Aaron Gleeman

Joe Ryan and Walker Jenkins on the same day.

Twins have a 15-20 record at the 35-game mark for the second season in a row. It'll be tough to stay on the 2025 pace much longer, though. At this point last year, they were two games into a 13-game winning streak.

Twins' first win with a non-opener starting pitcher recording one out or fewer since May 30, 2002 vs. the Angels. Brad Radke exited with a first-inning groin injury and the Twins won 7-6. Current bullpen coach LaTroy Hawkins threw two scoreless innings. baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIN/MIN2…

Let's talk about the Twins' bullpen mess and why absolutely no one should be surprised by it: youtube.com/watch?v=yw4j97…

Twins' bullpen has an MLB-worst -5.65 Win Probability Added in 88 games since last year's trade deadline. That would be -10.40 WPA extrapolated to 162 games. Worst full-season bullpen WPA in Twins history is -5.87 in 1982. And that was in 162 games, for a team that went 60-102.

Blue Jays 11, Twins 4. Twins got another encouraging start from rookie Connor Prielipp and another homer from Byron Buxton, but the bullpen imploded in the eighth inning. They've lost 13 of the last 16 games. Twins' bullpen is now 28th in ERA and 28th in Win Probability Added.

Disastrous eighth inning was like a "previously on Twins baseball ..." recap for any viewers not familiar with the bullpen and defense. Relievers with no business working high-leverage roles and fielders unable to make plays behind them. Turned a 4-3 lead into an 11-4 deficit.

Byron Buxton has 10 homers in his last 17 games.

John Klein had a 7.48 ERA with 10 homers allowed in 22 innings for Triple-A St. Paul. So, why did the Twins call him up? Klein is a solid long-term prospect, with decent upside. But also he's already on the 40-man roster, he's healthy, and he's able to pitch multiple innings.

Twins placed RHP Cole Sands on the injured list with a right forearm strain and called up RHP John Klein from Triple-A St. Paul. Klein, a Minnesota native who ranked #16 on my preseason Twins prospect list, will be making his major-league debut.

Louis Varland pitched a scoreless ninth inning to close out a 7-3 win for the Blue Jays in his first appearance as a visitor at Target Field, lowering his ERA to 0.53. Twins have lost 12 of their last 15 games, falling to 14-19 overall.

Per the Twins: Emmanuel Rodriguez was removed from tonight's Triple-A St. Paul game due to a left thumb injury.

LA Knight and Maxxine Dupri came into the press box to record a Summer Slam promo video right behind me, but got interrupted by official scorer Stew Thornley making an announcement and had to start over. Was it a work or a shoot? Maybe setting up a Knight vs. Thornley storyline?

Chris Finch and Jaylin Clark are both at Target Field tonight. Clark is sitting in the stands. Finch is walking around, beer in hand. Both got big ovations after beating the Nuggets.

Byron Buxton has nine homers in his last 16 games.

The good news: Victor Caratini didn't die on this play. The bad news: Everything else.

And now LA Knight and Maxxine Dupri made an appearance on the Target Field “flex cam.”

WWE stars LA Knight and Maxxine Dupri playing catch pregame at Target Field.

Dick Bremer was a guest on our Patreon podcast, and the response was so positive that we decided to make the full episode available to everyone for free. Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/spe… Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/10K9tK… YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=i2dWHj…

@DanaWessel Why, because they put you to sleep?

@AaronGleeman Wake me up when someone's cranking Springsteen deep cuts.

Simeon Woods Richardson chose my favorite pregame clubhouse playlist of the season today with heavy doses of Leon Bridges and Wild Rivers. Immaculate vibes. And, really, congratulations to SWR for (apparently) having the same musical taste as a 43-year-old baseball writer.