In the end, it always comes down to good pitching. And the Twins simply do not have enough of it.
Despite hitting seven home runs, including another grand slam, and rallying from a 10-0 deficit, Twins pitching couldn’t shut the door on the Detroit Tigers who went on to win 17-14, taking two of three games from the Twins on Wednesday.
There were some wacky numbers in this one. The Twins became the fifth team in major league history to hit seven or more home runs and lose, but they became the first team in history to outhomer a team by seven dingers and lose, according to ESPN.
That’s right: The Twins hit seven home runs and the Tigers hit none, but Motown still prevailed in the end. However, the Tigers did connect for six doubles and a triple.
Twins pitching was awful, allowing 17 runs, all earned (neither team had an error), on 16 hits. And nobody was worse than the Twins’ J.A. Happ, who allowed nine runs on 10 hits over three innings to fall to 5-6 with a 6.77 ERA. Who gets that many chances with an earned run average that high? A guy who is getting $8 million, like Happ is. Anything less and Happ would have been designated for assignment a long time ago.
The Twins have Thursday off and then start a series against the St. Louis Cardinals over the weekend. Jose Berrios gets the ball Friday.
Extra innings…
-The Twins are now a season-worst 17 games under .500.
-Who hit the home runs on Wednesday? Miguel Sano, Ryan Jeffers, Max Kepler, Brent Rooker and Jorge Polanco. How does that add up to seven? Sano and Jeffers hit four home runs, and Kepler, Rooker and Polanco hit solo shots.
-The Tigers are 49-55.
-And then there was this:
The Minnesota Twins are the first team in MLB history to outhomer their opponent by 7 and lose.
The Detroit Tigers are the first team in MLB history to be outhomered by 7 and win. pic.twitter.com/fyJx6gLodG
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) July 28, 2021