The Minnesota Twins endured a difficult series at home against the Cincinnati Reds during the weekend. They were swept in the three-game series, and they lost two of the games by only one run. On Sunday, Minnesota held a lead heading into the ninth inning, but Cincinnati came back and ended up earning a 7-4 victory in extra innings. The Twins made three errors in the game.
After the contest, Twins manager Derek Shelton addressed the team's performance during the series, via Twins.TV.
"We had an opportunity to win every game in this series," Shelton said. "We didn't capitalize. We didn't make plays that we needed to make and it ended up costing us games all three days."
The Twins were out-performing expectations early in the year. Following their challenging weekend series, the ball club is now 11-11 overall and in third place in the American League Central division.
Minnesota has still displayed some encouraging signs early in the 2026 campaign. Entering the season, almost no one expected them to compete. Yet, the Twins have played well at times. It will be interesting to see how they rebound after their series loss to the Reds.
In all reality, Minnesota probably could have won each of the games against Cincinnati. The Reds defeated the Twins 2-1 on Friday and 5-4 on Saturday. Those contests were both quite competitive and Minnesota could have emerged victorious if they made a few more plays.
In the end, the Twins will need to move on. Looking back on what they could have done differently over the weekend could lead to some important adjustments, but it is important to not dwell on the series. Moving forward is all they can do at the moment.
The Twins will have a tremendous opportunity to get back on track this week. Playing on the road is never a simple task, but Minnesota is set to head to New York for a three-game series with the Mets. The Mets, of course, have lost 11 consecutive games.
Still, the Mets feature no shortage of talent despite their frustrating losing streak. The Twins will need to play a better brand of baseball without question in order to bounce back. The Mets are more than capable of getting back on track.
Perhaps Monday's off day will help them have some time to figure things out. The Twins and Mets series is set to begin on Tuesday night in New York at 7:10 PM EST.