Reusse: Once-formidable Twins starting rotation looking vulnerable without Pablo López

An old-timer from rural Minnesota in a MAGA hat making his first appearance of this season at Target Field had to feel a bit uncomfortable Saturday. First of all, he probably would be grousing after the discovery that it now costs $25 on game day to park in the ramps with the most convenient access to the ballpark.

This second annual huge inflation rate comes courtesy of the city of Minneapolis, which reaps all the income for these parking fees — and with the knowledge that most of the unhappiness will be aimed at the Twins, who do not profit from parking.

Once inside, our rural guy would have discovered it was “Pride Day” at the yard, honoring the gay community. We can all agree that MAGA’s hero, President Donald Trump, has seemed to be lacking in his outreach to the whole of the LGBTQ population.

On Saturday, the always-available TV personality Jana Shortal was there to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. Generally, Jana can be counted on for a strike, but there was too much sinkage on this one.

Then, with the Toronto Blue Jays in town, our intrepid traveler would have been required to sit through Beverley Wynne’s excellent rendition of “O Canada.”

This is without a doubt North America’s finest national anthem, and what becomes of it if the Trumpeter succeeds in his determination to make Canada our 51st state?

Will that patriotic tune work for mere statehood?

As recently as Tuesday, the Twins were on the way to a 10-3 victory over the Athletics. That evened the record at 4-4 on the absurd journey from Tampa to Seattle to Sacramento.

And yet it was a disastrous evening, since Pablo López left after five innings because of a shoulder injury. By the time reporters reached the postgame clubhouse in the minor league park, López and the Twins were admitting that he was headed to the injured list.

The Twins won big again the next night, then David Festa — a reinforcement from the St. Paul Saints — offered up an embarrassing effort, and the sad-sack A’s romped to a 14-3 victory Thursday.

Festa’s start gave an extra day off for Bailey Ober. Ober started Friday, and the Twins gave their reliable giant a 3-0 lead. Then, the Blue Jays went long ball and came away with a 6-4 win.

A week earlier, as Ober prepared to face Seattle, you could explain the Twins’ standing as the American League’s surprise team based on this: They had three of the AL’s top 20 starters in López, Ober and Joe Ryan.

And with Chris Paddack also reeling off excellent starts, and a deep back of the bullpen, well, maybe the 17-5 run starting May 3 wasn’t a complete mirage for a club with modest expectations.

Since then, Ober has gone four innings in one start and then gave away the early lead Friday; and López is gone for two months at a minimum; and the rotation now needs ongoing excellence from Joe Ryan (he pitches Sunday) and for Paddack to become a 28-starts type after all those years of injuries.

Plus, Ober has to get that 6-foot-9 frame back in mechanical tune and resume making hitters look foolish with 91-mph fastballs up and unhittable changeups down.

The Paddack part worked Saturday, Chris delivering a 3-2 lead to the Twins bullpen in the seventh inning. Louie Varland held it for his inning, and then Griffin Jax — my baseball writers’ vote for the Twins’ MVP in 2024 — continued to be far less than automatic this season.

He gave up a leadoff double to Addison Barger and, after a battle, threw a hit-me changeup and George Springer unloaded it into the left-field seats.

That came after the Twins had a chance to put the game away in the seventh: Bases loaded, two outs, crowd cheers mightily, Carlos Correa flies out to right.

The shortstop remains stuck at 19 RBI in 191 at-bats. One run delivered per 10 ABs is not a preferred ratio for a player with Correa’s talent and salary ($36 million).

The Twins then went peacefully against a young gent named Braydon Fisher in the eighth, leading to a strange moment before the top of the ninth. The in-game production crew played the music with the deep bells to mark Jhoan Duran’s entrance from the bullpen.

Let’s get it together, people: You do that when Duran is arriving for a save, not with a deficit.

Sadly, Duran also gave up a run, which meant Kody Clemens’ sixth Twins home run — one more for the waiver acquisition than Correa — made it a 5-4 final. That guaranteed the Twins’ first home losing series since Detroit from April 11-13.

Ryan starts Sunday, and then after that, it figures to be the younger, righthanded suspects: Zebby Matthews and Festa.

Tremendous starting pitching is suddenly questionable.

Right now, I’m more confident that Shortal will be back in the strike zone on Pride Day ’26.