Minnesota Twins: How the Twins let Game 1 slip away

The Minnesota Twins had their opportunities, but there were several developments that left the Twins dropping the first game of the ALDS.

The Minnesota Twins came into the American League Divisional Series looking to “slay the dragon” of past failures. While no members on the team had anything to do with the Twins’ losses to the New York Yankees during their run of success in the 2000s, the black cloud still hung over the team as they headed to the Bronx to open their series on Friday night.

Although they got off to a great start with home runs from Jorge Polanco and Nelson Cruz, the game turned out to be more of the same for the Twins as they fell to the Bombers by a score of 10-4. To be clear, the Twins had their opportunities to keep up with the Yankees throughout the night, but in the end, the Yankees were just better on this night.

As we enter Game 2 on Saturday afternoon, the Twins have to look at Friday night’s defeat and wonder what they can do to avoid heading back to Target Field in an 0-2 hole for Game 3 on Monday night. As part of that, the Twins can look at several developments in Game 1 and see that they need to be better than they were on Friday night.

With the Twins trying to break a now MLB-record 14 game postseason losing streak, they’ll have to cancel out the noise and try to fix these areas before taking the field in Game 2.

The Yankees took advantage of their opportunities

Sometimes baseball can be a really simple game. While the object of the game to hit a round ball with a round bat can be quite complicated, the key to coming through in the clutch can be as simple as slowing the game down and making good decisions. For the Yankees, that’s what they wound up doing all night long to come away with the victory.

After the Twins took a 2-0 lead on solo home runs from Polanco and Cruz, the Yankees were able to cash in during the bottom of the third inning in a series of unfortunate events. D.J. LeMahieu would hit a pop up off the end of his bat, but Luis Arraez would be one step short of squeezing the ball in his glove for an out.

Like sharks smelling blood, the Yankees would capitalize immediately, loading the bases on an Aaron Judge single and Edwin Encarnacion double. Jose Berrios would appear to get Gleybar Torres to ground into an inning-ending double play, but C.J. Cron couldn’t get the pick on a low throw from Luis Arraez and the Yankees would take the lead 3-2.

After the Twins tied the game on a Polanco single, the Yankees would tee off on Zack Littell in the fifth before the bases would eventually be loaded for Torres. This time, the Yankees’ second baseman would cash in with a double that would give the Yankees a 5-3 lead.

The Yankees extended their lead with a pair of home runs in the sixth inning, another clutch situation would present itself and the Yankees would cash in with a LeMahieu double off Kyle Gibson that would blow the game open in the seventh inning.

In all, those situations accounted for seven of the Yankees’ 10 runs on the night. Just as much as the Twins needed to come through at the plate, a couple more well-composed plays could have given Minnesota a chance to steal Game 1.

The Twins failed to capitalize on their opportunities

While the Yankees were able to capitalize on their opportunities, the Twins were not so fortunate. Of the Twins four runs, three of them came on solo home runs and outside of Polanco’s fifth-inning double that tied the game at three, the Twins couldn’t be found with a searchlight in clutch situations.

One of the biggest wasted opportunities occurred in the second inning when LeMahieu dropped an easy pop up off the bat of Cron, which left the Twins with runners on first and second with one out. With an opportunity to extend on their early 1-0 lead, Arraez would ground into a crucial double play that would kill the rally and keep the game within striking distance for the Yankees.

After the Yankees took that opportunity to eventually get a lead, the Twins would get their lone hit with a runner in scoring position with the Polanco single, but would leave Polanco and Cruz on base when Eddie Rosario decided to hack away on the first pitch in a lineout to center field, leaving more potential runs on the basepaths.

Just one (or maybe even two) of these hits could have made this a much different ballgame, but again, the Twins anxiousness to make a play cost them an opportunity to kick the Yankees while they were down.

Rocco Baldelli got outmanaged in Game 1

I can not pretend to know what all goes into being a major league manager, but my gut feeling after watching this game is that Baldelli got outmanaged in the first game of this series. While his lineup was fine, his decisions with the bullpen were a head-scratcher as he relied on several arms with zero postseason experience to keep the game close.

To begin the struggles, the Twins would turn to Littell in the top of the fifth only to see him cough up a pair of hits and put Tyler Duffey in a tough spot. Although the veteran Duffey would get out of the inning, he would also give up a run, which gave the Yankees the momentum they needed.

But even after that decision, more Baldelli errors would help dig a deeper hole in the Twins. He would lean on another reliever making his postseason debut in Stashak, who coughed up a pair of solo home runs. Then he would go to Gibson, who has struggled after dealing with ulcerative colitis for the past month, but because he’s meant so much to the organization’s stretch of losing seasons in the 2010s, it was a great spot to have him make his postseason debut.

As much as it stinks for the Twins to lose this game, which was the franchise’s MLB-record 14th straight postseason loss, they have an opportunity to even things up on Saturday and it begins with simply making better decisions.