NEW YORK -- With fewer than 24 hours to go until Tuesday’s 5 p.m. CT Trade Deadline, the market on starting pitchers has come unstuck -- but the Twins remain on the sidelines.

Pitching has been -- and remains -- the most pressing area of need for these Twins as they look to gear up for the stretch run and what they hope will be another run into October. That served as the big-picture backdrop as the Twins coughed up a season high in runs in a 15-2 loss to the Mets at Citi Field on Monday night as MLB entered the stretch run into the Deadline.

“We didn’t have the answers tonight, but it’s our job to have the answers tomorrow now, not really worry about that,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “I’m not going to spend too much time worrying about all the things that I saw tonight.”

One game, no matter how ugly, almost certainly won’t change the manner in which the Twins’ front office thinks about its approach, its need or its urgency to make moves -- though the realities of the market and the clock are starting to leave the club in a tougher spot.

Erick Fedde of the White Sox, a controllable value arm, moved to the Cardinals in a three-team deal earlier in the day, before three rental options who could have fit the Twins’ needs -- Yusei Kikuchi of the Blue Jays, Frankie Montas of the Reds and Michael Lorenzen of the Rangers -- were also traded in moves that made clear the extreme sellers’ market at the Deadline.

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Kikuchi in particular seemed like a strong fit for a Twins team that could use another starter who could carry playoff upside without locking them into longer-term contractual obligations. But he was traded to the Astros for pitching prospect Jake Bloss, young hitter Joey Loperfido and another prospect, a seemingly massive haul for a two-month rental.

With rumors tying Jack Flaherty -- the market’s other top rental -- to the Yankees and prices for starters and relievers alike seemingly sky-high, it will soon become clear if the Twins find the value they seek to make a deal.

And if they don’t, it’ll be all the more important for Simeon Woods Richardson to learn from Monday’s experience.

“I think every young player that comes in and plays a series at Citi Field or Yankee Stadium or in Philly or Fenway, walks out of that stadium, longer term, a better player, more prepared,” Baldelli said. “And they'll be ready [to] deal with not just adversity, but deal with things better. I do. I think it's good.”

Pitching in front of the big crowd in New York, the Twins’ upstart rookie had completed three strong innings before things unraveled in the fourth, when the first seven Mets hitters reached base as New York put up six runs, the most allowed in an inning by the Twins since March 31.

Woods Richardson was charged with all six of those runs, snapping a streak of 12 consecutive starts in which the 23-year-old -- originally drafted by the Mets in 2018 -- had allowed four or fewer runs. He seemed unconcerned about the outing, pointing out that almost all of the damage came not on hard-hit pitches, but on executed pitches the Mets simply poked all over the field.

“You preach it all day long as pitchers: You preach weak contact,” Woods Richardson said. “All in their favor today. That's how baseball works sometimes. It's not going to always end up in your favor. You control what you can control and try to make competitive pitches, all you can do.”

Without a trade addition to the rotation, the Twins will surely rely most heavily on Pablo López, Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober in a possible postseason series, perhaps with Woods Richardson -- who entered the day with a 3.27 ERA for the season -- next up if and when needed.

As for a bullpen that also struggled as the game snowballed, with Brock Stewart continuing to show diminished velocity and results as he aims to adjust in his return from a shoulder injury? Baldelli pointed to the big picture there, too.

“I wouldn’t call it a level of alarm,” Baldelli said. “The fact that I’m not sitting here for the eighth time saying something like this probably says something about the quality of our bullpen and the ability of those guys down there.”

Will they have to move forward relying solely on the ability of “those guys down there?” We’ll know soon enough.