HOUSTON -- Just because these games no longer matter to the standings doesn’t mean they no longer matter to the Twins. The moments are real; the emotions are real; the fight is very real. 

And that’s why, at the end of a nearly four-hour-long war of bullpen attrition with the ostensibly playoff-bound Astros on Friday night, Juan Minaya stood victorious after Minnesota’s beleaguered bullpen held firm against an elite offense and Miguel Sanó spun, jumped and roared in triumph after a game-saving play at his old third-base position to carry the Twins to a 5-4 victory in 11 innings at Minute Maid Park.

“There was a real energy and feeling of togetherness, and there was a lot happening out there,” said a hoarse Twins manager Rocco Baldelli after the game. “We walked in the clubhouse after this game, and we had a feeling in here that I have not felt many times in all of my years in professional baseball, and I mean that in every way.” 

Even after the Twins pulled ahead on a Josh Donaldson RBI single, the Astros had the tying run at third base in the bottom of the 11th with Jose Altuve at the plate and a raucous Houston crowd roaring in approval.

With the 30-year-old Minaya on the mound, Altuve dropped a bunt down the third-base line that came as a surprise to many -- but not to Sanó, whose old instincts at the hot corner kicked in as he charged, barehanded and delivered a perfect throw to nab the speedy Altuve at first and make sure the bullpen’s effort didn’t go for naught. 

“If you see [Altuve] in his last at-bat, he didn't have a really good at-bat, and ... he's fast, so he can try to make a squeeze play down there and tie the game,” Sanó said. “But I anticipated the play, and I tried to make the out." 

He did. And for the second time this season, that made a winner out of Minaya, whose last win entering this season had come all the way back in 2018 as a member of the White Sox. All said and done, Minnesota’s bullpen didn’t allow an earned run beyond the fourth inning, with six relievers twirling zero after zero in relief of rookie Bailey Ober.

And come to think of it, the pitchers who worked in extra innings -- Minaya and Danny Coulombe -- were both veteran Minor League free agent acquisitions who weren’t even on the 40-man roster a month and a half ago. 

That’s because not much remains of the high-leverage bullpen core that the Twins once hoped would be enough to carry them to a third straight division title, with Hansel Robles having been shipped to Boston at the Trade Deadline and Taylor Rogers likely lost for the season with a sprained middle finger that might require surgery. 

“It's absolutely going to take a full roster to come out here and win the game that we just played,” Baldelli said. “There's no other way around that. … You don't figure those things out by the same couple of guys going out there and winning the game for you every night.”

Among the familiar faces, Houston native Tyler Duffey and former Astros farmhand Jorge Alcala showed off in front of their onetime hometown fans with scoreless innings a second night in a row -- as did old and new ninth-inning man Alex Colomé. But the Twins had to dig into less proven options from there -- and still, Coulombe and Minaya bridged the gap to victory. 

It didn’t come easily for Coulombe, who entered with a one-run lead in the 10th courtesy of a Max Kepler sacrifice fly but allowed a left-on-left RBI single to Yordan Alvarez to knot the game, 4-4. He’d also allowed a homer to Alvarez in the ninth inning of Thursday’s game.

Minaya was there to clean up the damage with an inning-ending strikeout of Aledmys Díaz, though, and picked up the win by pitching around a Mitch Garver error at first base with two outs in the bottom of the 11th that set up Sanó’s heroics.

“Duff and Alcala and Colomé, we are going to lean on those guys in the late innings,” Baldelli said. “We are absolutely going to do that. But as we talked about and as you can see, Juan Minaya's going to find himself out there. Danny Coulombe's going to find himself out there.”

Those scattershot remnants of the Twins’ bullpen reigned victorious during a season in which so much had gone wrong for that group, and so many games had been lost due to their struggles. Sanó, the club’s oft-beleaguered former All-Star who struck out four times on Friday, was still the hero at the defensive position he left in part because of his erratic play in the past.

And for one night, the frustrations and disappointment of the 2021 season were forgotten, turned on their head.

“People need to remember [we] play for the Minnesota Twins, and we'll never put our heads down,” Sanó said. “We'll be positive and we'll go out there and play the game, try to win all the time."