Twins dealt walk-off loss to Brewers after battling with flamethrower Jacob Misiorowski

Bobby Nightengale, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Aug 9, 2026

Published in Baseball

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It seemed a little bit cruel for the Minnesota Twins to face Milwaukee Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski, the hardest-throwing pitcher in baseball, at the end of a 10-day, nine-game road trip.

Sunday’s game was cruel, all right. Just in a different way than expected.

After Brewers right fielder Luis Lara made a leaping catch while crashing into the fence to save a run in the top of the 10th inning, the Twins suffered a painful 4-3, walk-off loss when Jake Bauers lined an RBI single to left field off Yoendrys Gómez with one out in the bottom half of the inning.

After a replay review showed catcher Ryan Jeffers didn’t tag runner Brice Turang at the plate, Brewers players ran out of their dugout to celebrate with Bauers. The Twins dropped two of three games in their series against the Brewers, the team with MLB’s best record.

The Twins (58-61) ended their nine-game road trip with a 3-6 record, with five of the losses by one run and three coming in walk-off fashion. They sit 1 1/2 games out of a playoff spot entering their nine-game homestand vs. the Baltimore Orioles, Phillies and Atlanta Braves.

Misiorowski, the 6-7 righthander, struck out nine while throwing 50 fastballs above 100 mph and topping out at 103.9. But he gave up three runs in six innings, matching the most runs he has given up in any of his 22 starts this season.

The Twins had bigger issues scoring against the Brewers bullpen. During the two losses, they compiled one hit in 8 1/3 innings. On Sunday, the Twins left the bases loaded in the seventh and eighth innings, and they finished 1 for 11 with a runner in scoring position.

“We had opportunities and we did not capitalize on them,” Twins manager Derek Shelton told reporters in Milwaukee. “I think that, in combination with Lara, was the difference in the game.”

Kody Clemens drilled a tying, two-run homer with two outs in the sixth inning, depositing a 99-mph fastball into the Twins bullpen beyond the right-center wall. Clemens skipped out of the batter’s box and flipped his bat aside as he broke into his home run trot.

It was Clemens’ 20th home run of the season, surpassing his single-season career high.

The Twins totaled only four hits and one walk in six innings against Misiorowski, the 24-year-old two-time All-Star pitcher. Brooks Lee reached on an infield single in the second inning, a comebacker that deflected off Misiorowski’s leg. Misiorowski retired the next eight batters without a ball leaving the infield, and he had a four-batter stretch where he threw 21 consecutive strikes.

Misiorowski reached 200 strikeouts on the season when he struck out Alan Roden in the third inning, the second-fastest pitcher in baseball history to reach the milestone (129 1/3 innings) behind Spencer Strider in 2022 (123 1/3 innings).

“That’s elite stuff,” Shelton said. “That’s one of the top two or three guys in the game. He came out and his fastball was really good, and then we made an adjustment the second time through” the batting order.

When it looked like the Twins had no chance against Misiorowski, whiffing on 21 of their 45 swings against his fastball (47%), Lee belted a solo homer to begin the fifth inning. Lee pulled a 99-mph fastball that sat over the heart of the plate for his 17th home run of the season.

Lee was robbed from another extra-base hit when Lara made a leaping catch in front of the right-center wall to end the sixth inning, four pitches after Clemens’ homer.

“That’s an unbelievable play to go there,” Shelton said. “That ended up being the difference in the game.”

Twins rookie lefty Connor Prielipp, a Tomah, Wis., native, did his best to match Misiorowski. Facing his favorite team from his childhood, Prielipp gave up three runs in five innings as he struck out seven.

The Brewers took a two-run lead in the bottom of the fifth inning. Bauers hit a leadoff homer off Prielipp, sending a 96-mph sinker over the left field fence. Gary Sánchez followed with a one-out double, and David Hamilton added a run when he hit a two-out double in a 0-2 count, a slider that Prielipp left over the plate.

Prielipp gave up a solo homer to his first batter, Jackson Chourio, on a full-count fastball before he settled into his outing. He struck out seven and walked two in five innings.

After Chourio’s leadoff homer, Prielipp retired 10 of his next 12 batters. Catcher Victor Caratini threw out the two baserunners attempting to steal.

The Twins bullpen kept the Brewers scoreless until Bauers hit a two-strike changeup into left field, and Turang, a speedy runner, beat Clemens’ throw to the plate for the winning run.

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