SEATTLE — Maybe it was the result of the adjustments he made in the batting cages in recent days that Carlos Correa referenced. Or maybe it really was the power of his positive thinking, like he believed.

But either way, Willi Castro was well aware of the fact that Mariners closer Andrés Muñoz had yet to allow a run and told himself that he would be the one to change that. And with two outs in the ninth inning, down three runs, he sure did.

Castro’s two-run home run off Muñoz, his second long ball of the night, brought the Twins back to within a run. A couple batters later, the Twins had tied it, using hits from Byron Buxton, fresh off the injured list, and Trevor Larnach, who finished with four on the day, to tie it up. An inning later, Carlos Correa jumpstarted a six-run 10th inning with his third home run in seven games, this one helping lift the Twins to a 12-6 win over the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park.

“It was as much fun as we’ve had playing baseball this year,” Correa said. “Probably the best game of the year right there and it felt great.”

It sure didn’t start out that way for the Twins (31-25).

Zebby Matthews, making his third start of the season, allowed a pair of singles to lead off the bottom of the first. Shortly after, Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh teed off on the first pitch he saw from Matthews. The two North Carolinians hail from the same town, Cullowhee, and attended the same high school.

“Anybody (else) would have been great,” Matthews griped, after lamenting that he knew Raleigh “too well for that to happen.”

Raleigh’s home run — the first of two on the day for him (the other coming off his former Florida State teammate Cole Sands) — was the first of two in the inning off Matthews, plunging the Twins into a four-run deficit. But Matthews recovered quickly, throwing six scoreless innings after that, giving up just two hits and cruising through the Mariners’ (30-26) lineup quickly and efficiently. His seven-inning effort marked the longest outing of his major league career.

“I got pretty pissed off there, I can’t lie to you,” Matthews said. “Nobody wants to go out there and give up a four spot that early. … We stuck to the report and it worked out better.”

Sure did, as Matthews, who gave up four runs within the first five batters of the game, settled in well, as his teammates started chipping away at Seattle’s lead. The Twins scored a pair of runs in the fourth, one on Larnach’s eighth home run of the season. Castro’s first home run, which came in the seventh inning, brought the Twins back within a run.

But things looked bleak when Sands allowed the two-run blast to Raleigh in the eighth, putting the Twins down three once more. And they looked even bleaker when Muñoz, who had thrown 23 2/3 scoreless innings heading into Friday, got the first two outs of the ninth inning, their win probability in the game at that point infinitesimal.

“In the world, there’s very few guys that come out of bullpens that are as good a pitcher and with the stuff he has,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “It’s excellent stuff but we had excellent at-bats. … Hard not to like what you watched there in that inning.”

Or what they watched in the 10th, too, when the Twins piled on. Correa’s home run preceded two-RBI hits each from Buxton and Larnach as the Twins kept being rewarded for their good at-bats. All told, the Twins scored nine runs in the final two innings of the game, using contributions from up and down the lineup to do so.

“We put up a lot of runs but the way we did it, late in innings, two strikes, some homers, some missiles, some just good hitting, some using the opposite field — there was a lot going on there,” Baldelli said. “I think that’s got to be one of the greatest wins that we’ve had to this point and one of the best wins that I can really remember in recent memory.”

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With their top scorer out, Kayla McBride and Alanna Smith largely took over Friday for the Minnesota Lynx.

But it was Natisha Hiedeman with the game-winning 3-pointer with 5.5 seconds left and the Lynx rallied past Phoenix 74-71 in a game between the top two teams in the Western Conference.

Out of a timeout, Phoenix turned the ball over with 13.6 seconds left to give the Lynx a chance.

McBride scored 20 points and Smith had 19 for Minnesota (6-0) which played without Napheesa Collier, who missed the game with right knee soreness.

Coach Cheryl Reeve said pregame that Collier’s pain wasn’t from anything that happened in a recent game.

“It’s something that she’s been dealing with since probably 2023, some knee stuff. Just more precautionary,” Reeve said.

Named the Western Conference Player of the Week on Wednesday, Collier leads the league in scoring at 26.8 points per game.

“We’ve got a good basketball team,” Reeve said. “Certainly, we’re great with Phee; we think we’re a very good basketball team without Phee.”

Maybe so, but Minnesota struggled from the field, shooting a season-low 36.2%, but was clutch when it mattered going 8 for 18 in the fourth quarter, making three of its eight 3-pointers.

Bridget Carleton, Jessica Shepard and Courtney Williams were a combined 10 for 31 from the field.

Phoenix (4-2) outscored Minnesota 44-22 in the paint.

Phoenix played without Alyssa Thomas (strained left calf), who is averaging 15.2 points, eight assists and 7.6 rebounds per game to start the season.

Four upcoming games to be on free TV

Beginning with Sunday’s 7:30 p.m. game at Golden State, four Lynx broadcasts on FanDuel Sports Network will be simulcast on KARE Ch. 11.

The other games are June 8 at Dallas, June 29 vs. Connecticut and July 6 vs. Chicago.

“We are thrilled to return to free over-the-air television with KARE 11, providing Lynx fans more access to incredible Lynx basketball,” Lynx President of Business Operations Carley Knox said in a statement. “This partnership allows both organizations to remain committed to direct connection and engagement with fans and viewers alike.”

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SEATTLE — Byron Buxton initially thought he was just dealing with a headache in the immediate aftermath of his collision with Carlos Correa just over two weeks ago. While Correa walked off the field alongside a trainer immediately, Buxton stayed in and finished off the half-inning in center.

“I stood there and didn’t move for two outs,” Buxton said. “It felt like 20 minutes and I knew then like it’s probably more serious than a headache.”

Still, he hoped he would be able to avoid the concussion injured list. He tried to work out and go through activities in the days after in Milwaukee but found he couldn’t do them the way he knew he was capable of.

Two weeks later, the center fielder is back. Buxton, manager Rocco Baldelli said, passed Major League Baseball’s concussion protocols on Wednesday in Tampa, leading to his Friday return against the Seattle Mariners.

The play, which occurred on May 15 in Baltimore, saw the two Twins stars collide when they were racing in to catch a Cedric Mullins fly ball. Buxton, somehow, hung onto the ball, even after running face first into Correa’s back as the shortstop, who heard Buxton calling for the ball, tried to avoid impact. Both wound up with concussions.

“At the end of the day, neither one of us knew who was going to catch the ball until the last second,” Buxton said. “I hate it happened, but it’s just one of the things we couldn’t avoid, I guess.”

Correa, who hadn’t had a concussion previously, returned last Friday. Buxton has had concussions in the past. He also deals with migraines. So, it was “a little bit harder to kind of differentiate which one it (was),” he said.

But now that he’s back, he’s hopeful he can pick up where he left off. In the month of May before the concussion, he was hitting .313 with a 1.018 OPS.

Head athletic trainer Nick Paparesta said they put him through a simulated game on Wednesday in Tampa, where they had him hitting in the cage every time the two-hole would come up and had him running in the field outside next to the batting cages. All told, he was on his feet for about two and a half hours during the game to make sure he was in a good spot to return, Paparesta said.

“Everything feels like it’s back to normal,” Buxton said. “It’s just more so getting back in there, getting back in the groove, getting back into center field every day and … just getting back out there and being myself.”

Wallner update

While the Twins got one outfielder back, they’re still awaiting the return of another.

Matt Wallner had Friday as a scheduled day off — but it wasn’t so he could catch a flight to Seattle. He’s expected to play another rehab game with the Triple-A Saints on Saturday, Paparesta said.

“He is having no issues with his hamstring,” Paparesta said. “Doing great.”

So, what are they waiting for?

“I think there’s a number of at-bats we’d like to see him get to and if we’re there, we’re there,” Paparesta said. “He’s done well with (playing) three days in a row.”

In 25 at-bats, Wallner is hitting .320 with a 1.330 OPS. He has eight hits, five of which are home runs, in his six games played.

Briefly

The Twins will send Bailey Ober to the mound on Saturday in a game that will begin at 6:15 p.m. CT and will be televised nationally on FOX. He will face Mariners right-hander Bryce Miller. … Reliever Danny Coulombe, on the injured list with a left forearm extensor strain, is in the middle of a long toss program. If things continue to progress well, he is expected to throw a bullpen in the next few days, Paparesta said. … Pablo López hosted bingo for his teammates during the Twins’ lengthy flight from Tampa to Seattle. Baldelli passed some of his time by playing internet chess. “How many chess matches did I lose?” the manager asked. “Several.”

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Timberwolves coach Chris Finch noted the 2024-25 campaign was not always fun for him, nor his players. But it was rewarding, particularly in how Minnesota rebounded through numerous rough patches to find its stride in the end and reach a second consecutive conference finals.

And the fact it didn’t end well won’t weigh too heavily on the coach. Because, as he noted, the season ends well for only one team each season: the champion.

That’s a target at which the franchise continues to aim, and it has a method for eventually checking the box — kick at the door enough, and it will eventually fall down.

The Timberwolves became the first Western Conference team to reach the conference finals in consecutive seasons since 2019 when they got back to the NBA semifinals this season before falling in five games to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Minnesota considers that another “bite at the apple.” President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly has been clear about this. In his mind, each year you aim to be a top-four seed in your conference to net yourself home-court advantage in Round 1. You win that series, and see where the chips fall from there.

That’s a plan Minnesota executed a year ago. This season, the Wolves finished sixth in the West but, through good fortune, ended up with home-court advantage in the conference semifinals against Golden State.

The idea is that if you keep giving yourself chances in the later rounds of the postseason, then it can come down to health and matchups and, eventually, the stars will likely align in your favor.

It sounds good, but is there validity to the approach?

Minnesota was “close” to winning a championship this season in that it was one of the final four teams in contention to do so. But little about its West finals matchup with Oklahoma City felt competitive. The Wolves’ three road losses in the series came by an average of 24 points.

The Thunder are now four wins away from the title, and have the true look of a title contender.

What, exactly, does that look like? Well, it usually involves regular-season domination.

Whoever claims this year’s crown — Oklahoma City, New York or Indiana — will be the seventh different NBA champion over the past seven seasons. That screams “parity” within the league. And that’s true in the fact that all teams seemingly have the opportunity to build a winner.

But parity doesn’t mean the NBA playoffs are some crapshoot carousel in which any of the 16 teams involved could hoist a trophy come mid-June.

Quite the opposite. Should the Thunder win this year’s title — as they’re heavily favored to do — that would mark the 13th time in the past 14 seasons that the eventual champion posted a regular-season net rating of plus-5.5 or better.

The Thunder’s net rating this season was a gaudy plus-12.7, meaning they outscored opponents by 12.7 points per 100 possessions over the course of the 82-game campaign.

Boston took the title a year ago after tallying a regular season net rating of plus-11.7.

That’s not to say you have to reach those levels of dominance during the season to ultimately be the last team standing. But recent history suggests you need to exhibit your high-level excellence prior to the postseason.

The only champion to not eclipse the 5.5 mark in net rating and still win the title was 2022-23 Denver, who tallied a 3.3 net rating. But that season was sans a dominant team. And the Nuggets were the No. 1 seed in the West, though only with a 53-29 record.

All of the other champs dating back to 2012 strutted their stuff at a high level throughout the season.

It’s why, while it’s fun to see lower seeds making deeper runs into the postseason — the sixth-seeded Wolves were in this year’s West finals, the fifth-seeded Mavericks and eighth-seeded Heat populated the two previous NBA Finals — it’s nearly impossible to actually win it all if you weren’t all that for the six months prior.

Wolves guard Donte DiVincenzo said a series like the one Minnesota just endured “gives you perspective that you’re not far off and you’re right there. We just have to be ready to try to get another bite at the apple.”

Was that a bite? It felt more like a nibble. Like, Minnesota tasted a smidge of the peel and thought maybe there was a drop of juice on there. That’s not to belittle this year’s team. Minnesota did post a net rating of plus-5.0, just below the title-winning threshold. Post Jan. 1, that number was plus-7.0.

A year ago, the Wolves were plus-6.3. That’s title-contending stuff. And Minnesota certainly looked like more of a championship-caliber team last season, armed with its top-tier defense. That felt more like a legitimate bite, like a crack at the crown that just didn’t go the Wolves’ way for matchup and injury reasons.

This did not. A few things lined up in the Wolves’ favor by season’s end, and it simply didn’t matter. It rarely will when you simply aren’t in the same caliber as the conference’s top contender.

Finch lauded the franchise’s “consistency of approach” and the idea of “putting yourself in a place, time and again, to get enough chances to do it.”

“How many times did Boston have to get there before they got one?” Finch said. “That’s what the league is about.”

It’s true the Celtics made the East finals in six out of eight seasons before finally parlaying their run of success into a title last June.

But it wasn’t until each of the last three seasons that the Celtics began reeling off the regular seasons truly befitting of potential champions. In many of their previous runs, it would’ve been miraculous had Boston broken through. Miracles aren’t a method of success in the NBA playoffs.

You’re either better than the team lining up across from you, or you aren’t.

It’s on Connelly and Co. to decide this offseason if this current collection of Wolves can be that for four consecutive rounds in the near future, or if further roster adjustments are required to help Minnesota climb the final couple rungs of the ladder.

“I like where we’re placed,” Finch said, “but we’ve got to keep pushing.”

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