Twins Lose Second Straight To Indians 4-3
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cleveland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 0 |
| Minnesota | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 0 |
7th Inning… 1 out, runners on 1st and second. The Twins had recorded 4 consecutive hits and Denard Span and Orlando Hudson had just hit back to back RBI singles to tie the game at 3.
The Twins were starting to roll, and up to the plate comes Joe Mauer.
Mauer is one of the people you want at the plate at a clutch situation like that. Twins fans were getting excited. A base hit by Mauer would likely score Span and the Twins would take the lead in the game.
Rafael Perez throws the pitch…. here it comes… and it’s…
A bunt?
And a poorly executed one at that.
Really Joe? Really?
Mauer later said that he noticed the third baseman was playing back, and he thought if he could beat it out, it would load the bases for Jason Kubel who was 1 for 2 with a home run against Perez.
But instead, Mauer got thrown out at the first, and Kubel came up with 2 outs and 2 on and grounded out to end the inning.
I guess it didn’t matter in the end. Once again the Twins pitching wasn’t up to the task. Kevin Slowey had a decent outting, one out shy of a quality start. He went 5 2/3rds innings giving up 3 runs on 6 hits and a walk. He was pulled out in the 6th inning after giving up two runs, but at 99 pitches he probably would’ve been pulled after the next out anyway.
Mijares came in in the 8th inning. He gave up a walk and a hit which led to the Indians scoring the go-ahead run.
The team was 3 for 12 with runners in scoring position and left 7 runners on base through out the game.
Scott Baker was terrible. He pitched 4 2/3rds innings, giving up 10 hits and 3 walks for a total of 6 runs. The Bullpen, with the exception of Manship, wasn’t all that impressive either. Burnett gave up a run, Mijares gave up a run, and Rauch gave up 2 runs.
Nick Punto missed some games.
A few days ago Michael Cuddyer was brought to the infield to play second base while Orlando Hudson nursed a wrist injury and Casilla healed from elbow surgery, but now tragedy will pull Cuddyer from the lineup as well. He’s going to miss 4 games because of the death of his father-in-law.
