The Twins endured a self-inflicted loss on Tuesday with too many walks, too many wild pitches and too many home runs. The result was an 8-3 loss to the Detroit Tigers and a losing streak that stands at five games.
Starter Kyle Gibson got hung with the loss and fell to 5-8. He had command issues on Tuesday after he walked four batters in five innings and also uncorked two wild pitches. Just like walks and errors, wild pitches will haunt a team as well, allowing runners to advance and eventually score.
Gibson lasted only five innings, then stepped aside for reliever Michael Tonkin who quickly fell apart. Tonkin gave up two home runs and also threw a wild pitch in one-plus innings of work. And that was the game. Relievers Pat Light, J.T. Chargois and Pat Dean mopped up with two-plus innings of scoreless relief.
Michael Tonkin just became 1st Twins reliever to give up 10 HRs since Matt Capps in 2011. And first to give up 11 since Brian Bass, 2008.
— Phil Miller (@MillerStrib) August 24, 2016
It’s been well established that Twins pitching has struggled this year, while team hitting has shown more promise. But not lately. Suddenly the bats have cooled. The Twins collected six hits on Tuesday, eight hits on Sunday, four hits on Saturday and seven on Friday. Tuesday’s loss dropped them to 49-76.
Extra innings…
-Brian Dozier hit his 29th home run in Tuesday’s game, a new career high for the second baseman.
-Three wild pitches from Gibson and Tonkin now gives the Twins 63 on the season, the second most in the American League behind the Houston Astros.
-Relief prospect Pat Light, who came to the Twins from the Boston Red Sox in exchange for lefty reliever Fernando Abad, made his first appearance for the team on Tuesday. He pitched a scoreless inning of relief with a hit and strikeout.
-The Twins are still looking for their 50th win of the season. The Twins last season won game No. 50 on July 17.