The good times don’t last long, do they?
After the Twins earned a convincing 11-3 win over the Washington Nationals, they ultimately lost that series by getting blown out and by dropping the rubber match, then headed to Cleveland where the friendly confines of Progressive Field are anything but that for the Twins.
It’s not Yankee Stadium-type futility, but it’s still not good.
Coming into Friday’s game, the Twins were 9-21 against the Guards since 2022, according to MLB.com, and the losing continued as the Twins dug an early hole for themselves that they couldn’t quite climb out of.
The Twins surrendered four runs in the first inning, cut the Guards’ lead to one run, then watched again as the bullpen coughed up two runs to give Cleveland a 6-3 win.
Although the bullpen has very clearly established that close games are going to be very hard for these Twins to win, the loss actually went to starter Connor Prielipp, who didn’t pitch that poorly. Prielipp allowed four runs, but only one run was earned because of an error behind him. He still struck out six across five innings.
Joe Ryan gets the ball Saturday.
Extra innings…
–The Twins are now seven games south of .500 at 16-23. Ten of those 23 losses are tied to the bullpen. Convert those to wins and the Twins are in first place in the AL Central Division.
–Byron Buxton continues to mash at the top of the order. Buck had three hits, including his 12th dinger, scored two runs and drove in two more in the loss.
–How good a hitter has Austin Martin become? Martin, too, had three more hits and is now batting .333 on the season. The same good-hitting form can be said for Brooks Lee who had two more hits.
–Starter Simeon Woods Richardson exited with no decision in his last start, but he still didn’t pitch very well. I say they move SWR to the bullpen and mix Andrew Morris into the rotation.
–The Twins were down a run to the Guards, then relievers Kody Funderburk and Anthony Banda each allowed additional runs. Banda has been so disappointing that I wouldn’t be surprised if he was released.
–Ex-Twin and current Toronto Blue Jays reliever Louis Varland entered the ninth inning of the team’s 2-0 win over the Angels on Friday and closed out the game on 11 pitches to earn his fifth save. I’ve said it before and I will say it again: that’s how it’s done, folks.