Hunter Goodman homers three times as Twins' bullpen woes continue in 8-5 loss to Rockies

Bobby Nightengale, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Jun 27, 2026

Published in Baseball

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MINNEAPOLIS — Forget Shohei Ohtani; fans should have flooded Target Field this week to watch Colorado Rockies All-Star catcher Hunter Goodman.

Goodman hit three home runs as the designated hitter Saturday. He launched a solo homer to the third deck in left field during the first inning and a solo homer to the center field bullpens in the third inning against Twins starting pitcher Mike Paredes.

In the seventh, Goodman rocketed a down-the-middle sinker from reliever Kody Funderburk to the left-field seats to hand the Twins an 8-5 loss for their fourth defeat in their past five games.

The Twins trailed by six runs entering the bottom of the ninth inning before Trevor Larnach hit a three-run double off Rockies reliever Zach Agnos.

It was the first time the Twins lost a game started by Paredes, who made his fourth start and sixth appearance for the Twins. Paredes, the 25-year-old right-hander, pitched a career-high 5 1/3 innings, yielding eight hits and three runs.

Paredes helped stabilize the rotation after the Twins lost Mick Abel, Bailey Ober and Kendry Rojas to injuries. None of them have an imminent return to the starting rotation.

Rojas was sent to Class AAA after he pitched on June 23, which will give him time to build up his pitch count and shake off rust. Ober threw a bullpen session at Target Field on Friday, but he’s still weeks away from a potential return because he will need a rehab assignment.

Abel is scheduled to undergo arthroscopic surgery on his elbow in the middle of next week. The Twins won’t know Abel’s timetable to return until his surgery is completed, but it would be a surprise if he’s back before August.

The Twins bullpen is in worse shape. Their relievers own a collective 7.34 ERA in June. Cole Sands, who has been out since the start of May, threw a bullpen session Saturday, but there is no immediate bullpen help on the horizon.

Paredes initially was called up to help the bullpen, but he’s expected to remain the Twins’ fifth starter. His best trait is his willingness to pound the strike zone. And it worked against essentially eight of the nine Rockies hitters.

Goodman blasted his first homer on a sweeper that hung over the heart of the plate, and he crushed his second homer on an elevated 94-mph fastball. The Rockies added another run in the fifth inning when Jake McCarthy hit a one-out triple off the right-field wall, and new right fielder Luke Keaschall misplayed the ricochet. McCarthy scored on a groundout.

Paredes, who made his longest start since he was pitching in Class A in 2022, exited with two runners on base in the sixth inning. Lefty Taylor Rogers, pitching in his 188th career game at Target Field to match Caleb Thielbar for the most by any pitcher in the ballpark’s history, left the bases loaded.

The Twins cut their deficit to 3-2 in the sixth inning after Josh Bell hit a leadoff triple and scored on a sacrifice fly. Rockies starter Michael Lorenzen, who allowed an RBI single to Kody Clemens in the first inning, allowed two runs in 5 2/3 innings while totaling only one strikeout.

The game was no longer close after the Rockies had more at-bats against Twins relievers. Funderburk permitted the first three batters he faced to reach base in the seventh inning, which included Goodman’s three-run homer.

Combined with a ninth-inning homer in Friday’s game, Goodman homered four times in five at-bats against Twins pitching. Goodman has 25 homers this season, tied with Byron Buxton of the Twins and Houston’s Yordan Alvarez for the second most in baseball.

Twins rookie Marco Raya made his MLB debut in the eighth inning and surrendered a two-run homer to Kyle Karros before he recorded his first out.

Raya did, however, strike out Goodman to prevent a record-tying four-homer game.