The Twins' Triple-A Team Just Played One of the Worst Baseball Games Ever

As a diehard baseball fan excited about the seasonal return of the sport, I decided on a bit of a whim to head to St. Paul and take in the Saints' home opener at CHS Field on Tuesday evening. The forecast called for some fairly chilly temps, but as a Minnesotan, I'm equipped to handle that. I wanted to watch top Twins prospects like Kaelen Culepper, Walker Jenkins, and Emmanuel Rodriguez, who may not be in Triple-A for that much longer.

I had no idea that I would end up watching easily the worst professional baseball game I have ever seen — and probably the worst baseball game I've ever witnessed at any level, dating back to high school.

I arrived comfortably before first pitch — although not early enough to get the merch giveaway for the first 1,000 fans — and settled in to watch a ballgame in person for the first time since last September. And then it was all but over before Culpepper and Jenkins had a chance to bat in the bottom of the first.

Starting on the mound for the Saints against the Worcester Red Sox, Boston's Triple-A affiliate, was left-hander Christian MacLeod. He was a fifth-round pick by the Twins back in 2021, but he's now almost 26 and not considered a prospect anymore. MacLeod had a 4.34 ERA across Double-A and Triple-A last season, with a solid strikeout rate and a somewhat concerning walk rate.

It's worth mentioning that the Saints were 3-0 coming into this game, having swept their season-opening series in Indianapolis while allowing 10 total runs in three games. The top of their starting pitching rotation includes prospects Connor Prielipp and Andrew Morris, as well as Zebby Matthews, who has started 25 games for the Twins over the past couple seasons and is likely next in line if an injury occurs in the big-league club's rotation.

MacLeod did not carry over the pitching staff's success from the Indy series. Not even a little bit. He gave up a leadoff double, bounced back with a strikeout, and then walked two straight batters to load the bases. That would become a theme. After an errant pickoff throw from St. Paul's catcher resulted in the first run of the night, the Red Sox got a single and then a long three-run homer to take a 5-0 lead. MacLeod then walked another batter and was pulled at 38 pitches, having recorded only two outs.

Castr-OH!

Allan Castro's first Triple-A hit is a 403 ft homer 😎 pic.twitter.com/t9l1lx8a71
— Worcester Red Sox (@WooSox) March 31, 2026

In came veteran minor-league reliever Raul Brito, who has spent the past few years in the Padres' system. He didn't fair much better. The first two batters Brito faced both hit long home runs to put Worcester up 8-0 in the opening inning. Only after a single and a walk did the Saints escape the inning via a groundout from former Twin Mickey Gasper, who was the 13th batter in the first. The crowd gave a sarcastic cheer for out number three.

Incredibly, that first inning wasn't the worst of the night for the Saints.

Let's jump ahead. The Saints got on the board with a home run from former Braves All-Star Orlando Arcia in the bottom of the second, the WooSox got that run back in the top of the fourth, and then the Saints scored a couple runs in the bottom half of that inning — though they squandered a chance to really chip into their deficit when Culpepper hit into a double play with the bases loaded and no outs.

Heading into the top of the sixth, it was a 9-3 game. In came the fifth pitcher of what had turned into a bullpen game for the Saints: Former Cardinals ninth-round pick Trent Baker. Maybe he just wasn't prepared for the weather (it was in the mid-30s with wind chill). Whatever it was, Baker had a truly nightmarish outing. He loaded the bases on a single and two walks with one out. He then gave up a sharp RBI single to right field, which was made worse when Rodriguez completely missed the ball and saw it roll past him to the wall, clearing the bases.

Baker then responded by...walking the next three batters, including two four-pitch free passes. He was pulled from the game having thrown only 18 strikes among 42 pitches. In came Eduardo Salazar, who has thrown 70.2 innings in the big leagues with three different teams. He gave up a two-run double, walked a guy, and then was taken deep for a grand slam by Nick Sogard, who hit one of the three Sox home runs back in the first inning. It was a 10-run sixth inning and a 19-3 game.

NICK SOGARD GRAND SLAM 🚨🚨🚨🚨 pic.twitter.com/1JtRHdZvur
— Worcester Red Sox (@WooSox) April 1, 2026

Six innings in, the Saints had walked an absurd 18 batters. Mercifully, they did not allow any more runs in the final three innings, with position player Tanner Schobel somehow tossing scoreless frames in the eighth and ninth. Schobel did walk a couple guys, bringing the total for the game to 20. Twenty walks by one team in a nine-inning baseball game.

Oh, and Saints batters drew nine walks of their own, bringing the game total to 29. Between both teams, there were 412 pitches thrown in this game. 212 of them were strikes. I watched 200 pitches miss the strike zone.

According to the Saints, their 20 walks as a team are the most in an International League game since at least 2005, which is far back as they have stats. I can tell you, courtesy of Stathead, that 20 walks would've tied the MLB record, set by the Detroit Tigers' pitching staff against the Boston Red Sox in a 12-inning contest on September 17, 1920. The most walks in a nine-inning MLB game ever is 18, most recently occurring in 1948.

Just look at this pitching box score:

Seven St. Paul Saints pitchers combined for 20 walks on Tuesday. | milb.com

Between the 20 walks and three errors, including a horrendous one by Rodriguez in right field, I truly believe this may have been one of the worst games ever played by an affiliated professional baseball team. It was so bad that I strangely felt compelled to stay for the entire thing, despite the chilly weather and the atrocity against baseball I was witnessing.

The good news is that Culpepper and Rodriguez each picked up a couple hits, I got a free bag of peanuts out of the night, and for as bad as many people expect the Twins to be this year, I can confidently say that I will not watch a worse baseball game over the course of the next six months.