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Twins offense again manages next to nothing in 4-1 loss to Marlins

The Twins have managed only three runs and 17 hits over their past four games as their monthlong slide continues.

The Minnesota Star Tribune
July 3, 2025 at 11:39PM
Twins righthander David Festa stands on the mound after giving up a two-run homer to the Marlins' Agustin Ramirez during the first inning Thursday in Miami. Festa pitched six innings, but the Twins never climbed out of the three-run hole they found themselves in after one inning. (Lynne Sladky/The Associated Press)

MIAMI – A thunderstorm raged outside loanDepot Park on Thursday, the lightning visible through the windows. Underneath the dome, though, everything was calm and quiet, the Twins offense unable once again to interrupt the tranquility.

The Twins managed only five hits and one run in the matinée finale, losing 4-1 to the Marlins in the rubber game of the series. It’s the eighth consecutive series the Twins have failed to win; they haven’t won a series since taking three of four from the Athletics in Sacramento a month ago.

They come home Friday for a holiday day game against the Rays after a particularly ugly visit to Miami, having scored only three runs in three games, collecting just 15 hits and sending only three hitters to the plate in 17 of the 27 innings against the 39-46 Marlins.

“Obviously we have to get it going offensively. That’s certainly no secret,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “We have to start by keeping the pitchers in the strike zone. We can’t go up there and expand. First pitch to a lot of guys, well out of the zone, we’re offering on those pitches — it’s unacceptable. We’ll hold ourselves accountable on that. We have to do that, we absolutely have to do that.”

Eury Pérez was the beneficiary of the Twins’ lack of plate discipline, issuing a walk in the first inning to Willi Castro but not another. The 22-year-old righthander struck out seven and induced weak contact much of the day, giving up only one hit.

“He throws 100, he’s got a couple of breaking balls, and he’s 6-8 [tall], so he gets a lot of extension,” Ty France said after his 0-for-4 day. “Even though he was in the zone, a lot of his pitches were unpredictable. One slider would go one way, one would back up, one would just spin. It was hard to take good swings. His delivery is slow and methodical, and then the ball just jumps out of his hand. He’s got a lot of things going for him.”

Still, Pérez had given up 11 runs in his 16 major league innings this season before Thursday, so his six shutout innings on just 80 pitches came as a surprise to the Twins.

But here’s a theory: Perhaps it had more to do with the dwindling Twins offense, which has put 33 zeroes on the scoreboard over 36 innings this week, starting with Detroit’s two-hit shutout Sunday night.

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“Just have to keep working, pretty simple,” France said. “The game is like this sometimes. Just got to figure out a way to get out of this.”

Pérez had the advantage of working with a lead, too, because David Festa gave up hits to three of the first four batters he faced, capped by Agustín Ramírez’s two-run homer.

“That shouldn’t be a deficit that we can’t overcome,” Baldelli grumbled. “We’ve overcome deficits like that, gotten better as the game went on. Couldn’t do it today.”

Festa could, and did. Rather than let the game get out of hand, Festa began using his changeup and sinker more frequently, and gave up only one run and two hits over the next five innings, equaling the longest start of his career.

“A lot of slow starts I’ve had in the past, I’ve let them snowball. I’m happy with how I was able to bounce back today,” Festa said. “On the other hand, I can’t really make a habit of giving up three in the first. Got to clean that up. But I learned a little bit today. To come back from that and still go six, still feel strong, that’s good.”

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Learning is good, Baldelli said, and implementing those lessons next time is even better. “The changeup ended up being a good pitch for him as the game went on, and the sinker was too. David’s stuff actually got better” the longer he pitched, Baldelli said. “If he can harness that slider like that, it’s a really good pitch. Something he’s learning.”

When Pérez departed, the Marlins brought in a lefthander to face Matt Wallner, but the Twins outfielder foiled that strategy by blasting a Cade Gibson curveball 430 feet over the center field fence. It was just Wallner’s fifth home run against a lefty in his career, and it stood out even more for all the futility around him.

No other Twins batter reached third base during the game — only three Twins did so during the entire series — and they went 0-for-5 with a runner on second. Ronny Henriquez, claimed off waivers from the Twins in February, earned his second save of the series and fifth of the season with a 1-2-3 ninth.

“Definitely not what we were looking for, and it can be frustrating,” Baldelli said. “But we’ll keep looking.”

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about the writer

Phil Miller

Reporter

Phil Miller has covered the Twins for the Minnesota Star Tribune since 2013. Previously, he covered the University of Minnesota football team, and from 2007-09, he covered the Twins for the Pioneer Press.

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The only run scored when Matt Wallner walked, reached second and then third on wild pitches and made it home on a sacrifice fly.

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