Simeon Woods Richardson hits low point as Twins fall to Marlins despite Byron Buxton's homers

Bobby Nightengale, The Minnesota Star Tribune on May 13, 2026

Published in Baseball

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MINNEAPOLIS — The first inning Wednesday at Target Field featured a little bit of everything.

The Miami Marlins scored two runs via three walks, an error and a misplay ruled an infield single. Byron Buxton responded with a leadoff homer and Josh Bell stole a base for the first time in seven years.

The rest of the evening followed an all-too-familiar pattern for struggling Twins starter Simeon Woods Richardson, who surrendered a season-high eight runs (six earned) in a 9-5 loss that snapped the club’s three-game winning streak.

Buxton homered twice off Marlins right-hander Max Meyer, but that wasn’t enough to keep pace with the Marlins offense.

Woods Richardson has a tenuous spot in the Twins rotation, which is already down two pitchers with Mick Abel (right elbow inflammation) and Taj Bradley (chest) on the 15-day injured list. Woods Richardson owns a 7.71 ERA through nine starts, the fourth-highest mark among all MLB starters who have thrown at least 20 innings.

Beginning with a start in Toronto, when Woods Richardson pitched while sick, he’s allowed 48 hits and 33 earned runs over his last 30 1/3 innings with 17 walks and 14 strikeouts. That’s simply unsustainable. The Twins have a 1-8 record in games started by Woods Richardson this season.

Woods Richardson gave up two runs in a 30-pitch first inning, and it felt fortunate it wasn’t worse.

He issued a leadoff four-pitch walk, and second baseman Luke Keaschall committed an error on a grounder that bounced past him. The inning continued to snowball when Woods Richardson induced a weak ground ball to first base, but his foot missed the bag as he tried to catch the ball from a strange angle.

Another run scored on a double play, sandwiched around two walks, but catcher Victor Caratini bailed his pitcher out of the inning when he tossed out Jakob Marsee attempting to steal second.

Woods Richardson gave up a two-run homer to Owen Caissie in the second inning, a splitter that hung over the plate, and he didn’t retire any of the four batters he faced in the fourth inning. He was knocked out of the game after he allowed an RBI single to Joe Mack and an RBI double to Xavier Edwards.

When manager Derek Shelton walked to the mound for a pitching change, Woods Richardson offered all of his infielders a fist bump, and he tapped Caratini on the chest. He watched from the top row in the dugout as Liam Hicks hit a two-run single past a drawn-in infield.

There was hope Woods Richardson turned a corner at the end of last season when he compiled a 2.33 ERA over his final five starts, and his splitter emerged as a dominant swing-and-miss pitch. This year, he’s out of minor league options, and the Twins are left pondering their options.

Buxton greeted Meyer, who was making his first career start at Target Field and had a sizeable fan club sitting in left field, with a home run on his first pitch. Buxton drilled a 95-mph fastball into the second deck.

In the third inning, Buxton recreated the moment. He crushed a 93-mph sinker to the second deck in left field for his 15th home run of the season, the third-most in the majors behind only Kyle Schwarber (17) and Aaron Judge (16).

Meyer, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2020 MLB draft, struck out nine batters in 5 2/3 innings while yielding a season-high seven hits and four runs. Bell, who stole a base in the first inning on a potential double steal — his first stolen base since Sept. 2018, hit a two-run double off Meyer in the fifth inning.

Kody Clemens added a solo homer in the eighth.