Buck, Correa, and Keaschell can’t do it all.
All I really want to talk about tonight is Luke Keaschell, who followed up his motivating major-league debut with a first-inning RBI double to immediately put the Twins up 1-0.
Keaschell, who many are calling the greatest Twin to ever grace the 40-man roster, would be kept quiet for the rest of the night, including a game-ending strikeout. Even a strong showing from Minnesota’s more established stars would not be enough to even the series on Saturday night, as the Atlanta Braves did enough to outplay the Twins and secure the interleague series with a 4-3 victory.
One of those aforementioned stars, Byron Buxton, put together a three-hit game that included a triple, his fifth stolen base of the year, and a run scored. Carlos Correa added his first homer of 2025, an opposite-field slap job into the people-seaters.
But all this action, even from the heavy hitters you’d most expect to contribute (like newly minted franchise legend Luke Keaschell), wasn’t enough to spell a talented Braves team. Matt Olson tied the game in the bottom of the first inning against opener Justin Topa, then tagged bulk man Simeon Woods-Richardson for another run with a third-inning RBI single. Later down 3-1, they scratched a pair across the plate with a key sixth-inning rally, featuring a game-tying homer from Michael Harris II (coming right after a pair of key defensive plays in the visiting half) and a go-ahead knock by Alex Verdugo with third base juiced.
All four earned runs were charged to Topa and SWR; we saw good ol’ Beef Stew get two outs without allowing a run, and Jorge Alcala kept it a one-run game the rest of the way. It was a decent team effort, but it fell just short, even with Minnesota scoring with relative frequency throughout the night, instead of their usual output of a few early-inning runs and radio silence.
But is static any better than radio silence? I’ll leave that to you to decide in the comments. You can also figure out what the hell that meant.
COURTESY: Baseball Savant
STUDS:
CF Byron Buxton (3-for-4, 3B, R, RBI)
SS Carlos Correa (1-for-4, RBI, R, HR)
RP Jorge Alcala (2 IP, H, 0 ER, BB, K)
DUDS:
SP Justin Topa (IP, 3 H, ER, K)
LF Harrison Bader (0-for-4, 3 K)
C Christian Vazquez (0-for-4, K)