Matt Wallner Grand Slam, Twins Rip A's

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MINNEAPOLIS -- — Matt Wallner hit a grand slam in a five-run first inning, Alex Kirilloff added a two-run homer and the Minnesota Twins beat the Oakland Athletics 11-3 on a cold and drizzly night Tuesday night.

With its 109th loss, the Athletics set a record for losses in a season since moving to Oakland in 1968, topping the 108 in 1979. The franchise record is 117, set in Philadelphia in 1916. Wallner’s second career grand slam went an estimated 463 feet high into the right-field seats, the 13th homer of his rookie season, off Oakland starter Paul Blackburn.

“I’ve got a bad neck, I could barely get my eyes to where that ball was going,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “One of the furthest balls I’ve ever seen hit. Ever. That’s 20-something years of professional baseball. Like truly like a rocket as it went into the night. A nice way to start the game off, but then the rest of the game there were some really good things too.”

Christian Vázquez added a three-run double for Minnesota, the AL Central champion that started its final home series of the regular season.

Bailey Ober (8-6) pitched the first five innings to earn the win for the Twins, who are using the final week of the season to set up their pitching for the playoffs.

Chris Paddack pitched behind Ober, making his first major league appearance since May 8, 2022, after undergoing a second Tommy John surgery. Brock Stewart also made his return to the mound for Minnesota after missing 77 games with right elbow soreness.

Wallner's grand slam was the seventh this season for the Twins, tying 2006 for the second-most in Twins history. The 1961 team had eight. Six of this season's slams have been hit by rookies, two by Wallner and four by Royce Lewis.