When the Nationals needed an outfielder to pinch hit with a runner on second, they sent for Alex Call.
It was only the second inning, and he was facing Twins ace Joe Ryan.
Call, who was born in Burnsville and grew up in River Falls, Wis., answered by drilling a single into left to plate Drew Millas with the first run of the game. In the seventh, Call, hit a solo home run off of Justin Topa in the seventh inning to keep Washington on track for a 9-3 victory in front of 26,928 on a muggy night at Target Field.
Minnesota Twins center fielder Byron Buxton (25) catches a fly out hit by Washington Nationals’ Luis GarcÃa Jr. (2) during the first inning of a baseball game Saturday, July 26, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
It was the Twins’ fifth loss since returning from the all-star break last week, and sixth loss in their past nine games. Three of those losses are to the two worst teams in baseball, Colorado — dead-last with 77 losses after being drilled, 18-0, at Baltimore — and Washington, which pulled back to 20 games under .500 with Saturday’s victory.
Royce Lewis was 2 for 4 with a run-scoring single, and Ty France doubled him in from first as the Twins pulled within 5-2 in the sixth inning. But Call squelched that momentum with his homer in the seventh, his third of the season, and the Nationals added three runs off of left-hander Kody Funderburk in the eighth for their sixth win in 13 games.
Left-hander Mitchell Parker (7-10) allowed two runs on eight hits and a walk in 5⅔ innings for the victory.
One of the Twins’ two all-stars with Byron Buxton, Ryan (10-5) wasn’t his usual self. During a scoreless first, he walked James Wood, then watched Buxton steal a double from Garcia Jr. when he leapt to catch a line drive before it hit the scoreboard in right-center.
Buxton left the game after the sixth inning with what the Twins called “left-side soreness.” He is day to day.
After a 1-2-3 second inning, on three middle infield groundouts, he allowed a leadoff single to No. 8 hitter Millas, who then stole second. Call, pinch-hitting for center fielder Jacob Young (right index finger contusion), laced a single into left to plate Millas and make it 1-0.
Garcia Jr. homered off Ryan to start the fourth for a 2-0 lead, and the Nationals broke it open in the fifth.
Washington Nationals’ Alex Call (17) slides to score off a two-run double by CJ Abrams during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Minnesota Twins, Saturday, July 26, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Daylen Lile and Millas started the inning with sharp singles, bringing Call to the plate with runners at first and second. Call sliced a loping liner into shallow right, and right fielder Willi Castro, first baseman Ty France and second baseman Brooks Lee converged.
Lee got his glove on it, but it bounced out, loading the bases with Nationals. Leadoff hitter Abrams followed with a bases-clearing double into the right-field corner before the Twins had recorded an out.
Ryan got the next three batters on a strikeout and two long fly balls to center and never came back for the sixth.
Justin Topa threw a scoreless sixth before giving up Call’s third homer of the season, which landed a few rows into the home run porch in right field.
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