Derek Shelton Admits Minnesota Twins Bullpen Is Searching for Answers

The Minnesota Twins dropped another close game on Wednesday afternoon, falling 5-3 to the Seattle Mariners at Target Field in a loss that played out the same way too many have this year.

Taj Bradley was electric, going seven innings with seven strikeouts and just two earned runs, but the bullpen let the lead slip through its fingers again.

It was Minnesota's 11th loss in its last 13 games, dropping them to 13-18 on the season while Seattle improved to 16-16.

Victor Caratini gave Minnesota a 3-2 lead with a two-out single in the eighth, and for a brief moment it looked like the Twins might snap out of their extended slide.

Then Eric Orze entered for the save and walked the leadoff hitter on four pitches.

After a strikeout, he gave up a single and a stolen base before Cole Young drove a two-run single through a drawn-in infield to put Seattle ahead.

Orze walked another batter and was charged with a third earned run after Taylor Rogers came in and allowed inherited runners to score against the Mariners.

After the game, manager Derek Shelton was blunt about where things stand with his relief corps.

"Challenge is a great word," Shelton said. "We're just trying to figure out the right mix-and-match. We just haven't had a lot of consistency down there, and guys filter into roles. We're still trying to figure out who's going to pitch in those defined roles."

That has been the bullpen's problem all season long, not just one rough outing here or there but a total absence of a pecking order.

Minnesota has just five saves through 31 games, and no reliever has recorded more than one.

The last save a Twins pitcher converted was back on April 9.

Anthony Banda, who entered the year expected to handle high-leverage spots, carries a 9.28 ERA through 12 appearances, and Rogers has posted a 7.27 ERA of his own.

Even when the Twins were winning eight of nine earlier this month and sitting at 11-7, the bullpen ranked 23rd in ERA at 5.00.

The part that stings for Minnesota is that the starting pitching has been one of the better units in the American League.

Bradley has been dominant outside of one bad night in Tampa, and the rotation as a whole ranks 12th in ERA.

None of that matters if the bullpen cannot protect leads past the seventh inning, though, and the Twins have not won a single one-run game all season.

Owner Tom Pohlad said before the year that the franchise needed a strong 2026, and right now the bullpen is the biggest obstacle to that.

Until Shelton figures out who belongs where in the late innings, close games are going to keep getting away from a team that really cannot afford to lose many more of them.