Twins Takeaways: Bullpen Blows Another Lead as Twins Lose Finale to A's

The Minnesota Twins lost the rubber game 6-4 to the Athletics, dropping to 64-70 on the season. The loss cemented a series loss and concluded a dismal 1-5 road trip to the West Coast that saw the Twins' postseason chances continue to fall.

"Overall, we just did not play good baseball tonight." Twins manager Derek Shelton said as he opened up his blunt postgame media session via Twins.TV. "I think the sense of urgency needs to really come into play." he added later on.

Connor Prielipp's Outing

Twins starting pitcher Connor Prielipp throws a pitch. — Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Connor Prielipp. Credit: Dennis Lee-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Connor Prielipp had a solid outing and left the game in line for the win. Over 5.1 innings of work, he allowed three earned runs while walking one batter and striking out five. Most importantly, Prielipp did not issue a home run in the outing, especially in an environment like Sacramento.

Solid stuff from Prielipp tonight

(Via @pitchprofiler) https://t.co/52ncRTbr28 pic.twitter.com/hqMBwyOaMB
— Matthew Nethercott (@MattNethercott_) August 27, 2026

Prielipp certainly did his job and limited the struggles as the outing goes on. His stuff on the night was very solid and certainly encouraging. The rotation has certainly shown signs of improvement, and that starts with the young starters in Prielipp and Zebby Matthews.

Twins' Offense

Twins short stop Kaelen Culpepper runs around the bases during a game. — Minnesota Twins short stop Kaelen Culpepper. Credit: Dennis Lee-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Twins' offense jumped out to an early 3-0 lead by the end of the second inning with Brooks Lee, Trevor Larnach, and Kaelen Culpepper all hitting solo home runs. They added another run on a sacrifice fly by Royce Lewis in the sixth inning. That was it.

The Twins had a chance in the ninth inning against A's reliever Elvis Alvarado after a one-out single and a one-out walk, but a deep flyout off the bat of Alan Roden and a great at-bat that resulted in a strikeout by Trevor Larnach ended the game.

"Yeah, no, we did a good job, and we knew Gin was going to try to put the ball on the ground, and we got some balls up in the air, you know." Shelton said of the offensive performance postgame. "I think the inning we had the bases loaded with one out, only got one. You know, we need to tack on more than we need to continue to add on. And it seems like during this road trip, we did not have the ability
to add on."

The Twins' offense not tacking on runs was just as big a story as the bullpen not being able to hold the lead. With the volatility the bullpen has had, the offense needs to do a better job to continue to score, and they failed at that task tonight, as they did multiple times on this trip west.

Another Bullpen Blowup

Twins pitcher Andrew Morris throws a baseball to a hitter during a game. — Minnesota Twins pitcher Andrew Morris. Credit: Dennis Lee-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Twins' bullpen has been frankly awful on the road trip. They were responsible for two of the losses in San Diego and were certainly responsible for the loss tonight.

Andrew Morris was handed a two-run lead with a runner on first and one out in the sixth inning. He proceeded to allow that run on first to score and three of his own on some hard-hit balls, and within minutes a 4-2 lead became a 6-4 deficit.

An RBI triple by Alika Williams followed by an RBI single by Darell Hernaiz off Morris and the A's lead 6-4 pic.twitter.com/l5GGAGVA2H
— Matthew Nethercott (@MattNethercott_) August 27, 2026

"From watching it, from not going back and like looking at it on the iPad, it looks like everything's in the middle of the plate." Shelton said postgame to Twins.TV of Morris' struggles. "And their approach was they came out uber aggressive, and he left balls in the middle of the plate, with the exception of the pitch to Alika, which I think was a cutter that kind of backed up in on him from the way he swung at it, looked at. But they came out and attacked the fastball, and we threw balls in the middle of the plate."

Kody Funderburk came in, and the first batter he faced, Lawerence Butler, made it 7-4. The Twins' bullpen looked like it was fixed after the trade deadline, but that is not the case. The unit has struggled a lot, and there is seemingly no help coming to their aid.

What's Next

The Twins will have an off day Thursday as they travel home from their west coast trip. When they come home, they will see the White Sox for a three-game series. In the opener Friday, the Twins will send out RHP Dean Kremer, who is 2-4 with a 5.22 ERA this season. For the White Sox, it will be RHP Luis Castillo, whom they acquired at the deadline from the Mariners, who is 4-10 with a 5.19 ERA. First pitch will be at 7:10 P.M. on TwinsTV.

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