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Jul 9, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Bailey Ober (17) throws to the Cleveland Guardians in the second inning at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images | Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images
The Minnesota Twins were looking to sweep the Cleveland Guardians out of Minneapolis today. Doing so meant pulling alongside the Spiders for second place in the American League Central, getting back to .500 for the first time since mid-April, and extending their winning streak to five games.
It was pretty quiet for the first four-plus innings of the game today with the only blemish on either side being a solo home run by Spiders third-baseman Gabriel Arias off of fresh-off-the-injured-list Bailey Ober. The home run is the only run that Ober allowed, turning in great five innings of work and allowing two additional hits, a walk, and striking out five. Derek Shelton called it a day for Ober after 74 pitches.
On the other side of the coin, Spiders starter Gavin Williams took a perfect game into the fifth inning, where he got himself into a jam. With one out, Royce Lewis singled, Alan Roden walked, and Luke Keaschall was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Tristan Gray. Gray, who has been in a rut lately, slapped a single through the infield, tying the baby up at one run apiece. As we are all unfortunately too familiar with such situations, the Twins couldn’t pile on more; Alex Jackson grounded into a fielder’s choice to home plate and Trevor Larnach was called out on strikes to end the threat.
Ober gave way to southpaw Kendrys Rojas, called up today to take the roster spot of Connor Prielipp, who went on the injured list due to a blister on one of his fingers. His two innings led to a 2026 Minnesota Twins bullpen tradition of coughing up the tie or lead. Chase DeLauter hit a homer to right field in the top of the sixth while Rojas walked the number eight and nine batters in the order in the top of the seventh. “Walks will haunt” is the old adage, and Brayan Rocchio smooshed that in Minnesota’s face with a double to left field, plating both runners and giving Cleveland a 4-1 advantage.
Lewis clawed back one run with a home of his own in the bottom of the seventh, but the Twins couldn’t get anything else off of Williams. He held Minnesota batters to three hits, two runs, a walk, and 11 strikeouts. After Rojas, Kody Funderburk turned in a scoreless eighth while Woo-Sok Go made his major-league debut in the ninth, giving up a moonshot to Patrick Bailey – making it a 5-2 score – and also notching his first big-league strikeout.
Cleveland turned to Hunter Gaddis and Cade Smith to shut the door, and they did so to solidify the 5-2 score and a Minnesota loss. The Twins stay two games back from the second-place Spiders and also two games back from .500. They also lose their winning streak. Sad day.
W: Gavin Williams (10-4)
L: Kendrys Rojas (1-1)
S: Cade Smith (27)
STUDS
- Royce Lewis: 2-4, 2 R, RBI, 2 K
- Bailey Ober: 5 IP, 3 H, ER, BB, 5 K – why not? It’s a good outing coming off the IL.
duds
- Top of the Twins’ lineup (1-4): 0-16, 8 K
- Kendrys Rojas: 2 IP, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 K
COTG
- falcontimmy shared the well-known (to us, not the Twins bullpen) insights of walking the bottom of the order.
The Cleveland Spiders are off to face the hot Miami Marlins in south Florida while the Minnesota Twins will stay put at Target Field and host the not-hot Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, California, United States of America, for a three-game weekend series to close out the first half of the 2026 campaign. The Angels will send the oft-used TBD to the mound while the Twins call upon Zebby Matthews. Have a #blessed night!
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