Royce Lewis delivered his first career walk-off hit as the Minnesota Twins overcame a late collapse to beat the Colorado Rockies 9-8 in 10 innings Friday night at Target Field.
The walk-off didn’t just happen—it arrived after the kind of late-night chaos that makes baseball feel brutal and beautiful at the same time.
Friday night at Target Field. the Minnesota Twins looked like they were cruising early. then spent the final innings watching Colorado claw back. swing after swing. until the game was sitting on a knife edge in the 10th. When the decisive moment came. Royce Lewis turned it into his first walk-off hit of his career. lifting Minnesota to a 9-8 victory over the Colorado Rockies in 10 innings.
Minnesota built a commanding lead fast. Kody Clemens opened the scoring with a two-run homer in the first inning. and Brooks Lee added another two-run shot in the second. The Twins kept piling on before the game ever reached its most dangerous stretch: Byron Buxton doubled home Trevor Larnach. and Bell’s two-run double in a three-run fifth inning pushed Minnesota to a 7-0 advantage.
Taj Bradley looked in control through seven-plus innings. allowing just two runs on three hits while striking out seven and walking three. He even reached a milestone along the way—recording the 500th strikeout of his career against Hunter Goodman in the sixth inning—and he pitched into the eighth for the first time this season. matching his career high of seven full innings.
Then the momentum flipped.
After Bradley exited, Colorado made its move in the eighth inning. The Rockies scored three runs in the eighth before erupting for five more in the ninth to turn a comfortable deficit into a one-run margin for the home side to chase. Jake McCarthy launched a three-run homer off Eric Orze, and Goodman followed with a 451-foot, two-run blast against Anthony Banda. That sequence erased Minnesota’s lead and put Colorado ahead 8-7.
The stakes felt sharper because the homer against Banda came after a season trend that had been breaking. The home run was Banda’s second blown save of the season. He had not surrendered a run in his previous 18 appearances.
Minnesota refused to go quiet in the bottom of the ninth. Pinch-hitters Austin Martin and Ryan Kreidler reached with singles, and Buxton’s high chopper over third baseman Willi Castro tied the game.
In the 10th. Andrew Morris earned the win by throwing a scoreless top half. but it took a defensive spark to keep the tie intact and force the game to Lewis. Tristan Gray—Minnesota’s shortstop—made a clutch play. throwing out Tyler Freeman at the plate after fielding a ground ball on the infield grass. The out preserved the tie, and it set the stage for the walk-off.
Lewis delivered in the bottom of the 10th. He lined a game-winning RBI single through the middle off Jimmy Herget after Kyler Fedko—who entered as a pinch-runner for Josh Bell—moved to third on a wild pitch. One swing later, Minnesota had the win.
The night ended with a couple of numbers that mattered just as much as the highlight. It was the Twins’ first walk-off win of the season, and it improved their record to seven victories in their last 11 games.
Minnesota Twins Colorado Rockies Royce Lewis walk-off hit Target Field Taj Bradley Kody Clemens Brooks Lee Byron Buxton Tristan Gray Andrew Morris Jimmy Herget
Walk-off wins are wild but 9-8 in 10 is basically chaos sports lol.
Wait so they were winning like 7-0 and then somehow it was only 1 run? I don’t even understand baseball pitching anymore. Sounds like the bullpen just fell apart.
Royce Lewis finally did it?? About time. Also Taj Bradley getting the 500th strikeout sounds cool but then they still blew it so I’m like… what was the point lol. Might be defense too, not just pitching.
Target Field being a “knife edge” is the most Minnesota sentence ever. I swear these games always start with a homer in the first and then the rest is just yelling at the TV. If the Rockies scored 5 in the 9th, how are they even chasing in the first place, like shouldn’t that be the last inning? Baseball rules confuse me when it’s late.