Twins offense withstands shaky bullpen, defense as they close ground before trade deadline

Bobby Nightengale, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Jul 26, 2026

Published in Baseball

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MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Twins haven’t made things easy on themselves all year. They have a bad bullpen and poor defense, and Sunday was another one of those days.

The Athletics lost their starting pitcher, Jeffrey Springs, to an injury in the second inning Sunday. The A’s defense committed four errors. They trailed by as many as seven runs.

All that wasn’t enough for the Twins to enjoy a comfortable afternoon.

They relied on three late runs to hold off the A’s in an 11-8 victory at Target Field before an announced crowd of 19,701. The Twins won their fourth straight home series, taking two of three games from the A’s this weekend.

The Twins (53-54) may not make things as easy as it should be, but they remain on the edge of the playoff race.

With one week — and six games — remaining until the Aug. 3 trade deadline, the Twins sit four games behind the Chicago White Sox in the American League Central division, and one game behind Cleveland for the third wild-card spot.

The Twins had a 7-0 lead by the fourth inning, looking the part of a team trying to boost its playoff odds. Rookie starter Connor Prielipp gave up one run over 5 2/3 innings in his return from the 15-day injured list, yielding two hits and one walk. He erased two of the three baserunners with double plays.

Cole Sands, activated from the injured list Sunday after missing nearly three months with forearm strain, had a disastrous return to the Twins bullpen. He gave up five runs while recording only one out.

Sands, replacing Prielipp with a runner on first base in two outs in the sixth inning, plunked Jacob Wilson in a two-strike count and then surrendered a three-run homer to All-Star first baseman Nick Kurtz, who snapped an 0 for 25 slump with his 21st homer of the season.

Twins left fielder Austin Martin lost a fly ball in the sun to begin the seventh inning, gifting a leadoff double to Tyler Soderstrom. Sands allowed another single and a walk before exiting the mound with the bases loaded and no outs.

Tommy Nance, the veteran reliever the Twins acquired before the All-Star break, walked in a run before trading two runs for two outs via a groundout to the mound and a sacrifice fly.

The A’s never pulled closer than two runs, scoring two runs in the top of the ninth inning, but the Twins won’t complain about wins at this time of the year.

Prielipp, who struck out five batters and walked one, was efficient. He recorded 17 outs in 72 pitches, an important outing considering the Twins will be without spot starter Mike Paredes (grade 2 left oblique strain) for several weeks.

The Twins had a 6-0 lead after two innings Sunday, producing more runs than they scored in their previous 30 innings combined.

Martin opened with a double that deflected off Soderstrom’s glove in left field. Martin scored when Royce Lewis beat out a potential double play grounder, and Kody Clemens followed with a Little League-style trip around the bases.

Clemens hit an RBI triple into the right-center gap, and he was awarded the plate when the relay throw deflected off his foot during his headfirst slide and bounced out of play.

The Twins loaded the bases with one out in the second inning through a single and two walks. A’s starter Jeffrey Springs called for a trainer and exited three batters into the second inning because of right hip discomfort.

Luis Morales, who replaced Springs, committed a balk that led to a run before Ryan Jeffers hit a two-run single to right field.

The Twins offense kept churning out more run support — and they needed it. Ryan Kreidler hit three doubles and scored three runs. Clemens, who hit a one-out triple and scored in the seventh inning, became the first Twins player to hit two triples in a game since Luis Arraez on June 25, 2021.

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