Twins, A’s rained out, will play split doubleheader at Target Field on Sunday

The Twins’ game against the Oakland Athletics on Saturday at Target Field was postponed because of inclement weather and rescheduled for Sunday as part of a split doubleheader.

Sunday’s first game will start as regularly scheduled at 1:10 p.m.; the Twins will wear their City Connect uniforms then, as they did Friday and were to do Saturday. The second game begins at 6:40 p.m., with the Twins wearing special Father’s Day uniforms. The Twins said ticket holders for Saturday’s postponement could use them for Sunday’s second game.

Light rain fell on a tarp-covered infield Saturday afternoon, but storms were forecast for later in the day. Saturday’s game was called off about 30 minutes before the scheduled 1:10 p.m. first pitch.

Gates will open at 11 a.m. for the already scheduled afternoon game and at 5:30 p.m. for the evening game. There’s a heat warning in the weather forecast for Sunday.

Twins righthander Bailey Ober was set to start Saturday afternoon’s game against Oakland’s Joey Estes. With the rainout, Ober will now start the first game against A’s lefthander JP Sears; original Sunday starter Chris Paddack will start for the Twins in the evening vs. Estes.

Both teams have Monday off, but Minnesota high school baseball state championship games are scheduled at Target Field all day. More bad weather is forecast for Monday, too.

Twins right fielder Max Kepler was not in Saturday’s original starting lineup after he got hit hard by a pitch just above his elbow in the eighth inning Friday night. He stayed in the game and hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th inning.

Manager Rocco Baldelli called Kepler good on Saturday but in need of some care. Trevor Larnach would have started in right.

“He’s definitely stiff and sore moving his arm, and that’s to be expected,” Baldelli said of Kepler. “It’s more than a little bit. If it was just a little bit, he’d be playing. We figured he’d be waking up today not in the best of spots, but it doesn’t seem like there’s anything long-term that we have to worry about. He’s probably going to need a day or two.”

Also not in the original starting lineup was center fielder Byron Buxton, who is hitting .370 with a .433 on-base percentage and a .556 slugging percentage over his past seven games, with a home run and six RBI. On Friday, he hit an RBI triple in the second inning to drive in the Twins’ first run, beginning their comeback from a four-run deficit.

“He’s doing fine; he’s playing good,” Baldelli said of Buxton. “The better he plays, the more he wants to play. It’s natural. The more he’s going to come in on a day like today and say, ‘I’m good. I feel great.’ That’s why Buck’s not making the decision about when he plays. We need to keep him going. The only way to do that is probably play him three games, give him a day. Play him four, give him a day. He looks good, couldn’t be more pleased.

Friday’s victory was only the Twins’ second walk-off victory of the season, after they had 10 such victories in 2023. Kepler — who is now tied with Kent Hrbek for third in Twins all-time walk-off plate appearances with 10, one behind Hall of Famers Harmon Killebrew and Kirby Puckett — wasn’t responsible for any of those 10 victories, or for any of the Twins’ nine walk-offs in 2022.

Kepler’s hit Friday was his first walk-off plate appearance since July 26, 2021, when he had a 10th-inning RBI single off Detroit’s Gregory Soto to beat the Tigers 6-5. Pitcher Kenta Maeda scored the winning run that day, having been used as a pinch runner at second to start the inning.

Matt Wallner went 4-for-4 with a solo home run and Randy Dobnak gave up two hits while striking out 10 in six shutout innings as the Saints beat host Louisville 3-1.

Wallner is hitting .396 with seven home runs in June and is 12-for-22 (.545) with three home runs in five games in this series vs. the Bats.