After starting the season 0-4, the Minnesota Twins grabbed two much-needed wins against the Chicago White Sox at Rate Field on Tuesday and Wednesday. Minnesota won Tuesday’s matchup 8-3 and the next game 6-1. First-year Twin Harrison Bader smashed a three-run home run in both contests.
Simeon Woods-Richardson made his first start of the season on Tuesday and allowed two runs with five strikeouts across four innings. Pablo López shook off his rough outing against the Cardinals by dominating on Wednesday, collecting five strikeouts while allowing one run, four hits and one walk in seven innings.
Here’s a brief recap of the Twins' first two wins of the season before diving into takeaways:
Takeaways from the Minnesota Twins' first two wins of 2025
Game 1
Bader’s three-RBI homer in Game 1 put the exclamation point on a comeback victory, giving Minnesota a five-run lead, its largest of the night. The Twins’ five-run sixth inning propelled them to their first win in 2025.
Brooks Baldwin roped a Richardson fastball into center field for an RBI single to give the White Sox a 1-0 lead in the second. Baldwin notched another RBI in the fourth on a sacrifice fly to right fielder Matt Wallner. Nick Maton extended Chicago’s lead to three on a 406-foot solo shot over the right field wall in the fifth off a 90 mph changeup from Louis Varland.
Cole Sands, Jorge Alcala, Griffin Jax and Danny Coulombe each pitched a scoreless inning of relief, respectively.
The sixth didn’t start well for Minnesota, as Wallner started the inning by flying out to right fielder Austin Slater, and Carlos Correa grounded out to Baldwin at shortstop for out number two.
Byron Buxton started the two-out rally by working a five-pitch walk. Trevor Larnach did the exact thing in the next at-bat, leading manager Will Venable to pull right-handed pitcher Shane Smith from the mound in favor of righty reliever Penn Murfee. Smith started the game and gave up two runs with three strikeouts across 5 ⅔ innings.
Murfee failed to record a single out, allowing four two-out singles. Ryan Jeffers gave Minnesota its first run of the game on an RBI single to right. Ty France grounded an RBI single up the middle, lowering the Twins’ deficit to one. Edouard Julien followed a Willi Castro hit-by-pitch with an RBI line drive single to the opposite field, tying the game 3-3. Jose Miranda blooped a single into right, permitting France and Castro to score and give the Twins a 5-3 lead.
Southpaw Fraser Ellard relieved Smith and ended the top half of the inning by throwing out Julien at home on a steal attempt. Ellard hurled a scoreless seventh before Bryce Wilson took the mound in the eighth. Wilson lasted ⅓ of an inning prior to Eisert finishing the inning unscathed.
Wallner led off the top of the ninth with a hard double to right field, causing Venable to make the call to the ‘pen for righty Jordan Leasure, who immediately struck out Correa. Buxton managed a single, paving the way for Bader’s three-run home run to left. The ball traveled 378 feet at 98.9 mph.
Coulombe made quick work of the White Sox in the bottom of the ninth to end the game and claim Minnesota’s first victory of the season.
Game 2 Recap
After some early season struggles, Buxton and Correa each went 2-for-4 in Minnesota’s second win of the season. Correa’s pair of hits snapped an 0-for-17 hitless streak to start the season, and Buxton entered the contest 2-for-17.
On a 3-1 count with two outs and empty bases in the first inning, Buxton smashed a hanging 85 mph slider 446 feet over the left center field wall.
With two on and two outs in the fourth, Bader extended the Twins’ lead to 4-0 by hitting a hanging slider on the outside of the strike zone 355 feet over the left field wall.
Back-to-back doubles from Correa and Buxton allowed Correa to score and Buxton to add another RBI. Left-handed pitcher Cam Booser replaced Sean Burke, who started and gave up six earned runs, seven hits, no walks and struck out one. Booser induced a groundout from Larnach before France hit a sharp line drive beyond the reach of the third baseman for an RBI double.
Baldwin hit a 401-foot home run to center field off Lopez in the seventh for Chicago’s lone run of the game.
Jhoan Duran pitched a scoreless eighth inning, and Coulombe had a scoreless ninth to end the game and put the Twins at 2-4.
Here are some takeaways from the Twins’ performance over the past couple of days:
Luckily, the Twins are better than the White Sox
Even if the Twins got swept by the Sox, it's hard to imagine the narrative would change to Chicago being the better squad. Still, the Twins ensured they put any chance of that talk to rest.
But after Chris Paddack’s disastrous outing in the series opener, where Minnesota lost 9-0 and fell to 0-4, it was panic time for many Twins fans. Luckily, the team put it together with two strong pitching performances and an all-around effort from the offense.
The Twins are very much still an AL contender, and the White Sox are very much not. As it stands, all five AL Central teams are tied for first in the division with a 2-4 record. Fangraphs has the Twins projected to win the division with a 34.2% chance, while Chicago is at 0%.
Harrison Bader is on fire
It appears Bader could be Minnesota’s unexpected hero this season after hitting two bombs and collecting six RBI over the past two games.
Bader started the season with a bang, going 2-for-4 with one home run, a double and two RBI against his former team in the season opener. He struggled the rest of the series in St. Louis, but resurrected his numbers with his big home runs in Chicago. His slugging percentage sits at an astounding .875.
Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa are back
Both former All-Stars struggled to begin the season but had dominating performances at the plate on Wednesday.
Correa had a pitiful spring training, hitting .136/.250/.159 in 44 at-bats. That, to go along with his 0-for-17 start, likely sparked concern among many Twins fans, especially when he has historically struggled when playing through his plantar fasciitis issues. But after a solid day at the plate, it seems the former Astro is back on track.
Buxton had a single and a walk on Tuesday before going 2-for-4 with a home run on Wednesday. He only had one hit in St. Louis, but had a .954 OPS in spring training.
Last season, both Correa and Buxton heated up at the plate later into the season. There is no reason to expect they won’t perform at an elite level this year, barring any injuries.
Twins pitching is really good
The Twins’ starting rotation isn’t where it was in 2023, but one could argue that it isn’t too far off talent-wise. Lopez’s and Richardson’s strong outings displayed that, and the bullpen had a strong showing of its own.
Again, the Chicago White Sox are the Chicago White Sox, but López’s masterclass showed the best of the former Marlin. He did just what a number-one starter is supposed to do- absolutely dominate a bottom-of-the-division squad.
And when your number four starter, Richardson, can toss five innings of two-run ball, it’s hard not to feel good about where your rotation is at.
As far as the bullpen goes, six Minnesota relievers saw action in the two victories. Maton’s home run off Varland accounted for the only run allowed by the Twins' bullpen in seven innings of work. Duran’s scoreless inning provided relief for the Twins after the fireballer only recorded one out in his last outing on Saturday. Coulombe’s performance especially stood out, as he hurled a scoreless inning in both of Minnesota’s wins, allowing one hit.
What’s next
Next on the schedule for the Twins is undoubtedly a more formidable opponent than the White Sox. Minnesota heads home for the first time this season to play the reigning American League West Champion Houston Astros.
Game 1 is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Thursday. The comparing squads will take a break on Friday before 1 p.m. start times on Saturday and Sunday to finish the three-game set.
Joe Ryan is slated to face Hunter Brown on the mound in Game 1 of the series. Bailey Ober is scheduled to face Spencer Arrighetti on Saturday, and fans can expect to see Paddack oppose Ronel Blanco on Sunday.