The grind continues as the start grinds.

First Pitch: 1:10 pm CDT

TV: Twins.TV / ~ / Radio: TIBN, WCCO 830, The Wolf 102.9 FM

Aren’t you glad you get to wake up on this lovely Saturday afternoon and witness a Chris Paddack start for a 4-10 Twins team? I know I am. In fact, that’s the kind of lede I’ve been anxious to write all winter long. What is Twins baseball for, if not for a reintroduction to sweeping, crushing, instantaneous reality?

After another competitive game last night, Minnesota’s ninth-inning rally fell short after Mickey Gasper was called upon to hit with the game on the line. Today, the Twins will get the “Why him? Why now?” ball rolling a little earlier, with Paddack in line to make his 25th start with Minnesota in his fourth season with the team.

In anticipation of an abbreviated start, the Twins DFA’d Scott Blewett ahead of Saturday’s matchup, bringing Kody Funderburk back from St. Paul to have a fresh arm handy for the ballgame. Paddack went just 3.1 innings in his first start (allowing nine earned runs and four ewalks), and stretched that to four full innings in his second outing (still surrendering seven hits, four runs, and another pair of free bases.)

Jackson Jobe will be oppo-bumpin’ today. The 22-year-old righty will be making his third-ever major-league start, having already walked seven hitters in nine innings of 2025 work. MLB.com’s #4 prospect heading into the season (behind only Roki Sasaki, Roman Anthony, and our very own Walker Jenkins), it’ll be interesting to see what the Twins will be dealing with for the foreseeable future.

Jobe has never faced the Twins in four games in the bigs.

The Twins have Harrison Bader back in the lineup and camping out in left, and Christian Vazquez gets his second straight start behind the dish after being lifted in the middle innings last night only to watch fellow backstop Ryan Jeffers start bleeding out on the field. Get well soon, Ryan.

GO TWINS GO!