MINNEAPOLIS — Nothing is official, but the Twins’ postseason chances all but evaporated Thursday night.
And they have nobody to blame but themselves.
Following an afternoon in which Minnesota’s nearest competitors both increased their advantage in the wild-card race, the Twins rallied from another early deficit only to lose in painstaking fashion, repeatedly fumbling throughout an 8-6, 13-inning loss to the Miami Marlins at Target Field.
Despite overcoming a four-run deficit, the Twins stranded 11 of 15 base runners from the seventh inning on, losing a critical series to the 100-loss Marlins. The Twins finished 2-for-19 with runners in scoring position in a defeat that dropped them three games behind Kansas City and Detroit in the American League wild-card race with three to play.
To reach the playoffs, the Twins must sweep the Baltimore Orioles while needing either the Atlanta Braves or Chicago White Sox to sweep the Royals or Tigers.
FanGraphs gives the Twins a 3 percent chance of reaching the playoffs.
“It sucks,” catcher Ryan Jeffers said. “We had every opportunity put in front of us to win that baseball game. Our season is on the line and we weren’t able to execute to get that run across. It’s a really, really sh—y feeling.”
Thursday’s effort was a microcosm of a late-season meltdown in which the Twins blew a 10 1/2-game lead to the Tigers; they couldn’t put away the Marlins.
Needing only a run to win it in the ninth, Trevor Larnach and Royce Lewis grounded out to strand two runners.
Down a run, the Twins tied it in the 10th inning on Willi Castro’s sacrifice fly, a play that ended with an incredible falling catch by Marlins center fielder Derek Hill.
“Off the bat, I thought it was gone,” center fielder Byron Buxton said. “I’m like, ‘That’s what we needed.’ He made the catch and it was like, ‘What else do we need to do?’ That kind of was a sucker punch because we thought we had it.”
Passion from the rook!#MNTwins #MLB pic.twitter.com/4sL06qprtP
— Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) September 27, 2024
They still had a chance with two in scoring position, but Austin Martin grounded out.
Tied entering the 11th, Buxton flew out ahead of Carlos Correa’s intentional walk. Larnach singled, but Martin had to freeze on the play to make sure the ball got through the infield and was held at third. With Miami employing five infielders, Lewis grounded into an 8-2 fielder’s choice, and then Carlos Santana flew out to extend the game yet again.
But the Twins’ worst showing occurred in the 12th.
After Brooks Lee was intentionally walked, Jeffers popped up a sac bunt attempt and Santana was doubled off second base. Castro grounded out to send it to the 13th.
“Clearly, there’s something missing when we get guys on base,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “We’re really struggling. I cannot tell you exactly why. I’ve seen, been around, played with, managed teams that have struggled with periods of time with runners on base. We had base runners galore. They were everywhere, all night. But to win, you have to bring them in. And some of that is trying to do specific things with those types of at-bats because there are things you can do that can lead to scoring runs. They’re not all going to be doubles and homers.”
Thursday couldn’t have gone much worse for the Twins.
Detroit and Kansas City played afternoon contests, which meant the Twins would know before they took the field to stretch whether their deficit in the wild-card race had increased or decreased.
What began as a promising afternoon took a turn for the worse as the Royals scored three ninth-inning runs to beat the Washington Nationals 7-4. Meanwhile, in Michigan, the Tigers rallied from a three-run deficit late for a 4-3 win to complete a sweep of Tampa Bay.
“I’m rooting for ’em to lose,” Baldelli said before the game. “But really all we can control is winning the game tonight. That’s all we can do.”
The Twins didn’t look up to the task early.
For the third time in three games, the Marlins struck first. David Festa issued a leadoff walk to Miami’s Xavier Edwards, who one out later motored home on a Jake Burger RBI double.
Though Festa needed 31 pitches to get through the first inning, the rookie right-hander found a rhythm, retiring eight batters in a row into the fourth inning. Festa got economical and kept the deficit at a run until the fifth.
But Otto Lopez, who also doubled in the go-ahead run in the 13th off Scott Blewett, singled, as did Miami No. 9 hitter Nick Fortes. Edwards also blooped a single to left to make it a 2-0 game. One out later, Burger singled in a run to increase the lead to three and end Festa’s night.
Reliever Caleb Thielbar took over and issued a walk to load the bases before inducing a groundball to Correa, who threw home in plenty of time for the forceout — only for Jeffers to drop the ball and make it 4-0.
“I feel like I let a lot of guys down,” Jeffers said. “I made a crucial error dropping that ball on the play at the plate, not being able to get the bunt down. Personally, just didn’t do what I needed to do to help the team win a baseball game. Probably hurt them more than I did help them.”
Jeffers wasn’t alone.
The roster is littered with many culprits who have struggled throughout the team’s six-plus weeks in baseball purgatory. Teams don’t end up 2-for-19 with runners in scoring position because of one player’s mistakes.
Despite the early issues, the Twins once again battled back, albeit with the help of a lackluster Miami defense that provided them with multiple extra outs.
Correa homered in the sixth inning to make it a 4-1 game.
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Jeffers reached in the seventh inning when his fly ball to center, a routine out, fell harmlessly for a one-out single. Martin doubled with one out and Buxton reached on a throwing error by Miami shortstop Edwards.
An inning later, Lewis appeared to foul out only for two Marlins defenders to let it fall by the visiting dugout. Lewis walked, Santana singled off the high wall in right and Lee followed with a game-tying, two-run double.
But Jeffers and Lewis each weakly grounded out to start the parade of stranded runners.
On the other end, Twins relievers delivered another potentially season-saving performance. A night after the bullpen combined for 14 strikeouts over eight scoreless innings, the Twins almost successfully chased down another win.
Thielbar, Michael Tonkin, Griffin Jax, Jhoan Duran, Cole Sands and Jorge Alcala combined to allowed one unearned run over 6 2/3 scoreless innings. Blewett also produced a scoreless 12th inning before surrendering three runs in his second frame.
“Had a few opportunities there to push across that run and just didn’t get the job done,” Buxton said. “It’s one of those that hurts. We know what’s at stake, and we’ve got to keep pushing. … Everybody understands what’s going on. It’s a little bit different. But we know we’re still in it. Just gotta keep focusing on what we can control and do what we do. Gotta be better.”
Not only must the Twins improve and deliver consistently good baseball, something of which they’ve recently proved incapable, they also need a miracle in Atlanta or Detroit. The Twins are 12-24 since Aug. 17 and were swept by the Orioles in Baltimore in April.
“I know how we’ve played,” Baldelli said. “I’ve been here and been a part of it and watched it all. We are not eliminated right now, at this point. And I don’t have the mindset that we are out of this. I don’t care who’s available in the ’pen tomorrow. I don’t care how we played today. My intention is to win out, starting tomorrow with Pablo (López) going out there and throwing a great game for us. And win our games and see what happens. It sounds like a lot because we haven’t been playing great, but that’s where I’m at right now.”
(Photo of Austin Martin unsuccessfully attempting to avoid a tag at the plate by Nick Fortes: Stephen Maturen / Getty Images)
