I was all prepared to write that the Twins are starting to turn things around, and then they went and lost in extra innings again to the Cleveland Indians on Saturday. The Tribe gave Shane Bieber a 3-0 lead, but the Twins came back against one of baseball’s best pitchers to tie the game.
But in the bottom of the 10th, Twins closer Alex Colome, who apparently has returned to pitching in high-leverage situations, served up the game-winning home run for the 5-3 loss.
It’s disappointing because the Twins had recently shown signs of life. It doesn’t mean those signs of life necessarily resulted in wins, but at least we know they have a pulse.
Some examples:
-Pitcher Matt Shoemaker’s last appearance was a quality start against the Chicago White Sox. He allowed only two runs over six innings in the 2-1 loss.
-The Twins also lost 7-1 to the Los Angeles Angels in Game 1 of a doubleheader, but don’t blame starter Lewis Thorpe. He allowed only one earned run over four innings.
-Jose Berrios started Game 2 of the doubleheader, and although he gave up three early runs, he battled back to strike out seven over five innings. The bullpen was spotless the rest of the way and the Twins scored six runs on six hits, getting home runs from Miguel Sano, Mitch Garver and Trevor Larnach in the 6-3 win. The win felt like the Twins’ most complete effort in weeks.
-And then on Friday, they did it again, scoring 10 runs on nine hits to blank the Indians 10-0. Randy Dobnak pitched six shutout innings for the win. Alex Kirilloff, Miguel Sano and Andrelton Simmons had six of the Twins’ nine hits.
J.A. Happ gets the ball on Sunday.
Extra innings…
-A few weeks ago, as I have done before, I suggested the Twins trade Miguel Sano. Well, since then he has reeled off a number of long balls, including his eighth home run on Saturday. No reason to break up the band just yet, I guess.
-Kenta Maeda gave the Twins five innings on Saturday, throwing 73 pitches. Isn’t there a chance he has 10-15 pitches left in him so that he can get to the sixth or seventh inning before manager Rocco Baldelli turns to the bullpen? Instead, Maeda exited after five innings and Baldelli went through five relievers. I don’t get it.
-This season the Twins are 15-16 in 9-inning games, 1-5 in 7-inning games and winless in extras at 0-8. Weird.
-And then there was this….
On this day in 1970, I hit the cycle! Who remembers what my last hit was to complete the cycle? #Twins #MLBhistory pic.twitter.com/DA4M61pnQ5
— Rod Carew (@RodCarew_29) May 20, 2021