On Saturday afternoon the Minnesota Twins battled the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium for the second time in three days.
The afternoon started with Cardinals starting pitcher Erick Fedde tossing a 1-2-3 inning. In the bottom half of the inning, Joe Ryan came to the mound for the first time this season. Ryan would give up a leadoff single to Lars Nootbaar. Willson Contreras would then ground out, allowing Nootbaar to advance to second base. The inning’s third batter was Brendan Donovan who flew out to left field. With two outs in the inning Nolan Arenado came to the plate and would knock in Nootbaar on an RBI single, 1-0 Cardinals. Alec Burleson would pop out to shortstop to end the inning.
The top of the second inning would start out with a Trevor Larch single. Larch would then steal second base, later advancing to third base on a Ty France ground out to second base. The following at bat was a Mickey Gasper pop out to shortstop. With two outs in the inning Willi Castro would hit an RBI double to right field, scoring Larch and tying the game 1-1. The next batter was Jose Miranda who flew out to left field to end the inning.
Once each team scored their first run of the game, both starting pitchers settled in and shut down their opponent until they exited the game. Ryan would finish the day tossing five innings (81 pitches / 51 strikes) with five strikeouts along with only giving up one run on five hits in a no-decision. Fedde was just as solid throwing six innings with two strikeouts along with only giving up one run on two hits, picking up his first win of the 2025 season.
Minnesota’s bullpen would fail in the sixth inning as Jorge Alcala in his season debut would take a combacker from the first batter he faced off his shoulder, the play would result in Arenado standing on second base. Burleson would then walk, followed up by a Herrera RBI single, 2-1 Cardinals. Alcala would be relieved without recording an out. Louie Varland would enter the game for Alcala. Varland would give up a two-RBI single, but other than that he would strike out the side. Alcala was charged with all three earned runs, 4-1 Cardinals after six innings.
The seventh inning would see both teams go scoreless. Minnesota was held in check again in the top of the eighth inning, before Scott would score an insurance run for St Louis. Scott reached base on a bunt single and would late score on a Donovan sacrifice fly out to center field, 5-1 Cardinals.
The Twins were set down 1-2-3 in the ninth inning, falling to the Cardinals again, this time 5-1.
The Twins and Cardinals will wrap up their season opening three game series on Sunday afternoon with first pitch scheduled for 1:15 p.m. Bailey Ober is set to make his 2025 season debut on the mound for Minnesota while Andre Palate will counter for St. Louis.
