SP: Simeon Woods Richardson 5 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 6 K, 1 BB (82 pitches, 55 strikes (67%))
Home Runs: Matt Wallner (7), Brooks Lee (8), Trevor Larnach (12)
Top 3 WPA: Woods Richardson .276, Larnach .224, Lee .064
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs):
They’d have to wait a while to get started. A steady wave of morning and afternoon rain (and, in frustratingly large part, the mere anticipation thereof) delayed the game by four and a half hours. But when the clouds finally cleared, the Twins put together one of their best innings of the season on their way to a 10-1 win.
Simeon Woods Richardson got the start and kept Seattle quiet, tossing five scoreless innings while allowing just two hits and one walk.
He struck out six in what was his second scoreless outing in four starts since rejoining the big-league rotation.
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The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the fifth, when Trevor Larnach finally broke through.
After Byron Buxton reached base via walk, Larnach crushed a 421-foot home run to center field, putting the Twins up 2-0.
That swing opened the offensive floodgates, and runs rushed in in the bottom of the sixth.
Brooks Lee kicked things off with his eighth home run of the year, a solo shot off Mariners reliever Zach Pop. The next five hitters piled on. Buxton ripped a two-run double.
Willi Castro followed with an RBI double of his own. Carlos Correa added a two-run double, and Matt Wallner capped it all off with a two-run homer, his seventh of the season.
When the dust settled, the Twins had put up eight runs in the inning and built a 10-0 lead.
The bullpen took over from there and picked up right where Woods Richardson left off. Brock Stewart, Danny Coulombe, Justin Topa, and Cole Sands each pitched scoreless frames to keep the Mariners at bay.
They were one out away from back-to-back shutouts, but with two outs in the ninth, Miles Mastrobuoni knocked in Seattle’s only run with an RBI single.
Even with the shutout spoiled, the Twins locked down a convincing 10-1 win to split the series.
The win ends Minnesota’s five-series losing streak.
They’re now 39-42 on the season, with a -11 run differential.
What’s Next
This weekend, the Twins hit the road for a three-game series against the Detroit Tigers, who currently own the best record in baseball. Ex-Twins farmhand Sawyer Gipson-Long will start for Detroit, while the Twins have yet to announce their starter.
