May 5, 2021

Twins fall to 0-6 when playing free baseball

The Twins remained winless in extra-inning games on Tuesday after the bullpen collapsed late to give the Texas Rangers the 6-3 win. The club beat the Rangers on Monday, 6-5, but both games were very similar.

Here’s why: starting pitching did not go deep into the game, which meant manager Rocco Baldelli had to go deep on the bullpen, and the relief corps was barely up to the task on Monday and flopped on Tuesday.

Although Kenta Maeda and J.A. Happ pitched relatively well in their respective starts, neither was very efficient, throwing around 100 pitches by the fifth inning. Compare their outings to old friend Kyle Gibson on Tuesday. Although Gibby didn’t figure in the decision, he still made a quality start, allowing three runs over eight innings with eight strikeouts on 107 pitches. How come Twins pitching can’t do that?

The Twins try again on Wednesday. Lewis Thorpe gets the ball.

Extra innings…

-The Twins are 11-17.

-Byron Buxton was named the AL Player of the Month for April. He hit his ninth home run on Tuesday, accounting for two of the Twins’ three runs. Willians Astudillo also hit a solo shot, his third.

-Reliever Taylor Rogers was tagged with the blown save on Tuesday, his second, and reliever Brandon Waddell, who pitched so well in spring training, absorbed the loss. He’s now 0-1 with a 11.25 ERA.

-The Twins are beginning to resemble a MASH unit. Luis Arraez is on the seven-day injured list for a concussion after he collided with the catcher at home in Monday’s game and Alex Kirilloff suddenly has a sore wrist. The Twins also are still waiting for Miguel Sano to return to the lineup.

-Disappointing news about pitcher Randy Dobnak who has been sent to the Twins’ Triple-A team in St. Paul. There were high hopes for the Dobber and now there’s just hope that he will return to form.

-And then there was this… a reminder of just how strange this season has already been.

COMMENTS

Hi, I’m Rolf Boone, Twins fan.

I became a fan of the Minnesota Twins after a friendly wager in the early 1980s. I survived Ron Davis, the meltdown in Cleveland, Phil Bradley at the Kingdome and then marveled at a rising generation of stars and two World Series wins in 1987 and 1991. Brad Radke made the 1990s bearable, while Kirby Puckett’s eye injury, exit from the game and eventual death made it almost too much to bear. The new century ushered in more talent — Joe Mauer, Johan Santana, Joe Nathan, Torii Hunter, Justin Morneau — and consecutive seasons of playoff baseball, followed by consecutive seasons of losing baseball. A winning season returned in 2015. So here we are. Go Twins.