The Twins’ Jose Berrios had a much improved outing, the team rallied to tie the game late, but ace lefty Taylor Rogers served up a grand slam in extras and the Twins lost to the Cleveland Indians 7-3 on Sunday. It was an ugly series for Minnesota, which dropped three of four games at home to their division rival; both clubs are once again tied at 71-47.
However, the Twins’ remaining schedule in August is much more favorable for them than it is for the Tribe. Beginning Tuesday, the Twins head to Milwaukee, followed by a four-game series at Texas, followed by games against either the Chicago White Sox or Detroit Tigers the rest of the month.
If the Twins drop a game to the Tigers, the worst team in baseball, they might as well hang it up.
The Tribe get the Red Sox and Yankees right out of the gate, followed by a road series at the suddenly red-hot Mets. They also face the never-quit Royals and the terrible Tigers, but only for three games. The Indians are 12-1 against Gardy’s guys this season. They end the month against the always-tough Tampa Bay Rays.
Bottom line: There is plenty of opportunity for the Twins to create some separation between them and the Indians to wrap things up and win the division. If not… well, then this team really wasn’t that much better than the 2018 squad, despite all the talk about home runs or “bombas.” And all that talk about dingers will ring pretty hollow if the Twins wind up fighting for a wild card position.
Martin Perez gets the ball on Tuesday.
Extra innings…
-The Twins/ Tribe are 6-6 against each other this season (before Sunday’s loss, that is). They face each other six more times.
-Berrios gave the Twins a quality start on Sunday. He allowed three runs over six innings with four strikeouts.
-The top of the order — Max Kepler, Jorge Polanco and Miguel Sano — went a combined 0-for-15 with six strikeouts.
-The bottom of the order — Luis Arraez, C.J. Cron and Marwin Gonzalez — went a combined 6-for-11 and drove in three runs.
-A tale of two teams: The Twins were red-hot to start the season, while the Indians struggled. That has not been the case since early June. A tweet from Aug. 10.
#MNTwins had an 11 1/2-game lead on June 2.
Since then:
Cleveland is 41-16.
Twins are 30-28.Twins and Cleveland are now tied for 1st place w/ 46 to play.
— Dan Hayes (@DanHayesMLB) August 10, 2019