MINNEAPOLIS — There’s one important thing to keep in mind when watching Connor Prielipp fall behind hitters, struggle to finish hitters off and pitch with company on the basepaths:

Since graduating from Tomah (Wis.) High School in 2019, he entered Sunday having thrown a total of 212 innings. That includes 28 innings in two seasons at the University of Alabama.

That’s what happens when two elbow surgeries delay a career.

The fact Prielipp is experiencing the ups and downs of pitching in the majors with such little experience speaks of his talent and the Minnesota Twins’ belief in him. So let the lessons continue.

There were more ups than downs on Sunday. Mostly Rockies hitters being sent down by strikeouts.

Prielipp gave up a run during a quirky first inning, hit two batters and worked through a bases-loaded jam in the fourth. But there were also a career-high 10 strikeouts through six innings, as the top-shelf stuff the Twins believe in was front and center.

Prielipp kept the Twins in a tight contest, giving up two runs over six innings. The Twins just needed their offense to wake up. It did in the seventh, when Ryan Kreidler launched a home run into the bushes in center field to give the Twins a 3-2 victory.

The Twins ended up taking two of the three games of the weekend series against the Rockies. Colorado was aiming for its ninth series win of the season, which would have been one more than all of last year, when the Rockies lost 119 games.

Prielipp got in the way of that with his second consecutive quality start. It was far from perfect, but Prielipp elicited 20 swings and misses and registered strikeouts with his fastball, changeup, curveball and slider. His fastball topped out at 97.5 miles per hour.

His slider is a plus-plus offering. But he got five strikeouts Sunday with the curveball, a pitch he’s picked up recently.

Four months ago, to be exact.

“That was a new pitch the Twins came to me [with] in spring training,” Prielipp said, “and I feel like it’s gotten better every outing so far.”

Combine his 95-97 mph fastball with his other pitches — he also has a changeup — and it’s a tantalizing arsenal. He’s getting swings and misses from right-handers with the curveball. With an excellent slider in his repertoire, the pair of pitches can be tough to handle.

“He was staying in the zone,” said Kody Clemens, who belted his 13th homer on Sunday. “The stuff was moving like crazy. I could see it from behind second base. But it was electric. And the 10 K’s.”

Prielipp labored through a 21-pitch first inning during which Colorado emerged with a 1-0 lead. Former Twin Willi Castro grounded an opposite-field single to right and then Tyler Freeman was hit by a pitch. Hunter Goodman — who blasted three home runs on Saturday— smashed the first pitch back toward the mound, which hit Prielipp’s wrist before falling to the mound. He picked it up and threw to second to get one out. But his throw was high and didn’t give Clemens time to try to turn a double play.

With runners on first and third, TJ Rumfield hit a grounder toward the hole that third baseman Brooks Lee dived to stop, but had the ball slip out of his glove as a run scored.

The Twins tied the game in the second when Royce Lewis led off with a double. He took off for third as Lee beat out an infield hit. When third baseman Kyle Karros’ throw sailed away from Rumfield, Lewis kept chugging around third and scored the tying run.

Clemens, apparently the second baseman and No. 3 hitter moving forward, clobbered a homer to right in the fourth as the Twins took a 2-1 lead, But Prielipp watched Rumfield lead off the sixth with an infield hit. Of course, he came around to score as he was bunted to second and driven in by a Troy Johnston two-out single to right.

Prielipp needed 71 pitches over his final five innings after throwing 21 in the first. He worked through a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the fourth, getting Braxton Fulford to whiff on a full-count slider and Ezequiel Tovar to hit into an inning-ending force play.

He joined Trevor May and Frank Viola as only rookies in Twins history with 10 strikeouts and zero walks in a game.

“Part of being a starting pitcher is things are going to get rough at some point in the game,” Prielipp said, “and you’ve got to be able to buckle down and finish the game.”

It was the fifth time Prielipp has pitched at least six innings. But four of those outings took place this month. It’s evidence he’s figuring some things out.

Prielipp’s progress has Twins manager Derek Shelton looking forward to the finished product.

“The exciting thing, if I’m a Twins fan, is this guy continues to get better,” Shelton said. “And I think that’s a really good sign because left-handers that can rush it up there in the mid 90s and spin the ball like that, it’s a really valuable thing to have.”

The Twins bullpen, which was hit hard in the first two games of this series, pitched three scoreless innings after Prielipp’s departure. Andrew Morris retired four batters and earned the victory, improving to 4-2.

Anthony Banda recorded two outs in the eighth, but the left-hander hit Braxton Fulford leading off the ninth, immediately asked for a trainer and departed. The Twins said he will be evaluated.

“It’s something in his side,” Shelton said, “And I don’t want to say specifically where it’s at. It was not in the arm, from the way he articulated it.”

Yoendrys Gómez entered and promptly retired the Rockies on four pitches, getting three flyouts. Gómez is 7 for 7 in save opportunities with the Twins, lowering his ERA to 1.25 with the team since joining from Tampa Bay in May.

Bailey Ober makes rehab start

Twins right-hander Bailey Ober, working his way back from right elbow inflammation, tossed 3 1/3 innings for Class A Cedar Rapids in an rehabilitation outing on Sunday. He gave up three runs on seven hits with no walks, one strikeout and one homer. He threw 57 pitches. With Class AAA St. Paul on the road at Louisville on Sunday, the Twins opted to send Ober to Appleton, Wis., where the Kernels were visiting the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.

The Twins will see how Ober feels Monday before determining their next move with the veteran right-hander.

____

©2026 The Minnesota Star Tribune. Visit at startribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.