Zebby Matthews' brutal start brings Twins blowout loss to Blue Jays

Matthews gave up nine runs off 10 hits in an outing that lasted just two innings.

Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Zebby Matthews (52) throws to the Toronto Blue Jays in the first inning at Target Field in Minneapolis on Aug. 31, 2024. / Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports

Zebby Matthews began his fourth career start by hitting George Springer with a pitch. 

It only got worse from there. 

Matthews gave up a pair of two-run homers in a seven-run first inning that propelled the Toronto Blue Jays to a 15-0 victory over the Twins Saturday night in front of 30,517 at Target Field in Minneapolis.

Daulton Varsho followed the Springer hit by pitch with a 419-foot homer to put Toronto up 2-0.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. singled the next at-bat, and Spencer Horwitz followed up with a 381-foot shot to right field that made it 4-0. Matthews then struck out Addison Barger, but gave up a double to Alejandro Kirk, a single to Will Wagner and a ground-rule RBI double to Nathan Lukes that made it 5-0.

Leo Jimenez then hit a two-run single the next at-bat to make it 7-0 lead for the Blue Jays (67-71). 

Barger, the only Blue Jays player who didn’t get a hit off — or get hit by — Matthews the first time through the order, got to Matthews the second time through, taking a cutter 395 feet for a two-run shot in the second inning that extended the Blue Jays advantage to 9-0.

"It's obviously very frustrating, you know, my job is to go out there and give the team the best chance to win. I didn't do that (Saturday), so it's obviously very frustrating," Matthews said. "But it's come back (Sunday), get back to work. Another start coming up, so just keep getting back to work."

Matthews was done after the second inning, allowing the nine runs off 10 hits while fanning five as he fell to 1-2 on the season with the loss. His earned-run average jumped from 3.00 to 7.41.

"Zebby is going to be fine," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "You're gonna deal with this at some point. So there's no good time to deal with it, there's no right time to deal with it, but when the time comes and you run into the game that he ran into (Saturday), you think about ways that you don't allow it to snowball and get out of control."

Blue Jays starter Jose Berrios kept his former team to just three hits and no runs through six innings, including a stretch from the third through fifth innings where he sent nine Twins down in order. Berrios fanned five, and Blue Jays pitchers held Twins batters to just four hits in all in the shutout.

It also didn't get much better for the Twins (73-62) when they turned to the bullpen. Michael Tonkin was the first arm out in the third inning, and he walked two of the first three batters he faced before giving up back-to-back RBI singles to Guerrero and Horwitz as the Blue Jays' lead ballooned to 11-0.

Scott Blewett pitched scoreless fourth and fifth innings but gave up a leadoff homer to Wagner in the sixth. Caleb Thielbar pitched a scoreless seventh, and infielder Kyle Farmer gave the Twins bullpen some relief by pitching a pair of innings. The Blue Jays scored four off Farmer in the eighth and ninth.

"(Farmer) picked us up (Saturday), and on a day that we really needed it, and gave us a couple of innings," Baldelli said. "Of anything that happened today, it's maybe the only real big positive."

In all, Toronto batters turned 23 hits into 15 runs Saturday night, both season highs for the team.

The one thing the Twins can take solace in is that both the Cleveland Guardians and Kansas City Royals lost their respective games Saturday night. That keeps the Twins within 3.5 games of the Guardians for the AL Central lead and 2.5 games back of the Royals in the division standings.

The Twins also still have a chance to win their three-game series against the Blue Jays when the two teams meet for a 1:10 p.m. first pitch in their series finale on Sunday back at Target Field.