Minnesota Twins postgame report: Pitching falters again in loss to Athletics

The Minnesota Twins couldn’t find their footing during a tropical night at Target Field and the Oakland Athletics took advantage to even the series.

The Minnesota Twins are beginning to feel things tighten up in the American League Central these days and it’s contributed to some nail-biting moments for their fans. As the Twins dropped the second of a four-game series with the Oakland Athletics on Friday night, the Cleveland Indians picked up a win over the Kansas City Royals, cutting their lead to just three games.

In the latest loss of a Twins team that many feel is slipping, Minnesota got off to a rough start and an offense that once again couldn’t get the big hit, came up just short as the A’s came away with a 5-3 victory on a tropical night at Target Field.

The Athletics took control of things from the beginning as Marcus Semien blasted a rocket on Jake Odorizzi‘s second pitch of the game for his 15th home run of the season. The first inning would get worse as Kris Davis would single to drive in Mark Canha to put the Twins in an early 2-0 hole.

The Twins would mount a rally against Oakland starter Luke Bassitt as Max Kepler scored on an error by the sure-handed Matt Olson in the second inning and Marwin Gonzalez would put Minnesota ahead on a two-run homer, his 11th of the season, to give the Twins a 3-2 advantage.

Odorizzi would settle down from there, but would give up a game-tying single to Olson in the top of the fifth, which caused an early hook from Rocco Baldelli. The right-hander would leave the game with a no decision, allowing three runs on six hits with a pair of walks and three strikeouts.

From there, the Twins would turn to their maligned bullpen and Ryne Harper had issues in the top of the sixth inning as Davis and Chad Pinder would each lace RBI singles to put the A’s on top 5-3.

They would turn to their own bullpen after that and former face Liam Hendriks didn’t look so familiar with a fastball that would flirt with 100 MPH during his 1 2/3 innings of work that included three strikeouts and notched his seventh save of the year.

The Twins will try to rebound against the surging Athletics on Saturday night when they send Jose Berrios (8-5, 3.10 ERA) against Brett Anderson (9-5, 3.79 ERA) for a 6:10 CT first pitch at Target Field.