The Twins ran into a familiar kind of night at Target Field and came away with an 8-1 loss to the Yankees. Bailey Ober gave them a decent start, Emmanuel Rodriguez did the bulk of the damage at the plate, and not much else went right.
Ober allowed three earned runs over 5.1 innings, and two of those came right away in the first when Cody Bellinger launched his 16th homer. The Yankees added another in the third on George Lombard Jr.’s RBI double, but Ober settled in enough to work one out into the sixth without any more trouble. His final line: 5.1 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, HR.
The game turned hard in the sixth after Ober recorded the first out and Taylor Rogers took over against lefty Ben Rice. Rice reached when Kaelen Culpepper committed an error, then Bellinger drew a walk.
Ramos followed with a double to score Rice, and two batters later Spencer Jones blew it open with a three-run shot to center that made it 7-1. Rogers was charged with four runs, though all of them were unearned because of the error.
The Twins’ offense never found much against Max Fried, who gave up just one run and six hits across seven innings. That lone run came in the second when Emmanuel Rodriguez lined an RBI single.
Rodriguez later added a double and nearly homered, just fouling one off, to finish 2-for-3. Luke Keaschall also turned in a strong night, going 3-for-4, and those two accounted for five of Minnesota’s seven hits.
The rest of the lineup went 2-for-25 and didn’t draw a walk.
Andrew Morris gave up a meaningless run in the ninth to finish out the 8-1 final.
Emmanuel Rodriguez: 2-3, 2B, RBI
Luke Keaschall: 3-4
Duds:
Kaelen Culpepper: 0-3, K, GIDP, Error
Taylor Rogers: 1.2 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 0 ER, BB, K
In Other News...
Twins Suffer Another Rough Night As Rookie Infielder Exits Early
Max Fried finally looked like himself again, and the Twins were on the wrong end of it. Fried went seven innings and allowed one run as the Yankees rolled to an 8-1 win, getting enough pop from Cody Bellinger and Spencer Jones to keep pace in the AL East chase while Minnesota spent another night trying to find answers against a quality arm.
The bigger concern for the Twins may have been the health of rookie shortstop Kaelen Culpepper, who exited with left hamstring tightness. In a stretch where every game seems to carry a little extra weight, losing a young infielder early only adds to the frustration, especially with the club already trying to navigate the fallout from another lopsided loss. [Read more 🡒]
Twins Just Got Another Painful Reminder Of Their Biggest Problem
The Twins were already trying to patch together the middle of the infield, and now they have to do it without another young piece they had hoped would settle things down. Rookie shortstop Kaelen Culpepper landed on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain, a move that ends his season and adds another frustrating chapter to a year that has repeatedly been interrupted by injuries. When healthy, Culpepper has shown enough promise to make the organization believe there is something to build on.
In the meantime, Minnesota turned to Ben Ross, recalling the utilityman from Triple-A St. Paul with the expectation that he will start at shortstop in the next game. It is a familiar sort of shuffle for a club that has spent too much time adjusting on the fly, especially at a premium position where stability matters. Culpeppers absence leaves the Twins waiting again for a clearer look at one of their younger players, while the stopgap solution becomes the latest test of how long they can keep getting by without their preferred answer. [Read more 🡒]
Twins Just Took Another Brutal Hit In Their Stretch Run
Kaelen Culpepper gave the Twins a needed jolt when they brought him up Aug. 7 and handed him the starting shortstop job, and he held his own right away over his first 31 major league games. For a club trying to stay afloat through a second-half slump, getting a top prospect to settle in and contribute was one of the few positive developments worth tracking as the season wore on.
Now that lift has been interrupted. Culpepper landed on the injured list with a hamstring injury, and the timing could hardly be worse for a Minnesota offense that has already struggled after the break and watched its record slide with it. With the stretch run tightening up, the Twins are left trying to absorb another blow from a roster that has already had too few answers at the plate. [Read more 🡒]
