Twins defense, bullpen seals victory over Diamondbacks and 5-1 road trip

Bobby Nightengale, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Jun 21, 2026

Published in Baseball

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PHOENIX – The Minnesota Twins used a high-powered offense to carry them throughout their road trip, but Sunday’s 4-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks was defined by their defense, their pitching and some surprising baserunning.

Erasing a two-run deficit with a two-out rally in the seventh inning, the Twins pulled ahead when Alex Jackson grounded an RBI single through the right side of the infield, tying the score at 2-2, and Josh Bell opted to test speed against right fielder Corbin Carroll’s arm as he went from first to third on the hit.

Carroll’s throw was on pace to beat Bell to third base, but the ball bounced off Bell’s leg as he slid into the bag. The ball deflected off Bell and rolled into the Diamondbacks dugout, which awarded Bell the plate and the go-ahead run.

“When we play solid baseball, things tend to turn your way a little bit more,” said Byron Buxton after the Twins completed their six-game road trip against the Texas Rangers and D-Backs with a 5-1 record.

Mike Paredes yielded six hits and two runs across five innings, and four Twins relievers combined to toss four scoreless innings without giving up a hit to clinch the series victory. The Twins have won six of their past seven games, taking 2 of 3 from Arizona.

Sitting almost halfway through the season, the Twins are 3 1/2 games out of first place in the American League Central Division and one game out of a playoff spot.

Next up is a three-game home series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“This is a great team,” Jackson said. “We have a lot of fun and we’re going to compete every single day. Things aren’t always going to go your way, but when they do, you just want to capitalize and just keep the trains moving. It was a great road trip for us.”

The Twins had little offense all afternoon before their three-run outburst in the seventh inning. Royce Lewis hit a leadoff single in the seventh, and Ryan Kreidler added a two-out single. Bell, who has a career 1.025 OPS as a pinch hitter, entered the game and promptly lined an RBI single to left field.

Jackson followed with his RBI hit, Bell scored on the Carroll error and the Twins never looked back. Trevor Larnach added a two-out, two-strike RBI double in the ninth inning.

The Twins totaled four baserunners in five innings against D-Backs righthander Jose Cabrera, who made his major league debut.

Cabrera stranded two runners in scoring position in the third inning when he struck out Buxton with a curveball. He exited in the sixth inning to a standing ovation from many fans in the crowd of 34,024 as he broke into a wide smile on his walk to the dugout.

“You come off a 16-run, 20-hit [game], then you get a major league debut and it’s like, ‘What’s the lull going to be?’” manager Derek Shelton said. “There was no lull. He pitched well and then we were able to battle. I think for this whole trip, you have to give our offense a ton of credit.”

Paredes, making his third career start and fifth appearance, wasn’t as sharp as his rookie counterpart. He completed his longest outing — his 75 pitches were his highest total in a game since he was pitching in Class A ball in 2022 — but he received a big boost from his defense.

Kreidler, at shortstop, saved at least one run in the first inning. With two runners on base and one out, Kreidler made a diving stop in the shortstop hole on a one-hopper from Gabriel Moreno, and he fired a throw to second for an out.

Paredes, who prides himself on his strike-throwing, issued a pair of walks to begin the second inning. Following a sacrifice bunt and a strikeout, Ketel Marte lined a two-out, two-run double into center field. Larnach saved the inning from snowballing with a diving catch in left field to end the inning.

Keaschall made a couple of sliding stops at second base, too.

“Keaschall was out there laying out,” Paredes said. “You have to give him props too. He’s been an animal with the effort in general. Seeing that definitely boosts confidence and makes you a lot more comfortable on the mound.”

In the seventh inning, Marte lined out to the warning track in center where Kody Clemens made a running catch before in front of the wall.

Geraldo Perdomo followed with a walk against Andrew Morris, but Jackson tossed Perdomo out attempting to steal second on the next pitch. Then Morris finished the inning with a strikeout of Carroll.

“Alex Jackson, when you’re a guy that’s a backup catcher and you catch on Sunday in the 12:15 game, I don’t think you can ask for anything more.” Shelton said. “A couple hits, throw out a guy, did a nice job behind the plate, controlled the tempo.

“Really good road trip. Proud of our entire group. We did a lot of things.”

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