Despite 11 hits, the Twins still suffered from a serious lack of clutch hitting on Thursday. They left 11 men on base, were 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position and finally lost 7-2 and the series to the A’s. Meanwhile, Cleveland scored six runs in the seventh inning and came from behind to beat the Kansas City Royals, 8-4. The Tribe now trail the Twins by six games.
Jose Berrios fell to 8-5 after he gave up three runs over five innings. Berrios and two relievers kept the Twins in the game, then reliever Mike Morin served up a grand slam in the bottom of the eighth to put the game out of reach. Berrios has made 14 quality starts and yet has only eight wins to show for it. That’s too bad.
At least the Twins are now home. Martin Perez gets the ball on Friday in Game 1 of a weekend series with the Texas Rangers.
Extra innings…
-The Twins are 54-32; the Indians, 48-38.
-Former Twins Robbie Grossman and Chris Herrmann again made life difficult for their former team on Thursday. Grossman went 3-for-4 and Herrmann 4-for-4 with an extra-base hit. Both had seven of the A’s 12 hits.
-And now for something completely different…
After I get home and have dinner, and after I’ve spent time with my son, either playing catch or kicking a ball around, and after he goes to bed and my wife, too, I usually find myself updating this blog about midnight. By then I’m pretty tired, and sometimes I can barely keep my eyes open as I write about the Twins. The next day can be interesting, too, when I look at what I posted with fresh eyes, sometimes quickly discovering typos and other problems.
I say this because the AP reporter who covered the Twins’ extra-innings win on Wednesday must have either been exhausted or seriously pressed for time because the game story that was churned out left a lot to be desired. I’ve read it several times now and I’m still wondering what happened. For example:
Does this really work as one sentence?
Treinen returned from the 10-day injured list and though Melvin planned to use him at least once in a non-pressure situation initially, that wasn’t how it worked out in his first appearance since a shaky outing June 20, when he surrendered three earned runs to Tampa Bay without retiring a batter.
Whew, I’m out of breath again. This next sentence, however, is a real mess:
Initially Barreto was credited with making a putout at second against Ehire Adrianza but Twins challenged Adrianza was safe the call was overturned on review, then Adrianza was caught in a rundown going for home when Byron Buxton a squeeze.
When “Byron Buxton a squeeze?”
Huh?