The Twins have their first losing streak of the season after they dropped the first two of four games with the Toronto Blue Jays.
Why do the Twins keep scheduling AL East teams?
Best Record by AL Visitors at Target Field
.677 — Yankees (21-10)
.667 — Blue Jays (22-11)
.667 — Rays (22-11)
.556 — Red Sox (15-12)
.553 — Tigers (47-38)— Phil Miller (@MillerStrib) April 17, 2019
And you don’t have to look too hard to see that the bullpen is largely to blame.
The Twins took the early lead in Tuesday’s game, then fell behind, then tied the game on a three-run home run from Eddie Rosario. But reliever Trevor May served up two runs late and the Jays held on for the 6-5 win.
Monday’s loss was more obviously tied to the bullpen.
Pitcher Martin Perez, making his first start of the season, cruised through seven innings and allowed only one earned run with five strikeouts. He was spelled by Ryne Harper, who pitched a scoreless inning, then it all fell apart when Adalberto Mejia took the mound.
The Twins led 3-1 at that point, courtesy of a three-run bomb from C.J. Cron, but Mejia surrendered four earned runs in two innings and that was the game. Jays 5, Twins 3.
Jake Odorizzi gets the ball Wednesday. Odorizzi is still looking for his first win of the season.
Extra innings…
-Tuesday’s game ended when Cron, representing the tying run, tried to score from first on a Byron Buxton double. If only Cron had Byron’s speed because he was thrown out at the plate.
-Tuesday’s loss wasn’t entirely May’s fault. Starter Kyle Gibson, who also is still looking for his first win, once again labored a bit, throwing 94 pitches over five-plus innings. Although he struck out four in five innings, he also walked three and gave up four earned runs. He remains 0-0 with a 7.36 ERA.
-Rosario hit his fourth home run of the season on Tuesday, Jorge Polanco his third and Marwin Gonzalez hit his first as a Twin.
-Rosie so far leads the team in RBI (14), home runs (four) and runs (nine).
-Twins manager Rocco Baldelli was ejected from Monday’s game for arguing a strike-three call on Cron, according to MLB.com.
-It’s finally getting warmer in Minnesota. Tuesday’s game-time temperature was 66 degrees.