Twins ride 10-run inning to blowout of Diamondbacks, most runs in game in two years

Bobby Nightengale, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Jun 21, 2026

Published in Baseball

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PHOENIX – For all the talk about how hard it is to hit against modern major league pitching, the Minnesota Twins made it look easy during their largest offensive output in two years Saturday night.

The Twins reached season highs in runs (16) and hits (20) by the fifth inning. They batted around their lineup twice, sending 10 hitters to the plate during a four-run fourth inning and 14 more batters in a 10-run fifth.

It was pure domination and destruction as the Twins rolled to a 16-run lead in an eventual 16-8 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. The Twins, who have scored the second-most runs in the majors during June, have won seven of their past 10 games.

The bottom four hitters in the Twins lineup — Brooks Lee, Victor Caratini, Luke Keaschall and Ryan Kreidler — all recorded three or more hits. Byron Buxton crushed a grand slam in the fifth inning, his 24th homer of the season, putting him in a tie for the American League lead.

“This is the best backdrop in baseball,” Twins manager Derek Shelton said before the game. “Every hitter that’s ever played in this ballpark will tell you they would come here because it’s the largest batter’s eye in baseball. Some guys hit better in certain places.”

A key to many of the Twins rallies was simply putting the ball in play, and the ball kept rolling into ideal spots. They produced five consecutive singles off Diamondbacks starter Zac Gallen in the fourth inning, four that were softly hit.

Keaschall and Kreidler had back-to-back infield singles, leading to a run, before Trevor Larnach shot a two-run single through the right side of the infield. Kody Clemens added a bloop RBI single to center as loud boos circulated through the announced crowd of 30,575.

The first six Twins batters reached in the fifth inning, and there was finally some harder contact. Lee opened with a triple into the right field corner, the fourth triple of his career, and Caratini lined an RBI double to center. Gallen, who gave up 12 hits and nine runs in four innings, exited after giving up a single to Keaschall that elicited more boos.

Three batters later, Buxton drove a fastball from reliever Yilber Díaz over the wall in right-center field for the third grand slam of his career. It was only the second homer he has hit this season that went to the opposite field.

If scoring six runs before recording an out in the fifth inning wasn’t enough, the Twins mounted another two-out rally. Lee, who already tripled during the inning, hit a ground-rule double to right field and Caratini bounced a two-run single through the right side of the infield. Kreidler, two batters later, smacked a two-run triple off the center field wall.

The score was 16-0. At the time, the Twins had 20 hits and the D-Backs had one.

It was the sixth time the Twins had a 20-hit game in the past decade, the last one coming on June 12, 2024, in a 17-9 home victory over the Colorado Rockies.

Twins starter Taj Bradley, who had a lot of time to sit in the dugout between innings, gave up three hits and two runs in five innings. The Diamondbacks had only three baserunners through the first four innings with two walks and a bunt single.

After the Twins’ 10-run fifth inning, Bradley surrendered a leadoff single before giving up a two-run homer to Jorge Barrosa.

Twins reliever Justin Lawrence entered in the seventh inning with a 14-run lead and most of the star players out of the game, and he walked four of the first five batters he faced. Then Lawrence surrendered a three-run double to Ildemaro Vargas and a two-out single to Pavin Smith, throwing only 17 of his 40 pitches for strikes.

The Diamondbacks used a position player, Vargas, as a pitcher for the final five outs. Vargas walked two but did not give up a run.