What just happened?! Twins go from 9th-inning defeat to 10-inning win

MINNEAPOLIS -- Coming on the heels of a sweep at the hands of the Dodgers, the Twins came to life behind Taj Bradley’s seven-plus innings of two-run ball, in which he struck out seven batters and allowed just three walks and three hits.

However, six runs were allowed by the Twins' bullpen in the eighth and ninth innings, and it nearly cost them the game until Royce Lewis delivered his first career walk-off with an RBI single for a 9-8 win over the Rockies in 10 innings at Target Field.

The walk-off was Lewis' second opportunity since he was recalled from Triple-A on June 6. He came up with Minnesota down one and two men on in the ninth against the Royals that same day, but he struck out to end the game.

“He had the opportunity the first day back, which would’ve been Disney-like if he hit the homer,” said Shelton. “It’s so good for him.”

“It wasn’t just me,” Lewis said. “I’ll start right there. It was [Kyler Fedko] taking a great baserunning approach, going to third base [on a wild pitch]. We haven’t had a ton of those opportunities, and he took advantage of a great one right there. I’ve got to buy him a steak or something. He put me in a better position to get the job done.”

Pitching with a seven-run lead in the eighth, Bradley allowed the first two runners to reach on a double and a walk. Kody Funderburk replaced him and allowed a single from Jake McCarthy, followed by an RBI groundout from Mickey Moniak, then a sac fly from Hunter Goodman and finally an RBI single from TJ Rumfield to make it a 7-3 game.

Things got even more tense in the ninth when Eric Orze entered the game, retiring only one of four batters he faced, which amounted to an additional three runs for the Rockies, highlighted by a McCarthy two-run home run to make it 7-6.

Anthony Banda entered the game to try to alleviate the damage, but he allowed a double to pinch-hitter Kyle Karros, then the crushing two-run home run from Goodman that gave the Rockies an 8-7 lead. After Goodman’s home run that catapulted the Rockies to a five-run ninth inning, Target Field erupted in a chorus of boos from the fans in attendance who let their displeasure be known to the team on the field.

But the Twins' lineup has not given up the fight all season. Bench coach Mark Hallberg reminded the dugout of that, and it provided the spark for the Twins in the ninth.

“The last couple innings were, I’d say, 'unique,' is the best way to put it,” said Lewis. “It’s part of baseball. The ebbs and flows. The last two innings were definitely that. Put you on a rollercoaster.”

The Twins got one-out singles from Austin Martin and Ryan Kreidler in the bottom of the ninth. That set the stage for Byron Buxton, who delivered with a wicked-hop grounder to Willi Castro at third base, which turned into a game-tying RBI single. Lewis wouldn’t have had an easy RBI single in the 10th if it weren’t for some heads-up baserunning from Fedko, who advanced on a wild pitch from Jimmy Herget. One pitch later, and it was game over for the Rockies courtesy of Lewis.

“I made sure before I went out there, like, ‘Hey, I’m not stealing here, right?’” Fedko said. “Because if they said, ‘If you got something, go,’ I would probably look for something and try to go. But they said no to stealing. I like to be aggressive, so yeah, it was one of those things, an instinctual thing. Ball kicks away, you want to help the team win.”

“I give our guys a ton of credit, because the eighth and ninth inning were not pretty for us on the pitching side of the ball,” said Shelton. “And they continued to battle, and we ended up winning a game against them."

Among his seven strikeouts on the night, Bradley also recorded the 500th of his career in the sixth inning against Goodman. Bradley also pitched into the eighth inning for the first time this season, tying his season and career high in innings pitched with seven full frames.

The Twins were the one of two teams without a walk-off win entering Friday night. The Nationals were the other, and they are still in search of their first after 83 games on the year.