October 2, 2021

Twins pitching allows 21 runs in 2 games

The Twins’ disappointing 2021 season is winding down to a disappointing close after team pitching served up 10 runs on Thursday and 11 more on Friday.

The Twins lost 10-7 to the Detroit Tigers on Thursday, a game that was tit-for-tat for most of it until Motown pulled away late. As for Friday’s loss to the Kansas City Royals, the Twins were out of the running almost immediately, allowing two runs in the first inning, two in the third, two in the fourth, two in the fifth and three in the sixth to ultimately lose 11-6. The Twins showed some fire late, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the 8-1 deficit by the fifth inning.

I was looking forward to Thursday’s game because pitcher Joe Ryan, the one Twins player giving a lot of Twins fans some hope for the future, was making another start. Unfortunately, Ryan found himself in the middle of a slugfest. He pitched well early, then finally succumbed to one of those games where everything gets hit. Ryan struck out five over four-plus innings, but he also allowed six runs, all earned, including two home runs and walked two batters.

In Thursday’s loss, Byron Buxton hit two home runs, Josh Donaldson hit his 25th and Brent Rooker connected for his ninth.

Griffin Jax gets the ball Saturday.

Extra innings…

-Thursday’s loss was the final home game of the season for the Twins. According to Baseball-Reference.com, 1.3 million fans attended Twins games this season, good enough for 7th out of 15 teams in the American League. They are ending the season on the road at Kansas City.

-The Twins are 71-89.

-Hall of Famer Rod Carew turned 76 on Friday.

-The Toronto Blue Jays beat the St. Louis Browns 6-4 on Friday. The Browns are 52-108. The Jays remain a game out of the second AL wild card spot.

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.