After weathering storm vs. Red Sox, Twins hope for better days
Now, the Twins hope brighter days are ahead.
Minnesota will face the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday night in the second installment of a three-game series in Minneapolis. The Twins are coming off a 5-4 comeback win in the series opener after a ninth-inning rain delay that lasted 90 minutes.
Heading into the bottom of the ninth, the Twins trailed 4-3. They emerged with the victory when Brooks Lee delivered a walk-off, two-run single with the bases loaded. It was a much-needed win for a team that entered the game 3-6 since the All-Star break.
"You fight hard for like 2 1/2 hours and you end up in an hour-plus rain delay," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "Then you come out and it's still a great opportunity and a time to make something happen, and our guys came out. They all went up there and had good at-bats, every one of our guys. ...
"It's not that easy to sit around and then just show up and head out there and face a guy throwing 100 mph sinkers and win the at-bats."
The Red Sox will try to even the series at one win apiece Tuesday as they look to improve their record in a hard-fought American League East. Boston won back-to-back games against the Los Angeles Dodgers before losing the series opener in Minnesota.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora said his team was in a good spot in the ninth, but the delay seemed to change the game's momentum.
"There's nothing you can do against Mother Nature," he said.
Red Sox right-hander Lucas Giolito is scheduled to make his 16th start of the season on Tuesday. He is coming off a rocky outing against the Philadelphia Phillies, who tagged him for five runs on six hits in four innings on Wednesday in a game Boston won 9-8 in 11 innings.
Giolito, 31, is 8-10 with a 4.25 ERA in 24 career starts against the Twins. He last faced them in 2023, when he went 0-2 with a 4.71 ERA in four starts against them.
The Twins have not announced a starter for Tuesday's game.
Earlier Monday, Minnesota said goodbye to one of its veteran starting pitchers when it dealt right-hander Chris Paddack to the Detroit Tigers for 19-year-old Enrique Jimenez, a minor league catcher/first baseman. The Twins also sent right-hander Randy Dobnak to Detroit.
Baldelli said his players were doing a good job at staying focused on the game in front of them while they also had to bid farewell to friends and teammates.
"It's the time of the year where sometimes there's movement on the roster and guys can come in or are going ," Baldelli said. "To be able to focus and play a really good ballgame, to challenge guys in different spots and watch them come through, you have to kind of want it.
"It's a challenging day saying goodbye to a guy that you care about that's done good work for us in 'Paddy,' but watching guys step up for us on a day that's kind of an emotional day is great. It's really great."
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