Byron Buxton remains day-to-day with right hip soreness, and it really shows because the Twins have clearly missed his spark in back-to-back one-run losses to the Milwaukee Brewers.
Despite terrific starting pitching in both games, the offense was not equal to the task as the Twins lost 3-2 on Friday and 2-1 Saturday. The one run was supplied by Trevor Larnach who hit a solo shot in the third inning.
The Twins were otherwise 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position, and Austin Martin and Brooks Lee, both hitting No. 1 and No 2. at the top of the order, also were a combined 0-for-8 at the dish.
They try again tomorrow: Bailey Ober, coming off a complete game, shutout victory, gets the ball.
Extra innings…
–The Twins are 20-26, but remain in third place in the division because the Tigers and Royals keep losing, too.
–The Twins are now 3-6 in one-run games this season.
–How good has the starting pitching been? Both Joe Ryan and Connor Prielipp turned in two more quality starts. Ryan allowed just a run across six innings on Friday, while Prielipp nearly matched him with two runs allowed (one earned) over six innings with eight strikeouts. Ryan exited with no decision, Prielipp falls to 1-2 with a 2.88 ERA.
–Third baseman Royce Lewis is getting harder and harder to watch. If he’s not chasing pitches well out of the strike zone, he’s struggling in the field. He completely whiffed on a ground ball to his left, which is something I don’t believe I’ve ever seen before.
–Base-running blunder? James Outman legged out a triple with ease in Saturday’s game, but then didn’t budge on a potential sacrifice fly after the Brewers’ left fielder made a tumbling catch of the ball. As soon as he fell to the ground and went into his barrel roll, why not send Outman? If he’s fast enough to get to third, he’s fast enough to beat that throw. If Outman scores, the game is tied.
–Ex-Twin and ace reliever Louis Varland picked up the win in the Toronto Blue Jays’ 2-1 extra-innings victory over the Tigers on Saturday. Varland has lowered his ERA to 0.38.
–The Battle of the Border is not going well for the Twins and the Battle of Los Angeles (or whatever that rivalry is called) is going poorly for the Angels as they face the Dodgers. The Halos were blanked 6-0 on Friday and lost 15-2 on Saturday.
Former starting pitcher Alek Manoah, who once won 16 games for the Blue Jays before his career completely unraveled, served up nine runs (eight earned) across four outs in relief in Saturday’s game.