5/1: Doubles Trouble the Twins in a Three-Game Sweep

Miguel Sano hit a ringing double into the right field corner, but was thrown out by a wide margin attempting to stretch it into a triple for the game’s final out as the Minnesota Twins fell by a 6-5 margin at Target Field.

“It’s a symptom of where we’re at,” manager Paul Molitor said of Sano’s aggressive mistake postgame, as if he were a doctor trying to diagnose what exactly was ailing his now 7-18 club.”

“It’s a big situation in the game,” Sano said. “I had a lot of motivation to make it to third, and try to score for the team. It was a mistake. I don’t have too much to say about that.”

The Tigers took the lead in the top of the eighth, as Victor Martinez singled into the right field corner and Justin Upton followed with single to left. Reliever Ryan Pressly (1-2) nearly danced out of danger as Nick Castellanos lined out to Eduardo Escobar, who flipped the ball to Brian Dozier to double pinch runner Andrew Romine off second base. However, catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia followed that up with a booming double off the left field wall. Eddie Rosario played the ball off the wall, but Escobar couldn’t handle the relay, allowing Upton to scamper home with the Tigers’ pivotal sixth run.

The Twins staked starter Ricky Nolasco to an early 2-0 lead as old friend Mike Pelfrey labored hard in the first inning. After fanning Danny Santana on seven pitches and getting Dozier to ground out to Jose Iglesias, Joe Mauer started a two-out rally with a single. Sano walked, and Byung Ho Park and Oswaldo Arcia followed with RBI singles to give Nolasco a 2-0 cushion.

The Tigers took back a run in the next half inning after a double from Victor Martinez, a single from Upton and a sacrifice fly from Castellanos.

Detroit tied the game serendipitously in the fifth inning, as Nolasco deflected what would have been a routine grounder to Dozier with two outs, resulting in an infield single which allowed Gose to score after he tripled on a play where Rosario struggled to play the wall.

The Twins took a 5-2 lead in the next half inning, as Dozier walked and Mauer followed up with a double off the top of the padding in left. Dozier scored on the play, and Sano followed with a single off Iglesias’ mitt. Pelfrey departed for lefty Kyle Ryan, and with the infield in Oswaldo Arcia guided a single through the hole on the left and Kurt Suzuki followed with a sacrifice fly later in the inning to give the Twins a three-run lead.

That was the end of the scoring for the Twins, and the lead was short-lived.

Nolasco got two quick outs to start the sixth, and looked as though he’d complete six frames for the fifth time in as many starts this season. The Tigers had a different idea however, as back-to-back singles from Victor Martinez and Upton had Nolasco in hot water with Castellanos up. Both Nolasco and Molitor suggested postgame that Castellanos was going to be the last batter Ricky would face with Fernando Abad and Trevor May warming. 

“Yeah, I figured that was going to be it, with the lefty coming up,” Nolasco said. “I wasn’t trying to give in, and just left one up. He did a good job of hitting it out. Very frustrating. If I make that pitch, we’ve got a pretty good chance of winning the game.”  

On pitch No. 104 of the day for Nolasco and on a full count, Castellanos unloaded for a game-tying three-run home run to left field. That was Nolasco’s last pitch, as he finished with 5.2 innings, eight hits, five earned runs and a 4-0 K/BB ratio.

The Twins had opportunities to score more runs all game. In the bottom of the third, Mauer singled and Sano followed with a ground-rule double with no one out. Had the ball stayed in play, Mauer likely would have scored easily. Instead, both runners were stranded as Park and Arcia struck out swinging, and Escobar grounded out to first.

In the eighth and trailing by a run, the Twins got a leadoff single from Escobar against lefty Justin Wilson. Suzuki sacrificed him to second, but Rosario grounded out to third and Santana struck out swinging to end the scoring threat.

Mark Lowe (1-0) tossed a scoreless seventh inning to pick up the win for the Tigers. Francisco Rodriguez pitched a clean ninth outside of the Sano double, facing just three batters for his seventh save in eight opportunities.

Notes and Quotes

“For me it’s a bad game. I don’t care about having three hits. But if my team doesn’t win, I don’t feel happy. I don’t care about how many hits, or if I hit a homer or something. It’s more important that the team is winning.” – Sano on if this is the worst he’s felt after a three-hit game. 

“It’s a bad feeling. I felt like I was throwing the ball good all day. That’s just what that lineup does.” – Nolasco on his performance.

“It’s very frustrating. I think that loss is on me, because as a team, if I make that pitch, I think we would have won that game. So, it’s very frustrating.” – Nolasco on the three-run home run by Castellanos.

“I think that’s just the story of everything kind of going on around here right now. We’re not catching any breaks, but you’ve got to keep playing. It’s a long season. We’ve got to hold our heads up high and just keep playing, and go out there everyday for the team. Hopefully it’ll change.” – Nolasco on the triple and infield single that led to key runs for the Tigers on strange plays.

* Fernando Abad allowed a hit but fanned Gose to work a scoreless one-third of an inning after Nolasco departed, and is now up to 10.2 scoreless innings to start his first season with the Twins.

* Mauer, Arcia and Sano combined for eight of the Twins’ 11 hits.

* This marked game No. 500 in the regular-season at Target Field. The Twins are 236-264 in those games.

* The Twins finished the six-game homestand with a 2-4 record, including four losses in a row.

* Mauer has now reached base in 25 straight games to start the season — the longest such streak in MLB and the third-longest in club history.

* Nolasco has a 5.85 ERA at three home starts this year, and a 1.35 mark in two starts on the road.

* Trevor Plouffe went 0-for-4 in a rehab game with Fort Myers on Sunday. He remains on track for activation in Houston on Tuesday.

* This was Upton’s fourth multi-hit game of the season.

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