Two-thirds of the game of baseball is devoted to pitching and hitting, but when 66 percent of your effort is on the fritz you are not going to win many games.
Such was the case Monday: Starter David Festa couldn’t find the strike zone, reliever Ronny Henriquez served up a painful sixth-inning home run and the Twins lost Game 1 of their three-game series against the Los Angeles Angels, one of the worst teams in the American League.
And the Angels made it look way too easy. They rank dead last in the AL in pitching strikeouts and yet the Twins whiffed 12 times as a team against the Halos in the 6-2 loss.
Festa brought little to the contest. He allowed four runs on four hits across four innings. Four runs on four hits? How did that happen? He walked three batters because only 41 of his 66 pitches landed for strikes.
The Twins try again Tuesday. Pablo Lopez gets the ball. Thank God.
Extra innings…
-Here’s how it all shakes out after Monday’s loss: The Twins fall six games back of the Cleveland Guardians at 76-68 because the Guards currently get to play the Chicago White Sox. Some teams have all the luck. And now the Twins have only a three-game lead over the Red Sox, Tigers and M’s for the final wild card spot.
-We still have no indication that Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa are ready to return to the lineup. Listening to the game Monday, radio voices Kris Atteberry and Dan Gladden said that Correa feels fine running in tennis shoes but experiences foot pain in his cleats. You know what the answer is? Play in your goddamn tennis shoes!
Dig out some old Nikes, strap on some hand-me-down Chuck Taylors or buff up some Stan Smiths, but put ’em on and find yourself a bat, Carlos. We need you!
-You know what the Twins really need? Some power, like the pinch hit grand slam Rod Carew hit against the Texas Rangers on Sept. 9, 1976.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which ran a wire story.
“Pinch-hitter Rod Carew smashed a seventh-inning grand-slam home run and the Minnesota Twins beat the Texas Rangers 6-0 Thursday night behind the three-hit pitching of Dave Goltz.
“The grand slam shot was only the third of Carew’s illustrious 10-year career. He has connected on all of his grand slams since June 26 of this season.
“The home run came off Ranger reliever Steve Foucault who walked the bases loaded. He issued free passes to Butch Wynegar, Glenn Borgmann and Roy Smalley before Carew’s towering shot that carried well over 400 feet into the right-centerfield seats.
“Goltz, who was given an extra night’s rest because he has been bothered by the flu, gained his 12th victory against 13 losses.”
Sources: MLB.com, Baseball-Reference.com, Newspapers.com