Twins eliminate Rangers from playoff race with 6-4 win in season finale

Bobby Nightengale, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Sep 27, 2026

Published in Baseball

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MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Twins, reduced to playing spoiler for the final weeks of the regular season, carried out their last goal of the 2026 season with a 6-4 victory that eliminated the Texas Rangers from their own playoff chase.

There was a mix of highlights from cornerstone players and guys who may not return to the Twins’ roster next year during the season finale.

Dean Kremer allowed three hits and one run in seven innings, matching his longest start of the season, to complete his first stint with his new team after he was acquired from the Baltimore Orioles at the trade deadline.

Josh Bell, a pending free agent, hit a two-run homer in the third inning. Royce Lewis hit a solo homer in the eighth. Luke Keaschall reached base three times and scored three runs.

"To be able to go off with a positive atmosphere when we’re saying goodbye in the clubhouse, it was just a perfect ending to the season," Bell said.

The final score was closer than the game felt throughout the afternoon. The Rangers, trailing by five runs in the eighth inning, cut into their deficit after homers from Elías Díaz (solo off A.J. Minter) and Corey Seager (two-run blast off Andrew Morris).

Kremer set the tone.

In 10 starts with the Twins, Kremer posted a 3.48 ERA in 54 1/3 innings. The Twins have four starters who are eligible to become free agents following the 2027 season: Pablo López, Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober and Kremer.

"I’m very happy with how it’s been since I’ve come over," Kremer said. "I’ve made a few tweaks, made a few adjustments to pitch style or whatever, and it’s worked out. I’ve got to give a lot of credit to both [Ryan] Jeffers and [Victor] Caratini."

In a must-win game for the Rangers, who deployed six pitchers within the first six innings, the Twins raced to an early lead. Keaschall worked a leadoff walk against Rangers starter MacKenzie Gore, advanced to third on a single from Kaelen Culpepper and scored on Bell’s sacrifice fly.

Bell gave the Twins a two-run lead with his go-ahead homer during the third inning. Bell has 96 RBI this year, the most from a Twins player since Jorge Polanco drove in 98 runs in 2021.

Rangers reliever Jakob Junis walked three of the four batters he faced in the fifth inning, including a bases-loaded walk to Ryan Jeffers. Kody Clemens followed with an RBI single off lefty reliever Jordan Montgomery.

The Twins finished with a 77-85 record, which was seven games out of a playoff spot. Entering the season with low expectations, a 77-win season may have been deemed acceptable in March. It was a failure when the Twins became buyers at the trade deadline and played their way out of the playoff race over the final two months of the season.

Taking two of three games from the Rangers in the final series of the season at least gave the Twins one final celebration.

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