Minnesota Twins Game Grades: Winning Streak Snapped
By Brian Mozey
The Minnesota Twins snapped their four-game winning streak
The Minnesota Twins were hoping to give Joe Mauer a nice birthday present on his 33rd birthday, but the team couldn’t pull off the late innings heroics. This loss also snapped a four-game winning streak for the Twins as they end their homestead with a 1-1 series tie against the Milwaukee Brewers.
The offense continued into today’s game with four runs being scored in the first two innings. Milwaukee was the first to put runs on the board in the first inning after Ryan Braun hit an RBI single and Chris Carter had a RBI sacrifice fly ball. The Twins responded quickly with a run of their own in the bottom of the first and second inning.
Miguel Sano hit into a double play that scored Eduardo Nunez from third base in the first inning. The following inning, Nunez hit into a RBI groundout that scored Eduardo Escobar from third base.
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The Minnesota Twins have struggled this season with runners in scoring position and that continued in today’s game.
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In the fifth inning, Sano committed an error in right field by dropping a pop fly, which led to the Brewers scoring three unearned runs and leading 5-2 in the game. At that point, the Twins seemed to have no confidence in winning their fifth straight game. That attitude changed in the eighth inning when the Twins came to bat.
In the bottom of the eighth with one out, Byung Ho Park waited on the curveball from Tyler Thornburg and put the ball into the second deck in left field. After the home run, Escobar hit a single into left field allowing the pinch hitter Eddie Rosario to possibly tie the game. That he did.
Rosario crushed the ball to straight away center field and tying the ballgame at 5-5 going into the ninth inning. In the top of the ninth, Byron Buxton committed another error by the outfielders to allow the Brewers to have Yadiel Rivera on third base with one out. Rivera scored when Scooter Gennett hit a single into left field making it a 6-5 Brewers lead going into the bottom half of the inning. The Twins couldn’t pull anything off in the bottom of the ninth with a 1,2,3 inning to end the game
2. Final. 6. 76. 5
B. 8 hits, 6 walks, 5 strikeouts, 5 runs, 2 home runs and 20 players left on base. Park and Rosario tried to ignite the offense in the eighth inning by tying the game at 5-5 with a solo home run by Park and a two-run home run by Rosario. The Twins scored early in the first two innings and late in the eighth inning, but there needs to be consistency throughout all innings. Minnesota can’t rely on late inning heroics all the time and need to score runs in the 5th, 6th and 7th innings to create. . Byung Ho Park and Eddie Rosario. OFFENSE
B. 5 hits allowed, 3 walks, 2 strikeouts and 5 runs with 3 of them being unearned. Ervin Santana started the game seeking his first win of the season, but he’ll have to wait on that win. Santana pitched five innings giving up five runs, but three of them being unearned due to Miguel Sano’s error in the fifth inning. Santana is known for his strikeouts, so having two total strikeouts shows he wasn’t in his groove throughout the game.. . Ervin Santana. PITCHING
C-. It’s been 14 games this regular season and Miguel Sano still seems lost in the outfield. Sano made the transition this spring to the outfield from third base, but it definitely has been an adjustment. In the game today, Sano dropped a pop fly that would’ve been a second out in the fifth inning. Instead, it turned into three unearned runs and gave Milwaukee the lead going into the later part of the game. Also, Byron Buxton committed a big error in the ninth inning by mishandling the ball not once, but twice. This error resulted in Milwaukee to take a 6-5 lead and later win by that final score.. . . DEFENSE
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The Minnesota Twins will continue the border battle and travel to Milwaukee and start a two-game series with the Brewers at Miller Park. The first game will be on Wednesday at 7:10 p.m. with Tommy Milone and Jimmy Nelson squaring off as starting pitchers. The second game will be on Thursday afternoon at 12:40 p.m. with Ricky Nolasco facing Taylor Jungmann.