Jorge Alcala got jinxed by Reds announcer before giving up Elly De La Cruz grand slam

Minnesota Twins fans continue to be stuck in a pendulum swing as the playoff race tightens in the final weeks of the season. The Twins went from being within striking distance of a first round bye to fighting for their playoff lives as the Detroit Tigers close in on the final wild card spot.

Friday night didn't help their cause at all.

While Detroit nearly threw a combined no-hitter against the Baltimore Orioles, the Twins were getting pummeled by the Cincinnati Reds. It's not quite "must-win" territory, but we're getting close to that after Minnesota lost 8-4 on Friday.

It wasn't just the fact that the Twins lost that stings, it's how they lost that sticks out.

Cincinnati took a manageable 3-1 lead in the seventh inning and cracked the game open even further after Elly De La Cruz launched the first grand slam of his career. Not only did the Twins surrender a back-breaking grand slam, but the Reds play-by-play man dropped a wicked jinx right before it happened.

Jorge Alcala gave up Elly De La Cruz's first grand slam after brutal announcer jinx

De La Cruz came to the plate with the bases loaded in the top of the seventh, and faced Jorge Alcala who was fresh out of the bullpen. There are a number of notable things about what happened next, from the fact that it was Elly's first career grand slam to the fact that it came on the very first pitch that Alcala threw.

A cherry on top of the moment was Reds play-by-play announcer John Sadak noting that De La Cruz had never hit a grand slam right before the young star launched Alcala's pitch into orbit over the right field plaza.

Subjectively this was awful for the Twins, even if objectively it was cool to see one of the best young players in baseball have this sort of a moment.

Alcala has been living a nightmare since surrendering a late lead to the Texas Rangers at the beginning of August. Since that apperance, Alcala has been charged with 14 runs in 13 1/3 innings with a 9.45 ERA while allowing a whopping seven home runs. It's been a brutal stretch for him, but it's representitive of the larger problems Minnesota is facing.

Last year a sweep by the Atlanta Braves was a turning point for the team, but the opposite is happening after the Rangers series. At the time Minnesota was in a position to potentially take over first place in the AL Central, but proceeded to stumble into the home stretch of the season as the offense went cold and the bullpen collpased.

The season didn't end on Friday and there's still a chance the Twins reach the playoffs, but they're running out of time to flush the sort of things we saw last night out of their system and prove they can hang with the best the AL has to offer.

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