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For the first seven innings of Wednesday’s game, there was a lot to like for the Twins.
Left fielder Harrison Bader had punished his former teammates with his arm and his bat. Aggressiveness on the basepaths had paid off. David Festa did, for the most part, what he needed to do and Danny Coulombe and Edouard Julien helped the Twins out of a daunting situation.
But since this is the 2025 Twins, nothing has come easy.
And on Wednesday, that meant seeing their three-run lead disappear in the eighth inning with one of their best arms — Griffin Jax — on the mound.
Even still, the Twins prevailed in the series finale, winning 4-3 in 10 innings against the Mets at Target Field. Ty France, last week’s American League Player of the Week, played hero, singling home automatic runner Byron Buxton to make the Twins walk-off winners.
His big moment came after Cole Sands had gotten the Twins out of a tough situation with two runners on and no outs in the top of the inning.
It took contributions from everyone to get the Twins there.
Bader, whose day started by cutting down a runner at home trying to score in the second inning, dove to catch a sinking line drive in the eighth inning, likely saving another run from scoring. After collecting three hits in Tuesday’s win, he added another two in Thursday’s win and scored the team’s second run, driven in by Buxton.
Willi Castro scored on Bader’s first RBI knock in the fifth inning after some aggressive baserunning landed him on second to start the inning. The Mets challenged the play, which was unsuccessful.
That failed challenge came up big later, when Castro was ruled safe on an infield single in the sixth inning. Upon review, he would have been out, but the Mets had already lost their challenge.
While the play was unfolding at first base — first baseman Pete Alonso threw the ball to reliever José Buttó, who then briefly tried to plead his case before turning around and throwing home — Ryan Jeffers just kept running, getting in safely while attention was directed away from him.
That play became especially important because later in the game when Jax gave up the lead, allowing four hits in the three-run inning.
The Twins had been clinging to that lead since the fifth inning, one which they grabbed after a big double play extracted them from Festa’s jam unscathed.
Coulombe, called upon to face lefty superstar Juan Soto with the bases loaded, needed just one pitch. Soto grounded it to Julien at second, who tagged Francisco Lindor, who was just off of first base, and then beat Soto to the bag, keeping the tie intact at the time.
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Left fielder Harrison Bader had punished his former teammates with his arm and his bat. Aggressiveness on the basepaths had paid off. David Festa did, for the most part, what he needed to do and Danny Coulombe and Edouard Julien helped the Twins out of a daunting situation.
But since this is the 2025 Twins, nothing has come easy.
And on Wednesday, that meant seeing their three-run lead disappear in the eighth inning with one of their best arms — Griffin Jax — on the mound.
Even still, the Twins prevailed in the series finale, winning 4-3 in 10 innings against the Mets at Target Field. Ty France, last week’s American League Player of the Week, played hero, singling home automatic runner Byron Buxton to make the Twins walk-off winners.
His big moment came after Cole Sands had gotten the Twins out of a tough situation with two runners on and no outs in the top of the inning.
It took contributions from everyone to get the Twins there.
Bader, whose day started by cutting down a runner at home trying to score in the second inning, dove to catch a sinking line drive in the eighth inning, likely saving another run from scoring. After collecting three hits in Tuesday’s win, he added another two in Thursday’s win and scored the team’s second run, driven in by Buxton.
Willi Castro scored on Bader’s first RBI knock in the fifth inning after some aggressive baserunning landed him on second to start the inning. The Mets challenged the play, which was unsuccessful.
That failed challenge came up big later, when Castro was ruled safe on an infield single in the sixth inning. Upon review, he would have been out, but the Mets had already lost their challenge.
While the play was unfolding at first base — first baseman Pete Alonso threw the ball to reliever José Buttó, who then briefly tried to plead his case before turning around and throwing home — Ryan Jeffers just kept running, getting in safely while attention was directed away from him.
That play became especially important because later in the game when Jax gave up the lead, allowing four hits in the three-run inning.
The Twins had been clinging to that lead since the fifth inning, one which they grabbed after a big double play extracted them from Festa’s jam unscathed.
Coulombe, called upon to face lefty superstar Juan Soto with the bases loaded, needed just one pitch. Soto grounded it to Julien at second, who tagged Francisco Lindor, who was just off of first base, and then beat Soto to the bag, keeping the tie intact at the time.
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