Astros spoil Twins home opener by rallying to 5-2 victory

Phil Miller, Star Tribune on Apr 3, 2025

Published in Baseball

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MINNEAPOLIS — Joe Ryan, buzzkill.

The Twins’ home opener was off to a rousing start on Thursday, Target Field alive with excitement over Matt Wallner’s leadoff triple, Byron Buxton’s can’t-catch-him infield hit and stolen base, and Trevor Larnach’s opposite-field single. One inning into the first of 81 home games, the Twins were showing off their versatile offense.

Six pitches into the second inning, though, the vibe was gone, courtesy of two sudden jolts. Christian Walker bashed a Ryan fastball 401 feet into the upper deck, Jeremy Pena just 11 feet shorter and into the lower deck, and the Twins’ lead was gone, too.

Even worse: So was their offense.

Nobody knew it at the time, but the Twins had already produced 60% of the hits and 100% of the runs they would generate before a begging-to-cheer crowd of 36,783. Houston scored three more runs and handed Minnesota its second straight home-opener disappointment, a 5-2 loss.

The loss was hardly Ryan’s fault, though the Twins starter suffered a handful of hiccups, besides the sudden homers, that cost him. He hit Walker with a pitch in the fourth inning, then a single to Astros catcher Victor Caratini. A balk — only the second of Ryan’s career — moved the runners up, a critical error when second baseman Brendan Rodgers followed with a ground ball up the middle through the Twins’ drawn-in infield. Carlos Correa dived but couldn’t reach it, and both Astros scored.

The Astros tagged on another run on Caratini and Rodgers’ back-to-back doubles off Louie Varland in the sixth inning.

Tagging on runs is something the Twins haven’t done much of so far this year. Houston starter Hunter Brown struck out eight Twins in six innings, gave up only two singles after the first inning, and retired the final 10 hitters he faced. Astros relievers Bryan King, Bryan Abreu and Josh Hader pitched a scoreless inning apiece, without giving up a hit.

The Twins were held to two runs or fewer for the fourth time this season, and fell to 0-4 in those games. It was also the fourth time they were held to five or fewer hits — and again, are 0-4.