Royce Lewis wasted no time putting his stamp on another Twins win.
Minnesota answered Friday night’s loss to the Angels with a 5-3 victory Saturday afternoon, getting six solid innings from Joe Ryan and enough timely hitting to even the series heading into Sunday’s rubber match. The Twins also had a little extra to smile about before the first pitch, when longtime television voice Dick Bremer was inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame.
Ryan had to navigate some early stress, but he kept Los Angeles from cashing in. The Angels put two runners on in the first, and Ryan escaped without damage. From there, he settled in and kept the game under control, working six innings and allowing six hits and two runs, both earned, with two walks and six strikeouts on 94 pitches.
Minnesota gave him a cushion in the second. Kody Clemens opened the inning with a four-pitch walk, and Lewis followed by crushing his 10th homer of the season on the next pitch to make it 2-0. Luke Keaschall then added to the lead with a sacrifice fly that brought home Victor Caratini.
The Angels chipped away in the third when Jorge Soler lined an RBI double, trimming the margin to 3-1. But Ryan didn’t let that turn into a bigger inning. Over his final three frames, he allowed only two baserunners and kept attacking the zone.
Los Angeles finally pulled even in the seventh, and the damage came against Tommy Nance in his Twins debut after arriving from Toronto earlier in the week. Zach Neto stole second, and Nolan Schanuel followed with a two-out RBI single to make it 3-3. Nance did strike out two in the inning, but the game was back on level ground.
That tie didn’t last long.
Lewis started the bottom of the seventh with a double, and Caratini followed with another double into the gap to put Minnesota back on top 4-3. Alan Roden then added an RBI single to give the Twins a little breathing room at 5-3.
From there, the bullpen finished the job. Woo-Suk Go worked the eighth, and Yoendrys Gómez handled the ninth for his 11th save of the season and 10th since joining Minnesota.
The Angels’ missed chances told the story, too. They stranded 11 runners on base, and that number loomed large in a game where the Twins kept making pitches when they needed them most.
Minnesota will try to lock up the series Sunday before the All-Star break. Taj Bradley, who is 8-3 with a 3.67 ERA, gets the start against José Soriano, who is 8-5 with a 3.40 ERA.
Bradley has been rolling lately, allowing two earned runs or fewer in four straight starts and coming off seven shutout innings with 10 strikeouts against Cleveland. After Sunday’s finale, Ryan and Byron Buxton will head to Philadelphia for the All-Star Game, while the rest of the Twins get a break before opening the second half on the road against the Cubs.
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Elsewhere in the system, the bats and arms kept making noise in ways that matter for depth and development. Marek Houston continued to heat up with another big night at Double-A, Jaime Ferrer added power in Wichita, and Ruddy Gomez finished things off with a clean late stretch on the mound. For a club always watching for the next useful piece, the broader takeaway was encouraging, even if the loudest individual performance still left one question hanging in the air. [Read more 🡒]
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The pitching upside may have arrived later in the process, though, when the club added a right-hander from TCU who put together a strong 2025 season and showed the kind of strikeout ability that can change how a draft class is remembered. He has the kind of arm strength and swing-and-miss profile that can make a front office dream on a future rotation piece, even with the usual questions that follow any college pitcher who has already had to navigate elbow soreness. [Read more 🡒]
Byron Buxtons All-Star Moment Just Raised A Bigger Twins Question
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Munetaka Murakami has taken Buxtons spot on the roster, but the bigger conversation around the Twins is less about one night in July than what comes next with a player whose name keeps surfacing in trade chatter. Buxton has made clear where he stands, and the organization has been just as clear in acknowledging how much his loyalty has meant. The question now is whether that mutual appreciation can carry into something longer lasting once he is back from the injured list. [Read more 🡒]