It’s gut check time, Minnesota. And Shannon Stewart is not coming through that door.
The Twins’ Mitch Garver scored the go-ahead run in the fifth inning against the New York Mets on Wednesday, only to see that 3-2 lead turn into a complete nightmare.
Reliever Trevor May served up a three-run home run, terrible fielding compounded the team’s problems, and when it was all over the Mets had scored 12 runs to blowout the Twins, 14-4, and sweep the two-game series. It was also the Twins’ third consecutive loss, the team’s first in 2019. Meanwhile, Cleveland beat the Detroit Tigers again so the Twins and Tribe are now separated by four games. It just got real, Twins fans.
And here’s the unbelievable stat of the game: seven of the Mets’ 14 runs were UNEARNED, largely because Eddie Rosario dropped a fly ball in left field. Miguel Sano also committed an error, plus missed a ground ball late in the game, and outfielder, Jake Cave, missed a ball trying to dive for it. Ugh.
With the Twins falling farther and farther behind, manager Rocco Baldelli decided to preserve the bullpen and sent infielder Ehire Adrianza out to the mound, which is always a dicey proposition. And so it was as the Mets tacked on three more runs.
How bad was the defense on Wednesday? All you have to do is look at the pitching line for Twins reliever Matt Magill. Magill gave up six runs, but none of those runs were earned.
And this week doesn’t get any easier. Next up the red-hot Oakland A’s come to town, followed by the Bronx Bombers. What are you made of, Minnesota? We’re about to find out. Kyle Gibson gets the ball Thursday.
Extra innings…
-MLB.com reported Wednesday that the “Twins had entered the series with one of the top defenses in baseball, according to both traditional and advanced metrics.” I’m not sure I’m buying that because an ESPN ranking of team fielding shows the Twins ranked 20th out of 30 teams.
-After the game, reliever May took to twitter to acknowledge his role in Wednesday’s defeat.
That lasted about an hour. I decided to do something different.
I enjoy Twitter and I’m not probably ever going to leave.
If I need to be the punching bag on days I deserve it, then so be it. Let me have it. I can take it and if I gave into the negativity, that would be worse.
— Trevor “IamTrevorMay” May (@IamTrevorMay) July 17, 2019
Kudos to May for taking a stand, but even better was former Twins pitcher Phil Hughes who replied with support and good humor.
I deleted twitter one time when I was going through a really rough stretch. It doesn’t help. Wax yourself up like a Camaro and let the hate bead off
— Phil Hughes (@PJHughes45) July 17, 2019
The stress of not making a typo when writing “bead off” is very real
— Phil Hughes (@PJHughes45) July 17, 2019
Of course, leave it to the New York Post sportswriter to pile on.
I think it’s pretty clear that the #MNTwins don’t discriminate: they see any “NY” logo on the front of an opponents’ cap and immediately start looking like they’re sponsored by Chico’s Bail Bonds. #Mets #Yankees
— Mike Vaccaro (@MikeVacc) July 17, 2019
I’ll take the Bad News Bears over the Yankees every time, Mike.