The Twins accomplished the unthinkable Friday night with a 9-6 loss at home to the Detroit Tigers, a team that is nearly 50 games under .500 at 39-87. Even worse: The Twins took an early 3-0 lead.
Twins starting pitching has struggled of late, but on Friday both the starting pitching and relief played a role in serving up nine runs on an incredible 17 hits. Jose Berrios fell to 10-7 after he gave up five runs, all earned, on 10 hits, including a grand slam.
Relievers Sergio Romo and Ryne Harper also surrendered four runs.
Meanwhile, Tigers starter Drew VerHagen, who has an ERA of 6.31, struck out 11 Twins over six innings. Ugh.
Despite an awful loss, the Twins still lead the Cleveland Indians by 2.5 games because they were swept by the New York Mets. However, the Tribe did beat the Royals 4-1 on Friday.
Kyle Gibson gets the ball Saturday.
Extra innings…
-Some twitter reaction to the Twins’ loss:
And that's 23 Ks in past 15 innings in friendly confines of Target Field vs. Giolito and Verlander for Twins.
Wait: it's VerHagen, not Verlander.
— Reusse (@Patrick_Reusse) August 24, 2019
That's nine runs allowed to a Detroit team that started 18-20 and is since 20-67. #MNTwins trail 9-5 and are in danger of starting this homestand going 1-3 vs. the Tigers and White Sox.
— Dan Hayes (@DanHayesMLB) August 24, 2019
Awful loss. Twins are now 1-3 to start a 13-game stretch in which 10-3 would have been a semi-reasonable goal.
— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) August 24, 2019
Note:
You can say that Jose Berrios isn't pitching well. He's not.
But too many people are questioning his drive, his effort or even saying he doesn't care. Someone tonight has said he must not be working hard. Let's just leave it at he's not pitching well right now. That's it.— Seth Stohs (@SethTweets) August 24, 2019
(From what I know, Berrios works extremely hard at his craft. Better days ahead, Jose, better days ahead).
Ryne Harper's been figured out… Great story, but it is time… Not even saying DFA. He's got options remaining (I think). Brusdar time? Hasn't pitched for a couple of days.
— Seth Stohs (@SethTweets) August 24, 2019