For one day, at least, the litany of woes that have plagued the Twins in 2025 felt like distant memories.
After losing six of their previous seven games, the Twins bounced back in style on Sunday, clicking in all phases of the game in a 5-1 win over Detroit.
You like pitching? Simeon Woods Richardson struck out five and gave up just Spencer Torkelson’s solo home run over the first five innings. Then the bullpen came in and buried the Tigers. Louis Varland struck out the side in the sixth, and Griffin Jax matched him in the eighth. In between, Cole Sands pitched around a one-out walk. Jhoan Duran then put the Tigers down 1-2-3 in the ninth.
How about hitting? The Twins flashed power — solo homers by Byron Buxton in the first inning and Edouard Julien in the sixth — and they hit in the clutch, with Brooks Lee’s two-out single putting the Twins up 2-0 in the second.
Fielding has also hurt the Twins. But on this day, they made all the routine plays and one spectacular one when they needed it most. With one on and one out in the seventh, pinch hitter Justyn-Henry Malloy lofted a high fly down the left field line. Harrison Bader raced over and made a diving catch, short-circuiting a potential rally while the Twins clung to a three-run lead.
“That was a great day at the ballpark,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “I think that’s a very good version of our club. That’s what our club looks like. This is the way we play. That’s a game I’ve seen many times before from this group, and that’s the game we’re looking for. And we want to play a whole lot of games like that.”
Buxton jump-started the offense with a solo homer to left in the first, and he played a big role in manufacturing the Twins’ fourth run. After Julien’s leadoff homer in the sixth, Buxton hit a line drive to left field. For 99.9% of human beings, it would have been a single. But Buxton never broke stride and cruised into second with a double.
He moved to third on Willi Castro’s infield single, which rolled about 15 feet and died between pitcher Casey Mize and catcher Dillon Dingler. Two batters later, Buxton scored when the Tigers couldn’t handle Ty France’s chopper up the middle. That gave France nine hits and six RBIs in his last five games.
The stretch double was a reminder of what a healthy Buxton can mean to this team.
“I feel good,” Buxton said. “To be able to be healthy and do the things you want to do on the baseball field, gives you a sense of peace of mind to just go out and play the game the right way.”
Baldelli had an inkling that Buxton might be ready to break out.
“Buck came rolling on in today with a big smile on his face,” he said. “You never know what the future holds. But [third base coach Tommy Watkins] might have said to us today in the dugout that Buck is going to catch a heater right now and start going. … The oracle, Tommy Watkins.”
Of course, this was just one game. The trick will be finding ways to duplicate the effort far more frequently than they’ve done so far this year. Buxton said the team’s unity will play a big part in righting the ship.
“Today it was just a team thing, everybody picking each other up,” he said. “We’ve been not having the season that we want to, so a big part of us getting back is making sure that we’ve got each other’s back.”
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