Twins stumble out of All-Star break for second straight season, drop fourth game in a row

Bobby Nightengale, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Jul 21, 2026

Published in Baseball

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Last year, the Minnesota Twins played poorly coming out of the All-Star break, losing each of their final four series before the trade deadline. It cemented their status as major sellers, dealing 10 players off their major league roster.

The Twins, for the second straight season, are fading toward out of the playoff picture ahead of the Aug. 3 trade deadline. They lost 5-2 to the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday at Progressive Field, dropping four of their first five games out of the All-Star break, including four in a row.

It’s the longest losing streak for the Twins since they lost five consecutive games from May 27-31. They are 3 1/2 games out of the final wild-card spot, and 5 1/2 games back in the American League Central standings.

Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers, a trade candidate because he will reach free agency at the end of the season, hit a solo homer off Guardians lefty Parker Messick in the first inning, but the Twins offense totaled five hits and one run over the final eight innings.

With the score tied in the sixth inning, Cleveland loaded the bases with no outs against Twins reliever Mike Paredes. Khalil Watson hit a leadoff double, Travis Bazzana was hit by a pitch and Gabriel Arias followed with a single.

Guardians catcher Austin Hedges drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly, depositing a 1-2 sweeper into deep left field. After Twins lefty reliever Taylor Rogers replaced Paredes, Petey Halpin hit a sacrifice fly to center to score the speedy Bazzana, who was ruled safe after a replay review, beating a tag at the plate when Byron Buxton’s throw was on the first-base side of home.

The Guardians added a run against Rogers in the seventh inning when Bazzana blooped a two-out, two-strike RBI single into left field on a half swing.

The Twins, currently operating with a four-man rotation until Connor Prielipp (blister) returns from the injured list, were forced to deploy a bullpen game Tuesday. Rookie left-hander Kendry Rojas allowed two runs on one hit and two walks in 2 1/3 innings.

Rojas issued a leadoff walk to Hedges to begin the third inning, and Halpin followed with a sacrifice bunt. Steven Kwan, who had a 10-pitch at-bat in the first inning, drove in Cleveland’s first run with an RBI double that dropped in the right-field gap.

Mike Paredes, the Twins’ rookie right-hander, replaced Rojas after Kwan’s hit. Paredes gave up an RBI single to Brayan Rocchio on his third pitch, an inside fastball that was lined into right field for a 2-1 lead.

The Twins tied the score in the fourth inning, but they never led again.

Josh Bell hit a two-out double and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Bell scored when the Guardians were charged with two errors on a slow roller up the middle from Royce Lewis, a ball that somehow sneaked past Messick and Bazzana at second base threw it out of play attempting a hurried, off-balance throw.

Bell reached 10 years of major league service time Tuesday, a major milestone that Buxton (April 5) and Rogers (April 21) hit earlier this season. The Twins celebrated Bell with a pregame ceremony, and they had Bell’s parents, wife and children in the clubhouse.

“I’ve been in pro ball for 15 years, in the Show for 10 now, and this is, by far, the closest clubhouse I’ve been a part of,” Bell said in a speech to his teammates.

The Twins had two runners on base in the sixth inning, but Victor Caratini lined out to center. Two more runners were left on base in the seventh after Buxton flew out to center in a seven-pitch at-bat against Guardians reliever Hunter Gaddis.

The Twins have scored three or fewer runs in six of their last 11 games, three of those games coming against Guardians pitching.

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