God knows we could use a few silver linings for the Twins this season, and I have one: Trevor Larnach, the rookie outfielder and Beaver alum who made his major league debut this month. He’s already hitting .250 after he had three hits in the Twins’ 7-6 loss to the Oakland A’s on Sunday.
Perhaps most impressive is that in the bottom of the ninth, representing the tying run at the plate, Larnach calmly singled to right on the fifth pitch of the at bat, opening the door for Miguel Sano to win the game with one swing of the bat. Except Sano swung at the first pitch he saw and flied out to right. Ballgame.
Max Kepler hit a three-run bomb to retake the lead and Andrelton Simmons smashed a two-run job in the eighth to tie the game at 6-6. But a costly error, which prevented an inning-ending double play, allowed the go-ahead run to score.
Reliever Taylor Rogers was tagged with the loss, but he also had to suffer through the error and the unearned run. Once again, a Twins starter (Kenta Maeda) could only go four innings, which meant that manager Rocco Baldelli had to get five innings out of his bullpen.
J.A. Happ gets the ball Monday in Game 1 of another three-game set with the Chicago White Sox. The South Siders swept the Twins last week.
Extra innings…
-The Twins are now 13-25, 10.5 games out of first place in the AL Central. Their winning percentage of .342 is the worst in the majors.
-The White Sox come to town, then the Twins hit the road to make up two games against the L.A. Angels, followed by a three-game road series at Cleveland, and then six games at home against the Baltimore Orioles and Kansas City Royals.
-Well, now there’s no question that Larnach will be in the lineup after Kepler, Willians Astudillo and Maeda were injured in Sunday’s game, according to MLB.com.