The Twins may have dropped their second straight series on this 10-game road trip, but no one can say they didn’t try because they absolutely battled in the ninth inning and beyond against the M’s.
The club rallied to tie the game in the ninth on Friday, then blew it open with six additional runs. They again rallied to tie the game in the same frame on Saturday, only to fall short in extra innings, and then they did it one more time on Sunday.
The M’s scored a run in the seventh inning, followed by the Twins with a game-tying sacrifice fly two innings later. In the home half of the ninth, a Twins’ throwing error allowed the runner to advance to third base and an up-the-middle single brought him home for the walk-off, 2-1 win.
The Twins wasted a wonderful effort from starter Chris Paddack, who dominated the M’s for eight innings, allowing just a run with 10 strikeouts. Reliever Griffin Jax was tagged with the loss.
“One of these days, I can’t wait for that moment to get the opportunity to go back out for the ninth,” Paddack told MLB.com. “I shook [manager] Rocco [Baldelli]’s hand, because [110] pitches, first time in my career, I think I’ve earned that. I was waiting for that moment. So I shook his hand and thanked him for believing in me.”
The road trip resumes Monday in West Sacramento to play the A’s at Sutter Health Park, another minor league ballpark. Joe Ryan gets the ball.
Extra innings…
–The Twins had all of six hits in Sunday’s loss, but Trevor Larnach, who continues to be a steady bat in the Twins lineup, had two of them. The other players who had hits: Matt Wallner, Ty France and Brooks Lee. There were no extra-base hits.
–The Twins are 31-27 and have fallen back to third place in the division, one game behind the Cleveland Guardians but seven games out of first place.
–How good are the A’s? Not good at all, actually. They are 23-37 and 1-9 in their last 10 games. They also have served up an American League-worst 363 runs for a negative run differential of -110. The A’s, too, are 9-19 at home. A sweep here would help the Twins get back on track after two straight series losses.
–The Colorado Rockies lost again and are now 9-50 this season, including 3-28 on the road. There is a real disaster unfolding in Denver, folks.