Simeon Woods Richardson has another rough outing in Twins' 7-3 loss to Blue Jays

Bobby Nightengale, The Minnesota Star Tribune on May 1, 2026

Published in Baseball

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MINNEAPOLIS — The Twins had one of the league’s strongest starting rotations in April, despite the team’s record, but Simeon Woods Richardson has been the weak link over the past few weeks.

Woods Richardson had another rough outing during the Twins’ 7-3 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday, May 1, at Target Field in front of an announced 19,762 fans, a crowd that included Timberwolves coach Chris Finch and guard Jaylen Clark.

Louis Varland pitched a scoreless ninth inning in his first appearance at Target Field since the Twins traded him to Toronto last summer.

The 25-year-old Woods Richardson threw more splitters than fastballs in his second start within a month against the Blue Jays, but he failed to complete five innings for a second start in a row. He surrendered six runs (four earned) on nine hits and one walk in 4 2/3 innings, adding two strikeouts.

The two unearned runs came in the second inning after he gave up consecutive one-out singles to Daulton Varsho and Lenyn Sosa. Both runners moved up a base when catcher Victor Caratini failed to block a low slider.

The Twins played with their infield drawn in, and Woods Richardson induced a ground ball against Yohendrick Pinango. Josh Bell, making his eighth start of the season at first base, fielded the ball and airmailed a sidearm throw into the Blue Jays dugout.

Caratini, leaping for a wide throw, was sent to the ground when Varsho unintentionally collided with him, like a defenseless receiver thrown a pass in front of a lurking linebacker. Sosa was awarded home plate because Bell’s throw bounced out of play.

Woods Richardson avoided more damage with a strikeout and a groundout, and Buxton tied the score in the third inning when he lifted a slider in a 0-2 count over the left-field wall for a two-run homer. It was Buxton’s ninth homer in his last 16 games.

When Buxton crossed the plate, his teammates all had different reactions. Brooks Lee, who hit a leadoff single in the third inning, slapped hands with Buxton. Austin Martin shook his head. Ryan Jeffers gave Buxton a hug. Bell did the “Buck Truck” sign from the top step of the dugout.

After Buxton’s tying homer, Blue Jays third baseman Kazuma Okamoto decided to take the game into his own hands. Okamoto, in his 31st major league game after he was a six-time All-Star in Japan, began the fourth inning with a leadoff homer when he hammered a slider that didn’t slide from the middle of the plate.

Toronto added another run in the inning when Sosa hit a one-out double and Pinango followed with an RBI single to center.

In the fifth inning, after Vladimir Guerrero Jr. drew a walk, Okamoto clobbered a first-pitch splitter into the left-field seats for a two-run homer. It was Okamoto’s first career two-homer game.

Woods Richardson is out of minor league options, meaning he can’t be sent to Class AAA without being placed on waivers. So, the primary options for the Twins are to keep him in the rotation or think about a shift to the bullpen, a decision that could be tabled until Mick Abel is ready to return, which the Twins hope is sometime this month.

When Woods Richardson faced the Blue Jays on April 10 in Toronto, he gave up six hits and five runs in four innings, but he attributed that poor outing to a bad meal at Subway that left him vomiting hours before the game.

Even discarding a sick start, Woods Richardson has yielded 31 hits and 17 earned runs over his past 19 innings (8.05 ERA). The Twins have a 1-6 record in games started by Woods Richardson this year.

The Twins loaded the bases with one out in the seventh inning against Blue Jays reliever Jeff Hoffman, who was moved out of the closer’s role after a poor start to the season. Jeffers drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, but Hoffman escaped with a four-run lead after Bell grounded out.