Connor Prielipp gave the Twins exactly what they needed Friday night: length, command, and a whole lot of zeros.
Minnesota blanked the Angels 3-0, and Prielipp was the center of it all. He worked seven innings, allowed just two hits, walked two and struck out eight, turning in the kind of outing that can steady a game before it ever has a chance to wobble. It was also the longest start of his career, as he moved past the six-inning mark for the first time.
The Twins gave him early support and never looked back. Luke Keaschall was hit by a pitch for the 22nd time this season, setting a new Twins single-season record, and Brooks Lee moved up on a single before being cut down at the plate on a Kody Clemens fielder’s choice.
That play still brought Lee to third, and Ryan Jeffers followed with a liner that became a sacrifice fly. Josh Bell added another run when his single clipped off Mike Trout’s glove and fell in for a second score.
From there, the game settled into a pitchers’ duel. Angels starter Grayson Rodriguez was tough to crack, allowing only one runner to reach second until the seventh.
Minnesota’s offense didn’t do much else for a while, but the one swing that mattered came from Walker Jenkins, who launched a solo home run. It was his sixth straight hit and his second homer in that stretch.
Prielipp, meanwhile, kept dealing. He worked around baserunners in the second, third and fourth, then struck out two in a perfect fifth. One of the night’s biggest moments came when Zach Neto nearly took one of Prielipp’s breaking balls out to left field, only for Emmanuel Rodriguez to track it down and rob him of a home run.
That set the stage for Prielipp’s final inning. He returned for the seventh with a chance to push into new territory, and he finished the job in style. Denzer Guzman flied out to the warning track, Oswald Peraza struck out swinging, and Travis d’Arnaud went down looking at three straight strikes to end Prielipp’s night.
The bullpen handled the rest. Tommy Nance loaded the bases in the eighth but escaped without giving up a run, and Travis Adams worked a clean ninth for his third save of the season.
The Twins and Angels are back at it Saturday night, with first pitch set for 8:38 PM. Joe Ryan is scheduled to start against Reid Detmers.
In Other News...
Walker Jenkins Just Showed Why Twins Fans Should Still Believe
Walker Jenkins keeps giving Twins fans reasons to look past the standings and focus on what might be coming next. The clubs top prospect, called up Aug. 28 and ranked No. 14 overall in baseball, delivered one of the biggest swings of the night at Angel Stadium when he turned on a 100.9 mph fastball from Angels reliever Ben Joyce and drove a two-run, game-tying homer in the ninth inning. He added three hits on the night, a strong showing for a player still finding his footing in the majors.
The Twins still came up short in a 5-4 extra-inning loss, but Jenkins response mattered more than the final score in the long view. After a difficult start to his Major League career, he showed the kind of calm and competitiveness that teams want to see from a young hitter under pressure, and the performance only added to the sense that Minnesota may already have a cornerstone in the making. [Read more 🡒]
Twins Turn Wild Comeback Night Into Another Brutal Late Collapse
The Twins spent most of the night chasing the Angels after an early 3-0 hole in Anaheim, and for a while it looked like the kind of game that can get away from a team in a hurry. Instead, Minnesota clawed back, worked its way into a 4-4 tie in extra innings and got enough from a pair of starters who were both sharp deep into the game, with Taj Bradley and Walbert Urea each lasting seven innings and piling up strikeouts.
Minnesota still walked away with the wrong kind of familiar ending, though, as the Angels finished it with a walk-off single in the bottom of the tenth. For a Twins club trying to turn a difficult night into something salvageable, the frustration is in how close it came to being a statement comeback, only to become another late collapse with another game still to come in the same series the next day. [Read more 🡒]
Rod Carew Just Gave These Twins Players Something Few Ever Get
Rod Carew made a familiar sight feel special again before the Twins opened their series against the Angels, showing up in uniform and spending time around batting practice and pregame meetings. For a clubhouse that has leaned on veteran voices all season, having a Hall of Famer like Carew in the room carried a different kind of weight, one rooted in the standards and history that still hang around the franchise.
Manager Derek Shelton and players such as Taylor Rogers and Ryan Jeffers welcomed the chance to be around him and pick up whatever they could from his experience. Carew means something on both sides of this matchup, with his number retired by the Twins and the Angels, and his presence offered a reminder that some baseball lessons go beyond the box score, even if the full impact of the visit is still more felt than measured. [Read more 🡒]