Tuesday’s tilt against the Tigers was a repeat of Monday’s game. Except this time the Twins lost.
Mitch Garver hit a first-inning grand slam, Willians Astudillo added a solo shot of his own, and the Twins took a 5-1 lead into the ninth inning. And then it all fell apart.
Twins reliever Hansel Robles allowed a single, a double and a walk, followed by Tigers catcher, Eric Haase, who hit a grand slam to tie the game at 5-5. In the 11th, the Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera singled home the go-ahead run and Motown held on for the 6-5 win. The Twins won 6-5 on Monday.
Kenta Maeda made a quality start, allowing only one run over six-plus innings, but didn’t figure in the decision. That fell to reliever Jorge Alcala, who allowed the Cabrera single and fell to 2-5 with a 5.54 ERA.
J.A. Happ gets the ball Wednesday.
Extra innings…
-The Twins are now 7-10 when playing free baseball.
-If Twins reliever Taylor Rogers was viewed as trade bait, he probably isn’t now after he injured a finger and wound up on the 10-day injured list. If that keeps him a Twin, that’s fine with me. Catcher Garver, who has hit well since returning from an extended stay on the injured list after he was hit directly on the groin with a foul tip, was hit by a pitch in Tuesday’s game. He exited the game and is now day-to-day with right wrist pain. That guy can’t catch a break and neither can the Twins because they have been beset by injuries all season.
-The Twins may have found another slugger in rookie Brent Rooker. He had three more hits on Tuesday, including a double.
-The Twins turned three double plays.
-It’s hard to believe, but even the Twins and Tigers are two teams going in separate directions. The Tigers are 48-55 on the season, while the Twins fell back to 43-59.
-On July 25, 1967, the Twins’ Harmon Killebrew hits a first-inning home run at Yankee Stadium to take a 1-0 lead over the Bronx Bombers, then Jim Kaat holds the Yanks scoreless until two outs in the ninth when Mickey Mantle homers to tie the game at 1-1, according to Baseball-Reference.com. The game is then rained out and replayed Aug. 18, with the Yankees winning 1-0.