Twins fall again, oh so quietly, to the Cardinals

ST. LOUIS - Mickey Gasper’s first major league hit Saturday after an 0-for-20 start to his career was a memorable moment for the utility infielder and his parents sitting in the Busch Stadium stands, of course — but also for the Twins.

See, when you reach base only three times in nine innings, it’s not hard to remember each of them.

The Twins, held to eight hits in their Opening Day loss, managed just three Saturday, Gasper’s infield single leading off the eighth inning their only breakthrough over the final seven innings. The all-but-silent bats wasted Joe Ryan’s impressive return to action and doomed the Twins to a 5-1 loss to the Cardinals.

“We want to keep just barreling up a lot of balls. It’s really the name of the game,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “We’d like more than we’ve had, but we’ve hit some balls hard. It’s just that the balls we have hit good, [we] really haven’t gotten a ton out of it.”

He’s got a point. Minnesota hitters struck out only three times all day against Cardinals starter Erick Fedde and three relievers, meaning 24 of their outs came on balls put in play, many of them hard. Of the 12 balls stung with an exit velocity of more than 100 mph, in fact, eight were hit by Twins — but only one, Willi Castro’s RBI double in the second inning, produced a base hit.

“We’ve got to score some runs. We’ve got to find a way to get some baserunners out there, get the guys going,” Baldelli said. “The guys who are swinging it good but not getting much out of it, they need to keep doing what they’re doing.”

Same for Ryan, who looked like his old pre-injury self, hitting corners and getting hitters to chase. Pitching in an MLB game for the first time since straining a shoulder muscle Aug. 7, Ryan gave up only one run and struck out five over five innings, hitting 94.9 mph with his fastball a couple of times. He conceded afterward that the 81-pitch outing wore him down, so he spent a half-hour on a treadmill after he was removed to add to his endurance.

“I was like, ‘All right, got to keep building,’ ” said Ryan, who gave up only five hits, all singles, and didn’t walk a batter. Only once, when Nolan Arenado grounded a ball up the middle in the first inning to score Lars Nootbaar, did Ryan allow a runner to advance past second base.

“It feels good to put our team in a good spot to [win],” the righthander said, “but ideally, I can limit some of the pitches there, go another inning, save the bullpen.”

Especially since the bullpen could not replicate Ryan’s effectiveness Saturday.

True, the Cardinals’ most pivotal hit was knocked down before it traveled even 60 feet, but it changed the game. Leading off the sixth inning, Arenado lined a 98.5-mph fastball directly back toward Twins righthander Jorge Alcala, striking him on the pitching shoulder and deflecting past shortstop Carlos Correa and into left field for what the official scorer ruled a leadoff double.

“He got hit … but then he said, ‘I’m fine.’ He didn’t pitch like he was fine after that,” Baldelli said. “I hope he’s all right. He didn’t throw the ball great. He wasn’t commanding the ball well at all, really, after he got the comeback.”

BOXSCORE: St. Louis 5, Twins 1

MLB standings

Alcala remained in the game but threw eight consecutive pitches out of the strike zone, most of them well out, though Cardinals catcher Iván Herrera swung at two. Alec Burleson walked and Herrera finally got a strike and grounded a single to center, driving in Arenado. Louie Varland replaced Alcala and struck out two batters with the bases loaded, but Nootbaar collected another two-out single, driving in two runs.

Another run was scored when Jhoan Duran gave up a bunt single and walked back-to-back hitters to load the bases in the eighth inning. He struck out Willson Contreras but was removed, having thrown 24 pitches in his first appearance on a mound since Monday. Brendan Donovan then drove the game’s final run home with a sacrifice fly that Byron Buxton caught at the warning track in center field.

The Twins, who lost the final four games of 2024 and seven of their last eight, have opened the season 0-2 for just the second time in the past nine seasons.

“Obviously, not what we’re aiming for, but it’s a long season to go. I’m not sweating two ballgames,” Baldelli said. “There were a lot of positive things. A lot of time, the confidence comes when you break an inning open and a game open. When some of those line drives find grass and guys are running around the bases, it’s amazing what happens.”