Ryan Kreidler lifts Twins to another comeback to beat Cardinals

Bobby Nightengale, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Jun 14, 2026

Published in Baseball

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MINNEAPOLIS — Say this for the Minnesota Twins in their weekend series against the St. Louis Cardinals, their offense was relentless.

There was Ryan Kreidler in the eighth inning, shouting toward teammates in the dugout while clapping his hands, after he delivered a go-ahead double off the center-field wall.

One inning beforehand, the Twins erased a two-run deficit when they sent eight batters to the plate with a walk and four singles.

The Twins came up with enough hits, and enough comebacks, for a 5-4 victory Sunday at Target Field.

“I’ve said this time and time again, regardless of the score, this team continues to play, they continue to have good at-bats,” Twins manager Derek Shelton said. “I think today was kind of a microcosm of that. It doesn’t matter what the score is, they continue to go and give themselves an opportunity.”

Kreidler, who entered as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning, made a diving stop-and-throw at shortstop for the first out of the ninth inning as Yoendrys Gómez picked up his team-leading sixth save.

“So sick, man,” said Royce Lewis, who scooped Kreidler’s low throw from the dirt at first. “First of all, it’s hard to make great plays and great hits even when you start, but coming off the bench, it’s even more impressive.

“He still had some beef jerky as a snack in his back pocket too, which was hilarious. Unbelievable play.”

The Twins had a respectable start from Taj Bradley, who finally started to look like his old self with seven strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings.

Bradley gave up four runs on five hits and one walk, but the Twins bullpen wasn’t charged with any runs for the first time in 11 games.

The Twins held a lead in seven of the 27 innings in their three games against the Cardinals, they came out with two victories.

Twice this weekend, they trailed entering the seventh inning and won. On Friday, they trailed 7-4 in the seventh inning and 8-7 in the eighth but won on homers by Lewis and Brooks Lee. Saturday, they erased a four-run deficit to tie the score but ended up losing 9-6.

“We just never let up,” Lewis said. “It was awesome just to be a part of it.”

The Twins, despite an injury to catcher Ryan Jeffers and some underperformance from key hitters, entered Sunday ranked eighth in the majors in runs.

Luke Keaschall drew a one-out walk in the seventh inning against lefty reliever JoJo Romero, and the offense responded with four consecutive singles, Lewis tying the score at 4-4 on his first hit with the bases loaded this season.

Then in the eighth with Romero still pitching, Keaschall hit a two-out double to left field before Kreidler’s game-winning hit.

“The offense has been dialed,” Kreidler said. “We’re scoring a lot of runs. Timely hitting. It helps we have Byron [Buxton] at the top absolutely mashing, but I think it’s been 1 through 9, or really 1 through 13, ready to go every night.”

Bradley, in his fifth start since coming off the injured list, was at a loss to explain what was wrong after his previous outing, his third in a row he failed to even complete five innings.

He wasn’t perfect, giving up homers to Alec Burleson and JJ Wetherholt, but he was resembled the pitcher who had a 2.77 ERA through his first nine starts of 2026.

“Taj Bradley, I mean, that’s the story,” Shelton said. “What he did for us, to be able to bounce back, it’s so exciting to see.”

Bradley started his outing with a clean 15-pitch first inning. Typically, that would be a small footnote, but Twins starting pitchers gave up a run during the first inning in eight of the team’s previous 10 games.

Catcher Victor Caratini played a role in Bradley’s scoreless first, overturning three calls from plate umpire Jen Pawol with challenges. He flipped two pitches into called third strikes.

Shelton, in his postgame news conference, recounted a chat with pitching coach Pete Maki a few days ago, after Bradley’s last bullpen session.

“[Maki] was like ‘That was really, really good,’” Shelton said. “I think he simplified it back down and I think we saw the guy that we really like tonight. Just really proud of him.”

Bradley retired the first eight batters he faced, and 15 of the first 17. Burleson hit a solo homer on a hanging first-pitch curveball in the fourth inning, pulling the ball just inside the right-field foul pole for his sixth home run in nine games.

“I’d say it felt really good,” Bradley said. “A light at the end of the tunnel after these past three outings.”

The Twins immediately answered to give Bradley a lead. Josh Bell hit a leadoff single off Cardinals righthander Michael McGreevy, and Caratini clubbed a first-pitch cutter over the wall in right-center field for a two-run homer.

McGreevy gave up seven hits and two runs over six innings before the Twins mounted another comeback against the Cardinals bullpen.

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