Twins' fantastic May was anomaly for a team that has returned to reality in June
After being swept by the visiting Milwaukee Brewers this weekend, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli talked about making adjustments. But are adjustments really going to fix what ails this subpar team?
The worst thing to happen to the 2025 Minnesota Twins might have been what appeared to be the best thing.
After going 13-18 in April, the Twins rebounded with an 18-8 record in May. This included a 13-game winning streak that helped vault them into a wild card spot in the American League. Here’s the problem: That 26-game sample provided a false sense of security to the Twins’ chief decision-makers, enabling them to hit the pause button on reality.
Twenty games into June, there is now no escaping that reality. The Twins’ 9-8 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday afternoon at Target Field dropped their record this month to 6-14. It was the Brewers’ first three-game sweep in Minneapolis since 1988 and the Twins’ ninth loss in their past 10 games. The Twins are now 37-40, sitting in fourth place in the AL Central, 11 games behind the division-leading Detroit Tigers. Minnesota is only 2.5 games back in the wild card race but there are only three teams behind them.
“Panic is not going to fix anything, but at the same time you have got to realize that things aren’t going great and you have to adjust and address it,” Twins shortstop Carlos Correa said. “Right now, we haven’t been doing many things great necessarily, but at the same time I think we have the talent to be able to turn it around.”
That’s up for debate.
The Brewers series was about as ugly as it gets. A 17-6 loss on Friday, a 9-0 loss on Saturday and a one-run loss on Sunday that only looked close because the Twins rallied from a 9-3 deficit to score five runs in the sixth through the eighth innings. Final combined tally of the three games: Brewers 35, Twins 14.
Milwaukee is a smart and feisty team that is near the bottom of the big leagues with 71 home runs. Their two home runs on Sunday were their first two of the series. But the Brewers do so many other things right. Their 96 stolen bases are second in MLB and they have no issue with bunting a runner into scoring position.
Saturday’s game featured enough miscues that Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers called the effort “embarrassing.”
On Sunday, third baseman Brooks Lee easily could have been called for two errors that were ruled hits. Lee’s biggest blunder of the weekend came Saturday as he stood at home plate after striking out with two outs in the ninth inning. The problem was the ball had gotten away from Brewers catcher William Contreras, meaning Lee could have gotten to first base if he had … run. He didn’t.
“A lot of things have to change in terms of the way we’re going about the game,” Correa said. “We’ve got to address that internally.”
The Twins’ outhit the Brewers 18-17 on Sunday and got big games from Byron Buxton (3-for-5, two home runs, two RBI), Ty France (2-for-4, a homer, two RBI), Lee (4-for-5 with an RBI) and Correa (4-for-5 with an RBI). But their pitching, as it has often been this month, was their undoing.
Reliever Danny Coulombe was used as an opener and gave up a run and two hits in the first inning. Starter David Festa followed and was abysmal. He surrendered eight runs, 12 hits, struck out three, walked three and gave up two home runs in 4.2 innings.
The Twins’ pitching staff has an MLB-worst 6.59 ERA in June and opponents are hitting .284 against them. Only the woeful Chicago White Sox have given up a higher average against (.288).