Twins 5, Mariners 3: Leveling up!

While in Seattle last summer, one thing I noticed at their ballpark was a preponderance of Nintendo advertising—from player sleeves to wall signs to between-inning ads. Well, tonight—okay, now last night—the Minnesota Twins navigated all the platform stages and slid down the flagpole victorious!

After Twins’ bats went down 1-2-3 in the top of the first inning, MN SP Zebby Matthews struck out the side in B1. The problem? Zebby’s K’s were sandwiched around two walks (both on four pitches) and RBI doubles from Dominic Canzone & Cal Raleigh. 2-0 SEA.

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Loading the bases for Cool Cal rarely works out well for the opposition.(Photo by Olivia Vanni/Getty Images)

Fortunately, tonight the Twins didn’t wait until the ninth inning to start scoring. After a leadoff walk drawn by Josh “Ring The” Bell against Seattle SP Bryce Miller, with two outs Brooks “General” Lee smashed a sphere 367 feet and beyond T-Mobile Park’s RF fence! 2-2 tie.

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Brooks bomb! (Photo by Olivia Vanni/Getty Images)

The Zebster looked to be cruising through a much easier second inning of work—until Cole Young deposited one over the RF wall not far from where Lee’s launch landed. 3-2 SEA.

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Copy…Paste. (Photo by Olivia Vanni/Getty Images)

In T5, Luke Keaschall coaxed a free base off Miller—but was summarily picked off and any potential rally fizzled. Meanwhile, after those rough first two frames, Zebulon settled down and racked up 10 punch outs—a career high—through five frames. After allowing a bloop base hit to Julio Rodriguez to lead off B6, Matthews exited in favor of Kody Funderburk.

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After a rough beginning, Zebby settled down nicely and kept the Twins in the game. (Photo by Olivia Vanni/Getty Images)

The long ball continued to be the scoring method of choice, this time the pendulum swinging back in the vistors’ favor when Royce “Royce Baby” Lewis rocketed a 419-ft bomb deep to LF! After that, a simple Alan Roden single was pushed around a few left turns when Keaschall deposited a double just inside the LF line. 4-3 MIN.

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Ice in the veins! (Photo by Olivia Vanni/Getty Images)

Back to homers in T8—this time 372 feet worth from Ryan “My Name Is” Jeffers! 5-3 MIN.

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Jeff jack! Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

See: Zach’s Zealot below for more on this, but the combo platter of Fundy, Nance, Morris, & Gomez kept the M’s off the board the rest of the way. A little drama in B9 when two Gomez walks almost haunted, but old friend Mitch Garver proved to be new friend Mitch Garver in waving at strike three for the Game Over kill screen.

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The (Twins) pen was mightier than the (Seattle) sword tonight. (Photo by Olivia Vanni/Getty Images)

Your Final: Minnesota Twins 5, Seattle Mariners 3.

Ladies and gentlemen, YOUR ’26 Minnesota Twins are a winning ball club for the first time since April 21! Now tied with the Cleveland Guardians for 2nd place in the AL Central & the final AL Wild Card berth, the Twins are also just 3 GB of the Chicago White Sox for the division lead!

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Smiles all around! (Photo by Olivia Vanni/Getty Images)

The MN bullpen: 4 IP, 0 H, 2 BB, 4 K.

• Twins GM Jeremy Zoll: I won’t blame Tristan Gray himself for being overmatched at the dish at the major league level—but I will blame Zoll for calling him up to replace Byron Buxton (IL) when Walker Jenkins was right there.

Twins GM Jeremy Zoll: I won’t blame Tristan Gray himself for being overmatched at the dish at the major league level—but I will blame Zoll for calling him up to replace Byron Buxton (IL) when Walker Jenkins was right there.

• James Fillmore providing as good an explanation as any for why Gray is on this roster.

James Fillmore providing as good an explanation as any for why Gray is on this roster.

• Two more with the seafarers this weekend (Saturday & Sunday @ 3:10 PM). Maybe all their fans will be distracted by the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks starting their training camp.

Two more with the seafarers this weekend (Saturday & Sunday @ 3:10 PM). Maybe all their fans will be distracted by the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks starting their training camp.