Waylaid by COVID-19, and likely distracted by the momentous news out of Minneapolis, the Twins went quietly on Tuesday, dropping a doubleheader to the Oakland A’s.
A check of box scores for both games shows there wasn’t nearly enough offense and too many mistakes.
In Game 1, Twins pitching issued seven base on balls, had one extra-base hit and committed two errors. Starter Matt Shoemaker was pulled after three-plus innings and reliever Jorge Alcala served up a grand slam to lose 7-0.
As if one shutout wasn’t bad enough, they did it all over again in Game 2.
Starter Jose Berrios showed up but nobody else did, leaving poor Berrios to fend for himself. He did his job, striking out five over five innings with one run allowed. Unfortunately, after mustering only six hits in Game 1, the Twins eked out only TWO hits in their 1-0 loss in Game 2. Josh Donaldson, who has hit well since returning from the injured list, and Jorge Polanco had the two hits.
Kenta Maeda gets the ball on Wednesday.
Extra innings…
-Game 2 was delayed 25 minutes because of lighting problems at Oakland Coliseum.
-The Twins are now 6-10 on the season and find themselves tied for last place with the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central. Will it get any better for the Twins? They face Oakland again Wednesday, then head home to play the Pittsburgh Pirates. They can beat the Pirates, right? And then they finally face division rivals Cleveland and Kansas City.
-The Twins are 2-8 in their last 10 games.
-Old friend watch: Texas Rangers pitcher Kyle Gibson continues to impress after a disastrous opening day start. On Sunday, Gibson pitched eight shutout innings and the Rangers finally prevailed 1-0 over the Baltimore Orioles in 10 innings. When’s the last time a Twins pitcher went eight innings?
Bizarre to be away from home with the verdict on its way. Bizarre to be covering sports as well. We all have jobs to do, but my heart and mind are in my community today and always ❤️
— Megan Ryan (@theothermegryan) April 20, 2021