Rocco Baldelli gave a brutal explanation for how he managed Twins bullpen in loss to Padres

For the second time in three days the Minnesota Twins snatched defeat from the jaws of victory late in a game.

Sunday saw the Twins bungle a chance to come within a game of Cleveland by losing a late lead in Texas, and last night Minnesota fell further back in the AL Central thanks to another choke job. In both instances the bullpen melted down, but this latest incident has some fans questioning the way Rocco Baldelli managed the game.

The Twins took a 3-1 lead into the seventh inning while leaving starter Bailey Ober on the mound. He had been sharp all game and had thrown fewer than 80 pitches but ran into a series of unfortunate events that led to a lead off single and a game-tying home run in quick succession.

After Minnesota took the lead back, Baldelli sent Steven Okert out who proceeded to give up back-to-back singles and then a go-ahead home run that ended up being the difference.

Rocco Baldelli gives brutal explanation after Twins blow two leads to Padres

Minnesota has techincally blown four late leads in three consecutive days, as Jorge Alcala lost a lead against the Rangers before Texas walked the Twins off in extras. Folks have been growning increasingly nervous and weary of the bullpen woes but the ire is being directed at Rocco after what happened on Tuesday.

When Okert entered the game, most fans assumed it was because there weren't enough available arms in the pen. That wasn't the case, though, with Rocco saying rather defeatedly that the rapidness of the leads evaporating essentially paralyzed the coaching staff.

"We've played two out of three games now out of the last three where we lose the lead but we lose it so quickly that it's really difficult to get anything going," Rocco said. "There are only a couple of options there, it's watch Bailey give up a bleeder to left field to start the inning and immediately pull him out of the game, or not even let him pitch that inning when he's at 78 pitches."

It wasn't just the bit about how the bullpen was seemingly fresh that sticks out as brutal. Baldelli didn't hold back in calling out Okert for making a bad decision with his pitch selection while giving up the second Twins lead of the night.

'[Okert] is fresh and ready to pitch, he's had a few days off. We knew they might pinch hit Solano and send him up there, and they have left-switch-left coming up after that," Rocco said. "We don't mind forcing other teams to pinch hit, and he got ahead but I think the pitch that was hit was just an execution thing where we're definitely not trying to go fastball down the middle."

Rocco deserves some heat for how he managed the game late, but he's aso a victim of circumstance. The Twins refused to meaningfully add to the bullpen either in the offseason or at the trade deadline, and they're now reaping what they cheaply sowed.

It doesn't obsolve anyone from the bad decisions that were made on Tuesday night, but the mess Minnesota is dealing with is bigger than Rocco mismanaging a situation or Okert throwing some bad pitches.

That's what makes the meltdown even worse, because there aren't a ton of realities given the resources the team has where things ended up much different than they did.

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