In the wake of a trade deadline selloff that jettisoned 10 regulars, the Twins are managing to play some pretty good baseball with prospects, minor league vets and healthy veterans who survived the purge.

The Twins made Sunday’s series finale against Kansas City a bullpen day, and fielded a starting lineup that included only two players you’d call major league veterans, but beat the Royals, 5-3 in 11 innings, in the rubber match of a three-game series in front of 26,746 at Target Field.

The Twins have now won 2 of 3 series, and are 5-4 overall against the three teams ahead of them in the American League Central, since the trade deadline drastically altered the roster.

Rookie infielder Luke Keaschall, who earlier extended his hitting streak to start his mejor league career to 11 games, hit a two-run, two-out home run off reliever Carlos Estevez for the winning runs. Michael Tonkin (1-0) pitched scoreless 10th and 11th innings for the win.

With starting pitchers Pablo Lopez (shoulder) and Simeon Woods Richarson (illness) on the injured list, the Twins got a good collective start from Jose Urena, Kody Funderburk and Pierson Ohl, who turned a 2-1 lead over to Cole Sands with two out and none on in the seventh inning.

Sands allowed base hits to the first two batters he faced, the second a two-run home run by Vinnie Pasquantinto that made it 3-2.

But the Twins quickly got a break when Royals left fielder John Rave tried to make a sliding catch on a low liner from Austin Martin with one out in the eighth inning. Martin wound up on third, and scored on Ryan Jeffers’ two-out single to left to tie the game 3-3.

With the team’s best player, center fielder Byron Buxton, on the IL with rib cage inflammation, Jeffers and Trevor Larnach were two of three players in the lineup who made the team out of training camp. The third was Mickey Gasper, who made the active roster as a utility player but has spent most of the season at Class AAA St. Paul — and was making his first major league start at catcher.

The Twins took a 2-1 on Ryan Fitzgerald’s two-run home run off starter Ryan Bergert in the third inning.

With Gasper on base on a leadoff walk in the third, Fitzgerald, a minor league veteran playing in his fourth major league game, hit a line drive into the home run porch in right field to make it 2-1. It was the infielder’s first major league hit, and the 15th time a Twins player had homered for his first MLB hit.

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No, it’s not mathematically secure. But Minnesota’s grip on home-court advantage throughout the WNBA playoffs is about as firm as it can be on Aug. 10 after the Lynx downed the Liberty 83-71 in Brooklyn in a nationally-televised matinee Sunday.

Minnesota (27-5) now leads the second-place Liberty (20-11) by 6.5 games with just 12 games to play in the regular season.

Natisha Hiedeman #2 of the Minnesota Lynx shoots the ball during the second half against the New York Liberty at Barclays Center on Aug. 10, 2025 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Ishika Samant/Getty Images)

Minnesota trailed by two at the break, but exploded for 30 points in a third frame in which it went 12 for 18 from the field. Natisha Hiedeman and Dijonai Carrington combined for 17 points off the bench in the quarter.

Carrington finished with 15 points and six rebounds. Kayla McBride had 18 points on the strength of four triples, while Courtney Williams had 14 points, seven assists and five boards and Alanna Smith finished with eight points, nine rebounds, seven assists, four steals and three blocks while quarterbacking another stupendous defensive effort.

After scoring 24 points in the opening quarter, the Liberty tallied just 47 points combined over the final three frames.

Sabina Ionescu finished with just 10 points on 4 for 15 shooting as the Liberty shot 42% from the floor as a team.

“Our anchor is Lan,” McBride said.

The two teams will meet two more times — in Minnesota on Saturday and back in Brooklyn on Aug. 19. Should Minnesota win at least one of those bouts, it was also secure the tiebreaker, which would push its advantage over the Liberty to the brink of insurmountable.

Both teams are still without their star forwards, as Napheesa Collier (ankle) and Breanna Stewart (knee) continue to miss time. But the Lynx continue to find ways to win, even sans the presumptive MVP.

Minnesota is now 5-1 this season without Collier in the lineup.

“It keeps Phee humble,” Reeve joked of the team’s success sans its best player.

In all seriousness, Collier exudes excitement on social media, and has sent Reeve numerous messages expressing her pride in the performance of her teammates.

“I think what we’ve learned — it’s what we know, but it’s reinforced — is how gritty we are,” Reeve said. “Just throw some stuff at us. This team doesn’t break. You may beat us, but you’re not breaking us, and there’s a big difference there. They have such high belief in one another and high belief, really, in the group. … So we’re able to get through tough times.”

How much does the top seed matter? Well, look no further than the site of Sunday’s victory. It was the same floor were Minnesota lost the decisive Game 5 of the WNBA Finals last October. Had that game been at Target Center, perhaps the result would’ve been different.

Those little advantages can be the difference between euphoria and heartbreak, and the Lynx are doing everything in their power to stack the deck in their favor this time around.

Byron Buxton appears close to returning from the injured list and the Twins have no plans to give the veteran center fielder more off days as the team winds down a season that won’t end in the postseason.

Sidelined since leaving a July 26 loss to Washington with inflammation in his left rib cage, Buxton will travel to New York for a three-game series against the Yankees and could be activated as early as Monday.

Before getting hurt, Buxton, 31, was on pace to get near his career-high of 140 games played in 2017. He has played in 85 games and been on the IL twice, the first time for a concussion suffered in a collision with then-teammate Carlos Correa.

“I think we’re just going to plan on playing Buck every day as he has been,” manager Rocco Baldelli said before the Twins series finale against Kansas City on Sunday. “When he needs a day, he gets a day. It’s pretty straightforward. I’m not overthinking it. I think we’re going to have Buck on the field every day that he is capable of playing.”

An all-star for the second time this season, Buxton leads the Twins in home runs (23), RBIs (59), triples (4), stolen bases (17) and — among players with at least 50 at-bats — OPS (.901)..

Keaschall and counting

Rookie infielder Luke Keaschall has reached base in all 12 of his major league games, and has an 11-game hit streak to start his major league career.

Playing second base in his fifth game since returning from a broken forearm, Keaschall singled sharply to left field to lead off the second inning to extend his streak.

Keaschall is now second in team history to only Glen Williams, who started his major league career with a 13-game hitting streak in 2005.

Welcome to the club

Ryan Fitzgerald, a longtime minor league vet who signed a minor league contract with the Twins, hit a two-run home run to right field in the third inning for his first major league hit.

Playing third base, Fitzgerald, 31, is the 15th player in Twins history to homer for his first major league hit. The last to do it was Caleb Hamilton on Sept. 25, 2022.

Briefly

Mickey Gasper became the first catcher other than Ryan Jeffers and Christian Vazquez to start a game behind the plate for the Twins since the start of the 2023 season. … Prior to Sunday’s game, the Twins and Minnesota Department of Public Safety’s Office of Traffic Safety recognized nearly 70 state law enforcement officers who collectively made 5,120 driving while impaired arrests — nearly 20% of state’s DWI arrests in 2024. The group included seven police officers from St. Paul, Maplewood, South St. Paul and Woodbury.

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A Minnesota Department of Corrections — Rush City inmate stabbed at least one guard and injured three others, officials said Sunday.

All four were taken to local hospitals for treatment. The stabbed officer remains hospitalized and is being treated for a non-life threatening injury. Officials said he is expected to fully recover.

Officials said that about 3:20 p.m. Saturday, staff were conducting routine cell searches when they found homemade alcohol, known as “hooch.” When they approached the incarcerated person who had the hooch, he stabbed one correctional officer with a “shank,” a makeshift weapon.

That officer received a puncture wound. Three other officers who subdued and restrained the person were also injured.

After the attack, the prison was put on lockdown. The man who authorities allege had the alcohol and assaulted the officers is being transferred to the state Department of Corrections maximum security facility in Oak Parks Heights. The area where the assault occurred will remain on lockdown through the weekend, officials said.

The man who allegedly assaulted the officers is serving a life sentence for first-degree murder. The incident is being investigated by the DOC’s office of special investigations, which will forward its finding to the Chisago County Attorney’s Office for review and consideration of felony assault charges, officials said.

“This senseless act of violence serves as a stark reminder of the dangers correctional staff face every day in service to public safety,” said Paul Schnell, Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Corrections. “We are grateful for the swift and courageous actions of our staff, and we are providing them the care and support they need. We will pursue every available remedy to hold the assailant accountable for this cowardly attack.”

Additional updates will be provided as the investigation progresses.

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