The Twins climbed out of an early hole, broke out of a homerless drought that had lasted more than a week and finally, finally got that big hit when they needed it.

And yet, despite the 8-3 win over the Miami Marlins on Wednesday night at Target Field, their odds of making the playoffs still decreased. With the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals winning earlier in the evening, the Twins needed a win just to keep pace in the wild-card race.

Though the Twins didn’t get any outside help from either of those team’s opponents, they did win a crucial game that kept their slim playoff hopes alive — they trail both by two games with four to play — by overcoming a poor start from Simeon Woods Richardson.

The Marlins were all over Woods Richardson, who found himself staring at a deficit just three batters into the game, as Jake Burger hit a three-run home run out to left.

Woods Richardson was not long for the game, facing 10 batters and letting seven batters reach base. He departed after giving up two hits in the second inning, making way for Louie Varland, who struck out the next three batters to keep the Marlins right where they were.

In what amounted to an unplanned bullpen game, Twins pitchers struck out 16 batters to halt the Marlins in their tracks and give the offense a chance to stay in it.

They got a little help from the Marlins’ infield defense, too.

While the Marlins’ three outfielders each made a fantastic grab, their infield defense allowed four errors, including one in the Twins’ two-run second inning. The Twins tied it in the fourth on Byron Buxton’s 450-foot home run, which was the Twins’ first blast since Sept. 17, a stretch of more than 60 innings.

Minnesota finally broke things open in the seventh, against using some help from the Marlins to do it. With Brooks Lee on second base, Christian Vázquez laid down a two-strike bunt, which pitcher Declan Cronin threw away.

Lee raced home to score, giving the Twins their first lead of the night. Carlos Correa, who earlier made a key baserunning blunder and was doubled off second base, atoned for his mistake by driving in another run with a double before Carlos Santana sent a bases-clearing double to right field to send the Twins on their way to a pivotal victory.

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Everybody from the Twin Cities to the Iron Range breathed a sigh of relief when the Vikings diagnosed quarterback Sam Darnold with a knee bruise.

There was another exhale when the Vikings released their injury report on Wednesday afternoon as Darnold was listed as a full participant in practice. Technically, the Vikings held a walkthrough instead of a practice, so it’s worth monitoring Darnold’s status moving forward.

Nonetheless, the fact that Darnold seems to have avoided anything serious is good news for the Vikings, especially considering how well he’s been playing throughout the 3-0 start.

The rest of the injury report for the Vikings was rather extensive, highlighted by center Garrett Bradbury (ankle), linebacker Ivan Pace Jr. (ankle), and safety Jay Ward (knee) listed as nonparticipants.

A bright spot for the Vikings was receiver Jordan Addison (ankle) being listed as a limited participant, marking the first time he’s participated in any capacity since getting injured in the season opener. The other limited participants for the Vikings included tight end Josh Oliver (wrist), defensive tackle Jonathan Bullard (knee), edge rusher Dallas Turner (knee), and linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill (knee).

Asked if he planned to have walkthroughs more regularly as a way to keep players fresh, Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said the approach would likely vary on a weekly basis. He then turned the focus to the Vikings going up against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday afternoon at Lambeau Field, adding “I do know we’re going to need to be as close to 100% to have a good chance.”

Greenard earns accolade

After posting a trio of sacks against his former team last weekend, edge rusher Jonathan Greenard was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week.

“The first of his career,” O’Connell said. “It’s really cool to see him making such an impact here early on.”

The presence of Greenard played a big role in the Vikings earning a 34-7 win over the Houston Texans on Sunday afternoon at U.S. Bank Stadium. He applied constant pressure while rushing the passer and finished with a career high 3.0 sacks.

This is the 12th time the Vikings have had a player earn an NFC Player of the Week honor with O’Connell at the helm.

Hockenson still progressing

It’s only a matter of time before star tight end T.J. Hockenson is back in the mix for the Vikings. He’s been spotted around TCO Performance Center at various points throughout the past month and seems to be doing very well as he works his way back from a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

When will he return to practice?

“I’ll continue to defer to the medical staff on that,” O’Connell said. “Hoping to get T.J. up and rolling as soon as possible.”

Though the Vikings have missed having Hockenson in the lineup, O’Connell praised him for staying engaged throughout the recovery process.

“He’s done everything we asked,” O’Connell said. “He’s itching to get out there.”

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After recovering from a serious injury to his chest and shoulder, Travis Boyd was a free agent looking for an NHL team that would look at his long resume and say, “This is just the kind of guy we need.”

That team just happened to be the one Boyd grew up watching.

“If I’m fortunate enough to make the team, running onto the ice that first game and to hear the announcer say, ‘Here come your Minnesota Wild,’ I mean, I got the chills going down the back of my neck just saying that out loud,” he said.

Boyd, 31, is one of a handful of NHL veterans the Wild brought in this summer, mostly as free agents, to help shore up its depth after missing the postseason for just the second time in 12 seasons last year.

The four-year Gophers player from Hopkins, a sixth-round entry draft pick by Washington in 2011, has 47 goals and 118 points in 296 NHL games and a Stanley Cup ring from his rookie season in Washington, where he played in eight games, including a big postseason win at Pittsburgh, as a rookie in 2017-18.

Boyd was scheduled to play in his second preseason game Wednesday night in Dallas. He earned an assist in the Wild’s first exhibition, a 5-2 victory at Winnipeg last weekend. He signed a one-year, two-way contract on July 1 after missing most of 2023-24 with a serious pectoral injury, “torn off,” in his words, on a check into the boards by Colorado’s Josh Manson.

The two-way deal is Boyd’s first in seven years.

“This is my 10th training camp, so I’ve been doing it for a while,” he said after a morning practice at TRIA Rink on Wednesday. “Knowing going into this season that this could easily be my last chance to stay around in this league, with how many good players there are and how many young kids come in every year, my goal was to be ready (on) Day 1 of camp, and I really feel like I’ve put a good foot forward.”

He certainly has made the right impression on a coaching staff eager to add veteran depth. Whether those players start the season in St. Paul or Iowa, there will be opportunities to play NHL minutes at some point. Because of injuries, the Wild used seven forwards who started the season at Iowa last year, and nine of them made much of an impact, finishing with a combined eight goals and 21 in 132 games.

Shoring up the minor league depth — and the production from the bottom six in general — was a big part of the team’s offseason agenda. They signed Boyd, Brendan Gaunce and Reese Johnson, and traded Vinnie Lettieri (5-4–9 in 46 games last season) to Boston for Jakub Lauko.

“I think we’ve found the style of players, the roles they can play in, the experience that they have that we feel, if they’re in Iowa, they’re going to be really good players and good leaders,” head coach John Hynes said. “They play the game the right way, they’ve got some size, their competitiveness, their skill. And then I think when they come up — some of these guys have 300, 200 games in the NHL — and they know what their roles are. So, we feel really good about that.”

Johnson, who had two goals and five points in 42 games last season in Chicago, has been sidelined by an upper body injury, but Boyd, Lauko and Gaunce have been impressive early.

Boyd was settling into a good place with the Coyotes, playing his first 82-game season in 2022-23, and a strong 2-6–8 in 16 games last year before he was injured on Nov. 30. When he was hurt, coach Andre Tourigny was effusive in his praise for the veteran center.

“I have a lot of good things to say about him,” Tourigny told reporters on Dec. 2. “He changed his role from last year and over the last two years. … This year he had to play bottom six and be very responsible defensively and he was an example. We were joking a lot when talking about ‘Coach Boyd’ and he was so textbook on his positioning and on everything defensively.”

Boyd has been able to live at home with his family in Edina during camp, a rare luxury, and was feeling good about his camp so far ahead of Wednesday night’s game — his second game of any kind since completing a long, arduous rehabilitation process.

“It’s been challenging. It’s been tiring. I think it’s been a good set of days for everybody,” he said. “I think we’ve gotten a lot better, and we’ve put in a lot of good work.”

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