Abel shows mettle with 6-scoreless, 9-strikeout gem vs. old friends

PHILADELPHIA -- In his last chance to make an impression this year, in the second to last game of a season that’s going to end in September, Mick Abel pitched the kind of game that allows the Twins to dream of future Octobers.

Abel overwhelmed the Phillies, the team that drafted him and then traded him to Minnesota in July, as the Twins won, 5-0, at Citizens Bank Park against a World Series favorite. Stepping into one of baseball’s most hostile environments, carrying a double-digit ERA since his arrival with his new team, Abel pitched one of the best games by any Twins starter in 2025.

“When our flight landed here, I already had the juices flowing,” Abel said. “I was excited to be back here as far as getting to see everybody and have that end-of-the-season, closure-type thing. I didn't know if I was going to be able to get it, but I'm glad I did. Extremely gratifying.”

He struck out seven of the first 10 batters, using his whole arsenal. He got chases outside the zone and threw fastballs past great hitters inside the zone. He never had the slightest wobble, never looked even a little unstable.

He pitched like the pitcher the Twins hoped he could be when they acquired him, along with Eduardo Tait, in a Trade Deadline deal for closer Jhoan Duran.

“It was a really great showcase game for everyone to watch what Mick Abel’s capable of and he put it all together tonight,” said manager Rocco Baldelli. “He really did it. He did everything. He had his offspeed pitches working in the zone, getting ahead. You see how the fastball plays when they have to really respect all of his offspeed pitches. The slider was really sharp. Changeup was good and he’s throwing 98, 99 for the first few innings of the game. It was a nice statement for him.”

Abel made a statement from the very beginning. He struck out the side in order on three different pitches. He got Harrison Bader swinging at a curveball, Kyle Schwarber at a changeup and Bryce Harper at a fastball. He added two more punchouts on a fastball and a slider in the second, and still two more on fastballs in the third.

The Phillies put two men on in the fourth, and while at times this year Abel has let innings get away from him, there was to be nothing of the sort on Saturday. He got J.T. Realmuto to pop up, ending the threat, and breezed through two more innings. He finished it with a second strikeout of Harper, on a curveball.

It was the kind of showing that will stick with the Twins throughout the winter. Abel will be one of seven or eight contenders for the 2026 starting rotation, but few of those other candidates can do the kinds of things he can do when he’s right.

“It’s fun when a guy has that type of stuff,” said catcher Ryan Jeffers.

“Guys that have seven pitches can do a lot of different things. We can kind of play the game a little bit more. I can move you here, I’ll slow you down, I’ll speed you up. He had everything working. A lot of times, in these types of settings, he might get a little big and go a little fast on young guys like that, especially the trade deadline and everything that came with the start. It was really awesome to see him from pitch one and just be settled in and doing what he’s doing.”