TLDR: Oakland spotted Minnesota five shutout innings and it still wasn't enough separation — the Twins piled up 13 hits and held on through a late Athletics rally for an 11-8 win.
−Got shut out twice by Oakland earlier this series
On the mound Sunday, Connor Prielipp got the ball for Minnesota looking to build on a rookie season that's had its bumps, while Jeffrey Springs took his turn for an Athletics staff that's been picked apart by injuries all year. Neither guy came in dominant — Prielipp sat at 2-5 with a 4.73 ERA, Springs at 3-9 and 6.23 — but only one of them left the day with his record trending up.
Jeffrey Springs
(3-11)·6.17 ERA
Jul 20 @ Diamondbacks
ND
5.0IP
2ER
2K
1BB
78P
07/26 Lineup
Connor Prielipp
(3-5)·4.75 ERA
Jul 8 vs Guardians
ND
5.0IP
3ER
6K
2BB
83P
07/26 Lineup
Oakland's lineup took another hit on the day, placing All-Star catcher Shea Langeliers on the 10-day IL after a torn meniscus in his right knee — a real blow for a team already missing Brent Rooker for the season and still shaking off a nine-game losing streak that left it with the worst run differential in baseball. Minnesota, by contrast, is dealing with far less carnage; the lone new name on its injury sheet is right-hander Mike Paredes (oblique), tucked onto the 15-day IL that same afternoon. That health gap alone explains why the market leaned so hard toward the home side all weekend.
None of that stopped the Athletics from making it interesting. Even reeling and short-handed, Oakland still has thump in Nick Kurtz, and his 412-foot, three-run homer in the sixth turned a laugher into a game for a few innings. It just wasn't enough against a Twins team that had already put this one away early.
This one flipped the identity of the whole series. Oakland had actually shut Minnesota out in back-to-back games on July 24 and 25 before this finale, so the Twins' response — three runs in the first, three more in the second — was as much about snapping out of a mini-slump as it was about padding a record that's still hovering right around .500.
Zoom out and these two rosters are headed in completely different directions. Minnesota's front office is still weighing buyer-or-seller mode ahead of the deadline while clinging to the fringe of the AL Wild Card race, and sloppy, error-strewn wins like this one are exactly what a fringe contender needs to bank. Oakland, at 44-60 and last in the AL West, is just trying to find reasons to watch September.
Athletics 8, Twins 11: Final Score & Odds Recap — Twins Outlast Late A's Rally for Messy 11-8 Win
