MINNEAPOLIS — They didn’t catch the ball cleanly. They didn’t cash in on key chances. They made too many mistake pitches late in games.
After watching his team struggle twice in 24 hours to close out a winnable game, Minnesota Twins manager Rocco Baldelli didn’t hold back on Sunday afternoon.
Disappointed by an 8-7 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, one that came on the heels of a marathon loss the night before, the Twins manager honestly assessed his team’s performance in a pair of losses that dropped the team’s record to 54-44.
“Looking in the mirror, we should win both,” Baldelli said. “I’m sure they’re on the other side of the field saying the same thing. I think we should have won both of those games. We lost both of those games, and it wasn’t luck. We didn’t lose because of bad luck. We lost because we didn’t execute and we didn’t do enough to win.”
The Twins are dinged up. But they still could have emerged from the weekend with a sweep of the Brewers. Despite missing Carlos Correa, Royce Lewis and Jose Miranda, the Twins found themselves in position to win Saturday and Sunday.
We heard they like the Bux in Milwaukee… pic.twitter.com/wLBz1eacqf
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) July 21, 2024
Trevor Larnach’s two-run homer in the fifth inning put the Twins back ahead by a run after Milwaukee scored three times in the top half to take the lead. Simply hoping to put a two-strike pitch in play, Larnach powered a fly ball out to right off Aaron Civale to give the Twins a 5-4 advantage.
But it was all undone as the back end of the Twins bullpen uncharacteristically faltered.
Taking over in the seventh inning with the one-run lead intact, Jorge Alcala threw a 98 mph fastball up and in and rookie Jackson Chourio blasted it for a game-tying homer. An inning later, Rhys Hoskins got enough of an 0-2 fastball from Griffin Jax to drive it out for a two-run shot and a 7-5 advantage.
Milwaukee added another run in the ninth as Eric Haase, who earlier homered off Joe Ryan, blasted a solo shot off Caleb Thielbar to stretch the lead to three runs.
“I’ll live with (the pitch location),” Jax said. “It’s not a pitch that I regret throwing. (Hoskins) just got it. … It’s always tough taking a few days off and getting back in the groove of things. It’s definitely a couple days everybody needs, but it always takes a little bit of time to get back into the momentum of a full season.”
The Twins offense can attest to needing time to get back into the groove.
Previously a well-oiled machine until their last road trip, the Twins’ bats recently have sputtered in clutch situations. Some of those struggles can be attributed to key injuries. The absences of Correa, Miranda and Lewis are noticeable. Byron Buxton missed the final two games last weekend, as well.
But the Twins still have had plenty of chances to score and simply haven’t done enough with them. Dating to their July 10 doubleheader in Chicago, Twins hitters are 8-for-60 with runners in scoring position over the past seven games, including 1-for-12 on Sunday.
Even as Milwaukee pulled away Sunday, the Twins had chances to creep back in or regain the lead.
After Willi Castro walked and Ryan Jeffers singled to start the seventh inning, the Twins failed to break a 5-5 tie as Buxton grounded out, Max Kepler flied out and Carlos Santana struck out.
Down two runs in the eighth, the Twins loaded the bases with no outs. But Manny Margot flied out to center and reliever Elvis Peguero struck out Castro and Jeffers.
The Twins scored twice against Trevor Megill in the ninth inning. Buxton homered for the second time in the game, and Kepler doubled and scored on Brooks Lee’s RBI groundout. But Megill struck out Matt Wallner to end it.
“Probably should have scored some more runs than we did,” Baldelli said. “But we also scored seven runs — that’s plenty of runs to win a game. Coming back off the break, we’ve got to play a complete game at some point. Do enough on one side of the ball or the other.”
Ryan appeared to be doing enough in his first start of the second half. The right-hander retired the first eight batters he faced before Haase homered in the third inning.
Down 3-1, Milwaukee countered with three runs off Ryan in the fifth inning. Chourio doubled in two runs and Haase singled him in to temporarily give the Brewers a one-run lead.
This rookie is unstoppable @Bryanchourio11 pic.twitter.com/dBJsH6BvqE
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) July 21, 2024
Milwaukee geared up for more in the sixth after Willy Adames led off with a double. But Ryan escaped the jam without further damage. He gave up four earned runs and seven hits in six innings with six strikeouts.
Coupled with Saturday night’s disappointing loss in which the defense gave Milwaukee too many opportunities late, the Twins wound up empty-handed when they easily could have snatched away both games.
“It feels like we’re in there,” Larnach said. “Close games come down to one or two things. If it’s not leaning our way, so be it. Learn from it now, so if we get later down the road, we can capitalize on it.”
Paddack expects to pitch again this season
Chris Paddack is optimistic he’ll pitch again this season, but not before he received a good scare this week.
Paddack, who was placed on the 15-day injured list with a right forearm strain, spoke Sunday morning after learning everything with his right elbow and forearm is structurally
Paddack described how everything went as planned during a Wednesday workout in which he played catch. But when he woke up Thursday, Paddack’s elbow locked up on him, which had a pitcher who’s previously undergone two Tommy John surgeries on red alert.
For now, Paddack, who just came off the IL right before the All-Star Game, says his program is on a day-to-day basis as he tries to avoid a reoccurrence of an arm strain. Paddack expects to build back his arm strength and eventually return to the mound, though he doesn’t know when that would be.
“It’s just frustrating, man,” Paddack said. “I do everything I can to try to stay off the IL and keep my elbow and shoulder healthy. Unfortunately, having this pop up after coming off the IL is not ideal as we enter the second half with an amazing team. It’s going to be a fun second half for sure, and I just want to be a part of it.”
(Photo of Buxton after his third-inning homer: Bruce Kluckhohn / Associated Press)
