MINNEAPOLIS – Facing baseball’s best offense, Simeon Woods Richardson gave perhaps his best performance.
Woods Richardson turned in his best start of the season and arguably the best of his young career on Monday night, striking out a career-high 11 over six scoreless innings as the Twins beat the Yankees, 7-0, at Target Field. The right-hander permitted two hits and three walks – two of those to Aaron Judge – and was never threatened.
Working with a splitter that flummoxed New York’s hitters all night, Woods Richardson continued a pattern that has seen him repeatedly rise to the occasion against some of the game’s best teams. He has turned in strong showings this year against the Tigers, Astros, Mariners, Cubs, and now the team that leads the Majors in runs, homers, slugging percentage and walks.
“I’ve always been a competitor,” Woods Richardson said. “I’ve always been one of those guys who wants to face the best, compete against the best. In the big leagues, everybody is the best. But there’s also powerhouses in this league. If I can knock down the powerhouses, it’s like a miniature game that you play with yourself.”
The win against a team competing for a playoff spot was a boost for a Twins team that has been searching for momentum throughout September. It was also career win No. 523 for Rocco Baldelli, moving him into sole possession of third place on Minnesota’s manager win list. He trails only Tom Kelly and Ron Gardenhire.
But Monday was primarily about Woods Richardson. He walked Judge but got two strikeouts and a popup in the first, worked around a single in the second and a walk in the third, then found another gear in the fourth.
That’s when he struck out Giancarlo Stanton, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Paul Goldschmidt on a combined 11 pitches. He ended up striking out five straight before José Caballero ended the streak with a double, but Woods Richardson then picked off Caballero to end any danger.
Woods Richardson didn’t allow another hit, finishing his outing with back-to-back strikeouts of Cody Bellinger and Stanton in the sixth.
“In some ways he was great early on, but it almost looked like he got even more focused as the game went on,” said Baldelli. “That’s not always an easy thing to do. It’s a really good lineup. … You’ve got to make nothing but good pitches, good decisions, and really be at your best. He was at his best tonight, and it was great to watch.”
Woods Richardson threw 33 splitters, more than any other pitch and a career-high 36% of his pitches. He got a career-high eight swinging strikes on splits while throwing his second-lowest rate of four-seam fastballs in a game this year (35%). He showed the Yankees a mix he hadn’t shown any team this year, and it worked beautifully.
“Me and Jhonny [Pereda, catcher] looked at each other, and he was like, ‘Keep throwing [the splitter],’” Woods Richardson said. “‘Keep throwing it. Have confidence in it.’ … It’s one of those things, you’re going to keep throwing it until the game shows otherwise to go to something else.”
Everyone is trying to finish strong, but for Woods Richardson, these are key starts as the season comes to an end. The Twins could have as many as nine candidates for five spots in their starting rotation next spring, and while Woods Richardson has pitched solidly, he’s not one of the names written in ink for 2026.
Games like Monday help his case.
“It’s a memorable night, but also one that certainly you build off of and you can always tap back into that game,” Baldelli said. “You can always, as a pitcher, go out in the future and then think to yourself what that felt like. Because it’s not just about how I threw this particular slider or how I attacked Stanton in this at-bat. It’s about a mentality more than anything else. And that’s the energy you tap back into that I think will help when he thinks back about this outing going forward.”