Twins fall to Reds, 6-5, for fifth consecutive loss

Bobby Nightengale, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Jun 17, 2025

Published in Baseball

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CINCINNATI — The Twins were gifted a three-run homer in the sixth inning Tuesday, a generous offering from Cincinnati Reds right fielder Jake Fraley who deflected a fly ball from Harrison Bader off his glove and over the fence.

Byron Buxton looked superhuman, robbing a potential home run with a leaping catch in the second inning Tuesday and hitting a home run to nearly the same spot in the third.

None of it snapped the Twins out of their funk. The Twins lost, 6-5, in their series opener against the Reds at Great American Ball Park. They are on a five-game losing streak, their longest losing streak of the season, and they have dropped nine of their past 11 games.

It was the Twins’ third consecutive one-run loss — and they took another injury hit when Ryan Jeffers exited in the fifth inning with a bruised right hand. Former Twins reliever Emilio Pagán earned the save when he struck out Christian Vázquez, who replaced Jeffers, with two runners on base for the final out.

The Twins erased a three-run deficit in the sixth inning, a rally that started when ex-Twins prospect Christian Encarnacion-Strand committed a throwing error on a routine ground ball with two outs. Brooks Lee followed with a single, extending his hitting streak to 16 games, and Trevor Larnach rolled an RBI single to center off Reds starter Andrew Abbott in a lefty-on-lefty matchup.

That brought up Bader with two runners on base. Bader lofted a fly ball to right field, and Fraley stumbled as he turned to track the ball. When Fraley leapt in front of the wall, the ball bounced out of his glove and over the fence for a go-ahead, three-run homer.

Fraley dropped his head and bent at the waist. Bader, mouth agape, looked stunned as he watched it unfold before smiling at teammates while rounding third base.

It was a play destined for blooper reels, yet the Twins couldn’t laugh for long.

Pitching with a one-run lead in the sixth inning, Brock Stewart allowed five consecutive batters to reach base with two outs. TJ Friedl dropped a two-run double past diving right fielder Matt Wallner, energizing the announced crowd of 26,153.

The Twins’ bullpen, a strength for most of the season, has posted a 7.26 ERA over its last 11 games. Stewart, prior to Tuesday, yielded one run in his last 14 innings.

Twins starter David Festa, who threw more change-ups than fastballs, permitted only one baserunner through the first three innings — a two-out walk in the third.

The fourth inning snowballed on him. Festa walked two of his first three batters, then surrendered a two-out, two-run double to Will Benson on a full-count fastball. Benson laced the 94-mph pitch into the left-center gap, giving the Reds their first lead, three pitches after fouling a pitch that struck Jeffers’ throwing hand.

Jeffers underwent an X-ray, which did not reveal a fracture, the Twins announced.

Spencer Steer extended the third inning when he reached on a dropped third strike. Steer struck out on a change-up, but the ball deflected off Jeffers’ mitt toward the backstop, allowing Steer to run to first base. Fraley, the next batter, pulled a two-strike change-up to right field for a two-run single.

Festa, who was pulled after he plunked a batter on his 41st pitch in the inning, was charged with two earned runs in 3 2/3 innings while giving up two hits and three walks.

Buxton single-handedly gave the Twins an early lead. In the second inning, he casually robbed a potential home run, timing a fly ball from Benson to the center-field wall. He leapt above the yellow line and secured the catch with almost no outward reaction. A group of teammates lined up in front of the dugout to congratulate him.

Twelve pitches after Buxton took away a homer, he hit one of his own. Buxton deposited a curveball from Abbott over the center-field wall, about five feet further than the ball he caught, for his team-leading 12th home run of the season.