, and practically half the roster, in addition to Shelton replacing former skipper Rocco Baldelli. Originally perceived as a placeholder choice by Derek Falvey to provide stability for a rebuilding year, Shelton kept a steady hand on the helm as the team undertook significant roster changes within the season. He's made a case to return for a second season. Let's evaluate that case. Shelton did sign a standard multi-year deal, but that has never guaranteed a manager's return. If Jeremy Zoll wants to put his own preferred pick in place—there are names like Alex Cora and Rob Thomson out there, not to mention Albert Pujols making a case, but it's just as likely that Zoll would prefer to install a less famous person he knows well—he should have the power to do so. As any intelligent baseball fan knows, evaluating managers is a tricky business. Front offices shape the roster and spearhead game-planning, which often affects the set of choices a manager has even when writing out the lineup card or making moves within a game. For example, Shelton has relied less on pinch-hitting than his predecessor (usually) did. During the 2023 season, Baldelli's tactics led to 397 plate appearances by players who did not start that game. That number fell to 356 in 2024, then plummeted to 236 last season. Under Shelton, there have been just 211 plate appearances for substitutes so far. He's gone to the bench much less often, but Baldelli had also bent in that direction before departing the job. A weak bench naturally begets a greater reliance on one's starters; it's no surprise that Shelton hasn't wanted to use Alex Jackson or Ryan Kreidler especially aggressively. That influence from front offices is a confounding factor in judging skippers. So is the often errant public perception that shapes narratives around them. Noisy online fans often referred to Baldelli’s “quick hook" with starters, but Shelton has run his rotation much as the previous skipper did—and that’s despite more rookie pitchers who could use the slack, and a pretty atrocious bullpen who could not be trusted. All told, the two managers differ little in how often they use pinch-hitters and in how much of their pitching staff's workload lands on their starters. Rocco Baldelli (Average Between 2019 and 2025) Derek Shelton (2026) Pinch Hitting % 4.3% 3.8% Starter IP % 57.8% 59.4% A better sign of unique improvement for a manager comes in the form of player development. A lot of ideas might come from the front office, but it’s often left to the coaches to get those ideas into the players. Here, Shelton has done well, after it seemed an entire generation had gone bust. Luke Keaschall and Royce Lewis emerged from their early slumps. Josh Bell looked cooked early in the season, but has gotten back on track with an .818 OPS since the start of June. Brooks Lee naturally slid from shortstop to third base and currently leads the team in Win Probability Added. Andrew Morris went from a shaky starter to a solid set-up man. Kody Clemens has 25 home runs. Perhaps the only thing a manager can really do is manage the vibes. Defining that success depends on how the players feel, rather than on any fan perception. From reporting, Baldelli was certainly laid-back, but Shelton isn’t exactly a drill sergeant. As he told the media in a recent scrum, “One of the things I'm most proud of with the culture of our group is [that] I really don't have to say much to them. They handle themselves extremely well." That hasn’t led to any complaints—Zoll brought in veterans like Bell and Taylor Rogers to assist the young talent—but a different tack will be needed next season, as the team gets much, much younger. Kaelen Culpepper and Walker Jenkins are already in the mix. Next year, another handful of rookies could replace departing veterans. FanGraphs projected the Twins for 77 wins for the season. With just under two dozen to go, they are likely to end up at… 77 or so wins. That’s not a successful season, but it’s hard to say Shelton did anything to cause whatever failure one ascribes to the club. The schizophrenic feeling of the season—a running problem for this team for multiple years now—feels impossible to solve. Could a different manager break that spell? If the Twins bring back Shelton, I won’t be surprised or aggrieved. As long as Shelton stops yelling at robots, I don’t think he did much wrong that cannot be placed at the feet of the front office. But there is always an opportunity cost. As the Twins reshape for a new generation, the club could transform the feeling in and outside the clubhouse. The organization's churn has created some momentum; it might be wise to sustain that by continuing to make changes. View the full article

The version of Michael Conforto who used to destroy fastballs has been back this year, and that is very good news for the Chicago Cubs heading into the postseason. Conforto hit just .224 with a .382 slugging percentage against fastballs with the Dodgers last year. His power was still there, with 12 doubles and eight home runs, but the loss of contact limited his impact. He fell well short of his 2024 campaign, when he hit 35 extra-base hits—15 of them home runs—and finished with a .547 slugging percentage, just one point below his .546 xSLG. This year, his best adjustments against fastballs have come from expanding his swing, hitting pitches better in the upper and lower thirds around the strike zone. The two graphics on the left show Conforto’s impact this season against right-handed pitchers’ fastballs, while the ones on the right correspond to last year. Most of the areas where his average exit velocity has increased have also seen an improvement in his slugging percentage. Pitchers challenged Conforto last year by throwing him fastballs 55.9% of the time, but with these adjustments, they are now relying more on breaking pitches and off-speed pitches. Changeups have once again become the biggest problem: he is hitting just .122 against them, the worst mark of his career. But that is not the only concerning decline for Conforto, as his 40.8% whiff rate is also a career worst, and much of that breakdown has contributed to his strikeout rate jumping from 25.0% in 2025 to 38.5% this year. Take a look at his whiff rate zone chart, and it becomes clear where Conforto is struggling. I think we have reached a much more revealing point. As you can see, Conforto hardly struggles in the strike zone. The problems appear when he tries to reach pitches that are in the lower parts and corners. In many of those same areas, he has destroyed fastballs, but he has not been able to do the same against changeups. Although his flawed swing rate has dropped from 17% to 13% against changeups, Conforto’s perfect contact rate has fallen from 19% to 10%. Of course, much of this problem could be solved if Conforto stopped chasing the large number of pitches outside the strike zone that are limiting him, but that is a challenge he has not been able to solve throughout his career. Aggressiveness is his essence in the batter’s box. In fact, this season, Conforto is posting the highest swing rate on pitches outside the zone of his career (27.6%), along with his lowest contact rate (50.3%). So, amidst all his problems at the plate, the fact that his swing is regaining its impact against fastballs and showing some heat against breaking pitches is as good as it sounds. Consider that he also leads the league in home runs (four) and has a 1.265 OPS as a pinch hitter in 34 plate appearances, and it's clear that Conforto is more than filling the duties of his role on this Cubs team. It's just a question of if he can clean up (or mask) his fatal flaw before the playoffs, lest he get picked on by the best pitchers in baseball. View the full article

The version of Michael Conforto who used to destroy fastballs has been back this year, and that is very good news for the Chicago Cubs heading into the postseason. Conforto hit just .224 with a .382 slugging percentage against fastballs with the Dodgers last year. His power was still there, with 12 doubles and eight home runs, but the loss of contact limited his impact. He fell well short of his 2024 campaign, when he hit 35 extra-base hits—15 of them home runs—and finished with a .547 slugging percentage, just one point below his .546 xSLG. This year, his best adjustments against fastballs have come from expanding his swing, hitting pitches better in the upper and lower thirds around the strike zone. The two graphics on the left show Conforto’s impact this season against right-handed pitchers’ fastballs, while the ones on the right correspond to last year. Most of the areas where his average exit velocity has increased have also seen an improvement in his slugging percentage. Pitchers challenged Conforto last year by throwing him fastballs 55.9% of the time, but with these adjustments, they are now relying more on breaking pitches and off-speed pitches. Changeups have once again become the biggest problem: he is hitting just .122 against them, the worst mark of his career. But that is not the only concerning decline for Conforto, as his 40.8% whiff rate is also a career worst, and much of that breakdown has contributed to his strikeout rate jumping from 25.0% in 2025 to 38.5% this year. Take a look at his whiff rate zone chart, and it becomes clear where Conforto is struggling. I think we have reached a much more revealing point. As you can see, Conforto hardly struggles in the strike zone. The problems appear when he tries to reach pitches that are in the lower parts and corners. In many of those same areas, he has destroyed fastballs, but he has not been able to do the same against changeups. Although his flawed swing rate has dropped from 17% to 13% against changeups, Conforto’s perfect contact rate has fallen from 19% to 10%. Of course, much of this problem could be solved if Conforto stopped chasing the large number of pitches outside the strike zone that are limiting him, but that is a challenge he has not been able to solve throughout his career. Aggressiveness is his essence in the batter’s box. In fact, this season, Conforto is posting the highest swing rate on pitches outside the zone of his career (27.6%), along with his lowest contact rate (50.3%). So, amidst all his problems at the plate, the fact that his swing is regaining its impact against fastballs and showing some heat against breaking pitches is as good as it sounds. Consider that he also leads the league in home runs (four) and has a 1.265 OPS as a pinch hitter in 34 plate appearances, and it's clear that Conforto is more than filling the duties of his role on this Cubs team. It's just a question of if he can clean up (or mask) his fatal flaw before the playoffs, lest he get picked on by the best pitchers in baseball. View the full article

Jackson Chourio faced Jacob Webb in one of the first fistful of games of his career. It was April 2024, and the Brewers were in Baltimore, finishing off a shellacking of the Orioles. When he came to the plate, the Crew led 11-1, and although it was technically an RBI opportunity, there were no stakes; there was no reason to be especially locked-in. Chourio took a big rip at the first pitch and flied out harmlessly. The offering was a changeup, Webb's signature pitch. It wasn't exceptionally well-located, but Chourio got it off the end of his bat. That was a tough matchup for the rookie—you don't see many right-on-right changeups in the minors, and the ones you do see tend to be meatballs. Webb got him out, but neither player is likely to have thought much about that moment since. It was one of those plays that happen when both sides are just trying to get to the final out and go enjoy the postgame meal. TVpSek5fV0ZRVkV3dEdEUT09X0FBZ0hWUVVFWDFBQURsc0xWUUFBQWdNQ0FGa0hWZ1VBQTFBRlVRRlJVZ2RRQVFOZg==.mp4 Webb and Chourio saw each other again earlier this season. During Milwaukee's sweep of Chicago at Wrigley Field in May, Webb was still little more than a mop-up man for the Cubs, so he was pitching in the top of the sixth in a game the visitors led 3-0. That at-bat mattered more than the last time the two squared off, but it still wasn't very high-leverage. It also came after each had had more time to prepare for it. Chourio is no longer a clean-shaven cherub; he's a bearded nightmare for pitchers and a budding superstar. Webb signed with Chicago over the winter, so he was surely one of the pitchers the Brewers loaded into the Trajekt machine for preparatory work before that series. Thus, both players knew something they might not have known (and certainly didn't care much about) in early 2024: Chourio's swing is a scary-good fit for Webb's changeup. Thus, the righty eschewed that offering in the matchup. He missed outside with a high fastball on the first pitch, but found the plate with one on 1-0. After Chourio fouled that pitch off, Webb fired a low heater to steal a called strike and stretch the zone. On 1-2, he finally broke out something totally different—but it was his big-breaking curveball, dipping to the bottom edge of the zone. Chourio had been covering the fastball; he hit the curve off the end of the bat, He did stay on it well enough to hit the ball to right-center field, but without much oomph. R0JyenJfWGw0TUFRPT1fQmdZQUFRVlZYZ1lBWGxCVUFnQUhBZ1pVQUZsWFZ3TUFCMUlCVmxjTVUxVlNDRk1G.mp4 Since then, the two hadn't seen each other at all. Webb went on a long hot streak, and emerged as the Cubs' de facto closer for a while. He's since been bitten by the venomous snake that is regression, but it's been a good season for Webb. He says he's never had better feel for his changeup, and his confidence in that offering helped him become a high-leverage option for Craig Counsell. There's no chance Webb forgot that Chourio's swing suits his changeup in a dangerous way, The Cubs should have had that at the top of their scouting report on that potential matchup. However, pitchers who start to feel a bit of trouble tend to retreat to the pitch they trust most. Webb had gotten the first two batters he faced, and had he retired Christian Yelich, too, he wouldn't have even needed to face Chourio. Yelich singled, though, bringing Chourio to the plate as the tying run. Under immediate pressure, Webb went with a first-pitch changeup. akR3T1dfWGw0TUFRPT1fQUFkWVZ3VldWMVFBV1ZzS0FBQUhBUVJVQUZrQlZWQUFBMUFCQ0FVQ0FsQlFBbEZY.mp4 That offering looked a lot like the one in Baltimore two and a half years ago. In between, Chourio came to bat over 1,600 times, but his reaction to the pitch looked very similar, too. He was early. He caught it off the end of the bat. This time, the lumber even cracked, and he topped it off to the left for a foul ball. Strictly speaking, that swing wasn't good news. Webb had been trying to disrupt Chourio's timing, and he'd succeeded. If Chourio had been fooled less badly, he might well have grounded or flied out to end the game uneventfully. On that one pitch, Webb had won the showdown. Yet, as Chourio went to get a new bat, he had a confident smile on his face, and he seemed to chat lightly and confidently with someone near the dugout as he began to head back to the box. That's because he knew something important: that pitch had gone well enough that Webb would try it again. Chourio's plan on the first pitch was to cover Webb's mid-90s fastball, especially up. Being able to touch the changeup proved to the young slugger that he had both of Webb's key offerings covered, as needed. But because Webb got positive feedback from the first-pitch cambio, Chourio could step back in (with his new lumber) planning to ambush another one. If Webb had executed the next pitch better, things might have gone differently. Instead, this time, he left that pitch up—running in on the edge of the plate, but belt-high, rather than down at the kneecaps. Chourio, whose flat swing has always been perfectly designed to punish mistake offspeed pitches just like that one, was all over it. akR3T1dfWGw0TUFRPT1fRHdVRkFWSlFWUUlBV2dSWEF3QUhBbEJlQUZsV1ZsQUFVQWNIQkZKV0NBZFVWbEZW.mp4 We often look for long sequences to mark great at-bats. We often think of first- or second-pitch slams as mindless ambushes or brutal mistakes. There was a bit of that in this one. But there was also some real hitting genius at work. Chourio, still very young but a savvier player than he used to be, learned a lot in a short time from facing Webb. In May, he learned that the righty didn't want to throw him his changeup. Once he got one, though, he knew to expect the second. He had to let go, a little bit, of the outside fastball. He had to set his sights on the same pitch he'd just seen, rather than committing himself to the ball away. There was time to have those thoughts, and to let the moment build. There was a real sequence in there. It's just made up mostly of negative space. Once Chourio actually swung the bat, that space filled up in a hurry—as always seems to happen, lately, when there's a gap the Brewers need Chourio to fill. View the full article

Box Score SP: Zebby Matthews - 2 1/3 IP, 2 H, 5 R, 4 BB, 2 K (58 pitches, 27 strikes (47% strikes)) Home Runs: Kody Clemens (26), Josh Bell (19) Bottom 3 WPA: Zebby Matthews (-0.24), Brooks Lee (-0.09), Kaelen Culpepper (-0.08) Win Probability Chart The Twins entered Wednesday afternoon's series finale against the Tigers looking to win the rubber match after splitting the first two games of the series. Unfortunately, they never really gave themselves much of a chance. Detroit jumped on Zebby Matthews early, scoring twice in the first before putting together a brutal three-run third inning. The Twins briefly made things interesting with back-to-back homers from Kody Clemens and Josh Bell, but Detroit answered and never really let Minnesota get back into the game. The Tigers went on to win 7-2, taking the series and dropping the Twins to 69-77 on the season. They have just 16 games remaining, and would need to win 12 to get to .500. ZEBBY MATTHEWS COULDN'T ESCAPE THE THIRD INNING Zebby Matthews's biggest problem this season has been the long ball, and that issue showed up immediately Wednesday afternoon. Colt Keith gave Detroit a 2-0 lead in the first inning when he hammered a changeup down and in out to right field. It was Matthews's 23rd homer allowed this season, with 17 of those coming on the road. After a rough first inning, Matthews bounced back nicely in the second. He retired the Tigers in order, getting Brett Callahan to pop out, Max Clark to strike out, and Ben Malgeri to ground out. It looked like he had a chance to settle in and keep the Twins within striking distance. Instead, the third inning completely unraveled. John Peck opened the frame with a walk. Kevin McGonigle doubled down the left-field line. Hao-Yu Lee then drew another four-pitch walk, loading the bases with nobody out and bringing Keith back to the plate. Matthews got the massive strikeout he needed against the hitter who had already homered off him, but the trouble didn't end there. He walked Riley Greene to force in another run, his third walk of the inning and fourth of the afternoon. That ended Matthews's day after just seven outs, with Travis Adams coming in to try to clean up the mess. Dillon Dingler added a sacrifice fly, though, and Callahan's ground-rule double brought another run home. By the time the inning finally ended, Detroit had taken a 5-0 lead. Matthews couldn't afford that kind of inning, especially against a Tigers team that had already taken advantage of him in the first. CLEMENS AND BELL GAVE THE TWINS A GLIMMER OF HOPE The Twins didn't waste much time trying to respond. After Detroit's five-run third inning, Minnesota came to the plate in the fourth with a massive deficit to overcome. It took just two batters to make things a little more interesting. Clemens jumped on a first-pitch fastball on the outside corner and drove it out to left field for his 26th homer of the season. That gave him the outright team lead in home runs. Then Josh Bell stepped in and did the exact same thing. Suddenly, the Twins had gone from trailing 5-0 to trailing 5-2, and there was at least a little life in the Minnesota dugout. But that was as close as they would get. The Twins couldn't string together another rally after the back-to-back homers. Detroit's Tyler Holton worked a scoreless fifth, and the Tigers' bullpen continued to keep Minnesota's offense in check throughout the afternoon. The two homers were a great response after falling into such a massive hole, but the Twins needed more than two swings to overcome what had happened in the third. Unfortunately, they never got it. This game wasn't completely devoid of opportunities for Minnesota after the fourth inning. The Twins had a chance to make things interesting in the seventh, when Trevor Larnach lined a two-strike curveball into right field for a one-out single. Victor Caratini followed with a two-out single, allowing Larnach to advance all the way to third. That brought Walker Jenkins to the plate with the tying run. Detroit went to left-hander Drew Sommers, and Jenkins had a chance to deliver the biggest hit of the afternoon. Instead, he swung through a fastball at the top of the zone to end the inning. That was Minnesota's last real opportunity. The Twins managed just one more baserunner after that, with Bell leading off the ninth with a single. Kaelen Culpepper immediately grounded into a double play, and Larnach flied out to end the game. Minnesota finished the afternoon with just six hits and couldn't put together the kind of sustained offensive pressure it needed after falling behind early. The Tigers, meanwhile, consistently made the Twins pay for their mistakes. After Tuesday's narrow victory gave the Twins a chance to win the series, Wednesday's game quickly turned into a reminder of how difficult things have been for Minnesota down the stretch. The Tigers scored early, capitalized on Matthews's struggles, and never surrendered control. With the regular season winding down, Minnesota's margin for error continues to get smaller. What’s Next? The Twins are off tomorrow before returning to Target Field to host the Guardians in a weekend set. Taj Bradley is lined up to start Friday night for Minnesota. Left-hander Parker Messick, who has allowed just two earned runs over two starts against the Twins this year, gets the ball for the Guards. First pitch is set for 7:10 PM. Postgame Interviews Coming soon! Bullpen Availability Chart View the full article

Byron Buxton is entering his mid-30s, and the injuries continue to pile up. As he ages into his 30s, is the franchise cornerstone of the Minnesota Twins facing a significant turning point in his career? View the full article

Last week at Wrigley Field, Pat Murphy made a rare admission to the media: in a close game, he made a decision that didn't maximize the Brewers' chances of winning. After hitting Andrew Vaughn for David Hamilton last Sunday against the Rangers, Murphy kept him in the game as the third baseman. That was a hit to the infield defense with Milwaukee trailing by three runs, but Murphy was thinking ahead to their first September series against the Cubs. "I wanted to get him two at-bats, because I knew coming into the series he was going to get some at-bats," Murphy said. "Do I do that if I'm ruthless about winning every single game? Probably not. But I have to think of those things." Murphy has to think ahead as a manager, but it's one of his least favorite parts of the job to discuss. Having cut his teeth as a coach in the uncertain and chaotic environment of college baseball, he believes you can't control much about the future. The best thing you can do is try your best to win the game in front of you. One of Murphy's most repeated mantras is "Win Tonight." That means Murphy puts his chips on the table when he sniffs a potential win. He wants his best players on the field whenever possible. He doesn't push players to the point of immediate injury risk, but Murphy will wade into the gray area on workloads to win tonight. The standings aren't changing his view—at least not yet. Milwaukee entered their final regular-season series against the Cubs with a seven-game lead over Chicago in the NL Central. According to FanGraphs, they had a 98.6% chance of winning the division. Still, Murphy has insisted repeatedly over the last several weeks that the Brewers cannot start thinking ahead about October ("We're not in the postseason yet," he cautioned before the Wrigley series). In fairness, there is still something to play for; securing baseball's best record would guarantee home-field advantage through the postseason. On Monday, Murphy pitched Abner Uribe in a back-to-back outing while trailing by one run in the eighth inning, saying afterward that he considered it a high-leverage situation. On Tuesday, he kept Uribe off-limits and gave Jake Bauers a second straight maintenance day as he deals with shin splints. However, he also pitched Aaron Ashby for the sixth time in eight days and pinch-hit for Bauers in the fifth inning, so he played the second half of the game at first base. As they often have, Murphy's more aggressive decisions paid off, at least in the short term. The Brewers notched comeback wins in both games, including Tuesday's particularly dramatic walk-off win. Even though neither meant much for the divisional standings – particularly after the Brewers secured the season series and postseason tiebreaker over the Cubs on Monday – both had a playoff-like atmosphere. "Playing here and being close to Chicago and playing in Wrigley, it's always pretty crazy," DL Hall said. "But I think we just look at it like any other game, and we just play our game, no matter who's across the field in the other dugout." For the Brewers, that means leaving everything on the field and refusing to quit. Redemption was the story of the night, as the key contributors behind the late-inning comeback were having unproductive nights, made mistakes earlier in the game, or both. "We made some junior mistakes before that, but hung in there and [were] resilient," Murphy said of the eventual walk-off victory. "That's just kind of what you'd love to be part of, trusting your team and believing they'll keep coming back." After Trevor Megill allowed two runs in the top of the ninth, the Brewers were down to their final strike. Christian Yelich battled back from an 0-2 count for a pinch-hit single, giving Jackson Chourio a crack at Cubs closer Jacob Webb. The Brewers may have taken a lead to the ninth had Chourio not cost them a run on the bases an hour earlier. Trying to score from second on William Contreras's two-out single in the fifth, Chourio awkwardly slid feet first into the plate, trying to swipe home plate with his left hand. He jammed his thumb and was tagged out on a tag he should have beaten, even if it was a great throw by Seiya Suzuki. "He's got a lane to slide in. You hope he's safe there," Murphy said. "Feet first at the plate, I just don't like it." He made up for it in the ninth. After fouling off a first-pitch changeup over the inner third of the plate, Chourio turned on the next one he saw and launched a game-tying home run to left. After his go-ahead single in the eighth the day before, it was the latest addition to his growing resume of coming through in the biggest moments. "You got to get 27 outs, right? There's not another person I probably want up in that situation." Garrett Mitchell said. "He just does less and demolishes baseballs." Mitchell was having a rough night at the plate himself, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, but he set up the walk-off with his defense in extra innings. When Alex Bregman led off the top of the tenth with a fly ball to center field, Mitchell positioned himself, stepped into the catch (with Chourio alerting him that the placed runner Suzuki was preparing to tag up), and fired to third. David Hamilton held the tag as Suzuki slid past the base to complete the double play. "It's baseball. You can have a really good day and a really crappy day," Mitchell said. "I think I've talked about this a lot. There's not a lot you can control on the offensive end when things aren't going well, but if there's one thing I take pride in, it's playing good defense, and you don't take your offense to defense." Luis Lara was also 0-for-4 when he stepped up with the bases loaded in the bottom of the tenth. In the sixth, he emotionally challenged a third strike that was fully in the zone, exhausting the Brewers' final ABS challenge. That proved consequential in the ninth, as what should have been a Michael Conforto strikeout became a one-out walk when ball four clipped the zone and William Contreras could not challenge. Lara also struck out with runners on second and third in the eighth to end a potential rally. Before Lara stepped into the box, Murphy approached him in the on-deck circle with a message of encouragement. "He asked me if I was ready, and he told me that he believed in me 100 percent," Lara said through translator Daniel de Mondesert. "I was just trying to get him to take the emotions out of it and just have kind of a clear head," Murphy said. "'It's not about you, it's about the ballclub right here. The ballclub needs you to stay level-headed.' I don't think that had any difference in the at-bat." On the first pitch, Lara drove a walk-off single down the left-field line. "I think the only thing that was repeating in my head over and over again was, 'Wow, wow, wow,'" Lara said. "It was just unbelievable." "He just cares," Murphy said. "When you come into the environment here, you care about the team. That's the deal." On one hand, resiliency should serve the Brewers well in October. Regular-season baseball already punches you in the mouth repeatedly, and it hits even harder in do-or-die playoff environments. The Cubs could again be Milwaukee's NLDS opponent, and in recent games, the Brewers have embodied the traits of a successful postseason team. They've bounced back from bad losses, pitched well against a formidable lineup, played great defense, and gotten enough big swings from hitters like Chourio to flip the scoreboard when it matters most. On the other hand, last year's NLCS sweep showed what happens when the tank runs dry too soon. The offense looked like a shell of itself after grinding out every plate appearance for six months and playing through injuries. With diminished command and velocity, respectively, Ashby and Uribe looked to be running on fumes. The Brewers didn't back off that September. With that context, it's fair to wonder whether Monday and Tuesday's high-effort wins would look different after a playoff exit. Are a few extra regular-season wins worth it if they send a club to an earlier October burnout? Every team has wear and tear by the postseason, but unlike most teams, the Brewers played so well that they earned the luxury of pacing themselves down the stretch. Is continuing to go full-throttle with the best playoff odds in baseball the best use of the next three weeks? That's the balance Murphy and the Brewers must strike, particularly after they clinch a postseason spot and the division in the coming days. They should still make a push for the top seed, but at that point, there are more important considerations than winning the game in front of you. The last two wins can be an October preview, but not the premature peak of Milwaukee's season. View the full article

Chicago Cubs Minor League Report (September 😎 Affiliate Overview Triple-A Iowa Cubs Series vs. Toledo MudHens (Detroit Tigers): Game canceled Season Record: 57–78-1 Double-A Knoxville Smokies Series at Birmingham Barons (Chicago White Sox): Barons lead, 1-0 Season Record: 71–61 High-A South Bend Cubs Midwest League Playoffs vs. Quad Cities River Bandits (Kansas City Royals): River Bandits lead, 1-0 Regular Season Record: 77–51 Single-A Myrtle Beach Pelicans 2026 Season Record: 50–77 Triple-A: Iowa Cubs Season Record: 57–78-1 Series Opponent: Toledo MudHens (66-61) Series Standing: Game canceled Sept. 8: The Iowa Cubs and the Toledo MudHens had Tuesday night’s series opener canceled due to inclement weather. The game will not be made up. The two teams will open their five-game set tonight at Principal Park at 12:08 p.m. CT. Double-A: Knoxville Smokies Season Record: 71–61 Series Opponent: Birmingham Barons (58–75) Series Standing: Trail, 1-0 Sept. 8: The Knoxville Smokies opened their final regular season series with a 3-2 defeat, in 10 innings, to the Birmingham Barons on Tuesday night at Regions Field. The Barons took a 1-0 lead in the first before Kane Kepley (2-for-5) evened the contest with an RBI-single in the third. Knoxville would take a 2-1 lead in the fifth thanks to another RBI-single from Kepley. Birmingham would tie the game in the seventh and the 2-2 score would hold through nine innings. The Barons would keep the Smokies off the board in the 10th and would eventually walk-off the visitors to claim the 3-2 win. Brooks Caple got the start on the mound for Knoxville and took no decision. Caple spun six innings of one-run ball, earning his fourth quality start of the season. He also struck out five batters and issued one walk. Tyler Ras worked two scoreless frames out of the bullpen and gave up just one hit and whiffed four batters. High-A: South Bend Cubs Regular Season Record: 77–51 Midwest League Division Series Opponent: Quad Cities River Bandits (70–57) Series Standing: Trail, 1-0 Sept. 8: The South Bend Cubs opened their Midwest League Division Series against the Quad Cities River Bandits with an 8-3 defeat on Tuesday night at Modern Woodmen Park. The River Bandits took a 1-0 lead in the second but the Cubs hit back in the third on a two-run shot from Angel Cepeda (2-for-5) to take the lead. Josiah Hartshorn (3-for-5) crushed a solo shot in the fifth to make it 3-1 but Quad Cities stormed back with three runs in the sixth and four in the seventh to make it an 8-3 game. South Bend could not mount a late rally and will now have to earn victories on Thursday and Friday at Four Winds Field to advance in the postseason. Jostin Florentino got the start on the mound for the Cubs and took no decision. Florentino allowed one run on two hits over four innings of work, walked two and struck out six. Spots one through four in the South Bend batting order went a combined 7-for-16 (.438), while spots five through nine went 0-for-18 (.000). Single-A: Myrtle Beach Pelicans 2026 Season Record: 50–77 Sept. 8: The Myrtle Beach Pelicans’ season came to an end on Friday after both of their contests on Saturday and Sunday were rained out. The Pelicans finished the 2026 season with a 50-77 record. View the full article

The Minnesota Twins are running out of games on the 2026 schedule, which means the evaluation period is getting shorter. With the club's playoff hopes fading, September becomes less about squeezing every possible win out of the roster and more about determining which young players should be part of the next competitive Twins team. There are plenty of intriguing names getting opportunities, but "young" and "ready for a 2027 job" aren't necessarily the same thing. Some players have already done enough to earn a spot. Others still have work to do. Here's where five of the organization's most important young players currently stand. OF Luke Keaschall 2027 Job: Yes Keaschall's first impression this season wasn't exactly what the Twins hoped to see. He hit just .217/.267/.275 over his first 131 plate appearances, while striking out 21 times. Minnesota eventually moved him down in the batting order, giving the young hitter an opportunity to work through his struggles without the added pressure that comes with hitting at the top of the lineup. That adjustment appears to have worked. Since July 1, Keaschall has been one of the better offensive players in the American League. Over 53 games, he's hitting .319/.414/.497 with a .912 OPS. He's collected 59 hits, scored 29 runs, hit seven home runs, added 12 doubles and been hit by 14 pitches. That's a pretty convincing response to his early struggles. The biggest question heading into 2027 is where Keaschall fits defensively. He's been worth negative OAA at both second base and center field, while his work in right field has been worth 0 OAA. That's where the Twins should look to keep him moving forward, though a switch from right to left field would also make sense. Keaschall has shown enough offensively to earn a 2027 job. Now, Minnesota needs to find the defensive position that allows him to maximize his overall value. SS Kaelen Culpepper 2027 Job: Yes Culpepper is getting an opportunity, and earning the trust that comes with it. The rookie was moved up to second in the lineup over the weekend, a clear sign that manager Derek Shelton has confidence in what Culpepper is doing. In his first 100-plus plate appearances, he's hitting .297/.350/.451 with five doubles, three home runs and a 133 wRC+. The underlying metrics support the production. Culpepper has shown impressive bat speed while making enough contact to give himself a chance to be a productive offensive player. That's an encouraging combination for a player still getting accustomed to the major leagues. His defense has been just as encouraging. Culpepper has been worth 1 OAA at shortstop in his limited opportunity. More importantly, he's looked comfortable at a position where the Twins have struggled to find consistent production defensively this season. His arm strength has stood out, too. Culpepper's throws have averaged 89.1 MPH, putting him in the 80th percentile. There are still plenty of questions to answer, but Culpepper has already done enough to earn a place on the 2027 roster. OF Gabriel Gonzalez 2027 Job: Not Yet On paper, Gonzalez looks like exactly the type of player the Twins could use. Minnesota has plenty of left-handed outfield options, creating a potential need for a right-handed platoon bat. Gonzalez could theoretically fill that role while providing some additional offensive upside. The problem is that he hasn't quite earned it yet. Gonzalez's stock has taken a hit this season after a breakout 2025 campaign that earned him Twins Daily's Minor League Hitter of the Year honors. His overall production hasn't matched last year's level. At Triple-A this season, Gonzalez owns a .741 OPS and an 88 wRC+. Those numbers aren't overwhelming for a player trying to force his way onto a major-league roster. That doesn't mean Gonzalez is out of the picture. He could still develop into the short side of a platoon and provide Minnesota with a useful right-handed bat. But that's something the Twins need to see him earn rather than simply assume. For now, Gonzalez belongs in the "not yet" category. OF Walker Jenkins 2027 Job: Prove It Few players in the Twins organization have more long-term upside than Jenkins. The tools are obvious. The potential is obvious. But major-league baseball has already provided the highly touted rookie with a few reminders that potential doesn't guarantee immediate success. Jenkins hasjust one hit since launching the first home run of his career off position player Zach McKinstry on Aug. 31. Since that homer, he's 1-for-20 with eight strikeouts and three walks. Overall, he's hitting .125/.263/.281. Of course, we're talking about just 38 plate appearances. That's nowhere near enough to make a sweeping judgment about Jenkins's ability to hit major-league pitching. But that's also why he's in the "prove it" category. Jenkins doesn't have much left to prove at Triple-A. The question is whether he can translate that success to the majors consistently enough to force the Twins' hand heading into 2027. If there's a roster crunch, Minnesota could send Jenkins back to Triple-A to begin next season. That wouldn't be an indictment of his future. It would simply give him more time to adjust. For now, Jenkins still has something to prove. OF Emmanuel Rodriguez 2027 Job: Prove It Rodriguez might have the most important evaluation left to complete before the offseason. He's out of minor-league options next season, meaning the Twins will need to put him on the Opening Day roster or expose him to the rest of the league. If another organization claims him, Minnesota could lose one of the most talented players in its system without getting the chance to see what he can do at the major-league level. Rodriguez has certainly done his part in the minor leagues. Across three levels this season, he's hitting .284/.433/.544. His on-base percentage is at least .400 for the fifth consecutive season. With the Saints, Rodriguez has posted a .993 OPS, a mark that would lead the International League if he had enough plate appearances to qualify. The talent has never been the question. Rodriguez has some of the best tools in the Twins' system. The bigger issue has been his ability to stay healthy long enough to turn those tools into sustained production. That's why Minnesota needs to get him some major-league at-bats before the season ends. Rodriguez doesn't necessarily need to dominate. He needs to show that he can handle the level well enough for the Twins to feel comfortable putting him on the 2027 roster. The clock is ticking, and Rodriguez needs to give the organization a reason to keep him. The Final Verdict The Twins have plenty of young players worth watching, but September isn't simply about seeing who can make an exciting debut. It's about determining who has actually earned a role for next season. Keaschall and Culpepper have done enough to receive the "yes" designation. Gonzalez is in the "not yet" category because his Triple-A production hasn't forced the Twins to make a decision. Jenkins and Rodriguez fall into "prove it" territory for different reasons. Jenkins needs to show that his impressive minor-league performance can translate to the majors, while Rodriguez needs to take advantage of his opportunity before his lack of options forces Minnesota to make a decision. There are still games left to change these evaluations. And that's exactly what makes the final weeks of the 2026 season so important. The Twins may not have much left to play for in the standings, but they have plenty left to learn about the players who could determine where this organization goes next. Do you agree with how the players are categorized above? Who still has something to prove in 2026? Leave a comment and start the discussion. View the full article

As good as the Chicago Cubs have been at the plate and in the field in 2026, their pitching staff has consistently set them back. Decimated by injury in both the rotation and the bullpen early, the team has had to navigate continued Injured List trips and questionable performance as the season progressed. Jed Hoyer addressed the team's needs much more robustly and directly than we're accustomed to seeing, within a season—not so much because he wanted to, as because the circumstances left him no choice. Given how dire things were, particularly on the starting side, the work began early. Former New York Met David Peterson was acquired at the end of June. The team added Kevin Gausman, Clay Holmes, and Ryan Zeferjahn closer to the August 3 deadline. There was also an Aaron Civale pickup in the mix there somewhere; he arrived after the Athletics designated him for assignment in mid-July. That's five arms serving a significant role for the 2026 Cubs who were not in the organization when the season began, or even on Memorial Day. The most notable thing about that group, though, is how four of them specifically shape the team's fWAR leaderboard in the second half of the season. Among Cubs pitchers who have thrown at all in the second half (of which there are 24), this is the top four in fWAR: David Peterson (0.6) Kevin Gausman (0.6) Clay Holmes (0.5) Aaron Civale (0.4) It's a small sample, and it's not as if these are the only four arms on the team's staff who have provided value in the second half, but it does indicate a couple of things about the construction of the Cubs' 2026 staff. First, the positive: The front office targeted the right arms as the season wore on. Peterson and his 54.9% groundball rate have benefited from playing in front of a much better defense in Chicago, on his way to a 4.41 ERA. Holmes is a similar case with an even higher groundball rate (66.0%). Gausman has averaged nearly six innings per start (5.8), through some tough luck that indicates his actual production should be a touch better than we've seen (4.37 ERA vs. 3.70 xERA through six starts). Civale and his 1.27 ERA have stabilized the relief corps over a number of multi-inning outings. These are all, objectively, good things. But that the Cubs have had to rely almost exclusively on outside additions to derive value out of their staff at this stage of a playoff race speaks to two looming negatives. Obviously, that includes the injuries with which the Cubs have had to contend. Shota Imanaga is the only pitcher with enough work to qualify for the league's leaderboards, as seemingly every arm (starter or reliever) has had to spend at least a bit of time on the shelf. That part, at least, makes the recovery provided by the new arms that much more essential. But this is also an indictment of the group the front office assembled in the first place. Even if we take away the injuries, the combination of the team's marquee additions and mainstays—the likes of Edward Cabrera, Phil Maton, Hunter Harvey, Caleb Thielbar, and Jameson Taillon (prior to his DFA)—have underperformed and underwhelmed. Even with perfect health, it's not clear that this group would be good enough. It doesn't look like this organization has caught up to the pack in terms of pitching development and evaluation. That's a major problem. The good news is that, at least for now, they can take solace in the work being done by the reinforcements. The bad news is that this state of affairs feels likely to stop them from playing deep into October, and that they still have a lot of work to do in building a good pitching infrastructure. View the full article

Red Sox Affiliate Recap (September 8) Triple-A Worcester Red Sox Season Record: 70-63 Worcester suffered a heartbreaking 5-4 walk off defeat in extra-innings to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Lehigh Valley IronPigs) The bats for the WooSox racked up 10 hits, outhitting the IronPigs, who had seven. Braiden Ward and Mikey Romero delivered three hits apiece while Franklin Arias had one, including two RBI’s. The one-two punch of Ward and Arias put the Sox on top early in the first, 1-0. Ward blasted a leadoff triple, then crossed the plate with the help of an Arias sacrifice fly. The duo helped bring in another run in the fifth; Braiden tallied another extra-base hit, a double, followed up by a bloop fly ball to right field by Franklin, making it a 2-0 game. The scoring continued; however, Romero’s third hit of the game was a line drive single, bringing in Arias to extend Worcester’s lead to 3-0. Lehigh Valley clawed back slowly, tying the game 3-3 and prompting an extra-inning affair. Allan Castro’s sacrifice fly brought in Romero to make it 4-3. It might have been enough, but it seemed hard to believe since the IronPigs bats were catching fire. The Lehigh Valley offense certainly stayed hot; one walk and an intentional walk loaded the bases with one out, then came a hard-hit grounder through the infield, bringing in two runs to walk it off 5-4. The Sox rolled out a bullpen game, with just three of their six pitchers coming out of their outings with no damage. Devin Sweet served as the opener once again, who got into trouble with two baserunners aboard but came out with a spotless inning. Seth Martinez dominated in his two shutout innings of work, allowing just one hit and one walk while punching out four batters. Sam McWilliams was brought in the middle of the eighth inning with two runners on base and no outs; a soft infield bunt single jammed the bases with no outs to put McWilliams in a hole. Despite the game becoming tied, the right-hander did the best he could, striking out the very next batter, giving up just one run on a sacrifice fly, and a lineout limited the damage. He came into the ninth and punched out two batters to send the game to extras. Standout Performances: Mikey Romero: 3-for-5, 2B, R, RBI Braiden Ward: 3-for-5, 2 R, 3B, 2B Double-A Portland Sea Dogs Season Record: 68-64 The Portland Sea Dogs opened their final regular season homestand with an 8-6 victory over the Binghamton Rumble Ponies (New York Mets). Portland’s offense got it done by hammering extra-base hits; eight of their 11 hits went for extra bases, six doubles and two home runs. Justin Gonzales, Henry Godbout, and Johanfran Garcia each tallied multiple hits. A two-out rally began in the first inning for the Sea Dogs; Garcia’s first of two doubles brought in Gonzales, then Will Turner’s two-run blast put Portland on top 3-0. The Rumble Ponies did not take long to respond, putting together a four-run third inning to take the lead 4-3. Then came the Sea Dogs’ double party in the bottom half of the third. Godbout led off the inning with a two-bagger, followed up by an RBI double from Brooks Brannon to tie the game. Afterward, the third straight double was also Garcia’s second double of the game, taking back the lead for Portland 5-4. Binghamton took over the lead once again in the fifth to make it 6-5, but Portland tied it in the seventh after a Godbout RBI single brought in Ahbram Liendo. Ronald Rosario became the hero in the eighth as a pinch hitter, blasting a go-ahead two-run homer, giving Portland an 8-6 lead. Steven Brooks came in from the bullpen and closed it out in the ninth, earning his first save for the Sea Dogs. Tanner Houck made his first 2026 appearance since having Tommy John surgery. The former first-round pick registered a 2.54 ERA in 2024, earning himself a well-deserved All-Star appearance in his age-28 season. Going into 2025, many Boston fans were looking forward to the two-headed monster of Garrett Crochet and Houck, but he struggled mightily; his season ultimately ended with Tommy John surgery. It was a bit of a rocky outing in his first rehab appearance of 2026; he was only allowed to throw 20 pitches (8 for strikes), giving up one run (RBI groundout), two walks, and recording just two outs. Standout Performances: Johanfran Garcia: 2-for-4, 2 2B, R, 2 RBI, SB Ronald Rosario: 1-for-1, HR, R, 2 RBI Henry Godbout: 2-for-4, 2B, R, RBI View the full article

The Minnesota Twins may not have much left to play for in 2026, but that doesn't mean everyone at Target Field is sitting around doing nothing. With the playoff picture fading to black, general manager Jeremy Zoll has reportedly turned his attention toward a different kind of roster management. If the Twins can't turn their remaining players into prospects, perhaps they can turn them into a little extra cash. Enter the Jeremy Zoll End-of-Season Garage Sale. "At some point, you have to look at every available resource," Zoll said, standing next to a folding table covered with used baseballs, Twins promotional giveaways and several unopened boxes of Byron Buxton bobbleheads. "We have some talented players here. We just want to find ways to maximize their value." That, apparently, includes allowing them to take on odd jobs around the Twin Cities. Need Your Lawn Mowed? Ryan Jeffers Is Available Do you have a lawn that's gotten a little out of control this summer? Good news. Ryan Jeffers is available. For a small, reasonable fee, the Twins catcher will reportedly come to your house and mow your lawn for the remainder of the season. He'll even empty the grass catcher, although ironically, there is an additional charge if you want him to rake. "We've had a lot of interest in Jeffers," Zoll said. "He's athletic, he's got good hands, and he's already accustomed to working outside for three hours at a time." Jeffers seemed less enthusiastic about the arrangement. "I thought I was going to be catching baseballs," Jeffers said. "Now Jeremy handed me a push mower and told me my first appointment is in Edina." There is one catch: Jeffers will not be responsible for trimming hedges. "I've got a bad feeling about that," he said. Josh Bell: Your New School Bus Driver Josh Bell was another player who remained with the Twins past the trade deadline, and the organization has found an intriguing secondary use for the veteran first baseman. Need someone to drop your kids off at school? Bell is available. For an additional fee, Bell can also pick them up, help with homework and provide a brief lecture on the importance of hitting the baseball to the opposite field. "I'm just trying to contribute," Bell said. "If that means getting some kids to school on time, I'm willing to do it." Zoll believes Bell's size could be an advantage. "He's very noticeable," Zoll said. "You don't have to worry about losing him in a school pickup line." Bell did have one request. "I don't want to drive a minivan," he said. "If somebody has an SUV, we'll talk." Joe Ryan: Your New Home Inspector Joe Ryan might be working his way back from a glute injury, but that doesn't mean he can't contribute around the community. The Twins are now offering Ryan's services as a home inspector for the remainder of the season. Need somebody to check whether that crack in your basement wall is a serious structural issue or just something you've been ignoring for three years? Ryan is your guy. "I've spent a lot of time studying hitters," Ryan said. "I figure studying houses can't be that different." Zoll believes Ryan is particularly qualified because of his attention to detail. "Joe notices things other people don't," Zoll said. "That's an important quality in a home inspector. Plus, he's already used to pointing out flaws." Ryan has reportedly developed a comprehensive inspection process. He'll check the roof, inspect the foundation, test the plumbing and spend approximately 20 minutes staring at the electrical panel before saying, "Yeah, I don't love that." There is, however, one major limitation. "I don't do crawl spaces," Ryan said. "I've got a glute injury. I'm not crawling under anybody's house." Zoll said the Twins are willing to negotiate. "That's something we'll work around," Zoll said. "We're just trying to find ways to keep Joe productive until he's ready to pitch." Other Players Also Available The garage sale doesn't stop there. Twins fans can reportedly rent several other players for the remainder of the season. Need help moving a couch? Rookies Kaelen Culpepper and Walker Jenkins are available. Need someone to assemble a swing set? Bailey Ober is available. Need someone to stand in your driveway and tell you that the garbage truck is coming even though it clearly isn't? Royce Lewis is available. Zoll insisted the program isn't about desperation. "This is about creativity," he said. "We're always looking for ways to add value." When asked whether the Twins would consider renting players out for birthday parties, Zoll paused. "We're exploring all options." Saving for 2027 Ultimately, that's what this bizarre garage sale is all about. The Twins have already fallen out of contention, and the front office knows there are plenty of questions to answer before the 2027 season. Payroll will be one of them. So, why not find a few extra dollars wherever possible? The Twins may not be selling playoff tickets this September, but apparently they're selling lawn care, transportation and moving services. Just remember to tip your players. They're trying to save up for next year's payroll, too. View the full article

If Luis Campusano's weekend was a coming-out party, it couldn't have come at a better time for the San Diego Padres. While the loudest things to hit the stat sheet were a walk-off home run on Friday night and a solo jack on Sunday that would turn out to be the game (and series) winner over the New York Yankees, it's what Campusano did behind the plate that made it a marquee weekend for the team's No. 2 backstop. That work started on Friday, when Campusano threw out three Yankee baserunners in an extra-inning affair: He did it in a scoreless game in the second inning, in a 1-1 game in the fifth, and, most crucially, in the 10th inning with the Padres trailing 2-1. That allowed the team to keep it close before he did the rest of the work in the bottom half of the inning. On Sunday, he was at it again. As Adrian Morejon struggled to preserve the lead in his outing, Campusano's heave to second base in the bottom of the eighth put a second out on the board and cleared the bases for the team to finish off the last four outs of a 4-3 win: The throwing element represents the most obvious area of growth for a player whose long-term status at the catcher spot was thrown into some doubt following a tough 2024 season and absence of legitimate opportunity in 2025. As the Padres built their 2026 roster under new manager Craig Stammen, no true backup was brought in behind Freddy Fermin. That left Campusano with his first real opportunity in two seasons. His arm has certainly latched onto the chance. Campusano's caught-stealing-above-average figure (+2) ranks in the 72nd percentile league-wide. That ranks 21st in the league, with his actual rate of runners thrown out (32 percent) sitting eighth among the league's backstops. That's eight percent higher than his estimated CS%. What's important to note about Campusano is that while that is the only element of his defensive game that ranks above average, there's been real growth in the other areas. The last time we saw him behind the plate with any kind of regularity, his framing (measured in Framing Runs) drew a grade of -8. This year, he's at -5. His blocking (Blocking Above Average) was at -3; now it's at -1. His overall Catching Runs has graduated from -13 in 2024 to -4 this season. Again, those are still below-average figures, but they represent significant growth in each respect. That Campusano has such marked defensive growth is important for a couple of different reasons. The first is that his offensive upside far exceeds that of the incumbent starter Freddy Fermin. Fermin has excelled virtually everywhere on the defensive side, but carries a career-worst 61 wRC+ this year. He's been "better" in the second half, but is still a massive step down with the bat. Campusano becoming competent behind the dish, even if that simply means just being average, allows Stammen to make the offensive play on his daily lineup card without comprising on defense. The other piece of significance is what it means for Campusano's long-term future with the Padres. The bat plays. The bat always played, even without a legitimate run to prove it. With two more years of team control, it's entirely possible that his blend of offense from behind the plate and improving defense has locked him into a role in a way that may not have been perceived before. Could the team explore a move of Fermin this winter with top prospect Ethan Salas now arriving at the top level? That would give the Padres a younger 1-2 punch behind the plate with a much higher offensive upside than the current shape of the roster. Even if changes to the roster aren't quite so drastic, it really is a crucial development for the organization. That Campusano has grown to play even remotely competent defense and compensate for the shortcomings with his arm helps to provide some stability for a position that has featured a great deal of turnover in recent years. Whether it's Fermin or Salas as his running mate next year, the defensive development of Luis Campusano has to have the Padres feeling quite good about what the catcher position looks like beyond 2026. View the full article

It's not an exact science, but generally speaking, the scale for Wins Above Replacement (WAR) in baseball looks like this: Zero is a replacement-level player, the kind readily available in the minors or waiver wire at any given time. One is a below-average regular or decent part-timer. Two is an average regular. Three to four is an above-average, very good starting player. And once you get to five and above you're talking All-Star caliber. One way to judge the quality of a team in a given year is counting how many players reach that 3-WAR threshold. How many legitimate standouts stayed healthy enough to contribute significantly to the cause? When the Twins have been at their best, they've usually had several. For example, in 2019 the 101-win Twins had seven different players post 3+ WAR (Nelson Cruz, Mitch Garver, Max Kepler, Jorge Polanco, Byron Buxton, José Berríos, Jake Odorizzi). Minnesota's had multiple 3-WAR players every year since the COVID season. And outside of that shortened 2020 campaign, the last time the Twins finished with zero 3-WAR players was 2011 — a disastrous 99-loss season that set off a multi-year spiral for the franchise. You probably know where I'm going with this. (Especially because it's right up there in the headline.) This year, with less than three weeks remaining on the schedule, not one Twins player has reached 3 WAR, at least by the FanGraphs calculation (fWAR). It's not clear that anyone will. Entering play on Tuesday, the leaderboard looked like this: Ryan Jeffers: 2.8 Byron Buxton: 2.6 Joe Ryan: 2.6 Brooks Lee: 2.5 Luke Keaschall: 2.3 Kody Clemens: 2.2 Taj Bradley: 2.1 Trevor Larnach: 2.0 It's very possible Jeffers surpasses 3 WAR with a good finish, or someone else with a great finish. But this could also easily be the first full season since 2011 in which the Twins don't end up with a single 3-WAR player. And that really tells the story of this team. The transcendent talents suffered injuries that sidelined them or impeded their performance for nearly half the season — Buxton, Ryan and Jeffers were all tracking for that All-Star level 5-WAR territory. Two of them were All-Stars, and Jeffers surely would have been if not for a two-month injury knocking him out of action in May. Buxton and Ryan have each posted a negative WAR since the All-Star break; both actually did have a 3+ WAR at one point before lapsing into their injury-plagued second-half slides. Among the players who've been healthy enough to play the bulk of the season, no one's been that exceptional. Bradley probably comes closest in my mind, but with a 3.95 ERA and 4.02 FIP, he's been more good great. (For what it's worth, the Baseball Reference calculation for WAR views Bradley more favorably with a staff-leading 3.1 bWAR.) Keaschall's been a solid hitter but a big negative defensively. Lee and Clemens have been average-ish at the plate, with dreadfully low OBPs offsetting their power output. Royce Lewis has played a career-high 109 games and been worth just one win above replacement. If the Twins are to improve significantly and return to contention next year, this has got to change. It makes the case against a status-quo 2027 lineup that features Lee, Clemens, Lewis and Victor Caratini as staples. I do have faith in Keaschall to take a step forward in value with more defensive stability, and of course, you're hoping that guys like Kaelen Culpepper and Walker Jenkins emerge quickly as first-division players. But it's putting an awful lot of pressure on these young newcomers if there aren't veteran fixtures leading the way. Among the Twins players that have even flirted with a 3-WAR season this year: Jeffers is heading for free agency and all but assured to sign elsewhere. Buxton is in line for potentially serious offseason hip surgery, and turning 33 in December. Ryan is (in my opinion) very likely to be traded, so long as his season finishes smoothly. This sets up the challenge for the Twins heading into 2027. Who's going to step up and deliver a full, outstanding season? Multiple guys need to answer the call. At the risk of oversimplifying, winning over the course of a season in baseball is pretty straightforward: you need great players to play great, and to remain relatively healthy. No one was able to do both on this year's Twins. And that's how you end up failing to every shake a losing record or seriously contend in the worst American League class we're likely to see in some time. View the full article

JoJo Parker has been one of the most impressive prospects in the minors in 2026, blending an excellent hit tool with mature swing decisions. How did he round out his first full professional season? What's left to work on? View the full article

Decline is every superstar’s worst fear. Father Time, after all, remains undefeated in professional sports, and every player, impactful or not, will start experiencing skills erosion at some point. Francisco Lindor of the New York Mets is no exception. No, we don’t necessarily think Lindor has reached the point of no return. He has had a rough year from the word "go," getting hamate bone surgery done in February and racing against time just to be ready for the start of the season. Then, he suffered a moderate left calf strain in late April. Lindor is hitting a rather mediocre .228/.312/.422 with 16 home runs and a 105 wRC+. In the second half, however, the 32-year-old shortstop is slashing a much better .238/.324/.464 with a 118 wRC+. Since the start of July, he has hit 13 home runs, so he has gotten better as he has been further removed from his injuries. Funnily enough, Lindor hasn't necessarily rediscovered his peak form since the All-Star break, with a 46 percent hard-hit rate in the second half. That would be well above the league average, but it’s actually lower than his 50 percent mark in the first half. So, why has he been able to put up some impressive power numbers after the Midsummer Classic? Well, basically, it's because he has taken the power-hitting book and applied its two most basic principles: pulling the ball very often and lifting it. Breaking Down Francisco Lindor's Latest Makeover For the season, Lindor has a 0.78 ground-ball-fly ball ratio and a 49.8 percent pull rate per FanGraphs. The latter is actually a career-high. He has taken things to another level since the All-Star Game, though. After the break, he has hit 0.61 balls in the ground for every fly ball and has a pull rate of 51.1 percent. Hitting the ball in the air and pulling it has given a lot of folks a remarkable career at the MLB level, but it’s much harder to achieve than it seems, at least consistently. Lindor, a seasoned and talented veteran who knows everything there’s to know about the game and the nuances of hitting, is doing it. What’s the sacrifice with this approach? Contact, essentially, and a lower batting average as a direct consequence. Basically, his power is up, and his batting average is down. Even if his overall production has been undoubtedly better since the break, his average is still a rather low .238. Is this the new Lindor, though? Is it safe to assume this is what we will see from him as he ages? It all depends on health, specifically given the injuries sustained this season. Calf strains are particularly tricky and can limit lower-body explosiveness, and hamate bone surgery almost always saps power in the following weeks or months because the muscles and tendons around the area are debilitated. Perhaps a healthier Lindor can produce closer to what he has done for his entire career rather than this low-average, high-power version. Or, maybe he decides this is the best path for him going forward. Perhaps this is what his body will allow him to do from this point on. Home runs are, after all, the quickest avenue to run production in the majors. View the full article

For the Boston Red Sox, developing pitching has become easier following the implementation of Craig Breslow’s philosophy for the pitching lab. In August, the fruits of those labors really shone through, as several pitchers across the entire system put together great months, some making fans wonder if a promotion for the last few weeks could be in play. Thanks to their performances on the mound, it’s made the loss of Anthony Eyanson and Kyson Witherspoon a little easier to swallow. We’ve narrowed this award down to the four best pitchers in the Boston Red Sox minor-league system from last month, though there were many more worthy candidates out there. Ranking Red Sox’s Best Minor-League Pitchers in August Honorable Mention: Ethan Walker LHP (Low-A Salem) It was tough making Walker the honorable mention, especially after his performance in August. That just shows how great the pitching across the system was. Walker put together a fantastic month for his hometown Salem RidgeYaks. Appearing in four games, one of them a start, he gave the team 15 innings of quality pitching as he surrendered four runs, two of them earned, on just six hits and five walks. In that same span he struck out 21 batters. It was a positive turn around for Walker after coming off a July where he allowed six earned runs in 11 2/3 innings pitched. The left-hander has said he considers himself a strikeout-first pitcher, and he certainly lived up to that reputation. For the month, he had a strikeout per nine innings of 12.6, the highest of his career for any month where he made more than one appearance. Health and consistency will be key for the left-hander to take the next step in his career after bringing his season to an end on a high note. #3: Hobie Harris RHP (Triple-A Worcester) A reliever, Harris came up huge for Worcester during August as constant roster changes with their pitching staff left holes that needed to be filled. After missing time earlier in the season due to injury, he's firmly put himself back on the 2027 radar. Making 10 appearances out of the bullpen, Harris served multiple roles whether it was being used for multiple innings or coming in during tight situations he performed his duty. Tossing 15 1/3 innings, he allowed just two runs, one of them earned, on nine hits and three walks. Most impressively for Harris was his ability to rack up strikeouts, getting 18 of them during the month. His 15 1/3 innings finished fifth on the team while his 0.59 ERA and 0.78 WHIP were first and second on the team, respectively, among qualified pitchers. #2: Hayden Mullins LHP (Double-A Portland) Mullins needed a month like August after an especially rough stretch of performances. The left-hander helped carry a Portland rotation that had lost four starting pitchers due to promotions to Worcester along with Eyanson. His outings throughout the month reminded people of how he looked in 2025 when there were talks of potentially being a top pitching prospect in the system and at risk of being taken in the Rule 5 Draft. Making four starts, Mullins gave Portland 20 1/3 innings while allowing six runs, just three earned, on 18 hits and eight walks. But more importantly, he showed an improved confidence in his stuff to garner strikeouts like in 2025, getting batters out by the way of the K 29 times. Naturally, that number led Portland for the month. Mullins is at his best when he attacks the strike zone consistently, allowing himself to then expand to the corners and try to get some chase from opposing batters. Thanks to his improved control in August, he was able to do that and flash some of his laden potential. #1: Dylan Brown LHP (High-A Greenville) If there’s been any prospect that has gone on a huge run this season, it’s been Brown. August was just the exclamation point on his breakout campaign, as he gave Greenville five huge starts and 23 2/3 innings. That number also includes two rain-shortened starts; in both outings, he allowed just one hit in three innings. For the entire month, Brown allowed eight runs, seven of them earned, on 16 hits (two of which were home runs) and four walks. In that same span he struck out 31 batters while keeping opponents to just a .186 batting average. The left-hander bookended August with starts of 6 1/3 innings, getting the win in both. His August 27 start was his best in some time, and it could be argued that it was his second-best with Greenville, only beaten by his June 24 start where he delivered seven shutout innings. In this more recent outing, he allowed one run on two hits and a walk while striking out five. Brown stepped up as the ace of Greenville after promotions and injuries left the rotation scrambling to fill in innings. Now, he looks ready to potentially open 2027 in Portland. View the full article

With three weeks remaining in the regular season, every game counts. The Toronto Blue Jays are in the midst of a logjam, vying for the last Wild Card spot. Entering play on Tuesday, they trail the Cleveland Guardians by a game, and two other teams are within three games. With each loss carrying major consequences, the Blue Jays have to closely examine each player's performance. That brings up Spencer Arrighetti. He came over in the trade that sent Daulton Varsho to the Houston Astros. He hasn't had a strong career, with a 4.85 ERA over three MLB seasons. The righty had a 4.60 ERA over 88 innings with 87 strikeouts and 50 walks for the Astros this season. However, he's performed worse since coming to Toronto, posting an 8.95 ERA over 15 2/3 innings, with 13 strikeouts and eight walks. Batters have also hit .254 off of Arrighetti. Despite those struggles, the Blue Jays don't have options to replace him or to lessen his innings. Their starting rotation depth is extremely thin, with eight players on the injured list. José Berríos, Jake Bloss, and Bowden Francis are out for the season. Patrick Corbin is unlikely to return from a left teres major strain. Cody Ponce was thought to be out all season after tearing his ACL in his first start, though he could return if the Blue Jays make a deep postseason run. Trey Yesavage and Shane Bieber are the closest to returning, possibly in late September if their recovery goes as planned. Jameson Taillon went on the 15-day injured list on September 5, and his availability for the rest of the season depends on his recovery. With only Dylan Cease, José Soriano, and Max Scherzer healthy, Arrighetti is the only other available starting pitcher on the Blue Jays' 40-man roster with ample MLB experience. Ricky Tiedemann, CJ Van Eyk, and Chad Dallas have made a few appearances with Toronto over the last two months. However, none has stretched out past 3 2/3 innings in bullpen games. It's safe to say the Blue Jays are in a sticky situation with their starting rotation depth and Arrighetti's struggles. They need someone to eat innings because Toronto can't afford to overextend Cease and Soriano, risking fatigue or injury this late in the season. Both are vital if the team wants to get into the postseason. The bullpen is already a revolving door with call-ups, with the Blue Jays trying to keep everyone fresh. This means Arrighetti is going to continue to be leaned on as the fourth man in the starting rotation. It won't be pretty, as the righty has an ice-cold Baseball Savant profile, ranking in the 20th percentile or worse in five categories. One of those is expected ERA (5.29), showing he's actually had some good luck during his appearances this season. Arrighetti is also in the eighth percentile in walk rate (12.6 percent). Blue Jays fans will likely have to endure at least two more appearances this season from the former Astro as a bulk-inning guy, whether it's starting or following an opener. Hopefully, after that, some reinforcements return, allowing the righty to move into a less strenuous relief role or be replaced and sent to Triple-A Buffalo. Given how messy the starting rotation is, Monday's 6-5 loss to the Athletics, in a game that saw Dylan Cease start, stings. That was considered an "easy win," if those exist in MLB. View the full article

With one full-season affiliate done for the season and another in the playoffs, the San Diego Padres farm teams went 1-2 Tuesday. That one win was by the Low-A Lake Elsinore Storm, who opened the California League playoffs with a 10-9 win over Ontario. The Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas were walked off by Tacoma 8-7, while the Double-A San Antonio Missions lost to Amarillo 7-6. Padres Minor-League Transactions San Diego Padres sent DH Miguel Andujar on a rehab assignment to El Paso Chihuahuas. San Diego Padres released C Blake Hunt. San Diego Padres signed free agent RHP Trevor Gott to a minor league contract and assigned him to El Paso Chihuahuas. OF Braedon Karpathios assigned to El Paso Chihuahuas from San Antonio Missions. C Anthony Vilar assigned to El Paso Chihuahuas from San Antonio Missions. El Paso Chihuahuas transferred OF Kai Murphy to the Development List. El Paso Chihuahuas transferred 2B Victor Duarte to the Development List. RHP Will Varmette assigned to San Antonio Missions from Fort Wayne TinCaps. 3B Kerrington Cross assigned to San Antonio Missions from Fort Wayne TinCaps. RHP Carson Montgomery assigned to San Antonio Missions from Fort Wayne TinCaps. RHP Coleman Borthwick assigned to Lake Elsinore Storm from ACL Padres. LHP Jeronimo Palmeros assigned to ACL Padres from Lake Elsinore Storm. San Diego Padres optioned RHP Jhony Brito to El Paso Chihuahuas. El Paso Chihuahuas released RHP José Leclerc. El Paso Chihuahuas released RHP J.P. France. CAL LEAGUE PLAYOFFS Dominant Jesus Castro, 4-Run Fourth Help Storm Hold On In Game 1 Right-handed starter Jesus Castro turned in six fantastic innings, while Qrey Lott and Ty Harvey homered as the Low-A Lake Elsinore Storm won Game 1 of the California League Division Series, withstanding a six-run bottom of the ninth for a 10-9 win over the host Ontario Tower Buzzers. The Storm, the first-half South Division champ, can earn a spot in the Cal League Championship Series with a win in Thursday's Game 2 in Lake Elsinore at 6:05 p.m. Game 3, if necessary, is Friday at 6:45 p.m. at Lake Elsinore. Castro, Padres Mission's No. 18 prospect, struck out five while allowing just two hits and a run, walking one. While Castro stepped up on the pitching side, the bats also rose to the occasion. Fourth-round draft choice Alex Conover went 4-for-5 with two RBIs and sixth-round selection Nu'u Contrades went 3-for-4 with a walk and a run scored. Lott had two hits and scored twice, while Harvey (Padres Mission's No. 5 prospect) also scored two runs. The Storm got off to a quick start as second-round draft pick Elliot Lascelles and seventh-rounder Joe Tiroly drew leadoff walks with No. 3 hitter Conover singling to left for a 1-0 lead. The Storm took control of the game with a four-run fourth inning. With one out, Dawson Willis reached when the shortstop booted his grounder and went to second when Harvey was hit by a pitch and Lott had an infield single to load the bases. Lascelles (Padres Mission's No. 11 prospect) grounded out to first to make it 2-0. Tiroly continued his big offensive role by grounding a single to left to bring in Harvey and Lott for a 4-0 lead. Conover capped the outburst with an RBI double. The Tower Buzzers got on the board on Easton Shelton's 38th homer of the season in bottom of the fourth, with Lott notching his ninth homer in the top of the sixth to make it 6-1. After the Tower Buzzers scored twice in the seventh, the Storm seemingly put this one away with a four-run top of the ninth. Willis hit a sacrifice fly, then Harvey crushed his sixth homer of the year, a three-run shot, to make it 10-3. The Tower Buzzers rallied in the ninth against three Storm relievers, with a three-run homer with two outs slicing Lake Elsinore's lead to 10-9. That brought up Shelton to face Storm left-hander Rob Evans, the Padres' 12th-round draft choice out of Miami (Fla.). Evans would get Shelton looking on a 2-2 pitch to end the game. LE1_0908.mp4 LE2_0908.mp4 Player AB R H RBI BB K Elliot Lascelles 5 1 0 1 1 0 Joe Tiroly 4 1 1 2 1 2 Alex Conover 5 0 4 2 0 0 Nu'u Contrades 4 1 3 0 1 1 Jorge Quintana 3 1 0 0 2 1 Jose Verdugo 4 1 0 0 0 1 Dawson Willis 4 1 1 1 0 1 Ty Harvey 4 2 1 3 0 3 Qrey Lott 5 2 2 1 0 1 Totals 38 10 12 10 5 10 Player IP H R ER BB K HR Jesus A. Castro 6 2 1 1 1 5 1 Jordan Valenzuela 1/3 2 2 2 0 1 1 Andrew Wright 1 1/3 2 0 0 0 3 0 Sean Fitzpatrick 2/3 1 2 2 1 1 1 Albert Roblez 1/3 0 2 2 2 0 0 Rob Evans 1/3 2 2 2 0 1 1 Totals 9 9 9 9 4 11 4 Chihuahuas Walked Off By Rainers; Miguel Andujar Goes 1-for-4 After scoring two insurance runs in the top of the ninth inning, the Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas gave up four in the bottom of the ninth to lose 8-7 to the host Tacoma Rainiers. Former Padres right-hander Brent Honeywell allowed all four runs, including the walk-off three-run homer by Patrick Wisdom to begin the Chihuahuas' final road series of the season. The Chihuahuas led 5-0 after the top of the sixth. Padres designated hitter Miguel Andujar, in his first rehab game as he comes back from a fractured right wrist, went 1-for-4 with an RBI double in the third inning, driving in another Chihuahuas newcomer, Braedon Karpathios. Karpathios, Padres Mission's No. 9 prospect, was promoted from Double-A San Antonio before the game. Chihuahuas left-handed starter allowed just one hit over four shutout innings, while right-handers Ty Adcock (1⅔ innings) and and Hans Crouse (one inning) each allowed two runs, with Crouse's runs unearned while not giving up a hit. Crouse also walked four. Right-hander Alek Jacob went 1⅓ scoreless before handing it off to Honeywell to begin the ninth. Nick Pratto went 2-for-3 with a walk, an RBI and a run scored, while Will Wagner also had two hits and scored a run. Karpathios, in his Triple-A debut, walked three times while going 0-for-1. Clay Dungan drove in a pair of runs. Andujar's double gave the Chihuahuas a 1-0 lead after Karpathios drew his first walk and went to third on Wagner's single to right. Carlos Rodriguez followed Andujar with an RBI single. Two walks set up a three-run sixth inning by the Chihuahuas. Marcos Castanon and Pratto drew leadoff free passes, then Rodolfo Duran singled home Castanon and Pratto to third. Duran stole his fourth base of the season before Dungan's two-run single to right to make it 5-0. The Rainiers scored twice in the bottom of the sixth and seventh, with the Chihuahuas adding two in the top of the ninth on Pratto's sacrifice fly and Gage Workman's RBI double. Honeywell sandwiched two walks around a single to load the bases with no outs. A grounder to short got an out at second as a run scored before Wisdom blasted his 33rd homer of the season to walk it off. EP_0908.mp4 Player AB R H RBI BB K Will Wagner 5 1 2 0 0 1 Miguel Andujar 4 0 1 1 0 0 Bryce Johnson 1 1 1 0 0 0 Carlos Rodríguez 4 1 1 1 1 0 Marcos Castañon 3 1 0 0 1 1 Nick Solak 0 0 0 0 0 0 Nick Pratto 3 1 2 1 1 1 Gage Workman 5 0 1 1 0 3 Rodolfo Durán 4 1 1 1 1 1 Braedon Karpathios 1 1 0 0 3 1 Clay Dungan 4 0 1 2 0 1 Mason McCoy 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 34 7 10 7 7 9 Player IP H R ER BB K HR JP Sears 4 1 0 0 1 5 0 Ty Adcock 1 2/3 2 2 2 1 3 1 Hans Crouse 1 0 2 0 4 1 0 Alek Jacob 1 1/3 1 0 0 1 2 0 Brent Honeywell 1/3 3 4 4 1 0 1 Totals 8 1/3 7 8 6 8 11 2 Missions Unable To Erase All Of 4-Run Deficit A late rally that included Tirso Ornelas' solo homer in the top of the ninth came up just short as the Double-A San Antonio Missions fell to the Amarillo Sod Poodles 7-6 to begin their final series of the season. The Sod Poodles clinched the second-half title in the Texas League's South Division with the win. Ornelas finished with two hits, two RBIs and two runs scored, while Kai Roberts and Mason McCoy each went 2-for-5 with a run scored for the Missons. Luis Verdugo also homered, while Romeo Sanabria drove in a pair. Missions right-handed starter Victor Lizarraga gave up six runs (five earned) on six hits and three walks while striking out five over five innings, but he did surrender three homers. Right-hander Carlos Medina allowed a run over two innings in his second Double-A game, while right-hander Sadrac Franco pitched a scoreless eighth. Ornelas had an RBI double and came home on Sanabria's single to make it 2-0 in the top of the first. The Sod Poodles got one back in the bottom of the first, then scored three in the fourth and two in the fifth for a 6-2 lead. Brendan Durfee had an RBI single to pull the Missions within 6-3 in the top of the sixth, but the Sod Poodles added one in the bottom of the sixth. Sanabria's grounder in the seventh made it 7-4, then Verdugo hit his ninth homer of the year in the eighth to pull within 7-5 before Ornelas cracked his 17th of the season with one out in the top of the ninth. SA_0908.mp4 Player AB R H RBI BB K Kai Roberts 5 1 2 0 0 0 Alex McCoy 5 1 2 0 0 0 Tirso Ornelas 5 2 2 2 0 1 Romeo Sanabria 5 0 1 2 0 2 Albert Fabian 3 0 0 0 2 1 Ryan Jackson 4 0 0 0 0 4 Justin DeCriscio 3 1 1 0 0 0 Luis Verdugo 3 1 1 1 1 1 Brendan Durfee 4 0 1 1 0 2 Totals 37 6 10 6 3 11 Player IP H R ER BB K HR Victor Lizarraga 5 6 6 5 3 5 3 Carlos Medina 2 3 1 1 0 2 0 Sadrac Franco 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 Totals 8 11 7 6 3 8 3 Padres Mission's Top 20 Prospect Performance Ethan Salas: DNP Ryan Wideman: Oninjured list Coleman Borthwick: DNP Kruz Schoolcraft: DNP Ty Harvey: 1-for-4, HR, 3 K Kale Fountain: Injured, out for season Jorge Quintana: 0-for-3, 2 BB, K Alex McCoy: 2-for-5, 2B Braedon Karpathios: 0-for-1, 3 BB, K Lamar King Jr.: DNP Elliot Lascelles: 0-for-5, BB Tucker Musgrove: On injured list Jagger Haynes: DNP Jake Cunningham: DNP Truitt Madonna: DNP Eric Yost: DNP Winyer Chourio: DNP Jesus Castro: 6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, HR (W) Michael Salina: On injured list Rosman Verdugo: DNP View the full article

TRANSACTIONS Minnesota Twins OF Austin Martin was sent on a rehab assignment with the St. Paul Saints. He slotted in as the designated hitter and batted second in the lineup to start their game. RHP Yehizon Sanchez was assigned to the Wichita Wind Surge from the Cedar Rapids Kernels to bolster their pitching staff. This will be his second stint with the Wind Surge this season, as he made four appearances with them in early June before being returned to the Kernels. SAINTS SENTINEL Syracuse 5, St. Paul 4 Box Score With the St. Paul Saints clinging to a faint playoff hope to begin their final home series of the season, they sent right-hander Ricky Castro to the mound Tuesday against the Syracuse Mets at CHS field on Tuesday night. The Mets didn’t waste any time against him. A leadoff walk and stolen base put the first batter of the game in scoring position, and the second drove him in with an RBI single and very early 1-0 deficit for the Saints. Castro responded with a one-two-three top of the second, but although he finished four innings total, allowed further damage in each of the third and fourth frames. In the third it was another RBI single, and in the fourth it was back-to-back homers from #OldFriend Billy Amick and Vidal Brujan that made it 4-0 Syracuse. Amick’s blast was his 36th on the season, which ranks top five in all of the minor leagues this season. The St. Paul lineup was finally able to muster a rally in the bottom of the fifth. After a nifty diving stop and shovel to start a double play in the top half, Tristan Gray started the bottom half with a single to right. After a pair of outs Emmanuel Rodriguez was hit by a pitch before the rehabbing Austin Martin sent a liner into center field for their first run of the game. Matt Wallner led off the bottom of the sixth by getting plunked by a pitch, and Aaron Sabato followed with a single to put multiple runners on. A wild pitch moved each of them up a base and then a pair of groundouts from Cody Morrissette and Gray each scored a run to close the Mets lead to one run. The Saints bullpen stabilized the middle innings after Castro’s exit, with C.J. Culpepper being the first arm summoned to start the fifth inning. Despite allowing a single and walking a pair of batters, he kept his inning clean by inducing an inning ending double-play ball shown above. Matt Bowman was next and was perfect over the next two frames, striking out four. Marco Raya added a scoreless eighth inning to keep the score at 4-3 going into the bottom of the eighth. With one out, Wallner sent a deep fly ball the other way toward the line and it was just too long of a run for the left-fielder, who wasn’t able to corral it, allowing him to walk into second base with a double. Two batters later Morissette did the same thing to the right-fielder, though he hit a liner instead of a fly ball that caromed off the glove and kept rolling toward the fence. Wallner came around to tie the game at four and put the go-ahead run in scoring position. Unfortunately, the Saints committed a gaffe in strategy in my opinion after that with a double-steal attempt. The Mets catcher kept a keen eye between the runners and opted to throw down Gray at second base easily to end the inning and the threat. In the top of the ninth the Saints sent out Julian Merryweather looking to continue the bullpen’s success. With one out Brujan drew a walk and then stole second base to give the Mets a chance. A two-out double brought then gave the Mets back a one run lead going into the final half inning. Jake Rucker led off by striking out, and the hot-home-run-hitting Kala’i Rosario was brought in to pinch hit for number nine hitter Noah Cardenas. He grounded out to the pitcher for out number two, bringing up Emmanuel Rodriguez as their last chance. He jumped on the first pitch down the middle of the plate, but chopped it to first baseman for the final out. Seven of the nine hitters in the Saints lineup collected a hit in this one, but because they totaled only seven hits, that means none of them had multiple knocks. Wallner led the way with a double, two runs scored, a walk, and was hit by a pitch. Morissette drove in two runs. Martin finished 1-for-4 with an RBI in the first game of his rehab. With 11 games left to play in the season, the Saints trail the top second-half International League team, the Rochester Red Wings, by three games. Only the first-half and second-half leaders receive playoff spots in the International League, with the winner of their three-game playoff series facing off against the Pacific Coast League counterparts in a Triple-A-winner-takes-all championship game to end the minor league season. WIND SURGE WISDOM Frisco 2, Wichita 8 Box Score Unlike their Triple-A teammates, the Wichita Wind Surge unfortunately are not in playoff contention in the Texas League. They finished last in their division in the first half of the season, and as it comes to a close are fighting to stay out of the position in the second half with their final series against the Frisco RoughRiders, who clinched a playoff spot in the first half. They sent the speed-knuckleballing Cory Lewis to the bump in game one, and he did his part over the first four innings. After allowing a leadoff single to end a no-hit bid before it even started, Lewis struck out the next two hitters he faced before getting a groundout to end the inning. He retired the side in order in the second, including two strikeouts, before serving up a two-run homer to top 10 prospect in baseball, Sebastian Walcott in the third. This gave the RoughRiders a brief 2-1 lead, but it was also the only runs they would get in the game. The Wind Surge struck first in the bottom of the opening frame thanks to the enflamed bat of Caden Kendle. His solo home run was his 10th with Wichita. After Frisco took the lead in the third, Kendle again sheathed his bat in fire before taking a swing for his 11th to put Wichita back in front for good 4-2. The offense tacked on three more in the fourth thanks to singles from Kyle DeBarge and Jaime Ferrer, followed by a double from Graham Brown and two-run single from Marek Houston. They added their eighth run in the bottom of the eighth with an RBI single from Brown. After Lewis finished the first four innings Hunter Gregory pitched a scoreless fifth inning to be credited with the win. In this day’s “quirks of stat lines” entry, Gregory allowed two hits and walked two batters but did not allow a run as Walcott apparently attempted to steal home with the bases loaded…but didn’t. Right-hander Sam Armstrong came on for the sixth and finished out the game with an excellent four innings for his first save of the season. He scattered three singles and struck out five to close it out. Kendle (2-for-4, 2 R, 2 HR, 4 RBI, K), Brandon Winokur (2-for-4, K, 2 SB), DeBarge (2-for-4, 2 R), Ferrer (2-for-4, R, RBI, BB), and Brown (2-for-4, R, 2B, RBI) each had two hits in the win. KERNELS NUGGETS The Cedar Rapids Kernels endured a woeful 2026 campaign, finishing the season with a 48-82 overall record, easily the worst in the Midwest League. Over a 162-game season that is a 60-win pace. They fared much better in the first half of the season, finishing 31-33, but that means they didn’t even win 20 games in the second half. While their overall hitting ranked in the middle to lower-half of the Midwest League, it was their pitching that stood out the most as a contributor. Their 6.38 ERA as a team was worst in the circuit by 0.68 points and their .270 batting average against also ranked last. Among players with at least 200 at-bats, Eduardo Tait led the team with 22 home runs and 73 RBI on the season. Marek Houston paced the squad with a .325 batting average. .406 on-base-percentage, and .461 slugging percentage before he was promoted to Wichita. As far as pitchers with more than 40 innings on the season, Riley Quick’s 4.14 ERA led the way. Ivran Romero led the staff with 87 strikeouts in 77 1/3 innings. MUSSEL MATTERS The Fort Myers Mighty Mussels had a strong first half of the season, finishing 37-28, but that was only good for second in their division, so they missed out on clinching a playoff spot. In the second half they finished 31-32 and well out of contention. So, despite being one of four teams to finish the year with an overall record above .500, they miss out on the Florida State League playoffs. The Mighty Mussels offense ranked pretty highly among their FSL peers in team hitting categories, leading the league in stolen bases and on-base percentage. They ranked top three in runs, home runs, walks, batting average, and slugging percentage. The pitching staff also fared well in the league as a whole, posting a top three ERA, limiting walks, and allowing the fewest home runs in the league. With 200 at-bats as the baseline, the Mighty Mussels were led in home runs by JP Smith and Quentin Young with 15. Young had 54 RBI. Luis Fragoza led the way in batting average (.322) and slugging percentage (.607). Standouts on the pitching side included Merit Jones (5-1, 3.56 ERA, 102 K, 93 2/3 IP), Michael Hilker (6-2, 2.75 ERA, 64 K, 52 1/3 IP), and Reed Moring (1-1, 2.60 ERA, 56 K, 52 IP). TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day – Matt Bowman, St. Paul Saints (2 IP, 4 K) Hitter of the Day – Caden Kendle, Wichita Wind Surge (2-for-4, 2 R, 2 HR, 4 RBI, K) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for much more on our Twins Top 20 prospects after seeing how they did today. #1 - OF Walker Jenkins (Minnesota): 0-for-3, K #3 - SS Kaelen Culpepper (Minnesota): 0-for-3, 2 K #4 - SS Marek Houston (Wichita): 1-for-4, R, 2 RBI, BB #6 - OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul): 0-for-4, K #12 - 3B/CF Brandon Winokur (Wichita): 2-for-4, K, 2 SB (10) #13 - C/OF Khadim Diaw (Wichita): 0-for-3, R WEDNESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTERS Syracuse @ St. Paul (6:37 PM CDT) - RHP German Marquez (0-2, 5.68 ERA) Frisco @ Wichita (6:35 PM CDT) - RHP Preston Johnson (1-3, 3.86 ERA) Please feel free to ask questions and discuss Tuesday’s games! View the full article

The Shuckers lineup received some reinforcements from Wisconsin for the final week of the season. Daniel Dickinson and Eric Bitonti were both installed into the lineup immediately and got their first AA hits. Andrew Fischer narrowly missed a grand slam, but the Biloxi offense could not keep pace with Pensacola in a 15-7 beatdown. Transactions: Biloxi Shuckers transferred C David García to the Development List. 2B Daniel Dickinson assigned to Biloxi Shuckers from Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. RHP Joshua Quezada assigned to Biloxi Shuckers from Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. 1B Eric Bitonti assigned to Biloxi Shuckers from Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. LHP Ben Moore assigned to ACL Brewers. INF/OF Roderick Flores released by ACL Brewers OF Engel Paulino released by ACL Brewers RHP Jhosep Ospino released by ACL Brewers You can learn about the Ben Moore signing here. Game Action: Biloxi pre-game media notes Pensacola (Marlins) 15, Biloxi 7 Box Score Please check out the official team recap here: Made Ties Chourio for Single-Season RBI Record, Shuckers Fall to Blue Wahoos - Bitonti, Dickinson record first Double-A hits in 22-run slugfest As has been the case for much of the second half, Biloxi’s bats did their part, but the Shuckers were done in by a brutal night from their pitching staff in Tuesday’s 15-7 rout to Pensacola. The game got off to a promising start with a single by Braylon Payne and then walks to Jesus Made and Josh Adamczewski to load the bases for MiLB home run leader Andrew Fischer. Fischer then missed a grand slam by mere inches, singling off the top of the wall to give Biloxi only a 1-0 lead. Damon Keith added a single to make it 2-0 and then Eric Bitonti lifted a sac fly to give Biloxi a 3-0 lead after half an inning. Check out Fischer’s blast and Keith’s single here, courtesy of the Shuckers’ X account: Manuel Rodriguez (4IP 6H 3H 3ER 2BB 4K) started and had his shortest outing since June, lasting just four innings. Rodriguez immediately gave a run back in the bottom of the first, after three consecutive singles and then a sac fly. The score remained 3-1 until the 4th, when newly promoted Daniel Dickinson created havoc on the basepaths with his 61st steal of the season, then scored on a throwing error. Later Adamczewski would make it 5-1 with a single: Rodriguez then gave the two runs back in the bottom of the fourth before exiting for Jesús Broca, who pitched a scoreless inning. Unfortunately for Bilxoi, the game turned from there. The Shuckers offense managed just one hit from innings five through eight, while both Shuckers' pitchers who entered after Broca were shelled. Pensacola took the lead for good in the 6th off Wande Torres (2.1IP 7H 8R 7ER 3BB 2K) and then put the game away with a massive nine-run 8th inning. In total the Shuckers' pitchers surrendered 17 hits and six walks, In the 9th, Biloxi got back-to back dingers from Made and Adamczewski: For Made, it tied the Shuckers' single season record for RBI. However, it was far too little, too late. The Shuckers pounded out 11 hits and six walks as an offense. Payne led the way with a three-hit day and now sports a .819 OPS at the level. Adamczewski was on base four times, scored twice, and drove in two. Fischer had two hits and now has a whopping 112 RBI on the season. RHP Bishop Letson (6-6, 5.09 ERA) will make his final start of the season on Wednesday, in his final tune up before next week’s playoffs. Organizational Scoreboard including starting pitcher info, game times, MiLB TV links, and box scores Current Milwaukee Brewers Organization Batting Stats and Depth Current Milwaukee Brewers Organization Pitching Stats and Depth View the full article

MIAMI, FL - Sandy Alcantara, known for being the stopper of the Miami Marlins rotation and resetting the bullpen, wasn't up for the task on Tuesday night against the New York Mets. On the strength of three home runs, Alcantara allowed the Mets to take a commanding 7-0 lead. The Marlins fought hard to dig themselves out of that hole, but ultimately fell by a final score of 7-5. Alcantara struggled from the very first pitch of the game, serving up a leadoff homer to Francisco Lindor. Juan Soto and Brett Baty later went deep as well. Alcantara went 4 1/3 innings, allowing seven runs on seven hits (three home runs), walked four and struck out one. "I feel very bad about the job that I did tonight," Alcantara said postgame. "Knowing the the position that we are right now, losing is devastating for us. Just gotta get hot and keep things together and just be out there and fight." On the other side, Mets starting pitcher Sean Manaea tossed five perfect innings. In the sixth inning, the Marlins finally broke through and scored four runs of Manaea. Jakob Marsee, who led the inning off, hit a double. Jared Serna recorded his second career RBI, bringing Marsee home from second and making it a 7-1 game. An unlikely source of offense in Brian Navarreto drove Serna home with a single. An Otto Lopez and Javier Sanoja RBI single made it 7-4. "Very proud of the group," Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. "Not the start of the game that we were hoping for to get down, but climb out and make things really interesting and even those last couple innings to create some traffic and have a chance there. We hung in there and probably got behind the eight ball a little bit too much, not able to to overcome it." On the bright side, Jakob Marsee had a three-hit day, his fifth of that kind this season. He drove a run in the bottom of the ninth inning to make it 7-5. Jared Serna, who was recently called up, collected his first multi-hit game of his career. "Jared put together really aggressive swings tonight, and good for him," McCullough said. "He got an opportunity to go play and had a nice game." With the loss and another Arizona Diamondbacks win, the Marlins dropped to six games out of the final NL Wild Card spot with only 16 games left on their schedule. The Marlins will look to avoid the sweep on Wednesday with Janson Junk taking the mound. View the full article

Box Score SP: Dean Kremer - 5 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 3 K (69 pitches, 46 strikes (67% strikes)) Home Runs: Kody Clemens (25) Top 3 WPA: Kody Clemens (0.29), Andrew Morris (0.21), Yoendrys Gómez (0.20) Win Probability Chart The Twins entered Tuesday night's matchup against the Tigers needing a win after dropping Monday's series opener and watching their already-slim playoff chances continue to slip away. They got exactly what they needed. Minnesota jumped out to an early lead, surrendered it on Kevin McGonigle's two-run homer, and then immediately responded with the biggest swing of the night. Kody Clemens crushed his 25th homer of the season in the sixth inning to give the Twins the lead back, and the bullpen did the rest. The Twins held on for a 3-2 victory, evening the series and moving to 69-76 on the year. It wasn't always pretty, and Minnesota had to escape a massive threat in the seventh inning, but after dropping the opener, the team found a way to respond when they absolutely needed to. DEAN KREMER BATTLED THROUGH ANOTHER SOLID START Dean Kremer didn't have the easiest first inning. McGonigle opened the game with a 10-pitch at-bat that ended with a single, and Gleyber Torres followed with another base hit. Suddenly, Detroit had two runners aboard with nobody out and the heart of its lineup coming up. But Royce Lewis helped Kremer escape. Colt Keith lined a ball toward first base. Lewis made a phenomenal leaping grab, before doubling McGonigle off second. Torres later moved into scoring position on a wild pitch, but Kremer got Riley Greene to swing through a splitter to end the inning. After throwing 20 pitches in the first, Kremer settled in nicely. He worked scoreless second and third innings before recording his first 1-2-3 frame of the night in the fourth. The right-hander needed just six pitches to get through that frame. The only real mistake came in the fifth. After Zach McKinstry reached with a two-out single, Kremer left a fastball over the middle of the plate. McGonigle didn't miss it, launching a two-run homer to left and giving Detroit a 2-1 lead. It wasn't a perfect outing, but Kremer once again gave the Twins a chance to win. And they did some damage immediately after Kremer's night ended. KODY CLEMENS GAVE THE TWINS THE LEAD RIGHT BACK The Twins did a nice job of making Drew Anderson work early. Brooks Lee doubled in the first inning before Clemens and Ryan Jeffers drew back-to-back walks to load the bases. Josh Bell then lifted a sacrifice fly to right, giving Minnesota an early 1-0 lead and putting Anderson at 28 pitches after just one inning. But after that, the Twins' offense went quiet. Anderson settled in and retired the side in order in the second, third, and fifth innings. Jeffers singled in the fourth, but Bell immediately grounded into a double play, and Minnesota was suddenly struggling to generate much of anything against a pitcher they had seen less than a week earlier. Then came the sixth. Luke Keaschall worked a leadoff walk, surviving two called third strikes that were successfully challenged. Lee struck out, but that brought Clemens to the plate with Keaschall aboard. And he didn't miss. Anderson left a fastball elevated, and Clemens turned on it, sending his 25th homer of the season into the seats in right-center field. Just like that, the Twins had erased Detroit's lead and moved back in front 3-2. The homer also tied Clemens with Byron Buxton for the team lead. More importantly, it gave Minnesota the lead for good. Clemens has been one of the Twins' most important offensive players this season, and Tuesday night gave him another massive moment. With the offense struggling to get anything going, one swing changed the entire game. ANDREW MORRIS ESCAPED THE BIGGEST THREAT OF THE NIGHT The seventh inning had all the makings of a complete disaster. A.J. Minter walked pinch-hitter Ben Malgeri to open the inning after getting ahead 1-2. Malgeri then stole second, and a throwing error from Jeffers allowed him to advance all the way to third. Suddenly, the tying run was 90 feet away with nobody out. Minter got Max Clark to ground to short, with Kaelen Culpepper holding Malgeri at third before recording the out. That brought Andrew Morris into the game with one down and the Twins desperately needing two more outs. He delivered. Morris got Hao Yu-Lee to swing through a cutter for a massive second out before Zach McKinstry lined a ball to left. The ball stayed in the air long enough for Minnesota to escape the inning completely unscathed. It was a huge moment. The Twins had put themselves in a difficult position, and after allowing Detroit to get the tying run to third with nobody out, they could have easily watched the game slip away. Instead, Morris came in and shut the door. Minter, Morris and Jeff Hoffman combined to get Minnesota through the sixth, seventh and eighth innings without allowing a run. That set the stage for Yoendrys Gómez to finish the job. THE TWINS' DEFENSE AND BULLPEN CLOSED IT OUT Minnesota's defense made several huge plays throughout the night. Lewis saved potentially multiple runs with his leaping double play in the first inning. Lee made a nice catch against the netting in the third, and McKinstry robbed Lee of a potential hit with a diving catch in the eighth. Then, fittingly, Keaschall made the final play. After Gómez struck out Greene and got Eduardo Valencia to line out, Malgeri lined a ball into right field that looked like it had a chance to drop. Keaschall came sliding in and made the catch, ending the game and securing the 3-2 victory. Gómez is now 22-for-22 in save opportunities this season. The Twins needed this one. Their playoff chances are continuing to fade, and after dropping Monday's opener, another loss would have made things even more difficult. Instead, Minnesota responded with timely pitching, strong defense and one massive swing from Clemens. They haven't fixed everything, and the Twins still have plenty of work to do over the final few weeks of the season if they're gonna make an improbable run. But for one night, they found a way. Now, the series is even, and Minnesota will have a chance to take the rubber match Wednesday afternoon. What’s Next? The Twins and Tigers wrap up their three-game set in Detroit tomorrow afternoon. Zebby Matthews is set to take the hill for Minnesota, and he’ll face off against right-hander Keider Montero. First pitch is set for 12:10 PM. Postgame Interviews Coming soon! 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