Twins can’t hold late leads, fall to Mariners in finale
The Twins headed into this season without defined bullpen roles with manager Derek Shelton often saying that they would employ a “meritocracy.” Nobody had earned the opportunity outright to be the team’s closer, but those who pitched well would be elevated into high-leverage opportunities.
On Wednesday, Eric Orze , who had not given up a run in four of his last five outings, got the chance in the ninth inning after the Twins took an eighth-inning lead.
It didn’t end well.
Orze issued six straight balls to begin the inning, one that would see the Mariners score three runs in their eventual 5-3 win over the Twins in the series finale on Wednesday afternoon at Target Field.
“A situation like that, you can’t walk the leadoff guy, let alone on four pitches,” Orze said. “You have to be competitive in zone and make them earn it. The couple of base hits afterward, that’s obviously where the difference came. I have to execute.”
The go-ahead hit came from second baseman Cole Young , who had given the Mariners (16-16) a late lead a day earlier and had tied the game up in the seventh inning. With the drawn in infield, Young hit a ball that got past a diving Luke Keaschall .
Two runs scored on the play, and Young scored later in the inning.
“I put myself in that spot where we had to move the infield in. I have to do my part,” Orze said after the team’s fourth blown save. “That’s a situation I always want to be in, and I appreciate the belief from Shelty to be in that spot there. I have to do better.”
Seattle ’s late comeback provided a dramatic swing of emotions for the Twins (13-18) after James Outman and Victor Caratini , both fresh off the bench, had worked to give the Twins the lead in the bottom of the eighth.
Outman, who came in to pinch run for Ryan Jeffers in the eighth inning, swiped second base and came around to score the go-ahead run when Caratini’s two-out single, which snapped an 0-for-15 skid, got past J.P. Crawford at short. Caratini had come in to pinch hit for Matt Wallner .
All the late scoring came after yet another strong outing from Bradley, who recovered from the toughest start of his young season — he gave up four home runs against his former teammates this week in Tampa Bay — with a strong effort on Wednesday.
“He pitched his butt off,” Shelton said. “You can’t ask for more in a start than he gave us right there.”
But as Bradley’s start neared its end, he was unable to hold off the Mariners (16-16) any longer, despite still maintaining good stuff — he was topping 98 mph late into his outing.
With two outs in the seventh inning, designated hitter Dominic Canzone hit a double to right. Though left-hander Anthony Banda had been warming in the bullpen, Shelton stuck with Bradley in hopes he could get out of the inning.
Instead, Young drove a double to center to tie the game. Bradley then recorded the final out of the inning to wrap his outing. All told, he threw a career-high 114 pitches, the most by a Twins starter since Kenta Maeda in 2020.
“The double off the wall, just letting me stay in there to get that last out and finish my seventh inning, I felt like it was, it meant a lot,” Bradley said. “It seemed like he had a lot of trust in me to keep going forward.”
While Bradley was holding the Mariners quiet — they had just two hits in his first six innings — his teammates could do little themselves off Mariners starter George Kirby .
Though they had more opportunities — Kirby gave up eight hits in 5⅔ innings and allowed a baserunner in each inning — they were only able to convert once. Brooks Lee ’s two-out hit in the fourth inning brought home the Twins’ first two runs of the game, turning a deficit — Crawford homered in the third inning — into a one-run advantage.
The loss was the Twins’ 11th in their past 13 games and their fourth straight series loss.
“We’re going through it,” Bradley said. “We’re all picking each other up after tough games like this and one-run ballgames. But it’s always a fight. … You’re going to ride the highs and lows.”
