Zebby Matthews throws seven scoreless innings in season debut as Twins rumble past Marlins

Bobby Nightengale, Star Tribune on May 14, 2026

Published in Baseball

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MINNEAPOLIS — Zebby Matthews made his season debut Thursday at Target Field, after spending the first seven weeks of the season at Class AAA St. Paul, which answers the primary question after watching his outing: Where has this guy been all year?

Matthews spun seven scoreless innings, yielding four hits and one walk, to lead the Twins to an 8-1 victory over the Miami Marlins. Matthews struck out five batters, and he didn’t even reach a three-ball count until the seventh inning.

The Twins, who had a five-run second inning against left-hander Braxton Garrett, took two of three games from the Marlins, winning their first series to open their nine-game homestand. Next up is a three-game set against the Milwaukee Brewers, which starts at 6:10 p.m. Friday.

Two days after Bailey Ober pitched a complete-game shutout against Miami, Matthews followed a similar formula. He threw a first-pitch strike to 17 of his 25 batters. He induced a lot of weak contact early in counts.

Matthews, who turns 26 on May 22, gave up two straight singles in the first inning and then promptly retired 10 straight batters. He isn’t throwing as hard as he did last year, averaging 95 mph with his fastball Thursday, but he revamped his change-up and mixed in more curveballs.

The changes to Matthews’ pitch mix coincided with his success at St. Paul. After he allowed 21 hits and 12 earned runs in his first three minor league starts (8.76 ERA), he yielded 20 hits and six runs over his last 22 innings (2.45 ERA).

Garrett, the Marlins lefty making his first major league start since he underwent his second Tommy John surgery in 2024, had more runs allowed (five) than outs (four). He walked five batters in 1 1/3 innings, throwing only 30 of his 64 pitches for strikes.

The Twins failed to score during a 34-pitch, six-batter first inning. Austin Martin drew a leadoff walk and stole second, but he cost his team a run. Brooks Lee followed with a double off the left-field wall and Martin made the poor choice to attempt to tag on the line drive over the left fielder’s head.

Ryan Jeffers drew a walk to load the bases with no outs, and the Twins wasted it. Garrett struck out Josh Bell, Victor Caratini and Luke Keaschall to escape the inning.

Garrett offered the Twins a mulligan in the second inning, and Martin made up for his baserunning gaffe. The Twins loaded the bases with no outs, again, through two walks and a single. Martin opened the scoring with a two-run, ground-rule double down the left-field line.

After Garrett issued another walk, re-loading the bases, Bell bounced a two-run double that deflected off the third-base bag to knock Garrett out of the game. The Twins have totaled 77 plate appearances with the bases loaded this season, the most in the majors.

James Outman, celebrating his 29th birthday, hit an RBI single in the third inning and a two-run double in the eighth. He entered the day with four hits in 33 at-bats, and he reached base three times Thursday with two runs.