The Twins were swept by the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday after old friend Carlos Gomez, best known for scoring the winning run in Game 163 of the 2009 season, hit a walk-off home run to beat his old club, 8-6.
It was a terrible series for the Twins. They had no business losing to the Rays, let alone being swept by them, because the Tampa team came into this series with five wins and 13 losses. It didn’t matter: They hit and hit with power and seemed to have an answer for every Twins’ rally. Meanwhile, the Twins’ bullpen was a disaster, exiting Tampa with a 12.60 ERA.
#mntwins pen had 12.60 ERA vs #Rays in this series
10 IP
20 H
15 R
14 ER
4 HR
3 BB
17 K— Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) April 22, 2018
And now the Twins head to the Big Apple to play a team they have historically had no answer for: The New York Yankees. The Yanks are only a game over .500, but don’t be fooled. The Bronx Bombers have hit 27 home runs so far this month, second most in the American League. The four-game set begins Monday.
What does it all mean? It means the Twins are on the verge of what could quite possibly be a seven-game losing streak. But here’s the silver lining: It’s much better to lose in April than during the final week of September. If it does in fact become an extended losing streak, the Twins should get it out of their system and move on.
Jake Odorizzi gets the ball for the Twins on Monday.
Extra innings…
-Phil Hughes got the start on Sunday and struggled, throwing 70 pitches in three-plus innings. He only allowed two runs, but gave up both in the first inning. Where does Hughes go from here? I really don’t know.
-As bad as the bullpen has been, it does not apply to reliever Ryan Pressly who made another appearance Sunday and struck out four in one-plus innings of work. He continues to have an ERA of 0.00.
-The Twins are 14-46 at Yankee stadium since 2002.
-Brian Dozier singled in the third inning to extend his hitting streak to 16 games, a new record for the Twins to start a season. The previous record holders were Kirby Puckett and Josh Willingham, who had 15-game hitting streaks to start a season.