Coming into this weekend series with the Cincinnati Reds, the Minnesota Twins had won three consecutive series and were in first place in AL Central. None of that momentum would carry over into the cold conditions as the Twins were swept by Terry Francona’s Reds.
The Twins got off to a good start in the bottom of the first inning when Byron Buxton beat feet on an infield hit, advanced to second base on an errant throw, and later touched home plate on a Victor Caratini sacrifice fly.
After MN SP Bailey Ober breezed through the first turn of Cincinnati’s starting nine, the Twins were back to the bat rack attack in B3. A Buxton walk—those rarest of gems—started the rally and was quickly followed by consecutive singles from Trevor Larnach, Josh Bell, & Caratini to up the margin to 3-0.
The Reds reached the scoreboard in T4 when an Elly De La Cruz triple was paid off by a Sal Stewart RBI ground out. Fortunately, further damage was limited by Big Bailey.
Speaking of the big man, this was a good afternoon: 6.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 4 BB, 10 K. That was all with an average fastball of 89 MPH and an average overall velocity of 84 MPH—the lowest of all qualified MLB pitchers thus far this season. Bailey did leave a bit of a mess on the basepaths when he departed in the 7th, but Taylor Rogers emerged from the care of LaTroy Hawkins and cleaned it up nicely.
Andrew Morris was next out of the pen, and he got through the 8th unscathed. Alas, baseball games as currently constituted go nine frames.
With the bases loaded and one out in T9, Morris surrendered a bases-clearing double off the bat of TJ Friedl, giving the visitors their first lead of the contest.
Though the mood was grim on the verge of being swept, James Outman (yes, James Outman is aliiiiiive!) opened B9 by clanging a double off the RF wall against old MIN acquaintance Emilio Pagan. After a Buxton pop-out, Austin “Pop the Clutch” Martin was exactly that, trading places with Outman and re-tying things at 4-4!
Neither Bell nor Caratini could secure a walk-off W in regulation, so we’d go to extra innings.
Seemingly allergic to solid defense all series (season?) long, the Twins would allow the Manfred Man to score when on a single play: A. Brooks Lee had the sphere clank off his glove in the deep SS hole, & B. Martin picked it up and promptly dropped it in LF. All the while, De La Cruz motored around 3B and slid into home.
Twins RP Garrett Acton could not keep things competitive, immediately allowing a Rece Hinds double that padded CIN’s lead by two more digits.
No more run-scoring would occur this afternoon, with the final indignity being a game-ending ABS challenge overturning a ball to a strike on Lee.
Back to .500 (11-11) on the young season. Besides the starting pitching being solid, the Twins really did nothing else right this entire series. The bullpen coughed up leads, the defense was a sieve, and many potential offensive rallies were squelched by an utter inability to produce hits with runners in scoring position.
Bailey Ober: This game was basically in-hand when he departed it.
All Imakesandwichesforaliving needed to win this award today was a single emoji.
A travel day Monday followed by a three-game tilt with the New York Metropolitans in Queens (Tues. night, Wed. night, Thurs. night)