The Twins' Three-Game Losing Streak Exposed Their Weaknesses

Minneapolis – After the Minnesota Twins surprised many with an 11-7 start to the season that placed them atop the American League, they’ve started to regress. The Twins are on a 3-game losing skid that started on Wednesday against the Boston Red Sox.

Each loss has been attributed to fears about the team’s shortcomings entering the 2026 season: bad defense, a lack of high-leverage bullpen depth, and hitters not coming through in the clutch with runners in scoring position.

Minnesota’s poor defense was evident in Wednesday’s 9-5 loss to Boston. The Red Sox got their first runs of the game on a bad error from Luke Keaschall at second, turning a 1-0 lead into a 2-1 deficit.

Friday night, the bats came up cold against the Cincinnati Reds' pitching in the 2-1 loss. They went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and left nine runners on base. It happened again in Saturday’s 5-4 loss, with the Twins going 3-for-15 with runners in scoring position, leaving 11 runners on base, eight of which were in scoring position.

Then there was the bullpen failing to prevent runs from scoring in the later innings of Saturday’s game. The Twins had been up 4-2 when Taj Bradley exited the game after six innings. The Reds were able to tack on a run each inning after off of Justin Topa, Eric Orze, and Cole Sands to take their 5-4 victory.

“There wasn't a ton of hard-hit balls,” said Twins manager Derek Shelton. “I mean, that last inning, there wasn't a hard hit ball with Cole. The fact that we didn't make a play and then jam shot base hit. I think it comes back down to offensively, we've got to capitalize on opportunities."

The Twins bullpen entered Saturday’s game 21st in the league in ERA (4.78) and exited 23rd in MLB at 4.95. They also went from 28th in batting average on balls in play from .330, to dead last in MLB at .339, by the end of Saturday’s game. While he wasn’t charged with an error on the play, it also didn’t help that Brooks Lee bobbled a ball Spencer Steer hit at him that led to the game-winning run for the Reds.

Those smaller hits and fielding errors the Twins allowed added up in these previous losses, and their failure to capitalize with runners in scoring position cost them.

It’s not that this Twins team has proved incapable of hitting with RISP. They’ve had a .297 batting average collectively with RISP on the season, second to only the Atlanta Braves (.303) in MLB. But when the offense isn’t producing those opportunities – like it didn’t on Friday and Saturday’s losses – Joe Ryan and Taj Bradley’s great starts feel wasted.

"We have to have base runners to have opportunities,” said Shelton. “I think that's the biggest thing, then we just have to capitalize. In the last two games, we have not. I mean, the previous games that we've won, especially during that streak. We capitalized on what seemed to be every opportunity, and right now it seems like we're not capitalizing on any of them.”

Amongst the exposed weaknesses over this three-game losing skid, Minnesota's starting pitching has remained its greatest strength. Simeon Woods Richardson struggled in his outing on Wednesday, allowing 10 hits, three walks, and seven earned runs to the Red Sox.

However, Ryan and Bradley were able to provide the Twins with quality starts in their outings over the weekend. Ryan went six full innings, allowed just three hits, two runs (one earned), and struck out six while not allowing a single walk.

The difference in Friday night’s loss turned out to be a throwing error from Ryan Kriedler from first to third, after Reds superstar Elly De La Cruz reached on a one-out double. The ball hit the dirt in front of Twins first baseman Josh Bell, which allowed Cincinnati’s Sal Stewart to reach and eventually come around to score the game-winning run.

While the error proved costly for the game, Ryan didn’t focus on what could have played out differently that inning, since he allowed two doubles.

“I think a couple missed opportunities to get out of the jam there, and yeah, executed pitches,” he said after his start Friday. “I think we were pretty efficient until that inning, and maybe could’ve gotten an extra inning or two out of that if I’d just maybe executed a little bit better.”

The Twins offense had at least picked Bradley up Saturday during his start, as the Twins held a 4-2 lead when he left after six innings. Bradley didn’t have his best stuff early, getting only two strikeouts in the first five innings of work, after allowing four hits, two walks, and two earned runs. But after a lead-off single to Stewart in the sixth, Bradley locked in and struck out the side to end his outing.

“I’m always happy to have quality starts,” Bradley said. “Just more emphasis, more attention on throwing my off-speed for strikes more than I was in Toronto. I feel like that played a big part. I was able to land a curveball with two strikes and even get ahead with it in some 0-2 counts, stuff like that paid dividends.”

In a three-game losing skid, every weakness from a ball club feels magnified, especially for a Twins team that has defied low expectations so early in the year. There are still 142 games to be played, and their weakness in April should not be so easily exposed come June or July.

“I think it’s just being in control of your movements and executing plans,” said Keaschall. “Right now, we’re not doing that the best. All you can do is a little bit better each and every day.”