Louie Varland’s “Bell” helps the Twins secure a decisive win and keep their playoff hopes alive

MINNEAPOLIS — When they needed it most Wednesday night, the Minnesota Twins’ bite matched Louie Varland’s bark.

Down three runs, with their starting pitcher thrown out of the game in the second inning, and the teams chasing them all winning, the Twins found themselves in an uncomfortable position and their season continued to collapse for them.

And then Varland barked in the dugout.

He let out his trademark Junkyard dog bark after stranding two runners with three straight strikeouts in the second inning. Varland’s effort began a dominant run of eight scoreless innings by Minnesota’s bullpen that allowed the Twins to earn a much-needed 8-3 victory over the Miami Marlins before a crowd of 18,162 at Target Field.

Varland and five relievers combined for 14 strikeouts, and Byron Buxton celebrated his 100th game of the season with a 2-4 home run, the team’s first round-tripper in eight days.

Louie Varland stepped up and finished it off!
3 Ks in a row to complete it!
Got this #MNTwins Get out of trouble like a BOSS!! pic.twitter.com/hSjuxWLmpH

— Talkin’ Twins (@TalkinTwins) September 26, 2024

The win not only allowed the Twins to stay in the wild-card race with four games remaining, two games behind the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals, both of whom won on Wednesday, but also showed they still have some wildness left .

“Louie comes in and shuts them down like he did and he’s just Louie, man,” Buxton said. “Barking in the dugout gets you going.”

For six weeks now, the twins have needed something to keep them going as they fell apart brick by brick. Hours before the first pitch, another piece of the wall collapsed when Minnesota placed outfielder Matt Wallner on the 10-day injured list with a left oblique strain.

Wallner, one of the team’s best left-handed hitters, said he felt his side grip at bat on a pinch hit in the sixth inning of Tuesday’s loss to Miami. Wallner knew immediately something was wrong, and an MRI performed Wednesday showed the strain. Austin Martin was recalled as part of a series of changes, including the activation of substitute Justin Topa.

Jorge Alcala was also recalled, and the Twins designated left-hander Cole Irvin for assignment to make room for Topa, who pitched a scoreless ninth inning in his Twins debut.

“It’s not ideal,” Wallner said.

Not everything was ideal in the phase in which the Twins became underdogs on August 17th with a 92.4 percent chance of making it into the playoffs. But eventually a team that had won just 12 of its last 35 contests found itself headed in the right direction, albeit against the Marlins, who lost their 100th game.

First it was Varland who came out of the box after young starting pitcher Simeon Woods Richardson struggled again. Woods Richardson threw his fastball 2 1/2 mph slower than his season average and started his night with a single, a walk and a three-run home run from Jake Burger. Miami’s next two batters also reached and were in scoring position before Woods Richardson escaped the jam, stranding the pair with two strikeouts and a flyout.

But the Marlins picked it up again, starting the second inning with two singles that ended Woods Richardson’s appearance and gave way to Varland’s heroics over 2 1/3 innings.

And that’s when the twins began to rise again.

With the bases loaded and two outs, Trevor Larnach hit a two-run single up the middle to make it a 3-2 game. An inning later, Buxton hit a tie-breaking 450-foot home run, reaching triple figures in games played in a season for the second time in his career and the first time since 2017.

The home run was the team’s first since September 17, when Willi Castro hit a late two-run pitch to win Cleveland.

“He’s still a phenomenal player, capable of anything, able to play in the middle of the field and score up the middle,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He is very explosive. He can do a lot to help you win.”

Not only did Buxton single on his next at-bat, but he also made a crucial defensive play in the first inning after Jonah Bride’s double. Since returning to the lineup on Sept. 13, Buxton is 12-of-39 with seven runs, two doubles, two home runs and six RBIs.

Buxton said his wife told him early Wednesday that the game would be his 100th game of the season, a feat he feared might not be achieved because right hip inflammation kept him on 28 Paused games for a long time.

“I set a goal at the start of the season to reach triple figures this year,” Buxton said. “It’s exciting.”

The twins continued to cause excitement the rest of the way.

In the bottom of the seventh the score was 3-3. After Varland, Alcala, Cole Sands and Griffin Jax combined for six scoreless innings, the Twins finally broke through.

Brooks Lee opened the inning with a double to right and pinch runner Manuel Margot scored when reliever Declan Cronin’s hit on Christian Vázquez’s two-strike sac bunt at first base flew over Bride’s head, setting up the go-ahead run . Cronin’s error was the Marlins’ fourth error of the game.

Carlos Correa — who denied the Twins a bases-loaded opportunity when he was doubled from second base to end the fifth inning — followed with an RBI double to make the game 5-3. Larnach, who finished 2-for-3, was intentionally walked and Royce Lewis walked to load the bases before Carlos Santana’s bases-clearing two-out double.

“There’s a certain tenacity there,” Baldelli said. “The boys stuck with it. It’s not easy when you’re down, and down early. It’s a challenging thing. We almost pretend it’s not like that, but it is. It is. But the ability to refocus our attention on what we needed to do was very good. When we had those shots, we were able to score some runs.”

Just like the last six weeks, things initially didn’t look promising for the Twins.

Seattle won its series finale in Houston that afternoon, temporarily putting the Mariners in a tie with the Twins, two games behind the Royals and Tigers. Then Detroit celebrated a 7-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays, and Kansas City beat the Washington Nationals 3-0, extending its lead to 2 1/2 games.

That and Woods Richardson’s short start made things look bleak for the Twins, who own the tiebreaker against each of the three teams closest to them in the Wild Card. Then Varland’s barking got them back on track – at least for a day.

“You know, (Varland) is ready because he wants to get back out there,” Buxton said. “Right before you go out, he barks at you and says, ‘He’s ready.’ It just gets you going.”

(Photo: Jesse Johnson / Imagn Images)