The matchup certainly suggested a potential pitcher’s duel between the two men who led the Twins’ rotation last season, Pablo López and Sonny Gray.

Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Pablo López delivers during the first inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Trevor Larnach did his best to make sure that wasn’t the case on Saturday night.

Larnach welcomed his former teammate back to town by blasting a pair of home runs, helping the Twins to 6-0 victory on a night where López outdueled Gray by throwing seven scoreless frames.

In his final season in Minnesota, one in which he finished second in Cy Young Award voting, Gray allowed just eight home runs in 184 innings. In 141 2/3 innings this season, the starter has now given up 20.

No. 19 came in the third inning when, after Austin Martin doubled and Willi Castro walked, Larnach got ahold of a cutter and sent it out to right field.  In his next at-bat, the outfielder hit his second home run of the game 419 feet out to center field. It’s the first multi-home run game of Larnach’s career.

In his return to Target Field, Gray, who departed in free agency this winter after two years with the Twins (72-57), lasted six innings and gave up five runs — the other run that Larnach was not responsible for came in the third on a Max Kepler groundout that plated Royce Lewis. Matt Wallner later homered after Gray’s departure.

That was plenty of run support for López, who appeared to be amped up for his start against his former teammate. López averaged 96.4 miles per hour with his four-seam fastball, which was 1.6 mph faster than his season average. He also got 21 swings and misses, a season best.

He had to work through some trouble — twice he pitched around leadoff doubles, and once he stranded a pair of runners in scoring position — but certainly flashed his dominant stuff in a nine-strikeout effort.

The Cardinals (64-65) managed just four hits off López as the Twins’ top starter strung together his second consecutive scoreless outing.

Two new players had polarizing debuts for Minnesota United on Saturday.

One experience will be cherished and recalled; the other won’t be looked back on fondly. One was historic, the other harrowing.

Striker Kelvin Yeboah scored a penalty kick and added a second goal with a delicate chip, while defender Jefferson Diaz’s sketchy actions led to two goals for Seattle in the Sounders’ 3-2 win at Allianz Field.

The Loons (9-11-6, 33 points) continue to be owned by the Sounders (11-8-7, 40 points). Seattle is now 13-1-2 against Minnesota in MLS regular-season play since 2017.

Diaz came to MNUFC in the summer transfer window from Deportivo Cali in Colombia with a reputation of being aggressive on the ball. It hurt him in the 11th minute when he attempted an unnecessary diagonal pass.

His target, Robin Lod, slipped, Seattle won the ball back and sprang a counter attack that caught Michael Boxall on a bad angle that allowed Jordan Morris to score first.

Yeboah arrived from Genoa in Italy with ultra confidence. It benefitted the Loons’ Designated Player on two memorable occasions.

When a penalty was awarded to MNUFC upon video review, Yeboah immediately pointed to his own chest to indicate he would take it. The only hesitation he showed came when he paused in his approach to the ball, forcing Stefan Frei to go to the left, and he calmly put the ball in the right side of the net.

The equalizer stood up for only four minutes before a backpedaling Diaz lost an aerial dual on Jackson Ragen’s goal in the 28th minute.

Yeboah notched his second goal in the 56th minute with a delicate chip over Frei. Wil Trapp fed a through-ball assist to spring Yeboah on goal.

With the brace, Yeboah became the first MNUFC player to score two goals in his debut.

Five other players have scored in their first match with Minnesota, including Christian Ramirez, Darwin Quintero, Luis Amarilla, Franco Fragapane and Alejandro Bran, who did it earlier this season.

For all Yeboah produced, it was still Seattle’s game. Albert Rusnak scored the winner in the 75th minute. His dribble put Lod on the turf, and he blasted a long-range shot past Dayne St. Clair.

Briefly

As quarterback Jaren Hall navigates the next couple of days, it’s hard to imagine him not feeling a little bit of stress. He’s seemingly on the bubble with roster cuts looming on Tuesday afternoon at TCO Performance Center, and while he has done a good job throughout training camp, it’s unclear if he has done enough to make the team.

There’s a chance the Vikings could decide to keep Hall on the active roster to serve as insurance behind starting quarterback Sam Darnold and backup Nick Mullens. There’s also a chance the Vikings could decide to cut Hall with hopes of sneaking him onto the practice squad.

Though his future was more than likely at the forefront of his mind on Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia, Hall deserves credit for drowning out all the noise in the preseason finale between the Vikings and the Eagles. He started the game and displayed his knowledge of the offense while completing 17 of 25 passes for 189 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Asked about Hall after the Vikings earned a 26-3 win over the Eagles, head coach Kevin O’Connell heaped praise for how well everything functioned with him at the helm.

“I thought he did a really nice job,” O’Connell said. “I’m proud of Jaren. He has really put a lot of work in that nobody really gets to see throughout the offseason. A really, really nice performance form him today, and something that I think he should be really proud of.”

The past few months have been a masterclass in professionalism from Hall, and he has produced steady growth along the way. He never once complained about his role after the Vikings selected rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy with the No. 10 pick in the 2024 draft. He instead chose to focus on his pursuit of perfection in order to make sure he was ready whenever his number was called.

Naturally, as soon as McCarthy went down with a torn meniscus that required a full repair, Hall was ready to step in as the next man up in the pecking order.

It’s safe to say Hall made the most of his opportunity in the preseason finale. He operated with efficiency while under center and showcased his arm talent with a number of good throws.

“Everybody’s going to be aware of the good things Jaren did,” O’Connell said. “You could see just the comfort he had early on in the game and the growth from last year to now where he’s at just running our system and playing quarterback and moving the team.”

Now, if Vikings want to keep him around, they might have to guarantee him a spot on the active roster. It’s no longer a foregone conclusion that Hall would make it through waivers without getting claimed. Not that O’Connell regrets giving Hall a chance to shine.

“Maybe it’s the former quarterback in me that wants to make sure guys always feel like they get real opportunities in our offense,” O’Connell said. “That’s part of it, though, is knowing that other people are going to see our good players doing some good things.”

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Carlos Correa did not seem worried that the plantar fasciitis in his right foot that has kept him out since right before the all-star break would cost him the rest of the season.

But he also didn’t sound like a player who is expecting to return to the field imminently.

“I think at some point with the work we’ve been doing lately, I will get back in there,” the star shortstop said. “It’s just a matter of when.”

Correa sounded pleased with how his sprinting has gone — he ran at about 80 percent on Friday, which he said was the first time he had been able to run that fast — but there are still hurdles to clear. He needs to, for example, run with cleats on.

The shortstop suffered a setback a couple of weeks ago when he tried running with cleats, forcing him to take a couple of days off, but things have been feeling better of late.

“Every day or two or three, he’s adding to what he is doing,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “When he’s capable of doing all baseball activity at game speed, he’ll be back. Is he close to doing all those things? I think so. But he’s not there at this moment, so we just keep trying to get him better each day.”

Correa played through plantar fasciitis in his other foot for most of last season but said he is being more careful with this being the right foot because of his history — a previous ankle injury on that side of the body caused multiple teams to balk at his physical and rescind contract offers a couple of years ago.

Right now, he’s running two or three days in a row and then taking a day off before sprinting again. He’s hitting and throwing every day, but he said it’s about being able to sustain and tolerate sprinting for more than 30 yards.

“It’s trending in the right direction, and hopefully it keeps going that way so I can be out there with the boys,” Correa said.

Twins designate Okert

Baldelli described the Friday night conversation he had with left-hander Steven Okert letting the reliever know that the club was designating him for assignment with the word “tough” three separate times and “hard” once.

“He has a lot of fans here,” Baldelli said. “People that really care about him. He’s a great teammate. He’s a great member of the organization. Represented the club very, very well. Having to talk to him, have a very difficult conversation with him like that, it was hard.”

But Okert, acquired in an offseason trade for Nick Gordon, had a 5.09 earned-run average — he had a particularly rough outing earlier in the week in which he gave up four runs and recorded just one out  — and the Twins decided it was time to move on.

The move leaves the Twins with just one lefty, Caleb Thielbar, in the bullpen for the time being with Kody Funderburk is currently on the injured list. Scott Blewett had his contract selected and was added to the roster in Okert’s place.

“I would say we’re at the point in the season where I think sometimes you end up being forced to make decisions that you don’t have to make earlier in the year,” Baldelli said. “There are just fewer games to play. You’re not trying to hold onto as many good players as you can. You really have to lock in and do whatever you feel like you need to do toward the end.”

Briefly

The Twins will send rookie Zebby Matthews to the mound on Sunday for the series finale against St. Louis. Erick Fedde will take the ball for the Cardinals. … Baldelli said on Friday that both Alex Kirilloff and Brooks Lee are scheduled to play in a rehab game for the Triple-A Saints on Sunday.

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