Boston Red Sox designated hitter Roman Anthony scores on a double hit by Alex Bregman during the third inning of baseball game against the Minnesota Twins Tuesday, July 29, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)
MINNEAPOLIS — It’s no secret that the Twins are expected to be sellers this trade deadline. They already dealt starter Chris Paddack to Detroit on Monday.
On Tuesday, that had its first ripple-down effect.
Minnesota called up 25-year-old right-hander Pierson Ohl to replace not only Paddack’s spot on the roster, but his rotation slot on Tuesday. Ohl is a success story that’s easy to root for: He was a 14th-round pick in 2021, and he spent most of last year with mixed results at Double-A.
With a 2.17 ERA in 66 1/3 innings across three minor league levels this year, the Twins gave Ohl his first shot.
Ohl opened some eyes in the first inning, but the Boston Red Sox wound up besting him for four runs in three innings. The Twins had to patch together a pitching staff the rest of the way, using four different relievers. Brooks Lee stayed hot after Monday’s walk-off with two home runs and five RBIs, but Minnesota fell 8-5 to even the series with the Red Sox (58-51).
The Twins (51-56) fell to 5.5 games out of the third Wild Card spot with the loss.
Ohl utilized an effective changeup in the first big-league inning of his career. He struck out Roman Anthony and Alex Bregman, then surrendered a double to Jarren Duran before punching out Trevor Story in an impressive opening frame.
“I was really encouraged,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “I think he came out with good stuff. He came out ready to go. Made some really good pitches in the first inning; went out there and missed some bats.”
Leading off the second inning, center fielder Harrison Bader leapt for a borderline home run robbery. Ohl clapped in appreciation — as did the fans, knowing very well this could be one of Bader’s last times suiting up at Target Field.
It required a Bader web gem and an 11-pitch at-bat to Carlos Narvaez, but Ohl threw a 1-2-3 second inning.
“He had to make a bunch of pitches to get through hitters and get through innings,” Baldelli said. “That happens. That’s part of the game.”
Things quickly slipped away from Ohl in the third. After Duran had held up on a potential triple in the first inning, Ceddanne Rafaela had no hesitation legging out his own three-bagger. Hits from Anthony and Bregman brought in the first two Red Sox runs.
With two outs, Story launched one 404 feet at 104 mph off the bat. Bader wouldn’t be running this one down. It was Story’s 16th homer of the year to make it a four-run frame for Boston.
Ohl’s MLB debut came to an end after an abbreviated three innings. It took him 72 pitches to get nine outs. He allowed four runs on five hits and one walk while striking out four.
“Good hitters make adjustments, and he’ll continue to make adjustments as he goes, too,” Baldelli said.
Lucas Giolito, the veteran starting pitcher for Boston, had to similarly grind early in his outing. The first two Twins reached, and Giolito only got out of the bottom of the first with a pair of well-struck flyouts.
But the right-hander settled in. He retired nine in a row, and 13 in a 14-batter span.
Twins shortstop Carlos Correa departed the game early. The trainer had checked on him after a single in the first inning, and Correa stayed in at the time before Lee replaced him at shortstop in the third.
The official word from the Twins was that Correa left due to an illness. Baldelli later clarified that Correa had a migraine. While it’s likely just a minor thing for Correa, the Twins also had to place outfielder Byron Buxton on the injured list with left ribcage inflammation earlier Tuesday. Buxton had initially been considered day-to-day.
Lee, freshly into the game, poked an RBI hit to get Minnesota on the board in the bottom of the fifth. That was the only damage Giolito permitted. He stranded two in the sixth, setting down Bader for his fifth strikeout of the night.
Twins right-hander Michael Tonkin allowed a solo homer to Duran in the fifth inning to extend Boston’s lead. Duran hit it a whopping 446 feet. His 108.9 mph exit velocity outdid his 104.6 from earlier.
The Red Sox scratched out another run on a sacrifice fly by Rafaela against Minnesota southpaw Cody Funderburk in the sixth. It kept Boston up by a comfortable margin of 6-1.
Lee cut into that deficit once again, though, with a two-run blast in the bottom of the seventh. It was the ninth homer of Lee’s season. And it came against left-hander Justin Wilson, who entered with a 2.18 ERA.
A Minnesota error led to a pair of unearned insurance runs in the top of the ninth. Story and Wilyer Abreu each hit a run-scoring double for the Sox.
Those runs loomed even larger after Lee smacked his second bomb of the night. With a blast against Jorge Alcala, Lee became just the sixth Twin in franchise history to homer from both sides of the plate in the same game.
Fireballer Aroldis Chapman got the final out, shutting the door on the three-run Boston win.
The Twins will go for the series win in Wednesday’s rubber game at 12:10 p.m. ET.
