There was a baseball game scheduled at Target Field on Thursday night, but a home run derby broke out instead.
A total of eight home runs were hit between the Minnesota Twins and Texas Rangers, with the home team not only hitting the most but hitting the most crucial one as well. All but one of the runs scored by the Twins came off home runs, including an eighth inning blast by Ryan Jeffers that might still be in the air somewhere.
The Twins erased a 5-2 deficit to hand the Rangers their seventh straight loss, and boy was the way it happened the very definition of a gut punch.
In the eighth inning, Rocco Baldelli sent Jeffers to the plate to pinch hit fort Edouard Julien. In the moment it seemed like a bit of a head scratcher, even though Jeffers has been hot as of late, since Julien has been one of the Twins best offensive weapons this year. If there was a guy you wanted at the plate in that situation, there’s a strong arguement that it’s Julien.
As it turns out, Rocco’s decision to pinch hit Jeffers led to a ball getting crushed 427 feet to left center field and one that led to the Twins pulling off a comeback victory.
Ryan Jeffers caps off Twins comeback with epic bat flip (Video)
Admittedly, hearing that Rocco had taken Julien out of a clutch situation made more than a few Twins fans turn into the Nick Young WTF meme. That just made the payoff even sweeter when Jeffers not only hit a go-head home run but did so on the very first pitch he saw.
Ryan Jeffers comes up CLUTCH off the bench! pic.twitter.com/2hCbouVbfM
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) August 25, 2023
Not only did Jeffers hit a two-run bomb that gave Minnesota its first lead of the night — one it would hang onto through the ninth — but he put an exclamation point on the moment by way of an epic bat flip.
Ryan Jeffers bat flip!! pic.twitter.com/vzVsuQwXDL
— Josh Hill (@jdavhill) August 25, 2023
The Ryan Jeffers HR walk & bat flip were top notch pic.twitter.com/SiJqydQx4I
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) August 25, 2023
Jeffers is now a career .571 hitter in pinch-hit situations after what turned out to be the game-winning blast. It capped off a three-run eighth inning for the Twins that was the total inverse of what fans are used to seeing out of the team in late game situations.
Yet again a young player is the one who helped the Twins snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. The youth movement has been a pleasant trend to watch develop in Minnesota, as guys like Edouard Julien, Matt Wallner, and Royce Lewis have helped pump new life into the team in ways that have been lacking this time of year in the past.
We’re almost to the home stretch of the season, and as long as the Twins cling to a slim lead in the AL Central moments like this from Jeffers are going to be more than welcomed.