Padres come back, rout Twins

Kevin Acee, The San Diego Union-Tribune on Aug 30, 2025

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

MINNEAPOLIS — Saturday night looked for a time as if it would be an example of how the San Diego Padres will aim to win playoff games.

Except for the fact they won’t be playing the Minnesota Twins in October.

So that eventually ruined the whole postseason narrative of a starting pitcher grinding for five innings and a stellar procession of relief pitchers closing out a tight game.

Because the Twins, who sold off a third of their team (and half of their bullpen) at the trade deadline, sent out a rookie reliever with a 6.43 ERA to protect a two-run lead in the sixth inning and a journeyman reliever with a 6.43 ERA to replace him when the game started to slip away.

And slip away the game did.

The Padres scored two runs in the sixth inning to tie the game against Mick Abel and seven runs against Abel and Brooks Kriske in the seventh inning on their way to a 12-3 rout of the Twins at Target Field.

That did not change the fact Nick Pivetta grinded through five innings, his shortest outing since June 20, a span of 11 starts. He allowed three runs and threw his last pitch with the Padres trailing 3-1.

Adrian Morejón took over a tie game and began a run of six straight retired by him and Jason Adam. Jeremiah Estrada worked around a lead-off single in a scoreless eighth inning.

That was it for the Padres’ high-leverage relievers, who were rested after not pitching the previous three days, as Alek Jacob worked a 1-2-3 ninth.

Elias Díaz hit two home runs, Ramón Laureano hit one and every player in the Padres starting lineup except Jose Iglesias reached base multiple times.

It was neither the type of opponent nor the magnitude of necessity inherent in the postseason, but the Padres did need the victory.

It was just their second in six games, and they are jockeying for playoff position with the season down to its final month.

The Los Angeles Dodgers, who entered the day leading the Padres by two games in the National League West, were in a scoreless tie with the Arizona Diamondbacks when the Padres game ended. The Cubs, two games ahead of the Padres in the race for the top wild-card spot, were ahead of the Rockies midway through their game in Colorado. The Mets, who hold the final wild-card spot, lost to the Marlins to fall three games behind the Padres.

The night began with the Padres having trouble against Twins starter Taj Bradley, who entered the game with a 4.95 ERA.

Their only hit off Bradley was a two-out home run by Díaz that tied the game 1-1 in the fifth inning

The Twins retook the lead in the bottom of the fifth on Byron Buxton’s two-run homer.

With the frail state of the Twins’ bullpen, however, it still felt like the Padres had the advantage when both starters left the game.

The Padres had pummelled Abel for five runs in 1 2/3 innings when he started for the Phillies on July 2.

They got a break at the start against him Saturday, as Luis Arraez’s routine grounder was mishandled by shortstop Brooks Lee.

Manny Machado followed with a single grounded through the right side, his 1,000th hit with the Padres. And after Ryan O’Hearn struck out, Laureano and Gavin Sheets hit successive RBI singles.

Abel lasted through four batters, all of whom singled, in the seventh inning. He left with the Padres up 5-3.

Kriske retired the first batter he faced before yielding an RBI single to Sheets. Kriske got another out before Jake Cronenworth drove in two more with a double off the wall in left field and Diaz cleared the wall in left field to make it 10-3.

Laureano followed a lead-off single by O’Hearn in the eighth with his seventh home run with the Padres to provide the final margin.

____