Clay Holmes and Joe Ryan had nearly identical statlines, as both starting pitchers gave up one run, struck out eight and walked a pair across five innings on Monday night at Target Field. Additionally, Holmes allowed two hits, while Ryan allowed three.
Yet the Mets ended the night with seven hits, while the Twins collected three as New York won 5-1. The Twins' record dropped to 5-12.
“On either side of the ball, I don't have anything overly clever or any good way to describe it," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said to the media postgame. "It was a challenging game on both ends.”
Twins’ home attendance nearly a record low in Monday’s loss to the Mets
The Twins announced an attendance of 10,240 on Monday, the lowest in Target Field history excluding seasons impacted by COVID-19, according to The Athletic's Aaron Gleeman.
The lack of life from Minnesota’s offense proved why there is a lack of interest in the team.
The Twins looked lost from the very start as Clay Holmes struck out the side in the bottom of the first inning.
The bottom of the fifth inning saw the Twins load the bases via Ty France getting hit by a pitch sandwiched between walks from Trevor Larnach and Brooks Lee. Christian Vázquez, who went 0-for-2 on Monday, flew out to left fielder Brandon Nimmo to drive in Larnach and tie the game 1-1.
The Twins failed to further capitalize on the bases-loaded opportunity in the fifth, as Edouard Julien, who went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, grounded out and Byron Buxton struck out swinging to end the frame. Buxton went hitless on Monday, striking out three times.
And while the Mets couldn’t get much done against Ryan, they took care of business by tacking on two runs (one earned) against Justin Topa and two via a Juan Soto home run against Jorge Alcala. On the bright side, Kody Funderburk pitched two strong innings with two strikeouts for the Twins.
To add insult to injury, the Twins committed two throwing errors, one from Topa and the other from Alcala.
The Mets bullpen had three relievers throw a combined four innings with five strikeouts after Holmes' dominant five innings of work.
To further the problems for the Twins, Vázquez, who went 0-for-2 with an RBI, left the game in the top of the ninth after taking a foul ball off his right hand, paving the way for Mickey Gasper to take over the catcher position. Luckily for the Twins, Baldelli said Vázquez avoided a fracture and should be okay.
One positive for the Twins in their low-attended game against the Mets was the performance of Trevor Larnach, who went 1-for-2 with a single and two walks. Larnach has struggled with a .526 OPS this season but looked sharp on Monday. The other Twins corner outfielder in the game, Matt Wallner, also had a solid showing with a triple and a single in four at-bats.
It looked like the Twins made the right choice in making Wallner the leadoff batter, as he held a .912 OPS through April 9 while holding down the role. However, he went hitless in three straight games spanning from April 10-12 before notching a big double last Sunday and impressing at the plate on Monday.
Lee looked good at the plate on Monday, hitting a 99.98 mph lineout to left field and walking once after a big RBI single in his first major league game of the season the day before.
Game 2 of the three-game series between the Twins and the Mets is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. on Tuesday.