Well…
All the hope, promise, fun and excitement generated by the Twins the last few days ended in disappointment Thursday after they couldn’t complete the sweep of the Cleveland Indians. The winning streak also ended at four games, and the Twins were denied a chance to take four games from the Indians in Cleveland for the first time in club history.
Twins' flood of runs ends abruptly, and Santiago's debut is a dud: Cleveland salvages series finale with 9-2 victory.
— Phil Miller (@MillerStrib) August 4, 2016
Another disappointment: Starter Hector Santiago, who the Twins traded for by sending Ricky Nolasco to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, lost his first game for the team on Thursday. In fact, he pitched a little like Nolasco: effective at times but susceptible to the long ball. Santiago gave the Twins five innings, but gave up five hits, including two home runs, and four runs, all earned. He falls to 10-5 and his ERA inched higher to 4.37 from 4.25.
Extra innings…
-Max Kepler’s play has been grabbing headlines of late, but don’t forget Brian Dozier. He hit another home run on Thursday to give him 22 on the season.
-Miguel Sano was back in the lineup at third base — and he contributed a double to Thursday’s cause — but he also committed his 15th error. Now, there’s talk that Sano is once again headed to Triple-A Rochester to work on his game. Although Sano has hit 15 home runs this season and driven in 42, he also leads the team in strikeouts with 113.
-Old friend Nolasco made his Angels pitching debut on Thursday. He went six innings, giving up six hits and five runs, all earned, but didn’t figure in the decision. Those six hits included three home runs. I don’t think Ricky’s going to be missed in Minnesota.
-The Twins now travel to Florida to take on the Tampa Bay Rays over the weekend, before coming home to play the Houston Astros and Kansas City Royals.
Ervin Santana gets the ball on Friday.
It's simple, folks: Twins want Sano to take an interest in becoming great, rather than settling for being good.
— Patrick Reusse (@1500ESPN_Reusse) August 4, 2016