Twins find little offense at wet Target Field, fall to Guardians in rematch

After all was said and done after three rainy days, Minnesota and Cleveland split a pair of games Wednesday.

Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Chris Paddack delivers a pitch against the Cleveland Guardians in the first inning during game two of a doubleheader at Target Field in Minneapolis on May 21, 2025. | Matt Krohn / Imagn Images

The good news is some baseball was actually played on Wednesday in Minneapolis.

The bad news is the Minnesota Twins couldn't make it a clean sweep at Target Field. After walking off the Cleveland Guardians earlier Wednesday as the two team's completed Monday's suspended game, the Twins lost the second one to the Guardians, 5-1, in Wednesday's doubleheader. But the real win was getting them in as rain continued to fall.

Chris Paddack was dealing for the Twins (27-22) through five innings, but ran into some trouble in the sixth. After giving up a leadoff single to Jose Ramirez, Paddack got Kyle Manzardo to pop out but issued back-to-back walks to former Twin Carlos Santana and Daniel Schneeman to load the bases with one out. That marked the end of his day as Louis Varland came on in relief, but Varland immediately walked Gabriel Arias with the bases loaded to plate the tying run, making it 1-1.

Nolan Jones hit a sacrifice fly the next at-bat to score the go-ahead run for the Guardians (26-22).

Santana hit a solo homer in the eighth inning, and Angel Martinez and Ramirez hit a sacrifice fly and an RBI single, respectively, in the ninth inning for a few insurance runs that were more than enough for Cleveland.

Paddack ultimately went 5 1/3 innings, allowing two runs off seven hits while fanning a pair.

The Twins took the 1-0 lead in the third inning when Ryan Jeffers hit an RBI single that scored Willi Castro, who drew a leadoff walk and advanced to second when Christian Vazquez grounded out. There was little other offense to be found.

The Twins collected just three hits overall, left five on base and went 1 for 4 with runners in scoring position.

Guardians starter Gavin Williams kept them mostly at bay, giving up the one run off two hits while fanning six in six innings.

The Twins return to action on Friday when they host the Kansas City Royals for the first of a three-game series at Target Field. Friday's first pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. CT.