Classic Twins Tease

Mariners 8
Twins 7

The last Twins game I went to, Joe Ryan threw a complete game shutout.

Things did not go nearly as well on this steamy Wednesday afternoon. Joe Ryan was pretty awful facing the Mariners, and that was the main factor that cost the Twins a game and a series, and once again any sense of momentum.

Ryan has actually been pretty bad since that shutout. A big issue has been early runs, and Seattle did tag him for one in the opening frame here too. Then in the 2nd the low-100s hitting Dylan Moore hit a laser homerun. Julio Rodriguez blasted a 2nd decker in the 3rd.

The Twins took advantage of the humid air and hit a pair of solos from Christian Vazquez and Edouard Julien to get in the game. 

Then Ryan's 4th was an ugly affair. A double, walk and single loaded the bases. Then another single scored a run. Ryan actually struck out the next 2 batters, but he had thrown 48 pitches in the inning, and got replaced by Jordan Balazovic. Balazovic got the 3rd out, which at the time seemed pretty big. 

Matt Wallner quickly homered to get that run back. But then Balazvic walked a pair and let that damn Dylan Moore put an 0-2 2 out pitch into the bullpen for a back-breaking 3 run homerun. 

Josh Winder pitched the rest of the game. He gave up Seattle's 8th run, and it looked like this was just going to be a slow death march.

But the Twins didn't just tuck their tails and gas up the plane for the upcoming road trip. They rallied in the 6th. Wallner hit a mammoth oppo homerun. Then they got 4 straight 2 out hits to close the game to 8-7.

I figured now that if Winder or whoever else could just put up some zeroes the bats would get it done. 

Well, Winder did hold the Mariners at 8. But the Twins bats were done. They got the tying run to 2nd in the 9th but couldn't get it done. Carlos Correa's 0 for 5 day was particularly rough.

So the Twins once again flounder with a chance to stretch their small lead over Cleveland. They blew a late 6-2 lead last night and now this. They can't be losing games when scoring 7 runs.

The trade deadline is next week. They actually traded Jorge Lopez to Miami after the game and got a reliever back. But more is needed. The pitching is regressing and the lineup still has dead spots. 

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