It may be too little, too late, but the Minnesota Twins got back in the win column on Wednesday night with an 8-3 with over the Miami Marlins at Target Field. The win snaps a three-game losing streak for the Twins but the club gained no ground in the playoff race as Detroit, Kansas City and even Seattle all won, keeping the Twins two games back of a wild card spot.
On a night where Target Field was easily over half empty, things started about as well for the Twins as seemingly has every game over the past five weeks. Simeon Woods Richardson surrendered a hit, walk and home run to the first three batters, giving the Marlins a 3-0 lead 11 pitches into the game.
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It took Woods Richardson 22 pitches to get the first out, and although he did strand runners on second and third to end the inning, his night ended after allowing the first two hitters to reach in the second — easily his shortest start of the year.
In all likelihood, Woods Richardson’s season is over. He finishes his rookie season 5-5, with a 4.17 ERA and 117 strikeouts across 133.2 innings (his most in a season at any level) and 28 games. Despite wearing down over the final month, it was still a successful season for the former second-round pick, who turns 24 on Friday. That’s still younger than fellow rookies David Festa and Zebby Matthews, who didn’t debut until late in the summer.